Fear Of Failure

"Show me a guy who's afraid to look bad,
and I'll show you a guy you can beat every time."

Lou Brock

Maternal Affection

Give your baby plenty of love and nurturing.
Maternal affection may help your child grow into a more compassionate and resilient adult.

How do you produce a loving, kind and cooperative child? Hold and cuddle your infant often, avoid spanking and other negative forms of physical contact, breast-feed and respond quickly and warmly to their cries.

While a child’s personality comes down to both nurture and nature, research suggests that good parenting may help protect against high levels of stress. Though you may have heard that it is better to let babies cry it out, research suggests just the opposite.

By anticipating your infant’s needs before he gets upset, you teach your baby that the world is a calm and secure place, which can help him or her feel safe and possibly even less anxious.

Letting Go

"When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be."

Lao Tzu



"Letting go doesn't mean giving up... it means moving on."

Anonymous



"A big part of letting go is recognizing when it is time to stay in a situation and when it is time to move on."

Darren L. Johnson

Balance, Order, Rhythm, and Harmony

“Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony.”

Thomas Merton

Life is a constant series of changes, filled with excitement and monotony, forward-motion and inertia, fun and drudgery.
Happiness is choosing to be in harmony with reality as it is in the moment.
It’s amazing how much joy you can experience when you make the conscious choice to be where you are.

Example

“A leader leads by example whether he intends to or not.”

Unknown


Nothing is as important as what you actually do.
Not your intentions, not your promises, not your suggestions.

Today is your opportunity to put thoughts and words into deeds. Not because people are watching; not because they may follow your lead, but solely because the doing, in itself, can make a difference in the world.
What you do from day to day matters if you make it matter.
You never know how today’s kindness, generosity, integrity, or ingenuity will ripple into tomorrow.

What example will you set today?

Keeping A Food Journal

Resolved to lose weight? Consider keeping a food diary.
A recent study found that logging what you eat doubles the number of pounds lost.

How much of a grasp do you have on how much food you actually consume in a day? If you’re a mindless nibbler, a habitual grazer or a grab-and-go-er, you may be putting away more than you realize. Keeping a food journal — where you record everything that passes your lips — can help you understand exactly what your eating patterns are.

Once you have more objectivity about your current diet, you can make more informed choices about what you want to eat for each meal and snack. It can also help you determine if what you’re feeling is actual hunger or something else, such as boredom. Your food journal needn’t be fancy; it can be as simple as a pad of paper or even a Word document or Excel spreadsheet. Whatever mode you choose, jot down what time you eat, what and how much you eat, and how you were feeling when you ate (something as simple as tired, rushed or starving works great).

Research shows that this simple act will make you likely to lose up to twice as many more pounds than if you didn’t set pen to paper (according to a 2008 study by Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research).

Emptying Our Cup

Overflowing Cup of Tea

The Zen Master poured his visitor's teacup full, and then kept pouring.
The visitor watched until he could no longer restrain himself. "It is overfull. No more will go in!"
"Like this cup," the Zen Master said, "you are full of your own opinions and assumptions.
How can you learn truth until you first empty your cup?"