How to Have a Great Posture?

It is a mind and body connection.  It cannot be one without other.  If you try to straighten your posture (with books on your head, sleeping on the firm bed, exercise, etc.) and you feel miserable inside, nothing will help you – your body will slouch.  Now if you feel good about yourself, you will naturally stand up straight.

There are three kinds of postures:

A) Hunched shoulders mean:

• Hiding a growing body (for teen girls)
• Feeling like the whole world is on the shoulders
• Feeling protective (like hiding in a shell)

B) Standing up straight posture means:

• Great self-confidence
• Great attitude
• Being open to the world – by giving and receiving

C) There is another extreme posture that involves the nose up in the air which means:

• Feeling like the King and Queen of the world.
• Treating other people like they beneath them
• Basically nothing satisfies them.

Now how to go from point A to B?  If you are teenage girl, do not worry about your growing body.  It is normal.  Be confident that you are growing up.  If boys tease you at school, think of them as immature bastards who do not know how to treat a lady.

If you feel that the whole world in on your shoulders, you got to lighten the load up.  You got to light up, so to speak.  Allow yourself to laugh and have fun.  Do not take life so seriously.  Sure, it is hard enough for most of us.  We all have our stories.  The most importantly, it is your attitude that counts.  Just think of hardships as challenges like stepping stones to stronger you.  Every challenge is opportunity to learn something.  You can have hardships and learn from them, or you can let hardships to control who you are.  It is up to you.  To me, I think life is too short to be unhappy.  It is your pick.  No buts about it.

If you feel the world will hurt you, your body is in protective gear automatically.  Of course, things will happen – you cannot protect yourself forever.  But if you open up to the world and be willing to give yourself and your talents, I’m pretty sure you’ll be surprised of a great receptivity from people.  Of course, you can not satisfy everyone, but who cares.  Most people will open their hearts and arms to you once you show them what you are all about.  There are many good people out there.  You are great at what you do, what you create, what you love and are passionate about.  The world needs you and you need the world for great things to happen.  You got to show who you are.  Do not hide.  You have way too much to contribute.  So, stand up tall and show world what you’ve got.  Many people will love you, and who don’t – screw them.  They are not worth to get to know you anyway.  Do not shut down because of them.  Keep going.  There are many new people who are dying to know you.  Give them a chance.

Now as for case C, it is never healthy to go to extreme.  These people need to land their feet on the ground, and put their nose at normal level.  Even they do not show it, they have a complex about themselves.  Therefore, treating others badly gives them satisfaction.  The truth is that they are miserable inside and putting others down gives them a pleasure.  What you hold inside, that’s what you project to the world.  Can you imagine what their inside looks like?  Full of anger and miserableness.  Treating others badly is their protection from the world.  What they think is that if they treat others like a dirt, nobody will treat them badly.  Unfortunately, what comes around, goes around.  Most people do not like them for their “royal ass”, and nobody wants to be nice to them.  Now, if they would turn around and treat people with respect, they would be treated that way, too.  All they need to learn is people’s skills.

Tags: great attitude, growing body, hiding in a shell, how to have a great posture, hunched shoulders, mind and body connection, nose up in the air, photos by Ineta McParland, posture, self-confidence, self-improvement, slouch, teen girls

Circle of Life

Even it does not feel temperature-wise, the spring is here.  I captured these Sandhill Crane chicks last year.  I can’t believe it is that time here again.  The year went by so fast.  Recently I noticed the two new families at the ranch.  One pair has two little ones.

Other pair has only one chick.

Last year’s chicks grew up into beautiful adults.  Perhaps now they have chicks of their own.  Capturing Sandhill Cranes became dear to my heart.  They are beautiful and graceful birds.  I’m so grateful seeing these life’s miracles.  Usually, it is very hard to capture Sandhill young because parents are very secretive in raising their chicks.  They even paint their feathers with mud to better camouflage themselves.  The chicks usually hide or lay down in tall grass.  You can barely see them, as the next picture illustrates.

For more of my photos of these gorgeous birds, you can see my Flickr photo set:

Growing Up Sandhill

Tags: bird photos, birding, chicks, circle of life, Growing Up Sandhill, Sandhill Cranes

Laughing at Myself

Do not take life so seriously. Sometimes, you got to laugh at yourself. Today, I could not find keys anywhere. I looked all over, even under the bed. I re-traced all my steps. Funny thing is that I looked all over, but not in the obvious place – the draw that I always keep them in. My annoyance turned to laughter.

It also got me thinking. We usually look for life’s answers everywhere, but we miss the obvious place – right inside of us.

Tags: finding answers, laughing at myself, llabrador photo, lost keys

Little Things That Matter

Sometimes there is a surprise waiting around the corner. Yesterday I was be-friended by three horses. As I drove by, I saw them coming to me. So, I stopped the car and went to see them closer. They greeted me as best friends. There was such a connection, I cannot explain. As I talked to them, they closed their eyes from pleasure… At some point, they even fought for attention.

Tags: best friends, connection, horses, Little Things that matter

How to be Brave in Public Speaking?

Most of my life I was shy with little streaks of bravery. Now I find myself mostly brave with little streaks of shyness. So before, talking in public – forget about it – I was terrified. I even skipped a Speech class in college. To go in front of class was a nightmare. My voice was shaking, my knees were shaking; I felt I’m going to pass out in front of everybody. Then, I realized shyness is only state of mind based on fears:

1) fear of not being good enough,

2) fear of being misunderstood (especially when you have an accent)

3) fear of forgetting speech altogether

4) fear of making fool of myself

5) fear of (fill in the blank)

I realized that all the fears only reside in my mind. Of course, if we think we will screw it up, we will. If we think we can not make a speech or speak in public, we can’t. What we think of that will become. Just know this, all those fears are self-made and only is messing up with your mind, and it is not what you think it is. I took Landmark education courses (that I highly recommend to anyone). By the end, I was volunteering to go in front of the class. I made myself do it, no matter how uncomfortable I felt. Of course, a few times, my knees were still shaking, but I felt more confident because I thought what I want to share was of big importance to others. When you forget about yourself and you think of others, it becomes really easy. All those fears are bull crap, anyway.

1) You are good enough.

2) People will understand you (If some of them will not, they can ask questions later if they are not too shy).

3) You will involve people and perhaps will make a difference in their lives.

4) If you’ll make a fool of yourself, so what – at least you and audience will have a good laugh.

5) (Fill in the blank opposite of your fear)

When I talked, people actually listened. They laughed. And some of them told me that I’m inspiration. So, don’t listen what your fears tell you. Stand up confidently because you have something important to say.

Tips for great public-speaking, I learned:

1) Talk from the heart. Hand-written or printed speech that is read in audience does not sound as effective, as you speak it (no matter if you wrote the speech, or not). Example – Tiger Woods read public apology did not sound that sincere.

2) If you forget what you wanted to say – make up as you go.

3) Involve audience – ask audience questions and listen for the answers.

4) Make audience laugh – don’t be so serious.

5) Leave audience with something to think about.

Most importantly, practice makes a big difference. Do it not once, but keep doing it. The fear will go away and you’ll be confident as never before. You are too important to be silent.

Tags: acing speech with bravery, being brave, fear, overcoming fear of public speaking, public speaking, self-confidence, speech

Quote to Live By

If you think you are too small to be effective, you have never been in bed with a mosquito. – Betty Reese

Tags: Betty Reese, frog in a rose, photo by Ineta McParland, quote

Doers, Critics and SomeDay-ers

There are three kinds of people in this world: Doers, Critics and SomeDay-ers. Doers always achieve what they want despite critics’ opposition. Critics never achieve anything because they are busy criticizing everyone. SomeDay-ers are the dreamers who wish to do things some day. However, some day never comes, so they keep dreaming…

Tags: critics, doers, dreamers, life, somedayers

Monday’s Smile

Simple things that matter… Sometimes just as simple as enjoying the sun and the breeze in the air… and maybe some daydreaming… Have a happy Monday, my friends!

Tags: Monday's Smile, white tiger

We Are All Connected

Think of this. We are all connected. It could be through thought, through action, through communication, and even through sharing our art or invention. Even that homeless person you saw the other day and you are connected. You don’t even know that person, you may argue. You just thought of him or her. Right? You are connected through thought. Or, you drop a stick. The dog picks it up. You are connected. The dog smelled you through the stick. Even when person drops the cigarette butt – the bird like a mockingbird will pick it up and use it in its nest for padding. Seriously, I seen the nest made of cigarette butts, ribbons and moss. All actions have consequences.

We are all connected in one way or another. Did you ever thought of long lost friend, and that friend calls you or e-mails you out of the blue. That’s one powerful connection. We all are made up of energy and we transmit it with our being. Why dogs sniff you after you petted the other dog or animal? They can trace others’ energy, like pawprints. Now, if we all connected through our energies, thoughts and beings, how can we make a world a better place? How can we make a business better? How can we make a communication with our friends, family, or people on the street better?

On business scale, we all pretty much dealt with people who are only concerned about themselves, on both ends: customer and person who serves you. We dealt with people who only care to get paycheck and do not care about customers or service or business. We dealt with customers who rudely talk on the phone and do not pay attention, or walk with their nose in the air treating everyone like they’re beneath them. Now if these people would feel connection to business and others, they might surprise themselves. Employee who cares about business not only helps it, but has a great chance of keeping a job, increasing clients; therefore get more hours and even perhaps a promotion. A customer who respects business, might go home with great product or have the most awesome service. Who knows? Through great communication, they even can have a great connection. Perhaps they will find something they are looking for. Perhaps that person knows someone who can help them with their endeavors.

We are all in Universe (Uni-One, Verse-Song) as Wayne W. Dyer puts it in his book “You’ll See It When You Believe It.” “No matter how we separate into individual little notes, we are still involved in the onesong.”

Albert Einstein challenges us to think outside ourselves and to see how we all are connected:

“A human being is a part of the whole called by us “Universe,” a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole nature in its beauty.”

Tags: "You'll See It When You Believe It", Albert Einstein, book, connection, Universe, Wayne W. Dyer, Wonderocity of Mind

Single’s Survival Guide to Valentine’s Day

No sweetheart on Valentine’s Day? No problem. Let’s make it a new sensation. Let’s proclaim it – a Freedom Day for Singles. While couples show love to each other, we can enjoy ourselves anyway we like it. We can spoil ourselves silly.

Here are 10 ways to celebrate Valentines Day when you are single.

1. Show extra love to our family, friends and pets.

2. Wear anything you like: dress up and go out or wear pajamas at home and be cozy. No need to impress anybody.

3. Buy flowers and presents for yourself. Spend money like nobody’s business. No need to consult anybody.

4. Spoil yourself silly by doing anything you want: go to the movies, eat a pound of ice cream, watch TV – anything goes.

5. Admire numerous guys or girls at once without any guilt. Hey, you’re just looking

6. Do not need to rack your brains trying to guess what kind of present you’ll get and then be disappointed if surprise is not what you expected.

7. Enjoy who you are without anybody trying to change you.

8. You can indulge yourself anyway you like it.

9. Take a vacation or do absolutely nothing or travel someplace exotic.

10. Be grateful that nobody gets on your nerves.