Monday Blues: ME Time

Once in a while take some time out and spend with yourself. Everyone needs some ME Time. 

Time to reflect.
Time to think. 
Time to gather yourself. 
Time to restructure your thoughts. 
Time to restart. 
Time to rest. 
Time to plan. 
Time to grow. 
Time to stop the chaos.

Grow, like there is no tomorrow.

Monday Blues: Move

What makes you grow?
What freshens you up?
What changes the status quo?
What stimulates you?

Take a break. MOVE! Try something new in a different place and see if your mind remains the same. Change the psyche - Move!

Here is a beautiful 1 minute movie by Rick Mereki.

Cook yourself to keep your family healty

Renowned activist and author Michael Pollan argues that cooking is one of the simplest and most important steps people can take to improve their family's health, build communities, fix our broken food system, and break our growing dependence on corporations. The event was chaired by Tim Lang, professor of Food Policy at City University London.

  

Key Points in the Video

• Poor women who cook have healthier diets than wealthy women who don’t cook.
• In America, rates of home cooking have decreased 50% since the mid-60s.
• On average in America, we spend 27 minutes cooking per day, and 4 minutes cleaning up (which means it’s probably fast food — who can do dishes and scrub pots and pans in 4 minutes?).
• To be healthy, eat anything you want, just cook it yourself.

Monday Blues: Fate, chance or choice

Don't blame your fate or chance but change your life by choice. One conscious decision and the will power to implement that decision no matter what, can change your destiny and fate. Make a small choice today to move forward, forget all the naysayers and move forward. One inch at a time and life will smile at you.

Sheena explains how important it is to move on and to make wise positive choices!

Monday blues: Bloom in diversity

Wait, is it Monday already? What the hell happened to my vacation and weekend? While everyone around are getting ready to celebrate festivals, I am working :) Guess what I am loving it. Whatever you say, the joy in knowing you are wanted and loved is the most important satisfaction in your life. When the going gets hard, the tough need to work harder to pass it through.

This Monday, turn your adversities, struggles in to joy. Look for a positive side and move on. You need to look to bloom, germinate and grow in adversity and the result, trust me, is amazing!

Smile because you are in adversity and while everyone expects you to fail, you can turn it to something beautiful.

All pics displayed here can be downloaded and used for free. Just give a link here. You can find more pics here: t3i photography.

Services in India, growing fast

Mint reports, business activity among Indian services companies expanded at its fastest pace in 16 months in January, rising for a second straight month on sharp increase in new work orders, a survey showed.

The HSBC Markit Business Activity Index, based on a survey of 400 firms, rose to 58.96 in January, its highest since September 2008, after rising to 57.41 in December.

This is the second successive rise in the index, which has been above 50 that separates expansion from contraction for nine months as the economy shakes off the impact of the global slowdown.

Before that, it had shrank for six months, hitting a trough of 40.3 in February last year.

“The key business activity index continued its march deeper into expansionary territory in January and is once again consistent with double-digit output growth in India’s service sector,” said Robert Prior-Wandesforde, senior Asian economist at HSBC.

“With the manufacturing PMI also strengthening further over the last couple of months the ex-agriculture segment of the economy looks to have well and truly shaken off the spillover effects from a drought-ravaged agricultural sector,” he said.

India’s manufacturing in January grew at its fastest pace in almost 18 months boosted by a sharp rise in new export orders that underpin a recovery in the industrial sector, the HSBC Markit survey showed.

The business expectations sub-index snapped a two-month fall and rose to 66.58 in January from 65.56 in December.

Favourable market conditions, advertising campaigns and strong reputations for quality were the key reasons for positive sentiment given by respondents, HSBC said.

Grow again

Have you heard about the Great Barrier Reef, stretching some 1,800 miles from New Guinea to Australia. This is a popular tourist attraction. On one tour, a traveler asked the guide an interesting question."I noticed that the lagoon side of the reef looks pale and lifeless, while the ocean side is vibrant and colorful," the traveler observed. "Why is this?"

The guide gave an interesting answer: "The coral around the lagoon side is in still water with no challenge for its survival. It dies early. The coral on the ocean side is constantly being tested by wind, waves, and storms -- surges of power. It has to fight for survival every day of its life. As it is challenged and tested, it changes and adapts. It grows healthy. It grows strong and it reproduces."

"That's the way it is with every living organism."

That's how it is with people. Challenged and tested, we come alive! Like coral pounded by the sea, we grow. Physical demands can cause us to grow stronger. Mental and emotional stress can produce tough-mindedness and resiliency. Spiritual testing can produce strength of character and faithfulness . So, you have problems? No problem! Just tell yourself, "There I grow again!".

"A smooth sea never made a skilled mariner" - An English Proverb.