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Learning to Play: 10 Classes to Take Just for Fun

August 16, 2012 by Featured Author Leave a Comment

by Pepper Givens

While it’s always important to keep on learning throughout life, there is no reason to turn learning into a code word for drudgery. In fact, learning new things is the perfect way to incorporate a little fun into your day. Taking classes just for fun is an opportunity to, not only learn a new skill, but to actually learn how to let go have fun again! If you’re stuck for ideas on new things to do, try out some of these accessible and fun courses. You can find most of them through community programs or available at local colleges and universities:

1. Acting

While you may want to make sure you enroll in a class that is not meant for professional actors, there are plenty of different reasons why an acting class can be a blast. If you’ve ever wanted to be on stage, this is the perfect time to just let loose and go for it. You never know, a role could even be waiting if you discover a hidden passion.

2. Ballroom Dancing

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How to Stay Motivated & Keep Your Fitness Levels Up

August 14, 2012 by Scott "Q" Marcus Leave a Comment

by guest author Sean Byrne

For many years now I have been involved in developing and maintaining my fitness levels.

Ever since I was a young teen, I was out playing all sorts of sports activities, my favorite one being soccer. I absolutely loved playing sports and it was difficult for me to train my academic side as sports really did take over my life. But as I have gotten older, I have to say that things have changed for me slightly in the sense that the desire to remain focused and motivated has been challenging for me as time has drifted by. Life changes and circumstances too, so it’s important you realize this.

Staying motivated to remain fit has its challenges and I know a lot of people struggle with this too. This is the reason I decided to write this article, as I know people want to learn how others remain motivated to stay in shape and maintain their fitness levels. So after the New Years Eve resolutions begin to slide out of focus, what can we do to strengthen our desires again? Let’s take a look at what I do these days to stay on track.

Picture Your Perfect Body

My first reason on how I stay motivated is picturing the perfect figure I would like to achieve. What do I want to ultimately look like? I go and view magazines, go online to check out images of the type of body I want to achieve. When I do find a body I want to own, I then cut out or print off these images and blow them up into an A1 size image so I can nail them to my wall with a caption that says, “Look At You come the 31 of May 2012!!”. What this caption does is it gives me a time frame to work on. So I could be starting at the beginning of December, allowing myself six months to achieve this look. This is one of the ways I stay motivated, as every time I jump on my treadmill, or workout with my weights, I visually see my end goal and it makes me want to achieve this goal. By taking action, I know I am chipping away at receiving my end goal.

For Reasons Of Heath

The next point on how I stay motivated is for the reason of health. Almost every day I appreciate the fact that I am not cursed with some chronic disease, or the fact that I don’t have any medical condition to worry about. I know that eating healthy and doing my exercises a few times a week will do wonders for maintaining my health and reduce any risk of developing a sickness of whatever sort. I have conditioned myself, through repetitional thought to be thankful for my good health. This in turn keeps me motivated to eat the right foods and exercise on a regular basis.

Maintaining A Positive Frame of Mind

Perhaps one of my favorite reasons for staying motivated is the notion that once I start running on the treadmill, or lifting those weights, I am alleviating stress from my body, building up my self confidence and self-esteem and working towards a calmer state of being. I am addicted to this calmer state of being and I know that if I exercise intensity for 30 minutes at the beginning of the day, I will be in a much stronger, calmer frame of mind for the rest of the day. The desire to achieve this state of being motivates me to maintain my fitness levels and I usually have no problems taking action!

About the Author: As explained in the article, Sean enjoys developing and maintaining his fitness levels and has a few reasons for staying motivated on achieving his fitness goals. When he is not actively fit, he is maintaining and promoting his treadmill website. His site offers reviews and ratings on some of the top treadmills you can purchase online. Take a look at some of the top products in the market today and see which popular treadmill you’d like to purchase next.

How to Motivate Yourself to Do “Something”

July 27, 2012 by Scott "Q" Marcus Leave a Comment

by guest author Alesha Wilson

How many times have you promised yourself that you will do something but ended up postponing it and doing something less productive? How many times have you promised to go to the gym to lose some weight but have backed out of the plan when the day arrived? Having cold feet is normal, but sometimes you have to brave the waters and do what has to be done–in this case, exercising to avoid being obese is a priority.

The statistics are overwhelming.

Take a look around you and you will see that many people are turning obese. But you do not have to be one of them. As long as you set your mind to that necessary change, you can save yourself. So how do you motivate yourself to change your ways? Apart from exercising, you can also use the steps listed below in other tasks that you might be having problems doing.

Find a partner. It’s easy to be discouraged when you are going to the gym alone. Instead of being intimidated by the stares given to you by other people at the gym, ask your best friend to go with you. It will be just like your bonding sessions, except this time you are not dining out but burning unwanted fats. Anyone will do–your sister, your officemate, your neighbor–as long as you have a good relationship with that person. It’s even better if you make new friends at the gym so that you will look forward to seeing them every time you visit.
Set a goal each week. You don’t have to lose all those unnecessary pounds in a few days. Go for a slow, but sure process. Set your mind to target at least five pounds a week. If you see that you are losing bigger than this, you can set your target a little higher. This way, you won’t be pressured to lose an unachievable number.
Give yourself a reward. Make yourself work for something. What’s the use of following your exercise routine religiously if you don’t have something to look forward to, right? Tell yourself that you will buy that dress in size 0 when you achieve that weight. Thinking about the reward you will get after losing weight will surely make you want to work even harder.
Keep tabs of your progress. If you are already losing weight, you need to know when to stop. By listing down the number of pounds you lost in one week, you will have an idea of when you can graduate from the gym. After that, your next move is to make sure that you still have enough exercise to avoid all the fat from returning.
Prepare nutritious foods that taste great. To make sure that fats are lost, you should avoid eating meals that are rich in them. But you also do not have to punish yourself by eating foods that do not taste great at all. Rather, find easy to follow recipes of great-tasting meals with reduced calories. These are all over the internet these days, and they do taste great!

After reading the tips listed above, you hopefully are more motivated in getting “something” done. Just make sure that you enjoy the process and the outcome will be worth it.

About The Author: Alesha Wilson writes for various online publications including RockwellNutrition.com – leading online supplier of Whey Cool.

The Importance of Loving Yourself at Any Size

July 26, 2012 by Featured Author Leave a Comment

By guest author Susan Wells

No matter how much you weigh, you’re a special, beautiful, interesting person.

If you want to lose weight to improve your health and change your physical appearance, I commend you and want you to know that losing weight will have a tremendous, positive impact on your life. However, it’s important to keep in mind that losing weight won’t necessarily magically give you the self-confidence you always wanted. Self-confidence comes from loving yourself, at any size and no matter how you look. It comes from loving your mind, body, and heart.

I’ve struggled with my weight for practically my whole life.

At 26, I was morbidly obese, and I was seriously considering getting bariatric surgery. I wanted so badly to be able to start over as a thin person. I wanted a second chance to eat right, exercise enough, and stay healthy. I talked to my doctor about the risks of the surgery, and I started fantasizing about how great it would be to be thin. Then I called my insurance company and realized they wouldn’t cover bariatric surgery, which they considered to be a “cosmetic” surgery. I was crushed.

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Using The Human Condition To Make A Change

July 24, 2012 by Scott "Q" Marcus Leave a Comment

By guest author Josh Landson

Many people have equated human nature with human condition and use this connection to justify delaying or outright avoiding difficult decisions. The fact of the matter is that the phrases are very different from one another. Human nature refers to the instincts that we have: the ways in which we act and think without the influence of our upbringing and culture. The human condition is the opposite of human nature: it is a combination of the social, personal, and cultural aspects of our being. The human condition is extremely important in our lives because it allows us to rise above our nature.

When a person says that human nature is the reason they cannot make a decision in their lives, they should be challenging themselves to overcome their biological design. In many cases, a person resigns themselves to their fate, stating that ‘whatever happens, happens.’ However, the reason that human beings have achieved so much in our short history and triumphed above all other organisms is that we strive beyond what is expected of us and do what seems impossible. For many people, settling for whatever happens is a defense mechanism. If you do not make a decision, you do not have to be responsible for the repercussions.

In order to get past this monumental roadblock, a person has to tap into their human condition.

It requires a complete change in the way you think. If you are avoiding change and denying decision making, you have to realize that your action is in itself a decision! The decision you are making is not to act. Thus the consequences are your responsibility just the same as if you had acted.

There is another reason why people avoid or delay making a change.

Most of the time, people do not trust themselves over a decision. They think they aren’t good enough, smart enough, strong enough, and so on. This insecurity plagues every individual and it takes a lot of mental courage to overcome it. However, our human condition tells us that we are capable of achieving great things. If you are going to make a monumental decision, take a minute to do a mental exercise: take all of your presuppositions about your weakness to be true, and picture what the worst outcome would be. Now think about how you can rebuild from that outcome. You will find soon enough that your human condition allows you to work out any problem if you apply enough effort and determination.

Lastly, if you are still hesitant about making a change in your life, think about the historical precedents we have. Think about what would have happened if Martin Luther King Jr. was too afraid to make a stand for civil rights, or if Gandhi didn’t fight for the poor, or if no one stood up to the likes of Hitler. There have been many life changing events in history that wouldn’t have occurred without some very brave people. And you have the exact same human nature as them! Avoiding and delaying decision making will lead to a lot of mental turmoil and self-doubt. Although you may be uncertain about a change in your life, if you do not venture down that path it is something you’re likely to regret for a long time.
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