Being beautiful and humane

We love our beauty rituals: makeup, hair, clothes and shoes are a significant and fun part of our lives.

Is that joy diminished at all if you know that cats and dogs are abused to create that new lipstick? That rabbits were blinded so a new shampoo could smell fruitier?

For many consumers, cruelty is simply not an acceptable price to pay for human beings to be pretty, especially when there are so many simple and inexpensive alternatives for beauty companies to use instead.

However you may feel about activist organizations and campaigns for “animal rights,” it is still worth considering whether you as a consumer are willing to indirectly cause pain and suffering to a fellow living thing for something as ultimately minor as makeup or hair gel. Life-saving medical experimentation is a different discussion, but mascara? Lotion? Nail polish? It’s an ethical consideration that many everyday folks find too disturbing to let pass without some serious thought.
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BodySense: The Female Prosperity Hormone…Oxytocin

Ever hear of Oxytocin? No, it’s not the painkiller, oxycontin, but the hormone that is released in childbirth and assists in the bonding experience between mother and child.

Further research has shown that oxytocin is also the female prosperity hormone and responsible for not only feelings of love and well being, but of increased collaboration and altruism in women - and in men. Interesting, don’t you think?

In November 2011, I went to a four-day, women’s conference in Los Angeles. Picture 600 women of all ages, from all over the world, in a gigantic ballroom with incredible amounts of female energy filling the room. The event was sponsored by the Brave Heart Women organization, founded by the gifted and inspirational Ellie Drake, whose mission is to promote the personal, professional, and global empowerment of women.
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Sports Training - Lessons For Your Career

Whether you are athletically inclined or not, you can learn valuable life skills from the process of physical training. Athletes and coaches set goals for themselves, and then dive in to a detailed plan in order to achieve their best results.  It is easy to see why this time-tested method of physical conditioning works much better than a more casual approach.

When it comes to achieving career and life goals, the same principles apply.  Too many people give little thought to their career goals beyond their current or next job, relying on serendipity and waiting passively for the next great thing to walk right in front of them.  When you think of your career as a series of steps that build on each other, you are more likely to get farther and reach your goals.  It works for athletes, and it can work for your career, too.  Here are a few nuggets of wisdom you can borrow from them, without even getting near the gym:
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Working to Spread Spirit of Volunteerism

“Think globally, act locally” is a phrase that has been in the collective consciousness since before it was trendy to use it in a sentence. Tri-county residents have been acting locally, specifically by volunteering their time, for many years.  

“There is no way we could do this without our volunteers,” said Cindy Conley, manager of volunteer services for North East New York (NENY) Make-a-Wish foundation.  

Conley’s duties include training and guiding the “wish granters.”  People who hold this title are performing “an elite type of volunteer activity” by working with families to make a child’s wish come true.  Local wish granters recently helped a young boy from the Crown Point area to realize his camping wish.  The wish granters communicated with area businesses to secure the pop-up camper to make Dmitri’s wish come true.  
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Connections: Journey Into Reading Makes Reading A Family Affair

Retired teacher and reading consultant Alice Sample is passionate about the importance of reading to children from a very young age. For more than 10 years she has brought her passion to life every Thursday afternoon through the Journey Into Reading (JIR) program.

JIR is both a labor of love and a dream come true for Sample, a former educator responsible for screening pre-kindergarten children. Sample saw first-hand the difference early exposure to reading makes in a young child’s education.

“The kindergarten children who needed the most help invariably had parents who simply didn’t know they should have been reading to them since birth,” she said.
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Negative People

By now you have more than likely made a New Year’s resolution to change some aspect of your life. But with all the contemplation, there is one New Year’s resolution you probable never even thought of – a more positive attitude.

According to licensed clinical social worker Maura Alix, a more positive attitude could take care of many resolutions we might make.

“We often resolve to diet, be a better person and to save more money; but we seldom resolve to be positive,” Alix said. “A positive attitude changes the way other people view us and this can help us attract more success into our lives.”

But changing your outlook on life may prove harder than you might think.
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New Year’s Fitness Resolutions

Many people see the New Year as a fresh start. Many people make resolutions to change something about themselves, and it is becoming quite the trend to make resolutions of improved health and fitness. Some people will follow through, unfortunately, most will not. The biggest difference between the two groups of people is commitment. Did you make a new year’s resolution just to make one? Or, are you going to commit to better yourself in 2012?
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The Budget Chef: More Meat!

In our house, we eat a lot of poultry; turkey meatloaf, chicken sausage, turkey tacos, this list goes on and on. Once in a while, our inner caveman comes out and demands red meat. So for this month’s selections, meat is the star. Remember, all of these meals can be made for $10 or less. Enjoy!
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When It Comes To Saying “No,” Practice Makes Perfect

Those two little letters can cause a lot of angst and pack a lot of punch for busy parents. Depending on who is asking for our time and the details of the task at hand, we often take it as a compliment when someone singles us out for help. To complicate matters even more, women generally want to say yes - especially when it comes to banding together with other women for events that benefit our children.

The reality is that we are all given the same amount of time every week. No amount of desire, guilt, or bribery can change that. Most of us have a tendency to pile more and more on our plates without effectively considering how we will fit the additional load into an already jam-packed picture. Flattery, the desire to be helpful, and the fear of facing our own limitations are all effective blinders that can lead us to over-commit.
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Emotional Needs Check-Up

creative and practical solutions to live your life with style and substance

Ahhh, relationship bliss, right? Love relationships take more time than any of us have time for! However, one way to streamline the work of relationships and get more enjoyment is to truly understand your partner’s and your own emotional needs. This can take some tough, shocking, and possibly embarrassing communication to get started. Since needs change as we age and mature in our relationships, it is a good idea to periodically do an emotional needs check-up.
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