We would like to take this opportunity to wish all our loyal readers and Blogtalkradio listeners a peaceful and relaxing Christmas and all the very best for the New Year.

We know that not everyone of you may celebrate Christmas. But a new calendar year is starting throughout the world. Whether we like it or not, this is the system that is used and the start of a a new year is a good time to reassess our lives, our goals, our dreams and what we would like to make a priority during the New Year.

It is also a perfect time to celebrate the achievements of the past year. Everybody will have had some achievements, no matter how small they seem. Write them down, make some nice colourful drawings to go with them, look at your colourful page and pat yourself on the back. Share it with your family and loved ones.

Only make a New Year’s Resolution if you really think you can follow through on it. It has to be something you love doing. Don’t set yourself up for failure by setting unrealistic goals you can’t achieve and then feel bad about yourself.

Focus on the positive and dare to dream. Dream up the most amazing year possible for the year ahead. Focus on your vision and don’t let it go.

Happy celebrations – whatever it might be -

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Connie and Charly

Today on our Stretch Your Mind And Body Blog Talk Radio show, Connie and I spoke with Bernie Wiemers from TopECovers about the elements of a great ECover design.

Bernie had so much to share with us, that we are going to have to get him back in the new year to really discuss how Yogic principles work on E-Cover designs.  Believe, they do!

One of the things that Bernie did discuss were the 5 common mistakes people make when designing an ECover: Read the rest of this entry »

It turns out that praise and recognition are really very important for employees to feel happy in their workplace. They feel they have been acknowledged as an individual and they are not just a number.

Often, the culture that prevails is one of: “If you don’t hear anything you are doing a good job”. How would people know that they are performing adequately and how would they know what is important? How do people feel when they think they are being ignored? Lack of praise causes people to feel ignored.

Performance will start to drop and employees won’t care very much about their role and whether they are performing it well or not. I would go so far as to say that it is literally “soul destroying” when somebody is being continually ignored.

Polls have found that workers also value praise from co-workers very highly, they think it is great when somebody is recognizing that they have done a great job. Praise from peers has become as important of praise from “above”.

So has praise in the workplace really diminished or was it never there in the first place? Has the lack of it become more important because people lack social interaction? Or because technology has taken over and workers have less face to face contact?

The cyberworld certainly is not a “warm, fuzzy” place. My computer doesn’t praise me when I have finally worked out how to do something….I think I need to put some little audio snippets and pretty pictures there that randomly churn out some praise for me!

Till next time

Connie and Charly

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http://www.stretchyourmindandbody.com

On our blog talk radio show today Charly and talked about some more Christmas traditions – this time the Ukrainian ones. The most important event is a ritual meal consisting of 12 dishes (symbolising the 12 apostles).

The table is set with the best tablecloths (traditionally there are two – on top of each other – one for the ancestors and one for the living members of the family. Some hay is put either under the tablecloth or around the “kolach” which is a form of bread which is always put in the centre of the table. The Kolach has a candle in the centre. Read the rest of this entry »

When we think about it, real old fashioned praise in the workplace has become very rare, it has nearly disappeared altogether. Or has it never been there in the first place? Or has it become more important nowadays and therefore its absence is felt more keenly?

A survey showed that over 80% of adults (men and women) would consider praise for a job well done as one of the best compliments anybody could give them. It would encourage them to do their best. People seem to crave praise, there is a huge vacuum that needs to be filled.

Why is it so difficult for superiors to give praise? After all, it doesn’t cost anything and it seems that it might be very effective to spur workers on to be more productive.

The idea is not new, apparently Shakespeare wrote something along the lines of:

“Feed us praise like you would feed a young bird, the good deed which is not praised, will nip one thousand others in the bud, which could have grown from it…..”

This should also remind us that children also need lots of praise for right behaviour and good deeds if we want them to stay well behaved. Focus on the positive.

It goes without saying that praise has to be real, not fake, otherwise you may end up in deep trouble.

We will continue the discussion in our next post.

Till then,
Connie and Charly

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http://www.stretchyourmindandbody.com

On our show today Charly and I talked about Christmas traditions and some recipes. My household is vegetarian, so you won’t find a turkey or ham dish! I believe in simple, healthy food made from fresh ingredients. Being Christmas you also will find some traditional recipes which are yummy and full of calories. Enjoy them, worrying about what you eat causes more stress than the occasional indulgence that you well and truly enjoy!

Stollen is a traditional German Christmas cake/bread that is shaped to resemble a swaddled baby to symbolise the birth of Christ. It tastes just as nice if you bake it in a bread tin!

It has a long history and was first mentioned in the year 1400. The modern version has evolved over many centuries and even during my lifetime the evolution has continued.

Stollen (the recipe used in our family) Read the rest of this entry »

Today I want to talk about the Progressive Muscle Relaxation which was made famous by Edmund Jacobson. He created this process in the 1920’s.  It seems that people were stressed out even in those days.

This form of relaxation is all about relaxing one muscle group at a time – like the hands or feet or your face. You may ask: “How do I relax a tense muscle? It is very difficult for me to do so!” You may be one of these people who react in a paradoxical way. Somebody tells you to relax and you get even more tense. This is where Jacobson’s method may help you.

His method works the following way:
Before you can relax you have to tighten the tense muscle even further. Yes, you heard right, tighten the muscle even further and then it will be much more willing to let go.

Just try it with your hands – make some really, really tight fists and then as you breathe out with a big sigh through your mouth,  open your hands. They should feel nice and loose now. When you have a chance, you can work your way all around your body, tensing and then relaxing. it is best to do it in a
logical fashion, from your feet up all the way up to your face seems the easiest. This relaxation is best done lying down or sitting in a comfortable chair. To go through the whole body will take you at least 10-15 minutes. Enjoy!

Please use your common sense – in case you have any injuries or had surgery recently, do not tense that particular body part. Of course, if you are pregnant, you do not tense your abdomen. If in
doubt about anything, consult your doctor.

Have fun and try this form of relaxation, it is very effective.

Till next time,

Charly and Connie

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http://www.stretchyourmindandbody.com