Maximum Balance's Journal

OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH MONEY

By Kamila Harkavy

Why explore our relationship with money?

1. It's an area of pain, anxiety and shame, yet it needn’t remain so. If you don't like your finances, you can address the cause and affect future outcome. Even a small change in your relationship with money can have huge impacts not only in your material life, but in other parts of your life as well. It ripples through your whole self, thus thtough yourr entire life as well.

Are Carbohydrates Good or Bad?

Are carbohydrates good or bad? Are they the culprit for thickening American waistlines? When you think of carbohydrates, does your mind conjure up heaping mounds of bread, pasta, potatoes and rice? These are the foods that will make you fat. Right? Well – yes and no. Avoiding carbohydrates is not healthy either.

Modern marketing is less than 60 years old, but in that fairly brief time, it has become a pervasive factor in our lives. Researchers estimate we see around 3,000 advertising messages a day—all of them the result of someone’s effort to market to us. In the process, marketing has become increasingly sophisticated and targeted in its ability to identify who it wants to reach, and increasingly sophisticated in its ability to do so.

Anger!

We’ve all felt it at various times and from both sides of the equation – giver and receiver alike!

According to the American Psychological Association, “anger is a completely normal, usually healthy, human emotion”.

It’s when we don’t control our anger and when it quite possibly turns destructive, that we experience problems in all aspects of our life. The worst part, is often the increasing feeling of “being out of control” as our anger gets the best of us. But when it gets out of control and turns destructive, it can lead to problems—problems at work, in your personal relationships, and in the overall quality of your life. And it can make you feel as though you're at the mercy of an unpredictable and powerful emotion.

In order to achieve your 2008 goals as well as the success of Maximum Balance across all of your five life Cornerstones – Health, Relationships, Career, Finance and Giving – it is critical that you have a routine that enables you to regularly think about and review your goals.

Everday Retreats

To go on a retreat usually conjures up images of remote, sometimes exotic, locations for anywhere from a weekend to a month. When we can’t afford the time away, or the cost, we can still derive some of the benefit by finding ways in our everyday lives to retreat and renew. Here are just a few ideas:

Did you know?

• The US spends more per person on health care than any other country, yet ranks 37th for overall quality (WHO Survey, 2000, USA Today, June 21, 2000)

• In America alone, 2.9 billion prescriptions are written per year. Many of these drugs treat symptoms and don't resolve the actual cause.

Quiz: Caretaking? or Taking Care?

All of us have been in a position to provide help to a loved one, close friend or coworker during our lives. Helping others is most often rewarding and satisfying. In his book Social Intelligence, best selling author Daniel Goleman, says that we are “wired to connect” and that new studies in the field of neuroscience are proving that our health is positively affected by close relationships and helping others.

Snack Attacks

All your work at healthy eating can feel undone when the urge to snack becomes irresistible. Planned snacks can be part of a healthy balanced diet. It is when you are not hungry and the snacks are bigger than they need to be – or continuous – that you need to pay attention. Whether you are overindulging with healthy calories or junk, it is all extra calories you don’t need.

The Power of Mindsight

How can we free ourselves from prisons of the past?

-- By Daniel Goleman

When you were young, which of these did you feel more often?

a) No matter what I do, my parents love me;

b) I can’t seem to please my parents, no matter what I do;

c) My parents don’t really notice me.