Family Food Expenses and Eating Habits Around the World

How much do you spend on food a month between dining out and eating in?

BBC News asked six families around the world (China, India, UK, Guatemala, Kenya, and Egypt) to share their food expenses and describe how the global rise in food prices has affected their eating habits.

To read the article and find out how your food habits compare simply type or copy and paste the following address into your browser: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/7287793.stm

3 Ways To Speed Up The Law of Attraction

Starting your day the right way takes more than just getting out of bed on the right side. If you want to maximize your time and direct your energy towards those areas in your life that count, make sure you consider starting your day with these 3 points in mind.

1. Every day you are blessed with the gift to open your eyes each morning, take a moment then to remind yourself what else you are grateful for. In fact, make it a point not to get out of bed until you can at least find three things to be grateful for. Feel the emotion fill your body as you become appreciative and thankful of whatever you are grateful for.

2. Set the day with positive intentions by ensuring that you only accept the finest thoughts for the first hour of your day. Some people call this time the Golden Hour, as the things that you do in the first hour will set the tone for your entire day.

3. Take at least 30 minutes to sit quietly and to reflect on your goals. Let your mind wander freely around your intentions. This is the time to review and revise any plans as necessary. By focusing on your goals in this manner you will undoubtedly bring the manifestation into reality quicker and easier than you would without it.

To accomplish the above strategies will require both time and willpower. At first you will be tempted to rush through these exercises and get on with your day. If you are already strapped for time and truly committed to seeing change, you may just have to get up a half an hour earlier to spend this special time with yourself.

Take the challenge and incorporate this 3 step formula into your daily waking routine for just one month. Send me an e-mail and let me know what your goal was, and if you were able to manifest it within the challenge period.

10 Ways To Naturally Improve Sleep

Wouldn't it be nice to stop being tired in the morning?

Besides eating breakfast, getting your required hours of physical sleep is the other major factor in your energy levels for the day. Since you can only excel and perform as best as your level of energy it is important to get your nightly zzz's.

Here's 10 Ways To Naturally Improve Your Sleep

1. Limit Caffeine
At night, make sure you put away your last tea or can of coke away at least 3 to 4 hours before bed time make sure you body has the best chance to rest.

2. Air Quality – Room Temp
If your room is too cold you might want to consider getting a portable heater or extra blankets. If it is too hot then perhaps open a window if possible.

3. Air Quality - Improving
If you own pets then their dander is likely around your room. Get a portable air filter or air ionizer to purify the air and have your lungs saying hallelujah!

4. Personal Comfort
There's no excuse for not getting a good sleep because of noise or too much light. If this is your problem then splurge on yourself and invest in some use ear plugs or eye masks.

5. Bed Comfort Back
A quality matress should be treated like a valued best friend, after all you spend so much time together and it's got your back in most situations.

6. Bed Comfort Head & Neck
Take some time to shop around and try out different pillows with different levels of support. Too soft or stiff and your neck will cramp up overnight so decide wisely.

7. Bed Bug Free Sheets
Keeping your bed clean should be a given, but many still need to be sold on buying high quality sheets. For the finishing touch on your sound sleep think high quality, fresh and soft.

8. Get Physical
Using the body naturally makes it tired, so take a nightly walk, go to the gym at a later time, or find a way to get active before calling it a night.

9. Practice Relaxation
Quality alone time is under rated and under valued. Ideally, spend some alone time right before bed, this will quiet the mind and relax your state of being before bedtime.

10. Change Your Alarm
Switch to soothing sound so you don't dread getting up in the morning to that awful ear-breaking buzzer. When you don't dread getting up you won't dreat going to sleep as much either.

The only irony in this post is that by the time I finished it, the time was after 2:30am, we'll at least I'll get a solid 3 hour sleep. This would be a good time to point out that if you have any form of wickedness inside you then these techniques will not work, because as you've heard, there's no rest for the wicked ;)

Happy sleeping!

Who is your best friend?

Who is your best friend?

What kind of relationship do you and your best friend have together?

Feeling stuck in your current relationship but want to work it out? Perhaps you just want to take your relationship to the next level? Living by the following 3 keys, will help you fully enjoy the benefits of having a best friend.

1. Pay attention to what you say to your best friend

2. Pay attention to what your best friend is saying

3. Give your best friend unconditional love

Here's the twist...

All successful people have the SAME best friend!

You know it now right? YOU!

If you didn't answer yourself that is ok, we are sure you meant to anyway.

Well now that the secrets out of the bag, does it change any of your answers?

Re-read the top 3 keys and put 'yourself' as the best friend in question.

Love ya! You're the best!

The Memory Formula

10 - 24 - 7

Need to remember something? Here's how to make it a habit:

10 - 24 - 7 is the number you need to remember as a formula for making a habit of things.

Here's how it works:

10 = 10 Minutes.
You need to do the desired behaviour for at least ten minutes.

24 = 24 Hours.
You need to do the desired behaviour within 24 hours of the last time.

7 = 7 Times.
You need to repeat the desired behaviour for 7 times.

For example: If you wanted to committ a specific routine from your favorite yoga instructor you would do the following:

- Practice the yoga routine for at least 10 minutes.
- Practice the same yoga routine within 24 hours.
- Practice your yoga routine regiment 7 times.

Voila!! you now will have impressed upon yourself the memory of doing the yoga routine without instructions.

*Interesting note: 10 - 24 - 7 = -21 (number of days to turn something into a habit)

For more information like this and on building healthy habits, check out my squidoo page

Surprising New Cell Phone Link...

Did you know that the cell phone was invented because of the Nazi Germany?

Wait... before some of you get all crazy and denounce usage of your cell phone, please allow me to explain!

To know the whole story we must introduce you to Hedy Lamarr
Although better known as an actress, Austrian Hedy Lamarr (born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler) was also an influential female inventor.

Hoping to help combat the Nazis in World War II, Lamarr and co-inventor George Anthiel developed a “Secret Communications System” that manipulated radio frequencies at irregular intervals between transmission and reception. The resulting unbreakable code prevented classified messages from being intercepted.

The “spread spectrum” technology that Lamarr helped to invent influenced the digital communications boom, forming the technical backbone that makes possible cellular phones, fax machines and other wireless operations.

Why is this important?

This story illustrates that sometimes very needed and desirable effects can come from seemingly unneccesary and undesirable causes.

The next time something seemingly horrible or unexpected happens in your life, remember that there are always two sides to every coin and be open to the lesson behind it all. Fire can be viewed as a destructive force but we must also consider with the danger of fire comes a chance for new life.

Seeing life is all it's beauty is all a matter of perspective, and the great news is you are free to change yours as you see fit!