When we think in terms of communication, we envision either the “face to face” or the virtual kind (email, text messaging, etc.) One seems personal and the others, well, we try to make them personal, but something always seems like it’s always a little missing.

And while it’s hard to make electronic messages genuinely personal, a phone call falls somewhere in the middle. No, that person isn’t face-to-face but you are hearing a human voice and communication certainly does occur.

Here are a few ways to add some positivity to your phone communications:

1. Check your Voice. We all respond to calm, soothing voices in a positive manner. Before you call a friend or a colleague, hum and yawn a little. This brings your voice forward and assists in making your speaking voice sound more melifluous and welcoming.

2. Start it off Right. Just as we often judge someone within seconds of meeting, we also can sense someone’s mood fairly quickly by the way he or she answers the phone. Remember to sound upbeat and happy to hear the caller, regardless of whether you are. Better communications happen when people feel respected and honored.

3. Listen, listen and listen. Listening is even more challenging on the phone than in person. Take a moment to breathe and genuinely hear what the person has to tell you. Hear the way in which they’re telling you something. Listening is always key and more important when we’re physically removed from the person with whom we’re speaking.

4. End Kindly. A proper goodbye feels good to both parties. Don’t end too abruptly; some people feel secretly hurt by hasty departures. Think of being on a see-saw with a friend. When it’s time to get off, you do so gently and fairly, together, so both parties feel safe and content.

Therapy can encompass a wide range of treatment. Therapy can be something you create. Therapy can be something you desperately need. Therapy should not be shunned. And yes, therapy can work. Here’s some quotes on the matter:

A lot of what I’ve been learning in the last two years is due to therapy - about my sexuality, why things go wrong, why relationships haven’t worked. It isn’t anything to do with anybody else; it’s to do with me.
Boy George

Acting is probably the greatest therapy in the world. You can get a lot stuff out of you on the set so you don’t have to take it home with you at night. It’s the stuff between the lines, the empty space between those lines which is interesting.
Robert Carlyle

All of my problems are rather complicated - I need an entire novel to deal with them, not a short story or a movie. It’s like a personal therapy.
Manuel Puig

Being able to improvise is the basis for creating all characters and situations, for everything to do with performing, really. And it’s good therapy as well.
Chris Kattan

Being in therapy is great. I spend an hour just talking about myself. It’s kinda like being the guy on a date.
Caroline Rhea

Getting on stage is a bonus, that’s my therapy, that’s when I can tell stories and it all makes sense.
Jason Mraz

I do it as a therapy. I do it as something to keep me alive. We all need a little discipline. Exercise is my discipline.
Jack LaLanne

I don’t really look at myself as the kind of person who craves attention, but I’ve never been to therapy so there’s probably a lot of stuff about myself that I don’t know.
Al Yankovic

I got into therapy in the fifth grade because I said in a sarcastic way that I was going to kill myself, and they didn’t get it then. Nothing’s changed.
Fiona Apple

Sigmund Freud

Whether metaphorically or literally, singing is a beautiful way of expressing yourself. So let your heart sing out or sing your favorite song proudly. Let these quotes inspire you to sing today. Sing like you just don’t care.

My heart is like a singing bird.
Christina Rossetti

I spent many years laughing at Harry Secombe’s singing until somebody told me that it wasn’t a joke.
Spike Milligan

Gardens are not made by singing ‘Oh, how beautiful,’ and sitting in the shade.
Rudyard Kipling

Love, I find, is like singing. Everybody can do enough to satisfy themselves, though it may not impress the neighbors as being very much.
Zora Neale Hurston

My heart is singing for joy this morning! A miracle has happened! The light of understanding has shone upon my little pupil’s mind, and behold, all things are changed!
Anne Sullivan

No; we have been as usual asking the wrong question. It does not matter a hoot what the mockingbird on the chimney is singing. The real and proper question is: Why is it beautiful?
Bertrand Russell

Nothing I have done professionally will top the feeling I got when singing with John Farnham at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.
Olivia Newton-John

Singing is the love of my life, but I was ready to give it all up because I couldn’t handle people talking about how fat I was.
Stevie Nicks

Stevie Nicks

Read more: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/singing_2.html#ixzz1nmobtYjx

Attraction is a broad concept that can apply to a number of circumstances and interactions yet its underlying meaning remains the same. There is a desire, a magnetic pull, almost beyond our control at times, that brings one element toward another.

What is this magical force?

And that, to me, is the main attraction to comics. It’s an avenue to say what you want to say.
Bill Sienkiewicz

Attraction is beyond our will or ideas sometimes.
Juliette Binoche

Faith always contains an element of risk, of venture; and we are impelled to make the venture by the affinity and attraction which we feel in ourselves.
Dean Inge

He is greatest whose strength carries up the most hearts by the attraction of his own.
Henry Ward Beecher

I am dominated by one thing, an irresistible, burning attraction towards the abstract.
Gustave Moreau

I believe very strongly that when it comes to desire, when it comes to attraction, that things are never black and white, things are very much shades of grey.
Brian Molko

I had an almost fetishistic attraction to film technology.
Lars von Trier

I have never fallen in love with my own voice, but I’ve always had an attraction for it.
Tom Snyder

I hope I’m not a tourist attraction - I’m sure that they come here really because St. Andrews is just amazing, a beautiful place.
Prince William

I live my life parallel with my work, and they are both equally important. I’m always amazed how much people talk about celebrity and fame. I don’t understand the attraction.
Cate Blanchett

I wasn’t good at being affable. You get beyond that and realise the attraction in any human being has more to do with what they give to someone rather than just being face candy.
Alison Moyet

Yes, the companionship is amazing. You know, you can get that physical attraction that happens is great, but then there’s an awful lot of time and the rest of the day that you have to fill.
Vince Gill

I suspect the secret of personal attraction is locked up in our unique imperfections, flaws and frailties.
Hugh Mackay

Social commentator, Hugh Mackay

The designers understood the risk. The city waited with baited breath. Would one of the largest living roofs flourish or flop? Well, the answer is somewhere in-between:

It’s been three years since the green roof was planted on Vancouver’s new convention centre.
Is it a success? Is it as good as they promised it would be?
The answer is that some parts are terrific — attractive, quality planting; a beautiful habitat for songbirds and insect life.
But other areas are untidy, scrubby, a bit of a mess; you might even say, an eyesore, and a fair ways from what they could or should be.

Overall, the roof is more a success than a flop, but there’s definitely room for improvement, so the designers should not spend too much time patting themselves on the back. There’s still some refining work to do.
Covering 2.4 hectares (just over six acres), it is still the largest living roof in Canada and the largest non-industrial green roof in North America.
But being 10 storeys above ground, you can’t see much of it from street level, say from outside the Fairmont Pacific Rim at Canada Place.
The roof is mostly visible to people working in adjacent highrise office blocks, such as the Shaw Tower, or living in luxury condos opposite.

Read more at the Vancouver Sun.

Young adults gain knowledge and compassion when part of charitable projects. Their self-confidence increases as well as their sense of community, which has staying power for a lifetime. This story shows how students and communities work together to help needy families, and interestingly, help themselves:

Normally, the day before Thanksgiving on the campus of Gonzaga High School in Washington, D.C is found to be silent. All the students are at home with their families and enjoying the holiday break. However, that is not the case in the basement of the next door church. Faculty, staff and parents have gathered to volunteer their time to feed the needy.

Inside the basement, folks worked diligently all day long making Thanksgiving dinners with all the trimmings to feed about 50 people that are older and live nearby in the lower income dwellings. The meals are a welcome sight and are a blessing to those that receive them from the volunteers from the school. The holidays are not the only time that this charitable work occurs. Volunteers help feed the needy twice a week all year long in a project founded in 2001.

The project, started by Robert Egger is called the Campus Kitchens Project (CKP) and it uses resources that are both available and left over. They use the campus kitchens, the leftover food and volunteer students to help prepare and feed the hungry. The program has taken hold and spread to 28 colleges and 3 high schools.

Read more at Amazing News.

Stress, depression, anxiety, addiction, OCD - they all share a certain addictive thought pattern. So what are some techniques (note how I didn’t say “easy” - nothing simple about breaking well-worn, ingrained mental patterns) to help you breathe easier and get back to your life?

1. Breathe. Oh sure, you’ve heard it before. Too overly simplistic for you, you say? Well, try it. Now. For one minute. Do nothing but focus on taking deep, diaphragmatic breaths. By doing this exercise, you remind your body and mind that you can live in the moment. Plus, deep breathing is naturally relaxing and helps you detense.

2. Freak out. We live in very contained times. The idea of screaming or crying or thrashing about in the middle of your living room floor is, well, frowned upon. But why do you think children do it? It’s a natural way to release pent-up emotions and bring you back in the moment. Whether its a good cry or a scream into a pillow, tap into all that negativity and release.

3. Just say no. Negative cylical thinking feeds off of itself. Your mind wants nothing more than to fixate. Can you catch yourself, even if for a moment, and request a “rethought”? A rethought is simple a replacement thought. So if you’re obsessing about your partner who hurt your feelings, can you catch yourself and think “What do I need to get at the store this?” It derails that addictive thought and reminds you that YOU ultimately have control over your emotional state.

None of this is easy. But doing nothing or self-medicating or denying doesn’t help much either. Underneath all of that obsessive thought is usually some old grief and anger. When you realize the pain that really lies underneath, you suddenly begin to feel more in control and less at the whim of negative thinking patterns.

This article kind of blew me away today with its simplicity and relevance. We often see children act out and react accordingly. But did we ever think of teaching them about emotions and how to recognize how they’re feeling before they act out? Smart idea!

An educational approach known as social and emotional learning (SEL), being implemented in individual schools—and now, for the first time, whole districts—has proven effective at simultaneously improving students’ academic performance, behavior, and well-being.

SEL prescribes approaching students as complex human beings whose learning and behavior are just as impacted by their emotions—and their control over those emotions—as they are by the quality of instruction and discipline. Recognizing that intellectual and emotional faculties develop symbiotically, the approach involves teaching students how to recognize and talk about their feelings, empathize with others, and resolve conflicts peacefully as a way to strengthen both academic achievement and emotional stability.

SEL students exhibited markedly improved social and emotional skills, attitudes, and behavior, compared to similar peers who were not enrolled in SEL programs.

For example, the PATHs (Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies) program teaches self-regulation to early elementary students with the “Turtle Technique,” which involves using self-talk to inwardly analyze emotions and come up with ways to express oneself other than acting out. Young students learn this technique through trainings on identifying and labeling emotions and using specific strategies to manage them.

Read more here.

Imagine what could happen if instead of focusing on worst-case scenarios and fears, we put our attention on what we deeply desire and are working toward?

Let’s take a moment of thanks and appreciation for the Occupy Wall Street protesters. You don’t have to agree with them. But they are exercising their rights as US citizens and taking a stand and attempting to make a positive change.

What can you do today to take a stand, no matter how small? Make a difference in your own life first and the ripple effect will occur. How can you instill in others around you the importance of standing up for your rights?

Often when bad things happen in our lives, its hard to see any potential of good coming out of it. Most of the time, years later, we can see it. In this next story, amidst something as invasive as a burglary, some good remained.

Just last week a small church in the town of Greenwood Indiana was broken into; in the process the thieves stole dozens of musical instruments including one that had special sentimental value to many members of the church. That particular instrument belong to the pastor’s son who died in a car crash 4 months ago so it is not surprising that they felt so bad after the guitar was stolen.

Fortunately today the thieves apparently heard to story and felt bad about what had been done. Upon arriving at the church Pastor Schmidt found the guitar abandoned in the alley way right next to the church. Pastor Schmidt says it is nothing other than a miracle from good hearted people who have apparently made some poor decisions in their lives.

Obviously the thieves were not captured in the process but Schmidt says he is grateful that they decided to return the guitar with so much sentimental value to them. The search for the thieves is still on going but for the time being Pastor Schmidt and the entire congregation are happy that his son’s guitar has been returned.

It isn’t every day that groups of thieves hear heartwarming stories like the one from Pastor Schmidt but he claims that his prayers must have been a major influence. Whatever the reason, he was simply glad to finally have back a piece of his son’s memory as it is one of the last things he has to remind him of his late son’s life.

Trent Schmidt

Source: Amazing News