First hand experience shows me that older adults who work out make better drivers because their minds are sharper. The reflexes of an 80 year old exerciser as opposed to a non-exerciser/sedentary adult are more than 20 times faster. Being able to respond to traffic emergencies in a timely manner could mean the difference between a fender-bender and a fatal accident.

Exercise is the most widely prescribed “pill” today. Exercise, when done properly, incorporates the body, mind and spirit.

Can you be athletic at any age? You betcha. The old school of thought was that once you lost it (i.e. strength, flexibility, stamina, and mental clarity) you could not get it back. I’m here to tell you that that way of thinking is outdated. Whatever the age, whatever the circumstance, with consistency and perseverance, you can regain what ever physical characteristics you thought were lost. If your body is exercised and becomes conditioned, it links right to the brain and other motor skills. My unique coaching program can give you the motivation and support that you need to regain control of your body.

Aging can be a wonderful trip. To age with grace and dignity you need to be pro-active in your wellness regime. If you aren’t taking care of your body by fueling it with the proper food, hydrating it with the right amounts of water, and exercising properly, you can’t expect it to support you in your later years.

You can equate your body to an automobile. Would you wait until you run out of gas to refuel? Would you wait until the engine overheated to check to see if your radiator was full? Would you wait until the engine seized up before you changed the oil? Think about it!

Take classes in nutrition; learn about what the proper amounts of water you need for your individual make-up; hire someone to help you set up an exercise program that is designed for your body and its needs. Then, adopt this knowledge as a lifestyle and live a quality life.

I’ve mentioned taking classes, learning, and exercising. I’d like to interject that as you embark on your wellness journey that you do your homework and research the information that you are planning to adopt.

A very important tip is that no matter who or what source you decide to listen to, follow that one concept. Don’t try to pull in information from this person or that magazine or that newspaper article…it’ll drive you nuts. Find one person or source and stick to it.

Don’t try to pull from several different resources because you will find that there will be lots of conflicting information. If you try to listen to every suggestion and take each person’s advice it will get you so confused and overwhelmed that you will probably scrap the whole lifestyle change idea. You might need to have one source for nutrition counseling and one for fitness training, but nonetheless, listen to just one person for each segment of your voyage.

Learn to trust your instincts, your body and your coach.

An active lifestyle is so much more fun and rewarding than a sedentary one. Our bodies were designed to move. Even if you haven’t been active for a long time and you have no major health issues, with dedication, perseverance, and consistency you too can improve your life.

Don’t forget to find time for rest and recuperation. Your muscles need to rest so that they can rebuild and be stronger for your next workout. Wait at least 48 hours between full body strength workouts.

Bonnie Murphy-BFIT and Well- Healthy Lifestyle Coach for Mature Women. 20+ years experience working with older adults. ACE, AFAA, AEA, and UAA Certified as Group Exercise Instructor, Personal Trainer and Aquatic Exercise Instructor. Master Fitness by Phone Coach. Developed the 18-week Ultimate Phone Coaching Program so that I can work with you from wherever you are in the World. This program is guaranteed to bring you results in fitness, weightloss and health.

Phone: 907.646.4076
Email: bonnie@bfitandwell.com
Website: http://www.bfitandwell.com

From Julia Cameron’s The Artist Way to Natalie Goldberg’s
Writing Down the Bones to Linda Trichter Metcalf, Ph.D. and
Tobin Simon, Ph.D.’s Writing the Mind Alive to numerous
other publications, journaling has enjoyed a long history of
creative-nurturing along with a host of other benefits.

For my purposes, I’m defining journaling as any sort of
loose, longhand writing. Whatever thoughts come into your
head you put them down on paper. There’s no structure, no
form, nor concern about spelling or grammar or even
legibility.

Even if writing isn’t your dream, incorporating a regular
program of journaling into your life is a wonderful way to
jump-start your creativity and cultivate a constant flow of new
ideas. Here are three reasons why.

1. Helps you get rid of the junk in your head. We all have it.
Junk thoughts. Everything from self-defeating comments
(”Oh, I’ll never be good at that.” or “Who told you that you
could be a writer?”) to the “worry of the moment” to neurosis
of every type to the ever-growing, constant to-do lists.

Who can be creative with all that noise going on? For that
matter, who could even hear a creative thought over all that
racket?

Journaling is a way to quiet the mind. Writing all that junk
down transfers it from your head to the paper. Suddenly, you
find you can actually think rather than simply react.

The best part is this quiet lasts long after the journaling is
done for the day. And if you journal frequently, then the effect
is cumulative.

When I finish journaling, I find that I feel peaceful. Calm.
Able to focus. The junk is gone, leaving space to be creative.

2. Gives you a chance to try new ideas. What better way to
see if a new idea will work than to try it out on paper? You
can write out the pros and cons, describe a scenario, play
“what if” games (”What if my new business was
successful?” “What if I tried that new advertising
campaign?” “What if I contacted the editor at Money
Magazine?”). And the best part is it’s all in a private little
notebook that no one will ever have to see.

Try writing down your hopes, dreams, goals, visions. Play
around with them. You may find as you journal about them,
a strategy for making them come true suddenly presents
itself, right there in the pages of your notebook.

3. Helps you build a bridge to your muse. This one really
only kicks in after you’ve sufficiently done number one (at
least, this is the way it works for me). It seems only after I’ve
gotten most of the junk out of my head that the muse
sometimes slips out to play a bit.

How do you know the muse came to visit you? When that
brilliant idea flashes in your head. It may not happen while
you’re journaling, but instead while you’re showering,
walking, driving or something else. This is the muse talking
to you.

It’s important to remember muses have quiet voices. They
can easily be drowned out by the incessant bickering of the
other noisy chatter going on in your head. Once you can get
those other voices to shut up, you can start to listen for the
muse.

Don’t worry if this doesn’t happen right away. There have
been weeks and even months when I write nothing but junk
down. But then, one day, that great idea appears on the
paper or in my head as I’m walking my dogs.

And when that happens, I know all the time I spent
journaling about nothing has paid off.

Creativity Exercises — Journal more ideas

I would love it if you made a pact with yourself to journal
regularly for a month. If that’s too much of a commitment for
you, try it as a creativity exercise.

Write down your challenge at the top of a piece of paper.
Maybe it’s ways to increase business or promote your
products more or a new PR campaign. Now just start writing
about it.

Don’t think, just write. Fill a few pages of musing about that
particular challenge. Don’t type it either — write longhand. If
you wander away from it, try nudging yourself back.

Write for at least 20 minutes. If no answer presents itself in
that time, don’t get too hung up about it. Try it again the next
day or a few days in a row. Sometimes it just takes awhile to
jar things loose. And remember, great ideas have a
tendency to pop up in the most unexpected places, not just
when you’re doing something “creative.”

Michele Pariza Wacek is the author of “Got Ideas? Unleash
Your Creativity and Make More Money.” She offers two free
e-zines that help subscribers combine their creativity with
hard-hitting marketing and copywriting principles to become
more successful at attracting new clients, selling products
and services and boosting business. She can be reached
at TheArtistSoul.com.

There are two very important components of Presence. The first is the awareness or knowing that we just spoke about. Many of us go on with our lives without much thought to where we are or where we are going. Our purpose and our knowledge of our capabilities are safely tucked away in the deep recesses of our minds never to be given a thought or consideration. When we increase our presence and our awareness of purpose and potential, we increase the effectiveness with which we pursue our goals and aspirations. The more effective we are in these pursuits, the more successful we will be.

The second component of presence is related to time. Not only must we be aware, but we must orient this awareness to the present moment. We all too often worry about our past and our future. We worry about the things that we have done or not done. We dwell on the mistakes that we have made. We focus our attention on what we will be doing on the weekend or on our next vacation. We spend so much time in the past and future that we forget to attend to the present. It is at this present moment that we are able to apply our capabilities in pursuing our purpose. A lack of focus on the now results in a lack of focus on our potential and purpose, and missed opportunities to grow and prosper.

So how do you improve your presence? First, develop a healthy curiosity about who you are and what makes you tick. In becoming curious about our selves we attend more to the events around us and how they affect us. Second, be selfish. I don’t mean the negative type of selfish where you have a total disregard for others. I mean the kind of selfish that puts the focus of your attention on your self. Remember, before you can understand others and the world, you need to understand your self. Third, stop worrying about the past and the future. The past cannot be changed and the future can only be affected by what you do in the present. Finally, relax and enjoy yourself. The mind works much more efficiently and effectively when not burdened by the stress of trying too hard.

Copyright © 2005 by Peter Cartmill, All rights reserved.

Peter Cartmill is a Personal and Career Coach and the founder of GreatAspirations.ca. To learn more about how Coaching can benefit you, visit http://www.greataspirations.ca

It appears that many individuals are effective alone - Einstein, Marco Polo etc - however, what is usually overlooked is that these people often collaborated regularly. Also, it is very difficult to separate the idea from its influences. In any case, individuals are prone to path dependency, parochialism and reduced insight through reduced intellectual cross-pollination.

The negatives of the individual are reduced somewhat by the addition of another individual. Pairs keep each other grounded and there are no core and peripheral information flows - there are only two people. However, parochialism and path dependency are still factors. The core aim of a pair should be to encourage diversity and novelty in each individual.

As groups get larger, the quality of results increases with intellectual cross-pollination. But group negatives prevent breakout:

a) Symptoms of group think increase

b) The percentage of individual performance declines

c) Groups of three to five elicit much more conformity than just one or two

d) Evaluation apprehension increases

e) Core and peripheral information flows exclude some people

f) Political strategies increase

In conclusion, a tactical combination of team structures increases creative output.

More information about this topic can be found at http://www.managing-creativity.com/

You can also receive a regular, free newsletter by entering your email address at this site.

Kal Bishop, MBA

**********************************

You are free to reproduce this article as long as no changes are made and the author’s name and site URL are retained.

Kal Bishop is a management consultant based in London, UK. His specialities include Knowledge Management and Creativity and Innovation Management. He has consulted in the visual media and software industries and for clients such as Toshiba and Transport for London. He has led Improv, creativity and innovation workshops, exhibited artwork in San Francisco, Los Angeles and London and written a number of screenplays. He is a passionate traveller. He can be reached at http://www.managing-creativity.com

As you get a little older and get a few injuries, however, you start to ‘listen’ to your body a little better and find yourself starting to stretch more and more before you train.

But does stretching before a run help prevent injury?

A 1996 study by a team of South African scientists actually suggest 15 minutes of stretching before competition, with emphasis on the problem area.

Now while many people may stretch before competition, most wouldn’t stretch for 15 minutes.

I’d have to qualify this by saying that you should do this once the muscles are warming up or as part of a warm-up routine. Still, 15 minutes is a lot of time.

In contrast, in one of the only randomised control studies, which was performed in Australia on Army Recruits in 1998 they found that stretching before exercise did not significantly reduce the injury rate but did help recruits ‘unkink’ tight calves.

So here you have 2 studies that seem to conflict and the next step was to dig through the available studies on subject. The results are broadly summarised below with the conclusion being that the main merits of stretching lie in relation to injury reduction; here’s what I found:

• long term stretching is more beneficial

• you should stretch opposing muscles (i.e. stretch the quadriceps as well as the hamstring)

• strength training in conjunction with stretching does reduce injury rate

• stretch only after muscles have warmed up - a period of at least 10 minutes is generally recommended

• there are no negative benefits associated with stretching pre-exercise, however there are more benefits in terms of injury-prevention by stretching after exercise

The advice me and my team give to people is to incorporate a pre-exercise flexibility AND stretching into your program before and after exercise, with the emphasis on ‘after’.

In my case, I tend to do more stretching prior to events that require more flexibility - for me it’s martial arts. I do find that the more time I spend on this before a routine does reduce the likelihood of injury.

For running training, we advise people to spend 5 minutes walking to the start point and another 7 - 10 minutes performing flexibility (yoga) and stretching exercises. The yoga routines I find help get the muscles warm and more receptive to stretching . . . so the advice is to combine them.

As a final thought, don’t over-focus on any problem areas at the expense of the uninjured side. In other words, stretch and do flexibility exercises on both sides as equally as possible.

Copyright - http://www.Running-Cramp-Relief.com

Paul Newland is a health and nutrition consultant, trainer, martial arts instructor, commercial helicopter pilot and author. His Ultimate Cramp Busting Guide is the definitive guide to preventing, treating and curing cramps associated with exercise. In the Ultimate Cramp Busting Guide Newland speaks with 6 health, sports, nutrition, medical and complimentary health care professionals and explains why you get cramps, the best ways to treat them and how to prevent them from happening again.

In this period of world wide financial strife you certainly should work with an established organisation that you can really trust - to not only get you the greatest deal achievable at the time but of course to provide you with assistance and good advice. Foreign Currency Direct has been noted in such noted news-papers as The Sunday unhappy time and The Observer as a leading enterprise with whom to deal when you are securing foreign currency. And so, you can be secure in the knowledge you’ll be working with a professional, honest & well noted enterprise.

Trading in foreign currency will probably be a difficult area of business - the prices perpetually waver, and so, if you do not appreciate the ability to access to the latest numbers and expert experience you can often wind up losing a princely sum of your investment. Foreign Currency Direct are without equal when you are dealing with currency exchange rates - operational ever since the year 2000 the company have evolved from strength to strength. Foreign Currency Direct are experts in trading foreign currency. If you have any questions why not check out their website.

Foreign Currency Directs rates are based on live, constantly updated interbank’ prices (the price at which a bank sells to the other) that are constantly given in real time, making them more competitive than exchange rates offered by far less specialised banks and building societies.

The only thing you should do is set up an account at Foreign Currency Direct and you 4 begin trading currency - you will get exchange rate quotations by phone, if you accept the offer you will get an email, fax or postal conformation of the contract.

We want more from you. Why? Because we know you are capable of so much more. We know that you are holding back on something. We know you want to achieve so much more with your life. To be the person you want to be. We know you have the skills and abilities to reach your dreams… We know you just need that extra bit of encouragement. So, whatever you are doing now is not enough.

Doing what you’ve always done is never enough.

Doing what you think others want you to do is not enough.

Doing sufficient is not enough.

Following others is never enough.

Being a success in someone else’s eyes is not enough.

Going through the motion is not enough.

Waiting for others to act before you do is not enough.

Listening to others before you commit yourself is not enough.

This is the 21st century. This is the time of authenticity. This is the confluence of different points of view. This is the coming together of different cultures. This is the time of the underdog. This is the opportunity for the unknown to become known. This is the time for unsung heroes to stand up. This is the time when the patients start to take over the asylum. Therefore it is not enough to sit on your haunches and watch the world go by.

Now is the time to put your actions where your mouth is. It’s time to show what you are really capable of. Time to stop hiding behind …….

The world is waiting for you to fill your boots. The world is waiting for you to do what you were brought in here to do. The world is waiting for you to take responsibility for yourself.

The world is waiting for you to make a start on your dream. Just one small, tiny, step. The world just wants to see your commitment.

The world is waiting for your passion….. It’s not enough to be a quiet subdued follower. The world wants to see your enthusiasm.

As Bonny Tyler says in her song:

And it’s not enough to say that you love me
It’s not enough to say that you care
And it’s not enough when you say that you need me
If I wake up and still you’re not there

You gotta do something……

Good luck

Graham and Julie
www.desktop-meditation.com

To improve your intuition, initiative and energy levels please go to:
http://www.desktop-meditation.com It’s free.

One of them is monotony - the exercises get to be really boring for the practitioners. On the other hand, at least 4-6 weeks are necessary for checking and proving the potential of training, developing, losing weight, etc. that a program might have. A shorter period of time will not be enough for drawing relevant conclusions on the effectiveness of the program. Thus, a certain psychological resistance to monotony is necessary from the very beginning.

Another disadvantage of routine is the fact that the muscles act under the principle of economy of effort. This means that, soon after starting the program, they do not react to the stimulus with the same effectiveness as in the beginning. A state of limitation intervenes, when, in spite of the same efforts, the sportsman will not progress any more. Stagnation of good results might be very frustrating for the sportsman, who could, finally, abandon training completely. For avoiding this, it is advisable to change the program periodically, so that the muscles will have time to ‘forget’ the first exercises; the sportsman can come back to them after getting through a few different programs.

A completely new program can have disadvantages, for example the fact that learning it demands an increased effort of attention, of focusing, and sometimes even involve mental stress, determined by the degree of difficulty of the program. However, some practitioners can see a positive aspect in this, considering the new program as a challenge, which will ‘refresh’ them psychologically.

On the other hand, a too frequent change of programs can be as ineffective as maintaining them for too long. Changing the program before benefiting of all its potential of progress is like giving up antibiotics treatment after you have the impression that the symptoms disappeared.

It is important for the sportsman to observe carefully his own reactions from one training to the next; this way he will be able to choose the best moment for taking up new routine. It is very easy to consider some temporary states of indisposition, irritability or tiredness as limitation or overtraining and to abandon, in consequence, a program which would still have a lot to offer.

This is another case in which the experience accumulated by the practitioner in months or years of training will help him take the right decision and change the program when it is best for the body. If the sportsman makes the right choice, he will feel progress even in the first sessions of training and he will not need a long period of adaptation.

In time, the sportsman can develop a conditioned reflex, meaning that the body will ask regularly, at certain intervals, for a change in the routine of the training. This way, new solutions can be anticipated for getting over the critical fazes of stagnation. Moreover, the interest for the training will remain constant.

The active breaks (active recovery), which must be initiated once a trimester, a semester or a year, can submit to this rhythmic conditioning. They intrinsically belong to the training and their importance must not be underestimated.

Isabel Curini is a fitness trainer and editor at http://www.healthfitnessworld.com. HealthFitnessWorld.com - Health, Fitness, Body Building, Weight Loss, Nutrition - Articles and Resources.

HealthFitnessWorld.com is dedicated to providing high-quality, free advices, tips and resources on health, fitness, body building, supplements, nutrition, weight loss, beauty, massage, acne, medicine, depression, massage.

This article may be reprinted or published without the author’s consent as long as the “About” and “weblinks” are kept intact and active.

Nowadays numerous video production businesses operate to satisfy goals of different businesses. Besides organisations presentations, videography is also made use of to record significant instances of life like that of wedding anniversaries, birthdays, special festivities; holidays to name a few. Portable video cameras with digital chips are these days extensively available in the market. Short films have turned out to be reasonably fashionable on top of being very enlightening & amusing. In effect online videos allow individuals to relate better with the subject than any other style of online communications.

Today, various people are setting up video production and publishing agencies as need of these sorts of businesses are on the rise. It is also easy to find loads info from the World Wide Web in relation to video publishing just with a small number of mouse clicks. The rise of online video market has aided the growth of short-format online video commercials and to manufacture pretty commercials, a good-quality video production organisation is indispensable. Videos play a crucial role in carrying out of corporate tactics & at present online video production and marketing is a popular idea with the World Wide Web users. So, across the globe video production plays a substantial function. Improve your businesses revenue online with promotional video production from Vidify.

One creative way to propose for a couple involved in a long distance relationship is to plan a surprise visit and set up a scavenger hunt. You could have a friend pick you up from the airport so that your girlfriend doesn’t know that you are coming to visit and have the friend give your girlfriend instructions for the scavenger hunt. You could hide a number of small surprises such as candy, flowers and a CD as the first few stops on the scavenger hunt and then hide at the final location poised to propose when your girlfriend completes the game.

An outdoor enthusiast might appreciate a creative proposal during a camping trip. It’s a good idea to plan a quiet trip for just you and your girlfriend at a picturesque location. You could hide the ring in your sleeping bag to use in a surprise proposal. When it’s time to go to sleep after a long day of hiking and fishing, you could complain that there must be a rock or something underneath you and then pull out the ring and make your proposal. This creative proposal also contains the element of surprise as a camping trip is not a usual proposal location.

Another creative proposal idea is to place an ad in a local newspaper. You could place an outrageous ad in a newspaper asking anyone who was willing to get married to give you a call and include a fictitious phone number. Then when you and your girlfriend are reading the paper together, you could point out the ad as a joke and while she is reading the ad, seize the opportunity to pull out the engagement ring and let her know that you would love to marry her.

Proposing at a sporting event is a creative way to propose to a sports fan. For this proposal idea you could either arrange to have your proposal broadcast over the public address system or displayed on the large screen. If you are really adventurous, you could also contact the team’s public relations department and try to make arrangements to make your proposal on the field at halftime. They might be willing to help you stage a scenario where you are either chosen to win a prize or participate in a contest and while you are on the field, they would hand over the microphone to allow you to make your proposal.

Another creative marriage proposal idea is to purchase a book of poems and leave the first few pages intact and carve a heart into the remaining pages and sew the engagement ring to the back of the book. You could suggest taking turns reading the poems on each page and plan to have your girlfriend turn the final complete page to reveal the heart and ring that were hidden inside. This proposal idea is not only creative but also incredibly romantic.

Having the DJ of your girlfriend’s favorite radio program ask her if she will marry you is another creative proposal idea. You will want to make sure that you are aware of the exact time that the DJ will be sending your message so that you are able to ensure that you and your girlfriend are listening together when he makes the announcement. You could also arrange to have the DJ play a song that has a special meaning for you as a couple so that you can enjoy a dance together after she accepts your creative proposal.

Another creative way to propose is to include all of your family and friends in the event by inviting them all to a surprise party for your girlfriend. To make this proposal work, you would either convince your girlfriend that you want to have a quiet dinner at home or at a restaurant with just the two of you. Once you arrive at the destination all of the guests will reveal themselves and while all eyes are on the two of you, you could take the opportunity to profess your love and propose.

Still another creative way to propose is to hide the ring in an unexpected location. For example you could pretend to have a clogged sink and while you are working to fix the clog, you could reach into the sink and pull out the engagement ring. When your girlfriend is nearby, you could seize the opportunity to pull out the ring you had hidden earlier and say something to the effect of, “No wonder the sink is clogged, I’ll have to find another place to store this ring, how about your finger?” This whimsical proposal is both light-hearted and creative.

A variation on the traditional proposal at an elegant restaurant could be to have the waiter bring out the ring with the bill. You could have a little good natured fun with your girlfriend by going out of your way to drop hints that you would be proposing over dinner. If you keep up the act, she will be expecting your proposal with each course. After dessert you could tell her that you have something very important to ask and as she eagerly awaits your proposal, you could ask an inconsequential question about something completely irrelevant to your relationship. She will probably be furious at this point but her anger won’t last as the waiter arrives with the bill and the engagement ring and you let her know how much she means to you.

Finally a creative proposal idea is for the woman to ask the man to marry her, instead of waiting for him to propose. Many women anxiously await the day that the man in their life will propose but why not add your own creative twist by proposing to him instead. The woman is free to propose in any way that she finds truly romantic and can ensure that the proposal is both creative and romantic and that it’s a moment that they both will remember for the rest of their lives.

A great marriage proposal doesn’t have to be expensive or extravagant. Many women are more likely to cherish the memories of a proposal that was inexpensive but truly creative. The creativity is what makes the proposal so memorable and what makes it a great story to tell their friends.

Masni Rizal Mansor is the publisher for My
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