Your brain needs exercise just like a muscle. If you use it
often and in the right ways, you will become a more skilled
thinker and increase your ability to focus. But if you never use
your brain, or abuse it with harmful chemicals, your ability to
think and learn will deteriorate.
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Here are 5 simple ways anyone can squeeze a bit more
productivity out of the old gray matter.
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1. Minimize Television Watching - This is a hard sell. People
love vegetating in front of the television, myself included more
often than I’d like. The problem is watching television doesn’t
use your mental capacity OR allow it to recharge. It’s like
having the energy sapped out of a muscle without the health
benefits of exercise.
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Don’t you feel drained after a couple hours of TV? Your eyes are
sore and tired from being focused on the light box for so long.
You don’t even have the energy to read a book.
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When you feel like relaxing, try reading a book instead. If
you’re too tired, listen to some music. When you’re with your
friends or family, leave the tube off and have a conversation.
All of these things use your mind more than television and allow
you to relax.
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2. Exercise - I used to think that I’d learn more by not
exercising and using the time to read a book instead. But I
realized that time spent exercising always leads to greater
learning because it improves productivity during the time
afterwards. Using your body clears your head and creates a wave
of energy. Afterwards, you feel invigorated and can concentrate
more easily.
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3. Read Challenging Books - Many people like to read popular
suspense fiction, but generally these books aren’t mentally
stimulating. If you want to improve your thinking and writing
ability you should read books that make you focus. Reading a
classic novel can change your view of the world and will make
you think in more precise, elegant English. Don’t be afraid to
look up a word if you don’t know it, and don’t be afraid of
dense passages. Take your time, re-read when necessary, and
you’ll soon grow accustomed to the author’s style.
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Once you get used to reading challenging books, I think you’ll
find that you aren’t tempted to go back to page-turners. The
challenge of learning new ideas is far more exciting than any
tacky suspense-thriller.
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4. Early to Bed, Early to Rise - Nothing makes it harder to
concentrate than sleep deprivation. You’ll be most rejuvenated
if you go to bed early and don’t sleep more than 8 hours. If you
In today’s technological age, we often hear about the wide
stretches of the Internet. We are used to telescopes making
discoveries in distant planets. How often do you hear about the
power of an inch?
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That’s right just an inch.
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I talked with one of my friends yesterday who is staying in
another country. Even though it sounded like he was only a few
feet away through the phone, the sound was actually traveling
thousands of miles. That’s technology and that’s impressive.
But I’ve also been impressed lately by the power of an inch.
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You are probably saying now “What do you keep talking about the
power of an inch, an inch doesn’t have any power.”
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I’m talking about the inch that two muscles of each side of your
mouth moves when you smile. It takes tens of muscles to frown
but only two to smile. This is a power that every person can
wield no matter what economic level they are or how much
technology they have.
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I began to notice the power when going through checkout lines.
If I smiled when I got up to the register, it made the cashiers
smile even though they had customer after customer to ring up.
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Most of the people probably didn’t even consciously notice they
were smiling. It was as if my mouth moving a inch on each side
made some kind of unconscious knee jerk kind of reflex happen in
their brains. Without using hypnosis or offering people money,
you could get people to respond.
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You never know what one smile can do to a person’s day.
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Imagine a homeless person on the street sitting on a corner with
dirty clothes on and everybody passing by not wanting to even
look at them because they are afraid of what they might beg for.
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Now imagine what it would do for that same person if someone
looked them straight in the eyes and gave them a big genuine
smile and actually spoke to them first and said “Good afternoon,
it’s good to see you today.”
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Sometimes work beats us down so much that by the time we get
home our children may not see a smile the entire evening.
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In some marriages, smiles even among spouses have gone the way
of the retired practice of opening a car door during dating. As
I even thought about it, a smile and knowledge are two of the
In the 31 years since his untimely death, Marley still remains the most-popular figure in Reggae music. Succumbing to cancer at age 36 in 1981, Marley had become a global ambassador for the music he helped make famous.
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Marley’s passing shook the reggae and music community to its core; yet, his legacy remains intact through his timeless music catalog and talented children.
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Marley was born in the village of Nine Mile in Saint Ann Parish in Jamaica (also the birthplace of Marcus Garvey). Marley’s father was a white Jamaican man of English descent and his mother was a native of Jamaica. Discovering music as a teenager, Marley befriended Neville “Bunny” Livingston (aka Bunny Wailer) who shared his dreams of becoming a musician. Through singer Joe Higgs, the pair met Peter McIntosh (aka Peter Tosh) who also had similar ambitions. Recording his first songs in 1962, Marley and his friends would eventually be renamed The Wailers, after being discovered by a local record producer.
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Marrying Rita Anderson (now Marley) in 1966, Marley and his bride made a sojourn to the United States to live near his mother in Wilmington, De. Marley soon teamed up with American singer Johnny Nash (“I Can See Clearly Now”) and nabbed a deal with CBS Records. Marley and the Wailers went on tour with Nash before their label deal went sour and the band ended up stranded in London in 1972. From there, Marley contacted Island Records’ founder Chris Blackwell and was advanced funds to record the hit album “Catch A Fire.”
Shortly after the release of their major-label debut, Bunny Wailer and Peter Tosh went their
A lawyer and a Jamaican are sitting next to each other on a long flight.
The lawyer is thinking that Jamaicans are so dumb that he can fool them easy… So the lawyer asks if the Jamaican would like to play a fun game.
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The Jamaican is tired and just wants to take a nap, so he politely declines and tries to catch a few winks. The lawyer persists and says that the game is a lot of fun.
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‘I ask you a question, and if you don’t know the answer, you pay me only $5; You ask me one, and if I don’t know the answer, I will pay you $500.’
This catches the Jamaican’s attention and to keep the lawyer quiet, he agrees to play the game.
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The lawyer asks the first question.
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‘What’s the distance from The Earth to the moon?’
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The Jamaican doesn’t say a word, reaches in his pocket pulls out a five-dollar bill, and hands it to the lawyer.
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Now, it’s the Jamaican’s turn.
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He asks the lawyer, ‘What goes up a hill with three legs, and comes down with four?’
As the First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama has become a role model in the awareness arena for healthy eating, sharing her homegrown recipes via her cookbook. Next celebrity chef? She has also become a fashion icon and has been named by Forbes Magazine as the eighth most powerful woman in the world.
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First lady Michelle Obama speaks at the Democratic National Committee’s Women’s Leadership Forum in Washington….
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First lady Michelle Obama speaks on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, Oct. 17, 2011, during an event to honor schools that met the first lady’s goal to double the number of participants in the HealthierUS School Challenge in year.
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Michelle Obama attends cultural performances in Brasilia, Brazil….
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Michelle Obama introduces President Barack Obama at a DNC fundraiser at Gotham Hall, New York-
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Michelle Obama gestures before introducing her husband President Barack Obama at a DNC fundraiser at Gotham Hall in New York. She’s mingled barefoot among Aspen’s elite, stirred a Vermont utility executive to tears and bucked up disenchanted New Yorkers. The 2012 presidential campaign is well under way for Michelle Obama, and the first lady is promising to put herself into the election effort like never before. More than a year from Election Day, she is hauling in millions in campaign cash and sketching a portrait of her husband drawn with an intimacy that no one else could duplicate.
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Michelle Obama speaks to children at Christ Church College in Oxford, England.- ..
Michelle Obama speaks to children from Elizabeth Garrett Anderson school in London as they visit Christ Church College in Oxford, England.
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Apr 26 2012
