Life Is Like A Game Of Chess

I'm not a chess player but over the years I have watched many of my friends play the game. But I can play checkers - not that it matters. Recently as I was watching a couple of friends play the thought occurred to me that chess is a lot like life - it's uncertainty, it's adventure, it's exhilaration and yes, it's a disappointment. Watching caused me to consider three life areas;

-Why do we make the moves we do?

Every day we all make decisions - some small ones, some insignificant ones and often some major ones. Do we take this move now or wait? Do we let go of this or hold on?

Do we say yes or no to this opportunity? Do I take a new route or play it safe and take the one I always do? Do I share these thoughts or keep them to myself? Hundreds of not thousands of routine choices and decisions every day. Some easy and some more difficult but in the end, we have a choice - do it or don't, make it or don't, try it or don't, say it or don't.

Every choice, action, and decision we make has a consequence - some are potentially positive and some negative, some are short term and some may take a while to come to fruition and often a few can be either a disaster or amazing.

I'm not going to dig into the weeds in this article about the best decision approaches to take as I have written several articles dedicated to this topic - all I want to do with this one is to make sure that you grasp the concept of reality and relationship between what you want, what is and how the relationship between these two approaches ultimately determines the outcomes you end up with.

In chess, every move matters, and yes some can be more crucial than others depending on how your opponent (life) reacts or responds to your moves. We can't control how our opponent chooses to pay their next move, all we can do is try and react as best we can given our options based on their (life's - starting to see the relationship here) previous move.

If their (life's) move puts us in a corner limiting our options, well, do we cave in and just let them (life) win and just quit or do we keep looking for a different or better strategy or approach to try and regain our control of the game and its potential ending?

Life will never stop sending us challenges, opportunities, options, dead ends, problems and chances and for us to - change, grow, improve or mature or to default back to what is comfortable regardless of whether it works or not or improves things or not. Life is relentless and no matter what choices we make or challenges we overcome, there are always others waiting just around the corner to keep us focused on improving vs. settling or quitting.

-In hindsight do we wish we had made different movers?

Regardless of your knowledge, experience, education, and wisdom, you can never know what is waiting in the wings that will cross your path tomorrow whether you are ready or not or how the decisions, choices, and options you have today will turn out tomorrow. I can move my chess piece, but I have no idea how you will respond, I just have to wait and see and them move accordingly.

Trying to outsmart life is stupid - what it wants us to learn to do is make the best moves possible given our resources, faith, courage, and wisdom. Plans are great if you could control life. Knowing is great if things never changed. The future is within your understanding if it always performed according to history and rules. Your life would be easy if you always made the right decisions - the problem is that the right decision or choice made today could in the future turn out to have been a wrong decision in the past and why? It's called "life" folks.

-What do we learn regardless of whether we win or lose?

Learning is an interesting concept when you think about it.

You learn a new skill, hobby or process after spending time evaluating, practicing and repeating the tactics until they are mastered. A question - have you ever learned anything in your life in the past from (parents, schools, seminars, books or just plain experience) that for any reason is not still true or relevant today? If your answer is no - it's for one of two reasons - 1) you have been living in a cabin in the mountains with no human contact of any kind for your entire life or 2) you are the smartest person who has ever lived in the history of humanity.

So, the rest of us are given new learning options every day of our lives and we can choose to embrace these opportunities or resist or reject them. But, one thing life has taught me over the years is that when I refuse to learn a lesson it wants to teach me and it believes I need to learn, it will keep coming back again and again from - a different person, different source or different situation. It will be relentless.

In the end, learning is not the end of anything it is simply the willingness and ability to let go of conventional wisdom, existing attitudes or opinions and skills or approaches that are just no longer working, effective or useful.

Think about it - do you still sell, market, read, cook, travel, garden, communicate exercise etc. today the way you did last week, last year, ten years ago or even fifty years ago? If you are - Checkmate!

https://ezinearticles.com/?Life-Is-Like-A-Game-Of-Chess&id=10079764

What Are You Learning in This Stressful Time?

Humans are wired to learn from pain and discomfort. When all is going well we relax and go into neutral, like an idling car. When we're faced with fear, hostility, physical and/or emotional pain, and other such lower frequential energies, we tend to go into action, pedal to the medal. "Why is this happening to me? What have I done to deserve this?" and other such questions quickly arise.

Well, face it. If we were happy and comfortable all the time would we really want to change anything?

Growth, improvement, healing, and other such changes only occur when we've been made uncomfortable enough that we don't want to tolerate the situation any more. It's then and only then that we begin to desire change.

And so we've just had one of the most uncomfortable years in our history. Suddenly everyone wants things to be better - our government, our health, the climate, the economy, the environment, and more.

Here's the deal: true change only happens when the learning about an experience is complete. As a dear friend used to say, "When it becomes a no-thing then you're done with the lesson and can move on." In other words, when you've acquired all the learning you need and/or want about an issue or situation, at that point you become bored or tired of it. That's the signal that you're ready to move on with your learning.

Since we're still battling the viral pandemic, we don't yet have a government that works for the people of our country, gazillions of people are still unemployed, and we still live on a polluted planet, evidently we're not complete with our learning regarding these issues. Now is the time to begin thinking of what kind of world, government, and culture you want to live in so that you can create it.

But first, you must get clear - absolutely clear - about what you've learned. Only then can you define what you want.

After you've determined what it is you want, then you can envision it and describe it in minute detail. As you do so, feel the sensations and emotions you'll have when your vision is a reality.

Ask yourself such questions as:

• What caused me pain this last year - emotional, physical, or both?
• What did I learn about the issue/situation?
• What did I learn about myself while I was experiencing that which caused me the pain?
• How do I want to see this situation/issue changed so that it becomes beneficial for all?
• What am I willing to do or refrain from doing in order to assist the changes I desire into becoming reality?

Now, do something. Take a step big or small, and change your world so that it better reflects what you truly wish it to be.

https://ezinearticles.com/?What-Are-You-Learning-in-This-Stressful-Time?&id=10410488

True Beauty: Honor the God or Goddess in You (By Tina Tessina)

Extreme makeovers are all the rage these days, with botox injection parties, and reality shows. Plastic surgery is on the rise. Many people are trying to match the extraordinary measures actors and actresses go through to look perfect on the screen. These are shortcuts taken to try to create happiness with a scalpel, a diet, or an implant, and they don't fulfill their promise. Beautiful people are not automatically happy people.

Diva-dom, god-ness, is just a way of expressing the goal of the human quest-to attain the highest expression of the beautiful being you are is not about sex, or perfection, and you can't get there via technology. It's a growth process, a transformation of self through awareness and learning. It's about meaning, and being real. It's an emotional and spiritual walk, and it requires faith fueled with liberal doses of loving kindness.

Every day, I have the delight and privilege of loving Richard, my husband, a real, human, fallible man. We're about the same age, he's losing hair, I've gained weight. But, after almost 20 years, we have fused our hearts and souls, if not our personalities. He clearly loves me, though I often frustrate him, and I am grateful for his presence in my life on a daily basis. Our sex life is lovely, thank you, even if it doesn't match movie fantasies. We laugh together, we share the struggles of daily life together, and the thought that he might die before I do fills me with dread. All the buffed up male models in the world couldn't replace my very own, live and kicking, formerly red-haired leprechaun. It took me 37 years to find him, and I'm not about to replace him with so-called "perfection".

My friends and I are no more perfect. We can be cranky, we occasionally carelessly hurt each others' feelings, they don't always say the right thing. But, we are here for each other when we're really needed, we do our best to be caring and kind, and we forgive each others' imperfections.

Perfection, particularly media perfection, is highly overrated. Clients come to my psychotherapy office every day in considerable emotional pain because their lives aren't "perfect" enough. They feel inadequate, dissatisfied, hopeless and frustrated because they can't attain life as they see it on the big screen. I have to break the news that those people up there have problems in their real lives, too, and refocus my clients on accomplishing normal things that work for them..

All the face creams, cardio workouts, healthy diets, Prozac and meditation tapes in the world aren't going to make their lives, their bodies, or their mental state much better. Life is not about remaining young and photogenic. It's about growing your soul.

The only way I know to develop my soul is through feelings. Awe at natural phenomena (the star-lit heavens, a centuries-old redwood, the gorgeous flowers of the Mandevilla vine at my gate) stretches it, making me yearn and aspire. Human relationships bruise, batter and comfort it, teaching me resilience and humility. Love urges my soul to blossom and glow, compassion causes it to blur at the edges, and so I learn to accept others as they are.

The humans in my life are not the narcissistic, self-absorbed "beautiful people" of the screen. We're ordinary, real, imperfect people, like you-the ones who really keep this country and the world going. Together, we work hard at life, trying to be our best selves, taking care of our families and each other, and striving to bring our personal ethics and aspirations alive in the world. We come from numerous backgrounds and religions, we don't always approve of each other's decisions, but we care for each other the best we can. We struggle to be less self-indulgent, more compassionate and understanding. We try to resist the fads, the manipulations of advertising, the con artists who prey on our weaknesses. We survive through government administrations we don't agree with, through natural and unnatural disasters that take our loved ones and possessions, through fads and fancies that are often unhealthy. From each event, we learn, we stretch, we recover, we process the emotional aftermath, and we move on. These life events are the soul's workout, and though we may groan and complain, we can feel the growth eventually.

Today, an elder of my church, a man in his late 70s, pretty physically battered and a bit stooped over, proved to be one of the most forward-thinking of the whole congregation. Life has beaten him up a bit, but it has not passed him by. His spirit glows radiantly. Have you ever seen an elderly person like that? One whose wisdom shows in his or her eyes, and whose love is not flamboyant, just there in a gentle query about your health, or a brief touch that calms and reassures. The spirit that shines from within them is true beauty, and it can't be bought in a jar.

The miracle is, that each of us has the total capacity to achieve this perspective, this fullest embodiment of the highest expression of soul, even as our bodies wear out and crumble.

Here's a visualization to help you access the god or goddess within, your inner wise person:

Picture a person of seventy or more-just the kind of elder you admire, the one you would like to become. Financially secure, in good health, surrounded by people who care, good friends and family... active with lots of interests... Introduce yourself to this elder, and notice your names are the same... this is you, later in life... Make an agreement with this ideal older self that you will get advice about what decisions you need to make as life goes on, to live to a healthy and happy state of being. Continue your conversation as long as you wish, and ask what your elder's secret is for living to such a lovely old age.

Once this contact is established, you can check out your decisions regularly by using this wise mentor within. For example, how does this inner counselor react to your life choices? At that advanced age, will you look back on what you've done and think it was worth it? Does your wise self approve? Does he or she think your choice will last? What is the difference between what's important to you, and what this inner counselor regards as important?

All the experiences of your life, especially the difficult ones, have taught you valuable skills-using what you've learned in life to help yourself and others can create meaning out of pain. Buddhist teachers note that poisonous plants and venoms become healing medicines with careful processing. Every trial that you face has something to teach you and can become a source of wisdom-this inner counselor will help you access what you know.

It is a very effective tool to help you look at your own life and your decisions from a different and valuable perspective. The decisions you make today affect the rest of your life, and you are ultimately the only person to whom you are accountable and for whom you are responsible. Every new decision is truly a new life's resolution.

https://ezinearticles.com/?True-Beauty:-Honor-the-God-or-Goddess-in-You&id=10292935

There Is an Upside to Failure

Why Failure is Not the End

Sometimes when we fail we feel it is the end of the world. There is not one person on the planet Earth that has never failed in his life. The truth is that everyone fails once or many times in their life. You are not alone in this process of failing. It is normal to fail with your business, or your lover, or your friends. But, when you will fail, keep in mind that you are not alone in this and that you should keep moving forward.

There is a reason behind every failure

Failing is all about learning. It is all part of the process - the learning to move forward. Think of Albert Einstein to tried 1001 times to create the light-bulb. His vision and sense of purpose failed him forward.

It isn't always fun when things don't work out the way we planned. It is totally normal to feel de-motivated, without any enthusiasm and willingness to keep going in one thing that you have really want to feel some sense of purpose.

You know how they say: "If you fail 9 times, the 10th time will be a successful one"! The process of failing is difficult.

However, when you fail, feelings of disappointment, why try, de-motivation are seemed real. But, before you decide not to again try, keep in mind that failing is not the end.

When you think that you are on something, fail forward, work with enthusiasm, vision, and purpose, the end results will be what you expected.

Failure is Purposeful

It is often difficult to keep up the motivation. Your sense of purpose can seem illusory as if dreaming. It exists to remind you of what you really want from your life, career, relationship and friendship. When you envisage your dreams as purposeful, a spark of motivation and enthusiasm increases. Your heart is starting to beat faster and faster. You are feeling alive again!

All this is because your vision is an open door to your inner wisdom. Even if you fail once another path will be shown waiting for you just around the corner.

Nothing is lost, you just need to give yourself a chance to keep in your mind's eye all the situations you want to see, when everything seems so negative and without any sense of purpose.

You will feel tired of pushing yourself and stay motivated. Do not worry, nothing is lost.

Whenever you are unsure of what direction to take time to sit quietly. Ask your most pressing question and sit in your heart. Breathe deeply into your heart space, a place of knowing. Through practice you will change your neural pathways into a more coherent state. As well, the answer will come without all the negative self talk we often tell ourselves.

https://ezinearticles.com/?There-Is-an-Upside-to-Failure&id=10032650

Uprooting Fear and Planting Love

As you gain the habit of recognizing how love and fear in all forms and to all degrees show themselves to you in your life, you're building the foundation for the next step of your personal evolution. You'll then be able to consciously choose which you wish to experience, to what degree, and when.

It may seem ridiculous that anyone would consciously choose to experience any form of fear. However, there are times when it is desirable in order to broaden one's knowledge about fear and its effect on aspects such as one's health or a current situation. There is much value in the knowledge to be gained when learning about fear.

Fear is not to be avoided, but is instead to be welcomed as an opportunity to learn. Avoidance of fear won't make it go away. On the contrary, avoidance of fear only makes it grow.

An old farmer once taught me a lesson about fear and how to get rid of it. Using Tansy Ragwort, which is poisonous to grazing animals such as the horses I had at the time, as an example he said that cutting it down only makes the plant stronger. It grows back even larger - or meaner, as he put it. He said that the only way to get rid of Tansy is to pull it out by the roots.

Fear is like Tansy Ragwort in that respect. Avoiding fear is like cutting the Tansy down, which is a temporary solution at best and only results in making it stronger, or "meaner", when it returns. The only way to make a fear go away is by pulling the entire issue up by the roots. Once you have it completely uprooted, you can examine it, revealing the learning it offers you. It then becomes a powerful tool for you to use in creating that which you desire.

Once the learning is accomplished, the next step is to welcome the love that replaces the fear, for love will always do so. When fear is released, love fills the hole that the roots of fear left when it was uprooted.

Again, the challenge is to recognize the love, just as you learned to recognize the fear. It may come in the form of compassion, forgiveness, joy, or any one of the gazillions of forms of love.

This is why it is of vital importance to learn how to recognize both love and fear. This is not always easy, so here's one method to make it easier: make a list. Lists, mind maps, treasure maps, and other such tools serve to remind you and support you in consciously being aware of what you want to attract or manifest.

You'll need two sheets of paper, one each for Love and for Fear. Begin with the list of fears, for two reasons - because it's easier for us to recognize fear and because ending up with the love list is like eating your veggies first (fear) and then enjoying dessert (love) afterward. A delicious reward!

When you've listed as many forms of each as you can, post the lists where you'll see them often. By your desk, for example. Add to the lists as you begin to notice more ways you recognize love and fear.

Each time you witness an example of love or sense it within yourself, stop for a moment and acknowledge it. The same goes for fear. Whenever you hear words of fear or see an act of fear coming from yourself or others, acknowledge it silently to yourself. In both cases, congratulate yourself on become more aware of how many ways you notice both love and fear in your life. As you do so, you ready yourself for the next step: transforming fear into love.

https://ezinearticles.com/?Uprooting-Fear-and-Planting-Love&id=10420145

Inferiority Complex & Your Life Purpose (By Shamala Tan)

 

I had a weekend of lectures on in Depth Psychology by lecturers from ISAP Zurich. This is my third year and delighted to be still on the journey of learning.

Over this weekend, we had the most intriguing of lectures, with a focus on Complexes -- from an inferiority complex, mother complex, and so on. The lecturer Isabelle Meier shared that: Complexes arises because our basic needs (from childhood) are not met.

Our basic needs include attachment (all babies/children need an attachment figure), autonomy, self-worth, play & spontaneity and meaning. As I think about all the people I know, including myself, I can see all kinds of complexes and how they all play up in our lives! And they do stem from one of those basic needs not met.

In today's sharing, I like to touch on Inferiority Complex and how this plays up and the impact it has on our journey towards our life purpose.

OK, so some people may come up with this notion that having an inferiority complex is part of the purpose. But let's not go there. I do not think that making everything that is in us, as part of the purpose, helps us to move past them. It sounds a little like a cop out, at least to me.

For the sake of this discussion, I like to see one's purpose as separate from all of our f***ed-upness (can't find a better word to describe this!)

Think about this, if one suffers from an inferiority complex, there's a very high chance that they also suffer from a superiority complex. Because these two are polarized and the human mind has a tendency to flip-flop. To experiment, I like you to imagine yourself in a situation where you are very good at what you do, and that the people around you are not quite good at the same task, you may feel good about yourself, proud maybe, and a tinge of superiority over others? Or you may go to the other extreme of expressing excessive self-effacement.

Or let's say another situation you may find yourself in for eg. a networking event and you do not know anyone, and you are not really dressed for the occasion. Now if you are not prepped with self-confidence, there's a chance that you will feel uncomfortable, not just emotionally but physically. And when you meet someone who is less confident than you, and perhaps dressed even more shabbily than you, your self-confidence suddenly goes up!

This is a sure sign that you have not come to a space of complete ease with self-confidence and that the complexes are still acting up!

The truth is, most of us experienced what I describe above in our teenage years, but many have not moved past that stage. With all the latest technology to our avail, it makes it even easier to be harder on ourselves -- comparing ourselves with others, trying to one-up each other on social media, or trying to look better in selfies and so on.

With all of these opportunities for vanity, we need better-coping strategies and spiritual-psychological practices to stabilise ourselves internally and not allow ourselves to flip-flop between inferiority and superiority complexes. This will help us to go further than just personal development because how we give back to the world through our life purpose is also dependent on it.

I'm sure you have come across people who use their life purpose as a way to feel better about themselves. They may be speakers on the world stage suffering from a chronic case of superiority-inferiority complexes. I have come across too many. While I appreciate what they do, I personally feel there is so much more within themselves waiting to be unleashed and they have more to offer to us all, if these complexes are better managed.

Our soul or spirit, or whatever you want to call it, holds so much to give and share. We could well be the bottle-neck and the barrier, barring our full potential to be expressed.

There are many strategies to deal with this - and you may like to speak with me personally on this, I'm open to sharing via a 20min video conference call. Don't worry, I won't be selling you anything! But I will give you suggestions to do something eg a book, a course, see someone. Go here to sign up: https://meetme.so/Shamala (do check your spam box in case the confirmation email goes right in there!)

Anyway, in essence, my message to you today is to be aware of your inferiority/superiority complexes and how it is impacting who you are, and what you have to offer to the world today.

Peace.

https://ezinearticles.com/?Inferiority-Complex-and-Your-Life-Purpose&id=10013165

Doing Nothing, And Ultimately Doing Something

This article is about mistakes, and how to genuinely correct them, primarily. Although this article is about mistakes, it is about learning and creativity also. So, think about this fact. Sometimes the best thing to do with a mistake is to do nothing but observe and learn from it so that you can do better in the next action taken.

With that said, I would also like to imply this: Reality is best served when you learn how not to do things, so that the doing of them right is certain when you next attempt to take an action. Active understanding is the key to working with reality as a whole. Passive understanding is learning to work with reality by observation of how not to do things. This is what Thomas Edison was using when inventing the light bulb and synthetic rubber with his associates. A combination of active and passive understanding was used to pull off these feats, otherwise without this sort of understanding, Edison and his associates would have quit at the first try saying that infamous word: "Impossible."

"Nature to be commanded, must be obeyed." A quote from Francis Bacon

The point of that quote after the word "impossible" is that nature is successfully commanded by passive and active understanding as I describe it here. When you learn from mistakes, you "automatically" better yourself. I put the word automatic in quotes, because there is still a choice to be made. A choice to learn or not to learn. So, I say this: The ultimate laziness is abiding by the word impossible and genuinely quitting after a few tries at learning how not to do it, and you will never have a real chance to learn how to do it.

From Leonardo Da Vinci and his thought up or postulated flying machine to the Wright Brothers and their actual flying machine, it all comes down to learning how not to do it through history until you finally understand how to do it and then do it right. So, when I say in my title doing nothing and ultimately doing something, this is exactly what I mean: You must first understand fully how not to do something, and then do it with full understanding of what works within what did not work.

So, I would like to end with, as long as there is a concept of what can be done as it starts out as an idea, there is not any such thing as impossible if it starts out as a concept that can ultimately be carried out.

https://ezinearticles.com/?Doing-Nothing,-And-Ultimately-Doing-Something&id=8467558

How Do You View Your Mistakes or Failures?

Do you take them personally and conclude you are not as good as you thought you were? Do you beat yourself up and languish in pain and misery over them? Or even worse, do you use them as reasons to give up or change your goal or profession? Do you fear them so much that they end up becoming self-fulfilling prophecies? All of the above are common reactions to mistakes and/or failing that many people occasionally or regularly make.

As common as the above reactions are, they do not come naturally to us, but rather are learned in our environment. Very early on in life almost all of us begin to dislike making mistakes and failing. Thank goodness that we are not born that way, or it is likely that none of us ever would have learned to walk or talk. Can you imagine babies trying to walk and each time they fail berating themselves about what a screw-up they are? Or imagine if they attempt to talk and gobble-de-gook comes out and they conclude they are not good at talking and give up to focus their energy on drooling−which they are already pretty good at doing.

One of the key differences I have noticed in the higher performing people I work with is the way in which they view their mistakes and failures. First, they tend to be much more understanding of them in the sense that they know they are going to happen. Viewing mistakes and failures as inevitable turns them into part of the process of getting better versus the more common belief that they are a threat to their own value or competence.

Secondly, they have an understanding that if they want to get better they have to constantly be attempting things that are currently out of their reach. No one ever learned to ride a bicycle by staying on a tricycle. In other words, no progress is made without risks. They understand the more things they attempt, the more things they learn to do and the more skilled they will become.

The best of the best that I have worked with are able to completely distance their ego from their mistakes. Failure and mistakes are looked upon as necessary annoyances that will enable them to reach their goals faster. When people ask me how to reach their goal(s) faster, my standard reply is that it's simple, just learn to fail successfully faster and more often.

The great basketball coach John Wooden once told me that most people think the team that makes the fewest mistakes will win, but he has found the opposite to be true. When teams are not making mistakes, they are usually playing it safe and not striving for greatness.

Wouldn't it be great if everyone looked at their mistakes and failures simply as gifts of learning new ways to do things? The truth is, nothing is stopping any of us from doing just that. Like anything, with deliberate practice this will become a habit, and there's a high likelihood that if you adopt this attitude it will enhance your happiness and success.

https://ezinearticles.com/?How-Do-You-View-Your-Mistakes-or-Failures?&id=9981199

The I KNOW Syndrome and How It Is Making Us Foolish and Stupid (By Shamala Tan)

I don't know if this is a teenage thing, but my daughter for a period of time keeps saying I KNOW, whenever I tell her something. Or if I see that she's out of line I'll say something and she says in an agitated tone, I KNOW!

One day, I reprimanded her for using too much data Instagramming when she was out (it was an ongoing issue). She can have unlimited wifi at home so she should just wait till she gets home. Of course, she replied I KNOW, I'm sorry, just to cut me off.

I responded immediately: It is not enough to say sorry, you say sorry all the time but you still do not do the right thing. If you are really sorry then do the right thing and I know you are really sorry. Plus saying I KNOW only makes you foolish because you will cut people off and you will stop learning and listening because you think you know when you don't. And you do not even know the reason why I am restricting your data usage.

From that day on, she has not been liberal with her I KNOW! This is my teenage daughter and I am here to guide her which I am grateful for. But she is just one mild example of one having the I KNOW syndrome.

In our information age, how many adults have you met with the I KNOW syndrome? It is mind-boggling. I meet at least one I KNOW syndrome about once in every two days.

Why do people say I know when they don't? It is because the internet dispenses information like sugar in a candy store. Most people devour information like it is biblical truth. Information is just information. Information is not wisdom. Information does not make you smarter. Information certainly does not offer much guidance when it comes to living life fully.

This is the same as people having a mobile phone camera thinking they have become professional photographers. Or buying a graphic design app and think they have become graphic designers. How arrogant the human mind has become!

I have witnessed that those who often say I KNOW are usually those who are stagnated, they have not developed further on their path, they have become stale and they are frustrated. The thing is they do not realise that they have become their worst enemy because of their arrogance.

I have always been fond of people who are open to learning no matter how old they are! One of my best clients are those whom many would consider having reached the age of wisdom -- and yet they are so open to learning. They are not afraid to appear silly with their questions, because they have a genuine desire to learn in their quest for personal development.

The I KNOW syndrome makes us believe that we have all the knowledge and wisdom. Wisdom is wisdom only when information and knowledge is internalised to make real. We have to apply the information to make it real. The internet offers information only for your reading pleasure, it does not make it real for you in your life.

So watch for the I KNOW syndrome, and watch that it does not lead you down the path of foolishness, it could cost you your inner peace and long term happiness.

https://ezinearticles.com/?The-I-KNOW-Syndrome-and-How-It-Is-Making-Us-Foolish-and-Stupid&id=9994106

All Wisdom Starts Foolishly: An Article Of Psychological Understanding (By Joshua Clayton)

We all start out as kids metaphysically and then grow up through trial, error and full understanding of "what to do next time". As long as there is existence and consciousness, too, there always is a next time. Let me explain myself: Reality is like a chess game played by computers so to speak, we make many wrong moves only knowing what to do to succeed after the wrong moves are fully understood.

My Dad, Joe, used to take apart a whole car motor and have it together and working again within six or seven hours after he took it apart. Some people take three days to fix a car, maybe four. As his son, I used to copy him in his approaches to getting things done efficiently and in a working way. Here is our secret: Sort of like Tesla, figure out what does not work rapidly so that you can get to what does work consistently, and you must allow fully for these "mistakes", so that what does not work can be weeded out fully. Even Edison claimed to have this approach when inventing the light bulb, supposedly finding 9,999 ways that did not work until he found the one that did. A few years before my Dad lost mobility and strength and died, he could fix a car within under four hours with this approach fully knowing what was going on. How? He understood fully what mistakes not to make if he fully wanted the car to work or anything in life for that matter. Although he lived only to fifty-two years old, he shared that wisdom fully with me, and I caught on to it. Efficiency comes from knowing what does not work and doing what does work fully and with conscious and subconscious understanding, also with super conscious approval of all methods overall meaning that it is in line with reality as a whole, and works objectively well in reality.

So, all wisdom does start with initial mistakes and foolishness. Wisdom is created, not born, to put it succinctly. After all, if a chess computer can learn, so can we and even better in some ways because of consciousness.

Reality comes down to learning and applying, not initial "natural" perfection. Sure, I could say otherwise. What do we learn from what we do not earn? Nothing. We learn nothing. To earn through our own effort and understanding is always best when it comes to reality anyhow.

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They Have No Choice, Still We Judge Them

Being born to a privileged family or in a certain country is no merit. You did nothing to deserve or choose it. Why, oh why, do so many feel superior just because of that!? Others are born into limiting situations such as poverty and are thus given less choices to start with. But they didn't choose to be born there, either, did they? Why, then, do we judge them? Why do we look at them as lesser beings? Why do we glare at them and feel like they deserve less than we, lucky ones, deserve?

Being born in a certain place entails being exposed to the culture and belief system of such a place. If you're born in Europe, you'll learn certain things at school; if you're born in Kazakhstan, you'll learn others, and if you happen to be born in a little village in Gambia, you'll learn something different as well. What family you're born into will also give you certain opportunities or lack of them. You'll hear or see certain things. You will know nothing else but that, in particular during your first years of life. If you're born to a wealthy family, you might have a lot of people taking care of you, so your time might be devoted to having fun or to learning to behave in society. If you are born to poverty, you might have to devote your time to learning how to find food or something as basic as that. And still, it was no choice of yours.

We feel entitled to judge others just because they happened to be born in other places, in other homes, into other cultures, into other belief systems.

Then you acquire the beliefs that you're exposed to. You learn from your elders. You see and hear whatever surrounds you. You're exposed to nothing else. You're given no choice. And still we judge you.

And equipped with your learnings, your experiences, your view of the world, you start growing into the person you are. Your luggage carries what you could take from your journey so far, what you learned, what you saw, what you were exposed to. But your luggage can only include what you found on your way. It can't include what you didn't learn. It can't include what you couldn't see. It can't include what you never heard. And still, we judge you for your luggage.

We feel entitled to judge others on the basis of their luggage and forget that they often were given no choice at all.

We judge others based on our own experiences and learning; we have no other. But we often neglect to consider what their experiences and learning might have taught them. We judge them based on our views, views that we didn't originally choose; and we judge them for theirs, which they didn't originally choose, either.

We often forget that our beliefs and the way we see the world are the direct result of our experiences and learning and feel superior to others to the point of granting ourselves the right to judge them, when the truth is that we, also, were given no choice.

Only when a person grows up and can hear or see other realities, can that person question his or her own beliefs and decide whether he or she wishes to change them. But who can tell when and how that new learning happens? It doesn't matter, does it? No matter that person's learning and experience, we still want that person to think like us, to behave like us, to accept our views NOW.

A child born in a small village in the Siberian tundra and raised in an orphanage is not equipped to judge what a child his same age born into a small, loving family in Chile says about his life. An adult who never left his hometown will have difficulties understanding some of the things a person who lived in ten different countries tells him. A woman born and raised in the slums of India will not be able to comprehend some of the ideas a Norwegian female lawyer speaks about.

And still we judge them.

Next time you judge another child, another woman, another man for their appearance, their beliefs, their life, their behavior... remind yourself that maybe that human being knows no better as a result of his or her own personal circumstances and refrain from feeling better or superior than him or her. Who would you be, had your circumstances and experiences been like those of the other person? Answer this question in honesty from the depths of your heart. And see the human being behind the circumstances.

A couple of days ago I was telling you here that life is made up of moments, one after the other. Many of those moments include human beings. Next time you find yourself judging someone, why don't you instead choose to devote that one memento to sharing some of your experiences with them, so they can understand where you come from? And, while at it, why don't you ask them to tell you about theirs, so you can also understand them a bit better? If we all had more of those moments in our lives, our worldview would be undeniably wider and deeper and we'd be able to grasp other realities and other beings better. I encourage you to try.

Enjoy life, ALL of it,

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Be Your Own Favorite Teacher

The term "autodidact" refers to someone who teaches themselves a certain subject. In other words, an autodidact is someone who is self-taught. Some famous autodidacts include Ernest Hemingway, David Bowie, Russell Crowe, Leonardo da Vinci and Frank Lloyd Wright.

We are all autodidacts in the sense that we are always learning. That is to say, we should always be learning. Taking autodidacts to the next level can be something that will enrich your life far more than just the skills you'll learn. What's more, with information and resources readily available - for free in many cases - there's no time better in history than now for the autodidact.

Build your self-confidence as an autodidact

Those who teach themselves develop self-esteem and self-reliance that will positively affect nearly every aspect of their lives. By teaching yourself, you not only learn the specific skill, but you prove to yourself that you are capable of accomplishing many things beyond what you may have believed, or what others have led you to believe about yourself. You learn to trust yourself and your abilities, and you value your own intelligence.

Empower yourself with knowledge

Self-educated people do not shy away from challenges, they relish them. As you have success at autodidacts, you will train your brain to work more efficiently, and improve problem-solving skills too. You will no longer be afraid to tackle something you don't know. You will know from experience that once you set your mind to learning something, you will be able to find the information you need, and have the ability to learn. Aside from boosting your own confidence, you will gain respect from others, and be able to serve them with your knowledge. You'll be that person friends and relatives turn to when they don't know how to do something.

Practical benefits of autodidacts

Another sense of pride you will obtain is from the amount of money you will save by teaching yourself. Everyone feels smart and savvy when they find a way to save money. Just imagine the sense of accomplishment and self-satisfaction you'll experience when you save hundreds, even thousands, of dollars teaching yourself something - even figuring out how to fix something yourself.

Teaching yourself to gain a specific skill, or just for the fun of it opens up countless opportunities. The sky's the limit to what you can learn and experience in your life. Never pass up the opportunity to grow!

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Be Wary of Labels, Especially When Self-Diagnosing Health Issues!

I bet that if any of us opened up a thesaurus of health symptoms and conditions we'd be filled with serious concerns about our health after only a couple of pages. Health-related symptoms are one of the highest searched criteria on the web.

However, there are times when many of us feel jaded or despondent, our quality of sleep is not great, we're experiencing miscellaneous aches and pains. Sometimes being given a label only adds to the worry of it all by fuelling stress and health anxiety. It's important to be wary of labels, especially when self-diagnosing health issues!

As a long-established counsellor and hypnotherapist it's not uncommon for me to be asked for a diagnosis by my clients. 'Does this mean I'm stressed, depressed, suffering from anxiety?' they may ask. But, just as when you buy something from a shop which has a sticky label firmly attached, I often find that by giving someone a specific label to explain their feelings it can mean they need extra therapy sessions to then detach that label!

Yes, sometimes clients are relieved when they can put a name to how they're feeling, but oftentimes there are effective ways of dealing with issues without having to label and categorise them. It's okay to accept that there are times when we're weary, sad, stressed or overwhelmed. Things in life may gradually accumulate and result in us feeling battered and bruised. Not everything's a serious health issue though, and sometimes those times provide a nudge to sort out how we're running our life.

Learning effective ways to deal with challenges can teach us better ways to cope, to recover from the knocks life intermittently throws our way and then to turn each bad situation around.

- Accept that sometimes feeling tired, out of sorts, vaguely unwell is how it is. We may have a phase of not sleeping too well, of being a little weepy, of feeling grumpy or a bit down. Be gentle with yourself at those times. Occasionally our hormones, body clock, even a change in the weather or the cycle of the moon can throw us out of balance. Treat yourself with kindness; go to bed a little earlier, ensure you eat well, keep hydrated, take some gentle exercise, maybe get away for an hour or even a day or two.

- We teach people how to treat us. I think it was Eleanor Roosevelt who said this, but certainly a high percentage of communication is done non-verbally. We communicate our responses to situations through cues so subtle that we may be unaware of them; fear, guilt, resignation, a desire to please are all evidenced through our breathing, stance, body language, posture. Tuning in and becoming aware of what we're projecting can turn a situation around.

- Remaining silent and uncommunicative, or alternatively always saying 'yes', can be interpreted as you being okay with how things are being handled. Take responsibility for how you come across and start to teach people to treat you well.

- Be careful not to compare yourself and how you're doing or coping with others. We all have different stories, priorities, situations we're dealing with, support networks, abilities and motivations. One person's nightmare situation may be another's piece of cake, and vice versa. Comparisons can result in massive insecurities.

- When we're exhausted and feeling low it may be because we're sorry for ourselves, feeling hard done by, unappreciated or taken for granted. Becoming appropriately assertive can be the way forward. All too often frustrations build up and then we explode over the smallest of things, crying, 'how dare you, it's not fair, after all I've done for you!' Or conversely we retreat into sadness, introspection and melancholia. Often a better outcome is achieved through love, affection and by staying calm and even-tempered. Learning to say, 'no', firmly and appropriately, perhaps without explanation or justification, can teach both yourself and others to appreciate and value you more.

- Being short of time is something many of us struggle with, but spreading ourselves too thinly can lead to burnout and overload. Clues that all is not well can be frequently going to bed later, getting up earlier, missing meals, cancelling breaks, exercise and fun. Again self-help comes from taking personal responsibility and communicating to others how you're feeling and what you need. Is there only you who's competent to do those tasks? Maybe it's time to train someone else, learn to delegate or be more realistic about your work v health choices.

- Deal with stress. Ensure that you have a set time when you switch off, unless there's an occasional, genuine emergency. Are there specific times when you frequently feel frazzled? We all have our early warning signals of stress. Become acquainted with yours and identify when you need a 'water-cooler' break, a piece of fruit, time for a game of golf or a long leisurely lunch. Research has found that we perform better, often bringing new ideas and thinking into a problem, once we've had some time away to detach a little.

If you find you're becoming increasingly stressed, snappy, not sleeping or are experiencing low mood booking a health check-up is advisable. However, many of us can learn to intervene early on and start to introduce positive, ongoing self-care. Appreciate you can only do so much each day before mistakes, accidents and poor concentration start to affect your health. By introducing good habits you achieve a healthier balance in your life, becoming equipped to deal with those unavoidable times when sacrifices have to be made, you need to work longer hours or juggle unanticipated demands.

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Have a Mind of Your Own

It takes consistent personal effort and that moment of lining up with that decision to eliminate things, tasks, and people, that consumes and drains you to no-end. Or else there isn't really much changes to your current pattern of thoughts and the way you carry yourself in your day-to-day. You're always tired and emotionally drained. In short, a chore to be with. Because you're always dumping your problems and issues onto other people. Or vice-versa, having people do that to you. What goes around, comes around, remember? That's what a vicious cycle is. You get back the exact same thing you put out there for others. That, is the balance of nature. It circles right back to you. You're still giving away what you don't have. I call it having your emotions "in deficit".

Whether you harbor a great insecurity and fear for aging, for your weight, your finances, your relationships, any single one of that respectively is considered being emotionally tied down, as trivial as it may seem. As long as you carry stress and negative habit of thoughts about any single aspect of your life, you're not completely "free". If it pops up in your head constantly and lingers around, you're not free. Most people just grow accustomed to all these negative feelings over a period that it eventually feels "normal" to have it stick around in their life experience. When was the last time you said or heard, "someone said the other day... someone told me last week... I heard from someone... " over your conversations? If that "someone" isn't "you", keep it to yourself and don't pass it on to anyone. Even if that someone is your mother. If you've never tasted it, tried it, felt it yourself, don't tell someone what "someone else" said. That'd be like trying to feed a person food that your own pet dog wouldn't even steal a sniff. If you haven't even tasted it, don't offer it to someone else.

Don't blindly believe everything you see and hear without experiencing it for yourself to see that it truly serves you well too, and don't doubt anything you've never seen or heard before at first chance without trying, and simply write it off without thinking twice. In short, have a mind of your own. A strong and sturdy one that'll tide you through the harshest of conditions. Making the shift or learning how to make the decision to follow your own heart and own mind lays the foundation to customize yourself a belief system that serves "you" well. Self-love and worthiness is validated not by the compliments people pay you, but from your own acceptance to love and honor yourself completely. Each time you feel the need to hear a praise to feel good about yourself, you shoot yourself in the foot and when you constantly need someone else's approval to appreciate your very own self, you'll never feel free for the rest of your life.

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10 Surprising Ideas To Make Your Brain More Creative

Creativity is a prized asset in any organization, helping businesses become more innovative in their markets and stand out from the crowd.

Approaches to developing a culture where creativity thrives have varied from hiring 'creative people' and letting them do their stuff, hoping that it rubs off on others, to the Google type of approach where people are allowed the freedom and flexibility to be who they are in the work environment.

But what if you're completely and utterly disorganised? Does that make it impossible to create? Amongst all the clutter is there enough space for killer ideas to crawl out?

Neuroscience suggests that disorganisation can be good for creativity - so don't despair too much if you can't find last week's timesheet. It's probably hidden beneath a stack of fantastic, world-changing ideas!

Here are ten ideas that may help you throw a spanner in the works and get more creative (thanks to Steven Johnson and his book Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation for most of these):

1. Numbers matter

Cities are far more creative than small towns. The sheer volume of ideas generated means that they 'feed' off each other and can develop a creative life of their own.

2. Develop lots of interests

Developing multiple hobbies and interests helps you establish new 'connections' that a single view doesn't always allow. The brain compares and contrasts more if you are looking at things from the benefit of several angles automatically.

3. Keep reading habits diverse

Reading several books about different subjects at the same time rather than sequentially may help the brain form new connections and generate ideas that you may not otherwise see.

4. Allow your mind to wander

Let your mind become distracted to become more creative. Probably not best to do that when you need to get that report in to the boss, but if you can find the right moments, a free mind can be a creative one.

5. Never stop learning

The most creative minds never stop learning in their field; even those considered experts who 'know it all' continue to study and make new connections.

6. Debate - don't brainstorm

Numbers may matter but neuroscience suggests that accepting everything is not necessarily a good approach to creativity. Allowing ideas to crash into each other through debate may be more effective.

7. Embrace the exhaustion

Some people can be at their most creative when their brain is exhausted and not functioning at peak. Don't throw away the notepad by the side of the bed!

8. Variety is key

Having a variety of talents, interests, and experience is a plus for promoting creative teamwork, so make sure you mix it up. Don't let your team members become too comfortable and familiar with each other.

9. Take a walk or a run

While a walk is traditionally considered a good way to 'clear your head' it can also be a way to get creative. Get the heart rate up and see what happens!

10. Listen to your gut!

Often the gut instinct or 'belly barometre' can be a good guide to a creative outcome. Follow the connections even if they don't make a lot of sense. It can take you away from logic towards a more creative solution.

You will have seen the word 'connections' used many times above. The connections your brain makes lie at the heart of your creativity. It is a complex process that requires the whole brain engaged; but neuroscience shows that this may sometimes be achieved more effectively not by quiet concentration - but by disorganisation and clutter!

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Problems Are Not Stop Signs But Guidelines

When we have issues never treat them as stop signs, however, as a chance to review our actions and re-align ourselves. By handling and learning from them, we'll have a clearer understanding of however we are able to manage an identical downside within the future.

Accept the challenges as a part of success which stem as a result of a need to attain, not by the need to beat others. Life rarely runs as smoothly as we would like. Every person has problems. This includes issues with cash, health or relationships.

The best thing to do is to try and start out no matter what resources we got. Do what we can to stay the issues from repeating. It suggests that we have a tendency to not learn even a slightest bit. Our greatest weakness lies in abandoning. Keep in mind that the foremost bound to succeed is usually to do only till such time that we have a tendency to already reach or accomplish what we would like in life. After all, life could be a long journey.

We might encounter several defeats however we have a chance to win no matter what. Never let downfalls defeat our resilience. So, to keep us on track with our goals, we need to envision perpetually larger goals.

We need to beat the tug of individuals against us as we reach for top goals.Decide what we would like, decide what we're willing to exchange for it. Establish our priorities and head to work. Remember, priority setting allows us to have an opportunity which of our goals should be accomplish first.

Learn from the past, set vivid, elaborate goals for the longer term, and sleep in the sole moment of our time over that we have no control. Press forward. Don't stop, don't linger in our journey, however attempt for the mark set before us.

When we fail, we learn from the mistakes we created and it motivates us to become stronger and better individuals. Our positive action combined with positive thinking leads to success. Success isn't final, failure isn't fatal: it's the courageousness to continue that counts.

Failure is the key to success; every mistake teaches us one thing.Success isn't an honest teacher, but failure causes us to be humble and strive for more. As long as we retain going, we may keep recuperating. And as we improve, we gain additional confidence. That alone is success.

Desire is that the key to motivation, however it's determination coupled with commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of our goal - a commitment to excellence - which help us realize the what we aim for in life.

However difficult life may seem, there is always something we can do and succeed at. At the end of the day, we are solely responsible for our success and our failure.

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Recess and Detention

A series of recess and detention.

That is what every single day of school felt like for me. That is not to say that I had detention very often, but everything outside of recess felt like detention. I felt totally trapped inside a learning environment. The time just dragged by so slowly. I can remember being so bored that it physically hurt.

The good news is that I loved recess so much that it all seemed pretty tolerable. I frigging love recess. When I am in my environment, there are minimal rules in place, and no one to tell me what to do, I am free. I love freedom. I love having time to do whatever it is that I want to do. I love the task of taking what I have to do, and turning them into something I enjoy doing. Perspective is the single most important thing in my life. If my perspective is off, everything falls right in line with it.

I have a tendency to get over excited. Over-stimulated. I have been known to get so excited that I throw up. I get so overwhelmed with excitement that my body feels the need to extract some of it, in the form vomit, I guess. It's pretty messed up (but so am I). It makes sense, really. Anyways...

I'm forty years old now, and no longer a child. There is no more grade school. No more detention. No more recess. At least not from the administrative standpoint, there is not.

I am responsible for my own recess, as well as my own detention. No one else determines this. Throughout every moment of every day, I can label whatever it is that I am doing as recess or detention. I do not have that "in-between" function. Either I am really, really doing what I want and enjoy, or am an absolute prisoner of life, who is completely miserable in every kind of way.

I have not lost my child-like excitement, any more than I have matured past feeling like an environment of learning is a torture chamber. I still experience the extremism in all of my emotions. I still dry heave when the threshold of excitement is crossed (calm down, dude).

The only difference today?

I love it.

I love the options I have in freedom and captivity. I love the knowledge that I am not a victim. I enjoy the awareness that comes from the realization that recess or detention is a mindset that I control. To be energetic, easily amazed, and optimistic is a skill which can be practiced. Life is a state of mind which is determined by our attitudes.

The dull and boring lead lives that are dull and boring. The snobbish and unimpressed lead unimpressive lives, and remain in the uncomfortable state of secret admiration and disdain towards others. The apathetic and lazy lead lives that mirror such the same. But what about the energetic?

What kind of lives do the energetic people live?

The optimistic?

The easily-impressed?

What is out there for the person who seeks opportunity and appreciates the hardships that are necessary for success?

I don't think I have the answer to that. I don't think that a forty year old man who still dry heaves every time he gets excited is supposed to have the answers to much of anything.

I will tell you what I do know. If you feel like you are stuck in a perpetual state of detention and there is no recess, there are ways out of that. Getting stuck in a rut is part of life. Staying in a rut is playing the role of a victim, and nobody buys the sob story.

If you want a fascinating life, find the fascination in the life you lead.

Recess today. All day.

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Creativity in Classroom

"Creativity is the process of bringing something new into being. Creativity requires passion and commitment. It brings to our awareness what was previously hidden and points to new life. The experience is one of heightened consciousness: ecstasy. " - Rollo May.

People might differentiate creativity and innovation but creativity is a part of innovation. It is the act of turning new and imaginative ideas into reality. Creativity is required in every field of job, be it a multinational company or an advertising company or an educational institute. A classroom itself is a place of creation. It is a place where creativity takes birth. Both teachers and students share ideas and make a classroom a creative hub. Creativity is in our mind. It is central, along with skills like collaboration, critical thinking, and communication and helps in bringing a shift from teacher-directed learning to a more student-oriented learning and bring a change in the approach. We don't want our students' creativity to end with the comments they leave on their friends' Facebook pages.

Every child is borne with the potential of being creative. Creativity is something that needs to be cultivated and classroom is the place one must start cultivating one's creativity. There are various techniques or strategies which guide teachers to promote creativity in classroom. Some techniques are as follows:

• Emotional Connection - Researchers says that creativity can be cultivated through emotional cultivation. For instance if a project related to community problems like domestic violence is given to a student, it can help them to develop the much needed creativity

• Classroom environment - Classroom environment plays a crucial role in cultivating creativity and confidence in students. It is the duty of the teachers to make the classroom more creative by making students participate in each and every activity. Getting involved with the students in the community is the best way to give a push to their creativity. There are three small steps through which a teacher can make their class more effective for their students.

- Permit frequent discussion and interaction amid students in the classroom.

- Make time for informal class opportunity for the students.

- Memorize each student's name meanwhile ensure every student knows each other's name.

• The use of different models - A perfect model can help student in promoting creativity and establishing more contacts, create chances and resolve novel issues.

• Risk taking - Teachers must encourage students to take risks as the ability of taking risk prompts creativity.

• Active Learning - Active learning includes use of creative stuffs like games, concepts, maps and study materials. One can encourage active learning only when the students are interested. Teachers can cultivate creativity by introducing interactive sections that provide an opportunity to students to solve a problem, by asking them to prepare questions for the upcoming exams.

Creativity has always been prized in the American society but has hardly been understood by anyone. Every invention, both practical and whimsical is the product of creativity. "The great engine that drives innovation and invention in society comes from people whose flame of creativity was kept alive in childhood, " says Alice Sterling Honig, PhD, of Syracuse University. The disappearance of creativity in the classroom is worrying teachers. The charm of creativity is fading out and worksheets are taking its place. Teachers should encourage students so that they come out with new ideas and think out of the box.

Teachers can apply different strategies to make the classroom a vibrant and innovative place. Here are some strategies that teachers can apply to add a creative spark in the classroom:

1. Create a classroom that recognizes and encourages creativity. You can design awards or bulletin boards to showcase different ways of solving a problem, or creative solutions to a real world scenario.

2. Always use strategies that are helpful and can become advantageous in the long run.

3. Think of creativity as a skill. Much like resourcefulness and inventiveness it is less a trait and more a proficiency that can be taught.

4. Participate in or create a program to develop creative skills. Programs like Odyssey of the Mind and Think quest bring together students from around the world to design creative solutions and bring them to competition.

In the recent times there has been a shift towards the increased acceptance of valuing creativity. Our traditional education system must take the blame for the absence of creativity in classrooms. Most of the teachers are forced to teach and as a result lack the skills or interest to produce creativity in a classroom. It is the duty of teachers to introduce and nurture creative thought in the classroom. Visual effects can allow students to look at photos or paintings and as a result come up with stories. Music can also encourage students to be creative as they can visualize the scenes that play in their mind while they listen to the music. English teachers really have great opportunities to infuse creativity in the minds of teachers. Creativity should not be limited to the English or arts classes. There should be places for every teacher to add creative elements in their daily curriculum.

Creativity can take us to the moon. So we must make sure that the value of creativity is understood by the students and they are given each and every chance to bring their creative side and add interesting flavours to the daily monotony of classroom teaching. Creativity comes with divergent thinking and divergent thinking must be encouraged that can foster an environment for creative work.

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Message From the Universe: Helping Others FIRST

                   

"The person who remembers they can always reach out and help others, never runs out of things to do, always has friends, and rarely needs advice.

"Give it away, give it away, give it away, give it away now,"

The Universe"

Learning to be there for others in their moments of need is an absolute quality. No one will ever remember someone based on how many cars they had, or how big their homes was. Most people remember the quality of character in a person once they depart. Be that person that everyone remembers. This is something that everyone should thrive for. Life is too short as it is, so building yourself a good reputation is definitely something you should work towards to.

We all have our own problems that we need to deal with on a daily basis. What makes you a better person is finding that to help others while you are still helping yourself. Helping others when time is convenient is not something to really be proud of, as it may be misconstrued as being bored. Everyone you will come across are facing their own challenges and will never reach out to you when they need help as it shows a sign of weakness. As they already feel bad for the situation they put themselves in, it takes a lot for them to ask for help. Notice the signs, the facial and body language and come up with your own conclusion. Being there for someone in need has its benefits. You will also feel great for your contribution to making someone's life better, even for a little bit.

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