How to filter gossip....

In ancient Greece, Socrates was reputed to hold knowledge in high esteem.  One day an acquaintance met the great philosopher and said, “Do you know what I just heard about your friend?”

“Hold on a minute”, Socrates replied. “Before telling me anything I’d like you to pass a little test. It’s called the Triple Filter Test.”

“Triple filter?”

“That’s right”, Socrates continued.  “Before you talk to me about my friend, it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what you’re going to say.  That’s why I call it the triple filter test.  The first filter is Truth.  Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?”

“No,” the man said, “Actually I just heard about it and …”

“All right”, said Socrates.  “So you don’t really know if it’s true or not.  Now let’s try the second filter, the filter of Goodness.  Is what you are about to tell me about my friend something good?”

“No, on the contrary.”

“So”, Socrates continued, “you want to tell me something bad about him, but you’re not certain it’s true.  You may still pass the test though, because there’s one filter left: The filter of Usefulness.  Is what you want to tell me about my friend going to be useful to me?”

“No, not really.”

“Well”, concluded Socrates, “if what you want to tell me is neither true nor good nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?”

Author Unknown

Submitted by Amoda

cuboiart.blogspot.com

Shared from:

Testing For Gossip

by STEPHEN on JANUARY 17, 2014 in INSPIRATIONAL STORIES

http://academictips.org/blogs/

Where our happiness lies....

A group of 50 people was attending a seminar.  The speaker started giving each person a balloon.  Each one was asked to write his or her name on it using a marker pen.  Then all the balloons were collected and put in another room.

credit: gallery.yopriceville.com

The delegates were then let into that room and were asked to find the balloon which had their name written on it, within 5 minutes.  Everyone was frantically searching for their name, pushing, colliding with each other, and there was utter chaos.  At the end of 5 minutes, no one could find the balloon with their name on it.

Now each one was asked to randomly collect a balloon and give it to the person whose name was written on it.  Within minutes everyone had their own balloon.

Lesson learned:

This is exactly happening in our lives.  Everyone is frantically looking for happiness all around, not knowing where it is.  Our happiness lies in the happiness of other people.  Give them their happiness, and you will get your own happiness.  And this is the purpose of human life.

Submitted by Hemendra Chanchani

Shared from:

Finding Happiness

by Stephen in Inspiring stories

http://academictips.org/blogs/

The reality of love

credit: xitefun.com 

          

          Love exists throughout the year and throughout our lives.  The truth is love is a lot more complicated than it seems.  Love, as it turns out, doesn’t mean that you never get mad with the person, or that they constantly and consistently fulfill your need for love.

          You can get terribly angry with someone you love dearly and many times, people just get caught up in the bubble of their individual lives that they forget about the needs of the people they share their lives with.

          Love in itself can only do so much.  A lot more depends on an awareness of the skills and tools we need to overcome the curve balls thrown to us in our lives.  Love is the magic that blinds us together.  The singular X factor that we can’t quite define as we stay tied to people throughout our lives.

          Love, passion, and attraction are all very different emotions.  Someone who may cause you to have those butterflies in your stomach may not be the love of your life.

          Mostly, love is something we learn from others.  The measure of joy, kindness, empathy and gentleness we receive from the people we love generally out weights any negatives emotions associated with a long-term relationship.

          Love is something we teach others as well.  Children’s idea of what love looks and smell like tends to revolve around the expressions of love in their everyday lives.  Little random acts of kindness count a lot.  In fact, probably even more, than the big gestures of love.  Love is anchored in something a lot more practical and pragmatic.

          The reality of love is that it’s practiced, felt and manifested each and every day not-so-positive moments of our lives.  After all, life is not a bed of roses.  Thorny issues will crop up in any given relationship we’re in.

          There are more people in your life who love you.  It’s worth reminding yourself of that, and not gets bogged down by sadness and loneliness.  What remain in our life are our individual ideas of love and the people we practice it with.  That will endure till the end of days.

credit: xitefun.com 

Sheila Stanley

The Meaning of Love Different Spin

StarMetro Friday, 14 February 2014

FIXING PROBLEMS

CREDIT: disney-stationary.com

          

Look deeply into the mirror and work around fixing the biggest challenges faced.  Most people prefer to turn the other way around and ignore the problem.  The problem will not go away until you fix it permanently.  It will grow bigger and bigger every time you ignore it.

Ways to rectify

1.	Decide a new process to prevent the mistake from recurring OR eliminate factors that trigger them
2.	Seek expert help to provide advice and help resolve situation
3.	Take action and adopt new, healthy habits to prevent the challenges from happening

          Overcoming your biggest fears often leads to the path of biggest success.

credit: leftycartoons.com

          All of us had life and career dreams when we were growing up and somehow many of us suppressed these desires through the years.  A desire is implanted for us to achieve through hard and smart work.  Dreams do come true if you follow your hearts desires.  Often it means taking the leap into the unknown and facing up to the scary situations.

Pam Siow

Finding a Compass for 2014

Entrepreneurship Insights

MetroBiz, The Star

Tuesday 4 February 2014

12 Tips To Prevent Bloating

www.andertoons.com

1. Eat only when truly hungry.
    Try to avoid emotional eating and overeating.

2. Allow your previous meal to digest before eating the next meal.
    Wait at least three hours between meals.

3. Chew well and don’t talk while chewing.
    If you're eating with others, put down your folk between bites and let the         flavor and the experience of food be your only focus. Don't eat and speak at     the same time. Better yet, meet friends for walks or for a tea and keep           social eating to minimum until your gut is healthy and strong.

4. Be careful with your fiber.
    Coarse or poorly chewed fiber will delay passage through the digestive             system and slow the rate at which the food is digested and absorbed. So if       you don’t chew a slice of bread or a piece of potato properly, you're leaving     a lot more work for your stomach and it will take longer.

5. Eat easy-to-digest meals when you're in a rush, stressed, or                 anxious.
    Focus on soups and warm mono-meals such as kitchari and sautéed                 vegetables.

6. Eat fruit at least 30 minutes before meals.
    Don’t eat fruits after a meal. This habit is gas-forming and leads to bloating.

7. Get hip to ginger.
    Try chewing on a slice of ginger with lime juice 20 minutes before a meal.

8. Use digestion-stimulating spices when making your food.
     Try black pepper, ginger, cumin, coriander, cardamon, or fennel.

9. Don’t drink anything cold while eating.
    Ideally, you'll limit cold foods as well. Fruits should be room temperature         (not straight from the fridge). If you can’t live without your ice cream, have     some ginger tea afterward.

10. Avoid drinking 30 minutes after the meal.
      It will dilute digestive juices and make it harder to digest food.

11. Reduce salt.
       The easiest way? Start cooking your own meals. Restaurant meals are             often overly salty.

12. Eliminate caffeine and alcohol.
       This is particularly important if you have a leaky gut or inflammation.

www.andertoons.com 

If you feel bloated, try these remedies:

1. Chew on fennel seeds or sip a hot fennel and ginger tea.
     Prepare fennel tea by crushing one teaspoon of fennel seeds and adding it        to one cup of water in a pot. Bring the water to a boil, cover and steep for        10 to 15 minutes. Cool and strain.
     A traditional dose of fennel tea is about two to three cups daily. If you're at      a restaurant or don’t have fennel seeds, opt for a mint tea. It's also                  soothing to the digestive tract. Another tip: carry tea bags in your purse so      you'll always have the kind you like handy.

2. Go for a brisk walk.
     Aim for 30 minutes of walking. I also like to add a few jumping jacks or            twists. This helps to increase blood circulation and to release gas.

3. Stretch.
     You want to do poses that create extension and contraction of the abdomen      such as cat/cow, child’s pose, or seated twists.

4. Get warm.
     Apply a warm compress on the lower part of the stomach or take a warm        bath to improve circulation and counteract muscle contraction that might be      causing bloating. 

6 Spiritual Lessons

Nos.	lessons
1	Communication skills can make (or break) a marriage ·        Adapt communication technique to fit partner’s style. ·        Successful communication is about what the other understands.
2	Divorce doesn't traumatize children; parents do ·        It’s the anger and contention between parents during the divorce process that scars children.
3	Understand someone's feelings before you can reach a solution ·        mutually beneficial agreements ·        let go of rigid positions, and focus on common goal
4	Sometimes, you need to let go
5	The best solution is usually the one that benefits everyone ·        the resolution must mutually benefit all members that are affected, with no winners or losers
6	Courage and strength and should be honored

credit: henkykuntarto.wordpress.com 

By Tejal Patel, February 6, 2014 

6 Spiritual Lessons I Learned From Being A Divorce Attorney

http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-12541/6-spiritual-lessons-i-learned-from-being-a-divorce-attorney.html

Elimination diet

CREDIT: www.glasbergen.com

The foods you're eating every day could be slowly corrupting your health and shortening your lifespan.   Toxic foods are hard to spot, especially for those who've already cleaned up their diets and feel like they are eating healthy.  Elimination diet means figuring out if foods are causing inflammation (contributing to everything from autoimmune arthritis, to irritable bowel, to acne), is to cut out the culprit foods for about a month and see how you feel when you reintroduce them.

Here is easy 7-step plan for doing your own elimination diet. 
1. Take stock. It’s hard to know where you're going unless you know where you are.
    Before you begin an elimination diet, start at your head and go to your toes, and make     a list of everything you notice in your body, however subtle or long-standing the               symptom has been. 
    Some potential symptoms of food sensitivities:

     a.  skin issues

     b.  Digestive issues like gas, bloating, or intermittent constipation

     c.  Bad allergies

     d.  energy level

     e.  mood

     f.   brain fog                           

2. Eliminate the usual suspects for 23 days.

     No gluten, dairy, eggs, soy, fast food, or alcohol for 23 days. 

     Antibodies, which are the proteins that your immune system makes when it reacts to        foods, take around 21 to 23 days to turn over, so if you don’t quit things to which            you're sensitive for at least that time, you won’t get the full effect of eliminating            them.

3. Cr*#! What DO I eat?

     The diet requires a little grocery shopping and taking a few extra minutes a day to            prepare food. New habits take 21 days to form, so the yogis say, which is also why            we’re doing a 23-day elimination diet! We want these new habits to die hard.

4. But seriously .... what do I eat?

• 30% “clean” protein, i.e. organic, hormone-free, grass-fed, happy, lean beef, chicken, and wild fish and shellfish
• 70% vegetables, legumes (think beans and lentils), nuts, seeds, seaweeds, and gluten-free grains like quinoa

5. What to eat & what to avoid

• DO eat fish. (But watch out for fish on the NRDC’s high mercury list like tuna and swordfish.)
• DO eat lots of fiber, fresh whole foods, and unprocessed meals you make yourself.
• DO eat lots of healthy fats found in olive oil, ghee, coconut oil, sunflower oil, flax oil, walnut oil, and avocados.

• Do NOT eat processed health bars if possible. They often have 15 grams (or more) of sugar. If you need them for an emergency snack, the kinds I like are Go Raw pumpkin bars and Kind’s “Nuts and Spices” variety, because they are very low in sugar.
• Do NOT carbo load on gluten-free breads, cereals and crackers. Totally cool to eat some of these, but in an ideal world, you’re not just replacing a lot of refined carbs with a lot of gluten free refined carbs.

     Watch out for oats, they almost always have gluten! 

6. How do I reintroduce foods the right way?

     On day 24, pick one thing you eliminated—like gluten, OR dairy, OR eggs—but not              more than one, and eat it.  See how you feel over the next 48 hours. If you have no          reaction after two days, eat that same food again, and for a second time, notice how      you feel.  From there, it’s up to you whether or not to re-incorporate that food into        your diet on a regular basis.

     Once you’ve made a call on the first food you reintroduce, pick another one and              follow the same steps. 

7. This all works best when you pay attention to you.

     Throughout the diet and the reintroduction process, notice how you feel.

CREDIT: www.maurerfoundation.org 

SHARED FROM:

Dr. Robin Berzin, February 6, 2014 

The Simple Elimination Diet That Could Change Your Life Forever

http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-12540/the-simple-elimination-diet-that-could-change-your-life-forever.html