Posted on May 15, 2020

Words by Donna Torres, General Manager of SMB Sales & Operations UK & EMEA, Xero

In the current climate, many of us have found ourselves in different working environments with the majority of people working from home. With our home and work spaces becoming the same place, its more important than ever to ensure you take steps to create some separation and avoid burnout a common issue faced by small business owners.

Here are six ways to help avoid burnout:

Often a business is the result of a life-long passion, so its easy for that business to become a fundamental part of your everyday routine. This makes it difficult to separate work life from home especially when both now exist in the same location.

Try to keep to normal working hours, and avoid working late into the evening where possible. Its vital to ensure a distinction between your working day and your time to relax, otherwise youre more susceptible to burnout. Working after hours can actually make you less productive too, as youre less able to switch off when it counts. Small things like clearing your work space away at the end of the day will make a big difference.

Prioritising your wellbeing should be just as much a part of your daily routine as a to-do list is. Physical and emotional burnout can sometimes be tracked back to elements of your lifestyle, such as diet, exercise and sleep.

Rest is crucial. It might be tempting to stay up late working on something but without the right sleep, your week is not going to be as productive as it could be. Exercise is also important, even if its just once or twice a week or going for some short walks in the day to get some space away from your screen. There are a number of great workplace apps such as Unmind who can help business owners and their employees with their wellbeing.

Time management in a small firm can be difficult, especially when you are first starting out. Xero research revealed that the main triggers for entrepreneurs stress are staff management (42%), admin (35%), feeling personally responsible for the success of the company (31%) and filing taxes (19%).

When youre overwhelmed, everything on your to do list might seem like it needs to be done ASAP, but in reality most of the time tasks can be split into urgent and important. Prioritising tasks is key to focus the mind. Apps like Wunderlist and Todoist can help you to prioritise, set reminders and share your work load with colleagues whilst working remotely too.

Always be realistic with how much you can accomplish in one day. If you commit to doing too much in an unrealistic time frame, it is likely that you will feel more burned out.

Entrepreneurs are always worrying about cash flow and profit and loss sheets especially at the moment. If you have a comprehensive bookkeeping system set up, you will feel more in control of your finances.

Cloud accounting software can be used from any device all you need is an internet connection. It gives you an up-to-date snapshot of how your business is doing, giving you the insights you need to make the right decisions for your company. The time consuming accounting tasks are automated, and anyone from your team who needs to can access information and collaborate on activity.

Although were not able to go abroad at the moment, that doesnt mean you should go without a holiday. Book a day or two of annual leave if possible to switch off.

And if thats not possible, try to schedule some down time every day, the same way you would a meeting. Whether its getting out on your daily walk or run, or listening to your favourite podcast, ensure that youre getting away from your desk and taking your mind off work.

Running a small business can be all consuming. Implementing a routine which includes downtime is going to benefit both you and your business in the long-run. A brain thats allowed to switch off works more efficiently when it needs to be switched on.

Link:
Five ways to avoid burnout when your home and work environments become one - HR News

Are you trying to shed those extra kilos? Dont fall for these 5 common weight loss myths.

Good fats are very important for your overall health and they work wonders for weight loss.

Losing weight is not a piece of cake. This is especially true during lockdown when there is hardly any movement and it gets even more difficult to stay fit. Many people now look for advice from the Internet, magazines, and friends on how to keep up with their fitness requirement and lose weight amidst quarantine. However, though most of the information may be relevant, there are a few dangerous myths which are also doing the rounds. These misconceptions about diet plans and weight loss may shatter your fitness goals and can even lead you to gain extra weight instead of shedding it. Therefore, here we try to bust some common weight loss myths, which will help you save yourself from falling for the fake traps of weight loss. Take a look: Also Read - 5 most common misconceptions about our bodies

Reality: Carbs are essential macronutrients, which are needed to sustain life and supply energy to your brain. However, carbs have earned a bad reputation in the world of fitness due to their tendency to cause weight gain. But not all carbs are unhealthy. There are bad carbs and good carbs. The bad ones contain all sorts of refined and processed foods, like white bread, refined-grain pasta, instant noodles and more which tend to contribute to weight-gain. Whereas good carbs are the ones which are rich in fibre. For example, whole grain products, leafy green vegetables and legumes are high in good carbs. They make you feel full and satiated so that you are less likely to overeat.Therefore, dont cut out on carbs but choose them wisely. Also Read - World Immunization Week 2019: Top vaccination myths dispelled

Reality: Just like carbs, theres a misconception about fats too. Fats can also be classified as good and bad fats. Good fats are very important for your overall health and they work wonders for weight loss. They may seem high on calories, but these are not empty calories. Rather, they are dense in nutrients. Therefore, if you feel full, you would naturally not overeat. Also Read - Top 10 weight-loss myths you need to say goodbye to

Reality: No matter what the diet trends say, starving or skipping your meals has not been a sustainable weight-loss strategy. This happens because you can refrain from food for a certain amount of time, and when you break your fast, you tend to eat anything that comes your way. This leads to overloading of calories. Make sure you eat at regular intervals, which will keep you satiated for longer spells. In case you want to snack on something, grab a fruit or some nuts instead of binging on fried and fattening foods.

Reality: Working out on an empty stomach is not considered healthy as it may lead to muscle loss. Therefore, it is best to munch on something light and nutritious before you get ready to sweat it out in the workout session. Have some easily digestible carbs like banana, almonds, baked eggs and more before an intense exercise regime.

Reality: Snacking between meals is not a problem and it is very normal to feel hungry every 2-3 hours. It is all about what kind of snack you pick up to eat that affects your weight loss regime. Like, for example, snacking on heavily fried, sugary or ultra-processed food can add on the calories and may lead to excess amount of fat storage in your body. On the other hand, healthy snacks like fruits, nutty trail-mix, oats and protein shakes may help you shed weight by increasing your metabolism.

Published : May 16, 2020 4:45 pm

Visit link:
5 weight loss myths that can prevent you from slimming down during quarantine - TheHealthSite

Nearly a decade into their existence, Denvers In the Company of Serpentsled by guitarist and vocalist Grant Netzorg and drummer J.P. Damron (Vermin Womb, Clinging to the Trees of a Forest Fire)are changing things up. In the Company of Serpents recruited guitarist and bassist Ben Pitts to round out the lineup forLux, the Denver trios fourth and most-developed album to date.

Luxis a riff-driven affair, something In the Company of Serpents make very obvious from the first second of mammoth opener The Fools Journey to the dark spaghetti western sounds so present on The Chasm at the Mouth of All and album closer Prima Materia. The combination of influences gives In the Company of Serpents a unique sound; the droning sludge trio have riffs for days, but its the thoughtful inclusion of spaghetti western music that elevatesLuxto a new level.

In the Company of Serpents will officially release Luxtomorrow, May 15, butDecibelhas an early album stream as well as a track-by-track walkthrough with Netzorg about the albums themes, special guests and more. It becomes quickly apparent: there is more toLuxthan meets the eyeLux is heavy with spirituality and esoterica, each lyric and decision carefully weighed. Pre-order the album here.

This record is titled Lux, i.e. light in Latin, and one of the central ideas behind it is the notion of a Prima Materia, or fundamental root essence behind everything in the manifest universe, Netzorg explains of the albums theme. Philosophers, hermeticists, alchemists, occultists and all manner of different wizards have speculated what that Prima Materia, or root essence, is, but the three chief analogies Ive employed in this record are: All is sound All is mind and, critically, All is Light.

With that in mind, we are employing a wealth of Solar imagery with this record, both in the front cover, and lyrically. The cover is essentially an artistic re-imagining of The Sun arcana from Tarot. This ties into the broader solar & light themes at play in the album, but the title, cover, and broader theme is also uniquely personal to me. Lux is the etymology of my daughters name, Lucia. So, while this album functions as form of esoteric prayer on one hand, it also serves as a message to my 2-year-old, who, as they say in the clich, is the light of my life.

The basic idea of this song is that a tarot reading was done on the fate of humanity should we continue to follow our current trajectory, and it spelled bad news in no uncertain terms. However, divinations like this only portend future events should we not change our path in any way, and we ultimately have the agency to avoid negative outcomes should we decide to change our course when we foresee them. As such, the message here is not so much that were doomed, but that we stand at a critical juncture where we have the opportunity to ultimately change things for the betterment of all. But this will require us to act. The second half of the song appeals to that agency. On the heels of the tarot reading corresponding to the initial doomed question, a second question is posed: What can we do about this? The result points to our own fundamental ability to self-empower.

The title of this song is a nod to the tarot. In many decks the Fool is depicted as a young individual who is carelessly about to step off a cliff. This metaphor is often used to describe the first steps of a persons magical initiation, but it is also represented in the lyrics which begin, Were standing on the precipice of our own demise, laughing in its face. It will ignore our cries.

I like the idea that our understanding of time is fundamentally flawed, and the implication that, if we can use tools like Tarot to glean the shape of things to come, it also empowers us with the agency to shift fates. Yes, the world is a bit of a dumpster fire on the broader level, but on an individual level we can affect positive change. As the writer and host of the Rune Soup podcast, Gordon White, has been quoted saying several times, Optimism is a Spell! The song closes with a quote from Jodorowskis The Holy Mountain, a film rife with tarot symbolism relevant to this song and album.

The imagery here is of the weighing of ones heart/soul against a feather in Egyptian mythology. The scale was calibrated by Maat, and if you had lived a just, good life, your heart would be lighter than the feather. If you lived an unjust, evil life, you would be cast into darkness. The principle theme here is that we are all judged by our deeds, actions and sympathies. The closing lyrics which feature guest vocals from Ethan Lee McCarthy of Primitive Man, Vermin Womb and Many Blessings and Ben Hutcherson from Khemmis and Glacial Tomb to this song are, When were gone well be consumed by the maw of the all. Will we have been a worthy vessel for the light of the void?

This centers around themes of life, birth and rebirth, and general cycles of renewal. It is the first of two instrumental pieces on the album featuring my friend, Paul Primus, of the Colorado Symphony, performing the Viola DAmore, a type of viola which uses drone strings beneath the fingerboard to vibrate in sympathy with the other strings. It is tuned to the somber tuning of DADFAD with A=432hz. That tuning is known to guitarists as the Skip James tuning, as that bluesman was famous for utilizing it to wonderful, eerie effect in his songs like Hard Time Killing Floor Blues and Crow Jane, and its the tuning which four of the albums songs employ. However, it bears mentioning that it is said in certain esoteric circles that A=432hz is the vibration at which all of creation resonates, and thus is sometimes called the God frequency. This whole album was recorded with our tuners calibrated to A=432hz, and this is meant to consciously tie in to the theme of Prima Materia, or a fundamental root-essence, that runs throughout the whole record.

The overarching theme of Prima Materia and the All is Sound/All is Mind/All is Light current I mentioned above are chiefly whats at play here. The title of the song, and the opening lyric, We live in Chasm at the mouth of the All, is meant to confer that we live in an embodied, living universe, or God, if you will. The second line, Her lips are wet with venom and her quarry will fall, is both a homage to a vinyl-only bonus track from one of my all-time favorite records, SunnO))) and Boris Altar, as well as an assertion that, if we live in an embodied universe and it is all of God, God gets what it wants.

There are other themes at play as well here: in the second verse we have the lines, The sky above is the celestial womb; the soil beneath us the seed and our tomb. This is playing with a Nuit/Hadit dynamic from Crowleys infamous Book Of The Law, which he posited he had received telepathically from an angelic entity after performing the Headless Rite from the Greek Magical Papyri in the chamber of the great pyramid. The themes of Sex/Life/Death are all fairly intertwined here, and this could function thematically as a sibling of the earlier tune, Scales Of Maat. On that same theme, we all know that our journeys will end in death, and the reality is we must navigate that.

In Qabalah, the sephira, Binah, is associated crossing the void of death, and one of its alternate titles is The Great Sea, and this is what Im referencing in the lyric, Born unto the universe, The Great Sea we must traverse. Ive since come to realize that themes of life and death are utterly intertwined for me and this record. One rather unsettling example of this is that, on the day (and probably down to the hour) that we finished recording this album, we unexpectedly lost my wifes father. The later track, Nightfall, on which my friend Paul Primus once again performs Viola DAmore, was used during the memorial service, and is thematically about death and the ends of cycles.

This is the song that is most directly a message to my infant daughter, in terms of the broader themes of this record. With the lyrics, Child of Light, Blessed of inner sight, I am playing with the etymology of her name once again, but also the broader theme of the Prima Materia being something that could be described as light, and that her capacity to look within is a blessing. The next line, Your mind is larger than you think; divinitys within your reach, is playing with the notion that, if everything is of the All, and it All is divine, then we are each microcosmic reflections of the All experiencing itself, and thus divinity is not some abstraction that is apart from us.

As above, so below is one way this notion is usually articulated. Another way that the root essence has often been described is all is love or that love is fundamental to the operation of the universe. This idea manifests in lyrics like the one that ends the song, Inflame thyself with reverence, a love supreme enthroned which is both a nod to Coltranesclassic album, A Love Supreme, as well as the instruction to inflame thyself with prayer that is commonly quoted in occult discourse as a reminder that passion begets results.

This is running with the Gnostic idea that were trapped in a spiritual prison of sorts, and that the demons/prison wardens (the Archons of the song title) are constantly engaged in keeping us thoughtless, disengaged sheep. The lyrics are a call for us to engage directly and presently with our lives, and thus regain some semblance of what lies in our true spirit. The chorus (if you want to call it that) of the first half of the tune is, The machinations of control, Hiding in plain sight, Gilded Bars upon our cage, Slip them and take flight, and is very much in line with that notion. The mystic Gurdjieff remarked that most people are dead, or asleep, to their own innate spirituality and/or our souls. Only by directly engaging with the world around us, particularly when the gilded bars of our cage are so lovely and comfortable, can we regain our sense of spirit.

As mentioned earlier, this is the other tune which features Paul Primus on Viola Damore. Its meant as a somber mirror of the earlier tune, Daybreak. The compositions are almost identical, but this is thematically more about death, fall, and the end of cycles.

This is the most simple, direct version of the overarching theme of a fundamental root-essence which runs throughout the rest of the record. It plays with the three iterations of that notion mentioned above: All is Sound/All is Mind/All is Light in verses that are meant, on one level, as devotionals. The last part of the tune just lays that all out in caveman termsLight pervades allPrima Materia.

Link:
Full Album Stream: In the Company of Serpents - "Lux" - decibelmagazine.com

CARMEL A word of advice from a local stylist for those getting tired of the shaggy dog look or emerging ombre hair coloring:

I tell my clients, just wear a hat! says Gwendolyn Beauregard of Heidis Studio in Carmel.

Salons have been deemed unessential businesses and are closed until further notice, so most people are on their own when it comes to maintaining their hairstyles. Since the Monterey County stay-at-home order was issued in March, people have been getting creative with their newfound free time.

Hiovanni Gonzalez, a 22-year-old CSU Monterey Bay student, chose to dye her hair hot pink as well as give it a trim while self-quarantining.

I was in need of some change, she says. Ive dyed my hair crazy colors before, and I figured now would be a better time than ever since Id be in the house most of the time.

Gonzalez recommends others to try changing up their hairstyle while at home because hair grows back, and you can always change (the color) back if you dont like it.

Hot pink may not be for everyone, so others are choosing to maintain their usual color. Local business owner, Roshi Pejhan, touched up her hairstyle with some color to cover up any greys and to take a moment for herself.

Even though no one is really going to see it, it feels like an important part of self-care if it helps you feel better about yourself, states Pejhan. What self-care is for me might be different for others, but the hair color is one small thing I can do to make me feel better.

Although she went the hair color route, Pejhan doesnt plan to cut or trim her hair from home.

Some people really want to try cutting their hair at home, but I feel more comfortable letting a professional do it.

Beauregard and other stylists are receiving requests to provide hair services at clients homes, but she plans to stay at home as directed until it is safe to go back to work.

Itd be nice to have your hair done, but I dont really think that its an essential, she states. I havent seen any bad haircuts so far, and dark roots are fashionable right now.

If you plan to follow in Gonzalez and Pejhans footsteps, they have offered some pro-tips to help achieve your desired look.

Gonzalezs hair dye tips are to be very careful if youre using bleach, so bleach your roots last since they dont take as long because if you leave it on for too long, it can leave blisters; apply vaseline on the perimeters of your face and base of the neck so the dye doesnt stain your skin; and try applying some kind of heat after your hair is wrapped to ensure the color really takes.

Pejhan recommends home remedies for dry ends that need trimming. I noticed my hair was getting dry so I just did a coconut oil treatment for a day. Just rubbed in my coconut oil, put my hair in a bun and let it set, rinsed it out the next day, and it made a big difference. She also says, Cranberry juice rinses are also good for brunettes if you dont have henna handy.

Hair professional, Beauregard suggests people reach out to their hairstylist. They can do their hair at home. Id be willing to tell someone what hair color to get.

She also knows of some fellow stylists that are sending clients premixed hair dye so they can achieve their salon look from home.

I know when we get back to work, well be really, really busy.

Originally posted here:
Theres help for hair care, but youre largely on your own - Monterey Herald

For those holed up at home, the pandemic has stripped away the given minutiae of everyday livingthe commutes, the casual asides, the inessential errands. In so doing, it has also provided a rare opportunity to get outside the slipstream of movement and productivity, the doing, doing, doing that can keep you feeling like a tumbleweed in a strong wind. Right now, things are oddly still. And if youre privileged enough to have health and workand to not have your stillness disrupted by anxiety and fearinside the carousel of monotony you might find some space for self-reflection, to consider what you want normal life to look like when isolation lets out.

Ive been lucky enough to get to do some of that self-examination as part of my job at GQ (mostly in the name of health and wellness coverage for our Level Up vertical and Airplane Mode podcast). In that time, Ive spent an inordinate amount of time reading books that have helped me do it. Theyre about everything from building better habits to getting better at being bored to the therapeutic, healing power of psychedelics. And though a fair number, perhaps unsurprisingly, stress the importance of stillness (you cant swing a cat in a self-help section of a bookstore without hitting this Blaise Pascal quote: "All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone), each is really about autonomy: in a world of constant noise and distraction, how can we live a bit more intentionally?

The idea here isnt that you should use your time in isolation productivelythat type of thinking can lead right back into the whitewater of busyness (not to mention that, as ever, any type of self-care or self-improvement remains the province of the privileged). Right now, the only prescription should be to protect your mental health in whatever way is best for you. Over the past couple of years, these books have afforded me a deeper sense of agency and control in an unpredictable world. In this Great Reset, if thats something youre looking for, I hope they'll do the same for you, too.

The title of Odells book is misleading. (A bit of intentional trickery: By the time you figure out that it's not [self-help], it's too late, she says.) Its less a guide to being idle that will help unlock the secret to inner joy! than it is an examination of why we all feel so existentially unmoored (hint: it has to do with how we spend our attention) and how we might go forward from here (hint: pay a different kind of attention). How to Do Nothing is a book about letting go of the idea that all of your time must be used to produce something, a mindset that keeps us constantly toppling forward into the next thing. Instead, Odell proposes ways to deepen your attention to your immediate environment and the moment, explaining that doing so can actually expand both: Tiny spaces can open up small spaces, small spaces can open bigger spaces." Right now, maybe you're searching for a release from the pressure to do more, or maybe youd just like to see your small space expandHow to Do Nothing can point you in the direction of both.

Norwegian explorer Erling Kagge has summited Mount Everest and walked to both poles. (Those combined feats are known, in adventure circles, as the Three Poles Challenge). In his book Silence, he says the hardest part of walking to the South Pole was getting himself out of his tent on mornings when the temperature was 50 below. The second hardest part? To be at peace with yourself, he writes. With so many of us thrown into extended periods of solitude, Kagges reflections on his own solitary adventures into frozen placescombined with thoughts from a deep reservoir of writers, poets, and philosophersmight help you navigate this coronavirus wilderness. I tend to think about silence as a practical method for uncovering answers to the intriguing puzzle that is yourself, and for helping to gain a new perspective on whatever is hiding beyond the horizon, he writes.

In this meditation on the positive power of silence, a worthwhile companion to Kagges book, Maitland searches for places of solitude to reflect on what happens when we get quiet. What she learns is that a lack of noise does not lead to an emptiness: I increasingly realise there is an interior dimension to silence, a sort of stillness of heart and mind which is not a void but a rich space. Now, not only is Maitlands aloneness self-imposed and spent in sublime, natural places (like the Scottish Hills and the Isle of Skye), she also clarifies that there is a chasm of difference between qualities like quietness or peace and silence itself. Many of us have been driven into small spaces that dont feel at all tranquil. That said, even if you can only find brief moments of peace at an anxious time like this, Maitland will have you thinking differently about what to do with those pockets of open air, why you might resist the impulse to fill them, and how you can work with silence, instead of in silence.

The Georgetown computer scientist has become one of our leading thinkers on techs increasing influence in our culture. In Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World, Newport encourages readers to reclaim autonomy over ever-distracting devices by developing a philosophy of technology use that he calls digital minimalism. It involves forgoing optional technologies (tech you can give up without causing harm in your professional or personal life) for thirty days, reconnecting with your values and desires (developing a game plan for your life, essentially), and then intentionally introducing tech back into your life by selecting whichever platforms will help you achieve those things. Even if youre not worried about your screen time, Newport's book is a useful reminder of the importance of attention and intentiontwo of our most undervalued currenciesin a modern society largely designed to steal them from you: The sugar high of convenience is fleeting and the sting of missing out dulls rapidly, but the meaningful glow that comes from taking charge of what claims your time and attention is something that persists.

As the host of WNYCs Note to Self, Zomorodi led her listeners through a week of challenges thatsimilar to Newports Digital Minimalismwere meant to get participants to disconnect in order to reconsider the role devices had come to play in their lives. The result? Less time plugged in meant more time being bored. But. to Zomorodis surprise, the boredom her listeners reported wasnt the dull monotony were so accustomed to running away from; in their boredom, theyd found a new source of imagination. So Zomorodi took that anecdotal feedback, buttressed it with recent psychological and neuroscientific research, and wrote a book that will help you understand that boredom isn't a problem, it's an opportunity.

You probably remember this 2018 book as the one that had all your friends talking about doing shrooms. In it, Pollan sets out to explore the emerging research on the therapeutic benefits of psychedelics, does some himself, and pens a fascinating exploration into the nature of consciousness: how we create meaning, how our own perceptions deceive us, what it means to be human, and how reflecting on all of those thingswhich, surprise, is often what happens on a psychedelic journeycan change our experience of being alive. Take, for instance, this thought, which comes after Pollan smokes The Toad (that is: 5-MeO-DMT, a psychotropic substance found in the venom of the Sonoran Desert toad): Everybody gives thanks for being alive, but who stops to offer thanks for the bare-bones gerund that comes before alive? I had just come from a place where being was no more and now vowed never to forget what a gift (and mystery) it is, that there is something rather than nothing. How to Change Your Mind is a welcome balm at a time when were stuck in one place and a literal trip into the philosophical wilds of your mind, and reading it proves consciousness-altering in its own right.

Humans are very bad at being wrong, which makes sense: it feels great to be right. So we generally default to assuming we know what were talking about. But years of playing professional poker taught Annie Duke that, in a game of cards, assuming youre right is a sure path to losing all of your money. She learned quickly to be more open-minded, to question what she thought, and to accept that, ultimately, luck and risk would play a role in any decision she made at the table. Shed go on to win $4 million. In Thinking in Bets, she channels those lessons in an effort to help readers fix a fundamental problem with human cognition: our inability to change minds, to not be open-minded, to believe youre right, and to not listen to dissenting voices. Self-righteousness might feel good, and admitting youre wrong might feel badbut its only the latter that gets us closer to an accurate view of the world. Getting better at being wrong wont just help you acquire more knowledge; itll also help you be less defensive (youre not so worried about proving your point) and more compassionate (youre less dismissive of beliefs that discredit your own), and get you accustomed to the reality that, in poker as in life, uncertainty always plays a role. So if youre looking for a challenge to complete in isolation, how about this: learn to be critical not just of others thoughts, but of your own, too.

Chris Baileys book helps you be more productive precisely by taking aim at our cultural obsession with productivity. In his eyes, weve become so obsessed with being busy, that instead of doing what matters to us weve become content to stop merely at doing. The result? An inability to prioritize or focus, which keeps us not just from doing meaningful work, but from living present lives. If there's one thing that I realized over the course of writing this book, it's that the state of our attention determines the state of our lives. And so if we're distracted in each momentand that leads us to feel overwhelmedthose moments accumulate day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year, to create a life that feels distracted and overwhelmed. The real reason to [manage your attention well] is to increase the quality of our lives.

If building better habits (or kicking old ones) has been on your to-do list for a while (e.g. your whole life), Atomic Habits just might finally light the under-ass fire you need to actually get started. Why? For one, it hammers home the point that habitslike interestcompound. The sooner you start, the more outsized your rewards. And two, we like to think identity influences behavior (I am an active person, so I will exercise), but, often, its our behavior that creates our identity. Pretty much everybody thinks they have integrity, Clear said, when we spoke to him about the book. And it's not that often that there's one grave mistake that wrecks you. It's usually a bunch of, just this one exceptionWell, this time it's a little bit different. And then you turn around five or ten years later and your habits aren't lining up with the type of person that you thought you were.

Poet Ross Gay opens his 2019 book The Book of Delights with a straightforward statement of purpose. One day last July, feeling delighted and compelled to both wonder about and share that delight, he writes, I decided that it might feel nice, even useful, to write a daily essay about something delightful. And it is simply that: a collection of delightfully snackable essays (rarely longer than four pages) recorded over the course of the year, each detailing a suspended moment in timein a garden, on a plane, at a book readingbefore unspooling into a short meditation on how the episode weaves into the themes of lifes larger tapestry, investigating everything from death to race. Disjointed as that may sound, the real joy comes in developing what Gay calls a delight radar. The more he wrote about delight, the more he noticed it everywhere. A similar thing happens when you read the book. Pick it up, read for ten minutes (start anywhere, really), put it down, and youll find that the delights of Gays world illuminate the delights of yours, that his wonder is contagious and has caused you to deepen your own.

A Q+A with the computer scientist about his new book Digital Minimalism, why future workplaces may go email-free, and why tech backlash is about to go mainstream.

Read more:
10 Self-Help Books that Have Made Me Feel More In Control of My Life - GQ

Image design bhy Leila Dougan

Much like the publishing industry, the podcast landscape is saturated with self-help content. There are hundreds of shows promising to make us happier, richer, fitter or a combination of all three, to be taken with a high dose of scepticism. And yet, although promises of quick fixes for complex problems might sound nave, some podcasts, interviews, conversations and other personal stories can act as a soothing balm for the anxious mind.

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Unlocking Us Bren Brown

Length: 13 episodes, each between 30 minutes 1.5 hours.

Listen on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts or any other podcast app or streaming service

Wildly popular researcher, author and TED Talk speaker Bren Brown, launched a podcast early this year. Called Unlocking Us, the show features insights from Browns work on shame, vulnerability, courage and empathy as well as conversations with researchers, authors and artists. If youve read any of Browns books or watched her TED Talks, youll know what an engaging speaker she is. Her new foray into the digital audio-sphere is no exception. Underpinned by decades of research and brought alive by personal anecdotes, Brown uses storytelling to make space for vulnerable conversations.

***

The Happiness Lab with Dr Laurie Santos Pushkin Industries

Length: 2 seasons, 10 episodes per season, 30 minutes per episode

Listen on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts or any other podcast app or streaming service

Underpinning The Happiness Lab are insights from Dr Laurie Santoss popular Yale course Psychology and the Good Life. In this podcast, as in the class, Santos bridges the gap between academic research and applicable lessons for everyday life. With help from Pushkin Industries that brought us Malcolm Gladwells Revisionist History, this show combines narrative storytelling with interviews to create a podcast that goes beyond the typical two-way interview format that dominates the health and wellness genre. This makes for an engaging listen that relies on story to bring the data to life. Whether shes talking about money, jobs or the perfect holiday, Santos busts the myths that any single thing can bring us happiness. This is an important intervention in a field promising deceptively quick fixes. But dont despair, there are plenty of practical and achievable tips contained in this show.

***

No Feeling is Final Honor Eastly (ABC Radio)

Length: 6 episodes, 30 minutes each

Listen on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts or any other podcast app or streaming service

Using innovative sound design, No Feeling is Final is an Australian memoir show about big feelings. Our host, the charming Honor Eastly, tells the story of her own struggle with mental health depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts. Its heavy territory, but told with tenderness and humour. This first-person audio series is stitched together from intimate moments recorded via phone voice memos complemented with high-quality production that literally gives voice to the persistent mean thoughts inside Honors head. This disarmingly vulnerable series explores why its so hard to ask for help and offers up alternatives for cultivating joy and connection when youre overwhelmed with big feelings. No Feeling is Final won the 2019 Third Coast International Audio Festivals Directors Choice Award.

Trigger warning: This show discusses suicide.

***

Hidden Brain NPR

Length: Episodes between 30 minutes 1 hour

Listen on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts or any other podcast app or streaming service

With almost 300 episodes, Hidden Brain is a veteran public radio show that began as a Slate column by the same name. Using a question as the starting point for each episode, host Shankur Vedantam and his team draw on science and storytelling to reveal the invisible patterns of human behaviour. The magic of this show is how it makes complex academic research accessible to a wider audience without dumbing down any of the content. Vedantam doesnt shy away from tackling the big questions: Why is marriage so hard? How do we get unstuck? What makes us successful? To these he offers nuanced answers that help us understand ourselves and others a little better.

***

Brain on Nature Sarah Allely

Length: 6 episodes, 30 minutes each

Listen on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts or any other podcast app or streaming service

Over six episodes, journalist and independent producer Sarah Allely, charts her recovery from a mild traumatic brain injury and how she found healing in unexpected places. After a bicycle accident on the streets of Sydney in 2015, Allely feels like her brain is constantly stretched to capacity. Listening to podcasts, reading books and watching movies feels impossible. In the first episode, Allely notes that after her accident, her brain felt like an audio recorder, taking in everything at the same volume and overloading her senses. This sensory overload is masterfully reflected in the sound design with background ambient sound swelling and subsiding to mirror Allelys experience. Sound cues chaos, but also hope. We are immersed in lush field recordings of the Australian bush alongside Allely as she discovers healing in nature. While we may not all be in Allelys shoes, many of us are feeling anxious and overwhelmed right now, and maybe we all need to pay a little more attention to the calming powers of nature.

If youre wondering how to listen to these audio gems, local podcast organisation, Sound Africa, has prepared a handy guide to show you how.

Happy listening! DM/ML

Missed the last edition of our weekly podcast review? Here it is:

A must-listen: Pulitzer Prize-winning podcasts

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Psychology and self-help podcasts that also explore human vulnerabilities - Daily Maverick

No one has been spared the destructive impact of COVID-19. Not only has this virus robbed many of us of friends or family members, it has also robbed countless Americans of their businesses, jobs and financial security.

While Utahs response to this crisis has resulted in one of the highest rates of testing and lowest death rates in the nation, we have not escaped the coronavirus destructive path. Utah hospitals have faced shortages of critical supplies. Schools are canceled. Hundreds of small businesses have furloughed or laid off employees. Farmers are disposing of thousands of gallons of excess milk each day while our ranchers struggle to sell their products. Operators in the Uintah Basin have shut in wells. Across the board, Utah families are facing difficulties, disruption and uncertainty.

Recovery must be our first and foremost objective. We have to get that right before we can do anything else. The good news is there is a recovery plan. It was prepared by the governor, the legislature and dozens of community leaders. The recovery plan identifies the steps Utah needs to take to return to economic strength. The states economic recovery is already underway. We will restore Utahs economic powerhouse.

Undoubtedly, we still have challenges ahead. The next several months will not be easy. There will be tough choices with difficult tradeoffs. There will be the occasional setback. We need to be vigilant and smart. But I have zero doubt we will get through this.

Utah will recover. The question is, recover to what?

It would be a mistake to think our goal should be to return to the status quo before the pandemic. There are important lessons weve learned the past few months. I believe we should set the goal to return to a better place than we were before. Lets recover stronger, smarter and more resilient.

It is with that in mind that I recently released the Self-Reliant Utah Plan. The plan recommits the state to self-reliance as a governing principle, and outlines specific steps to strengthen critical supply chains and help insulate the state from future crises.

Self-Reliant Utah starts by proposing the immediate creation of state stockpiles for medical supplies, minerals and energy. Never again should Utah be forced to rely on other nations or states for essential PPE for front-line health care workers. Utah should do everything it can to ensure we are even better prepared for the next pandemic, earthquake or major natural catastrophe.

Next, the plan recognizes Utahs food and water infrastructure as critical to the states future stability. Our country has taken our farmers and ranchers for granted for far too long. We need to identify critical agriculture habitat and viable water projects throughout the state and design policies to preserve and enhance these areas. Further, explicit support for the development and expansion of local production facilities to process Utahs agricultural raw goods into consumer products is needed.

Another component of the plan calls for building on the progress weve made in the areas of telehealth and online education. A Cox administration will aim to become the most technologically advanced and innovative education state in the nation. This educational excellence will fuel our economic engine for decades to come.

Self-Reliant Utah also embraces telework. Even before the crisis, Utah was experimenting with teleworking. Early results were positive with metrics showing increased productivity and happy employees. It calls on the state to incorporate telework as a core component of state employment. This will result in fewer commutes, less traffic and emissions reductions and the eventual divesting of state buildings.

The Self-Reliant Utah Plan will increase the likelihood that when the next crisis comes, Utah is ready. Spencer Cox

COVID-19 is projected to significantly cut state revenues. As budgets shrink, state government programs must be right-sized, reformed or cut. Many state programs were designed years ago to address challenges of a previous era with different economic conditions, labor markets and technologies. State government needs an upgrade.

While state revenues will be limited, we will need to quickly replenish the states rainy day funds to pre-disaster levels. A rainy day today can become a monsoon tomorrow.

This plan is not one of disengagement. Utah will continue to actively participate in the global markets and aggressively participate in global commerce. Going forward, our state policy should explicitly and deliberately minimize our reliance on foreign medical supplies, medicines, equipment and other essentials.

The Self-Reliant Utah Plan will increase the likelihood that when the next crisis comes, Utah is ready. It will reestablish the principle of self-reliance as understood by our pioneer ancestors. Our long-term objective is to be prepared as individuals, families and communities and to make Utah the most self-sufficient state in the nation.

See the original post here:
Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox: The Self-Reliant Utah Plan will help us recover - Deseret News

Neighbors please be mindful of social distancing guidelines while you do your part to slow the spread of the new coronavirus. See the latest guidance from the CDC here.

This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

BURIED IN TREASURES WORKSHOP - A Group to Address Hoarding Behavior

The Buried in Treasures Workshop is about more than clutter...

Overcoming challenges Increasing motivation Reducing acquiring Prioritizing and celebrating choices

Self-Help & Empowerment For Finders and Keepers

Is clutter getting in the way of how you want to live your life? Are you feeling overwhelmed with too many possessions? Are you embarrassed to have people over?

This program offers a 16-week course that is based on the book Buried In Treasures. Join us for this group created by and for people who are ready to live a less - cluttered life!

The Buried in Treasures group is for people who would like to learn tips on how to de-clutter and stop over-acquiring with people who know what its like.

Each week we will have a discussion around a specific skill, followed by the completion of challenging and rewarding exercises. Individual progress, challenges, successes, and goals are also monitored throughout the sixteen weeks.

Participants are expected to commit to attending all the sessions as well as to participate actively.

A Buried in Treasures Group is forming at:

**** this will be a VIRTUAL workshop

Sessions start: email/call for next class start date/time >>> a WAITING LIST has been started - Register Today !

This group offers a judgment-free environment for people ready to make a change in their life.

Registration required. Call or email for more information.

(440) 666 9326 or kefconsulting@gmail.com

**** Virtual Class available Conference Style by phone and/or computer - call /email for Starting Date / Time

*** ANYONE - ANYWHERE can join the Virtual class

Read the original post:
Hoarding - There is Help Available - Workshop Starting Soon - Patch.com

Life during the coronavirus outbreak is hard. Give yourself a break.

You havent learned a new language, reorganized your closet or baked a single loaf of bread. If you believe your social media feed, you are the worlds biggest coronavirus slacker.

Cleveland Clinic is a non-profit academic medical center. Advertising on our site helps support our mission. We do not endorse non-Cleveland Clinic products or services. Policy

Pro tip: Your social media feed is a liar. Yes, you may have some overachieving friends perfecting their sourdough recipes during self-isolation. But there are plenty of good reasons to go easy on yourself, says psychologist Scott Bea, PsyD.

Weve been forced into this novel situation, and its draining, he says. Few of us are living up to our ideals right now, and its important to cut yourself some slack.

In general, most of us arent great at giving ourselves a break. Weve internalized a lot of perfectionism in our culture, Dr. Bea says. We worry that if we cut ourselves some slack, were lazy, or terrible things will befall us.

But a lot of the standards we set for ourselves are ridiculously high and not very helpful, especially during a global pandemic. Humans rely on habits to make our lives easier and reduce tension. Weve had to adapt our habits to this new situation, and our brains have to figure out a lot of things weve never rehearsed before, Dr. Bea says.

Maybe youre figuring out how to work from home for the first time or how to deal with unemployment. You might be working out how to manage homeschooling or how to get along with your roommates in cramped quarters, 24/7. No wonder you feel like you could sleep for a week. That exhausted feeling is legitimate because your brain is working harder than its used to, Dr. Bea adds.

You know whats worse than feeling exhausted? Feeling exhausted and also guilty about not being more productive. But it doesnt have to be that way.

With practice, you can learn to give yourself a break. These ideas from Dr. Bea will help you get started.

What you see on social media isnt real life. Still, your news feed might fool you into thinking that other people are thriving in social isolation. It can produce a lot of feelings of poor me, even though we know people are posting sanitized realities, Dr. Bea says. Now, especially, it can be useful to limit social comparisons.

Were often harder on ourselves than we are on other people. Start treating yourself like you would your best friend. Its an acknowledgment that were human. We are all flawed, and its helpful to adjust your expectations to accept that, he says.

Make a daily list of things youre grateful for to help you learn to appreciate what went right, instead of judging what you did wrong. You can put a spin on the gratitude journal by noting your accomplishments, no matter how small.

Youre grateful you managed to get dressed today. Or you called a friend whos been struggling. Or you didnt lose your temper when your dear child started arguing for more screen time yet again. Youre accomplishing more than you realize. We can train our brains to notice the good, Dr. Bea says.

A lot of us are stressed and sad right now. We dont need more pressure to meet unrealistic goals. But it can be a boost to accomplish smaller goals.

Instead of telling yourself you should be working on a novel, set aside a few minutes a week to write in your journal. Rather than tell yourself you should be planting a vegetable garden, spend some time mowing the lawn or pulling weeds. Being a little active toward things we feel are worthwhile can produce good feelings, he says.

The pandemic wont last forever, but learning to go easy on yourself is a skill that will keep on giving. We often face a bevy of self-criticism, but we can become more practiced at cutting ourselves some slack, Dr. Bea says.

See the rest here:
How to Cut Yourself Some Slack During the Pandemic - Health Essentials from Cleveland Clinic

Taking care of your emotional well-being is as important as physical health, but in Asia, the topic is often stigmatized. Intellect, a Singapore-based startup, wants to make the idea of mental health more approachable with an app that offers self-guided exercises based on cognitive behavioral therapy techniques.

The company develops consumer and enterprise versions of the app (for employers to offer as a benefit) and now has users in several countries, including Singapore, Indonesia, India and China.

Since its beta launch earlier this year, co-founder and CEO Theodoric Chew says Intellect has signed up about 10,000 users, as well as 10 companies ranging in size from startups to large corporations. The startup plans to launch Mandarin and Bahasa Indonesian versions, and is currently working with researchers to develop localized versions of its exercises, which include guided journaling, behavioral exercises and rescue sessions with short audio clips about topics like stress, low self-esteem, emotional burnout and sleep issues.

The company has raised a pre-seed round that included Enterprise Singapore, a government agency that supports entrepreneurship.

In the United States and Europe, there is a growing roster of self-help apps that teach users coping strategies for common mental health issues, including Headspace, MoodKit, Moodnotes, Sanvello and Happify, to name a few examples. But the space is still nascent in Asia.

Before launching Intellect, Chew was head of affiliate growth and content marketing at Voyagin, a travel-booking marketplace that was acquired by Rakuten in 2015. He became interested in the mental health space because of his own experiences.

Ive been to therapy quite a bit for anxiety and in Asia, there is still a lot of social stigma and there arent a lot of tools. A lot of work is being done in the U.S. and Europe, but in Asia, its still developing, Chew told TechCrunch.

He added that most people shy away when you mention mental health. We see a lot of that in Asia, but if we frame it in other ways, like how to work on personal problems, like low self-esteem or confidence, we see a huge shift in people opening up.

Intellect was developed with feedback from mental healthcare professionals, but Chew emphasizes it is not a replacement for professional therapy. Instead, it is meant to give people an accessible way to take care of their mental health, especially in cultures where there is still a lot of stigma around the topic. The apps exercises address low mood and anxiety, but also common workplace and interpersonal issues, like developing assertiveness and handling criticism.

The enterprise version of the app can be customized with exercises tailored to people in different industries. It is meant for startups and other SMEs that dont have the kind of employee assistance programs (EAP) that bigger companies can offer, which often include mental health resources, like support hotlines and referrals to mental healthcare providers.

The consumer app usually charges a flat monthly fee that gives unlimited access to all its features, but Intellect is making it free during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Eventually, the startup hopes to develop a network of mental health professionals that users can connect to within the app.

The way we approach this is that therapy is not solely for clinically depressed people, but for everyone, said Chew. In three to five years, we want to make therapy commonplace to address every day problems. We want to tackle more clinical issues as well, but we believe most people can benefit from framing it as a way to tackle every day issues using CBT-based methods.

Read the original here:
Singapore-based Intellect wants to lower barriers to mental health support in Asia - TechCrunch