Keep A Diary And Make A Gift Of The Past To The Future

Posted on 25/03/2013, 16:58, by Rehan Ahmed and received Comments Off.

 A Gift Of The Past To The Future

If you become a diarist, you may well find a subtle but interesting metamorphosis taking place in your daily life. You will become a reporter. Your eye and your mind will catch the small things that happen all about you, every day. When did the first robin return in the spring? When did the last forest come this year and kill of those seedlings you so hopefully planted? When did we pay our last insurance premium? When did I get my last raise? And what about the vacation trip you took to Europe you’d saved up for? Memorable times not to be lost.
A diary can be the long of your life written for family scrutiny and enjoyment, or it can be as private and personal as the innermost yearnings and aspirations of the human mind. Those blank pages can become a warm and receptive friend, waiting for you to say your say, then be tucked away, locked and silent.
Diaries have the power to place matters in proper perspective. One of my wife’s entries of some years ago: “we’re so worried about bills we can hardly sleep for warring. Rent, light bill, dentist, insurance. Now the car…..Where is the money to come from?”It is a true despair.
Reading those words, we look back. We don’t remember where the money came from. But we got it, somewhere, somehow. We see that things are not always as bad as they seem. The pages of a diary teach us that there is a sunrise, every 24hours.
How many times have we heard people say, “The history of my family, or my life, would make a book?” Well, if you are one of these, why not start your book now? Memory can be a feeble, ephemeral thing.
My father came to this country from Ireland 90 years ago by sailing vessel. The journey took three months. While that storm lashed crossing was still fresh in my father’s mind, I was old enough to be curious, to ask why it took three months to cross the Atlantic, all he could remember was that the ship had lost its rudder. Sails were ripped to shreds, some people died. But it was all so long ago. He couldn’t recall what his impressions were as the ship finally entered New York harbor. “I guess I was afraid,” he would say. “I guess I was excited. I think I had five dollars, but I can’t remember.” If only my father had kept a diary!
You may never fight in a war against your own countrymen. But you are you, and important to yourself and to those who come after you. Record your thoughts, deeds, the taxes you pay.
Every human life as a free-fall through time, lives of great people are recorded for posterity, but what of your life, and mine? As we travel through our time, our own space on this planet, should we not leave our own record? Those who come after us will want to know where we thus, they came from. A diary can be our priceless legacy to the future.

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Leisure Activities In Modern Life

Posted on 29/01/2013, 11:43, by Rehan Ahmed and received Comments Off.

Leisure Activities In Modern Life

There is no doubt about the fact that modern developments in different fields have led to an easy lifestyle for man. Instant foods, instant communications, faster transportation, quick shopping – all of these developments are designed to save time. Instant foods are preferred because they help save time. Fast means of transport and communication have greatly reduced the physical distance, resulting in the saving of time. Shopping and banking has been made easy just by a few simple clicks on your computer at home. Undoubtedly, there is saving of time which is taken for a great investment, especially in the western industrialized countries. The same trend is now observable in developing countries, which are getting industrialized gradually. This tendency prevails in the urban areas, which are comparatively more industrialized than the rural ones.

Saving of time is there, but the enjoyment of leisure in aesthetic pursuits is doubtful. Sardonically, instead of making more leisure time available, the increasing developments have contributed to a pace of human efforts that is more rushed and more frantic than ever before. The time which people save as a result of the fast moving conveniences, is not enjoyed in the company of nature. Mechanized man does not have any appreciation of the beauty of nature. He has become just like a robot, devoid of sweet emotions and feelings. The irony is that the saved time is further invested in the development and maintenance of machines, and other technical projects. In other words, it leads to more rushed and frantic human efforts and the leisure time is not utilized to cater to the aesthetic pursuits of life, such as painting, poetry, music, and other aspects of recreation and entertainment.

Man has unconsciously, but willingly, imbibed in himself the quality of coldness of a machine. In the ever increasing race of survival, he has become devoid of finer emotions of life. The saved time needs to be invested in non-material pursuits in order to enjoy the beauty of nature and satisfy his inner urges of life. People in the developing countries wish to utilize the leisure time in some money yielding activities to improve their economic lot. The cycle of busyness grips people both in the developed and the underdeveloped countries. While the objective in the former is to increase further conveniences of life, the latter’s aim is to improve the living standards by raising the development level. In both the cases, one comes across intensification of human effort to attain certain material objectives.

My viewpoint in that the leisure time should be enjoyed to ward off monotony, listlessness, the aftermath of mechanistic way of life, in pleasurable pursuits such as poetry, painting and music. Some time must be spent in the company of nature to imbibe divine influences in the materially infested life. Picnics, and trips not only give us a chance to catch up with our own self, but also help us to enjoy life and enjoy natural beauty, and freshen up. A small visit into the heart of other nature can give you the required strength and peace of mind to go back to your life and routine with a new zest and vigor.

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Countless Glitches Can Turn Summer Trips Into Disasters

Posted on 12/07/2012, 10:51, by Rehan Ahmed and received Comments Off.

All too often, eagerly anticipated vacations are fraught with the same glitches as everyday life except that on the road you’ve lost the security of home and routine, planning ahead and learning to cope with such stresses can make your vacation not just enjoyable but memorable as well. Here’s how veteran traveler do it:
When planning trips with young children, consider their shorter attention span and offer a variety of activities. Besides leading sing-alongs playing license-plate alphabet games in the car, keep your children busy in challenging ways. Sue Goodell brings along kids books on tape or reads aloud about the family’s destination then asks her two boys what they’ve learned. Also give your children a special bag of goodies as you leave home akaleidoscope, a deck of cards, a jump rope or Frisbee for rest stops, coloring books, word puzzles, and miniature toys. And give them one thing to look forward to each day, whether it’s a visit to a dinosaur exhibit or an aquarium.
Whenever you travel also take along a firs-aid kit tailored specifically to destination and family. For a humid climate pack insect repellent, bug-bite medication and talcum powder. In addition carry prescription drugs and family member regularly take, written prescriptions for medicine and eye glasses, the telephone and fax numbers of primary-care physician. Other essentials: tweezers; small scissors; hot and cold packs; moleskins for blisters; drugstore samples of medications for headaches, allergies, colds; and petroleum jelly for a general moisturizer.
Twenty of people who go to other countries get sick. So if you’re leaving the country, see a physician for information about required and suggested medication and immunizations. Also get the names of local physicians to contact in case you are sick or hurt when you are away.
To guard against thieves especially overseas, some experts suggest carrying your money and documents in a small, flat pouch around you neck and tucked under your clothing. A fanny pack can be used if carried in front, but be alert it can be cut off. Other possible ways to foil pickpockets: wrap rubber bands around a wallet to make it harder to lift from a pocket. Have zippers sewn into your blazer pockets.
If you are driving in unfamiliar places, keep as little as possible in your car’s passenger area, where “smash and grab” thieves can get it. That means hiding luggage in the trunk and leaving nothing of value inside the passenger area when the car is parked.
Wherever you are in case of an emergency have a phone credit card and know how to use it. The card will enable you to call for help, sparing you the need for coins or collect calls.
To avoid disappointment over fish that don’t bite or a museum closed for repairs, leave home with the right attitude. “Realize you’ll never get 100 percent of what you want no vacation,” Wish says. Make backup arrangements in case your plans go awry.
Unexpected happenings and frustrations can provide opportunities to teach kids to be adaptable.
At the end of your vacation, allow for the same slow shifting of gears back to your regular routine. If possible, give yourself a day to unpack, wash clothes and get organized at home before returning to work. Prior to going on vacation, Blishak even plans her return dinner so there’s no need to rush to the grocery store.

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Don’t Miss Out On The Benefits Of Teamwork

Posted on 25/06/2012, 12:52, by Rehan Ahmed and received Comments Off.

Don't Miss Out On The Benefits Of Teamwork

Individual behavior at work is often affected by territory: the desire to acquire it or keep it. Ever asked yourself why cats often rub against your legs? They are laying territorial makers, in the same way, we humans lay our own markers all the time. Sitting on the train or bus we do it with bags or newspapers, but it’s at work that territorial boundary markers are easiest to spot. They’re the closed office doors, the screens in a open plan office, the will stocked filling tray strategically placed. Territory is conferred by job descriptions’ titles and organizational charts. When people overstep their mark or get “ideas above their station”, colleagues will start feeling defensive and, later, downright hostile.
The person who walks right up to your desk and leans over to attract your attention risks a curt rebuttal. The “close phase” of the social distance zone four to seven feet as being appropriate for business conversations. Moving into the intimate distance zone naught to one and a half feet could get you in trouble. This is the distance appropriate for love making and fighting.
Territory is characterized by a sense of acute possessiveness, says professor lee. People do not give up territory easily, nor do they allow it to get overcrowded. Trespassing is frowned on.
We often feel awkward in someone else’s territory, but when the boss is away, the temptation to sit in her chair can be very strong just to see what to feels like. Some people will always find an excuse to work at the boss’s desk in her absence as though they’ll absorb some power and glory through the polyurethane seat.
Some territories are more desirable than others. It matters to people which side of the building their office is on and how near they are to the boss. When one person gets promotion everyone hopes they’ll play musical chairs and move up a seat. We’re now talking status. A lot of people will stay that status symbols are unimportant buy if they’re part of the corporate culture it would be committing professional suicide not to play the game and conform. Unless, that is, you’re so powerful you are the corporate culture.
Valued for your own achievements, we’re brought up to be independent entities.
This independent streak can sometimes backfire on us. Joy is a counselor for unemployed people. She works on a one to one basis with her clients and, when she started work, she was also a one woman band. Now joy heads a team of three counselors but admits she is ashamed of the way she first reacted when she was given two trainee counselors to help with the work.
Ə Are you too territorial?


As we seem to erect the equivalent of six foot fences around our psychological territory, should we even try to knock them down? Wouldn’t it be better to keep to basic human nature, however, will never change. The person who insists on reading your newspaper over your shoulder will always make little hairs on the beck of your neck stand up. He/she is well fully breaking one of the unwritten rules of peaceful co-existence: never forget the need for personal space in a public place. And the workplace, which so often acts as a hothouse for temperaments and tempers, is no exception. So don’t be a space invader.

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Requirements of Growing Children

Posted on 20/06/2012, 10:56, by Rehan Ahmed and received Comments Off.

The growing up of a child is the most important phase of his life, as the parents not only wish to educate their child and build up his character, but also try to make their child a competent individual, and a respectable citizen. With increasing researches in human psychology and development of children, you come to know of a different research every now and then, which is sure to contradict some of the other policy defined some time earlier.

Parents want their children to learn as much as possible about their surroundings and the real world beforehand and learn from the experiences of the elders, which can be quite beneficial for them in the years to come. But sometimes a lot of information can confuse the child, and create a mix up of emotions and feelings.

Naturally, parents try on different ways to handle their child in the growing years, as the children themselves are growing and have their own changing priorities, depending on the age and interests. Experts and counselors believe that their can be no one sure shot practice used for raising a child, as each child has a different psychology and a different personality, unique from the others.

There are three main styles used for growing up children:

• The conventional, strict style, where parents enforce rules and regulations on the children, which are in turn supposed to follow these rules sternly.

• A modern and frank atmosphere, where parents try to educate their children according to the changing trends of the modern world.

• The ad-hoc policy, which depends on the situation at hand, and dealing with it in the most appropriate way.

Parents can combine these three ways to formulate a unique method for the schooling and raising of their children, which also suits the child’s personality, temperament and age group, as each age group has its own requirements and issues. Parents have to make sure that they are explaining to the child the pros and cons of everything instead of simply forbidding them. It helps the child to understand the minor details of life and get through the real life problems with ease and confidence.

Extensive researches on parenting and child care have lead to five guiding principles which parents should follow to build a positive personality of their children:

1. Provide the child with a safe and interesting environment where the children can indulge into some constructive experiments and improve his abilities.

2. Help the child to learn something new. Encourage him to follow his instincts and provide the necessary guidance.

3. Make him focus on discipline. Obeying elders, good manners and a healthy life style should be taught and encouraged. Mistakes in this regard should not be overlooked or compromised in any case.

4. Keep realistic expectations. Do not embarrass him in front of others on his mistakes and shortcomings. Understand his drawbacks and help him to improve.

5. Parents should take care of themselves as well. Do not neglect yourself in front of the children and do not interfere in everything they do. Give them space to grow.

Only parents can understand a child completely. So it becomes their duty to find out what turns out to be the best for their children. But the most important thing is proper communication and an open and frank atmosphere where the children can share everything with their parents, and approach them easily for any help or suggestion.

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