Sukses Terbesar dalam Hidup Saya

Saya memiliki sebuah impian sederhana, tapi merupakan sesuatu yang besar dan berdampak jauh lebih baik bagi kehidupan. Selama ini, sepanjang kehidupan saya yang singkat saya habiskan untuk mengajak teman-teman agar mereka sering membaca. Bagi saya, menyaksikan orang lain membaca buku untuk menambah pengetahuannya adalah sebuah kebahagiaan yang luar biasa, apalagi ketika saya ketahui bahwa sebenarnya orang tersebut bukanlah tipikal seorang kutu buku. Keberhasilan membangkitkan minat membaca seseorang adalah impian besar saya, dan merupakan indikator kesuksesan saya. 

Selama ini saya berada dalam lingkungan yang menuntut perkembangan dan mengembangkan. Saya menemukan ada banyak sekali pemuda-pemuda potensial, mereka memiliki modal untuk bisa menjadi seorang pemimpin dengan kemampuan dan kepercayaan diri yang baik. Namun yang sangat disayangkan adalah bahwa mereka tidak gemar membaca, mereka hanya bermodalkan pengalaman yang minim dan mungkin pengetahuan-pengetahuan yang hanya didapat dari kegiatan keseharian. Ibarat perang, mereka tidak mencari senjata yang lebih canggih agar bisa menang dengan mudah.

Akan sangat disayangkan jika mereka tidak mengisi diri dengan membaca. Oleh karenanya pada setiap kesempatan saya bisa berdiskusi atau membawakan materi, hal yang terus menerus saya dorong adalah bahwa setiap orang harus banyak membaca, bukan untuk siapa-siapa, tapi untuk mereka, atau mereka akan berkembang dengan lambat. 

What Happen to A General who Misreads The Map?

Once I told my lecturer that I had a surveyor position in my new company, it's really a suitable position for whom had been graduated from soil science department like me. He responded "Oh that's good, you're gonna know whole parts of plantation zone, you're gonna know it more than others"

Then he added "that's the first step to be a leader, somebody has to recognize the territory very well, so that he can set up strategies"

It knocked the thoughts inside my head, I never thought that way before. I always think that becoming a surveyor will always grow my skill, I can learn more and more, knowing things around as it's main function. But actually there is more than that, it is the main part of setting up strategies through the map.

And then I imagine about the ancient war, how they work to find the best strategy, then I arrive on a conclusion that a leader must be the one who knows totally about the territory, to find the best way to attack or which part to defend, to know where the enemy's position, what they have, their probability and etc. 

Now I know to become a surveyor/mapper not only to draw map on a paper, but to decide where the things should go. 

Which are The Points You Haven't Known From The Benefits of Standing?

Have you ever asked about how beneficial all the simply things around us are? Today I will give you an information about a simple activity and its benefits. And it's about standing. Yes standing really has many benefits to our health and our psychology. This simple activity can be done anytime and anywhere.

For years physicians and therapists have recommended assisted standing for a variety of medical and health benefits that occur when maintaining a natural standing posture. However; in addition to the physiological health benefits, many people also experience significant psychological benefits from being in the upright standing position, such as improved self-esteem and social development.

and below are the list of standing's benefits, in medical and psychology way.

Medical Benefits of Standing
Passive standing has been demonstrated to prevent, reverse, or improve many of the adverse effects of prolonged immobilization.

The most widely accepted medical benefits of standing include:

1. Prevention of contractures (ankles, knees, and hips)
2. Improvement of range of motion (spine, hips, knees and ankles)
3. Reduction in spasticity
4. Prevention or reversal of osteoporosis and resultant hypercalciuria
5. Improvement of renal function, drainage of the urinary tract, and reduction in urinary calculi
6. Prevention of pressure ulcers through changing positions
7. Improvement in circulation as it related to orthostatic hypotension
8. Improvement in bowel function
9. Normalization of respiratory function
10. Improve Hip Integrity
11. Develop or improve motor skills
12. Maintain or re-gain bone density

Other specific reasons that people stand include:

• Facilitation of a natural symmetrical standing posture
• Development & improvement of upper body balance & strength
• Alleviation of pain caused by prolonged or inappropriate position
• Development of standing tolerance & endurance
• Lessening progressive scoliosis
• Assisting with skeletal development (in children)

Psychological Benefits of Standing
Although funding sources rarely recognize the psychological benefits of standing, they can be some of the most important reasons to stand, especially for kids. Clinicians, parents, and EasyStand users also recommend standing for the psychological benefits, including:

• Stimulate play
• Increase independence & self-image
• Being active and mobile while standing
• Be more alert
• Increase cognition
• Enhance social development & interactions with peers
• Participate in activities that are meant to do standing up
• Increase activities of daily living
• Be more vocal & responsive
• Look peers in the eye
• Give & get hugs easier
• Encourage inclusion in school
• Decrease fatigue from inactivity
• Help prevent depression

Source: http://www.easystand.com/health-benefits/index.cfm

Do You Always Have Early Sleep at Night? it's good!

Now-a-days every one of us is very busy with our jobs. Most of us gets up early in the morning, do the work in the home and then go to the job, work there and comes back home with frustrations and tiredness. The only solution by which we can get relaxation and can be free from stress, tiredness and frustrations, is sleeping early.

Sleep is only one natural restorative process that helps the body to take rest which in turn helps in doing the works properly by energizing us again after we get tired and helps in continuing all the functions perfectly and appropriately. The habit of sleeping early is always good to health. Six to seven hours of sleep for adults and eight to nine hours of sleep for children is always necessary which helps a lot in terms of health and obviously helps to improve our beauty too. Early sleeping habit provides many great physical and psychological benefits in regard to health and beauty. The real and great benefits of early sleep includes,

Stress reduction
Increase in stress leads to many health problems like heart strokes. Sleep is the best natural way by which stress can be reduced. Sleep can repair the physical and mental damage that caused in your body due to stress and fights against diseases.

Controls and prevent diseases
The people who sleep late at night will definitely suffer from many long term diseases especially cancer and heart problems due to increase in blood pressure and cholesterol level in the body. A habit of sleeping early helps to control and maintain blood pressure and prevent such long term diseases.

Improves memory
Early sleep helps the mind to store the information in an organized way so that it can be retrieved later easily.

Enhances quality of life
Sleep will improve the quality of your life and makes you experience the joy that present in doing your work.

Increase energy level
Better and early sleep makes you more energized by increasing the energy levels and makes you feel fresh the next day you get up which helps in doing the work perfectly and in time.

Weight can be maintained
Improper sleep that is sleeping too early or sleeping too late leads to obesity problems or leads to weight loss. These problems can be prevented and weight can be maintained by paying attention to good sleep at night.

Source: http://www.beautynhealthytips4u.com/2009/02/healthy-benefits-of-sleeping-early_23.html

What You Will Get by Doing Morning Strecthing

After a good night sleep, we all feel the need in the morning to stretch, just a little bit.
Maybe some of us don't really think why we experience this sudden need.

Well, the truth is that morning stretching is a great way to loosen up your muscles and get them ready for the day, as it relaxes your body while increasing blood flow.

You should really consider daily morning stretching, especially if you're sleeping all curled up or in other odd positions.

There are many chances that are you wake up feeling like your spine has been compressed, and pain isn't exactly your thing, right?

So, before getting out of bed in the morning, turn face down propped gently on elbows, hold for a brief period of time, and then try to get out of bed without sitting up.Don't minimize the benefits of morning stretching.Done correctly, morning stretching prevents every day injuries and allows our muscles to perform at their maximum potential.

Plus, stretching is a very simple technique, one that does not require additional equipment or physical skills, demanding only a little bit of time.

Here are some morning stretching tips:

1. Sitting on the edge of your bed with your feet on the floor, you bend over, reaching your hands toward your feet.
2. Don't forget to arch your back, and hold for a count of ten.
3. Also, in the same position, try to rotate your head in a circle, touching your ears to your shoulders. Rotate clockwise and counter clockwise for 5 times.
4. With a good program of daily morning stretching you can reduce your mental and physical tension, anxiety, your blood pressure will be stabilized, you can also avoid muscle and back pain, and you'll have a more fresh start for your day.

Reading or Writing Poetry? Don't You Know That It's Good?

Do you love to read any poetry? I do love it. Most of people love it, no matter if it's men or women, young or old, kid or adults, the poetry is so universal. But do you know what you can get by reading or writing any poetry? You should know it. Its beautiful words can affect us so much good things to our mind.

Here they are:

1. Poetry helps you to know things more fully. When I turn things over to put them into verse, I often find that I have to shift my perspective, usually to see more closely. In a poem of gratitude, Amen, I was thinking about how happy the spring had arrived. I sat by the lake thinking of all that was going on. I passed beyond the big things moving closer and wider to see a broader picture than had originally come to mind.
2. Poetry commands your attention. There’s reading and then there’s reading. You can’t skim a poem and get what the writer sets forth for you, which is not the whole of it. The rest is filled in with a big part of who you are. Really, when you think about it, anything you can comprehend is understood from the context or frame of reference you have. Poems leave a little more room for you in the verses.
3. Poetry can sustain good conversation. Two people can read the same poem and get very different things out of it. I’ve had some really interesting conversations around poetry. In fact, one of the poems I wrote called What Could I Lose brought a woman to tears, whereas it made me smile when I wrote it. After the reading she spoke with me and made me understand where the poem transported her.
4. Poetry writing asks you to dig deeper. It feels like Twitter sometimes. Poetry makes no restrictions on the number of characters you use, or the words. However, you work to tell your story, to convey your thoughts and emotions, reflections and opinions. And you do this in verse form instead of prose. One of the shortest poems in my book Partly Cloudy didn’t make it the the table of contents and yet it got a lot of feedback, both commiseration and query of What led you to feel that way?

That's all what I know! So you have known that behind the beautiful words there are so many beautiful advantages.

Do You Use Pillows When You Sleep? Keep Using It!

It is a very comforting feeling to have just the right pillow to rest an achy, tired body on. In addition to providing comfort, the right pillows can also provide the necessary support for the neck and spine—alleviating or preventing many common forms of back pain and neck pain.

Main benefits of pillows

Use of a pillow while sleeping has two main functions:

• Support: From a physical perspective, pillows prop up the head, neck and shoulders - keeping them in alignment, relieving pressure and counterbalancing the points in the body.
• Comfort: From a more subjective perspective, pillows create a feeling of comfort, which aids in getting a good night’s sleep and feeling well rested.

Healthier by Swimming

Swimming is a fabulous workout, which has been found to be not only beneficial for the human body, but also perfect for relaxing the mind of the person undertaking it. In summer time, it serves as an excellent exercising choice, which helps you burn off calories, while cooling down your body.

Swimming provides you the best of both worlds. On one hand, it provides the cardio benefits of running and on the other hand, it paves way for you to achieve weight training strength building benefits. The reservoir of swimming health benefits is really comprehensive, making the aerobic exercise in demand these days. let us explore more on the health benefits of swimming.

Swimming Health Benefits

• Swimming helps maintain the blood pressure and cholesterol of a person, thus ensuring the well being of his/her heart.
• It is good for the health of your lungs and also reduces the risk of stroke, heart attack and diabetes.
• Swimming enhances the flexibility of your joints and provides the scope for boosting your physical activity workout level. In other words, it helps a great deal in your weight loss program.
• It is perfect for those people who have a hard time carrying out weight-bearing, land-based physical activities. This is because your weight in water is about 1/10 of your weight on land.
• For pregnant women as well as for people who are suffering from arthritis and back pain problem, there can be no better workout choice than swimming.
• Swimming minimizes the risk of injuries from physical activity. So, you can easily try out the delightful exercise and enjoy the health fitness benefits it offers, without any attached risk.
• If indulged in on a regular basis, swimming can help build the endurance, muscle strength and cardio-vascular fitness of a person.
• You can indulge in swimming before as well as after a strenuous workout on ground, as a warm-up and cool-down activity, respectively.
• It helps a person exercise almost all the muscles of his/her body, with the main focus being on arms and legs.
• The people suffering from injuries, back pain, arthritis and disabilities, who cannot indulge in a normal workout, can undertake swimming.
• Swimming has been associated with relieving the joint pains, high blood pressure and discomfort that are often experienced during pregnancy.
• Indulging in swimming can help post-surgery patients, who adopt an otherwise sedentary lifestyle, avoid muscular atrophy.
• It is found to have soothing effect on the mind as well as the body of a person, mainly by regulating breathing and stimulating circulation.

Source: http://www.iloveindia.com/fitness/swimming/index.html

Morning Breakfast, It's Good to Do!

Everyone has heard the familiar cliché, "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day," but how seriously do you actually consider it when planning your morning routine?

Most teens and adults find a variety of excuses for skimping on breakfast or skipping it entirely each morning. "I'm not hungry in the morning." "I don't like breakfast foods." "I'm trying to lose weight." "I don't have time," or "I'd rather sleep those extra few minutes each day." The list could go on.

However, recent studies suggest more strongly than ever that the benefits of eating breakfast far outweigh the excuses that most of us give for skipping it.

For example, how often do you find it hard to get to school on time and then, once there, to concentrate for the first few hours? Well, a recent Boston study examining the effects of breakfast on 100 elementary students found that eating breakfast improves academic performance, punctuality and attendance. In addition, children who skipped breakfast on a regular basis experienced more behavioral problems than those who did not.

Another similar study found that children who do eat breakfast are more likely to meet the rest of their nutritional needs throughout the day; therefore, they have a healthier diet overall than those who skip breakfast.

Some may think that not eating breakfast will help them watch their weight or cut out a few "extra calories" in their diet. However, studies prove that eating breakfast can actually help maintain or even lose weight. Eating breakfast in the morning stimulates your metabolism for the day, and it also stabilizes blood sugar levels, which regulate appetite control.

With all these benefits, one finding is common throughout the studies:A healthy, nutritional breakfast is the most important thing!

Some ideas for making your own quick and nutritious breakfast before heading to school include:

• Yogurt mixed with granola and fresh fruit

• Whole-grain cereal topped with low-fat milk and a sliced banana

• Frozen whole-grain waffles with fresh berries and a scoop of cottage cheese on the side

• Whole-grain toast or bagel with peanut butter or cream cheese and a piece of fruit

• Toast with jam, a fried egg and a small bowl of fruit salad

In addition, keep the following pointers in mind while planning your morning menus:

1. Try to include fruit, grains and protein each morning.
2. Find whole-grain cereals, breads, muffins and waffles that include little or no refined sugars.
3. Fresh fruit is nutritionally superior to canned fruit, and apples and bananas are available all year.
4. If you do not like typical "breakfast foods," then be creative! Have a peanut butter and banana sandwich, a homemade smoothie or even leftovers from last night's dinner!

Remember, tomorrow morning you may not feel like taking the time for breakfast before you leave for the day. However, if you take just a few minutes to eat something nutritious and filling, you might do better on that test in first-period Algebra, you probably will not be ravenously hungry long before your lunch period comes, and your diet for the day may very well be healthier overall!

Want to be healthier? Let's Dance!

If you secretly sashay across your living room when you're home alone or long to cha-cha with your significant other, you're in luck. Not only is dancing an exceptional way to let loose and have fun, but it also provides some terrific benefits for your health.

In fact, Mayo Clinic researchers reported that social dancing helps to:

• Reduce stress
• Increase energy
• Improve strength
• Increase muscle tone and coordination

And whether you like to kick up your heals to hip hop, classical or country, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) says that dancing can:

• Lower your risk of coronary heart disease
• Decrease blood pressure
• Help you manage your weight
• Strengthen the bones of your legs and hips

Dancing is a unique form of exercise because it provides the heart-healthy benefits of an aerobic exercise while also allowing you to engage in a social activity. This is especially stimulating to the mind, and one 21-year study published in the New England Journal of Medicine even found dancing can reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia in the elderly.

In the study, participants over the age of 75 who engaged in reading, dancing and playing musical instruments and board games once a week had a 7 percent lower risk of dementia compared to those who did not. Those who engaged in these activities at least 11 days a month had a 63 percent lower risk!

Interestingly, dancing was the only physical activity out of 11 in the study that was associated with a lower risk of dementia. Said Joe Verghese, a neurologist at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and a lead researcher of the study, "This is perhaps because dance music engages the dancer's mind."

Verghese says dancing may be a triple benefit for the brain. Not only does the physical aspect of dancing increase blood flow to the brain, but also the social aspect of the activity leads to less stress, depression and loneliness. Further, dancing requires memorizing steps and working with a partner, both of which provide mental challenges that are crucial for brain health.

How Good of a Workout is Dancing, Really?

The amount of benefit you get from dancing depends on, like most exercises, the type of dancing you're doing, how strenuous it is, the duration and your skill level.

Says exercise physiologist Catherine Cram, MS, of Comprehensive Fitness Consulting in Middleton, Wisconsin, "Once someone gets to the point where they're getting their heart rate up, they're actually getting a terrific workout. Dance is a weight-bearing activity, which builds bones. It's also "wonderful" for your upper body and strength."

"If you're dancing the foxtrot, you're taking long, sweeping steps backwards. That's very different than walking forward on a treadmill or taking a jog around the neighborhood ... Ballroom dancing works the backs of the thighs and buttock muscles differently from many other types of exercise," says Ken Richards, professional dancer and spokesman for USA Dance, the national governing body of DanceSport (competitive ballroom dancing).

Specific Benefits of Different Dances

If you're looking for specific health results, here's a breakdown of the benefits of some popular dances. Just remember that any type of dancing is better than no dancing at all!

Belly Dancing

• Improved posture and muscle toning
• Maintains flexibility
• Helps prevent lower back problems
• Tones and firms arms and shoulders
• Helps with weight loss
• Helps prepare women for childbirth
• Reduces stress
  

Ballroom Dancing

• Conditions the body
• Helps keep the heart in shape
• Builds and increases stamina
• Develops the circulatory system
• Strengthens and tones legs and body
• Increases flexibility and balance
• Helps with weight loss
• Relieves stress

Salsa Dancing

• Builds endurance and stamina
• Helps with weight loss
• Relieves stress
• Helps you release toxins via sweating
• May help lower blood pressure and improve cholesterol levels
• Can lead to a reduced heart rate over time

Square Dancing

• Provides cardiovascular conditioning
• May lead to a slower heart rate, lower blood pressure and an improved cholesterol profile
• Strengthens bones
• Helps you develop strong social ties
• Loosens and tones muscles

Physical benefits aside, dancing has a way of brightening up a person's day, says ballroom owner and operator Karen Tebeau.

"A lot of times, when people come into the studio, it's because there's been a change in their life: a divorce or they've been through a period of depression. They (continue) coming in, and you see a big change. After a while, they're walking in with a sunny expression. You know it's the dancing that's doing that," she says.

Source: http://www.sixwise.com/newsletters/05/11/02/the-health-benefits-of-dancing----including-specific-benefits-of-different-dances.htm

Good News: Why Don't We Write Handwritten Letters to our Friends! It's Great!

When the last time you make handwritten letters to your family, friends, or business partner? For me it was about 4 years ago. This art is being vanished slowly by rapid increase of email using and greater cell phone technology. But it still has superiority and so meaningful.

On an handwritten letter, you have not only the forms of the letters used, but the texture, the color, the size, the smell, the noise from the paper, you have also the envelop you need to open, you have the stamps, in fact, many many small details who can't be compared to a perfect screen of a computer.

No handwriting font or font technology could replace the warmth and human quality of handwriting. It's the direct, physical act of writing that makes it so unique, so human.

Nonetheless, nothing expresses respect for another like a handwritten letter, and no love e-mail, text message or cell phone call will ever be carefully bundled into a memory box and savored for years to come. In a world that thrives on acceleration, the handwritten letter calls us to a time more deliberate, elegant, and gracious.

So, Why don't we write handwritten letters to our friends. It's great!

Written By: Buyung Al amin

Good News: Why don't you use your spare time to do some crossword?

What do you do usually in spending your spare time? some people usually use it to read newspaper, listening to the music, or even just stare alone on the desk. But how about to do crossword? Is it a good activity to spend your leisure, isn't it?

There are more benefits we get by doing crossword than others activities, and here they are:

1. Great for vocabulary

Whether you are learning a new language or trying to improve your own, crosswords are a great source of new words. The clues tell you much about how the word is to be used, too.

2. Great for spelling

Particularly for children but for adults as well, crosswords force you to get the spelling right. If it isn’t, the word won’t fit into the squares or won’t let the connecting words make sense.

3. Reduces tension

There is nothing like time out to do a crossword to let you totally relax. Do a crossword and feel the peace descend.

4. Eases anxiety

Focusing your attention on a crossword puzzle can help you to keep anxiety at bay or at least to take the edge off it. Concentrating on fact and data will help keep your emotional side under control.

5. Pure fun

What else do I need to say? Do them alone or do them in groups. Run competitions. Have crossword clubs. Just enjoy yourself.

6. Wards off dementia

Doing crosswords and other puzzles on a regular basis is known to have an effect on warding off dementia. An active brain is much healthier and less likely to be affected by the disease.

7. Improves perfomance at work

A brain that is active and stimulated by puzzles is a brain that will function well at work. The better your brain works in one area the more likely it is to spill over into different areas of your life. Your thinking will be more clear and much faster than it was.

8. Uses different forms of thinking for different types of crossword

There are different types of crossword and they each require you to think differently. A standard crossword makes you think of a word and how it is spelt. Cryptic crosswords require you to use your logical thinking skills to decrypt the clue before you can think about how to spell it!

9. Gives you a success experience

Doesn’t it feel fantastic when you complete a crossword? It gives me a good feeling for the whole day. I am ready to challenge myself again in the next puzzle. Puzzlers who can see that they are getting better with each attempt will be more likely to keep at it until they complete the whole puzzle.

10. Lets you monitor your brain function.

Regular puzzlers will tell you that they can see how their brain is working over a period of time. They can see improvements by looking at the level of crossword they are doing, the rate of success they are having and the speed at which they can work. They can see the patterns of their progress in a way that they couldn’t in day to day life.

So, Why don't you use your spare time o do crossword?

Good News: It's simple.. Just Lie Down...

What is the first thing most people think of when they think of lying down? Sleep, rest, relax, nap or even take a load off is what usually comes to mind. Most people equate lying down with some form of relaxation because of how it makes them feel.

But what is actually happening in the body to make us “FEEL” this way?


1. Blood pressure lowers.

2. Heart rate slows down.

3. Breathing slows down.

4. Muscles and bones have an opportunity to relax.

5. Gravitational forces are more equally distributed.

6. A mental sense of “It is ok to relax”.

“Lying down gives the body a chance to recuperate from a busy stressful day. A fully supportive horizontal position provides a necessary reprieve from gravitational forces so that all physiological systems, including musculoskeletal and cardiovascular activity, metabolic and heart rate, and circulation, can slow down. When this occurs, the body is able to replenish the vital resources that have been naturally depleted throughout the day.” (Dr. Joseph Weisberg, Heidi Shink)

So, it's better to have a minute time to lie down at work, it can increase your productivity after doing it. Just lie down, if you don't have the time to nap...

Good News: Go and Hug Someone You Love!

Do you like to get a hug from the ones you love? I do believe that no one denies that when we get hugged we'll feel better of relationship, feel more comfortable and keep us in better mood to face the day. This simple act accomplishes many things that you may have never considered. Hugging is a natural activity of nurturing and the sign of care to others.

According to family therapist Virginia Satir:

“We need 4 hugs a day for survival.

We need 8 hugs a day for maintenance.

We need 12 hugs a day for growth.”

Is it so great, isn't it? and Here are some benefits of hugging I've concluded from some articles.

• It feels good.
• It dispels loneliness.
• It overcomes fear.
• It opens doors to feelings.
• It builds self-esteem.
• It fosters altruism.
• It slows down aging (huggers stay young longer).
• It helps curb appetite (we eat less when we are nourished by hugs and when our arms are busy wrapped around others).
• It eases tension.
• It fights insomnia.
• It keeps arms and shoulder muscles in condition.
• It provides stretching exercise if you are short.
• It provides stooping exercise if you are tall.
• It offers a wholesome alternative to promiscuity.
• It offers a healthy, safe alternative to alcohol and other drug abuse (better hugs than drugs!).
• It affirms physical being.
• It is democratic (anyone is eligible for a hug).
• It is ecologically sound (it does not upset the environment).
• It is energy-efficient (saves heat).
• It is portable (you can take it with you).
• It requires no special equipment.
• It demands no special setting (a fine place for a hug is any place from a doorstep to an executive conference room … from a church parlor to a football field).
• It makes happy days happier.
• It imparts feelings of belonging.
• It fills up empty places in our lives.
• It keeps on working to dispense benefits even after the hug is released.
• Reduces heart disease
• Diminishes stress
• Promotes longevity
• Strengthens social ties
• Lowers blood pressure
• Lowers heart rate
• Benefits the hugger and the huggee equally

Look, we list it so much, still not enough? Go and huge someone you love, your family, your best friend, your child and all the ones who have less of it and then add good things you get by hugging them into the list.

Good News: "Have a nice Dream" could be meant "Have a Nice Life"

Sometimes dreams make a lot of sense — like when we’ve been working hard and we end up dreaming, alas, that we’re still at work. Other times the meaning of dreams is less clear. That doesn’t mean the dream isn’t important to our well-being, however. Retired teacher Barbara Kern can vividly recall the details of a dream she had nearly four decades ago, for instance.

“I’m lying on my back, holding the bottom rungs of a fireman’s ladder that has been extended to its full height,” she explains. “A boy is at the top of the ladder, swaying it back and forth, while I try to control it, but I can’t and I’m afraid he’s going to fall.”
For Kern, 79, who now lives in Lakewood, N.J., the dream was a symbolic expression of real-life concerns about her ability to reach a boy with severe learning problems whom she remembers as “one of the most challenging students I ever taught.” She characterizes the dream as a nightmare, recalling that it kept her up half the night.

Dreams, memories, and emotions
The dream — likely a means of coping with a major life stress — helped Kern, explains researcher Rosalind Cartwright, Ph.D., professor emeritus of psychology at Rush University in Chicago. “It’s almost like having an internal therapist, because you associate [through dreams] to previous similar feelings, and you work through the emotion related to it so that it is reduced by morning.”

Although some researchers believe dreams are just a byproduct of sleep, others think dreams are important for memory consolidation or conflict resolution. Cartwright has found clues to suggest that dreams may help with mood regulation.

Dreams occur during both REM (rapid-eye-movement) and non-R.EM sleep, but sleep studies show that brain activity is heightened during REM periods. When sleep-study participants are wakened during the first non-REM period, those who recall their dreams tend to report thinking about a piece of emotional unfinished business. The dreamer may then restate or reshape the problem in a different form during the next REM cycle, and so on, through the night.

Dreaming may help depression
Sleep is without a doubt beneficial. According to the National Sleep Foundation, humans spend more than two hours dreaming each night (with the most vivid dreams occurring during REM sleep). Rats deprived of that precious REM sleep for four days produce fewer nerve cells in the hippocampus, the brain’s memory center.

Among humans, dreaming may also help alleviate depression. In sleep studies of recently divorced women with untreated clinical depression, Cartwright and colleagues found that patients who recalled dreams and incorporated the ex-spouse or relationship into their dreams scored better on tests of mood in the morning. And they were much more likely to recover from depression than others who either did not dream about the marriage or could not recall their dreams.

“It really shows that there was an ongoing working through the night in the dream material, and eventually that the depression lifted in those people,” Cartwright says.
Looking back now, Kern says she was highly stressed at the time and the dream helped her realize how much the boy had been controlling her life. “It didn’t solve the problem,” she says, “but it helped put it in perspective.”

Good News: Leave your shoes away and Walk barefoot!

Everyone agrees that by using shoes we can cover our feet from any hurt and dangerous things to them. But have we ever wondered if it's health to do or not? Ancient people used no shoes, they walked with bare feet from place to place. Some modern humans in some places in the world are also still walking with bare feet and seldom to use any shoes. Researchers found that these bare feet are healthiest feet among others.

Last year, researchers at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, published a study titled “Shod Versus Unshod: The Emergence of Forefoot Pathology in Modern Humans?” in the podiatry journal The Foot. The study examined 180 modern humans from three different population groups (Sotho, Zulu, and European), comparing their feet to one another’s, as well as to the feet of 2,000-year-old skeletons. The researchers concluded that, prior to the invention of shoes, people had healthier feet. Among the modern subjects, the Zulu population, which often goes barefoot, had the healthiest feet while the Europeans—i.e., the habitual shoe-wearers—had the unhealthiest. One of the lead researchers, Dr. Bernhard Zipfel, when commenting on his findings, lamented that the American Podiatric Medical Association does not “actively encourage outdoor barefoot walking for healthy individuals. This flies in the face of the increasing scientific evidence, including our study, that most of the commercially available footwear is not good for the feet.”

So, why don't we walk barefoot? not always but often, it's gonna be great to have good and health feet.

For More Information you can find here, it's a long article to read.

Good News: There's nothing like deep breathing, You should try!

Deep breathing involves flexing your diaphragm while taking deep, even breathes. When done correctly deep breathing can be therapeutic and have noticeable health benefits. With enough practice it can even become your standard way of breathing. Deep breathing is very often used as therapy for problems like hyperventilation and anxiety disorders. By simply adding a few minutes of deep breathing here and there through your day you can greatly increase your health while decreasing your stress.

How does deep breathing help your general health? Well first off it can reduce stress. When stressed people have the tendency to take shallow breathes. Some studies can shown that a fast breathing rate is linked to high blood pressure To relax you do the opposite. In the same vein of thought it can help to clear and focus your mind. Deep breathing can increase your energy level and helps turn off racing thoughts.

Deep breathing also releases endorphines into the system. These are our bodies natural painkillers. This can help relieve general aches and pains, as well as help ease problems with sleeplessness. Deep breathing also relaxes muscles, a major cause of neck, back and stomach pains. Some studies have shown that deep breathing can also benefit asthma sufferers. This is partly because deep breathing can strengthen weak abdominal and intestinal muscles, and who doesn’t want that?

To try deep breathing you must draw air into the lungs while expanding the stomach rather than your chest. Sit or lie down somewhere quiet and get comfortable. To be able to feel the difference between your regular breathing and the deep breathing you can place one hand on your stomach and the other on your chest. This will let you feel when you are breathing correctly.

Take breathes that are long and slow. This gives the body the ability to absorb more of the inhaled oxygen. Breath in through your nose, nice and slow. Exhale through pursed lips just as slowly. As you breath feel the motion of your stomach. If your rib cage is expanding, keep trying and focus on breathing with your diaphragm. Relax and repeat until you are comfortable. If you don’t get it right away, don’t worry. This is supposed to relax you, so do not let it cause stress. Try again later if you become frustrated.

After you become comfortable with the exercises, take them on the road. Try to make deep breathing a habit. You can do it while driving to work, sitting at your desk working, waiting in line sitting, while watching television, just about anytime. at the computer, standing in line at the grocery store, sitting in traffic. It can help deal with the stress of daily life.

Good News: Express yourself by Painting! Get the relaxation!

Painting is a good expressive activity. It has good benefits to our mind. And Quite literally, painting will change your life. You will gain self-esteem and a confidence you never knew you possessed. Painting provides an excellent source of personal relaxation and even physical therapy.

It allows you to associate creativity with every aspect of your life, not just on the canvas. Many have been led to find pleasure in music, reading, writing, sewing, gardening and much, much more as a result of painting. Through painting you will discover in yourself a greater awareness of the beauty of nature.

Good News : Screaming as loud as you can! and your stress will go away!

It's not a secret how highlights screaming can be so effective to reduce our stress. So many people agree of this statement because everyone can do it themselves. Some studies find that highlights screaming is one of the most effective and cheapest ways to reduce stress and increase your chances of passion between the sheets.

And The research assessed the physiological and physical benefits of having a good scream and the results were very positive for both domestic and work scenarios. All 10 of the volunteers in the study had their stress levels fall sharply following a brief scream and couples reported feeling more loving and passionate towards one another afterwards.

Other key benefits from screaming highlighted in the report include:

• Increasing strength and stamina
• Reducing tensions
• Feeling less inhibited
• Burning off calories
• Drawing couples together
• Feeling more energetic and exhilarated

The problem is, in today's society, there are very few acceptable opportunities for letting out a full-throated scream. However, you still can freely do this such as going to a beach, mountain or even in your bed room. Screaming whether at home, at work or in the car will leave a you in a better frame of mind to cope with life's unavoidable stresses and strains and could even put the passion back into an uninspiring sex life.

Good News: Recycling started from your Home, it's so easy!

Studies show that the more we consume the more trash we generate. Landfills and incineration are two major ways of trash disposal. However, landfills take up space and can create health risks for the communities by which they are located. Incineration burns waste however, it also can create air pollution. An alternative to generating tons of trash every year is recycling. Recycling reduces trash and is economical.

Many things people discard as refuse can be reused in many different ways. Reusing things makes it unnecessary to use valuable resources to create new product. The number of post consumer products on store shelves is increasing. You can do your part by starting it in the home. Recycling is easy, will save you money, and can even be fun for the whole family.

There are different kinds of recycling. There is recycling of paper, plastic, glass, aluminum, and even car oil. Bleached paper and newsprint recycling reduces the amount of trees that are cut down. Plastic can be recycled into other plastics. Glass can be melted down and made into many different forms from drinking glasses to glass fiber. Aluminum can be recycled into other cans, foil, and even wrapping paper. Most do not realize that even car oil can be burned for energy recovery and/or recycled and re-used.

In the home it is easy to recycle your used plastics, cans, paper, and glass. It is not necessary to buy expensive multi-sectioned containers or take up an entire room or garage. Recycling can be done in a corner of a kitchen. A couple of boxes in a corner or a couple of regular kitchen trashcans are sufficient.

To recycle aluminum cans, simply rinse them out after use, and toss into the container you set aside for aluminum. The same can be done with your daily newspaper after you read it—just toss it aside into your designated area.

Newspaper does not require any preparation. With glass, it is imperative that you clean it before setting it aside. Remove any wrappings and thoroughly wash any glass that has food remnants. Also thoroughly wash any glass that has held any sort of cleansing product or otherwise noxious substance. For plastic it is helpful to look on the bottom of containers to make sure they are indeed recyclable plastics. The recycling symbol is a triangle made with three arrows going clockwise. Many times there is a number in the middle that is used by recycling plants.

Car oil takes a little more preparation. If you change your own car oil at home, be sure to store it in an appropriate container. A suitable and safe container can be purchased at an auto parts store, gas station, or the automotive sections of stores like Wal-Mart and K-mart. Be sure that the oil is not spilled and never pour it down a sink or drain. The easiest thing to do is to take it to a service station unless you have an oil recycling center near you. For the things other than oil, locate recycling centers in your phone book or you can check with local chain stores. If you are near a university or college, you can usually find recycling bins around and near campus. Moreover some cities have recycling as part of the weekly trash pick-up and even provide containers. Find out if that may be the case in your neighborhood. A special perk of aluminum can recycling is that many times you can get a small amount of money for the cans. Some states have set amounts per can and some areas pay by the weight of the aluminum.

By recycling you are helping the environment and helping yourself. Recycling helps reduce cost that companies pass on to the consumer, reduces the number of trash bags you purchase for your home, and even puts you in a creative mindset to reuse your refuse. For example, instead of washing out a bottle for recycling you may decide to turn it into a lamp. Recycling will change your life in a good way. See how creative you can be.