10 Strategies to Create a Joyful Christmas
I WISH YOU AND YOURS, A MERRY CHRISTMAS
Does the thought of attending all those family and social gatherings that come with the Christmas holidays fill you with as much dread as with joyous anticipation? Whether visiting your own family or your in-laws, Christmas is a holiday that can trigger feelings of negative emotion.
You may be running between parents, in-laws, divorced in-laws as well as sharing time with your own children with your former spouse. Or, if your spouse is a physician, you may be spending part of Christmas alone.
It is finding the balance and focus within yourself that will determine how you get through the holiday season. Prioritizing your time and energy and developing a plan of action in alignment with your priorities is one of the best ways to allow yourself to experience a joyful Christmas. Try these 10 Strategies for decreasing stress and having a happy holiday.
1. PRIORITIZE. When looking at a long list of invitations, Christmas gifts to buy, and things to do, prioritize both your time and your energy. Keep things simple whether it’s in the gifts you’re giving or the events you’re attending. Begin by taking a moment to quietly reflect and ask yourself what’s most important to you this Christmas.
2. JUST SAY “NO”. Remember the “Just Say ‘No’” anti-drug campaign used in schools? It is possible to lovingly “just say no” to family and friends this holiday season. Trying to attend too many parties in a limited amount of time can be overwhelming. Again, prioritize your invitations by their importance to you and where you can give and receive the most joy.
3. SET BOUNDARIES. Sometimes family gatherings can trigger negative emotions. Families have a way of falling back into old patterns of behavior whether those patterns are life sustaining or not. You may want to show up for your family or for your in-laws and still have feelings of anxiety and dread. Setting a boundary on the amount of time you will spend at each event may make it more comfortable for you.
4. HAVE AN ALLY. Have an ally to support you whether it’s by going shopping together or attending gatherings. This doesn’t necessarily mean a date but someone whom you love and trust. You know who feeds into your negativity and who doesn’t. Choose someone who is detached from any feelings you may experience and can be present in an unconditionally loving way.
5. MAINTAIN YOUR SPIRITUAL SPACE. What is spiritual space? Extend your arms out to your sides. Now turn in a circle. Everything within the diameter of that circle is your spiritual space. That’s the space you’re responsible for keeping in alignment and at peace. The power centers within that space are your mind and your heart. No one can enter that space or disturb it without your permission.
6. ALCOHOL. Alcohol is a social lubricant, often allowing you and others to interact more comfortably. It affects the functioning of various parts of the brain. It may free you from your inhibitions, making you feel more comfortable in social settings but it can also cause feelings of exaggerated emotion. Staying sober or limiting your intake of alcohol will allow you to enjoy the moment as well as allow you to maintain your own inner balance.
7. CAFFEINE & SUGAR. Both caffeine and sugar are stimulants that can contribute to feelings of anxiety. They take your energy up fast and then they let you crash. If you’re already feeling anxious and overwhelmed, caffeine & sugar will only contribute to those feelings. Try some sparkling water with a twist of lime rather than caffeinated or sugary drinks or foods.
8. INTENTIONS. Stating your intentions for the day and for each event is a powerful way to create the Christmas you want to have. Take time to center yourself, ask for guidance and state your intention each morning and before each event.
9. EMPATHY. “Empathy is the capacity to recognize or understand another’s state of mind or emotion. It is often characterized as the ability to “put oneself into another’s shoes”, or in some way experience the outlook or emotions of another being within oneself.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empathy). Having empathy and compassion for those around you are the greatest gifts you can give.
10. GRATITUDE. Gratitude is the quickest way into alignment in any situation. Did you know you can’t feel gratitude and negative emotion at the same time? Christmas is a good time to make a gratitude list and to express appreciation through your thought, word and deed.
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Pixie Stevenson, The Medical Marriage Maven. “I help women recharge their lives like they recharge their cell phones.” Personal Development & Relationship Coaching http://www.womenspathways.com
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Pixie Stevenson – EzineArticles Expert Author
Guide On How To Make Internet Passive Income
In the times of economic decline, who wouldn’t want to learn about passive income. It’s probably everyone’s dream to have some passive income streams. Here is a guide to internet passive income, that would give you the fundamentals and important resources in a short (<20 page) info loaded ebook by Collis Ta’eed. If you didn’t hear about Collis, he is famous for his “31 days to become a better blogger” tips.
What is Passive Income?
Passive income is creating an income stream that attracts cash-inflows even when you are not working on it (full time). It will take some work to start with and progresses to little work (if not, none) as it picks up.
FreelanceSwitch.com has this free e-book, titled A Guide To Making Passive Income. The book is available for download on one of their sites at NotByTheHour.com.
Experiment and focus on one passive income method till it works and repeat the process implementing your success formula.
Like anything else, the more time you put into it (initially), the more money you will end up making, but it will require less effort down the road – depending on how you position yourself.
I hope you would want to share your thoughts, experiences, recommendations about passive income.
Recommended Reading:
First Steps Towards Building your online business
Resources to sell your stock photos
How to integrate your wordpress blog with Linkshare
101 ways to make money online from About.Com
WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS, HAPPY & PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS.
Smiles,
Shri 
How To Promote An Event Or Conference Using Social Media
10 sure-fire ways to market / promote an event or conference using social Media.
Its a great idea to promote your event on social media. The only thing you have to think before starting to promote is, Are your target participants using social media?
If your answer is yes, then you might use the following methods.
1) Create a new twitter account and start providing updates about the event. Follow people you feel might be interested in your event based on their profile. Don’t start off by following hundreds at a time.
2) Create a special page for your event on facebook and promote the page among relevant groups.
[http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php
3) http://upcoming.yahoo.com lets you post about events for free. Post about your event and let people know through yahoo groups.
4) Start a meetup group on http://meetup.meetup.com
5) Publish your event on http://www.eventful.com. Eventful integrates with GPS applications like Where (for iPhone) that displays events close to you, based on your GPS location.
5) Write an informative whitepaper / e-book in pdf and post it to http://scribd.com
6) Make a podcast (informative audio) about your event and
7) Submit press releases to sites like
Make a slideshow with http://slideshare.net and post it.
9) Make a video (or/and screencast) about your event and post it to youtube and other video sharing sites like Revver, Vimeo, Veoh, Blip.tv
10) Write a news/article and submit to relevant sites that allow user/reader submissions.
Last but not least, you can inform your fellow linkedin pros through groups, Q&A.
If you have a website, add a blog and write about the event, so people have a place to get further information / contact you. You could even add a feature to sell tickets on your site/blog, if its a paid event.
Time to show-off/share your ideas. Use the comment box below. Feel free to shoot me if you have any questions.
Good luck,
Shri
http://twitter.com/ShriNagesh
http://linkedin.com/in/ShriNageshD
Internet Marketing Optimization: 7 Effective Internet Marketing Optimization Factors
Great, you have a website / blog- but how do you get people to visit it? And, how do you get them to do what you want once they get there? The answer: you need to employ some effective internet marketing optimization strategies for your site.
Internet marketing optimization is a set of techniques that can be leveraged to get your web site noticed by the people who matter most to your business. Whether you are looking for prospective buyers for your product or service or just have something wonderful to share with the world from your website, internet marketing optimization is the only way to get people there short of paying for advertising.
Here are 7 of the most important internet marketing optimization factors:
1. Start by clarifying the true goals of your website:
Many days, weeks or years ago, you or someone in your organization set out to build a website. Whether the site is new or was built long ago, you now face the a question that is of utmost urgency: why do we have this website and what do we want to do with it? You would be surprised to learn how many firms and individuals never sufficiently answer this question for themselves. You must define the goals of your website so that you can determine exactly what it is you want visitors to do once they arrive. If you don’t know what you site represents, how can you expect search engines to find it and classify it properly?
2.Identify the keywords for which you should optimize your site:
Think about it from a search engine’s perspective: its job is to connect the right content with the right searcher, serving up the content it finds in order of priority from best/most relevant to worst/least relevant. The way they do this is to first use “bots” (automated agents) to constantly scour most of the site on the Internet. So, when the bots get to your site, what will they see? How will they know how to classify your site? The only way is to make your site rich in the keywords most relative to what you do. So, short of “stuffing” your site (an SEO no-no) with keywords, pack your site with plenty of well-written, keyword-rich content that tells bots how to classify your site.
3. Fortify your site with the right meta tags:
Meta tags are, in essence, information about your site that only search engines see but that humans do not. There are many types of meta tags, but the ones you need to make sure you have properly covered in your internet marketing optimization efforts are: meta description, meta title, and meta keyword tags. Make sure that each of these is under the maximum character length and that each strategically includes your target keywords.
4. Submit your site to top search engines and directories:
One of the easiest ways to cut your teeth in search engine-optimizing your site is to submit it directly to top search engines and directories. Google, Yahoo! and the other major search engines have FREE services for submitting your URL/web address. (See my blog for details on how). The Open Directory Project and Yahoo! Directory also allow you to apply for consideration for inclusion in their directory services.
5. Add fresh content to your site regularly:
Search engines love fresh, quality content that is updated regularly. I suggest making a space on your site for recent articles, blog entries or news blurbs. Then, update that content frequently. Search engines will reward you with more frequent visits and better rankings. Also, having fresh content on your site also encourages Webmaster of other sites to link to your site (i.e., to form backlinks).
6. Get more backlinks to your site:
Speaking of backlinks: you can never have too many! Backlinks are merely links to your site from other sites. Backlinks are more valuable when: 1. you have lots of them; 2. the links themselves include keywords for which you are optimizing your site;. 3. the sites that are linking to your site are themselves well-regarded by search engines (e.g., have a high Google PageRank).
7. Have a compelling call to action:
Once you do all of this work to get people to your site via better search traffic, make sure you offer them something compelling to do once they get there. This is often referred to by marketers as a “call to action,” and your site needs one. So, make sure you make it clear to visitors what you most want them to do once they reach your site. Then, make that call-to-action so compelling that they will not be able to resist taking it.
Optimizing your website for maximum search is not difficult, but it does require careful consideration. Take these 7 factors into account and you will be doing better than 95% of the websites with whom you are competing for traffic.
For more FREE SEO tips and tools, bookmark and then regularly visit Jed’s Blog at: www.jcjinteractive.com/blog
Future Of Ecommerce – Selling Through the Mobile
Since we last wrote about the usability of mobile compatible websites, the rise of the iPhone and other high-end handsets has meant that even more people use the Internet on their phone. (Source: Nielsen Mobile/BBC). Companies have responded by creating more mobile-optimised websites, some of which now allow people to complete e-commerce transactions on the mobile, instead of simply researching for information. For example:
* Shoppers can buy any product on the Amazon.com catalogue through the Amazon mobile site
* Travellers can instantly book a room in any Travelodge UK hotel through the Travelodge mobile site and rail tickets at the Train Line mobile site
* Car owners can get an instant car insurance quote on the Swiftcover mobile site
* Music fans can purchase tickets for their favourite concerts at the SeeTickets mobile site
However, while many people are already comfortable making online purchases using a computer, doing the same through a mobile phone poses unique challenges. These challenges need to be addressed by mobile e-commerce sites. This article provides best practice guidelines for removing potential barriers between your customers and your mobile e-commerce site.