In our society today, we are divided in how we view art. There are some who see art as separate from our daily lives and others who see it entwined with our daily lives. The truth is that art is everywhere. It is not just some painting in a gallery or a statue in a museum. Art is in us and within us. It’s in the nature that is around us – the sun that shines over us, the wind that blows in your hair and the starry sky at night. Art is in the animals we call pets and take in as part of our family. It is in the wild animals that roam the mountains and plains. Art is in the hands of a 5 year old’s finger painting or the birdhouse your son makes in Shop Class.

We even find art in technology. Look at the beautiful design that goes into webpages or the realism in movies. There are many different opportunities in our lives where we see art at its best. One reason why many people do not recognize and honor art in their daily lives is because they simply don’t take the time to notice. We are so busy in our hectic lives that we don’t stop to appreciate things. So many beautiful things go unnoticed because of this.

Do you take the time in your daily activities to stop and appreciate the art you encounter? Unfortunately, in this fast-paced life we live, many of … Continue Reading ...

Fruits and Vegetables Diet for Weight Loss:

Eating fruits and vegetables have many health benefits, and it is also very good for weight loss. In this article we will see how you can include them in your daily healthy eating diet plan so that you not only lose weight but also enjoy other health benefits.

The FDA has recommended that people have at least 5-9 servings of fresh fruits and vegetables everyday. The food guidelines issued by USA recently recommend this.

Now it may seem a bit too much to have 5 to 9 servings of fruits and vegetables but it might not be as difficult as you think when you take into account how much each serving really is.

The daily recommended amount is equivalent to almost 2 cups of fruits and 2 and 1/2 cups of vegetables each day. When you think of it this way does it look that difficult to get your daily recommended dosage of fruits and vegetables?

The grocery store shelves in USA and throughout the world are bursting with fresh fruits and vegetables and they are usually very very less expensive than other and more nutritious than other foods in the supermarket. Considering how less expensive they are and how nutritious they are, having daily dosage should not be such a big problem.

In order to get the maximum benefit, you should eat different varieties of fruits and vegetables. Eating the same foods day after day is not so exciting. So if you … Continue Reading ...

Setting weekly goals for your article writing could prove more useful than daily goals. The thing is that no matter how noble our business goals may be, life gets in the way sometimes, we are not living to work after all-we should be working to live, ideally. So where as it could be really fine and dandy to have your schedule finely tuned to enable you write everyday, it just does not always happen that way. The good news, however, is that with weekly goals you could still achieve your desired output, often more flexibly.

I found that to be true in my own case. I once set for myself the goal of writing two articles every weekday, and engage in other forms of writing on Saturday and Sunday nights. However, I discovered that there were days during the week when I wrote a lot more than two articles, whereas on a few other days I may not write at all.

It turned out that there were days when I was ‘in the spirit.’ On such days I rolled out one interesting article after another-effortlessly. But on off-color days, I seemed to labor just to get one article going. Fortunately, those off-color days were always fewer that the days I wrote well. And that gave me an idea: rather than aim at 2 articles every weekday, I decided to target ten or maybe even twelve articles for the entire week. And it worked!

The way I do it now, during … Continue Reading ...

Walk by Faith not by Sight

Every morning I grab my coffee, turn on one of my favorite worship CD’s, open up The Word and wait upon the Lord. So few days ago I heard the Lord say “Don’t let what you can’t see keep you from my promised treasures that exist”.

“What”? I prayed. “Lord I do have faith in what you have promised me.” As I prayed that the Lord brought to my memory the words I had been speaking to myself just a week earlier. I doubted the promise, I was giving up, even questioning the gift God gave me. I sit here in my mid 40’s and it still had not happened. I had lost my faith!

A friend of mine says that “Faith is taking God at His word! It’s that simple, Right?

Well it wasn’t for me. I know God placed this dream or treasure in my heart when I was a child. However, I still had not seen evidence of it; therefore, I doubted that it even existed.

The Lord showed me we are in a fierce war that is a continuous struggle for our faith. Satan is determined to destroy the faith of Gods beloved. The stronger your faith is the greater Satan’s attack will be against it.

When our faith is shaken, shattered or lost, we become weak and turn to the world for something we can make happen. Just as Abram and Sarai did, I absolutely love this story.

Julies’ … Continue Reading ...

Finding time to reduce stress repays you with greater focus, energy and creativity. Don’t wait another minute to exercise your power to increase your pleasure!

Stress Reduction Technique #1: Setting boundaries: Make this a game. Every boundary you set that wins you time ‘earns’ you that amount of time for something you truly enjoy. For example, by checking your email only once a day, how much time will you save? Dedicate those saved minutes for a time treat, something you enjoy that fits within that time frame. Make a list of time treats in advance, and reward yourself immediately after each success. You will be pleasantly surprised how much easier it will be to set boundaries when you know you’ll benefit right away! Do this daily for a month to establish a healthy habit.

Stress Reduction Technique #2: Glass half full: For a new twist on cultivating optimism, buy a set of small note cards. At the beginning of each day, jot a quick thank you note to someone who has brightened your life in some way. You will relive the kindness as you write about it. And you maintain healthier connections when you let people know you appreciate them. To further enhance this powerful exercise, use ‘dead time’ (while waiting at a stoplight, for example), to think of people you’d like to thank. Focus on the sending out. If you get a response, consider that an extra!

Stress Reduction Technique #3: Affirmations and Visualizations: How much time do you … Continue Reading ...

Dating advice columnist and author Lisa Daily can tell you why he didn´t call, the color you should never wear on a first date, and even where to snoop for evidence if you think your guy´s been fooling around. Millions read her dating advice column or tune in to see her every week on Daytime, and the early buzz on her debut novel Fifteen Minutes of Shame says it pops with the same signature quirky humor and fresh, irreverent voice that made her dating advice book, Stop Getting Dumped! a bestseller.

Women from 16-60 flock to Lisa´s popular Dream Girl Academy at the Learning Annex in New York City and events across the US. Lisa is a dating coach, speaker and popular media guest — she has done more than 2000 interviews on top radio and television shows, including iVillage Live, MTV Live, Entertainment Tonight and top UK national morning show, This Morning, and she appears as a real-life dating expert on the HITCH movie DVD starring Will Smith. A frequent source for reporters, Lisa has been quoted in hundreds of publications, from the New York Times, Washington Post and Chicago Tribune to Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Men´s Health, Christian Science Monitor and US Weekly Magazine.

We had a chance to interview the new author of the bestselling book, Fifteen Minutes of Shame (Plume/Penguin, March 25, 2008) and to find out more about this dynamic author whose books keep us yearning for more!

Thank you for this interview, Ms. Daily. Can you … Continue Reading ...