Life Skills

What is life skill? World Health Oragnizaton defined life skills as, "the abilities for adaptive and positive behavior that enable individuals to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life". Life skills helps adolescents translate knowledge, attitudes and Values into healthy behavior.

1. Don’t worry too much.

"Worry a little bit every day and in a lifetime you will lose a couple of years. If something is wrong, fix it if you can. But train yourself not to worry: Worry never fixes anything." Ernest Hemingway

We all In life once in a while, we have to face some problems and difficulties. However, this does not mean that one must dwell on it and stop going on with their life. These problems and difficulties are resolved easier with the help of a positive thinking. Smile, Be Positive.

“Ninety percent of the things we tend to worry about we have no control over, so why worry about them?"

“What were you worried about this time last year? Can't remember? “

2. Be Happy :  Nobody is happy all of the time, but some people are definitely more fulfilled.  Happiness is a state of mind. You can change your state of mind in many ways including; You know what’s make you happy and do things that make you happy. Be happy.

"What is past is past ... and now you know the fourth great law of happiness and success ..."

Use wisely, your power of choice.
Choose to love ... rather than hate.
Choose to laugh ... rather than cry.
Choose to create ... rather than destroy.
Choose to persevere ... rather than quit.
Choose to praise ... rather than gossip.
Choose to heal ... rather than wound.
Choose to give ... rather than steal.
Choose to act ... rather than procrastinate.
Choose to grow ... rather than rot.
Choose to pray ... rather than curse.
Choose to live ... rather than die.

3. Be Grateful For Life : Take time to appreciate the fact that you are still there, standing, breathing and seeing all those things around you. Think of how lucky you are for still having another day to live.

4. Critical thinking skills/Decision-making skills – Critical thinking clarifies goals, examines assumptions, discerns hidden values, evaluates evidence, accomplishes actions, and assesses conclusions."Critical" as used in the expression "critical thinking" connotes the importance or centrality of the thinking to an issue, question or problem of concern. "Critical" in this context does not mean "disapproval" or "negative." There are many positive and useful uses of critical thinking, for example formulating a workable solution to a complex personal problem, deliberating as a group about what course of action to take, or analyzing the assumptions and the quality of the methods used in scientifically arriving at a reasonable level of confidence about a given hypothesis.

Source (http://en.wikipedia.org/) Decisionmaking/ problem solving skills and information gathering skills. The individual must also be skilled at evaluating the future consequences of their present actions and the actions of others. They need to be able to determine alternative solutions and to analyze the influence of their own values and the values of those around them.


5. Live a Healthy Life :The trick is to make small changes in your daily live; taking more steps, adding fruit to your cereal, eat Food that is low in fat content,having an extra glass of water, sugar content is another plus.. Sucrose is the bad kind of sugar and Glucose is the good kind of sugar these are just a few ways you can start living healthy without drastic changes.
6.Emotional Intelligence :Emotional intelligence is a different way of being smart. It includes knowing what your feelings are and using your feelings to make good decisions in life. It's being able to manage distressing moods well and control impulses. It's being motivated and remaining hopeful and optimistic when you have setbacks in working toward goals. It's empathy; knowing what the people around you are feeling. And it's social skill—getting along well with other people, managing emotions in relationships, being able to persuade or lead others," (O'Neil, 1996, p. 6).

Daniel Goleman, an American psychologist, developed a framework of five elements that define emotional intelligence:

1.Self-awareness is a person's ability to understand and be aware of their feelings and moods. Self-awareness helps a person keep an eye on their thoughts and emotions so they can better understand why they feel a particular way.
2.Managing emotions This skill helps people display their emotions in socially appropriate ways. It helps one control anger, sadness, and fear.
3.Motivation helps a person use their emotions to reach their goals. It helps them hold back their impulses and delay gratification to reach these goals.
4.Empathy is the ability to understand how a person feels. It is different from feeling sorry for someone. It is feeling like "walking in their shoes."
5. Social skills are dealing with others in social situations. It is the ability to carry on a conversation and deal with other's emotions. It is being socially competent.

7. Gain Knowledge:The importance of gaining knowledge is to be open to new ideas, new skills, practical knowledge which are essential to overall growth and thus make your life a lifelong learning experience.

8.Relaxation:stands quite generally for a release of tension.

Mind Map

A mind map is a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks, or other items linked to and arranged around a central key word or idea. Mind Mapping is an important technique that improves the way you record information, and supports and enhances your creative problem solving. It also, used to, visualize, structure, and classify ideas. The way to use mind map is that start with the main idea, and then figure out the “branches”.

Uses of mind mapping are Note taking, Brainstorming, Problem solving, Studying, memorization, Planning, your creativity.

How to use it ?
 

for a meeting/note taking:

1. Write the main idea in the center box.

2. Write each agenda item in the circles linked to the outside of the main idea.

3. As the meeting progresses, draw lines pointing to sub-thoughts, ideas, facts and figures.

4. Draw pictures and interlink items with or without arrows.

For Problem Solving, see the below picture.

 


 











there is no wrong or right process to use to draw, you can start to draw mind map on a piece of paper.
to suggest you start with a "How to make your mother in law happy", may be u can share it with us, once ur done.


Check th the blog of f IQ MATRIX with many of cool mind map examples :

http://blog.iqmatrix.com/mind-map-image-gallery

 

Try free online software :
SPCIY NODOES http://www.spicynodes.org/
Bubbl us :Brainstorm online with bubbl.us. Easily create colorful mindmaps to print or share with others

Tony Buzan wrote a very good book about mind mapping. called

The Mind Map Book: How to Use Radiant Thinking to Maximize Your Brain's U…

Comments from Tony Buzan
Start in the centre with an image of the topic, using at least 3 colours.

Use images, symbols, codes and dimensions throughout your Mind Map.
Select key words and print using upper or lower case letters.
Each word/image must be alone and sitting on its own line.
The lines must be connected, starting from the central image. The central lines are thicker, organic and flowing, becoming thinner as they radiate out from the centre.
Make the lines the same length as the word/image.
Use colours – your own code – throughout the Mind Map.
Develop your own personal style of Mind Mapping.
Use emphasis and show associations in your Mind Map.
Keep the Mind Map clear by using radial hierarchy, numerical order or outlines to embrace your branches.

What is 80/20 Rule? How to Apply 80/20 Rule?

"In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock." Thomas Jefferson

The 80/20 rule, the law of the vital few, States that 80% of results come from 20% of inputs, the other 20% of results come from the other 80% of inputs. Invented by an Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, as he noticed that 80% of lands owned by 20% of population, means he observed that twenty percent of the people owned eighty percent of the wealth. Also referred as “Pareto Principle”.

The 80/20 Rule means that in anything a few (20 percent) are vital and many (80 percent) are trivial. Today, in the business world it states that you will get 80 percent of your results from 20 percent of your effort. The 80% of your revenue comes from 20% of your customers and 80% of complains comes from 20% of customers.



How to apply 80/20 rule to your life?

You can apply that rule to your life to cut out inefficiencies, like time spent at work on less important activities like meetings, emails, etc.

The 80/20 rule can be applied to most anything in our lives. It is the time to change, Focus on 20% of high values activities to give you the output of 80% high value results. Let states tips on how to apply the 80/20 rule

- Find out activities which consume 80% of your time and energy, and produce only 20% or less output.

- Focus on the 20 percent that matters.

- If you are book worm likes reading – Look at books you’ve read. Rate them on the usefulness; learn speed reading, to get the maximum outputs with less time spent.

- In relationship, if you spend 20% of your quality time with your partner/husbands or wife, you get about 80 per cent of what you needs or want from your partner. But if you are still chasing the remaining 20% somewhere else (cheating), you will get 0 %, I guess you know what I mean. :)

- The 80% of your calories will likely come from 20% of the foods you eat. Reduce out those foods, you can reduce your caloric intake

- 80% of your bad eating can be reduced by changing bad habits, don’t eat front of TV or don’t eat junk food.

I was excited to share 80/20 rule with my wife to buy 80% what we needs, saves our time and energy on 20%, to cut down the frequency from every two weeks to once a month. She said "What's for "!
I personally believe 80/20 rule does not apply to women! when it comes to shopping. Just Kidding :)

Follow the 80/20 principle for a few days just to see what happens.  Share your thoughts and comments.

If you like to know more about 80/20 rule, I'd suggest The 80/20 Principle: the Secret of Achieving More with Less by Richard Koch

Strange Facts –Believe it or not

• There are only four words in the English language which end in "dous": tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous. Go search, if u find any.
• In eighteenth century English gambling dens, there was an empolyee whose only job was to swallow the dice if there was a police raid. – now days police swallow it.
• In the Balanta tribe of Africa, a bride remained married until her wedding gown was worn out. If she wanted a divorce after 2 weeks, all she had to do was rip up her dress. –nice, what was the divorce rate then!
• There are more chickens than people in the world.- wondering who counted them
• When asked to name a colour, three out of five people will say red.---mmm..white J am not
• Male and female rats may have sex twenty times a day. J not comments
• Sex is the safest tranquilizer in the world. It is 10 times more effective than valium!- STOP USING DRUG,JUST GO N DO IT.
• A man's beard grows fastest when he anticipates sex.- if u need clean shave, u know now wat to do
• An adulterous Greek male was sometimes punished by the removal of his pubic hair and the insertion of a large radish into his rectum.- if this applied today J
• In india it is cheaper to have sex with a prostitue than buy a condom! - J faster to HIV too.
• Sex burns 360 calories per hour. Hey ladies do u want loose weight….
• 85% of men who die of heartattacks during intercourse, are found to have been cheating on their wives.-how the hell they know !
• Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day; teach a person to use the Internet and they won't bother you for weeks.
  
   

What internet knows about U?

Check out this link http://www.whattheinternetknowsaboutyou.com/

When angels talk

Am fan of Paulo Coelho’s Blog , here is one of hi posts, read on enjoy :)

Nobody is courageous all the time. The unknown is a constant challenge, and being afraid is part of the journey.
What to do? Talk to yourself. Talk alone. Talk to yourself even if others think you have gone crazy. As we talk, an inner force gives us the security to overcome the obstacles that need to be surmounted. We learn lessons from the defeats that we are bound to suffer. And we prepare ourselves for the many victories that will be part of our life.
And just between you and me, those who have this habit (and I’m one of them) know that they never talk alone: the guardian angel is there, listening and helping us to reflect. What follows are some stories about angels.

Conversation in heaven
Abd Mubarak was on his way to Mecca when one night he dreamed that he was in heaven and heard two angels having a conversation.
"How many pilgrims came to the holy city this year?" one of them asked.
"Six hundred thousand", answered the other.
"And how many of them had their pilgrimage accepted?"
"None of them. However, in Baghdad there is a shoemaker called Ali Mufiq who did not make the pilgrimage, but did have his pilgrimage accepted, and his graces benefited the 600,000 pilgrims".
When he woke up, Abd Mubarak went to Mufiq’s shoe shop and told him his dream.
"At great cost and much sacrifice, I finally managed to get 350 coins together", the shoemaker said in tears. "But then, when I was ready to go to Mecca I discovered that my neighbors were hungry, so I distributed the money among them and gave up my pilgrimage".

The beggar and the monk
A monk was meditating in the desert when a beggar came up to him and said:
"I need to eat".
The monk – who was almost reaching the point of perfect harmony with the spiritual world – did not answer.
"I need to eat", insisted the beggar.
"Go to the town and ask someone else. Can’t you see that you are bothering me? I am trying to communicate with the angels”.
"God placed himself lower than men, washed their feet, gave His life, and no-one recognized Him", the beggar replied. "He who says he loves God – who does not see – and forgets his brother - who does – is lying".
And the beggar turned into an angel.
"What a pity, you almost made it", he remarked before leaving.

Condemning one’s brother
Abbot Isaac of Thebes was in the patio of the monastery praying when he saw one of the monks commit a sin. Furious, he interrupted his prayers and condemned the sinner.
That night he was prevented from returning to his cell by an angel who said to him: "you condemned your brother, but you did not say what punishment we should inflict: the pains of hell? Some terrible disease in this life? Some torment in his family?"
Isaac knelt down and asked for pardon: "I tossed the words in the air, and an angel heard them. I sinned by being irresponsible for what I said. Forget my ire, Lord, and make me take greater care in judging my neighbor”.