Last Minute Valentine Gift Ideas

No reservations? No problem.
What could be better than a romantic dinner on Valentine's Day? But getting last-minute reservations may be nearly impossible. Rather than settle for something less than perfect, make your own romance with a picnic featuring food from your favorite deli or gourmet shop. If the February weather is too wet or cold where you live, find an indoor alternative: a car parked at a favorite overlook; your high-rise office with a glittering view of the city lights; the cabin of a borrowed boat or RV; or a blanket at home in front of the fire.

Valentine Gifts Ideas

Let me count the ways...
Buy your beloved a book of love poems at the nearest bookstore. It doesn't really matter whether you choose Shakespearean sonnets, love poems by Rumi, the 13th century Persian poet, or a volume of modern verse. A book of love poems can transform your last-minute purchase into a gift of timeless beauty.

Exercise Steps To A Good Warm-Up

Five Steps to a Good Warm-Up

If you've been working out for any length of time, you know the importance of a good warm-up. However, some of us plunge into an exercise program without proper warm-ups and precautions. Maybe we think we don’t have time, or skip the warm-up because we think it is not crucial or we are not feeling energetic. However, skipping the warm-up is never a good idea.

Our blood does not always circulate properly through our muscles. If you jump into an intense workout without warming up, the muscles and joints will not be ready and you will over strain. Therefore, some stretching prior to working out is essential. A good warm-up will protect you from injury and increase the efficiency and enjoyability of your workout.

 How do you get a good warm-up?

           Limber up lightly

Begin your warm-up with gentle exercises. You should break a little sweat, but don’t go over ten minutes.

 Stretch statically

Static stretching extends muscles while the body is at rest. It consists of a variety of methods that gradually elongate the muscle by holding the stretched position for thirty seconds to two minutes. It lowers the sensitivity of tension receptors (sense organs in muscles and tendons that respond to elongation), which allows the muscle to relax and stretch, making you more flexible, as well as minimizing the risk of injury during your workout.

 Be sure to stretch all of the major muscle groups, and stop after five minutes.

 Warming up specifically for your workout session.

During this phase, you want to target the parts of your body that you will be exercising during the workout.

 

For instance, if you're planning to work on your abdominals, do a few abdominal exercises. If you want to focus on your biceps, do some repetitions that will prepare you for that.

 Stretch dynamically

Dynamic stretching is set of bounces or swings that prepares your body for the movements that you will do during the workout. For example, you might run in place or do squats or leg lifts. It’s a good way to end your warm-up.

The dynamic stretching phase of your warm-up can cause injury if you don't know what you're doing. A certain amount of discomfort during stretching is normal, but as soon as you feel any abnormal pain, stop exercising.

 Consult a professional

You should always consult a qualified professional, who will work with you to create a customized routine. This will decrease the chances of injury during your warm-up and workout.

 This easy-to-follow, five step method will help you get a good warm-up for any kind of workout. It will help your body prepare for the physical challenges of exercising and prevent you from getting hurt.

 Have fun!

Positive Thinking Techniques: Take Action on Your Anxieties, or Forget about Them

There are many bumps on the road to positive thinking. One of them is undue anxiety. Negative thinking can cause you to worry about situations that are beyond your control. Because negative thoughts can consume you, it's essential to use positive thinking techniques to get rid of both your rational and irrational worries.

• Be Aware of Your Anxiety

The first step in utilizing positive thinking techniques is to become aware that you're worrying. As with negative thinking, worrying about every little thing can become something you do subconsciously. Start by being conscious of the fact that you are worrying.

• Question Yourself

Question your worry. Can you take action on it, or is it something over which you have no control?

If it's inactionable and out of your control, you need to become aware of that. Since you can't do anything about it, find a diversion that will put it out of your mind. Don't waste time thinking about the consequences of your anxiety. It’s utterly pointless.

• Take Action

If the situation is actionable, take action and do something about it—immediately, if you can. Then forget about it for the rest of the day, and be calmed by the fact that you have done something to help resolve the problem.

If you can't do anything immediately, you can still calm your mind by scheduling time to address the situation later in the day or week.

• Change Your Focus

Sometimes, simply recognizing that it’s useless to worry may be sufficient to prevent you from worrying. Other times, you will have to shift your focus. For instance, if you're surfing the net to find the things that are worrying you, you may need to log off in order to stop worrying. Go out and take a walk for a change of scenery.

Whether your worry is actionable now, later, or not at all, put it out of your mind.

By doing all of the above, you've done everything in your power to take control of your situation.

These positive thinking techniques seem simple but they can make a big difference between worrying for a few minutes and worrying all day. Taking action on the problems you can control and letting go of the ones you can’t is one of the most important steps towards forgetting about your worries.

Understanding the Health Benefits of Positive Thinking

 

The benefits of positive thinking apply not only to our minds, but to our physical wellbeing. Many studies have indicated this to be true. Here are some of the benefits of developing a positive attitude.

Conquer Anxiety, Depression and Illness

Seeing the glass as half full or half empty can have a great impact on the way you respond to obstacles in your life. Those people who tend toward optimism will often see the silver lining in circumstances that might otherwise make them anxious or depressed. Negative emotions and self criticism play a key role in depression and anxiety.

In addition, some research has shown a direct correlation between stress levels and the strength of our immune system, directly affecting our immunity to certain health conditions. One study indicated that increased brain activity while thinking negatively is related to our immune response to the flu.

An upbeat outlook helps people dealing with serious long term diseases such as cancer. Those who practice positive thinking -- by keeping check on the negative stream of thought that continually repeats itself -- were discovered to have fewer side effects and faster recovery from cancer treatment.

Advantages of Positive Thinking

Research on the health benefits of positive thinking is not yet conclusive. However, the well-renowned Mayo Clinic states that positive thinking has many advantages, including:

• Longer life span
• Greater resistance to the common cold
• Improved over all health
• Lowered susceptibility to depression
• Better life-coping ability
• Reduced risk of heart disease

There are many opinions about why those people who think optimistically experience these health benefits, but it usually comes down to the fact that they are less anxious and depressed in general. The reduced anxiety and depression is a result of what they think on a day-to-day basis.

Most of us don’t notice the barrage of negative thoughts that constantly pop into our minds. Some studies show that there may be thousands of them going through our minds every day. It's not hard to understand why having so many of these thoughts can lead to a downbeat outlook on life, making it harder to deal with difficult situations.

The detrimental effects of negative thinking affect our mood and our health. The benefits of positive thinking, which come about by working to improve our thoughts, influence our mood and health as well.

Positive Thinking Exercises

Positive Thinking Exercises: Stop Those Negative Thoughts

No matter how hard you attempt to think positively, it will be difficult unless you learn to spot and stop negative thoughts. There are many positive thinking exercises that will help. One of them, learning how to spot your negative thoughts, is explained here.

Why Is It Important to Combat Negative Thoughts?

It’s important to combat negative thoughts because they serve a destructive function in your life. For most of you, thinking negatively is a subconscious habit. Bad thoughts do their harm while you are totally unaware. In fact, as you are reading this, you may be thinking that you're not very negative, but you could be wrong.

Negative thoughts, even the small ones, can be one cause of the struggles you are having in your life. If you stop and think about it, you'll find that you're being more pessimistic than you realized.

How to Recognize Negative Thoughts

Here are examples of thoughts that show you may be looking at things negatively:

• I’m unlucky.
• It's definitely going to rain today now that I've made plans.
• I’m bound to make a mistake on this project.
• I’m not good enough.
• I’m not important.
• Nothing I try ever works out.
• I’m not pretty.
• I’m too tall/too short/too fat, etc…

These are but a few of the myriad negative thoughts that fall into the negative thinking spectrum. You can fix them once you have recognized them. Positive thinking exercises are intended to alleviate this kind of thinking and replace it with a more objective and constructive alternative.

Take Baby Steps

Start your journey toward positive thinking with baby steps. At first, simply be aware of your negative thoughts without trying to change or stop them. As the saying goes, knowing there’s a problem is half the battle. It’s the first step in deviating from the negative thought pattern that you have been stuck in. Jot down the bad thoughts you notice – both big and little. This will help you recognize the most common ones and will give you more material to focus on as you move forward through your positive thinking exercises.

Positive thinking exercises, such as recognizing and stopping your negative thoughts may not seem important initially, but they are very useful. When you understand your negative thought patterns, you can shift them towards something more positive.

Eight Ways to Cultivate a Positive Mental Attitude

 

Cultivating a positive mental attitude can’t be accomplished overnight. It starts by gradually introducing good habits into your daily routine. This can be a struggle at first, but eventually it will take less effort to look on the brighter side of life.

 

Eight Things You Can Start Doing Today to Become More Optimistic.

·         Take Action

Many of us worry about the future, always imagining the worst case scenario. Your future circumstances depend largely on your current actions, so you can exercise some control over your future by taking constructive action in the present. If the situation is beyond your control, take your mind off it by focusing on other areas of your life over which you do have control. You can improve those areas.

·         Practice Appreciation

If you think there isn’t much good in your life--always seeing the glass as half empty--take five minutes a day to list the things you're grateful for. After a while, you’ll start noticing the good things more than the bad, which will help develop that positive mental attitude.

·         Think Well of Others

We sometimes judge others harshly and expect the worst in people. This only perpetuates our tendency for negative thinking. Instead, try to go for an entire day thinking only positive thoughts about other people. Do this as often as you can and notice the results.

·         Have a Sense of Humor

As the saying goes, “Laughter is the best medicine.” Keeping your sense of humor and making sure to laugh each day is an easy and effective way to help you become a more positive thinker.

·         Snap Out of It

Make up a prompt that will stop your negative thoughts dead in their tracks. Use it when you find yourself thinking negative thoughts. It could be anything from snapping your fingers, to shouting “stop,” to imagining a red stop sign. Anything is useful as long as it puts an end to that thought.

·         Consciously Feed Yourself Positive Thoughts

 Most of us put our thoughts on autopilot, without consciously deciding what to think. Start getting into the habit of forcing yourself to think positive thoughts, or affirmations. At first it may seem silly, but it will soon get you into the custom of thinking more optimistically.

·         Don’t Be So Hard on Yourself

Negative thinkers tend to focus on their flaws without acknowledging their good points. To stop this harmful habit and boost your positive mental attitude, keep a journal and write down everything about yourself of which you are proud. You'll soon recognize that you do more things well than you thought.

·         Turn off the Television and Social Media

We receive a constant barrage of upsetting information, anxiety ridden situations, and mood destroying comments and thoughts from television and social media. It’s easier to think more positively without this constant influx of negativity. Take time out each day to go low tech. Meditate or take a walk outside instead.

 

Pick one thing on this list and practice it, if you find that doing it all at once is too much. Start today.

Five Positive Thinking Tips to Help You Relax

Many positive thinking tips revolve around re-training your mind to work differently. Although this is important, you also need to care for your body and spirit. This means making to unwind and re-energize. Here are four suggestions to help you be more optimistic.

·         Exercise

This could be the most valuable of all the positive thinking tips. If you don't get enough exercise you aren't taking care of your body and, perhaps surprisingly, you’re not taking care of your mind either. Exercise has been proven to be an effective antidote for mild to moderate depression. It releases endorphins, brain chemicals that act as a natural mood boosters. It has been proven to reduce stress, anxiety and depression, enhance self esteem and improve sleep. Incorporate exercise into your daily routine and you'll see things more accurately and logically.

·         Hypnotherapy

Although the validity of hypnotherapy is highly debated, it has resulted in deep relaxation for many, who describe it as akin to getting the best night's sleep they have ever had. It is a method of reducing stress by focusing your attention and turning it inwards. If you can't afford a hypnotherapist, there are many MP3s and other internet downloads to choose from. Get comfortable and start listening. They can help you to forget the stress of the day.

·         Play with Your Pet

Spending time with animals has been known to relieve stress in many people. If you have a dog or cat, sit down and spend time stroking or playing with them. Research has shown that pet ownership can: reduce stress, lower blood pressure and enhance your mood.

·         Enjoy the Outdoors

Enjoying nature and breathing fresh air can significantly improve your mood.

·         Practice Yoga

The practice of yoga mediation utilizes positive thinking as an essential tool to bring about both physical and mental wellbeing. Yoga meditation involves sitting silently and motionless for periods of time. In Western society, most of us are used to being stimulated all day every day. It is hard to free our minds from racing thoughts, and many find it impossible to meditate at first. However, one of the best positive.