Marisol – Page 6

Avoid These 5 Habits and Become a Happier Person

Happiness is an abstract concept for which there is no universal measuring stick. That’s why it’s hard to say if a person is happy or not. Fleeting moments of positive emotions that come from one-time events like enjoying a movie or meeting up with old friends make us happy. But how long do these feelings last?

A happy person is defined as one who has a general sense of well-being and contentment that comes from the knowledge that one’s life is worthwhile and meaningful. Good relationships and achievement of goals give our lives a sense of purpose and we have a positive state of mind.

Originally posted on September 30, 2016 @ 11:37 am

Teaching Kids Early on Learning Mindfulness

Mindfulness

We have often read about how mindfulness is good for us adults. But did we ever consider that mindfulness is just as good for kids? Teaching mindfulness to kids is a new and growing interest, with many schools now taking up the practice. Science-based research has shown that teaching kids to be mindful has many benefits, foremost among them emotional control, cognitive focus and compassion.

Originally posted on September 28, 2016 @ 12:04 am

4 Destructive Behaviors That Ruin a Relationship

Life, Relationships

Have you had a series of relationships that all ended badly? Were they all marked by emotional turbulence and a cycle of breaking up and making up? If you see a recurring pattern in all of your intimate affairs of the heart, maybe you shouldn’t be blaming lady luck but start looking inward, into your own behavior.

Destructive behaviors are not gender-specific. Men and women have them and they can bring down many a relationship more than infidelity or addiction. These actions and attitudes make for unhappy marriages or partnerships fraught with anxiety, depression, contempt and anger that cause physical and emotional distress.

Originally posted on September 15, 2016 @ 12:57 pm

5 Steps to Develop a Creative Mind

Personal Growth, Spirit

The creative mind sees endless possibilities from information and ideas, and turns them into forms of expressions, innovative products and ingenious solutions to problems and difficulties. If this has discouraged you and made you think you can never be creative, think again.

A creative mind is not a birthright of the likes of Elon Musk or Bill Gates. You don’t have to aspire to build the next space rocket or another giant software company. In your everyday life, at work and in your personal pursuits, creativity can be developed. Continue reading and learn how.

5 Steps to a More Creative Mind

Take a break for solitude and silence.

In the midst of a busy world, creative people retreat into aloneness and silence. Twenty minutes a day of stillness and quiet allows you to focus on your thoughts and find peace in the interiority of your mind.

Stop thinking and let go of thoughts of the past and the future. Disconnect from everyone and everything, physically and mentally – your own family, your cell phone, the internet and social media. This time of solitude you give yourself daily is very rewarding. It will enhance your mindfulness, increase mental clarity and reduce stress and anxiety. By being more focused, you find a well of creativity within you.

Be open to anything new.

Opening yourself up to new ideas, experiences, emotions and perspectives is risking the safety and comfort of the status quo. But creative minds welcome the adventure of novelty and draw inspiration from them for their creative output. Throw away your fear, break out of your routine once in a while and try new things, from a different route to work, reading biographies or listening to classical music to alternative solutions or forms of expressions. Learn a different culture through armchair travel. Try an artistic technique you haven’t done before.

Stay curious always.

Be curious of the world around you. Ask questions; you might find out something new and surprising that you wouldn’t have known if you hadn’t asked. Look for better ways of doing things and challenge the norm. Talk to people and listen to their perspectives on various issues. Curiosity is a learning experience. It boosts your intellect and broadens your outlook, resulting in a more creative end product.

Turn failures into stepping stones for success.

Failures cannot break the spirit of the creative mind. They see them as temporary interruptions on the road to creative achievement. If you’ve had a negative experience, like a rejection of your work or a betrayal of trust, analyze where you went wrong and don’t give up. Many great artists, writers and tech people have been rebuffed and turned away. Steve Jobs was booted out of his own company but made an unforgettable comeback.

Learn from your failures or mistakes. Draw insights and renewed strength from them and see possibilities in a new light. Mine your dormant creativity from your failures and watch your projects succeed.

Write down your own and others’ ideas and thoughts.

This is nothing new. But it has always held true. We cannot rely on our minds to remember everything. Put to pen and paper, or on your electronic gadget, anything you find interesting that comes to your mind. They could be reflections or points of views that crop up as you go about your daily activities, or the thoughts and ideas of others that you find interesting. Include the silly and the ridiculous; when you go over them later, they may make sense after all.

You might also want to read Should You Buy into the Adult Coloring Book Craze?

Originally posted on September 13, 2016 @ 8:19 am

Try Bullet Journaling to Put Order in your Disorganized Life

Personal Growth, Spirit

When I first heard/read about bullet journaling, I thought to myself, “Here’s yet another one of those to-do helpers,” and, like other fads, I thought this too shall pass. But curiosity got the better of me, especially because the bullet journal is not digital and I’ve never gotten over my love for the paper planner. And if you’re an app junkie, going the hard copy route could be something worth trying. So, after going through the site and watching the video, I converted one of my barely used planners to try bullet journaling, and months later, I’m still at it.

What makes the bullet journal different from the hundreds of digital to-do apps and the old-school planners sold in bookstores? Well, for one thing, it’s not limiting. You don’t need separate apps or notebooks for your daily tasks, diary or even for a sketchbook. You can unleash your creativity in it or keep it as stark and basic as you like. If this has piqued your interest now, read on to learn more about this new trend. And, be forewarned: starting a bullet journal can seem initially overwhelming. But once you get the hang of it, it is really very simple and that’s where its appeal lies.

Source: taz + belly

The Four Core Elements:

Index page

This makes up the first few pages of your notebook. It makes for easy tracking of your topics and pages. Simply write down a topic name and the page number/s beside it. It doesn’t have to be in chronological order.

Future log

– is for writing down things to do or events in the future, usually grouped into months. Divide a page equally into 2 or 3 boxes by drawing a horizontal line. Each box represents a month. Write down your major events or plans for that month. You can make a 6- or 12-month future log.

Source: John Uhri

Monthly log

– is a daily reminder of your schedule for a calendar month. Assign one whole left page for each month and on the leftmost side, list down the days as numbers (1 – 31) and put the letter of the day beside it (M, T, W, Th, F, Sa and Su.) This will be your calendar page. Beside each day, write down your planned task or event. Exclude the details as the calendar page is only used as a reference. Don’t feel obliged to fill up each day.
The right hand page beside your calendar month page is your Task/Event page. It will contain the tasks for that month and other tasks from previous months that you have migrated to the current month because they were not done at their original schedule.

Source: John Uhri

Daily log

– is, obviously, for the day’s tasks and events. Write down the day in number and first letter form, i.e., 09/07/W for Sept. 7, a Wednesday. Below it, list down your tasks and add any as they come to your mind. Continue to the next day’s to-do in the space below as one day won’t usually fill up a whole page. It’s best not to write down days in advance since you won’t know how much space will be taken up for a day.

Other important tips for bullet journaling

Rapid logging – is the essence of the bullet journal. It has four main features: a topic (ex. Date,) page number for each leaf in the journal, short sentences to describe tasks and bullets for each task or event.

Bullets come in many forms, each one with a designation:

(•) a dot for a task
(X) for a completed task
(<) for a scheduled task (>) for a migrated task
(0) for an event
(-) for a note

Migration is the term used for moving an incomplete or undone task from a previous date to the current month or day, if you still plan on doing the task. It also tells you your work pattern. If you’re migrating too many tasks, you may need to reassess your habits.

These are the basics of bullet journaling. Customize and tweak as you go along. Add stickers, ribbons or scrapbook adornments if you’re so inclined. And one last thing, choose a notebook that’s like Red Riding Hood’s bed – not too big, not too small, one that’s just right, because you’ll be carrying your journal along. And don’t scrimp on the paper and pen quality. It’s always an inspiration to write with pen and paper that just lets your hand glide.

5 Daily Rituals to Reduce Stress and Maximize Happiness

Originally posted on September 6, 2016 @ 6:14 am

How to Spot Toxic Narcissism in a Relationship

Life, Relationships

If you know your Greek mythology, you’ll know the story of how the abnormal love of his own self eventually killed Narcissus. Unfortunately, there are many living human Narcissuses in our midst today. You might even be in a relationship with one of them. Hence, it helps to know how to spot a person with toxic narcissism before he or she can totally destroy you.

To be fair, almost everyone has egoistic traits that are manageable and not at the level that meets the criteria for the personality disorder. But toxic narcissism is an altogether different matter. If you live with a narcissist, you’re in for a rollercoaster ride of emotions and in the long run, it’s going to have a disastrous effect on your self-image and the relationship.

“He that falls in love with himself will have no rivals.”

-Benjamin Franklin

Narcissists initially come across as charming and personable. Their self-confidence attracts people to them like bees to honey. But when their real character comes to the surface, the difficulty of dealing with them takes its toll on you. So how can you tell if someone is a narcissist? The truth is, you can’t right away. And sometimes the realization comes too late.

Based on the criteria used by the American Psychiatric Association for diagnosing Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD,) these types of personalities have:

An exaggerated sense of self-importance
A sense of entitlement
Unrealistic thoughts of success, power, brilliance or beauty
Lack of empathy
The belief that they are special and unique
A need for constant admiration from others
Manipulative and exploitative behavior
Envy of others or belief that others are envious of them
An arrogant and haughty attitude

But psychologists and people who are in relationships with narcissists know there are other behaviors common to them that are not included in the APA standards. That’s narcissism and it’s not as severe as NPD. But that doesn’t make it any less easy to live with them. A relationship with a narcissist has no good side to it. It’s either you bail out early on or you stand up for yourself by learning the strategies for dealing with them. If you think you have a narcissist boss, parent, spouse or child, watch out for the following behaviors.

How to Spot Toxic Narcissism

They have an exaggerated sense of self-importance that pushes them to magnify and lie about their achievements so that they feel they are better than other people, and they will be admired and looked up to.
They have a sense of entitlement that they should receive better treatment than others and that their demands should be met without question.
They lack empathy and are not concerned with others’ needs and feelings. Only their own needs are important to them.
They do not respect boundaries because they do not recognize your rights. Boundaries refer to behavior, things they say or do to you that you feel is overstepping your personal lines. For example, they will demand to know your passwords or check your cell phone without asking permission. They will talk about a topic that is taboo to you or verbally abuse you. They expect to order you around and drop everything to cater to their needs.
They are very sensitive to criticism. They see it as a negative evaluation of them or their performance, so they lie, change the topic or pretend to misunderstand.
They burst out in rage if their views are challenged. Opposing perspectives expose their insecurities and incite their anger.

Counseling may help a narcissistic person by giving insight into his or her maladaptive behaviors and identifying more positive ways of relating to other people.

Stress Test: How Stressed Are You?

Originally posted on September 1, 2016 @ 7:43 am