This small apartment, located in Hong Kong, China, covers a ground area of 111 square meters. In it, each space we see contains a touch of good taste and distinction. It was designed in 2016 by the architectural firm Lim + Lu, an inter-disciplinary architectural design practice founded in New York City and currently based in Hong Kong. Its delicate interior is done in pastel colors that give the space..
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3 Deadly Myths You Must Know About Stress
Let’s talk about stress, baby…!
Have you looked around lately? Almost everybody is stressed! Everybody has too much to do and not enough time. Burnout rates are higher than ever before. Even though we live in the greatest luxury… we keep stressing ourselves. Think about it: stress sucks all the fun out of life.
Take a moment to imagine what a life without stress could be like.
When the clouds disappear, a beautiful blue sky remains. Similarly, when stressful thoughts and emotions disappear… all that remains is peace of mind.
A clear head. Happiness. Joy.
Do you think that living without stress is a utopia? Keep reading and open your mind. The information that follows may just be the single most important thing you read this week.
The problem is that most people are playing the game of life by the wrong rules. Imagine what happens when you play a game of football by the wrong rules. No matter how hard you try, you can never win. You always end up frustrated, exhausted, demoralized, empty…
We’ve all learned what stress is. Now, what if I tell you that most of what we know about stress is simply… NOT TRUE.
Myth #1: A bit of stress makes you perform better
The right level of challenge makes you perform better. But stress makes you perform worse. This is how neuroscientist Amy Arnsten puts it: “Neural circuits responsible for conscious self-control are highly vulnerable to even mild stress. When they shut down, primal impulses go unchecked and mental paralysis sets in.”
This means that when you’re stressed, you’re more likely to cause harm than good.
Think about a recent argument you may have had. It starts out with something silly, like your partner leaving socks on the floor or leaving the cap off the toothpaste. You felt annoyed, angry, frustrated… it felt like nothing else in the world exists. When you’re stressed, you experience negative emotions and you cannot think clearly. You cannot zoom out and calmly evaluate your options. All you can do is fight to get your point across.
How about creativity? One good idea can save you months of work. Unfortunately, creativity requires the lower alpha and theta brain wave frequency, whereas stressful events increase beta brain wave activity.
Myth #2: Stress can come from many different sources
“Stress can come from many different sources,” is the common wisdom we live by. But really, can it?
Isn’t stress simply your response to whatever is going on around you? And if so, can’t you choose your response?
If you believe that other things cause you to feel stressed, you put your well-being in the hands of external factors. Which is… quite stressful.
Instead, you must realize that stress comes from the meaning which you attach to a certain event. Don’t blame anything or anybody, but instead ask: “what can I do to change the situation?” or “what can I do to change what this means to me?”
Myth #3: Stress is a normal part of life that we should accept
Stress is an evolutionary survival mechanism for all living beings. When a cat is surprised by another cat, it jumps up and sprints away. Big stress for a few seconds, then back to instant relaxation.
Humans, however, are very social beings. And the human brain possesses the unique ability to plan ahead. A painful by-product of this ability is frequent stress. Even when there’s nothing to be stressed about, we worry about what could be happening.
In today’s service economy, work has become intangible, subjective. Saying “no” is a poor survival strategy, so our bodies prefer to say “yes” to whatever our environment demands. Our bodies activate the stress mechanism so we can temporarily function on 110%. Urgent deadline or ad hoc work coming up? Sure, the brain thinks, here’s a shot of adrenaline and cortisol, and now run!
Even though many humans in the Western world seem to be addicted to cortisol, it’s not something we must accept as a fact of life. We can CHOOSE to live stress-free, as long as we take ownership over our lives and we live by the right habits.
Conclusion: staying stress-free should be our number one priority – every day
Because when you’re stress-free, you can think clearly. Your brain becomes creative again. When you’re stress-free, you’re healthier, more likable.
That’s clear… stress is our number 1 enemy.
But, information is useless if you don’t take action.
So now that you have read and understood this information, only one question remains… what will you DO with it?
We will probably never succeed to be 100% stress-free, but every additional stress-free moment makes our lives more fun, more productive, more fulfilling and more rewarding.
Sounds like something worth fighting for, right?
– About the Writer –
Alexander Keehnen lives in the Netherlands and created the revolutionary online course “How to Work Stress-Free”. Being extremely pragmatic, he teaches people what they must know which schools don’t: how to be successful with no stress.
Alexander shares extremely valuable FREE tips on how to work stress-free. Subscribe on http://ift.tt/2f6v67C
You Need To Stop Telling Women Where To Breastfeed
Hardly a day goes by that you don’t see stories of women who get shamed in public for breastfeeding their babies. These stories often involve outrageous circumstances. For example, there are women who shop at lingerie stores who ask to feed their babies in the fitting rooms. Instead of being allowed, they are often redirected to an alley.
There’s also a hashtag trending on social media: #IPumpedHere. This hashtag highlights the degrading conditions in which women are forced to prepare meals for their babies upon returning to work.
In reality, however, women are allowed to feed their babies or pump almost everywhere in the United States. How is that possible? Read on.
The United States Is The Lowest Rated Developed Nation For Breastfeeding Policy
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that infants be breastfed for at least 12 months. The World Health Organization, on the other hand, recommends two years. For those who can’t and won’t breastfeed, formula milk makes a great and safe substitute but it’s not the best for growing babies.
There are many reasons why women in the United States make the decision not to breastfeed. One of those reasons is the negative reactions women who decide to breastfeed in public gets.
There are laws that protect a woman’s right to breastfeed her baby in public in 49 states. There are also laws at the federal level protecting a woman’s right to pump when she returns to work.
Unfortunately, these laws only cover women who work at businesses with more than 50 people and limited to one year after the birth of a child. Because of these and many other issues, only about half of babies in the United States are breastfed until six months of age.
Laws For Breastfeeding In The Workplace
When mothers return to work, they will often need to pump at least twice a day. This helps keep their milk supply up. Without pumping, their babies will not be able to get the amount of breast milk they need to be healthy and to grow. Preventing women from pumping can also lead to pain and discomfort.
Federal law requires that companies with 50 or more employees follow these guidelines for working mothers:
- Provide adequate break time for pumping for up to one year after baby’s birth
- Provide a space, other than a bathroom, for employees to pump with a locking door
- Employers are not required to compensate employees for this time
- Provide electricity and refrigeration for pumping and storage
Why Support Mothers In The Workplace?
The biggest reason to support mothers in the workplace is that it is the right thing to do.
When women have options, they are going to be able to lead happier and more fulfilled lives. This, in turn, will lead to stronger families. In addition to that, keeping women engaged in the workforce longer allows them to grow faster in their careers instead of having to start over from the bottom every time they take a break to have a child or care for an aging parent.
Women do the majority of the unpaid caretaking and it can take a significant toll on their earning power in the long run. And if you still need more reasons to support women in the workforce, the United States won’t be able to compete in the global economy with other industrialized nations if we keep marginalizing the talent of women and forcing them off to the sidelines when they don’t always want to be there.
See Also: Helping Women Succeed In The Workplace
Breastfeeding Mothers, Know Your Rights
Knowing your rights and being vocal about exercising them is going to be important. Don’t be afraid to talk to your company about your needs because you might find that they are more willing than you think to accommodate you with a pumping room and break time.
If you are going to be breastfeeding in public, and you will be breastfeeding in public more than likely, be ready to confront and diffuse any uncomfortable situations. Remember that you have the right to breastfeed your baby and no one has the right to tell you not to.
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How to Overcome Writer’s Block and Rediscover Freedom
You’re reading How to Overcome Writer’s Block and Rediscover Freedom, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.
You’re staring at that screen.
Nothing’s happening.
You’re checking, let’s see, email, Facebook, you go back to that empty word file.
Now, the negative self-talk begins.
Anxiety-You have to finish, and you haven’t even started.
Self-Critic-Why in the world did you ever agree to this?
Fun Guy-Tomorrow, Next Week, Next Year, anytime but now’s looking pretty good at this point.
The Angry Beast-Time to Pound the Keyboard.
Just Stop.
Pay yourself that penny, note your thoughts.
Breathe.
Gone to the Dark Writer Web?
Someone might laugh at what you write.
Someone might be angry at what you write.
Someone might criticize your writing as “bad”.
Perhaps NO ONE will read what you write.
Let’s get back to the light.
1-Wake Up!
Wake up in the Buddhist sense of being present.
Are you breathing from your chest?
That’s a sure sign of anxiety.
Send all your breath out of you with a calm and patient hiss until you have no more breath.
Now, when you are empty of breath, your abdomen will have no choice but to fill with breath.
Feel your abdomen fill, and breathe from there, filling up slowly.
Repeat.
Close your eyes, and watch your mind.
When it’s empty, keep that abdominal breath going, and see yourself typing happily.
Vigorous exercise BEFORE a writing session is also one of the best ways I know to restore your healthy instincts.
2-Disinvest in Whatever’s Right in Front of You
Odds are, you’re stuck, because some part of you is invested too heavily emotionally in whatever you’re working on.
What does that mean?
It means you’re not using your assets to write, you’re using the credit card of expecting someone else’s approval to be successful.
You need to relax and consider why this piece of writing is so important to you. Does it mean you won’t have to put on clothes ever again in the morning?
Do you expect traffic on a major highway to all pull off to the side when you appear just because of this one piece?
Here’s the biggest one of all. Do you think people will approve of you, or you’ll approve of yourself because you write this?
Get real.
How much weight are you putting on this item? More than it can possibly satisfy?
Time to get in touch with all those impossible outcomes, talk with someone else, or best of all, with yourself. Write down what you expect, see if you expect too much, and let go those expectations without self-criticism. Accept those expectations, and let them go.
3-Create Something Else in the Short Term or Turn to Another Language
One of the most effective ways I know to restore your playful and creative writing instincts is to do something else creative to relax the pressure you are putting on doing this one writing project.
How?
Write something else, make it fun, make it a product of giving yourself the permission to write something wacky, private, and lousy, as long as you enjoy it.
Here’s another interesting way to relax back into your creative instincts:
Play some music.
Read aloud pretending you’re on stage.
If you know another language, spend an hour speaking and our writing in it, so that you disinvest that “stake” in that single writing project that you’re stuck on.
4-Permission and Approval
Remind yourself that you aren’t what you write, no matter how good or bad it is.
Remind yourself you’re a human being, not a human doing.
Remind yourself that you will always win by failing, even if your eventual success doesn’t show up right away.
Channel your ideal reader. Make sure you have an ideal reader, the person whose image you can summon at will, someone you know, or someone you’ve made up, who loves you and is excited about your writing, no matter what.
5-Enlist your Brain
Pretend by sending yourself a congratulatory email that you’ve finished this challenging project and are ready for something new, then, without thinking,
dive right into what’s been giving you trouble.
You’ve now gotten your brain to help you bring about the outcome it already informed you of.
Writer’s Block is just another expression for a kind of self-imposed prison.
When you rediscover the joy of writing, you’ve simply set yourself free.
Write, rejoice in your creativity, and let your fingers dance across the keys as you soar to new heights.
If you’re a writer, there’s no greater self-kindness than liberation.
Be Free.
Lars Nielsen has decades of experience helping individuals and businesses discover and share their core message. Whatever your message or audience, grab his “Make YOUR Message Matter Cheat Sheet” and put his time-tested techniques to work immediately.
You’ve read How to Overcome Writer’s Block and Rediscover Freedom, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.
The Outside-In Art of Grayson Perry
In the art world, Grayson Perry believes, despite the blockbuster exhibitions at national galleries, “popular” is a term of abuse, linked to populism and unthinking prejudice. But in his exhibition “The Most Popular Art Exhibition Ever!” he shows that craft is also “art,” and that it belongs to us all. It’s here, even more than in his overt political statements, that Perry is truly democratic and profoundly “popular.”
Contemporary House Designed by the Spanish Firm Fran Silvestre Arquitectos
This wonderful house, done in a modern and contemporary style, was designed by the Spanish firm Fran Silvestre Arquitectos in 2017. It was created for a couple who, after living in Central Europe decided to return to the Mediterranean and to enjoy a place full of childhood memories and moments spent with family. It is located in the area of Castellón, an eastern province of Spain that is located in..
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With Labor Day behind us, beach season is drawing to a close. If…
With Labor Day behind us, beach season is drawing to a close. If you’re looking for one more sunset stroll on the sand, check out Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts. With over 44,000 acres of beaches, wetlands, forests and grasslands, there’s a lot to explore. Photo by
Marisa Geraghty (http://ift.tt/18oFfjl).
What Are Impeachable Offenses?
Because it has been used so rarely, and because it is a power entrusted to Congress, not the courts, impeachment as a legal process is poorly understood. There are no judicial opinions that create precedents for how and when to proceed with it. Past cases are subject to competing and often contradictory interpretations. Some might even be tempted to argue that because impeachment is ultimately political, it cannot be considered in legal terms at all. That extreme view cannot be right. Impeachment must be a legal procedure because it derives from specific constitutional directives.
Old Office Located in a Historical Building of Barcelona, Spain has been Transformed into a Private Apartment
This apartment, formerly an office space, and located in the historic heart of the beautiful city of Barcelona, Spain, covers a ground area of 250 square meters and has been renovated to become the home of a young couple. Being an open space, it enjoys an uninterrupted flow of natural light. The only visible door in the space is a double door, which indicates the threshold between private and public..
AR Arquitetos Designed This Comfortable Apartment in São Paulo, Brazil
This large and fluid space of 96 square meters was redesigned in the year 2015 by the architectural firm AR Arquitetos, under the instructions of its architect Andrea Helou, and is located in R,Caconde – Jardim Paulista, São Paulo, Brazil. Its interior was completely remodeled, seeking to create a large space that could fully take advantage of the natural light that it receives. The client needed to have only a..
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Sig Nordal 