Words have immense power. It is said that “The pen is mightier than the sword”; a metonymic adage that indicates the power of communication. We can hurt or heal with them, we can create beautiful fantasy worlds or imagine nightmares. Everything it’s up to us and we’d better make wise choices.

We can reveal a lot about us without realizing. Our words will do that for us.

Take this quick, fun test to find out what type of personality you have based on the words you use.

What Is Your Personality Type According To The Words You Use?
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Before we dive into this, it’s important to understand the difference between being assertive and being aggressive. There is a huge difference. Being assertive means to be able to make your point, effectively, in a diplomatic manner where everyone can understand it and maintain respect for you.  Being aggressive is getting your point across in a harsh and abrasive manner often hurting people’s feelings or quite possibly making enemies along the way. Clearly these aren’t Webster’s definitions but it’s easier to understand in layman’s terms.

We all know aggressive people and do our best to not be like them but can you consider yourself to be an assertive person? Do you struggle to be assertive and find that sometimes you come off as borderline aggressive? Here are a few powerful but proven ways to be assertive without hurting anyone’s feelings.

1. Style is everything.

The style in which you communicate is the difference between aggression and assertion. Body language plays a huge role in this as well. Be mindful of it. Stay calm, relaxed, in control, maintain a light smile and open arms when getting your point across. Remember people are more receptive to a gentler but firm discussion rather than a bold and loud one.

2. You are not being mean.

Don’t forget what being assertive means. You want to get your point across in a diplomatic and trusting way. You aren’t being a bully. You are simply standing up to what you believe in and respect is given for that. There isn’t anything wrong with that. You are just being you and people will appreciate that even more.

3. Talk in first person.

I did this, or I feel this, rather than you said this and you never did that. We aren’t looking to point fingers and lay blame all over the place. That’s aggression. You want to make your point in a sincere manner and a somewhat compassionate one so that people will feel your sincerity and understand your position better.

4. Stay consistent and focused.

Get your point across and don’t get upset if people don’t understand and begin to challenge you. This may happen regardless of you present yourself so stay focused, calm and consistent in your tone, your message and your body language. If you start to get annoyed or irritated by their criticism, you run the risk of losing your cool. Stay calm.

5. Believe in yourself.

When you strongly believe in your topic it is easy to be very passionate and knowledgeable about it, thus having confidence in yourself in being able to discuss it and possibly get others to have faith and believe in you as well. Sincerity will come naturally and you won’t come across as being too pushy or aggressive. People will admire your passion and you.

6. Know your limits.

Lay down boundary lines and don’t let people cross them. If we let people walk all over us, they will continue to do that forever. Let them know that under no circumstances is it acceptable that they do this. Make sure they know your boundary lines and if they cross it, firmly make them aware and let them know you won’t tolerate it if it happens again.

Too many people get taken advantage of and they continue to let it happen because they don’t want to upset anyone or rock the boat. All this does is show people how to treat you. If you want people to treat you properly and with respect, assertively show them how. You have to remember that even if you are being assertive and someone’s feelings have got hurt in that somehow, it’s not your problem, it’s theirs. There are times where no matter what you say or how you say it, some people will just take it all wrong anyway. There is little you can do about that. Stay true to you an d your values in a very assertive way, and people will respect and admire you for years to come.

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If you see how society is living today and are repulsed by it, you’re in a small minority of people.

While most of us are trying to stay busy, move up in our careers, and buy nicer homes and fancier cars, you might think that this “keeping-up-with-the-Joneses” way of living is maddening.

If you have no interest in climbing the social ladder, hopping up the financial ladder, spending your life paying off a mortgage or being an active part of the rat race, this post is for you.

There is nothing wrong with you. If your spirit is shining brightly and your soul is focused on your inner pursuits, don’t march to society’s tune. Live life your own way.

Some reminders when you’re going against the crowd.

1) Do what feels right to your soul and spirit.

Follow your intuition and live your life as you want to live it. Do not let the actions or lifestyles of others influence you even though nearly everyone you know is going after society’s standards of achievement, fame and fortune. You do you, no matter what anyone else does.

2) Know what you want.

Stay true to your heart and your dreams. Ask yourself regularly what you want, not what your parents or society wants for you.

3) Stay away from the comparison zone.

Remove yourself from situations in which others compare you, judge you or make you feel bad about yourself. Don’t associate, partake in activities or hang out with people who you know will depress your spirit or minimize your value.

4) Find peace in moments of judgment and comparison.

If you’re in a situation in which you’re feeling bad about yourself in comparison to others, use that moment to practice an inner meditation. Take out your journal and write your feelings. Talk to another friend who lives their truth.

5) Others need to see you living your truth.

Know that while many people may not agree with you or what you think, many people will find you inspiring. Even when they don’t agree with you, you might slowly shift the minds and thoughts of other people. When you’re living your truth, you’ll be inspiring other people to live their truth (even if they don’t say it). You may spark change in someone else by simply being you.

6) Learn to embrace your imperfections.

Once you can accept that you’re not perfect and that you don’t have to live up to anyone else’s standards, you will breathe a big sigh of relief. You are your own person. Remember that you are enough regardless of what you do or achieve.

7) Be patient with the life and relationships you desire.

Do the inner work and become more attuned to your truth and you will get what you want more quickly. Many people live another life or a copycat life because they think that this will get societal approval. It’s not about anyone’s approval but your own. Be patient with yourself, work on your inner game and let life meet you when you’re ready.

8) Let go of expectations, timelines and deadlines.

Feel peace and happiness in the present moment even if you’re not where you want to be.
Timelines and continual striving are society’s games. You have to do certain things by a certain age. If you’re not educated or if you’re not married or if you don’t have a child by x age, you’re not enough in society’s eyes. Give up on the dumb rules and expectations that society has created. Live according to what feels right to you. Just be yourself.

9) Surround yourself with people who follow their truth.

Have your own circle of confidantes and friends whom you can trust and who understand you – others who are going against the grain and living their own truth. Rely on your circle of truth-seekers and soul-seekers to support and uplift you.

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A happy couple is a delicate balance between “the personal flavors” of the two individuals who are part of it. Just like preparing food you’ll have to pay attention to all the ingredients in the mix. Too much of one and the dish is spoiled.

How likely to match is the combination of your personalities? Are you more like chocolate and hot peppers? Or like steak and potatoes?

Take just now this fun, quick quiz to find out which two foods are you and your partner!

Which Two Foods Are You And Your Partner?
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Unless you live under a rock, you know of all the tragedies going on in the world. Bombings, shootings diseases, starvation, fires, droughts, floods, you name it, it’s happening. Wouldn’t we all love to be able to save the world one person at a time. It breaks our heart and rips us apart inside to hear of all the devastation happening. Our first thought? We feel helpless and hopeless. What on earth can we possibly do to alleviate the sadness all around us?

We all do our part in helping to make the world a beautiful more loving place but obviously we can’t save everyone by ourselves. Often it may even feel like your efforts are wasted or have gone unnoticed. They aren’t and haven’t. it’s not even just the tragedies going on around the world, it can also be the stress and conflict within your own world either at home or work. The traffic, the 60-hour work week, the business trips, the kids are fighting. It seems to never end. When does it, when will it ever stop?

It can and it will but it starts with you. Here are a few tips to help keep you relatively sane in this zany world.

1. Random act of kindness.

Go do this. Do this lots. Every day every hour if you want. The world needs more kind people. Be one and when people watch you perform your acts of kindness they will be more inspired to follow suit. That’s how the world changes, one person at a time. These acts can be as small as holding the door open for someone, with a smile, or buying a homeless person food. Babysitting for a single mother so she can go to the movies with friends or mowing the lawn at the senior’s home. Choose your weapon of mass kindness and do it.

2. Avoid drama at all cost.

I know that may seem almost impossible to do but trust me, it’s not. As soon as you feel or hear and see drama coming on or starting, simply walk away. You don’t have to take part in any of that, ever. It’s your choice. Even if it’s your family, you still have the choice to walk away. You don’t have to stay and listen or engage in their shit talk. Go and be a part of a conversation that makes you happy.

3. Smile lots.

As much as you can. All day if you want. It’s really up to you how much you want to smile. The more you smile, the happier you will feel and the more at peace your mind will be. Do it while you are alone or walking down the street. Spread some cheer. The world needs more of that.  Eventually, as you keep smiling it will become a brilliant habit and you will automatically do it without even thinking about it or realize you are doing it. It will just become a part of you. the result? You will just feel happier and so will the recipients of your smile.

4. Shut them down.

Your worrisome negative thoughts that is. Your mind will go into overdrive if you give it the green light to do so. Don’t let it. You control your mind and your thoughts. Feed your mind with positive happy thoughts. Soon as you feel something negative coming on, immediately switch it off. You can do it. This will take some practice but it can be done. This could be negative thoughts about the horrible events around the world or even your boss. Turn that negative thought into something you are grateful for.

5. Unplug all devices.

Not literally but physically step away from cell phones, iPad, computers, tvs and anything else that may be delivering horrible news to you. We don’t want any part of that. Everything is still going to go on even if you don’t know what’s going on all over the world.  If it’s something you need to be concerned with I’m sure someone will inform you. You’ll find out. The rest of the stuff, you can’t really do anything about. Send out a healing prayer and let it go. Put on some fun light music instead and go for a nice walk in the park or read a love story, do a puzzle, whatever makes your heart sing. Do more of that.

You can see in this crazy zany world of ours, there are still ways to stay happy and sane. You can choose to get caught up in drama or just be in peace. Choose wisely.

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It is said that our soul keep returning to earth many, many times, until his mission is accomplished. Reincarnation is a very interesting perspective to judge the meaning of life. It is also a source of great comfort for those who seek spiritual growth based on inner resources. Reincarnation is used to explain the differences between people; they are lucky or not, rich or not, based on their actions from previous lives.

The concept was born in India around the 9th century BC, but now it is believed by many, including groups from the monotheistic religions.

Take just now this quiz to find out how many times you have been reincarnated.

How Many Times Have You Been Reincarnated?

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A healer, an empath, a light worker, an energy healer. You must have at one time or another heard these declarations. Someone was telling someone they are an energy worker or healer. What makes someone a healer or light worker anyway? How do you know you are one? What are the signs that indicate we are gifted and special and can feel, see, touch and heal?

Let’s first bust the myth that you have to be a tree hugging hippy from the 70’s to fall into any of these categories. You don’t. You can be the girl behind the counter at the coffee shop or the young man at the auto repair shop. Healers are everywhere and can be anyone. So are you one? If you have any of these signs you just might be.

1. You feel that you are here for a bigger purpose.

If you feel that, you are probably right. What’s your purpose? Have you discovered it? What causes are you drawn to? Do you feel a longing and a yearning to save babies, lions, villages? If the desire is burning inside of you deeply, you are a healer and should start looking into living your purpose.

2. Many don’t understand you.

Your friends and family don’t understand when you try to explain your feelings and they may even look at you like you just fell off the planet Mars. Only healers understand other healers. We understand the bigger picture and know what we are here to do. Others won’t get it.

3. You may be introverts.

Because you feel misunderstood by so many, you may have a tendency to be more introverted. It’s easier to stay home and enjoy your own company then to be with others who don’t understand you or feel weirded out by your energy. Finding like minded people can be difficult so you stick to yourself .

4. You are super sensitive.

To so many things. People arguing, loud noises, babies crying, bullying, thunderstorms, nature, the full moon. You name it, it stirs something inside of you. Some good, some not so good. It can sometimes be a struggle or a battle to not be so sensitive because it can actually hurt a lot.

5. You feel people’s energies strongly.

You easily pick up on other’s energy, whether happy or sad, good or bad. You are extremely sensitive to angry or negative energy. Not only do you feel energies but you wish you could heal the wounded as well. We sometimes forget we can’t help those who don’t want help.

6. People are drawn to you.

They naturally gravitate to you and feel comforted by your presence. They may even ask for advice or for some energy healing work. Your glow or aura is radiant and not so easy to mask or hide even if you wanted to. People just want to be with you. They love you and don’t quite understand why but they do.

7. Black sheep of the family.

Some healers are the black sheep of the family whereas others may come from a family of healers. You were always different. There was always something special about you and no one could figure it out. Even you knew you were different and didn’t quite belong with this family (and that’s a real feeling too).

8. You get emotionally drained quickly after a long day.

If you are around too much toxicity you will emotionally collapse by the end of the day and need some of your own healing. Because you pick up so much of everyone else’s energy and carry it with you, it is mandatory for you to clear your own energy field and until you get to do that, you’re emotionally zapped.

9. You experience a lot of headaches, neck and shoulder pain.

You feel like you carry the weight of the world and indirectly, you sort of do. You can get many headaches throughout the week depending on what your interactions were like. It is mandatory for you to drink lots of water and take time to clear all energies you are carrying or feeling.

10. People want advice.

You get a lot of people asking for advice on romance, work, family and other issues they may be dealing with. Sometimes even strangers are pouring out their soul to you because they simply feel that connection with you and no one has any qualms about telling you their life story. They just trust you.

Being a healer is truly a beautiful thing. You are gifted more than you know if you are one. Love it, embrace it, cherish it and be with it. The world needs more healers.

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The good life… We work hard at our jobs to get a glimpse of it during the summer or spring breaks when we finally have the time to do what we want to do. Some people use this time to go to the beaches to chill and party until the moon comes up. Others go to a foreign country to explore and experience a new culture. Everybody has his own definition of the good life. But what everybody has in common is that it’s associated with the ultimate happiness, joy and satisfaction of life. How great would it be to live life on your own terms and to live the good life, whether you have time off from your job/school or not? Let’s find out what the keys are to live the good life anytime anywhere.

Love what you do

Your work is going to fill a large portion of your life. You need to find out what it is that you’re good at and also what you really like. If you combine those 2 key elements, you’ll approach your ‘work’ as something totally different. You’ll begin to see it as something that helps you becoming a better person in life and of course, a happier one. For some people entrepreneurship might be their thing, others like to work in the corporate world or in the health-care industry.

Everybody has his own passions and interests so it doesn’t really matter in which profession you’ll work. As long as you work in a place where you feel happy and feel like you’re making work- as well as personal-related progress, you’ll never work another day in your life.

Build strong relationships

Having great relationships with your loved ones is of crucial importance to be happy and feel loved. Not only is this common sense, but there is also finally evidence to back up this claim.

The Grant study, a 75-year study about finding out what creates a fulfilling life, showed a really simple but important conclusion: feeling loved and having good relationships with the people you care about are the most important things to live a happy and meaningful life, regardless of the situation. Therefore, focus on and cherish the relationships that you have with your loved ones, because they are the ones that will give you happiness and joy that you won’t find anywhere else.

Gratitude

When has been the last time that you just took a moment for yourself to think about all the things that you’ve accomplished so far? Since we live in a world that is 24/7 up and running it’s hard to stand still by your achievements, because nowadays you always see someone who has it better than you. However, your achievements don’t decrease in value just because someone else is 3 steps ahead of you. You’ll start to live your life on your own terms when you don’t feel the need any more to compare yourself to others. The key is to be genuinely happy with what you have, and the universe will reward you with more in life.

Strive for progress

The ideal situation would be to learn or to do something new every day. However our reality almost never matches with our ideal self, hence the name ideal. It’s also pretty difficult to challenge yourself every day, because some days you probably won’t feel like it and just want to be and feel comfortable and relaxed. That’s why you need to look at the bigger picture. Striving for progress means that you should set goals for yourself that encourage you to become a better person and to do things that you normally wouldn’t do. You don’t have to learn how to play the piano, if you don’t like pianos. But what you can do is becoming more knowledgeable in the classical music if that’s what interests you. This can be progress to. As long as you’re keep trying to do and learn new things over time you’ll not only improve the quality of your life, but you’re also finding more things out about yourself that you wouldn’t find out otherwise.

People wait all week for Friday, all year for summer, and all life for the good life. However, you don’t have to escape your ‘normal’ life during spring or summer break to experience the good life. You can create your own ‘good life’ without going anywhere. Once you realize this, you can start living the life you’ve been waiting for all your life by creating it right now.

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“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.”
Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare

The power of our name has been immortalized in literature or religious ceremonies. It is said that the name we use influences us in many ways. It is true. How many times have you remembered somebody just because of an unusual name, or have you thought that his/her name doesn’t suit the personality?

Take just now this quick and fun quiz to find out what your true birth name is!

What Is Your True Birth Name?
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I believe that many of us are natural care givers. We want to take care of our friends, our family, our children, people on the street, you name it, we feel them and want to help. Any way we can. Every way we can. In keeping with all this caring, we often neglect ourselves. Too many of us insist we don’t have time to take care of ourselves because, clearly, we’re just too busy saving the world, right? What we forget is that it is absolutely critical to take care of ourselves first.

For some of us, the level of care we give to ourselves is substandard. We eat, sometimes we exercise, we try to spend time with family and friends, quality time, and we try to have our alone time but unfortunately, we fail miserably at half of this. People need us. Well, you need you too. Your self is whispering to you to please take time out for you. Here are 8 reasons why you better start doing that today.

1. You are NOT a super hero.

You are not indestructible. You are not immune to crashing and burning. You are a human and if you don’t stop and decompress you will crash and burn and it may be harder than you would like.

2. You are important too.

Yes, you sure are. Your mental health, your energy, your self love. All that is very important to your well being. It’s also very important to the level of care you can offer others. You can’t pour from an empty cup.

3. Keep the love.

Many people who give and care too much eventually start to feel resentment towards the people they are caring for. When resentment sets in, you no longer enjoy doing what you’re doing. If you spend a wee bit less time on them and more time on you, you will avoid resentment and keep love in your heart.

4. No doormat.

Remember respect is something that is earned and too often people will start to take advantage of your kindness and cross the line of respect. You’ve definitely earned it but there are those who are now taking you for granted and have lost it. Regain it by drawing the line. You are no doormat.

5. Who are you?

Caring and helping others is something you love doing but what about you? What are your other hobbies and interests and fun things to do? And when was the last time you did any of them?  Before you forgot what fun was, go out and have some.

6. Recharge your batteries.

They will run dry. Don’t think they won’t. You will eventually start dragging yourself out of bed to have to go and take care of others or run errands. Recharging can come in the form of a meditation or a nice walk in the park. Take some downtime. Grab your iPod, plug in your favourite tunes and enjoy.

7. Emotional and physical health are important.

So very important to each and every one of us. You may feel awesome today and think you are in excellent shape and health but that can quickly come to an end with no warning. Stroke, nervous breakdown, high blood pressure or stress can easily occur to those who don’t take proper care of themselves.

8. Rediscover you.

Maybe there are other little things deep inside that are screaming to be discovered by you and unleashed but they simply can’t, they are trapped, because you don’t take time to allow them to surface. We are all slightly more complex than we think we are. There are many different parts to us. Discover all your parts.

It’s time you give up that excuse you don’t have time for yourself and start making time for yourself. This is the only life you have and you don’t want to go through life not caring for yourself and then end unfulfilled and sad wishing you had done more for yourself, experienced more of life. Don’t live with regret.

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