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Eyestrain is a common problem that most of us have experienced at least once. It is a well-known issue that mostly affects people working with video display terminals (VDTs).

Now, eyestrain means different things to different people. It can be experienced as burning, tightness, sharp pains, dull pains, watering, blurring, double vision, headaches, and other sensations, depending on the person. But as a rule of thumb, if you have any eye discomfort caused by viewing something, you can call it eyestrain.

Basically, eyestrain occurs when you over-use your eye muscles. Any muscle held in one position too long will strain – try to hold your left arm stretched horizontally for two hours and see what happens. When you concentrate on tasks such as reading, working at the computer or watching television for any length of time, your inner eye muscles tighten up causing your eyes to get irritated, dry and uncomfortable.

The problems generated by eyestrain are numerous. The effects of eye discomfort have a direct impact on productivity, and articles in the Journal of the American Optometric Association suggest that eye discomfort can decrease the productivity of an individual by 4 to 9 percent.

The pain generated by eye discomfort has been estimated to cost United States employers as over $61 billion per year – as much as 3.5 hours of productive time are lost each week.

Also, suffering from eyestrain has a big impact on the personal life of an individual, as it results in low morale and other related issues.

However, the solution to solving eyestrain is very simple!

Relaxation techniques are used for, obviously, relaxation. But studies have shown that very few people know how to rest and relax their eyes effectively.

Eye relaxation exercises offer relief for dry eyes, reduce computer eye strain and treat other eye strain symptoms.

9 tips and exercises to pamper your eyes

1. Palming. A neat little exercise; here’s how to do it: while sitting comfortably, gently cup the palms of the hands over the closed eyelids and attempt to see “perfect black” in order to give the mind and the visual system as much rest as possible. Keep the position for ten minutes. This exercise does wonders for me! The refreshing effects are close to those of a good night’s sleep.
2. In places where you spend lots of time, avoid direct glare. Direct glare involves a light source shining directly into the eyes - ceiling lights, task lights, or bright windows. To determine the degree of direct glare, you can temporarily shield your eyes with a hand and notice whether you feel immediate relief. If you do, change your position or try blocking the glare.
3. When working with VDTs like computer monitors, tune the contrast. The words and numbers on screen are formed by fuzzy beams of light that are much harder to read than print on a page. To minimize the strain on your eyes, set the monitor contrast knob on high.
4. Close your eyes. Shutting your eyes for a few minutes or even several seconds will refocus them and ease the strain.
5. Blink often. Try to blink at least twice every ten seconds. Blinking helps clean and moisten the eyes, and eases tight eye muscles (those appear as a result of gazing for too long).
6. Splash water on closed eyes. Sprinkle cold water from a running tap on the closed eyes for a few seconds and allow it to dry on its own.
7. Play the remembering game. During the palming exercise – described at point #1 – try, without doing too much effort, to remember an object or an event in as many details and colors as possible. Involving the visual memory in the palming exercise leads to a much clearer perception of the objects in the immediate reality.
8. Practice meditation. The body is a system that acts as a whole. Your eyes cannot relax if another part of your body is under pressure.
9. If you are *still* using a CRT screen… switch to an LCD or oLED screen. It makes a huge difference in terms of eye strain.

By keeping these things in mind and doing the palming exercise a few times every day, in less than two weeks you will experience an increased productivity, a clearer mind, a better mood, less headaches and your boss (if you have one) will be happier.

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“Start doing the thing to have energy to do the thing” - Bob Proctor

All of us have goals and dreams. And most of us even have full intentions of achieving them.

Why did I say “most of us” and not “all of us?” Because on the path that leads towards our dreams, we all reach a certain place where it becomes incredibly easy to do “the tradeoff” - trading what we want for what we already have. That is where only the ones with full intentions manage to keep their dreams.

For the ones with partial intentions, after doing the tradeoff, the dreams fade into the background, life moves on, and all of a sudden they find themselves saying “I wish I would have…”

And that is really sad when you think about it. A person loaded with potential, a story people want to hear, information people will pay for and benefit from, skills that could have made a difference… all that gone to waste.

How to safely pass the tradeoff spot without doing the tradeoff: the 40-second rule

When people are close to the “tradeoff spot” they see things out of perspective. All of a sudden the dreams they were after don’t seem to worth the effort and their current situation is seen as very comfortable.

Of course that these sudden shifts in perspective are nothing but dangerous, temporary illusions that should be dealt with carefully. The best way out of them: act on one of the things that doesn’t seem to be worth it, for 40 seconds. The short time limit will make the apparent sacrifice appear to be doable and acceptable, and chances are that by the time those 40 seconds are up you’ll be enjoying what you started and get it done!

I, for example, love reading. But there are days when my mind wanders off in some other places and the thought of reading a book isn’t so attractive anymore… In situations like that I simply pick up a book and read through it for 40 seconds (sometimes I even time that period on the clock). In more than 90% of the cases that I do so, I continue reading after the time limit expires. What’s more, in most cases the reason why I was avoiding it in the first place appears to have been very irrational afterwards.

Trading 40 seconds in exchange for a better future is probably the best deal you’ll ever make! And the best part: you can do it right now. Just get out there and for 40 seconds do something that can take you closer to your dream. Don’t worry if after the first try you stop… it doesn’t mean that you failed. Follow the 40-seconds rule again tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow, and so on… because:

“It’s the little things you do that can make a big difference. What are you attempting to accomplish? What little thing can you do today that will make you more effective? You are probably only one step away from greatness.” - Bob Proctor

“There are these four ways of answering questions. Which four? There are questions that should be answered categorically [straightforwardly yes, no, this, that]. There are questions that should be answered with an analytical (qualified) answer [defining or redefining the terms]. There are questions that should be answered with a counter-question. There are questions that should be put aside. These are the four ways of answering questions.” - Buddha

A question may be either a linguistic expression used to make a request for information, or else the request itself made by such an expression. This information is provided with an answer.

Each of us has questions. Each of us is looking for answers to those questions. But how to find satisfactory answers, how to get people to answer our questions without creating feelings of frustration and anger?

In both the cyberspace and the off-line environment, the kind of answer you will get will always depend on three factors:

1. the way you ask the question;
2. the difficulty there is in developing the answer;
3. who/where/when you’re asking for an answer;

Regardless whether you’re posting questions to a professional forum, newsgroup, or emailing a friend, it is vital to respect some guidelines in order to increase the possibility for quickly receiving a good answer.

Receiving a “flame” answer indicates that you have not taken the right steps in formulating your question. It might also indicate that the information you saw fit to provide in your original question is either too little, too late, totally missing or irrelevant to the question.

The following rules and guidelines will help you avoid flames and get the most satisfying answers for all your questions.

Basics

If you’re not a paying subscriber to some question answering service, never assume you are entitled to get an answer from someone. You are not. You will earn an answer, if you earn it, by asking a substantial, interesting, and thought-provoking question — one that implicitly contributes to the experience of others rather than merely passively demanding knowledge.

Never demand an answer.

Before asking any question

You should know that no one tolerates laziness …in others.

Most of us are psychologically programmed to throw away questions from people who appear to be too “busy” to look for an answer themselves - especially if it’s an easy one. It is not efficient to try to help people who are not willing to help themselves.

When asking a question, any question, display the fact that you’ve done your homework first, as this will help establish that you’re not a lazy sponge who likes wasting people’s time. Better yet, people like to see that you have learned from doing your homework; show that you’ve learned from the answers you’ve found on your own.

This is the homework that you have to do before even thinking of asking someone else a question:

• Try to find an answer by searching the net. What this means is searching for an answer on the forum/newsgroup you intend to post your question to; search Google, Yahoo!, MSN. Very often, if you know how to formulate your question, you’ll find a satisfying answer by doing a simple search;
• Try to find an answer by inspection and experimentation. Don’t ask someone why you’re hungry if you haven’t tried eating. Don’t ask someone why your car doesn’t start if you haven’t tried using your car keys. Someone might answer your question and solve your problem, but you are guaranteed to never receive any other answers from them; Continue Reading �

Elminster Aumar (Elminster of Shadowdale) is a fictional character in the Dungeons & Dragons-based Forgotten Realms setting. Also known as the Sage of Shadowdale, he is a powerful wizard featured in many novels by Forgotten Realms creator Ed Greenwood. His appearance and demeanor in certain aspects seem to echo Merlin or Gandalf.

A natural storyteller, Elminster is normally a witty, clever, and very charming man. He can be imperious, grave, and terrible, however, and furthermore is a consummate actor.

What can be wiser than a fantastic character that is 1162 years old?… Continue Reading �

Following the last article that contained self improvement tips borrowed from sports (golfing), this one comes to greet the soccer fans and satisfy their need to grow.

One of the main reasons why sport tips can be used to improve one’s life is because life is a sport and basic rules are shared between them. They even have the same key elements: players, rules, strategies and goals. It’s no wonder why most people who succeed in some sport often achieve success in all the other aspects of their lives.

The following tips are in raw sports form, meaning that you have to decipher the hidden self improvement messages behind them. After all, learning is a process of encoding nodes and forming connections.

O.K., here are the tips.

1. Communicate

In soccer, as a player advances into the professional level, it becomes very important for him to communicate on the field. That is because the game speeds up and a lonely uncommunicative player isn’t doing much on the field…

Knowing when to ask for help, knowing when to ask for the ball, knowing how to send simple signals and alerts to the other players can be crucial elements in a soccer game.

2. The surprise element

Blind passes are key elements in soccer. A blind pass is when a player dribbles the ball to the right with his right foot and then swings the ball to the left. This is a move that can catch the opposing team unprepared, sleeping.

Sell the idea that you’re going forward when in fact you are swinging the ball over to the Continue Reading �