The greatest thing one can do is to follow his own heart!

You see, today’s world is so arranged that every day we meet people, we connect with them, we talk to them and sometimes we depend on them. There are those who can lift us up, cheer us, but there are also the ones who can drain us completely and we can just lose ourselves.

 In a world where people are mostly selfish and egoistic and think that they know what’s best for you, you must learn to take a stand. One must learn to take back the control over his own thoughts, over his own life and follow his heart wherever it may lead.

So if you want to walk your own Path and start appreciating your own Self, it’s time to stop doing these things:

1. Stop explaining yourself

This is the first and the utmost important thing to do if you want to be happy. Never ever use your precious time to explain yourself to someone who has already decided to misunderstand you! So don’t waste your time with someone to whom you have tried a thousand times to prove yourself right. Remember, there is absolutely no need for anyone to know or to think whether you are right or wrong. What matters the most is that you know that you are right and just stick to it and walk away from that absolutely unnecessary argument.

2. Stop letting people drown you into their negativity

Some people tend to be negative all the time and that’s just fine, it’s their own choice. They consciously or unconsciously choose not to be positive, not to improve their own well being, so don’t ever expect that they will be much pleasant company for you either. Such negative people only want company for their misery, not help so stop trying to help them. You can listen, make few suggestions, have a polite conversation if you will, but that’s all. Don’t waste your time helping someone who just wants to drag you down.

3. Stop letting people blind you from your Truth

We all have our own believes, our own experiences, our own laughs and hurts. And all these things together make our Truth. So no matter what others say to you, just stay strong in what you believe, in what you have seen and felt with your own eyes and heart. Never let anyone make you doubt your own Truth. Nevertheless you should still stay open minded for new experiences, new people and their thoughts, but this should make your Truth wider and yourself wiser, not doubtful and confused.

4. Stop letting the same people lie to you over and over again

There is a saying that goes like this – “fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me!” There are times that once in a while we all have partaken in someone else’s lies, and have said to ourselves: “…well ok, he probably doesn’t want to hurt me, so I’ll let it go this time”. But please, listen to your own promise, only this time! Don’t make it a habit to be someone else’s fool.

5. Stop being a back-up plan

You should never settle to be someone’s amusement time, spare time, part time or sometime. Start appreciating yourself and remember that if you can be the first violin – act like one!

6. Stop trying to please others

Even if you try, you cannot please everyone, so stop pushing yourself so hard. Sometimes there are some people who seems to have problems all the time and they always ask you for help, but stop and think for a moment… maybe there is no problem at all, maybe they are the problem. Thus please choose very carefully who do you please and why!

7. Stop letting people take control of your dreams

Remember that the one who didn’t knew that it was impossible, did it! So be this person, be the one who does make everything possible and gets the most of his dreams and life. Live your life at its fullest, never letting someone else tell you what is possible and what’s not.

8. Stop taking the problems of others onto you

Here you should remember that each one of us have their own destiny, their own karma and life mission, so believe me it is not up to you to make amends for someone else’s wrong doings. You yourself have enough problems as it is, so try solving them first. And when someone asks your help just help them, don’t take their problems as one of your own.

9. Stop letting people take advantage of you

I know that we all want to help, to be there for someone, but sometimes we can end up paying dearly for always putting others as priority. You should never forget yourself as they do. People tend to notice only your absence, but very rarely your presence. Don’t let anyone take you for granted, remember that you too have a life you should be living.

10. Stop letting people use your past to control your present

No matter what you have done in the past, the past can and should stay in the past! What’s done is done. Life is too short to stress yourself with old memories and people that won’t let it go. There’ll always be someone who cannot stand your happiness and that you had moved on and they will try to set you back, to through your past into your face. So forgive yourself, just let it go, because only when you are at peace with your Self, only than no one can ever hurt you and control your present or your beautiful future.

Stop doing things that make you unhappy and force you to withdraw from living your life to its fullest. Rearrange your priority list and make yourself the first person that deserves to be happy and at peace and work until you have achieve it and that learn not to lose it ever again.

Today’s modern tempo is stressful for everybody. From children stressed from family quarrels (even the least intense ones) and school obligations, to adults living fast lives, racing with time to finish all of a day’s tasks just so they can go to bed and repeat the same stressful activities the next day.

And these are only the everyday ‘mundane’ repetitive tasks, if we don’t turn our attention on those ticking bombs waiting to explode on every other corner which cause immediate stress.

This kind of life does not only give us a dose of mental stress, but also tense our bodies and clog our energy with even more pent up stress.

If you don’t take steps to releasing that stress from the shell, it will eventually explode and cause suffering to yourself and those around you.

This refreshing technique will give you a reboot and let you start thinking with a clear head, and which is more, it will help you go through the day with the ease of a butterfly. The only thing you need is a person willing to help you and a moment of your time.

How Does the Spinal Flush Work?

Our bodies are made up of (among many other things) a network of energy channels which bring energy to vital parts of our body. These same meridians are healed in acupuncture, acupressure and traditional Chinese medicine, as they are responsible for the flow of the life energy (Qi) through the body. There are 12 meridians and if any of these is clogged in a certain point, the energy will start building up creating an excess of energy, while the rest of the system will remain with little or no flow of energy at all.

The spinal flush works in a way that stimulates all the meridians by activating points around the spine known as Shu Points. It balances the movement of lymphatic fluid and brings the nervous system to balance.

It is very beneficial as it fights:

• Stress
• Built up negative energy
• Fatigue
• Dizziness
• Nausea
• Digestive problems
• Negative emotions
• Insomnia
• Hormonal imbalances

…and the list just goes on.

Let’s Try to Do the Spinal Flush!

Although there are ways you can do the spinal flush yourself, they are not as effective and seem hard to achieve, so our advice would be to do them with the help of a friend.

There are two ways to do a spinal flush:

The First Aid Spinal Flush

Although this one isn’t as effective as the second, it doesn’t take a lot of time and can be done almost anywhere. Have it done after a very stressful situation and you will feel a lot better.

This is how you can do it to someone that needs it (and vice versa).

1. Ask the person to turn around with their back facing you.
2. Using only your fingertips, start swiping down starting from the neck region all the way down to the tailbone.
3. Don’t use too fast or too slow movements.
4. Imagine as if you are flushing all the negative energy built up in their spine.
5. Do it for around 10 seconds.

The Intense Spinal Flush

This one takes a little bit more time and requires the person it is performed to to lie down on their stomach or lean on a wall with their back facing you. It is much more effective as it stimulates all the energetic points around the spine one by one.

1. Have the person lie down on their stomach.
2. Start with gentle massage with your thumbs on both sides of the spine between each vertebrae.
3. If the person feels pain in those points, be gentler, if they don’t feel anything, you can apply a little bit more pressure.
4. Massage each point from where the neck starts down to the tailbone.
5. Finish with a few swipes from the neck to the tailbone with your fingers.

The illustration of the Shu points will help you locate them more easily.

The more regularly you do it, the greater the benefits. The superficial imbalances will eventually become non-existent, and deeper health issues will start to be resolved step by step.

In an age of autocorrect, abbreviations and simplified language, we can very easily forget the little contrasts that make a huge difference in meaning.

This sometimes leads to misunderstanding or even the risk of sounding illiterate. Using these simple tips will change the way of expressing yourself and help you start sounding smarter.

Preventative vs Preventive

Preventative is an obsolete form which although has the same meaning as preventive, it is not used anymore. It was banned almost a hundred years ago, so someone might seek preventive health care or others may take preventive measures for their safety, business or anything else.

Infamous vs Famous

While both refer to reputation, they have a complete different connotation and meaning, so you should be careful! While some may be referred to as rich and famous, those who are rich and infamous means they have a reputation of the worst kind and may as well earned their money in dubious ways. Just look at it this way: Unless grandma’s cookies are notoriously evil and disgraceful, they are famous, not infamous.

Evoke vs Invoke

A painting evokes emotion; a comedy show evokes laughter – to evoke means “to elicit or call forth.” We use invoke when we wish “to call on a higher power, petition for support, or implement.” For example: “Ben invoked Robert Frost for his first assignment” or “The principal invoked the aid of the teachers”

Denounce vs Renounce

These may sound similar, but their meanings are not: Denounce means “to condemn publicly or accuse formally” as in “The prosecutor denounced the CEO for insider trading”; Renounce on the other hand means “to give up or refuse to follow”, a typical example being “He renounced his faith”.

Uninterested vs Disinterested

While the two mean exactly the same, the difference is subtle but important in certain situations where one should convey a lack of bias. In other words, if you wish to convey a lack of bias you would use disinterested. If you don’t care about such grammatical subtlety you are uninterested.

Him, her and myself vs Him, her and I

Myself is a reflexive pronoun and it is used when an action is directed toward the subject: “I treated myself with a nice wine after a job done well,” or for emphasis: “I myself have done that a million times.” This is why you cannot use this pronoun in the above example in any circumstance. If you wish to sound smarter, keep it simple and correct.

Former vs Latter

Although the difference is clear-cut, sometimes writers and speakers mix these up. Former is the first of two, while latter is the second. Speaking of which, be careful with formerly vs formally: the former means “at an earlier time,” while the latter means “by an established form or structure.”

Neither/either are vs Neither/either is

Both neither and either are singular pronouns and take a singular verb. Confusion sets in when the verb appears far from its subject and/or when a plural object falls after it: “Turns out, neither of the mischievous kids was(not were) responsible for the broken window; it was Mr. Jack who did it!”

Fall between the cracks vs Fall through the cracks

You can’t really fall between an opening; you fall into or through it. Having said that, don’t let logic fall through the cracks when you use this idiom.

Mute vs Moot

They are very different and confusion comes when pronouncing them. Moot commonly means “deprived of practical significance,” whereas mute means silent. So you can choose to be mute about a moot point, but be careful about the difference.

Just desserts vs Just deserts

When someone needs to get what he deserves, you hope he reaps his just deserts. But on a particularly well-behaved three-year-old’s birthday, she might be allowed in just desserts.

Modern-day vs Modern

Modern-day is a redundant form and modern simply covers it. So be a modern speaker and sound smarter by using the superior word.

So-called “good grammar” vs So-called good grammar

The difference here is in the quotation marks and it is really an important difference. Using quotation marks after so called is obsolete and silly, since this phrase covers the need for that. It introduces a term as falsely, improperly, or commonly referred to as something. So forget about the quotation marks in writing or the so-called air quotes in speaking.

Exuberant vs Exorbitant

While both mean “extreme”, these terms are often confused in relation to money. Exuberant refers to unrestrained enthusiasm or flamboyance, while exorbitant means “exceeding an appropriate amount.” So, an exuberant use of a credit card, leads to an exorbitant bill down the road.

Come vs Go

Come stands for movement toward the speaker, while go denotes the opposite. “Jacques said: “Come to Paris!” but after having stayed there for two months he said I should go.”

Jealous vs Envious

 Jealousy is a feeling of resentment toward another, particularly in matters relating to an intimate relationship, while envy refers to covetousness of another’s advantages, possessions or abilities. So your ex is jealous of your new partner, but your neighbor is envious of your pretty house.

Effect vs Affect

Affect is generally considered to be a verb which means “to produce change in or influence something”. Effect, on the other hand, is a noun which can also be used as a verb and it means “a change that occurred.” So, the negative effect of pollution affects the environment in a bad way and all of this has a disastrous effect on our lives.

Stress is one of the primary reasons why we can’t function properly. It takes us further away from the solution of the problem we should be dealing with, it creates a chaos in our thoughts and energy and blocks us off from rational thought. There are many techniques you can do to relieve stress, but there are few you can do anywhere.

Next time you are stressed, try this powerful technique that will help you instantly relieve stress and fight stress on the long run as well, by training your brain to react differently in stressful situations.

The Way the Technique Works

This technique works with the neurovascular points on your forehead, which means bringing more blood to the frontal lobe of your brain where all the intellectual processes are taking place. In fact, you take the blood from your more primal fear-based area of your head, which is activated when you are stressed out or overwhelmed, to the area where intellectual thought sits.

This helps you to relieve stress and bring the problem to the rational you for a different kind of processing and understanding. It is a soothing technique and it helps you face stressful situations better on the long run if practiced whenever stress comes back.

How to Do It?

You can do it anywhere, but it is best if you lie down and use pillows to hold up your elbows, as the longer you do it, the better the effects.

Follow these steps for a stress-free you:

1. Place your hands gently on the forehead so that the tips of your fingers are touching at the middle of it and the base of the palm is over your temples.
2. Don’t apply pressure, a gentle touch is enough.
3. Keep your hands there until you feel better.
4. While in that position, bring up the problem which caused the stress in the first place to your attention.
5. Contemplate on it and you will see that the situation won’t seem as bad, as you have shifted your approach to it from a different perspective and energy.

By rewinding the story while holding the neurovascular points, you are training your mind to react differently to situations of that nature by changing your emotional habits or responses.

There are those stressful moments and situations when you can’t do anything but wait for the surroundings to change so you can help yourself by reducing that stress the way you do it best.

Well not anymore – this technique gives you the opportunity to face and fight off stress in ANY situation, be it work, meeting, exam (you name it).

This technique uses the power of the heart chakra to heal the mixed emotions and bring you to a state of balance and peace.

The best part is you will be able to affect the energy of the whole area around you and change the way things are happening to help the others as well. It is a very simple and subtle technique which won’t create confused looks and awkward feelings, as it doesn’t require any special movements or gestures.

Let’s Try It Out!

 It is very simple and no one will notice you doing it. Just follow these directions and help yourself instantly when you need inner peace the most.

1. Place your hand above the center of your chest, just make it look natural with no sudden movements. This is where your heart chakra is (if you want to know more about the chakras go here[hyperlink]).
2. Take a calm, deep breath and repeat these phrases in your head:
3. “I’m OK, no matter what happens.”
4. “Everybody’s OK, no matter what happens.”
5. “We’re all OK, no matter what happens.”
6. Repeat these phrases and feel the energy shift – offer that new energy to the space and the people you’re with.

This mantra is quite literally the reality of your soul – the things happening which trigger stress are just opening a space of your Self which requires your work on it, by facing it and understanding it, coming at peace with it.

So when you do this technique remember that you are OK and that all that is happening is a trigger, not for stress, but for something which will help you become a better you.

Reading books is more beneficial than you might think. It is great for mental stimulation, which in terms slows the progress of (or possibly even prevent) the potential risk of Alzheimer’s or Dementia, it reduces stress, it enriches your knowledge, expands your vocabulary, improves your memory, strengthens your analytical skills, improves your focus and concentration, and the list goes on.

So, nurturing this habit in your kids will be something they will be grateful about when they grow up. In an age of computers and smartphones, where reading books experiences an enormous decline among young children and teenagers, it is very important that you, as parents, start promoting this healthy habit among your children and grant them a gift like no other money can buy.

So how can you create these healthy reading habits in your child? Just follow these steps and be creative by inventing others as well.

Find books with rich illustrations – not photos!

 Books with simple photos and minimal text are the least helpful ones for children under age 5. They don’t trigger as many conversation starters and these are critical to child development. So, find books with rich illustrations and let your and your child’s creativity come to full bloom.

Ask questions based on the illustrations

Illustrations can help children enrich their vocabulary, especially at the age between 16 and 24 months, as during that period, they add more words to their vocabulary daily than they do at any other age. They start with learning the easiest words, such as nouns like “dog” and “tree”. So, if you see a picture of a dog, ask questions as “Where is the dog? Do you see it?” “What is the dog doing?” “What color is it?” The base knowledge of nouns helps kids construct sentences with other parts of speech more quickly, so “dog” will turn into “brown dog” and eventually “brown dog runs.”

Point out the obvious

Kids have still no idea about what you may take for granted as an adult: things such as the author’s name, what an author does, how to hold a book, reading sentences from left to right, turning pages. Share these basic steps with your child to help them read independently when they are ready.

Cuddling and reading are a perfect pair

Cuddling helps your child associate reading with the feeling of closeness and comfort. This will build up their self-confidence about reading, especially out loud.

Relate the content to real life

 Relating a book’s plot to a real-life situation your child has experienced will help your child remember the book and the vocabulary better. So, if you’re reading a book about Jamie going to the zoo, start a conversation about the last time your child went to the zoo with you. For children over the age 3, you can ask open-ended questions (who, what, where and why) to create a dialogue of storytelling.

Spark a conversation

What’s more important than finishing the entire book is the conversation you have during reading. Responding to questions (even those never-ending ones) and talking with your child will help them develop their cognitive skills and social development in the real world. You can decide to stop reading at any moment which is convenient for a rich conversation and let the conversation flow from there.

Imitate voices and make silly sounds

Your child will adore your silly side when it comes to onomatopoeias such a Moooo! Ring, ring! Knock, knock! Bang! So don’t feel afraid to say them in the right moment. The variety of sounds and voices will lead to your child recognizing phonemes, or sound units that make up larger words. It will in term help your child speak full words.

Ask prediction questions

“What do you think the cat will do after it drinks the milk?” “What toy do you think Jessie will choose?” This kind of questions helps your child to learn to read on their own. Later, when your child picks up a chapter book for the first time, they won’t have any trouble finding the page where they left off. This is because this way of communicating while reading makes them remember points in the book. It will also enhance their creativity and their ability to become better narrative storytellers.

Follow their lead

Don’t force your child to sit still and read. This will make them see reading as a punishment, not fun. Just go with the flow of your child’s attention span. If they lose interest, let them run around the house and come back to the book in a few minutes, but don’t give up when they do so – keep on reading and commenting on the story to yourself. They will often come back to you out of curiosity.

Are you one of those people who seem to breeze through life with the ease of a butterfly? It seems as if nothing can hold them back and they handle problems as if they were never there in the first place, they face every situation without fear and manage stress in a way most people would never think it is possible.

It is true that it is too easy to get caught up in the negative, the truth is life cannot be all rainbows and sunshine, but the main idea is to know how to face the problems without you becoming a problem to yourself. Make sure you create a positive mental attitude towards any problem, as there are no problems – the only problem is our approach to those situations.

How easy is it to do that? Why not try and have a go at these stress reduction, problem solving techniques – they are guaranteed to make you feel better.

1. See problems as solvable

With the right attitude, there is no problem which cannot be solved or alleviated. Write down any problems or concerns and think about solutions.

Although we believe we are fighting the problem itself, half of the battle we are fighting is the emotions and mental conflicts the problem brings up. In the heat of our emotions, we only make the problem grow bigger until we become more of a problem to us than the problem itself.

One method of gaining perspective, clarity and cold-headedness is to write the problem down. This gives us the chance to filter the real situation from the emotions that come with it and have the opportunity to reach to the concrete and tangible issue, instead of ourselves. So, here’s what you will do:

• Write the problem down – out of your system and onto a piece of paper. Really, write all that’s in your head.
• Now read it and cross off any emotional statements you have made about it.
• Write it out again, with just the facts, nothing more.
• Now write a scenario where the issue has been resolved, write several scenarios if needed.
• Read your solution to the problem. How did you fix it? What steps did you take?
• This is your plan. Now start working on it.

Giving your emotions some time out and stepping back from all that momentary chaos inside of you is a great way to solve any problem. So, calm down, get that pen out and let the ideas flow.

2. Life is all about change – accept that

Life is a continuous change, as Heraclitus once said, “Everything changes and nothing remains still … and … you cannot step twice into the same stream.” Knowing this, you need to accept the fact that some things come and go when they should. There is a Zen proverb which says “Let go or be dragged,” and really, new changes come with new challenges and new beautiful things in them, you just need to open your eyes to see and your heart to feel the freshness of the moment. See life as a journey, not a trial.

As a result, you will always take the advantage of change in the right moment – when it comes. Because everything would be boring if it remains the same as it was, wouldn’t it? Grasp the new moment instead of lamenting the one that has already passed.

3. Fear or rejection is an unnecessary enemy

Of course, rejection and failure may come whenever we decide to try something harder and push our limits. The bad part about it is that this emotion pulls deep at the strings of self-esteem and sense of self-worth. And which is even worse, you keep rewinding the scenario over and over wondering what you could have done differently to change the outcome. The reality is – you cannot change anything at that moment and the best thing to do is to come at peace with it. The path to every success is paved with rejection and failure among other things.

The most important thing is not to be afraid of rejection. Be kind to yourself and know that you will never be able to be perfect for everyone and everything. Perfection as people imagine it does not exist, which means you were not the first nor the last to fail at something. Take a deep breath, focus on something positive, create a good feeling space in your body and stay in it.  From that place, start analyzing what you have learned from that situation – as everything in life is a lesson. What new opportunities arise from that? What’s totally possible now? Be in the present moment, smile and let seeking opportunities and positive possibilities become your second nature.

4. Live life to the fullest

There is always more to life than work and family or striving to achieve and being in service to others. Don’t let yourself become a slave to just a few directions you’ve set in your life living everything else out of it. Life is whole with all the colors in it, not just a few you find most important.

Give yourself some time for enjoyment, fun and fulfilment in the simple activities that make you happy and alive. You have all the time in the world if you know how to use it wisely and to your advantage. Don’t punish yourself by leaving all the fun out of life, take up activities that include fun and enjoyment, because all your hard work won’t make up for the happiness of the simple things. Take up a hobby and give yourself some time out. Participate in activities simply for the sheer enjoyment and pleasure.

So go on, if you haven’t done it yet, now is the time to take up a hobby and follow your interests and passions. You could even enjoy the sweetness of doing nothing. Once you have brought your mind to a calm and happy state, you will be able to pursue your ambitions and face the challenges that life brings much more easily.

5. Don’t be afraid to ask for help

I will tell you a story of a father and a son. The father once said to the son: “Do you see that huge rock there? Move it using all your options and abilities.” The son tried as hard as he could, all day. In the end, he gave up and came back to his father saying that he couldn’t move it even for an inch. Then the father asked his son: “Did you use all your options and abilities?” The son said yes, but the father said: “You didn’t. You didn’t ask for my help.”

Never overestimate yourself. Sometimes we do need help from others, and as we would help them, they would help us as well. We as people are meant to do things together. We haven’t come to this part of history and this much power in world because we were the superior species, but because we worked together.

It is time to accept that you cannot bear all the burdens alone – you are not supposed to. Requesting help does not suggest weakness, don’t let that fool you. Weakness is when you are unable to ask for help when needed.

You do need to ask intelligently and be ready for any kind of answer, though. And the best way to do this is to:

• Let go of your expectations – ask without the need to hear a yes.
• People CAN say no. If they do, move on and ask for someone else’s help.
• ASK – don’t demand. Leave out the emotion and drama.
• Be clear about what you want – ask directly and clearly.
• Always ask the right person – the one with the willingness, ability and resources to help.