Children need to know that they are worthy. If parents, the ones who made them, do not spend time with them, it shows the child they arent worthy, and it will simply make the children take that feeling of unworthiness out into their life. It is simply the most damaging action a parent cando.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Aurora Bushner. Aurora is the Executive Vice President for Incentive Technology Group accountable for strategic leadership of the companys delivery and operations. She successfully established the delivery frameworks and practices for agile software development at scale for this unique, pure play digital consulting firm. With a focus on detail, accountability, quality, and transparency, she manages a workforce of over 400 people with an annual run rate of $100M delivering IT systems modernization and business transformation for government and commercial clients, all while balancing a blended family of 8 (her partner Toga, 19-year-old Mikayla, 13-year-old Ariana, 11-year-old Torrie, 8-year-old Aiden, 3-year-old Adam, and 1-year-old Alex). She holds a bachelors degree in Criminal Justice, Legal Studies from Marshall University where she was awarded the Criminal Justice Student of the Year and the Wallace E. Knight Writing Award. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family, coaching rugby, and watching her children grow into themselves.

Thank you so much for joining us! Can you tell us your childhood backstory?

I was born in Yuma, Arizona and spent my childhood as an Army Brat. I moved every 13 years and had the great pleasure of living in Germany (I was there when the Berlin Wall came down!) and nine different states. Growing up with a military dad, it wasnt unusual for him to be deployed for significant amounts of time. In fact, we spent an entire year without him when he was deployed to the first Gulf War. Whenever he came home from a long stint away, we had our rituals that helped pull us together. I still remember being small and running to greet my dad at the door when he returned from work and fighting with my siblings to see who could unlace his military boots!

Whether my dad was home or deployed, my mom stayed home with us and created an environment where she was always present. As a family we camped, took long road trips driving for days, saw the world together, and experienced the magic of Christmas, Easter, and the tooth fairy. These traditions have been passed down to my children, and in these moments, I am fully present and create magic for them just as my mom and dad did for me.

Our house was the one that everyone gravitated towards, and although my parents were laid back and understanding, they were also strict. I think I spent most of 9th grade grounded and being called Cinderella by friends because of the huge amount of daily chores I had to do! One particular punishment I had was to write sentences like I will not talk back to my parents 1,000 times and could not go outside until I was finished. For more elaborate punishments that my parents would dish out, I would enlist my friends to divvy up my punishment. It was a great way to reflect and at the same time rally my peers to help me in my punishment! However, my parents got smart to my games and started assigning me 5 page book reports on books that werent even required in school. Of course, at the time, I didnt like the punishments, but the constructive discipline I received created a structure for me to perform and made me a self-starter who will do what it takes to get the job done. It also taught me problem-solving and how to do something right the first time. Believe me, my dad even checked the back of the sinks faucet to see if I had cleaned it. If not, I had to do it all again!

I was a shy child but very driven. Moving around all the time could have caused negative developmental issues, but for me, it actually helped me to hone resilience, embrace the fact that everyone has a choice on how they choose to view the world, and to lead a life of faith and gratitude. In 11th grade, I moved from Germany to Virginia leaving a junior class of 36 to join a junior class that numbered in the thousands. This really taught me to embrace change! Looking back, my childhood was pivotal in my development as a great parent and executive. I learned to multitask, solve problems creatively, appreciate teamwork (thanks to playing volleyball, soccer, track and field, and rugby!) and create a space that allows me to be fully present in both my work and my family today.

Growing up in a family whose values enabled us to each be an individual, chart our own path but have the comfort of knowing that no matter what I did, my family would be there for me, gave me the safety net required to take risks, fail, and find new opportunities for greatness.

Can you share the story about what brought you to this specific point in your career?

A lot of amazing mentors and colleagues brought me to this point in my career. For my entire life, I have been fortunate to be surrounded by very smart people from diverse backgrounds. Each person I have encountered has taught me something about myself, about the world, and about others. I started my career at IntelliDyne where I spent 13 years in various roles reinventing what I did every 1218 months and was lucky enough to be given the ropes to learn, to fail, to succeed and to lead. Doug Hardin, the first Program Manager I ever met, gave me the book Something to Smile About, by Zig Ziglar. Business was something I knew little about growing up in a military family, and the compilation of stories in Ziglars book provided a breadth of experiences and anecdotes for living a life of greatness. Scott Peterson, was my manager for several years and supported my drive and ambitious spirit in my early twenties by embracing my leadership style, and he supported me when my team sometimes found my young zest challenging. Moreover, he let me drive my career from a front desk administrator to a Senior Program Manager over several accounts because of my demonstration of competence while inspiring me to be my best. In 2013 I joined ITG. Working under the mentorship of Michelle Samad, I saw my career and our company flourish. Michelle is the epitome of a strong, humble, grateful, tenacious, inspirational leader, who operates with a personal touch, and is wicked smart, which enables our team to deliver against our corporate and family commitments.

I could not have made it to this point in my career without the support of my family and friends. My partner Toga, a pillar in my life and one of the biggest champions of my career, took care of the kids for the last eight years so that I could focus on my career. He raised our three sons from the time they were newborns once I returned to work. He ensured that the kids got to each practice, were picked up from school, and had dinner on the table. I also supported him in his role as a Rugby Coach for the Womens Premier League, the Capital Select, the Washington Irish, the Stars, and now support him as he supports the Major League Rugby team Old Glory. We would balance our schedule and external demands together. When Toga recently went back to work and my parents retired to Arizona, my sister stepped in to share the love and support and now helps shuttle the kids to their activities and is the nanny to our 1-year-old. She, too, is a gift which supports my professional success. In earlier years, my parents and our friends were also quick to step in to watch the kids when we both had work trips or needed our coveted once a year trip to Las Vegas to watch the International Rugby 7s tournament. I recently returned from a 10-day work trip. It really does take a village.

Can you tell us a bit more about what your day to day schedule looks like?

Although my schedule varies, I try to be consistent in some aspects. For example, every Saturday morning, I wake-up before the rest of my family and plan my schedule for the following week. And every night, I review my schedule and priorities for the following day. During the weekdays, my mornings usually start at 6 am (sometimes earlier though if I have some work to accomplish), and before heading to work, I take our 3-year-old and 13-year-old to school. Thankfully, there are some some days that I go into work a little later, so I also take our 8-year-old to school at 9 am. After drop-offs and as I head to work, Im usually on phone calls (safely, of course!) with my program managers trying to get caught up before I even step foot into the office. And if Im not on the phone with them, then I take a few relaxing minutes to listen to the radio or call my parents or siblings to catch up. Once I get to work, my days are always different; I may travel to a client site, conduct team meetings, give presentations, write proposals, work on deliverables, or just do a little of everything.

Work ends at various times also. Networking, team events, client meetings, and mentoring others all takes place and needs to be juggled with kids activities. Some days I might get home at 5 pm and can support daycare pick-ups, sports activities, dinner, bath time, Zumba with the kids, bedtime and work after they go to bed. Other days, I might get home at 10 pm. When work demands more and there is less time with the family during the week, the weekends are used to make up that time. And when work demands less, I can focus more on my family. What really makes my schedule work effectively is flexibility and a sense of humor. Sometimes things may seem hectic and rushed, so having a sense of humor is an absolute must!

Lets jump to the core of our discussion. This is probably intuitive to many, but it would be beneficial to spell it out. Based on your experience or research, can you flesh out why not spending time with your children can be detrimental to their development?

Spending time with ones child/children is critical for their development because it helps create stability and consistency in behaviors and attributes. Parents teach children how to interact with their world, how to be polite and have manners, how to share and have empathy, and how to be kind and resolve conflict. With the support and guidance from their parents, children establish their identity as a person, learn independence and self-care, and they discover their talents, their strengths, and their weaknesses. They learn values and social cues. They learn how to pretend, how to play, how to have conversations and how to build relationships. They learn structure through chores and how to contribute to the family and in turn to the community and society at large. When you dont make time, you dont know your childs skill level and ability, thus you wont know where to stretch them or how to push them to grow.

By not making time for ones children, it can be detrimental in advocating within areas where they may require extra support. They may seek attention through bad behavior; they may lack structure, becauselets face itif left alone they may play video games 24 hours a day! Without a parent or positive adult figure, children may have a tougher time becoming the person they are meant to be and applying their unique talents and skills to the world. In addition, it doesnt provide the opportunity to create a bond and that safe secure relationship with someone that children know will always be there. Im sure there are plenty of children who succeed in spite of absent parents, but I believe that children with a strong support systembe it parents, family members, friends, or communityhave a better chance at success beginning at a very young age.

On the flip side, can you give a few reasons or examples about why it is so important to make time to spend with your children?

This may be the shortest answer youve ever received but its quite simple. Children need to know that they are worthy. If parents, the ones who made them, do not spend time with them, it shows the child they arent worthy, and it will simply make the children take that feeling of unworthiness out into their life. It is simply the most damaging action a parent can do.

Children are constantly learning from their environments, from the people they interact with, and from their peers and families. Its important to spend time with your children for the sake of their development. Creating a strong bond with your child ensures your child has trusting relationships with adults and their peers. It creates a loving and caring relationship that withstands both the good in life and the bad. It creates stability, consistency, and enables you, as a parent, to teach your child values. Spending time with your children makes them feel valued, and it also ensures that they have an advocate. Its hard growing up and its even harder when a child faces developmental challenges, peer challenges, or identity challenges. Being present with children and ensuring consistency across all aspects of their life are keys to creating self-starters with an aptitude for success.

According to this study cited in the Washington Post, the quality of time spent with children is more important than the quantity of time. Can you give a 35 stories or examples from your own life about what you do to spend quality time with your children?

I totally agree that quality of time is more important than quantity of time. My dad travelled a lot, and I came to understand that it was never about the quantity of time I got to spend with him; it was all about the quality of time he spent with me. When my dad was gone, my mom always made his absence feel less sad by giving us special moments, such as letting us sleep in her room, which was never allowed when he was home. Both my parents taught me the importance of quality time, which I now ensure to pass onto my children.

We all live in a world with many deadlines and incessant demands for our time and attention. That inevitably makes us feel rushed and we may feel that we cant spare the time to be fully present with our children. Can you share with our readers 5 strategies about how we can create more space in our lives in order to give our children more quality attention?

How do you define a good parent? Can you give an example or story?

There are so many types of parents and approaches that work. Each child is unique even within the same family. I have six children and none of them are the same. A good parent creates a relationship with their child. They establish clear expectations and boundaries but also give room for a child to make their own choices and face their own consequences whether positive or negative. A good parent doesnt always have to entertain their child, but they do enable the child to find things to do that they enjoy. I think letting a kid be bored every now and again is good for their creativity because it assists in creating their self-drive and self-reflection. A good parent also creates an environment for them to succeed, to feel safe and loved, and to know that no matter what they face in life, their family will always have their back.

Using teachable moments and supporting a growth mindset is important. One day, we had a thunderstorm raging, and I came home from work to learn that Aiden and his bike were missing. To our horror, Toga found them down by the creek boogie boarding. Aiden didnt understand why this was dangerous, so we took the time to look at YouTube videos on flash floods with him and even had my friends talk to him about experiences that they had and the consequences that occur with that type of dangerous actions. A good parent doesnt just tell the child what they did wrong; instead, they tell the child why it was wrong to do.

A good parent figures out how to be flexible and find time for themselves while also making time for their family. My oldest daughter grew up with me during the the last two years I was in college, and my friends would read their biochemistry books to her while I attended classes. My job for the Center of Business and Economic Research allowed me to bring her while I stuffed envelopes for surveys. I had my first child at 20 and refused to accept that I would not graduate in four years while being a single parent, working 20 hours a week, returning to rugby six weeks after she was born, and developing a child who thought rugby was a womens sport. She had no idea boys even played rugby until she was eight.

Knowing my children through spending quality time with them and understanding fully development milestones enabled me to identify that my son had a speech delay and obtain the proper care for him. He is now blossoming, and although he has more work to do, had I not been present and identified signs to discuss with the pediatrician and advocate for his care, he would not have the immense vocabulary he has today.

A good parent creates structure and habits through consistency. They teach perseverance, grit, and hard work. Chores enable a child to feel accomplished but also feel part of a team. We all contribute to a family and as being a busy executive, its important for me to know my kids have learned how to do basic life taskswhat needs to be done and when. I also believe that I should help the kids with chores. On the weekend we can often be found scrubbing the walls, learning to clean a bathroom, vacuuming, and making it a race to see how we can get done with quality work but with fun! It supports the family unit. They learn that this is our house and we all have to take care of it.

Accepting each childs learning style and figuring out what motivates them is important to obtaining the best from them and enabling them to be whatever they want to be in this life. Without being present, a parent wont know their childs interests. Aiden did not like to read. He loved math and science, and we taught him his times tables in 1st grade and he excelled. At the beginning of 2nd grade, he was at a kindergarten reading level, so every day we made him read for 20 minutes, then 30 minutes, and we now set the time for an hour (maybe without him knowing). We learned that Aiden loves zombies, fantasy, and mysteries, so that what we encourage him to read because it holds his interest. Hes now super excited about reading Harry Potter, Nancy Drew, and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Through advocating at school and supporting him at home, he is reading at his current grade level and is slowly overcoming his challenges with words.

To summarize, being a good parent is supporting your children, but dont over-parent and protect them so much that they cannot survive without you. Parents need to build self-efficacy in their children. Parenting is leadership, and Sheryl Sandberg defines leadership well: Leadership is about making others better as a result of your presence and making sure that impact lasts in your absence.

How do you inspire your child to dream big? Can you give an example or story?

Mikayla, my oldest, has had a vast array of ambitions beginning at a very young age. She loves animals, science, cooking and baking. At 5-years-old, she told me she wanted to be an owner. After talking to her more about what that meant to her, she explained that she wanted to own a business. Pretty big dreams for a 5-year-old! In high school, she wanted to be a veterinarian and even took a class to be a veterinarian technician. Unfortunately, Mikayla has asthma and eczema, and a career caring for animals was not going to be in her future. So her attention went to a different subjectanatomy and science. Shes always challenged herself to do more even when I was concerned she took on too much. She has the drive to explore, imagine and dream! Going into college she thought about being an athletic trainer. I talked to her about the education required and challenged her to think bigger, especially with her interest in science and anatomy, so shes now looking at completing classes that give her the option to attend medical school or even focus on becoming a forensic psychologist. I believe supporting your child, leading through example, and helping them understand the characteristics it takes to be successful in life are essential in having your child dream big.

Embracing your childs strengths is important for their self-worth and also to help guide them to be whatever they want in life. Ariana loves sports, is a talented dancer, and enjoys helping people. She recently volunteered to teach children with disabilities to ride a bike and dance. It gave her such a sense of accomplishment that the child she was helping learned to ride a bike and to share her love of dancing. When she turns 14, she has been asked to help in the Acrobatics level I dance class. I will have to maneuver my schedule to support this, but its imperative to her development and showing her that she can have a career in the arts.

How do you, a person who masterfully straddles the worlds of career and family, define success?

Success is doing what I love every day: being able to spend time with my children that creates emotional responses that they will remember throughout their life. Success is creating an environment where my children have a growth mindset, learn the characteristics of hard work, grit, determination, perseverance, kindness, and believe in themselves. Being successful at work means being an authentic leader: building teams, delivering solutions that modernize the way work happens, knowing what needs to be done and who is the best person or team to perform the task. At home and work, its understanding priorities, limitations, accepting myself for who I am and what I can accomplish, and being resilient. In addition, success is demonstrating through my dedication at work and home that if I want something, I can achieve it. Success is also being able to co-parent with my step-daughters mother, especially in creating moments that as a blended family we are still family no matter the miles between us. It is supporting my daughters in their relationship with their extended family. Furthermore, success is exhibiting the values we find in Faa Samoa and applying it across all aspects of our lives. Weve been able to mix the culture and values I grew up with in America under the leadership of a military father and a loving mother with the living culture of Samoa, which is where Toga grew up. The values taught through Faa Samoa of Love, Respect, Generosity, Spirituality, Service, and Reciprocity, to name a few, are easily embraced and mirror the values of my childhood. Samoans are known as the Happy People, and laughter and jokes are ever present in our household, which is what I strive to have in my family. The traditional lifestyle revolves around family, so no matter how busy I may be in my career, my family is integral to that success. Success becomes not only what one is able to accomplish but is heavily rooted on how well the team performs. I have more emphasis on the team/community than on myself, and this starts at home.

What are your favorite books, podcasts, or resources that inspire you to be a better parent? Can you explain why you like them?

Legacy by James Kerr is a brilliant book on building great teams and applying key leadership principles based on the worlds most successful sports team, the New Zealand All Blacks. Its practical lessons can be applied to ones homelife. Lessons include never being too big to do the smallest task, always doing what needs to be done without being asked, and constantly striving for improvement even when you are at your best. All these lessons are core aspects in my parenting style.

The Whole Brain Child by Dr. Dan Siegelwhich helps provide perspective on how a childs brain works and how to work with them in their development stage. This is very important raising six children who, for the most part, are always in a different stage.

How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie is a great book on building relationships and learning how to motivate people both at work and in the home.

Defining Moments: When Managers Must Choose between Right and Right by Joseph L. Badaracco, Jr. is an interesting book as it digs deeper than some other business books, and I find it relates to leadership as much as it does parenting.

TED Talks. I know podcasts are in but I continually go back to TED Talks, which include short talks on everything a parent would want to know and from different perspectives. Sometimes reminding us that, yes, children need direction but just to back off a little bit and let the child breathe, and to sit and do nothing instead of rushing from one activity to another. Sometimes TED Talks gives a glimpse into ideas and topics that are brand new to me and I can dig deeper if I want. The talks are my standby when I feel frazzled and just need to concentrate on something light.

Can you please give us your favorite Life Lesson Quote? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

Life gets pretty hard and being an executive, a partner, and a working mother of six means I need inspiration to draw from to reframe my mindset and stay positive. Sometimes things really hit the fan and life has to be taken in strides. I have several quotes that I have drawn on throughout my life. They help me reframe and focus on gratitude. Here they are in no particular order:

I embrace every day as an opportunity to be better than I was the day before. Some days I succeed and some days I fail. But, I always know that I will have more opportunities than not to figure it all out!

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

As I stated with my quotes, I would encourage others to realize that each morning you can be better than you were yesterday. Each day is an opportunity to do something great. If you were a smoker yesterday, you dont have to be today. If you were supposed to work out or walk yesterday and didnt, you can do it today. If you made a bad choice yesterday, you dont have to do so today. Everything is brand new if you see it that way. Make an intentional focus every day on at least one thing you really want to conquer, and youll soon see that this focus becomes habit, and that habit will move you forward until pretty soon youre accomplishing the goals you have set out to reach.

Thank you so much for these insights! This was so inspiring!

About the author:

Chaya Weiner is the Director of branding and photography at Authority Magazines Thought Leader Incubator. TLI is a thought leadership program that helps leaders establish a brand as a trusted authority in their field. Please click HERE to learn more about Thought Leader Incubator.

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Children need to know that they are worthy with Aurora Bushner and Chaya Weiner - Thrive Global

Im not accepting what I cant change, Im changing what I cant accept, activist and entrepreneur Sonya Renee Taylor said Sept. 20, at a Body Positive Cornell event, a University initiative striving to help Cornellians lead a healthy lifestyle that doesnt focus on weight.

Our society tells us that we should be able to lose weight and keep it off, and always promises this or that diet as the solution, Jennie Bernstein, Body Positive outreach coordinator at Cornell Health, told The Sun. The resulting detrimental effects including stigmatization of heavier weights and harmful behavior like weight cycling, the practice of losing and gaining weight repeatedly.

Instead, Bernstein believes that taking the emphasis off weight and instead focusing on improving health and lifestyle behaviors is a better attitude towards our bodies and life in general, as weight doesnt have a direct connection to health conditions.

You actually dont need to see the number on the scale drop to see an improvement in health outcomes, she said.

Increasing pleasurable activities or exercises, recognizing that mental health is an important part of physical health and eating intuitively or eating only when hungry are some of the ways Bernstein suggests for maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

Bernstein and her team were inspired to run the BPC initiative by the lack of awareness around the Health At Every Size Approach. They coordinated the eight-week discussion group program using the curriculum developed by the Body Positive Institute and trained peer facilitators. The program is open to both undergraduate and graduate students. There are also specific groups for Panhellenic, women of color and Cornell staff members.

As a peer co-facilitator, I hold a script and lead the program; but just like the members, I am continuing to grow and learn new ideas every time I meet with a different group, Michelle Kubasek 20 told The Sun. She said she started out as a member of the BPC program and finished it with a new understanding of self-love and self-acceptance.

In addition to the program, past participants have started a Body Positive Cornell club that seeks to provide opportunities for other interested students to get involved with Body Positive.

We are collaborating with Cornell Pole Posse to host a workshop on pole dancing as well as a discussion regarding intuitive movement, said Caroline Mameesh 20, an executive board member for the club. Additionally, they plan to hold a fall panel where different people are invited to talk about concepts such as intuitive eating and intuitive movement.

The club general body meets every other Thursday at 5 p.m. in Rockefeller 122, beginning today.

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Body Positive Cornell Initiative Hopes to Push Back Against Societal Stereotypes About Weight and Health - Cornell University The Cornell Daily Sun

Adelaide Monday September 23, 2019

South Australian children experiencing mental crises are being tied down under nets, locked up in seclusion at extreme rates and forcibly injected with sedating drugs, prompting warnings youngsters are suffering lasting harm from coercive health-system practices.

An InDaily investigation into the treatment of an estimated 20 children a week sectioned by police or paramedics under the Mental Health Act and brought to the Womens and Childrens Hospital have prompted calls for changes and an inquiry from clinicians, experts and senior State Government office-holders.

Nets are being used to tie children to ambulance stretchers to take them to the hospital and, once there, children are being locked in seclusion at a rate which is the countrys highest, far outstripping the national average.

We collectively dont take an appropriately therapeutic attitude to these kids when theyre distressed, said senior child psychiatrist and Adelaide University Paediatric Mental Health Training Unit head Jon Jureidini.

Of course youve got to make [children] safe, but too often a level of force is being used in doing so thats damaging,

Professor Jureidini, who trains Womens and Childrens Hospital emergency department clinicians, said asignificant proportion of kids crises currently managed with netting, involuntary sedation and seclusion could be managed less restrictively, given appropriate training, support and staffing levels.

For somewhere between a third and a half of people who have an experience like this the trauma of it has a significant psychological impact on them.

State mental health laws and policies allow the use of restraint, involuntary sedation and seclusion where a patient is locked in a cell by themselves to prevent risks to safety such as violence or self-injury or to administer immediately required medication.

At the same time, the government acknowledges the practices themselves can cause significant harms, including deaths, injuries, emotional trauma and re-traumatisation, and has been committed, since a 2005 intergovernmental agreement, to reducing use of, and where possible eliminating, restraint and seclusion.

Researchers say reliance on the practices backfires, sparking increased patient aggression that in turn causes trauma, avoidance and thenvisceral gut reactionamong staff and that threats to safety have been better reduced by measures such as improvements in patient care and engagement and staff training in de-escalation and diversion.

We bring people in traumatised; we re-traumatise them in the context of apparent health care

Professor Jureidini said he would conservatively estimate that at least 100 times a year children arrive at the Womens and Childrens in an ambulance, having been netted restrained from neck to feet under a webbing net strapped to the stretcher.

The SA Ambulance Service, which did not answer questions about netting, says it restrained 36 children aged 17 or under in 2018.

But Jureidini said: I suggest the SAAS reporting system is far from capturing all incidents.

It is believed the SAAS data is derived from paramedics reporting episodes of restraint they have been involved in.

Principal Community Visitor Maurice Corcoran, a statutory office-holder who inspects mental health facilities and advocates for patients, said the netting of young people was something weve raised concerns (about).

Im just concerned about the level of restraints, and kids are being traumatised by that experience, absolutely.

Flinders University Professor of Nursing (Mental Health) Eimear Muir-Cochrane said while paramedics were much more aware these days about mental health patient issues she had anecdotally heard that if a person is seen as a mental health patient they automatically have to go to the hospital in netting, and thats discriminatory.

SA Ambulance Service Chief Executive Officer David Place said SAAS staff were highly trained in managing patients who present in a distressed state, with de-escalation measures a major focus of all our interactions.

Restraint is only used in cases of extreme behavioural emergency and as a last resort option, to ensure patient and staff safety.

Mandatory SA Health policy says the potentially harmful non-therapeutic interventions of restraint and seclusion may be used only when alternative strategies have been tried and warns unjustified restraint is potentially an assault or unlawful imprisonment.

InDaily can reveal the WCHs mental health ward, known as the Boylan Ward, has been secluding children at by far the highest rate of any mental health ward in Australia for both of the two years for which hospital-specific data is available.

The federal Department of Healths reporting set on seclusion, mechanical restraint and physical restraint shows the wards rate was 851 per cent higher than the child and adolescent national average in 2017-18 and 504 per cent higher in 2016-17.

Womens and Childrens Health Network Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service Clinical Director Mohammed Usman said seclusion was used as a last resort and but acknowledged infrastructure limitations of the current ward.

We acknowledge that the physical environment within Boylan Ward means the best way to safely contain threats of physical aggression or intrusive behaviour towards other unwell patients is to use the seclusion room, Dr Usman said.

The antiquated ward, the only mental health unit for children in SA, has neither a high-dependency area used in some other wards to locate higher needs children nor an outdoors area for patients.

Dr Usman said the hospital was building a new purpose-built child and adolescent mental health ward which would have a significant impact on safe care practices and was anticipated to be completed by October next year.

In a statement, SA Health said that Boylan Wards average seclusion duration was 15 minutes compared to a national average of 1.3 hours for child and adolescent services; that staff upheld standards regarding [use of] least restrictive practices; and that in 2017-18, two clients accounted for 60 per cent of the total [seclusion] incidents.

Boylan would still have the highest seclusion rate in the country with 60 per cent of its rate subtracted.

Some children held or treated under mental health laws are involuntarily sedated with powerful drugs, including antipsychotics and benzodiazepines.

An Adelaide mother who asked not to be identified told InDaily that during a 2017 WCH admission her agitated daughter was forced into the (Boylan) seclusion room and injected with a potent antipsychotic, leaving the girl extremely distraught, only for staff to announce the next morning she was being released, without providing any discharge information, including a diagnosis.

Principal Community Visitor Corcoran said his office wanted to see far better understanding and use of staff whove got expertise in supporting and engaging with people to deescalate well before jumping straight into a sedation.

Community visitors had raised the issue particularly in relation to children with mental illness and one or more other conditions, such as autism or an intellectual disability.

Physical adverse effects of forcible sedation can include respiratory depression, seizure, dehydration, and movement abnormalities, and researchers say the trauma of involuntary injection can put patients off accepting medication or treatment in future.

SA Health did not answer specific questions on sedation but said: All medication is administered at Womens and Childrens Hospital in line with designated clinical protocols.

The Womens and Childrens Hospital. Photo: wch.sa.gov.au

Professor Jureidini said the commonest reasons for the use of overly restrictive means of control was lack of training and support, inadequate staffing levels and redundancy in the staff team, and he stressed he was not blaming front-line health staff.

You cant just say, You blokes are doing a bad job; its actually us [public mental health services] who are not providing them with the support and training they need to do a better job, he said, adding this could be be done with very little investment.

Many of the most disadvantaged or traumatised children in the state are massively overrepresented in the paediatric involuntary and emergency mental health system pathways, data cited by the Guardian for Children and Young People suggests.

Guardian Penny Wright she understood that children who live in state care made up about 30 per cent of young people brought in to Boylan Ward by police and ambulance officers in the last year, even though they made up only about 1 per cent of the population.

It is even more troubling that many of these young people had multiple presentations, up to 24 in one year, Wright said.

Coercive practices could be traumatic in themselves and for many kids with a care background reinforce the trauma they have already experienced.

Commissioner for Children and Young People Helen Connolly slammed the use of ambulance nets as the spithoods of the health system, said SAs Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service was overstretched and called for a review of the childrens mental health system.

Melbourne University Professor of Youth Mental Health Pat McGorry said Boylans seclusion rates probablyneeds an inquiry of itself and called for well-resourced, 24-hour mobile home-based mental health care, which he said would reduce presentations at hospitals, allowing their staff to look after the people that do end up in hospital in a much less desperate or crisis-ridden way.

Professor Muir-Cochrane said mental health patients should have completely separate emergency departments, as the noisy and frightening nature of mainstreamed emergency departments reduced the ability of staff to distract and diverge patients who could be out of control.

Leading SA consumer advocate and 2017 Australian Mental Health Nurse of the Year Matt Ball said: We bring people in traumatised; we re-traumatise them in the context of apparent health care; they become less likely to access the system again, unless under duress, at which point we are going to re-traumatise them over and over again.

Is that about healthcare or is it really about punishment, containment and re-traumatisation?

For advice, consult a knowledgeable health professional, call the SANE helpline on 1800 187 263 or Lifeline on 13 11 14 or visitReachOutorBeyondblue.

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Netted, drugged, locked away: the damning face of child mental health in SA - InDaily

Talk Like a Pirate Day is returning to port on September 19th and you can bet your boots that a few celebrants will be using the terms pirateand buccaneerinterchangeably. Most people do. Nevertheless, these two words arent actually synonymous.

Four hundred years ago, if you were a seafaring thief, the label that you received said a great dealmainly about whoever it was doing the labeling. Anyone who called you a "pirate" probably hated your guts. But those who cited you as a buccaneer might have had a very different attitude. Within certain contexts, the latter group may have even embraced you as a national hero.

Time for a swashbuckling semantics lesson. In article 101 of theUnited Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), piracy is defined as "any illegal acts of violence or detention ... committed for private ends by the crew or the passengers of a private ship." UNCLOS also states that, to be considered piracy, a crime must occur within international waters. If the event in question takes place within a particular countrys territorial waters, the aggressors will be deemed armed robbers rather than pirates.

Historical definitions tended to be a lot broader. During the 17th and 18th centuries, England regarded piracy as any criminal act committed on the high seas or below the low tide mark around shores, rivers, and estuaries. Hundreds of years earlier, in the year 100 CE, Plutarcha noteworthy Greek scholar talked about pirates as anybody who attacked a ship or maritime city without legal authority.

Just what did he mean by legal authority? Plutarch was probably alluding to warships. Nowadays, these are generally owned by national governments, but this wasnt always the case. From medieval times through the early 20th century, it was common practice for a nation at war to recruit private vessels to assault its enemys ships, steal their goods, and plunder their ports. Mariners who engaged in such state-approved mischief were called privateers.

Usually, a privateer vessel was allowed to operate under a license that was granted by the country it served. Dubbed the Letter of Marque, this document laid out a code of conduct and payment policy for the crew. (Privateers almost always got to keep a percentage of whatever they took.)

Essentially, privateers were independent contractors, acting as hostile, government-commissioned, seafaring mercenaries. Therefore, they technically werent pirates because real pirates didnt behave in accordance withany national laws or regulations. But the dividing line here was pretty blurry. Many privateers eventually became pirates and vice versa. Also, a captured privateer would sometimes be tried as a pirate by the country he or she was victimizing.

This brings us back to buccaneers: Throughout the 16th through 18th centuries, Spain more or less controlled the Caribbean. However, in the 1600s, she started to get some not-so-friendly competition. By the middle of that century, settlers from various other European countriesincluding England, France, and the Netherlandshad colonized parts of the Leeward Islands and Hispaniola. Among these newcomers, transplanted Frenchmen were especially common. The Gallic colonists would frequently smoke their meat over a wooden platform that they called a boucan. Thanks to this cooking technique, the frontiersmen were given the nickname buccaneers.

Before long, many turned to piracy. Because of Spains huge colonial presence in the Caribbean, buccaneers more or less exclusively targeted Spanish ports and ships. This turned plenty of heads across the Atlantic. In an attempt to cripple Spains empire, the English, French, and Dutch began issuing Letters of Marque to buccaneer vessels.

Eventually, the word buccaneer came to possess its currentand very specificdefinition, which is: any of the piratical adventurers who raided Spanish colonies and ships along the American coast in the second half of the 17th century. (Told you it was specific.)

The most famous buccaneer of them all was undoubtedly Sir Henry Morgan. Little is known about his early life, although most historians believe that he was born in Wales at some point in 1635. Nearly 20 years later, he set sail for Barbados as a member of an expedition that saw England seize Jamaica from the Spanish.

Morgan quickly emerged as a leading buccaneer, and as Englands most ruthlessly effective privateer. In 1668, he seized the heavily guarded city of Porto Bello, Panama, holding it for ransom until the Spanish coughed up an amazing 250,000 pesos. Three years later, Morgan raided and sacked Panama City, which promptly burned to the ground. Such exploits did not endear him to the Spanish, but in England, Morgan was a widely beloved figure. Knighted by King Charles II, he was made Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica in 1674. Following his death on August 25, 1688, Morgan received a grandiose state funeral, complete with a 22-gun salute.

And, yes, that rum was named after him. Clearly, buccaneering had its perks.

Have you got a Big Question you'd like us to answer? If so, let us know by emailing us at bigquestions@mentalfloss.com.

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What Purpose Does the Belly Button Serve? - Mental Floss

A scene from the play (above); Anub George

Written by Sadaf Inamdar

Although there are virtually no accurate statistics to go by, anecdotal and narrative evidence point to a problem that is rising exponentially and has reached epidemic proportions in many parts of the world loneliness. A play written and directed by Anub George and titled The Damned Silence, focuses on how to come to terms with a persistent and pervasive problem in our cities.

Written especially for the Vibrancy Festival, a two-day diversity and inclusion event in Pune and organised by the Centre for Creative Transformation on the occasion of World Mental Health Day, the play centres around a male protagonist in his mid-20s who is going through various shifts in life alone. It takes one through his emotions, personified by other actors . Although its easy to blame the breakdown of a traditional family unit, mindless scrolling of our phones or the jobs that follow us through emails and texts, the loneliness that city dwellers are experiencing is not rooted in any one phenomenon, says George.

The play, which has no spoken word, uses a play of light as well as stylised movements to depict the dark monotony of loneliness. The protagonist mimes his longing to reach out and interact with others through actions such as watching his phone, scrolling incessantly and walking aimlessly.

There are various elements in the play that I directly pulled from the struggles I went through during the period of trying to choose a career and tackling issues of self-sustainability in todays competitive environment, he says. The play also highlights the effects of anger on men. There are a lot of violent crimes being perpetrated by men due to lack of understanding of their own emotions and frustration within. The way men experience anger is informed by societal expectations. These traditional notions of masculinity tend to favour stoicism and dominance.

Although not inherently negative, adhering rigidly to these traits has a very negative impact on their mental health and this then comes out in wrong ways, says George. His last play, Caf Alibaba, a six-scene play written by Satish Khot, was a take on modern-day relationship dynamics and talked about young people and their struggles and aspirations. His forthcoming play deals with another searing topic child abuse at home. George is working on Mahesh Dattanis classic 30 days in September, which tackles the issue through a poignant tale.

In the countdown to the Vibrancy Festival, he is fine-tuning The Damned Silence. Tackling the issue of loneliness requires a complex, multi-pronged approach and a good way to start would be to normalise conversations around the subject and not dismiss serious concerns as being dramatic or throwing an attitude. So much of the pain of loneliness is due to feeling compelled to hide the vulnerability, because more often than not, when someone does open up, they are told to chill. We have to think retroactively and not just in regards to how it affects us. Through the play, I hope to encourage people to think of the various ways they can help people suffering with these issues in life, he says.

Read the rest here:
Silence and the city - The Indian Express

Credit: Nirzara VerulkarTinder story

For an Indian woman, Tinder often feels like the mental equivalent of being groped on a DTC bus. Its not just the disturbing number of men who are still obsessed with Friends in 2019 and insist it should get leeway for beingsexist, homophobic, and transphobic because it was from the 90s, or the type who comment furiously onUNILAD videos about how women who wear make-up are cheating them with their dark mastery of Revlon products.

Thing is, men who may have just begun learning how to handle rejection gracefully, how not to hyper-sexualise women and be generally respectful of their space and agency, seem to believe that the rules are different online. A dating app culture that on one hand thrives on candid conversation and on the other allows for secrecy and elusiveness with very few checks in place has facilitated the predatory and entitled behaviours that many urban, educated Indian men generally keep under wraps in real life. Here are some manifestations that could perhaps inspireSandeep Reddy Vangas next hero, but have women wanting to press delete forever.

When a woman creates an online dating profile, she may as well be opening applications for friendship on all her social media accounts. Most women would concur that the moment they signed up on the casual dating app, their others folder basically doubled up as their Tinder recycle bin, full of the users who refused to give up after a left swipe. Many of these disbelieving men end up shooting their second (or third or fourth) shots on Facebook and Instagram, unmindful that this persistent entitlement to a womans time and attention is not only intrusive, but also goes against the very spirit of this online subculture. Tinders defining feature is allowing users to text each other only after they mutually swipe right, and the app is designed to grant complete control to its users over who they choose to engage with (on the app at least). These rules of engagement are sacrosanct, and anyone who doesnt honour them should rightfully be banishedfrom your matches, if not the app.

When the Wanna fuck? message arrives as a conversation starter, it feels an awful lot like an unsolicited dick pic. Tinder has built a reputation as a booty call app, and neither the company nor its usersnot most of them, anywayhave any qualms about using it the way the tech-gods intended it. So, propositioning someone for sex is acceptable, if not expected of you. But even then, this particular MO gives away not only a lack of communication skills but a dehumanising attitude toward women. Do I hear you whine, But I just want to be upfront and not mislead anyone?

The difference between spending the night drinking wine straight out of the bottle alone, and swirling it around in your mouth pretending to be a sommelier, and making up an origin story to impress a date, could be this slightly longer, more polite message: Hey brand new match, would you mind if we got straight to the point and figured out if we could get together/hook up, and when?

Kids, remember, when in doubt, talk it out.

Getty Images

If pornography or a handful of obscure coming-of-age art films are to be believed, all non-heterosexual women spend their entire day unravelling the mysteries of their bodies and testing the boundaries of their sexual desires. Non-hetero women are highly fetishised not only in porn but also in pop culture, and these associations and perceptions follow them everywhere. Given the cushy illusion of anonymity that online interactions provide, queer folks get directly propositioned for threesomes painfully often. Some have even complained of being asked by cis male matches if the latter could join just to watch.

While the patriarchal notion that womens bodies are inherently sexual has been widely documented, heres a crucial intersectional observationnon-hetero women are subjected to this creepy entitlement much more rampantly. And sadly for them, life off the app is no different. They are accustomed to being asked questions that are all too personal, all too inappropriate (do you like licking or scissoring better?), all too often.

Virginia Woolf in A Room of Ones Own wrote, Women have served all these centuries as looking glasses possessing the magical and delicious power of reflecting the figure of man at twice its natural size. Just about every woman with A Tinder Account of Her Own has felt this too when she encounters a dude who defines himself in relation to (his idea of) his female audience. There are those who believe they should be showered with accolades and matches for picking up a skill that they clearly believe is a woman thing, marking them as extra special and sensitive. As for the guy whose USP is that hes taller than you in heels(?) all you can do is congratulate him on being able to more easily reach the lightbulbs he was born to fix. Theres nothing like a bit of reverse sexism to restore the balance in the universe.

Some men like to proclaim their love of fat women on their bio. Now, try to think of the last time you caught a woman describing her specific body-type preferences on her Tinder profile. This doesnt necessarily mean that all women are brimming with body positivity towards menits just that contempt for big men is not the default for them, so they do not feel the need to make any disclaimers. Moreover, men who articulate their desire for larger women are most likely not coming from a place of body positivityits garden variety objectification and fetishism only dressed as inclusivity. They typically view large bodies as a thing of novelty rather than normality, and reduce them to a porn category. Several women have confessed to being told it was a check-list item, too. Whats worse, in their warped heads, these men are doing a kind of charity; social media is crawling with screenshots posted by plus-size women who call out this fetishism, but instead, are asked to be grateful that someone finds them desirable at all.

The rest is here:
5 Horrid Things Indian Men Do On Dating Apps To Make Women Want To Quit - HuffPost India

They arent very popular anymore, but I grew up in the golden age of jingles (probably because I watched WAY too much TV as a kid).At any given time, Ive got a million of them floating in my head.

And I love great copy even if it isnt accompanied by a catchy ditty.One that long ago stuck with me was the centerpiece of a radio ad for the Verbal Advantage self-improvement system which admonished listeners, People judge you by the words you use.

Indeed, I believe that words matter.Unfortunately, the intersection of business management and societal impact where Ive spent much of the last 20 years is littered with jargon that has obfuscated rather than clarified (heres just a sampling of the CSR glossaries out there).Often two people slinging around phrases like corporate social responsibility, sustainability, cause marketing and shared value may be using the same words but mean very different things.

The Purpose Advantage by Jeff Fromm

Such is certainly the case for the word purpose. Hoping for some clarity I recently devoured the review copy I was sent of The Purpose Advantage by Jeff Fromm.In this short, handsomely laid out book, Fromm provides a useful definition of purpose, examples of how a purpose-centric orientation can help companies achieve great things and even a step-by-step workshop designed to help firms define their purpose and run with it.

According to Fromm, purpose as it applies to companies has three important aspects.It is:

Foundational. A clearly defined and long-term strategy that affects every part of the businessthat connects with consumers values and passions, attracting and retaining high-quality talent, spurring creativity and driving growth.

Based in Action. More than just a declaration, purpose requires brands to make meaningful change, not just launch a new ad campaign.

Societal. Purpose is concerned with the well-being of others, the planet and our future.Its about missions for preserving the environment or fighting for social justice, the kind of purposes that make the world a better place.

3D illustration of a folder and focus on a tab with the acronym CSR, Corporate Social ... [+] Responsibility. Conceptual image.

I agree with Fromm in setting the bar high for what it means to put purpose at the core of how one manages a company(Ive winced at so many sloppy, uninspiring purpose statements over the years).Unfortunately, the bar is so high that today purpose-run companies are largely an aspirational concept.

Fromm cites Bombas, Patagonia and Seventh Generation as very advanced, but very few new or established companies come close to being permeated with purpose from head to toe.A growing number ranging from B Corp start-ups to corporate behemoths like Unilever are striving to get there.And in another terrific section of the book, Fromm shows how the effort can be highly worthwhile in building successful, long-lasting enterprises.

Adapting an adage Ive long admired, perhaps we should say that, Purpose is a journey, not a destination.I recommend The Purpose Advantage for leaders seeking guidance on setting out on this challenging, but worthwhile odyssey.

Link:
You Say Your Business Has Purpose? What Does That Mean? - Forbes

As an adult, it can be hard to find balance in a life that demands both work and rest. Weve all heard the old adage, All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, and theres definitely truth to it.

Too much time at the grind dulls our edges. But, one could say the same about leisure.

Binge-watching every rom-com we lay eyes on does not necessarily mean were living our best life. When work and play are running haywire in your life, here are a few things you can do to set them straight.

Its called self-distancing, and in a 2014 study, Self-Distancing: Theory, Research, and Current Directions published in Advances In Experimental Psychology, authors Ethan Kross and Ozlem Ayduk found that getting a little psychological distance from a difficult situation is an excellent way to move through it. When people reflect on whats going wrong in their life while immersed in their negative feelings theyre doomed to fail. Why? Because theyre so focused on emotion they cant see reason. Kross and Ayduk hypothesize that people need a way to take a step back from their experience so they can work through it more effectively.

Thinking about how our actions affect those we work and play with is integral to reestablishing balance. In his classic best-seller, How To Win Friends and Influence People, author Dale Carnegie wrote, If out of reading this book you get just one thing an increased tendency to think always in terms of other peoples point of view, and see things from their angle it may easily prove to be one of the building blocks of your career. Consider the source: Dale Carnegie literally wrote the book on self-improvement, leadership and interpersonal skills. If hes telling us to think about how others think and feel, maybe we should listen not because it makes good business sense its just good sense.

[See all Bangor Metro stories]

As human beings were hardwired to move forward. Life is linear, so stepping back instinctively feels like were losing ground. But, sometimes stepping back is the only way to move forward. So how do we do this? By focusing on whats important and eliminating whats not. In Marie Kondos best-selling book, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, Kondo calls this act of decluttering our life the KonMari Method. In essence, Kondo believes that what we surround ourselves with, both physical and emotional, should spark joy. If it doesnt, then we need to lose it like a bad habit and move on.

Another emotion that comes in our DNA is the desire to make amends. When weve spent too long at the office or too much time surfing the web, we need to acknowledge how our actions have hurt the ones we love. According to Michael McCullough, the principal investigator of the 2014 study, Conciliatory Gestures Promote Human Forgiveness and Reduce Anger, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, when people make a sincere attempt to apologize, they are usually forgiven. Whether we give an apology, make a peace offering, or bake a cake, it doesnt matter how we show were sorry. It matters that were sorry.

Its incredibly difficult to see the big picture, think about the consequences of our actions and repair whats wrong when were engrossed in our own world. Ultimately, our ability to reflect whenever we feel our lives are out of whack can make the difference between a meaningful life and a life of wasted potential. The ability to think about and learn from our mistakes is a gift why not use it?

This story was originally published in Bangor Metros October 2019 issue. To subscribe to the magazine, click here.

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What to do when your work and play are out of whack - Bangor Daily News

Frank Lampard has urged Callum Hudson-Odoi to follow the example of Raheem Sterling and ally natural talent to a remorseless desire for self-improvement in order to reach the pinnacle of the game.

The Chelsea manager was in straight-talking mood before Saturdays home game against Brighton and he revealed his amazement at how Marcelo Bielsa and Leeds had won the 2019 Fifa fair play award. He fell out with Bielsa last season while he was at Derby and Bielsa admitted to spying on Lampards team in training and every other club in the Championship.

Lampards comments about Hudson-Odoi came in the context of a discussion about how much he enjoyed the man-management aspect of his job. He said some young players need cajoling, some definitely need some tough words at times and it sounded as though he felt Hudson-Odoi fitted into the latter category.

The 18-year-old winger made his comeback from a ruptured achilles on Wednesday in Chelseas 7-1 Carabao Cup win over Grimsby, scoring one of the goals late on, but Lampard was critical of him after the game. He said he wanted Hudson-Odoi to work hard in order to get in behind the Grimsby defence, to put himself into dangerous situations inside the box, but he had needed to reinforce that message pretty strongly at half-time because it had not got through.

I have to say it as I see it, Lampard said. I know Callums talent and he has got huge talent. Hence why the club were so keen to get him signed up [to his new contract]. Were all delighted with that. But theres a lot of work for Callum to do. Lots of work.

You can look around and look at fantastic examples and not even at this club.

I dont like to talk about other clubs players but Raheem Sterling is an incredible example of a player with great talent, whose work ethic added to that talent and improvement in a short period of time through absolute dedication, has seen him become a complete player, who we are all wowed by.

He is a great model for Callum because Callum has those talents. I want him to be the absolute best because he has the potential to do that and some of it is about hard truths and I saw some hard truths in the game the other day ways that he can improve. He needs to listen to them and he will. Then he can be that player for us.

Lampard said he thought Bielsas award was irony, at first. Bielsa was commended for ordering his team to let Aston Villa equalise at Elland Road in April, after Leeds had scored while a rival player was down injured.

I did smile, Lampard said. Who votes for it? Its strange and I think everyone had the same reaction. A lot of news was put to spygate and quite rightly so.

It got dealt with in the right way and so when you go and give an award for fair play in the same year, I dont think its right.

Read the original:
Lampard urges Hudson-Odoi to learn from Sterling and queries Leeds award - The Guardian

Not everyone will agree with your plans, but once you begin work, it wont matter. Be innovative and take the initiative to turn your ideas into something tangible. Much can be accomplished if you take action instead of just talking about your dreams. Personal growth should be a priority.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) Personal changes can be put in place. Consider what you want to accomplish and make adjustments that will leave you feeling good about who you are, what you do and how you look.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 22) A change of plans will lead to a change of heart. Double down and put your energy into what counts. Happiness begins within. Do things that lift your spirits and bring you joy.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23-Dec. 21) Do what you can to make a difference. Offer help, suggestions and kindness. Refuse to let someone bully you into something that benefits him or her more than anyone else.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Think matters through before you take action. Make sure you wont ruffle feathers or promise to do something impossible. A steady pace and common sense will lead to success.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Trust in your ability, beliefs and innovative vision. A chance to get ahead is within reach. Follow your heart and counteract anyone who tries to interfere.

PISCES (Feb. 20-March 20) Your help will be appreciated by the benefactor, but not so much by someone you are close to. Dont neglect meaningful relationships. A little love will go a long way.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) Explore new possibilities. Share your ideas and plans with a loved one. Dont let obstacles get you down. Where theres a will, there is a way to overcome whatever challenges you.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) Turn your dream into a reality. Consider the changes you will have to make and take action. Solicit people who share your concerns to pitch in and help.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) Participate in events that will bring you in touch with interesting people. Personal improvements will lead to compliments, and spending time with a loved one should be a priority.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) Keep busy. Idle time will lead to anxiety and uncertainty. Let others do as they please, and work on self-improvement and personal growth. Choose peace over conflict, and lower your stress.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) Getting together with old friends or relatives will bring back memories. Love and romance are on the rise and will prompt you to relax and enjoy what life has to offer.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Focus on truth, new possibilities and letting go of negativity. Honesty will help you realize whats best for you and how to implement positive change.

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0929 Horo | | albanyherald.com - The Albany Herald