The study by researchers at the Stanford Graduate School of Business found those who believe in their own attractiveness view themselves as having higher social status. “The finding that your assessment of yourself shapes your view of yourself and others puts power into your hands,” the authors note.

Consider how these science-based suggestions may help you put your best foot forward when dealing with everything life throws your way.

• Get moving. Regardless of your fitness goals, the fact is you’re likely to feel better physically, emotionally and mentally after you exercise. Research also shows it can improve your self-esteem.
• Ramp up your smile. Scientists say our brains are zapped with an instant mood boost when we smile, and that boost is reinforced when others smile back. Further, whiter teeth can have a direct effect on our social and professional interactions, and they’re now easy to achieve through consumer brands like Rembrandt’s 1 Week Whitening Kit that can achieve professional-level results at home within a week.
• Let your body language communicate self-respect. Keeping your shoulders pulled back and your body straight and tall communicates confidence to your brain, studies show. Research found the most empowering stance is one in which your arms are held slightly away from your torso, your body is open and your head is up.
• Optimize color in your clothing. The right shade may light up your entire face and have a surprising impact on your mood. “Choosing the color of your office, your clothes or your desktop should not be taken lightly — colors do affect our moods and productivity,” states a recent article on Scienceofpeople.com. “When given the choice, picking a color that will work with you and not against you can only help.”
• Wear scent strategically. Because our brains link certain smells to positive experiences, research suggests we may be able to ramp up our confidence with scents that remind us of happy times. That’s why aromatherapy can help alleviate anxiety, depression and sleeplessness, and improve quality of life for those with chronic health issues, confirms the Mayo Clinic.
• Bottom line: When you’re taking care of yourself and projecting your best self, you’re far more likely to project the confidence you need to deal effectively with life.

“Confidence can make or break a lot of things,” advises Lecia Bushak on Medicaldaily.com. “In our extrovert-centric society, confidence can get you a job, a girlfriend, and the courage to say no to people or situations that are toxic to you. Confidence is knowing yourself and taking care of yourself, too.”

*BPT

The post Science-based suggestions for self-confidence appeared first on AKAMom Magazine.

As most of us would agree that the holidays are not just about eating, making resolutions and getting presents, but about giving, centering ourselves in relation to others and togetherness, what better way to give back to others than by planning our travel around these holiday themes of balance and goodwill? That’s right – travel as a way of giving back. Think about it as practice for all of those New Year’s Resolutions. Only this time, the resolutions aren’t simply to help you lose a few inches or to get out more; these resolutions will not only edify your person, but the lives of those less fortunate – a real treat for everyone involved!

So in addition to planning all of those resolutions involving traveling to the gym and/or communicating more often with friends and loved ones, how about activities that will enhance the lives of those immediately and severely in need. Activities such as food drives, volunteering in hospitals, Santa mail, and spending a few hours a week handing out food in a soup kitchen are all ways to give back this season – and also when the season ends – in a wonderful way!

Canned Food Drives

Food can drives are perhaps one of the easiest ways to give back, especially for those who, due to jobs or other commitments, may not have the hours to put into lending a hand by traveling to a specific location. And with many churches, community venues and youth organizations putting on can drives for the holidays, there are plenty of outlets for individuals wanting to get involved. One variation on this theme involves the care packages that some stores offer to their customers to purchase at set prices. These are often placed by registers or put together by scouts. All the customer needs to do is donate a specific amount and the pre-made packages, sometimes even with the money collected for the packages, then go to a local charity/food bank.

Hospital/Hospice Volunteers

One of the most heartbreaking realities, especially during the holiday season, is the fact that many people do not have friends or loved ones to wish them happy holidays or to spend time with them. While the rest of the world is consumed with the spirit of giving and the drive to reconnect and reach out to friends and family, many must accept the fact that this happens to be one of the hardest seasons for those who, for whatever reason, are alone.

Hospitals, hospices and homeless shelters are some of the busiest places this time of year, and also the places largely populated with people who happen to be alone.

There are many organizations, as well as hospitals themselves, that organize activities which can bring a bit of holiday cheer to someone in need. Whether reading bedtime stories to children or the elderly, assisting with arts and crafts at a senior center, putting on staged performances, or even Christmas caroling for the sick, there are plenty of ways to get involved and with minimal travel involved as well. Though those with big hearts might not mind the distance, there is also something very rewarding in helping out unfortunate individuals and families that happen are a part of your local community.

Santa Mail/Gift Giving/Secret Santa

Though most of the official Santa Mail drives hosted by the United States Postal Service and smaller venues have already reached their deadline for this holiday season, it’s never too late to pay it forward or simply gift a person in need with something to make the day – and the holiday – brighter! It can be as simple as your child bringing homemade brownies to school for his/her classmates, making baked goods or simple crafts for local groups that give gifts to shelters and the needy for the holiday season, giving a gift secretly or simply remembering to say thank you and smile to those you interact with on a daily basis!

Christmas Caroling

One of the great things about Christmas caroling is that, though there are plenty of groups and organizations out there to get involved with, this fun-filled activity is as simple as getting a group of friends and/or loved ones together and hitting the streets for a night of audible good cheer. And if no one wants to brave the night, the cold or possible embarrassment, you can always go Christmas caroling on your own, and perhaps even pick up some new friends along the way! The reason for this is that Christmas caroling, like karaoke, is more about camaraderie, togetherness and getting into the spirit of the event than being concerned about voice, tone and pitch! It’s about seeing the smiles of the faces of others, and about having a wonderful time!

Soup Kitchens

Soup kitchens are undeniably busy during the holiday season. Along with church groups and sponsored community events, there are homeless shelters and food banks as well that offer free meals to those in need year round. A wonderful way of giving back is to help out for a few hours or evenings – whatever your schedule might allow – and assist a community, school and/or youth group in feeding the hungry. As mentioned earlier, some groups and organizations accept food from the public as well, while others may have a need for people to help cook and prepare food before the actual task of serving it.

Whatever your role may be, and whatever it is that you and your family might choose to do in an effort to help those in need this time of year, the holiday season, as well as the “season of giving” that should be year round for those in need, is a great time to help make someone’s hardship or difficulty into a moment of universal love, peace and compassion.

The following websites can help you in your decision to help make life a bit brighter for someone in need. Happy Holidays!

• Feeding America: http://www.feedingamerica.org/find-your-local-foodbank/
• Food Kitchens: http://www.foodpantries.org/
• Volunteers of America: http://www.voa.org/volunteer
• Santa Mail: http://www.santamail.org/
• USPS Santa Mail: http://about.usps.com/news/electronic-press-kits/holidaynews/2014/

USPS Operation Santa Participating Offices: http://about.usps.com/news/electronic-press-kits/holidaynews/2014/pdf/operation-santa-post-offices-2014.pdf

The post Travel, Balance and Goodwill for the Holidays – and Beyond! appeared first on AKAMom Magazine.

Santa, reindeer and elves. Lights, decorations and presents. It’s easy for children to get wrapped up in the hype of Christmas. Sometimes even us parents do. And it’s hard not to as the holiday continues to become more and more commercialized. We can’t even finish Thanksgiving before it all starts, after all.

But it’s important that children know this really isn’t what Christmas is about. Yes, it’s fun getting into the activities and memorable family time. As a parent, there’s something special about seeing the joy on your child’s face as they open the toy they were begging for; but that’s not what Christmas is about. It’s not just about receiving presents.

Christmas is about having the spirit of helping and being kind to others. It’s about being selfless and thinking of others who may be less fortunate or simply having a bad day. You could say it’s about all of us acting like Santa Claus.
So how do we teach our children about the spirit of Christmas without dampening their spirit?

In various ways we are taught to help one another and to love our neighbors. While we should help others throughout the year, during Christmas there’s even more need. As a family you could pick one or multiple days to volunteer at a homeless shelter or soup kitchen. You could also participate in or start your own food, clothing or supplies drive. Far too many people – children included – go hungry, cold or without basic necessities. By serving others together as a family you will teach your children to be grateful for what they have, because so many others are less fortunate.

While we all want to spoil our children and give them everything they asked for, minimize the number of gifts you give them. If you’re a big giver of gifts you may consider gradually cutting back to ease both of you into the new tradition. Consider giving them something they want (which can be from Santa Claus), something they need (which is likely something they didn’t ask for), something practical (maybe something for school or sports) and an educational gift (something they can learn from, either with current school studies or an item they can use with a hobby or potential hobby). You could also ask them to give up receiving a gift and donate that money to a charity of their choice, or taking some of their allowance and buying a gift to donate to Toys for Tots. Cutting back on the number of gifts you give and making them purposeful will slowly but surely teach them that Christmas is not all about the presents.

To spread the idea of giving throughout the year, you could ask your children to put aside a portion of their allowance and pick a charity to donate it to at the end of the year or to use it to do something nice for someone else who is less fortunate. Not only will this teach them the concept of helping and giving to others, this will also show them that they don’t have to spend every dime they have.

The spirit of the season also includes simple but meaningful intangibles such as kind gestures towards strangers. Encourage them to open and hold the door for others, to pick up something from the floor when someone has dropped something, letting someone go ahead of them in line somewhere, helping someone reach or carry something, and simply smiling and saying hello to someone when you pass by.

By no means am I suggesting doing away with the lights, decorations, treats and believing in reindeer that can fly. It’s all good fun and makes for fantastic family memories. Just remember at the end of the day that the true spirit of the season comes from the heart and is based on the idea of helping and giving to others.

 
About Jennifer Chung & Kinsights:
Jennifer Chung is a parenting expert and co-founder of Kinsights.com: part parenting community, part online health record. Kinsights provides parents with a safe place to seek answers to their questions while also helping them track their child’s health information. Organize your child’s growth and developmental milestones, immunizations, medications, allergies, and more.  Connect with Kinsights at https://kinsights.com to learn more and sign-up! You can also follow them on Facebook and Twitter (@kinsights).

The post Teaching Our Children The Meaning of Christmas appeared first on AKAMom Magazine.

By John Christmann

www.dadinthebox.com

It is a cold Sunday afternoon in December.  I am high on a ladder wrestling with a tangled mesh of long wire cords laced with thousands of tiny Christmas lights that probably won’t work.  The light strings are draped in long chains around my neck like a yoke. My fingers are numb.

My wife and kids look up at me expectantly from the ground. They look like ants. This is not fun, and I let my grumpy sentiments be known. My wife cups her hands around her mouth and yells up to me. “Bah Humbug,” she says.

I must confess, these are words I hear frequently as I prepare our house for the holidays.  In fact, I have already been compared to Scrooge so often that I am starting to imagine Jacob Marley in my doorknocker every time I enter the house.

Oh, I am not a miser like Scrooge, although I do buy all of our intermittent lights at the Dollar Store. But I often articulate a high degree of cynicism over the sprawling Christmas industrial complex which generates high voltage frenzy each year and then abruptly shuts down leaving me with a stack of bills, a dead tree in my living room, and the empty pit of January in my stomach.

The fact is, it’s a lot of work to maintain a festive atmosphere of joy, and the holidays are a time of stress for a lot of people.  Especially me, Ebenezer Scrooge. Bah Humbug.

I shout down from the ladder, “OK plug it in.” My son ceremoniously forces the cords together and I hunch forward atop my perch waiting for the explosion. It doesn’t come. 

I open one eye and look at the long expanse of crystal lights piercing the dusk. Below my family is huddled happily together in the cold, staring in wonderment at the simple beauty of neatly arrayed Christmas lights. In the faint glow, they look like ghosts. 

I feel like a new man, and I smile with a new found spirit of holiday optimism.  All of the tiny bulbs shine. God bless them . . . everyone.

The post Illuminating Spirits appeared first on AKAMom Magazine.