By René Shimada Siegel
Source: Inc.com
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René Shimada Siegel is Founder and President of High Tech Connect, a specialized consultant placement firm for marketing and communications experts. You can follow her on twitter at @renesiegel.

My clients are just like yours: They want to Skype, email and text. But here’s why you still need face time. (more…)

Source: YouTube.com
In our anxious world, we often protect ourselves by closing off parts of our lives that leave us feeling most vulnerable. Yet invulnerability has a price. When we knowingly or unknowingly numb ourselves to what we sense threatens us, we sacrifice an essential tool for navigating uncertain times — joy. This talk will explore how and why fear and collective scarcity has profoundly dangerous consequences on how we live, love, parent, work and engage in relationships — and how simple acts can restore our sense of purpose and meaning.

Dr. Brené Brown is a research professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work where she has spent the past 10 years studying courage, shame and authenticity. She is the Behavioral Health Scholar-in-Residence at the Council on Alcohol and Drugs and has written several books on her research.
www.brenebrown.com/welcome

By Andrea Kuszewski
Source: Scientific America.com
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“One should not pursue goals that are easily achieved. One must develop an instinct for what one can just barely achieve through one’s greatest efforts.” —Albert Einstein

While Einstein was not a neuroscientist, he sure knew what he was talking about in regards to the human capacity to achieve. He knew intuitively what we can now show with data—what it takes to function at your cognitive best. In essence:
What doesn’t kill you makes you smarter.

Not so many years ago, I was told by a professor of mine that you didn’t have much control over your intelligence. It was genetic—determined at birth. He explained that efforts made to raise the intelligence of children (through programs like Head Start, for example) had limited success while they were in practice, and furthermore, once the “training” stopped, they went right back to their previously low cognitive levels. Indeed, the data did show that [pdf], and he (along with many other intelligence researchers) concluded that intelligence could not be improved—at least not to create a lasting change.

Well, I disagreed. (more…)

by Nicklas Karlsson
source: greatnewsnetwork.org

Some people feel that their ability to change to world for the better is miniscule. They feel that they lack either time or money or a platform from which to manifest this change. Charley Johnson wants to change all that.

Charley Johnson is a passionate person with his mind set to change the world, and do so for free. But he wants everyone in the world to participate in making that change. In his words “the simplest ideas have the greatest impact”. (more…)

By Edmund Zar-Zar Bargblor
Source: theliberiandialogue.org
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It is the time of the year when African-American scholars and political leaders will re-echo the contributions African-Americans have made to the development of the United States and the world in general. In essence, this is time of the year when all blacks, be they African- Americans, Haitians, Liberians, Nigerians and all people of color need to reflect on their African heritage, culture and how far they have come in understanding the struggles and sacrifices others have made during the days of yesteryears in America. (more…)

by Melanie Hoekstra
Source: YNPN Chicago Blog
ynpnchicagoblog.wordpress.com
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Can it be done? Can you eat more than Ramen noodles for the next decade and still work at the non-profit job you love while paying back your hefty student loans? YES. Enter the College Cost Reduction and Access Act (CCRAA). Under the CCRAA, you can: (1) pay your federal loans at a much lower monthly amount under the Income-Based repayment plan, and (2) have those federal loans forgiven after 120 payments under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program for people who work for 501(c)(3)s and government agencies (10 full-time years, not necessarily consecutively) . Seriously, this two-step process is an incredible option for anyone working in the non-profit world or for the government. (more…)

by: Guest Blogger
Source: elance.com

For freelancers, the time-honored tradition of making New Year’s resolutions should involve thoughtfully reflecting upon the events of the past year—both successes and shortfalls—and then using the resulting insights to chart a bold new course for the future. Although statistics show that many personal resolutions are broken by Valentine’s Day (mostly due to a lack of willpower), framing your professional goals in the context of a small-business strategy may help you stick with things.

“Many institutions do an end-of-the-year strategic analysis, where they take stock before going forward into the new year,” Temple University psychologist Frank Farley tells USA Today. What works for large organizations can work for your small operations, too. Here are six tips, or freelance resolutions, for staying as committed to your 2012 freelancing goals as you are to those of your clients.

1. Treat yourself the way you treat clients. Think of this resolution as an inverse Golden Rule: Do unto yourself as you would have them do unto you. (more…)

Source: Huffpost Healthy Living

Name: Mark D. Rucker
Age: 43
Height: 6’2″
Before Weight: 365 pounds. I was probably heavier than that, but I stopped weighing myself.

How I Gained It: I’ve been overweight most of my life. I gradually put on more after I graduated from law school, until maxing out in February of 2011. I was not engaged in any form of physical activity and I ate anything I felt like eating, at pretty much any time. I drank a lot of soda and ate fast food frequently. I loved pizza, wings, cheeseburgers and beer.

Breaking Point: I had high blood pressure, sleep apnea and was borderline diabetic; I woke up the day after the Super Bowl in February 2011 and realized that I needed to change my life. (more…)

Conquer the Elements in the Latest Garments
– By Rebecca Pratt, Staff Writer

Source: Sparkpeople.com
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You’ve made the commitment. You’re not going to hibernate this year just because it’s winter. But you’re cold when it’s 75 degrees and sunny! Just the thought of going outdoors right now makes you shiver.

Take heart—you can keep warm while braving the elements. Innovative materials and tried-and-true methods will allow you to warm up during your cold-weather workout. Whether you’re conquering the elements for your morning walk, or spending the weekend on skis, here are some tips to keep you toasty. (more…)

You want sleep. You need sleep. You never get enough sleep. But once you find what sleep — and the lack of sleep — does to your body, you’ll want to get the most out of one of the best things you can do between the sheets

By Emily Laber-Warren
Source: MSN Health
Article

As we struggle to allot enough time to the job, kids, family, friends, and Joaquin Phoenix message boards, sleep stands out as a suspiciously long block of idle hours. We set the alarm early, stay up late, and order a tall whatever-we-want to help us get by on the minimum. But the fact is: When you lose sleep, you lose your health. (more…)