You Can Make Money in Your Own Internet Business

There is great news! You too can make money on the Internet! That's right, the fortunes being made on the Internet are not reserved for the very wealthy, the big corporations, or even the very skilled.

In fact, it doesn't take that much for you to begin making money on the Internet. And, if you will simply commit yourself to following a few simple rules, you too can become an Internet Millionaire!

Here is what you need to know to begin to build your business on the Internet.

1) Sell Something You Are Passionate About

Every single person that I have ever met who had created massive success in their lives was passionate about what they sold. They loved their products. They cherished them, and they shared their passion with their clients and sold millions of dollars of their products and services!

What are you passionate about? What keeps you up late at night and gets you out of bed long before your alarm clock goes off?

Take time to discover your passion. It will mean the difference between a mediocre life and a life full of passion! You CAN build a business with ANY product or service you have to pay money to obtain.

Think about the "Pet Rock." You can sell anything and make a fortune! And you can build a business based on a brand new, never before seen product, although that may require a little more time and effort.

                    
2) Uncover Who Shares a Passion For Your Products

To be a success, you must offer your product to those people who share a passion for what you offer. WHO are these people? And most importantly, WHERE are these people?

What publications do they read? What web sites do they visit? What companies already do business with them? Who's client list can you leverage to reach these people at the lowest possible cost?

The secret of success on the Internet is to know who wants what you have and to know how to reach them at the lowest possible cost.

3) Create an Irresistible Offer

Let's face it, you and I buy when we are presented with the right offer... especially when what is being offered is something that we really want! Your success is going to be based on your ability to create offers that make people respond. The more irresistible the offer, the more you will sell.

Remember, price is only one reason why people will buy from you, so just having  the lowest price is not always going to win you more business. You've got to think outside the box. Come up with offers that include more than just the main product or service offering. Now is the time for you to be creative, to use your
imagination and to create an offer that is dozens of times more valuable to the buyer than anything else that they can get anywhere else.
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4) Let Them Know What You've Got!

Once you've got the product that your passionate about, you've discovered who else shares your passion, you know how to reach them, and you've created an irresistible offer to go along with it, now you've got to get the word out! Use newsletters, magazines, newspapers, e-mail (not unsolicited, however) use

anything you have access to let as many people as possible know what you've got!

If you're really creative, it's a good bet that the media will pick up on your offer and you can end up with tens of thousands of dollars of free promotions.

5) Test and Refine Your Offer

Once you let enough people know about what you have, take a look at how many people saw your offer and then how many of those people actually bought what you offered. If you like the numbers, keep going. Buy more advertising, tell more of the media, and keep on selling!

If, on the other hand, you were not entirely satisfied with the numbers, re-work your offer and then double-check your market and how you are reaching out to them. It could very well be that you have the right offer but are simply not reaching the right audience. Try a different market with the same offer, or try a new offer with the same market. It may take you a few tries to get it right, but it's well worth the effort! And I promise you that you will be happy with the results!

6) Deliver on Your Promises Promptly

Don't you just love to get the product or service that you ordered quickly, or at least know that it has been shipped promptly? Most of us do. When we buy, we are excited and can't wait to get the benefits of what we just purchased.

Your customers are no different. They want to know when they place an order with you that you will do your best to get them what they want as soon as possible. We all have stories of companies that took weeks to ship our order and we all know we won't be doing business with them again anytime soon, no matter how good the offer may have been.

When the order reaches you, get in the habit of making it a priority to get it invoiced, packed and shipped. You'll create a very loyal client base that will buy from you again and again if you do what you say you will do in a prompt and courteous manner.

Your Success is Up to You!

It's not hard to build a successful business, whether you do it from your kitchen table, the basement, the garage, or an office space, you can be very successful if you follow a few simple rules.

I have helped thousands of people build successful businesses on the Internet and I know what it takes to really make a business profitable. It's actually quite simple; give the customer more than you promise in less time than you promise. In other words, "under promise and over deliver."

Just look at any company you consider a success and I'm sure you will find  they follow these simple rules.

Contact Lenses and Healthy Eyes - 12 Rules Every Contact Lens Wearer Should Follow

Do you want to switch to contact lenses from glasses, but you're not sure if contact lenses are safe or if caring for them is too much of a hassle? Or do you wear contacts already and want to make sure that you do the best for your eye health?

Taking proper care of your eyes and contact lenses isn't rocket science. Here are 12 simple rules you can follow, to keep your contact lenses and your eyes happy and healthy.

1. Modern contact lenses vary in quality; make sure that your doctor prescribes the contact lenses that are healthiest for your eyes. See suggestions on advanced contact lenses
2. Clean your lenses every time you handle them (before putting contacts in your eyes and after removing them). Give each lens a gentle 10-15 second rub in solution. The only exception to this rule is color lenses - rinse, but don't rub them; it might damage the color.
3. Handle only one lens at a time, so you don't confuse them. Train yourself to start with ether the right or the left lens.
4. When cleaning your lenses don't forget to take care of the lens case as well. Wash it with unperfumed soap and let it dry. Doctors also recommend that you replace your contact lens case every 2 or 3 months.
5. Never put your lenses in the same solution twice; replace the solution every time you handle your lenses. Usually you shouldn't use any solution 6 months after the bottle has been opened, and definitely not after the expiry date. Store your contact lenses and solution in a dry, cool place. The refrigerator door is ideal.
6. Soft contact lenses shouldn't be allowed to dry up. The lens should be either in the eye, or in a special solution. If you accidentally let the lens dry up, throw it out, it is no longer good.
7. Don't wear contacts if you have got a cold, cold sores or another infection. You don't want any germs to get into your eyes. It is handy to have a pair of glasses for such occasions.
8. If you wear make-up, apply your eye make-up after putting your lenses in, and try to use water-based mascara. Lenses are very sensitive to deodorants and hair sprays, so either spray before you put the lenses in, or close your eyes very tightly while spraying.
9. Don't forget to replace your contact lenses on schedule. Daily disposables - every morning, 2-week replacements - every fortnight and so on. A couple of days delay wouldn't make any difference, but wearing 2-week replacements for a month is definitely not healthy for your eyes. See more information about disposable contacts.
10. Avoid smoky or dusty rooms; soft contact lenses collect every tiny particle and your eyes will feel uncomfortable.
11. If your eyes feel uncomfortable or irritated, take the lens out. It is possible that something is stuck under it or the lens is torn. If your lens isn't damaged, wash your eye and the lens, and put it back. If the unpleasant sensation doesn't go away, take the lenses out and don't wear them until you can see your optometrist. Damaged lenses should be thrown away, no matter how expensive they are. A torn lens can do serious harm to your eye.
12. Don't sleep in your contacts. Lenses designed as day wear block oxygen flow to your eyes and the eyelid puts extra pressure on the lens, so your eyes would feel terrible after you wake up. The only exception is extended wear lenses, like Focus Night and Day or Acuvue; they are designed for continuous wear and sleep.

If you routinely follow these rules, your contact lenses should never give you any problems and, most of the time, you should feel like you don't wear any corrective lenses at all.

Coffee and Health

Coffee and health used to be a controversial theme in the seventies. Nowadays, moderate coffee consumption is rather exonerated from its supposed negative long term effects upon health.

My mother used to be one of those persons who teaches her offspring, in its early ages, that coffee is not bad. It is bad bad bad! In consequence, I managed to keep away from coffee. At least until the difficult age of 10, when, as I remember, I was permitted to join mother and neighbour-friends at the coffee-tattle table.

That was the moment I started to exercise my taste buds on coffee. In those days, I remember developing a partiality for coffee with milk. Or should I say milk with coffee... However, I know now that the coffee I was drinking back then was indeed, not so good. P reground, over boiled, sometimes brewed over the grounds from the other day, could you think of worst? No wonder I wanted to hide those hideous characteristics with tones of milk.

In the meantime, I probably took a good sip of coffee on the road and woke-up to a much more pleasant reality. Coffee is not bad. It is good good good. But why are there so many voices whispering that coffee and health don't go well together?
Caffeine

Call it food or beverage, coffee is free of any nutritional value, and, as indecent as it may sound, we consume it exclusively for pleasure.

Yes, the caffeine content in coffee is partially responsible for that pleasure. Caffeine acts as a mild stimulant over the central nervous system, that results in better memory, better judgments and idea-associations, better movement-coordination.

A single serve espresso contains somewhere among 80 and 120 milligrams of caffeine. A normal cup of coffee (even drip coffee) contains about 100 - 150 milligrams of caffeine. This is what commonsense calls moderate consumption at one sit. Within several hours (varying from one person to another) caffeine is eliminated from the body. Referring to average coffee drinker again, s/he can have three or four sips (servings) of coffee every day aside from any health risk.

The thing about coffee is quite the same as with other foods and beverages. The effects vary with the dosing: moderate can be medicine, too much can be poison. The average coffee drinker can experience novice effects after ingesting 550 milligrams (women) and 700 milligrams (men) at one sit. These effects refer to headaches,nausea, petulance. The caffeine overdose is beeing speculated around 10 grams. I say, it would be impossible to reach it exclusively by drinking coffee, as you should ingest 100 cups at one sit. However, if you succeed, it may be the last thing you'll ever do.

Coffee is not recommended when certain health problems are allready present. Reasons could stand on solid proof or only on purpose to avoid unprooved but also unwanted risk.
Acidy

Acidy describes the sour-component of the coffee taste. Acidy (or acidity) is emphasised in Arabica coffee and in light roasts. It may have a negative efect over the digestive functions. People that are less tolerant with acidity but still want to drink coffee, may choose a decaffeinated coffee or a natural low-acidity coffee from Brazil, India or Caribbee.

Other negative effects that have been nominated (eg. over pregnant women) have not resulted in significant proof when tested. The medical society nowadays is rather exonerating coffee from long term negative effects upon human health.

The beneficial effects of coffee

Coffee has prooven beneficial effects over persons suffering from astma. 2 to 4 small cups of coffee through-out the day will help them reduce the recurency of astma-attacks and moderate their intensity.

Coffee contains natural antioxidants called 'flavonoids' that are wide known as disease protectors.

The beneficial effects of moderate caffeine consumption are wide recognised: caffeine works on alertness, mood, sensorial activity and memory. Of course, you may choose to take your daily caffeine intake from other foods and beverages: chocolate, carbonated drinks based on coca-nuts extract, tea.

Beside these effects, somewhat prooven by the medical society, I would mention one more: the pure pleasure of sipping a good cup of coffee. If every person on this planet would do this every day, I believe there would be less wars, suicides, health problems, people suffering from depression etc. etc. But I could be wrong

Can Weight Loss Improve Your Health And Make You Feel Better?

Many people today are interested in weight loss and weight loss programs. Sedentary life styles and lack of exercise have contributed to a general trend toward carrying around a few extra pounds. Following a disciplined weight loss plan can prove very helpful and beneficial to people who don’t really have any idea of how to create a weigh loss diet. There are many options available today to help you trim a few pounds and fit into the clothes you want.

Losing weight is not something one can do overnight. A carefully planned weight loss program requires common sense and certain guidelines. Unfortunately, there's a lot of misinformation floating around and lots of desperate people are easily duped and ripped off. The leading experts now recommend that people who want to lose weight start increasing their physical activity. Just being more active in general (such as climbing the stairs instead of taking the elevator, moving around instead of sitting still, sitting up instead of lying down as well as showing some excitement and enthusiasm instead of boredom), are things that more effectively burns calories and reduces body fat.

A balanced lifestyle of good nutrition and regular exercise will help you achieve your weight loss goals. Some people seek Fast Weight Loss while others would like to gradually thin down for health reasons. Take advantage of all the information and help available today to help you achieve your weight loss goals.

Build Health: Want To Prevent Diabetes?

To prevent diabetes you will get a real jolt when you follow the prescription offered up in the “Journal of the American Medical Association.”

This ‘prestigious’ organization reported on separate studies of coffee drinkers in Sweden and Finland.

Whiz-bang medical researchers discovered that women could decrease their risk of diabetes by 29 percent when they followed a regimen of drinking three to four cups of coffee a day.

The ladies who had the fortitude to drink 10 or more cups of coffee a day fared even better. They reduced their risk of diabetes by 79 percent.

The men participating in the studies also reduced their risk, but not to the extent as did the women.

When men drank three to four cups a day, they reduced their risk of diabetes by 27 percent. The men who drank 10 or more cups of java per day reduced their risk by 55 percent.

These results confirm a January report by the equally ‘prestigious’ Harvard School of Public Health. That report concluded that drinking six 8-ounce cups of coffee a day could reduce diabetes risk in men by about 50 percent and in women by 30 percent.

If the numbers have any connection to reality, the more coffee you drink, the better off you are. And that is the rub.

The numbers have nothing to do with reality, nothing to do with the truth.

Here in America the rate of adult-onset diabetes, or Type 2 diabetes, is growing incrementally. Nowadays it typically shows up in middle-age populations, but the disease is on the rise among ever-younger age groups.

Do not step up your coffee consumption in the belief it will help you prevent diabetes. This disease has absolutely nothing to do with a lack of coffee drinking.

Science and truth are not synonymous. Medical scientists do not deal with truth. The medical scientists who monkey around with coffee drinking merely play with limited and approximate descriptions of reality. In this case, extremely limited and hardly approximate.

If you are serious about preventing diabetes, you have to look at the differences between the people of the past who did not get diabetes, and the people of today who get diabetes. This entails more than merely harping on the fact the younger generation is becoming more overweight and less active.

We have plenty of newly discovered diabetics who are active and on the thin side—and they drink lots of coffee.

The primary difference between the people of the past who did not get sick and die like we do, and the present lot who become diabetics, is poor nutritional status.

The diabetic-in-process has an inadequate intake of nutrients and/or excessive intake of nutrient-poor foods. Conversely, his/her healthy ancestors had a nutrient-dense diet.

The nutrient-dense diet of the past contained, minimally, four times the amount of minerals, and ten times the amount of fat-soluble vitamins found in the American diet of the late 1930’s and early 1940’s.

Folks who learn where health comes from and practice prevention won’t become diabetic, and will not need the medical community dosing them with coffee, or any other magic bullet.

Feng Shui for Your Health and Vitality

How many of us wake up in the morning feeling refreshed, happy and full of energy? How many of us, after a few hours in the office, still feel full of energy? Why certain environments uplift our spirits and make us breathe deeper, while others drain our energy? We seem to have forgotten how deeply connected we are with the space we live in and how important is for our well being to live in a balanced environment.
        As our lives are certainly not getting easier, the need to create a healthy and vibrant home environment cannot be overestimated. We have to have a safe, peaceful and energetically balanced space where our bodies can let down the daylong protective shield and focus on regenerating and self-healing.

         Feng Shui is an ancient art and science that has been used for over 5,000 years to heal, balance and enrich people’s lives. It is a very complex body of knowledge that reveals how humans are connected to their environment and shows numerous ways to change specific aspects of one’s life by changing the living or working space.

         Being aware of this deep connection and its influence on all aspects of your life, it would be wise to employ feng shui knowledge in your home (and business!) to improve your health, vitality, and general well-being.

         One of the main theories of Feng Shui is the theory of Five Elements, which are Fire, Earth, Metal, Water and Wood. The elements are the five manifestations of Chi, or universal energy, and are represented in your environment by colors, shapes, textures, smells, taste, etc. They interact with each other in certain ways, the basic cycles being Constructive (where each element supports the other) or Destructive (where one element destroys the other). Understanding this theory and its applications in your life can be a very powerful tool indeed. In order to experience high vitality levels and an increased level of well-being, feng shui masters recommend living in a place that supports and nourishes your birth element.

       Each of us has a predominant element, which is calculated by the year of birth. (You can find out your own element from specific tables in many feng shui books or by visiting our website) Once you know your own element, look around your place and see which element is predominant in it. Yes, any specific environment also has its own predominant element. For example, if your living room has purple curtains, art with predominant red-orange colors, lots of candles, a fireplace, objects in triangular, pointed shapes etc; the energy in the room is predominantly Fire.

        If your birth element is Wood, and you live in a Fire environment you will tend to experience headaches, inability to relax, have constant arguments with you family, often feel “burnt out.” As Fire burns the Wood, you need to focus on reducing the element of Fire in your environment, thus improve your well being. To remedy this situation, you may want to bring some of your own element (Wood) and/or the element of Water (which puts down the Fire.)Wood element can be brought into your environment by colors brown and green, plants (green bamboo is especially powerful!) objects in rectangular shapes, actual wooden objects and other. Water can be represented by actual water (a fountain) or images of water – oceans, lakes, rivers; as well as mirrors, wavy and curved shapes, colors black or deep blue, etc. The scenario described above will also be true for a person whose birth element is Metal, as Fire melts the Metal. However, an Earth or Water person will feel very good in that environment, and you can easily guess why. Both of these elements are not overpowered by the Fire energy.

An old Chinese proverb states that feng shui consultants doubles doctors. And for a good reason. The art and science of Feng Shui has a wealth of recommendations, cures, solutions for every person and virtually every space, be it home, business, garden, etc. Just like your body has a specific anatomy, the space you inhabit also has its own anatomy, with its own “do’s” and “don’ts.” Specific areas of your life, as well as specific body organs relate to specific areas of your home. For example, East is the area “responsible” for Family and Health. The element of East is Wood; therefore it is wise to avoid the placement of objects representing either Fire or Metal in this area of your home/business. If you suffer from certain body ailments, you can choose to place in the East area a picture, or any other representation of a medicine plant particularly healing for you (for example dandelion for liver problems)

Here are some feng shui remedies to improve your Health and increase Vitality:

• Keep the center of your House clean, clutter free and open. This is considered the Heart of the House and is a sacred area in many old cultures. No heavy objects should be placed here. The center of your space is a very good place for a fountain, some crystals, bells/chimes with a harmonious sound, happy pictures of your loved ones, or any other items that speak to your heart.
  
• Reduce or eliminate metal objects from your Bedroom, as metal conducts electricity. Work on reducing the electromagnetic fields in your bedroom. Provide an ideal space for your body to regenerate, replenish and heal itself during sleep. Do not sleep under beams or sloped ceiling. Do not sleep with your feet in line with the door. Have a good, supportive headboard. Choose a natural mattress.
  
• Become aware of the quality of air in your space. Aerate your home often and use essential oils like lavender, chamomile, sage, frankincense, bergamot, etc to purify the space, uplift the spirits and improve your sense of well being. Consider using an air ionizer should this be necessary. Have specific plants that purify the air, such as peace lily, boston fern, spider plant, etc. Color green is very healing.
  
• Have a pleasing welcoming entrance. It should be well lit, spacious and have uplifting energy. If you face a wall or stairs, apply specific feng shui cures or your life could be stuck in unnecessary struggles.
  
• Surround yourself with objects you love and people that uplift your spirits. Try to spend some time in nature at least once a day. Make your home a healing refuge from the stress you encounter during the day by applying various feng shui cures and reducing the internal pollutants present in most homes.
  

By following these simple, basic feng shui recommendations you can greatly improve your sense of well being. You can bring healing beauty and harmony into your life and create an environment that is fully supportive of you and your loved ones.

Essential Nutrition For Women's Health

As a woman, your body is very complex. Throughout every phase of your life you will require extra care and nutritional support. Today's scientific advances support a number of natural choices for women, like soy. Still, the fact remains that calcium, folic acid and iron continue to be the most important nutrients that can impact a woman's total health. All women should take a daily multiple vitamins with these essential nutrients.

Calcium is essential to strong healthy bones.

As a woman you have a much greater risk of developing osteoporosis because you have less bone tissue and lose bone more rapidly then men do. Be sure to consume adequate calcium throughout life, as this may reduce your risk of osteoporosis later in life. Calcium is essential to the health of bones, teeth and skin, yet few adults get enough of it in their diets. Make sure you find a high quality calcium supplement to ensure you receive a health-enhancing daily allowance.

Folic acid impacts women in many ways.

It plays an important role during rapid fetal growth and development. In fact, adequate intake of folic acid as part of a healthy diet before and in early pregnancy may reduce the risk of having a baby with a birth defect of the brain or spinal cord. All women of childbearing age are recommended to consume 400 mcg of folic acid everyday starting at least one month before conception into the early weeks of pregnancy.

Folic acid also plays a role in the maintenance of normal homocysteine levels; elevated levels of homocysteine are believed to be a risk factor of heart health.

Iron

Iron is a vital nutrient that plays an essential role in forming healthy red blood cells and transporting oxygen. It's estimated that as many as 62% of women over the age of 20 are not meeting the RDA for iron. Women also tend to be low in iron because they tend to eat foods low in iron and lose iron through menstruation.

Drinking a glass of orange juice with your cereal can boost iron absorption by the body. Vitamin C helps the body metabolize the iron. A high quality Vitamin C supplement rich in antioxidants to help fight the harmful effects of free radicals is a wonderful supplement not only to assist iron absorption, but also to combat ageing.

Vitamin C is coveted for its many benefits, including a contribution to healthy bones, teeth, blood vessels and the production of collagen.

In addition to taking a daily multiple vitamin, routine exams are key to prevention and healthy living. You should have a yearly gynecological exam that includes a pelvic exam, breast exam and PAP test. Also, consider performing monthly self-breast exams to familiarize yourself with how your breasts normally look and feel. If you are over 40, you should have a mammogram every year.

Basic Women's Health

The health problems of women are unique in camparison to the male gender. The female body is more complex and requires much more care.

The habits you, as a woman, develop early in life may determine your health in your later years. I don't mean eating habits alone. I mean your personal habits and choices as well as your eating habits.

The 5 major causes of poor health and even death in women are as follows: Cancer, Heart Disease, Accidents, Sucide, and Homicide.

Preventing Cancer. Genetic based cancers like breast cancer are nearly unavoidable. However, catching it early on will greatly increase your chances of survival. Periodic examiniations will catch any cancers early on. QUIT SMOKING and your chances of getting lung cancer or other smoking associated illnesses are significantly decreased.

Preventing heart disease. Again, quit smoking. This also reduces your risk of having a stroke. Watch what you eat and excersize regularly. You needn't work out everyday. Just do something a few times a week that gets your heart going and warms up the muscles. Lose weight if you need to. You will know if you need to or not. If you are on medication, take it as directed. If you start feeling better that means the medication is working and is all the more reason to continue taking it as prescribed. Never stop taking a medication without consulting your doctor. Some medications cannot be stopped suddenly.

Preventing Accidents. Buckle your seat belt. Don't drive angry. Don't drive when you are just too tired. Use common sense on the road. Don't drink and drive. 2 beverages is all it takes to impair your driving.

Suicide. Depression is the no. 1 cause of suicide. If you think you are depressed, go see a qualified professional about it. Here are a few signs of depression: feeling sad or a feeling of hopelessness. Your appetite either increases or decreases. Insomnia or too much sleep. Feeling worthless. Frequent thoughts of suicide. If you are having these signs as well as others. You should seek help.

Prevent homicide. Domestic abuse accounts for a large number of women who are murdered. They choose partners emotionally instead of intelligently. Use common sense when choosing a partner. If you choose a rabid dog, you will end up getting bit. Simple as that. Other causes of homicide are interacting with strangers. When driving, don't pull over for hitch-hikers or strangers in other cars. If you are being flagged down by someone in another car and they are warning you of some kind of problem with your car, pull over in a well lighted spot with plenty of people. Never get out of your car unless you absolutely believe it is safe.

Arthritis Pain Relief

  Questions To Ask Your Healthcare Provider
A great place to begin taking charge of you arthritis pain relief and prevention planning is by making an appointment with your healthcare provider and finding out more about your condition and treatment options.

Make sure to jot down questions ahead of time, and take them along in your journal or notebook, armed with a pencil to fill in his or her replies.

Some questions to begin with may be centered around these:

1. Do I have a form of arthritis? If not, what is wrong & what do I do next?

2. If so, which type is it? And what can I expect short-term and long-term?

3. What pain relief treatments are available? Which have side affects & what are they?

4. What self-care solutions do you advise?

5. Are there any limitations I should know about; i.e. special dietary issues, special activities to avoid, any   OTC meds to NOT mix, etc.?

6. What resources do you have to help with my diet and exercise planning?

7. What other arthritic and other health resources do you have for my family and me?

When you take in your questions, also take in a description of your symptoms so that your doctor can help better understand your situation and health.

Make sure to note:

- Where you have pain (same joint both limbs?)

- When you feel pain - with certain activities, in the morning, when it rains, etc.

- How long you have had the pain

- If the pain increases or decreases, comes and goes, etc.

- The type & intensity level of pain - stabbing, dull, cramping, stiffness - and low, mild or high pain

- Note any limitations - can't bend over too far without pain, can't get out of car, etc.

- Share any family history of arthritis

- Tell about any OTC or prescription medications or other treatments you currently take or use.

- Discuss any special diet you are on and exercise programs

So try the different options available for arthritis pain relief and prevention.

Give your joints a break as soon as possible from any excess weight they're hauling around, even if it's the weight of excess stress.

Lighten up and make pain relief and prevention care part of your normal, everyday routine.

For a comprehensive report on arthritis, visit Arthritis Remedies
http://www.arthritisremedies.org

Antioxidants and Your Health

Get back to the basics - eat fresh at home and neutralize free radical oxidation, which is rusting away your body, by eating a variety of foods high in antioxidants every day.

Why? Antioxidants, as the name implies, help prevent oxidation, may help increase immune function and possibly decrease risk of infection and cancer.

A few of the better known antioxidants include carotenoids-- the substance that gives fruits and vegetables their deep rich colors. Apricots, broccoli, pumpkin, cantaloupes, spinach and sweet potatoes, are some good choices in addition to lycopene in tomatoes. Vitamin C and E are also good antioxidants.

What's a Free Radical Anyways?

As cells function normally in the body, they produce damaged molecules called free radicals. These free radicals steal parts from other molecules such as fat, protein, or DNA, thereby spreading the damage.

This damage continues in a chain reaction, and entire cells soon become damaged and die. This process is useful because it helps the body destroy cells that have outlived their usefulness and kills germs and parasites. However, this damage, when left unchecked, also destroys or damages healthy cells.

Antioxidants help prevent widespread cellular destruction by willingly donating their parts to stabilize free 

radicals. More importantly, antioxidants return to the surface of the cell to stabilize rather than damage other cellular components.

When there are not enough antioxidants to hold cell destruction in check, free radicals begin damaging healthy cells which, in turn, can lead to problems. For example, free radical damage to immune cells can lead to an increased risk of infections.

Your body needs to be able to repair this damage that occurs and protect itself from the free radicals before they impact your overall health. This is where antioxidants come to the rescue, because they significantly delay, inhibit, or prevent oxidation.

Your first line of defence is a natural diet full of a variety of fruits, vegetables and whole grains. For all those times when your diet isn't perfect, make sure you have a safety net in place. Think of antioxidants as Rustoleum for your insides! and be sure to have a supplement in your medicine cabinet.

Best of health to you!

Anger and Your Health

 How Your Outlook Influences Health and Your Ability to Control Anger
The situation: Jane and Anthony have differing ways of viewing the world. Jane is a pessimist (the glass is half-empty), while Anthony is an optimist (the glass is half-full). These outlooks influence how they experience similar situations.

Scene 1: Job loss. Jane is devastated, convincing herself that she is all washed up, she can never catch a break, it is useless for her to try to be successful, and she is never going to succeed at anything.

Anthony, however, has a healthier inner dialogue. He tells himself he may not have been good at that particular job, his skills and his company’s needs did not mesh and being fired was only a temporary setback in his career.

Scene 2: New jobs. Offered a new job, Jane, the pessimist, believes she was able to find a new job only because her industry is now really desperate for people and must have lowered their standards to hire her.

Anthony, however, feels he landed the new job because his talents were finally recognized and he will now be appreciated for what he can do.

As these examples illustrate, optimists tend to interpret their troubles as transient, controllable and specific to situations. Recent research by Dr. Martin Seligman confirms this.

When good things happen, optimists believe the causes are permanent, resulting from traits and abilities. Optimists further believe that good events will enhance everything they do.

Pessimists, on the other hand, believe their troubles will last forever, will undermine everything they do, and are basically beyond their control. When good things happen to pessimists, they see them as temporary and caused by specific factors that will eventually change and lead to negative outcomes.

Optimism creates better resistance to depression when bad events strike, better performance at work and better physical health.

In fact, one long term study at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, found that optimists lived 19% longer than pessimists.

Optimism is also a powerful antidote to anger. Many participants in our anger management classes report their anger lessening as they learn to replace negative thinking with positive thinking.

Here’s some good news for negative thinkers: You can learn how to replace pessimism with optimism.

The starting point is to access your vulnerability to pessimistic thinking by taking the self-evaluation test you can find at www.authentichappiness.org

Your responses will be compared to thousands of other people in various categories, down to your Zip Code.

If you scored lower than you’d like, you can become more optimistic. As Dr. Seligman writes in Authentic Happiness, his latest book: ‘the trait of optimism is changeable and learnable.’

There is now a well-documented method for building optimism. It’s based on first, recognizing, and then disputing, pessimistic thoughts.

People often do not pay attention to their thoughts and thus do not recognize how destructive they can be in leading to negative emotions. The key is to recognize your pessimistic thoughts and then treat them as if they were uttered by someone else – an external person, a rival, whose mission in life is to make you miserable!

Basically, you can become an optimist by learning to disagree with yourself – challenging your pessimistic thinking patterns and replacing them with more positive patterns.

Note: This view of optimistic thinking is not the process of ‘positive thinking’ in the sense of repeating silly affirmations that you don’t really believe.

Rather, it is the process of correcting distorted or faulty thinking patterns that create health, career and relationship problems for you.

By teaching yourself to think about things differently (but just as realistically), you can morph yourself from a pessimist to an optimist – and tame the Anger Bee in the process.

Air Moisture And Your Health

Having clean air to breathe is not just a luxury and many people are learning about the various ways to improve air quality when they are indoors. One of the methods to help improve air quality is the use of humifiers and dehumidifiers to control the moisture in the air. Air moisture may not be something that you thought a lot about, but it could be a large contributing factor to the negative symptoms that you experience
at times.

That means then that air moisture can be a very important factor in comfort when you are indoors and can also significantly contribute to your overall health as well. Consider the following health issues and how it relates to air moisture:

Many allergy sufferers have a severe allergic reaction to mold in the are or on surfaces and fabrics around them. This mold issue is usually directly tied to the amount of moisture that is present in the air in that space. By reducing the air moisture content the mold allergy can often be brought under manageable control. High humidity at high temperatures can also sometimes lead to heat exhaustion or heat stroke in extreme cases. And dust mites that often trigger allergy attacks begin to die off when the humidity level drops below 50%.

On the flip side, when the air is too dry people can be uncomfortable and can suffer from dry mucus membranes which can lead to nosebleeds and infections. Low humidity can also aggravate the symptoms of asthma at times.

A good way to track air moisture indoors is to get a digital hygrometer to actually monitor the humidity in the air. It's a simple gadget to read and the information it produces can be invaluable.

You see most people feel comfortable at 45-50% humidity between 68-72 degrees. That is considered the optimal comfort zone. Some variance on either side of the optimum zone is fine, but wide fluctuations can be hard on your health. If the humidity level falls below 30% you should turn on an air humidifier to help put moisture back. If the moisture level consistently rises above 60% in your home, you should employ a dehumidifier or air conditioner to reduce the moisture level.

By following the guidelines listed here you can help increase your indoors comfort level and improve your health easily and quickly.

Education Leads To A Healthier And Happier Life

Do you feel you lead a healthy and happy life? If you answered yes, chances are you have received some sort of college or post secondary (post high school) education. If you are an adult, and don’t have an education, an online education may be something you may want to pursue. There are many proven reasons why being educated leads to a healthier and happier life. I will list a few of these facts below:Have higher self esteem and better self worth
Tend to have more meaningful, fulfilling work as well as being given more opportunities to accept larger responsibilities.
Have statistically better health, probably due to less stress
Majority tend to be happy with their career.
Are more responsible with their investments and savings
Spend more time with their communities as well as volunteering.

Are more likely to obtain leadership roles within their company.Tend to have better public speaking skills, verbal skills, problem solving skills as well as social skills.
As you can see from the facts listed above, having an education has many benefits in terms of leading a healthy and happy life.

Eating for Health, Happiness and Successful Weight Control

Don't diet, just eat and lose weight!
First, the following "diet" is really not a diet, in the conventional sense, but a natural way of eating. It allows one to eat essentially anything one wishes, while attaining weight loss or weight control goals and consuming the necessary nutrients for a long and healthful life. The term "diet" implies restrictions by either eliminating or radically reducing the intake of certain foods or food groups. Most diets are inappropriate, unhealthful (some are even dangerous) and ultimately doomed to fail.

The most important objective of eating any food is to provide the body with all the essential nutrients for a long and healthful life. Almost every food provides some element needed by your body. If you do not care about being healthy, avoiding sickness and disease and living a long life, then this natural way of eating is not for you. The second most important reason for eating any food is because you enjoy it and it makes you happy. It is highly unlikely that you will consistently, and for long term, eat foods that you do not enjoy. Similarly, it is extremely unlikely that you will be able to completely eliminate foods that you do enjoy from your diet.

Many diets and dieticians expect a person to continually keep count of every calorie, carbohydrate and/or gram of fat that enters your mouth! Again, what is likelihood of being able to maintain this tedious ritual for any meaningful length of time? Nothing could be more depressing and stress-inducing as the constant monitoring of calories, carbs or fat. Therefore, if enjoying your meals is not important to you, then this natural way of eating is probably not for you.

Finally, you should eat food to maintain an appropriate weight for your height and frame. Being over-weight or under-weight is not conducive to a long, healthful life nor does it promote a positive self image. If being too heavy or too thin is not important to you, than this natural way of eating may not be for you.

Tips for Successful Weight Control

Lose or gain weight because you want to and not to please others.Otherwise, you will not be sufficiently motivated to change your bad eating habits. In fact, when the inevitable happens and you fail to achieve you goal, it will reinforce and, most probably, escalate the inappropriate behavior (i.e. over-eating, exclusively eating junk food, bulimia, etc.)

You must begin this natural way of eating with a positive outlook and the belief that you can achieve your goals with a minimal amount of effort. If you lack the self-confidence and motivation, or you do not believe that you can lose or gain weight, you will not!

It is extremely important for you to learn about the nutrients contained in the foods you eat. This is the only part of this natural way of eating that requires some effort on your part. The only way to accomplish this is to read. The internet is probably the best and easiest venue for obtaining this type of information. The following are excellent sources of health and nutrition-related information:

1. Medline Plus -
   
   
   target=new>http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/foodnutritionandmetabolism.html
   
2. Food and Nutrition Information Center - http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/
   
3. McKinley Health Center - http://www.mckinley.uiuc.edu/
   
4. USDA Nutrient Data Laboratory - http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/
   

Remember, the key to weight control is to be healthy, happy and fit. You must understand which foods will provide these three, all-important elements. Believe it or not, there are foods which you enjoy that are actually good for you!

Incredibly, many overweight people actually do not eat enough! Listen to your body, not your mind. Your body knows when it has had the appropriate amount of food and, more importantly, the appropriate amount of nutrition. Because many people do not understand nutrition, they eat food that does not supply sufficient nutrients to the body. They will feel hungry even after a large meal because theirs bodies are "starving" for proper nutrition. For this reason, most diets do not work or the individual cannot stay with the diet because it is an unnatural way of eating. Your body literally believes it is starving; therefore, it will take actions to survive the famine. It is a self-preservation mechanism, if you will. The body begins drawing off your muscles and stores the fat for later use in the event that it does not receive the necessary nourishment for an extended period of time. When a person finally falls off the diet (which is inevitable), they gain back all the lost weight and, in many cases, even more! The reason is because it takes the body sometime to adjust from its self-preservation mode, so all the food that is consumed is stored as fat while your body continues to draw from muscle.

There is no such thing as losing weight fast. It will take 3 to 6 months (or more depending on the amount of weight loss needed),to lose a significant amount of weight. The good news is that once you have lost the weight, you should not gain it back because you will have learned about the food you eat.

Yes, you have heard it before and you are now going to hear it again - exercise! Even a small amount of exercise (1/2 hour per day, 3 days per week) will greatly accelerate weight control.

If you feel like having a snack or something sweet, have it. Your body is telling you it needs something. Of coarse, it would be better to eat a piece of fruit rather than a candy bar. However, either is preferable to over-eating at your next meal or agonizing over the decision to indulge the urge.

Eat Right For A Healthy Life

Our diet is an essential factor for the formation of our body. It is clearly mentioned in an Ayurvedic classic 'Charak Samhita' that consuming improper diet in improper way is the main cause of 'Disease'.

According to 'Charak Samhita -"An appropriate and suitable diet in a disease is equivalent to hundred drugs and any quantity of drug hardly compares to good results in disease without following proper dietetic regimen"

Ayurvedic has mentioned following principles for living full span of life with perfect health.

Diet should be regulated taking into account the 'Desha'(territory), 'Kala' (Season as well as time of the day) etc. On should be in a habit of taking all six 'Rasa' (tastes) in order to prevent nutritional deficiency disorders.

Time of consuming food : A person should take meal only when he feels hungry. Lunch should be taken early between 12 and 1P.M. this coincides with the peak Pitta period, Pitta is responsible for the digestion. Ayurveda recommends that the lunch should be the largest meal of the day. The supper should be lesser and lighter than lunch

Quantity of food : Generally half of the capacity of stomach should be filled with solids, ¼ th with liquids and rest kept empty for the free movements of body humors.

Sequence of consuming food :Madhur (sweet) rasa food like fruits are advisable to take in the bigining of meal, food with Amla and Lavana (sour and salty) rasa in the middle and Katu,Tikta,Kashay (bitter ,astringent and pungent) foods should be taken at the end of meal

Method of consuming food :

* Wash the face hands and feet before meal. Dine in an isolated neat and clean place in pleasant environment with the affectionate persons in sitting position.

* Food should be taken after complete digestion of previous one.

* Hard items should be consumed in the beginning followed by soft and liquids subsequently.

* Few sips of water is advised now and then while taking meal.

* Heavy substances are contraindicated after meals and should be avoided

* Consumption of excessive hot food leads to weakness. Cold and dry food leads to delayed digestion. Intake of food prepared by giving extra

heat leads to 'Glani'. Hence consumption of such food should be avoided

Incompatible Food (Viruddha ahara):

Milk followed by fruits and vice versa.

Soar substance along with milk.
Milk with salt, horse gram, green gram & cow gram

Wheat preparations in gingelly oil(Tila taila)

Hot drinks after alcohol, curd or honey.

Cold and hot substances together

Banana with curd and butter milk

Chicken with curd

Ghee kept in bronze vessel

Radish with jaggery

Fish with jaggery or sugar

Jingelly seeds with kanjika.

Use of incompatible food leads to skin disorders, Gastro intestinal .Disorders , anaemia, leucoderma hyperacidity impotence etc. hence should be avoided.

General Rules about food consumption :

Walk a while after meal to help digestion

No travelling, exercise or sexual intercourse within one hour after meal.

Avoid meals when thirsty and water while hungry.

Avoid meals after exertion

Avoid meals when you are having no appetite.

Don't suppress the appetite as it leads to body pain, anorexia, lassitude, vertigo and general debility

Don't suppress the thirst as it leads to general debility, giddiness and heart diseases.

Consumption of the fresh, acceptable, easily available and compatible food with various nutrients is a key to lead a healthy life.

Creating A Healthy Skin and Clearing Acne Naturally

Acne affects more than 20 million teenagers, and hundreds no of adults according to the AAD (American Academy of Dermatology). It is the most common problem in the United States. Many over the counter remedies exist and hundreds of thousands of dollars are spent yearly on them. I have come up with some inexpensive home remedies that work perfectly well and are healthier for the skin.

ACNE Symptoms: Persistent, recurrent pimples or skin blemishes on the skin. Acne is commonly found
on the face but can also occur on the chest, shoulder, neck and upper portion of the back.

What is going on? Usually because of clogging of the pores in the sebaceous hair follicles, from oils and dead
skin cells that build up bacteria in the blocked follicle, thus causes inflammation in that area.

Prevention: Keeping the area clean, eating less fatty foods and sugars will most times prevent acne.

Cleanse::

Cleanse (not scrub) your face at least twice daily with a gentle natural anti-microbial herbal soap such as calendula (Calendula officinalis), lavender (Lavandula officinalis) for both treatment and prevention.

After cleaning, apply one drop of tea tree oil - a natural anti-microbial - to each blemish. *For an overnight treatment that will dry and heal, use a clay poultice, worn all night. Use either green clay or bentonite as a base. (Can be obtained at most health food stores). Combine 1 teaspoon of clay with enough water to make a paste the consistency of toothpaste. Mix in 3 drops of tea tree oil and apply to blemishes. Rinse off with warm water in the morning.

Facial Steam:
Give yourself an herbal facial steam treatment twice a week to gently and deeply clean pores. Into a heat-proof bowl pour 1 ½ quarts of boiling water over 2 tablespoons of dried lavender, which is both and anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory. Cover your head and the bowl with a large bath towel, steam your face for 10 minutes, taking care not to burn yourself with the steam.

Natural Alpha Hydroxy:

From your own kitchen comes a great natural alpha hydroxy healer.
~ Wash well and put into a blender: 2 or 3 ripe unpeeled pitted apricots,
~ 2 large or 3 medium sized fresh Strawberries preferred, but frozen will work as well,
~ ¼ of a medium to large avocado (equivalent to a 3"X 2" piece,
~ 1 heaping tablespoon of honey. Put in blender and liquefy until frothy. Apply to face, leave on for about 20 to 30 minutes.Rinse with warm herbal soapy water. Then open a capsule of vitamin E and apply to face.

If leftovers, store in a glass jar for no more than 7 days. Use this facial twice weekly for soft blemish free skin. To remove small wrinkles leave on overnight.

Natural Blemish Healing Astringents:
Apply Lemon juice and let dry, apply as often as you wish. Acts as an astringent and a healer. Lemon
has a drawing affect and will help heal blemishes as well as prevent pores from becoming clogged. For
abscessed pores apply a piece of lemon peel directly on the spot, skin side out. Can be left on up to three
hours.

My sister and I had this favorite thing to use as teenagers.

Take 1 raw egg and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, whip until frothy and apply to skin, let dry then wash off with herbal wash and cool water. Egg is a great drawing healer. Do this two or three times a week, will help keep your face free of blemishes and blackheads. I have never experienced the black heads and acne others have, could it be due to this habit as a child and teenager and the fact that I don't ingest dairy foods?

Natural Preventions;

*Lotus Root tea two or three times a day will improve blemishes.

Take 30 to 45 mg of zinc a day and Antioxidants helps the regeneration of skin tissue!

If you, like me, tend to have very dry skin you have probably spent lots of $$$ on lotions and potents that don't give lasting effects. Well I live in a very arid part of the world, which does nothing to help my dry skin but rather made it worse until I discovered something to nourish and restore it:

Bath in a luxurious 15-minute bubble bath two to four times a week with 1/4 cup Life Transfusion Liquid Ionic 84 Minerals. Such softness and smoothness you can not imagine as well as the relaxation it does for my
mind… If you don't know where to obtain liquid minerals
mailto:health@antibiotic-alternatives.com?subject=LocateIonicMin

Oriental medicine has a teaching…blemishes or pimples on the different body areas correspond to
specific organs or parts of the body before they actually show up. Areas being:
A) Forehead indicates a problem with the intestinal tract.
B) Cheeks indicate lung or breast problems.
C) Nose indicates heart area.
D) Around the mouth indicate reproductively area.
E) Jaws indicate kidney area.
F) Upper back indicates lung area.
G) Shoulders indicate digestive area.
H) Chest indicates both lung and heart area.
Not to panic anyone but this only indicates that people with blemishes/pimples should improve their overall
health as the road to ridding the body of blemishes!

A good start is by eliminating some of the dairy products saturated animal fats and sugars, ad daily minerals and vitamins. The medical profession for the most part, says diet has nothing to do with it. Do you want to believe that? There are far more studies and histories that prove otherwise!

Take charge of your own life and treatments for your own optimum health.

Go out and get healthy Now!

Cholesterol And Your Body's Health

Just what is this matter we call cholesterol, anyway? Webster's College Dictionary, 1995 edition,
states: "a sterol, abundant in animal fats, brain and nerve tissue, meat and eggs, that functions in the body
as a membrane constituent and as a precursor of steroid hormones and bile acids: high levels in the
blood are associated with arteriosclerosis and gallstones."

That's a mouthful. But without cholesterol the body cannot make the sex hormones, adrenal hormones,
and vitamin D. Excess cholesterol is converted in the liver to bile acids, which are normally eliminated
in the feces.

Some experts feel high levels of cholesterol have very little to do with dietary intake of it. There
is a correlation between blood cholesterol levels and the incidence of coronary artery disease. One
must, however, distinguish between the total blood cholesterol level and the cholesterol portion in the
blood carried by HDL (high-density lipoprotein).  Before you begin a strict program to reduce
cholesterol blood levels, check the total cholesterol to HDL-cholesterol ratio first. This risk ratio can
be determined by a simple blood test by any medical doctor

There does exist hope, however, when one has reason for concern over their blood work. But
remember--the body is a fantastic mechanism and always moves itself toward health. To help it along,
it needs proper information.

This "information" that I speak of has to do with more than adequate nutrition. In addition to eating
more raw fruits and vegetables, and drinking pure water, try to locate a sound nutritional supplier.
Years ago, Dr. Linus Pauling's work demonstrated the value of Vitamin C in helping the body dislodge
and eliminate harmful arterial plaque. If you were to go to your favorite health store or drug store for
Vitamin C, you probably would not receive the same benefits as Dr. Pauling did. Why is that?
(Pauling, Linus & Cameron, Ewan. "Cancer and Vitamin C." Camino Books. Philadelphia, PA, 1993.)

Because nutrients must be in an appropriate electrical matrix or else they are not functional to the
human body. For instance, Vitamin C is sold worldwide but as a synthetic supplement, usually in a chewable
tablet. Unfortunately, isolated Vitamin C is not in a proper electrical matrix making it as useless to the

human body as sawdust. Instead, Vitamin C must be combined in a matrix form with trace minerals,
bioflavonoids and electrolytes. Only when introduced in this particular matrix or pattern can the human body
actually use the nutritional information present in the  Vitamin C.

Vitamin C has been known—for 40 or 50 years—to reduce cholesterol levels. That is not news. The reason
most of us have high cholesterol—which means high plaque levels in the blood, veins and arteries—is that the
liver produces low density cholesterol (LDL), then it sends  it out to patch up arteries so we don’t die of internal bleeding. That low density cholesterol builds up over the years and becomes plaque. Eventually, it clogs the arteries and we go into a condition of stroke.

When you start consuming vitamin C in the right  electrical pattern, you are supporting the body’s ability
to build collagen. As the collagen restructures arteries  and veins, plaque is released from the walls of the
arteries. Cholesterol levels go up at first. Then they go down. The plaque build-up on your arteries goes down. Your liver stops producing LDL, because you now have collagen to build tissue.

Augmenting your nutritional program with high-quality, plant-based enzymes help the body grab stray protein
profiles (plaque), digest them in the bloodstream and deliver them to the liver, which eliminates them from your body. All the tools are here for a clean and well-fed body . . . which means this condition may disappear, as it has in many cases.

Please do not be overwhelmed with all the technical jargon. Simply upgrade your lifestyle and
eating habits. Couple that with supplements that mimic natural creation and you've got a winning
combination. And who knows, maybe you'll be the next to live your own success story!

Can Weight Loss Improve Your Health And Make You Feel Better?

Many people today are interested in weight loss and weight loss programs. Sedentary life styles and lack of exercise have contributed to a general trend toward carrying around a few extra pounds. Following a disciplined weight loss plan can prove very helpful and beneficial to people who don’t really have any idea of how to create a weigh loss diet. There are many options available today to help you trim a few pounds and fit into the clothes you want.
Losing weight is not something one can do overnight. A carefully planned weight loss program requires common sense and certain guidelines. Unfortunately, there's a lot of misinformantion floating around and lots of desperate people are easily duped and ripped off. The leading experts now recommend that people who want to lose weight start increasing their physical activity. Just

being more active in general (such as climbing the stairs instead of taking the elevator, moving around instead of sitting still, sitting up instead of lying down as well as showing some excitement and enthusiasm instead of boredom), are things that more effectively burns calories and reduces body fat.
A balanced lifestyle of good nutrition and regular exercise will help you achieve your weight loss goals. Some people seek Fast Weight Loss while others would like to gradually thin down for health reasons. Take advantage of all the information and help available today to help you achieve your weight loss goals.

Be Good To Your Health...And Your Health Will Be Good To You

Are your working to much?
You could be one of 50 million Americans taking
work related health risks.

This is especially true for solo entrepreneurs, who must
wear many hats.

Friends say you look great! And you feel like superman.
But how healthy are you really?

Hidden risks such as high blood pressure, heart attacks,
and prostrate cancer can occur without warnings.

Research reports state; "those who feel health
will most likely

NOT get regular doctor checkups."

Your health is akin to your car, neglect oil changes
or tune ups and you`re hitch hiking.

Self-health maintenance of body, mind and spirit
are all wellness advantages.

So plan that much-needed vacation.
You deserve a break today.

Anger And Your Health

HOW YOUR OUTLOOK INFLUENCES HEALTH AND ABILITY TO CONTROL ANGER
Jane and Anthony have differing ways of viewing the world. Jane is a pessimist (the glass is half-empty), while Anthony is an optimist (the glass is half-full). These outlooks influence how they experience similar situations.

SCENARIO 1: JOB LOSS

Jane is devastated, convincing herself that she is all washed up, she can never catch a break, it is useless for to try to be successful, and she is never going to succeed at anything.

Anthony, however, has a healthier inner dialog. He tells himself he may not have been good at that particular job, his skills and company’s needs did not mesh, and being fired was only a temporary setback in his career.

SCENARIO 2: NEW JOBS

Offered a new job, Jane, the pessimist, believes she was able to find a new job only because her industry is now really desperate for people, and must have lowered their standards to hire her.

Anthony, however, feels he landed the new job because his talents were finally recognized and he can now be appreciated for what he can do.

IMPLICATIONS

As these examples illustrate, optimists tend to interpret their troubles as transient, controllable and specific to situations. Recent research by Dr. Marvin Seligman confirms this. When good things happen, optimists believe the causes are permanent, resulting from traits and abilities.

Optimists further believe that good events will enhance everything they do.

Pessimists, on the other hand, believe their troubles will last forever, will undermine everything they do, and are basically beyond their control. When good things happen to pessimists, they see them as temporary and caused by specific factors that will eventually change and lead to negative outcomes.

BENEFITS OF OPTIMISM

Optimism creates better resistance to depression when bad events strike, better performance at work, and better physical health.

In fact, one long term study at the Mayo clinic in Rochester, MN, found that optimists lived 19% longer than pessimists.

Optimism is also a powerful antidote to anger. Many participants in our anger management classes report their anger lessening as they learn to replace negative thinking with positive thinking.

GOOD NEWS FOR NEGATIVE THINKERS

You can learn how to replace pessimism with optimism.

The starting point is to access your vulnerability to pessimistic thinking by taking the self evaluation test you can find at http://www.authentichappiness.org.

Your responses will be compared to thousands of other people in various categories, down to your Zip Code.

If you scored lower than you’d like, you can become more optimistic. As Dr. Seligman writes in Authentic Happiness his latest book: “the trait of optimism is changeable and learnable.”

LEARNING TO BE AN OPTIMIST

There is now a well-documented method for building optimism. It’s based on first, recognizing, and then disputing, pessimistic thoughts.

People often do not pay attention to their thoughts and thus do not recognize how destructive they can be in leading to negative emotions.

The key is to recognize your pessimistic thoughts and then treat them as if they were uttered by someone else—an external person, a rival, whose mission in life is to make you miserable!

Basically, you can become an optimist by learning to disagree with yourself— challenging your pessimistic thinking patterns and replacing them with more positive patterns.

Note: this view of optimistic thinking is not the process of “positive thinking” in the sense of repeating silly affirmations that you really don’t believe.

Rather, it is the process of correcting distorted or faulty thinking patterns that create health, career, and relationship problems for you.

By teaching yourself to think about things differently, (but just as realistically), you can morph yourself from a pessimist to an optimist—and tame the Anger Bee in the process.