Rasika Somarathna and N P Rajadurai in Ratnapura

* Govt policy guided by peoples well-being

* Equity in development will be ensured

Development projects will not be carried out at the cost of the environment or by causing hardships to the people, although the country is on the path of rapid economic development, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said.

The President said projects which will cause loss of personal property on a large scale and environment degradation will be rejected and added his government was not prepared to implement projects which would cause hardships to a section of the people to benefit others.

He said certain Opposition elements were trying to obtain political mileage from the issue while spreading falsehoods to mislead the people. The governments policy in respect of all affairs will continue to be guided by the vital interests and well- being of the people. This will not yield to any other consideration, he said.

President Rajapaksa was speaking at the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) election rally in support of its candidates contesting the upcoming polls from the Ratnapura district to the Sabaragamuwa Provincial Council on Saturday.

The President said the government has not neglected any village.

Development activities are taking place in all of them in line with the policy of achieving equity in development, he said.

Speaking on the upcoming PC polls, President Rajapaksa said Provincial Councils and other local government bodies were playing a very constructive role in developing villages, districts and provinces.

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Development not at cost of environment - President

Learning to fly is a metaphor Pamela Hale can use literally. In addition to being a life coach and teacher, Hale is also an author and pilot who uses flying to help people live courageously.

In her recently published memoir, "Flying Lessons: How to Be the Pilot of Your Own Life," Hale takes readers through her own self-doubt and fear by way of seven "flight lessons." The book, which is illustrated with Hale's dramatic aerial photos, also chronicles her fight with breast cancer.

"Since my mother and grandmother had died of the disease, I knew I needed to do everything in my power, using both allopathic medicine and alternative methods," said Hale, 69.

A graduate of both Columbia and Stanford universities, Hale attended Tucson's Tacheria School for Spiritual Direction, where she studied spirituality and leadership, and became certified as a mediator.

At 57, she began a new practice, combining energy healing, life coaching and spiritual counseling from local traditions and those practiced in Central and South America.

"I hope I provide some practical and powerful tools for healing and transformation, and that I do that in a creative way that helps people to love life and themselves, and to heal old wounds, live in gratitude, feel a sense of purpose and passion, and contribute to a healthier planet," she said.

In addition to her book, Hale offers retreats at her family's Rocking X Ranch in Gila County's Sierra Ancha mountains. Her goal is to provide people time to get unhooked from electronics and connect instead "with the life force within."

Here are excerpts from a recent interview with Hale:

Where were you born?

I was born in Sacramento, Calif., where my father was an Army flight instructor, and moved to the Pasadena area when I was 2, after my father was shot down and killed over Germany in World War II. I stayed in the area and brought up my own children in South Pasadena.

Continued here:
'Flying Lessons' leaves fear grounded

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jpyg-Ho1QP8

25-08-2012 20:40 Promoting the annual Business Women's Alliance Health Expo and Fitness Expo at the Citrus County Armory.

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Business Women's Alliance Health and Fitness Expo - Video

Report says sectors growth set to double by 2015

Mumbai, Aug. 26:

The Indian health and wellness industry is all set to double by 2015 if the current growth is maintained, a joint report by industry body FICCI and advisory firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) said. At present, the sector is estimated at Rs 59,000 crore and is growing at a CAGR of 18-20 per cent.

The wellness market comprises beauty and cosmetic products, healthy food and beverage, slimming products, fitness services, dietary supplements and spas and salons. These are roughly divided into three categories such as hygiene, curative and enhancement needs of the consumer.

Though traditional products continue to dominate the market at 60 per cent, consumers are aware of new forms of wellness products and services such as fortified foods, dietary supplements, cosmetic treatments and rejuvenation therapies.

Increasing health awareness among Indian consumers due to rising media penetration is also helping the sector to grow. Given the high disposable incomes, consumers are taking into account health considerations as part of their purchasing decisions, with preventive care gaining more prominence over a curative approach to disease management, said Sandeep Ahuja, Chairman, FICCI National Wellness Committee.

The FICCI-PwC report further added that the per capita spend on wellness has jumped from Rs 300 in 2008 to over Rs 480 a year last year.

Consumers are increasingly placing a high premium on their time, so wellness players have started bundling convenience along with health and beauty benefits, the report added.

It forecasts that while wellness concepts in India are dominated by mainstream and generic benefits, emerging niche categories are likely to result in new opportunities for players. Online channels are expected to become increasingly relevant as a channel of interaction with consumers.

Priyanka.pani@thehindu.co.in

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Wellness sector growth likely to double in three years

Fit4Kids, a new nonprofit in the Richmond area, is ready to roll this fall. Actually, it's ready to run recess games, put more activity into classroom lessons and plant gardens at area schools.

Mary Dunne Stewart, executive director of Fit4Kids, explained the first round of initiatives in her organization's quest to bring down childhood obesity levels locally and improve children's health.

Recess seemed like a good place to start.

Although we might think that children run around and get lots of exercise at recess, that's not necessarily so. Some kids stay away from recess games because they feel clumsy or shy. Others may choose to sit and talk to friends instead of moving during their free time.

Fit4Kids hopes to engage those not-so-active children with activities that appeal to all levels and interests.

"It's like field day every day," Stewart said. A "recess coach" will be assigned this fall to Woodville Elementary in Richmond, Bellwood Elementary in Chesterfield County and St. Andrews, a small, private school in Richmond that serves low-income families.

After one year at those schools, the recess coaches will relinquish their duties to teachers there and move on to other schools that might be in need of such activity-boosting efforts.

Another Fit4Kids effort will be taking place in the classrooms at Bellwood Elementary.

Modeled after a program in the Williamsburg area, the Wellness Integration Program will encourage teachers to incorporate movement into the learning process and make nutrition part of the regular curriculum.

Activities such as "subtraction tag" will get kids moving while learning math concepts, Stewart said.

More:
Fitness: Fighting childhood obesity and improving kids' health

Q: I fortunately or unfortunately qualified for social security disability and have a few questions about retirement benefits. Next year I can take my pension early or I can wait and take a larger pension when I reach age 65. If I take my pension early, I dont think that will have any impact on my social security benefits since it is not earned income; is that correct? Also, what happens when I reach the age where I can take social security retirement benefits? Would I be better off switching to social security retirement benefits versus disability?

Sorry about your disability but Im glad you are receiving benefits. The pension wont impact your disability benefits like earned income, but it may cause some of your benefits to be taxed.

If you are single and your combined income is between $25,000 and $34,000, 50 percent of social security disability or retirement benefits will be subject to income tax. If your combined income is more than $34,000, up to 85 percent of benefits will be subject to tax.

If you are married filing jointly, with combined income of $32,000 to $44,000, 50 percent of benefits will be subject to tax. If your combined income is more than $44,000, up to 85 percent of benefits will be subject to tax. Combined income is defined as your Adjusted Gross Income + Non-taxable interest + 1/2 of Social Security Benefits.

Full retirement age is based on your year of birth. For those born from 1943 through 1954, full retirement age for social security purposes is 66. For those born in later years retirement age increases two months a year until it reaches 67 for those born in 1960 and later. You can retire before you reach full retirement age, but your benefits will be permanently reduced by a percentage which is based on the number of months you begin benefits before your full retirement age.

Twenty-five percent is the maximum reduction for people born between 1943 and 1954. As the increase in retirement age phases in, the reduction for taking early benefits will gradually increase to 30% for those born in 1960 or later.

When you are receiving Social Security disability benefits and reach full retirement age, nothing will change except your benefits will be called retirement benefits rather than disability benefits. This switch will be automatically done for you by the Social Security Administration.

It is rarely a good idea to switch from Social Security disability benefits to early retirement benefits, because in most cases disability benefits are paid as if you are at full retirement age, no matter how old you are. The disability benefit amount is based on how much you paid into Social Security while you worked. If you are receiving a disability benefit from workers compensation, you may want to consider switching from Social Security disability to early retirement benefits. Your Social Security disability benefit is reduced by a certain percentage if you are getting a workers comp benefit. Your retirement benefit is not reduced by a workers comp benefit. If you are receiving workers comp, not yet at full retirement age but are age 62 or over, ask the Social Security Administration to calculate the difference in benefits for you. If this looks favorable, you can request to be changed from disability status to retired status.

Before making this status switch, get assurance that they will keep you technically disabled so that you can stay on Medicare. Also, analyze the impact on your future benefits as well as the impact on any benefits for dependents and, if married, those of your spouse.

Holly Nicholson is a certified financial planner in Raleigh. She cannot answer every question. Reach her at askholly.com or P.O. Box 99466, Raleigh, NC 27624

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Social Security disability benefits versus retirement benefits

You could call it the ultimate romantic gesture.

Last February, Andrew Shaffer, a writer who had recently moved to Lexington, picked up Fifty Shades of Grey, writer E.L. James' global publishing phenom that has introduced 20 million readers to the world of bondage, dominance and sadomasochistic sex.

Shaffer was appalled, as many have been, by the puerile plot line, wooden dialogue and shallow characters in the story of stalker-billionaire Christian Grey, who sweeps dim young college student Anastasia Steele off her feet and into his sex dungeon, more or less.

Shaffer was offended not just as a writer himself but as the boyfriend of Tiffany Reisz, who was the reason he moved to Lexington and who happened to be a very good erotic BDSM author herself.

So Shaffer, the author of the non-fiction Great Philosophers Who Failed at Love (Harper Perennial, $12.99 in paperback), sat down and quickly wrote a parody, Fifty Shames of Earl Grey (Da Capo Press, $13.99 in paperback), in which Ana Steal and Earl Grey enter a world of half-wits and another kind of BDSM: "bards, dragons, sorcery and Magick."

"I was offended," Shaffer said of Fifty Shades, "because I thought the writing was pretty terrible and I've read other BDSM novels that were so much better, including Tiffany's. On the other hand, it's all turned out pretty well for us."

"Pretty well" is an ending that could show up in a romance novel: For Shaffer, it means a book deal with a sizeable advance, interviews with The New York Times and NPR, and another book, Literary Rogues, on the way from Harper Perennial.

"Pretty well" for Reisz means a huge bump of publicity for her recently released BDSM novel, The Siren (Harlequin Mira, $13.95 in paperback) with a first printing of 60,000 copies as millions of titillated Fifty Shades readers look for their next fix.

Shaffer and Reisz met cute on Twitter and then met in person at the Romance Writers of America conference in New York. (Their first date was when Shaffer escorted Reisz to a Manhattan dominatrix; for a full accounting, check out Reisz's column on The Huffington Post.) They now live a modern-day literary life, white Mac notebooks constantly humming in different rooms of their Harrodsburg Road condo, a running Twitter conversation open in one window, the next book chapter in another.

Reisz, an Owensboro native and Centre College graduate, has worked on her writing for a long time, and she seems bemused by success in both personal and professional fronts happening at the same time.

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Lexington couple benefit from runaway success of 'Fifty Shades'

Posted on August 26, 2012, Sunday

OLYMPIC success does not come easy.

The two medals one silver and one bronze Malaysia brought home from the London Games came at huge personal sacrifices to the athletes who won them and from government funding as well.

For those who stood on the rostrum, success was the culmination of years of sweat and toil. They deserve their prize and glory.

Malaysia spent RM20 million (around US$6.5 million) for the National Sports Councils four-year Road To London programme. Some argue the amount is too high for winning only two medals. But then, whoever says Olympic success comes cheap?

South Korea had their most successful Olympics to date in London with a total 28 medals, including 13 gold. But they also spent US$100 million (RM310 million) plus US$30 million from the private sector.

By comparison, our total bill was only five per cent of what South Korea spent to bring success from their athletes.

So what do we actually want? Real success or just wishing for success?

Talks of budget cuts and downsizing teams are common. But targetting cheap competitions to save money means we are moving in one direction DOWN. Mediocrity and third class performance will not bring Olympic success.

Of course, the money spent must be success-oriented. Our plans for sports success has to be bottom up grassroots to elite level. Unfortunately, even today, a comprehensive grassroots development programme for many of our sports is still lacking.

Read more:
Olympic success cometh not on silver platter

By Joyce E. A. Russell, Special to the Washington Post. Joyce E. A. RussellWashington Post In Print: Sunday, August 26, 2012

The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently found that employment for career counselors is expected to grow 19 percent by the year 2020. Yet, despite the increased money being spent on coaching by employers today, not as much is published about the effectiveness of coaching. Does it work, and if so, how? What impact does it really have? What do executives really think about it?

Over the years, I've asked executives who have gone through coaching what they think its value might be. Haywood Barney, a technology strategy consultant with IBM, said coaching "provided a structure and plan to accomplish what I saw as my future . . . sort of a road map." Bart Ludlow, project manager at Avian Engineering, noted, "Coaching accurately identifies a leader's strengths and areas for improvement which are critical for all of us to know in order to be more effective."

One goal of coaches is to push leaders to think through issues for themselves. Often, executives experience the positive spillover of coaching. As Doug Riley, vice president of sales at Thomas Somerville Co., said, "Coaching helped me fine-tune attributes that improved both my personal and professional life."

In their roles as leaders, executives often provide coaching to proteges and employees. Yet, as they move up in organizations, they are often not given mentoring themselves, despite the fact that they have increasingly more challenging jobs. Over the years, many executives have told me that they are especially appreciative to receive coaching at this latter part of their professional lives.

But not everyone goes into coaching convinced it will have any impact on them. If those individuals can be turned around to find value in coaching, then we have better evidence that coaching is making a difference.

"As someone who was initially skeptical on the value of executive coaching I have made a 180-degree turnaround," said Elie Ashery, president and chief executive of Gold Lasso. "Coaching helped me gain greater insight into how my peers not only viewed me personally, but my abilities to lead and provide value. With this new insight, I was able to better connect with my management team, board of directors and investors. As a result of these improved connections we performed better as a team and just had our best quarter ever since being in business."

Determining the value of executive coaching is tricky and is often estimated similar to how firms measure the impact of training programs. Metrics can involve any of the following:

Financial results examining outcomes such as cost savings, increased sales or profits, or reduced voluntary turnover or absenteeism.

Business results increased market share, organizational growth, or profitability.

Read more from the original source:
Executive coaching can provide big benefits, many say

Beating Michael Jordan on the golf course was enjoyable, but Terrell Buckley found it wasnt fulfilling.

They played every day, or at least every one the former NBA great spent in South Florida in 2006. They were joined by the likes of Lawrence Taylor, Cris Carter or Nat Moore, friends Buckley, a former Florida State All-America, made during his 14 years in the NFL before he retired after the 2005 season.

Im pretty good; I was close to being a scratch, Buckley said of his prowess on the links. Jordan had his days, though.

Inevitably, their conversations turned to the latest professional player to run afoul of the law. Buckley had the same talks with another friend, Troy Vincent, a former NFL Players Association president who now serves as the leagues vice president of player engagement.

It hit me that Im doing what probably 95 percent of the people do, you see stuff on ESPN and in the paper and you say, Man, what are they doing? All this money they make and all this and we didnt Buckley said earlier this month after a University of Akron football practice at InfoCision Stadium. I had to sit back and think when I was 17, 18 and 19, I was probably doing the same thing.

Buckley realized he had longed for a mentor while growing up in Pascagoula, Miss. In his mid-30s, he figured out what drove him, and it wasnt just testing his game on the championship course at Fort Lauderdales Grande Oaks Golf Club, where the movie Caddyshack was filmed.

The main thing Ive found out is that the Lord blessed me, I like to help. Im kind of a giver, Buckley said. My momma, my dad, everybody was giving and I want to be a part of that.

So in 2007 he went back to Florida State and finished his degree. He started working in football coach Bobby Bowdens weight room. He served as a graduate assistant, became coordinator of the life skills program for the Seminoles, then went back to the weight room. He stayed on after Bowden retired after the 2009 season. But coach Jimbo Fisher wasnt ready to fire a coach to hire Buckley.

On Dec. 29, Buckleys 17-year-old daughter Sherrell was driving the family home from the Florida Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Fla., after a victory over Notre Dame. Buckley was napping until his cell phone rang at about 1 in the morning. It was Terry Bowden, Bobbys son, offering him a job coaching cornerbacks at the University of Akron.

Bowden wanted an answer quickly, so Buckley discussed the opportunity with his three daughters. Sherrell, Brianna (14) and Britney (11) convinced him of the communicative powers of Skype, Google Plus and instant messaging.

Continue reading here:
UA’s Terrell Buckley drawn to coaching to mold men, not just cornerbacks