Why GUM Makes You more ALERT

There's an old riddle: " What's the difference between a gum-chewing girl and a cud-chewing cow?" The intelligent looks on the cow's face. "Well, the girl's suddenly looking pretty smart. Studies have shown that chewing gum increases blood flow to the brain.Australian researchers recently found that after 20 minutes of gum chewing,alertness went up by almost 19 percent. Chewing gum also lowers levels of the stress hormone cortisol by about 16 percent, according to the study.

THINK POSITIVE THOUGHTS EVERYDAY

If your life feels like it is lacking the power that you want and the motivation that you need, sometime all you have to do is shift your point of view.By training your thoughts to concentrate on the bright side of things, you are likely to have the incentive to follow through on your goals.

You are less likely to be held back by negative ideas that might limit your performance.
Your life can be enhanced, and your happiness enriched, when you choose to change your perspective. Don't leave your future to chance or wait for things to get better mysteriously on their own. You must go in the direction of your hopes and aspiration.. Begin to build your confidence , and work through problems rather than avoid them.

Always believe that good things are possible, and remenber that mistakes can be lessons that lead to discoveries.Take your fear and transform it into trust; learn to rise above anxiety and doubt. Turn your "worry hours" into "productive hours". Take the energy that you have wasted and direct it toward every worthwhile effort that you can be involved in. You will see beautiful things happen when you allow yourself to experience the joys of life.You will find happiness when you adopt positive thinking into your daily routine and make it an important part of your world

Symptoms of stress

In order to learn to deal with stress effectively, individuals need to understand what is triggering the stress behavior. Stress is anything that places demands on the body physically, mentally or emotionally. A little bit of stress is normal and it keeps people motivated in their daily lives. However, too much stress can have a negative effect on the body and in personal relationships both at home and in the workplace.

The following represent some of the signs of someone suffering from stress:

•Frequent stomach upsets
•Trouble sleeping
•Feeling tired all of the time
•Feeling burned-out at work
•Frequent migraine or tension headaches
•Being impatient with other people

Managing stress can help people live longer and have better relationships with those they interact with each day. People that are under stress can have health problems that are a direct result of not managing stress properly.

Today's flower #1

“People will always love flowers. A flower comes from a bud, then it grows. There’s life…there’s emotion associated with it."

I am a Working Mom

Hello World! I'm finally here. Everything is going to be fine. You'll see.

This is my first blog post. Ever. This is also the first publicly available piece of writing I've ever created. The pressure is on. I've actually put off writing this post for nearly three weeks now. It's not that I didn't want to post, but I felt that a first post needed to have some sort of special significance or insight. There are many things I plan to write about, and hopefully they will live up to the name of this blog and prove insightful and helpful to people in many of my various areas of interest. However, for my first post I want to start with an all encompassing post that doesn't necessarily dive right into the gory details of being a working mom.

Reality for many of us working moms is having too much to do and not enough time in which to do it. I remember all too well trying to work outside the home plus be a wife and mother. Getting up so early in the morning, getting the school-age children ready school, plus trying to get myself ready for the work day. They say that the first half hour of the day sets the tone for the rest of the day. I remember the tone being set for stress and anger. Then going to work, dealing with the pressure and demands of the workplace, trying to perform my duties and yet thinking about and missing my children.

At the end of the workday, the home workday would just begin. Helping the kids get homework started, everyone being hungry and wanting dinner now, getting the dishes done, laundry started, facilitating fights between the kids. Add to the fun, time with my husband, relationships with family and friends, grocery shopping, paying bills, illnesses, transporting kids to and from sporting or after school events and the result was often one tired, stressed, burned out mom. Even going into the bathroom as a safe haven of solitude and silence did not work -- they always found me.

I hope you've enjoyed my first post. I've certainly enjoyed writing it. Check back again soon for another completely random sample of the things rattling around in my head. Hopefully something cool will pop out.