All in the name of beauty. But, what is beauty? What defines it? Is there a universal beauty? Can it be obtained? Beauty is famously in the eye of the beholder; but it’s also in the beholder’s brain, and may work differently in the brains of men and women. Who gets the most out of life: fame, fortune, and genuine relationships: those who are physically attractive or those who are less attractive but wise? Dr. Nancy Etcoff, a brain researcher and cognitive psychologist says, "Beauty is an asset in the struggle for survival and good looks are a great advantage in many areas of life."
According to BBC, our perception of beauty begins in the womb. Studies show that babies have a tendency to look the longest at faces with smooth skin, round eyes, plump lips, and symmetry. In fact, BBC reports that our DNA is written to produce symmetry, yet factors such as environment produces asymmetry. Universally, these characteristics represent youth and fertility. Our faces are "advertising hoarding which provides a potential mate with information about health, fertility and appropriateness as a partner". Men look for young and healthy faces, translating to mates that are youthful with big eyes and plump lips. Whereas, females look for mates with the most testosterone, indicating fertility and strength. Bony protrusions such as the nose, cheek bones, brows and jaw indicate a potential for healthier children.
Ironically, for a man, the more physically unconventional looking you are, the sexier your brain is perceived to be, which is great for men but not for women. It allows men to get fat, bald head as long as they pop enough ginkgo biloba not to get dementia. Women however, have to spend time plucking, picking and moisturising, otherwise she's off to the junkyard which is blow to gender equality.
So, then where does that leave us? Well, I am not really too sure, but those of you who are in search of this universal beauty, I would like to end with a reminder that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and that the ones we love and admire become more beautiful with time.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Attitude of gratitude
William James, one of the founders of modern psychology, said this, "The greatest discovery of this generation is that a human being can alter their life by altering their attitude." What most people fail to realize is that our attitude not only impacts our happiness and success, it also can impact the happiness and success of all the people around us, family and friends. Attitudes are truly contagious, and from time to time we need to ask ourselves..."is mine worth catching?"
True gratefulness comes from a conscious decision to recognize our blessings together with a thankful heart. A thankful person can hold their gratitude, count and take joy in their blessings and also influence others with words and deeds by displaying their pleasure and appreciation. Life is full of opportunities for giving thanks. If you live a positive, grateful, successful life, you will attract other positive, grateful, and successful people.
Researches have shown that gratitude is beneficial to your health. In one study, a participant group recorded a diary of daily events, another group wrote down unpleasant experiences, and the third group wrote down a daily record listing things for which they were grateful. The gratitude group was more likely to help others, exercise and complete personal goals, while reporting more determination, optimism, alertness, energy, and enthusiasm. It is interesting to note that this study also found people who take time to deliberately record their gratitude were more likely to feel loved, and found more kindness reciprocated to them as they sent out an increase of kindness from their attitude. Also, grateful people were grateful regardless of whether special events happened in their day or not. In other words, they did not just have moments of gratefulness but grateful attitudes.
I want to thank God for how my life has changed, and for showing me how to live happily, successful and free. “True thanksgiving means that we need to thank God for what He has done for us, and not to tell Him what we have done for Him.”
True gratefulness comes from a conscious decision to recognize our blessings together with a thankful heart. A thankful person can hold their gratitude, count and take joy in their blessings and also influence others with words and deeds by displaying their pleasure and appreciation. Life is full of opportunities for giving thanks. If you live a positive, grateful, successful life, you will attract other positive, grateful, and successful people.
Researches have shown that gratitude is beneficial to your health. In one study, a participant group recorded a diary of daily events, another group wrote down unpleasant experiences, and the third group wrote down a daily record listing things for which they were grateful. The gratitude group was more likely to help others, exercise and complete personal goals, while reporting more determination, optimism, alertness, energy, and enthusiasm. It is interesting to note that this study also found people who take time to deliberately record their gratitude were more likely to feel loved, and found more kindness reciprocated to them as they sent out an increase of kindness from their attitude. Also, grateful people were grateful regardless of whether special events happened in their day or not. In other words, they did not just have moments of gratefulness but grateful attitudes.
I want to thank God for how my life has changed, and for showing me how to live happily, successful and free. “True thanksgiving means that we need to thank God for what He has done for us, and not to tell Him what we have done for Him.”
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Late bloomer
Not everyone is quick off the mark and succeed early in life. Some of us are like slow-boiling pots needing more time to gather wisdom and make sense of the world around us. A late bloomer is a person whose talents or capabilities are slower to develop and this term is used metaphorically to describe a child or adolescent who develops more slowly than others in their age group but eventually catches up and in some cases overtakes their peers in their academic achievement.
When a late bloomer finally gets it, there is a driving force because they have spent a long time digesting ideas, information and knowledge just to come up with some amazing solutions to the world's problems. Their ability are often conceptualize as static property that is hard-wired into the brain by genes that are prepackaged and ready to activate. When tapped, it bursts forth. However, this conception is far too simplistic.
Ability can take time to develop and the genes can take years to unfold. Genes are partly responsible for brain organization and the brain is not completely organized until well into adulthood. Like water to a flower, the environment plays a critical role in the activation of genes. In reality, talent emerges over the course of a lifetime of reciprocal interactions between the developing brain and a stimulating environment.
There are many theories of the way in which children develop as suggested by Erickson, Kohlberg, Piaget, Vygotsy and many others. Although they disagree about how stages of development should be defined and the primary influences on development, they agree that a child's development can be measured as a predictable series of advances in physical, intellectual and social skills which almost always occur in the same sequence, although the rate may vary from one child to another.
Late bloomers should always trust in their abilities to conquer the difficulties in ways that others can only dream of. Instant achievement is not always a fairytale come true. It may take a long time to get there but bets are, the late bloomers will know what they are doing far more than those who got there earlier. People will then have great confidence in the late bloomers’ experiences and knowledge for they have thought so deeply about everything and reached their own conclusions rather than parroting someone else's.
I am very proud my son is a late bloomer. Better be late than never.
When a late bloomer finally gets it, there is a driving force because they have spent a long time digesting ideas, information and knowledge just to come up with some amazing solutions to the world's problems. Their ability are often conceptualize as static property that is hard-wired into the brain by genes that are prepackaged and ready to activate. When tapped, it bursts forth. However, this conception is far too simplistic.
Ability can take time to develop and the genes can take years to unfold. Genes are partly responsible for brain organization and the brain is not completely organized until well into adulthood. Like water to a flower, the environment plays a critical role in the activation of genes. In reality, talent emerges over the course of a lifetime of reciprocal interactions between the developing brain and a stimulating environment.
There are many theories of the way in which children develop as suggested by Erickson, Kohlberg, Piaget, Vygotsy and many others. Although they disagree about how stages of development should be defined and the primary influences on development, they agree that a child's development can be measured as a predictable series of advances in physical, intellectual and social skills which almost always occur in the same sequence, although the rate may vary from one child to another.
Late bloomers should always trust in their abilities to conquer the difficulties in ways that others can only dream of. Instant achievement is not always a fairytale come true. It may take a long time to get there but bets are, the late bloomers will know what they are doing far more than those who got there earlier. People will then have great confidence in the late bloomers’ experiences and knowledge for they have thought so deeply about everything and reached their own conclusions rather than parroting someone else's.
I am very proud my son is a late bloomer. Better be late than never.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Can we save the world?
The world’s population is rapidly increasing at the rate of about 80,000,000 per year and the current world population stands at 6.8 billion. In the developing world, more than 1.2 billion people currently live below the international poverty line, earning less than US$1 per day. The United Nations Development Program estimates that the basic health and nutrition needs of the world’s poorest people could be met for an additional $13 billion a year. Yet money spent on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars alone is over $970 billion!
More than an acre-and-a-half of rainforest is lost every second daily and at this rate of destruction, half our remaining rainforests will be gone by the year 2025, and by 2060 there will be no rainforests remaining. We are losing 137 plants, animal and insect species every single day due to deforestation. That equates to 50,000 species a year. Arctic ice is rapidly disappearing, and the region may have its first completely ice-free summer by 2040 or earlier. Polar bears and indigenous cultures are already suffering from sea-ice loss.
Looking at the world today, are we going to make it at all? We, human beings are destroying the very planet it lives on. Look at the world in its ravaged form… global warming, holes in the ozone layer, destruction of forests, industrial pollution, slavery, human trafficking, chemical poisoning… and the poor getting poorer despite intervention from NGOs.
Can you imagine this planet 50 years into the future from now if the human race was wiped out today? For one there will be no pollution, no greenhouse effect, no bulldozers and no nuclear bomb testing, no rapid destruction of rainforests, no billions of animals being killed every single day for food and fun. How will earth look like 50 years from now if all humans ceased to exist today? Now imagine how the planet will look like 50 years from now as we continue ravaging our mother earth, violating it and killing everything that comes on our way. Can you imagine? Can you see the difference? Are we going to survive at all?
More than an acre-and-a-half of rainforest is lost every second daily and at this rate of destruction, half our remaining rainforests will be gone by the year 2025, and by 2060 there will be no rainforests remaining. We are losing 137 plants, animal and insect species every single day due to deforestation. That equates to 50,000 species a year. Arctic ice is rapidly disappearing, and the region may have its first completely ice-free summer by 2040 or earlier. Polar bears and indigenous cultures are already suffering from sea-ice loss.
Looking at the world today, are we going to make it at all? We, human beings are destroying the very planet it lives on. Look at the world in its ravaged form… global warming, holes in the ozone layer, destruction of forests, industrial pollution, slavery, human trafficking, chemical poisoning… and the poor getting poorer despite intervention from NGOs.
Can you imagine this planet 50 years into the future from now if the human race was wiped out today? For one there will be no pollution, no greenhouse effect, no bulldozers and no nuclear bomb testing, no rapid destruction of rainforests, no billions of animals being killed every single day for food and fun. How will earth look like 50 years from now if all humans ceased to exist today? Now imagine how the planet will look like 50 years from now as we continue ravaging our mother earth, violating it and killing everything that comes on our way. Can you imagine? Can you see the difference? Are we going to survive at all?
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Effective empowerment is vital
Empowerment is an extremely effective tool and vital element for developing people and the organization. It is to recognize that nobody knows a job better than the person doing it and that most people want to be involved and take pride in their work.
Empowering people encourages them to be more involved in their decisions and activities that affect their jobs. It gives them the opportunity to unleash their creativity and empower them to put their talents into practice.
The concept of empowerment involves employees playing a more active role in their work and taking responsibility for improvement. It is necessary to transform the way people work in any organization as external environment changes, and hence more intense competition abounds to a greater or lesser extent are being influenced and affected by competitive environment.
Make a conscientious effort to listen to what other people are saying. Empowered people are aware of the significance of listening and questioning. If you make a point to ask what people think and actively listen to what they say, you will help them to feel that they can contribute something of value to their work. Lead by example to prove yourself to be reliable. If you want them to be open, you will have to be honest and sincere with yourself first.
Empowering people encourages them to be more involved in their decisions and activities that affect their jobs. It gives them the opportunity to unleash their creativity and empower them to put their talents into practice.
The concept of empowerment involves employees playing a more active role in their work and taking responsibility for improvement. It is necessary to transform the way people work in any organization as external environment changes, and hence more intense competition abounds to a greater or lesser extent are being influenced and affected by competitive environment.
Make a conscientious effort to listen to what other people are saying. Empowered people are aware of the significance of listening and questioning. If you make a point to ask what people think and actively listen to what they say, you will help them to feel that they can contribute something of value to their work. Lead by example to prove yourself to be reliable. If you want them to be open, you will have to be honest and sincere with yourself first.
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