Gems by Aliraza

B r ea ki ng a habit can be as hard as staying awake in an 8:00 A.M. geology lecture. It is, nevertheless, possible. (Or so they say; I could never stay awake in that class.) Perhaps it would have been easier had I followed the doctors' orders below. 1. Recognize your triggers . Our habits are often prompted. Dr. Wendy Wood, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University, put it this way: "If you regularly eat chips while sitting on the couch, after a while, seeing the couch will automatically prompt you to reach for the Doritos." The couch becomes a trigger. With this knowledge in hand, the shame-filled snack lover has a new weapon of attack. Instead of relying on willpower to resist the chips, he or she can stop the urge before it strikes by sitting in a different spot--or selling the couch. 2. Snap yourself. Whether it's biting nails or drinking soda, we do bad things for a reason. Though it might be hidden, there's a reward milling around the...

The Spanish have a proverb: Tomorrow is often the busiest day of the week. Clever wordsmiths, those Spaniards. We all procrastinate. We dawdle and delay, dally and defer. My office floor is still home to a pile of papers that needed filing two months ago; I'm waiting for them to stop dallying and file themselves. Whatever the task, whatever the excuse, the tips below will help you do today what most people put off to next month. 1. Ask yourself, What's the holdup? People procrastinate for many reasons. Some fear failure. Some avoid boring jobs. Others shy away from getting tangled in a complicated mess (i.e., my pile of papers). Knowing the cause of the problem may open your eyes to an obvious solution. 2. Do you need to do it? Simple question, but it's a good one. Sometimes we put something off because it's not important. If you don't really need to do it, free yourself of the mental burden and drop the task from your to-do list. 3. Ask for help. I have an anci...

Sometime it seems that everything is going smooth, circumstances are favorable, everyone is thinking for us, everything has been turned around us... We can do whatever we want..! We say life is EASY. Sometime it seems everything is going against us, nothing is in favor, no one is our friend, plans become garbage, efforts become useless, mountains look higher than high, oceans become deeper than deep. Is there anyone who has thought ... what difficulty really is?? 1. Is that a scenario when we find us unable to do anything, and instead of finding the way we leave just saying its difficult. 2. Is that a place where we can't move further, because of different reasons, sometime social, sometime financial, sometime ethical, sometime behavioral... Is difficulty really exists or just a state of feeling that we are unable to do anything. Is that really something which stops us to do something. Is there anyone in this world who can face this and change its shape with a friendly version. In...

Imagine trying to swim the length of a pool with a fifty-pound weight strapped to your ankle. Or walking across a tightrope while a crowd below pelts you with sticks and rocks. Impossible! Regardless of how much you wanted to succeed, you would be dragged down to the bottom of the pool or knocked off the rope in no time at all. Believe it or not, the very same thing may be happening to your goals. And if nothing is done to save them, you'll be dragged away from all of the things you want for good. Where Does the Problem Come From? We all have an incredibly powerful need to belong and be accepted. We want to feel loved and wanted by the people in our lives. Can you remember a time when your need to be loved wasn't being met? When you felt unimportant, disconnected, and alone? It's an extremely difficult emotion to deal with as we all know too well. And this is the cause of the problem. Our need to be connected and loved is so intense that we will sabotage our own...

Imagine sitting on a tropical island, a cool breeze blowing against your face. In the distance you can hear the soothing sound of crystal clear waves rolling gently onto the shore. Peaceful feeling, don't you think? Imagine running full speed off the edge of a cliff, heart pounding in your chest, with a hang-glider attached to catch your fall. You soar through the air, seeing the world from a bird's eye view. You're on top of the world! Pretty exciting, isn't it? Imagine going through your entire day without a hint of stress, tension or worry. Everything goes your way and no one can get to you. Think about how life would be if every day went this way. Every day was free from worry and stress. Such a relaxing and happy picture. Something special happens within each of us when we close our eyes and imagine. We transport ourselves to better times, and forget, if only for a moment, the struggles of reality. We can even feel it in our bodies - the energy and e...