Mind and Spirit

Managing Your Mental and Emotional Health

Carrie

Are you mad because Facebook won’t upload your photo or your com­puter just hang­ing? Perhaps it is time for some meditation.

Meditation is a com­mon form of man­ag­ing emo­tions and men­tal health.  Many forms of medi­a­tion exist and the prac­ti­tion­ers of med­i­ta­tion are based on var­i­ous reli­gions, but you don’t have to be reli­gious to med­i­tate.  Those who prac­tice the dis­ci­pline of med­i­ta­tion bring a wide vari­ety of prac­tices and goals to the table.  The achieve­ment with all of the var­i­ous med­i­ta­tions encom­passes a higher state of con­scious­ness, a greater focus, cre­ativ­ity, and self-awareness and in many cases to sim­ply relax and find a deeper peace.

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Life goals

Christina

 

from http://www.stratejoy.com/ – Nichole, 24, wrote about her thoughts on her life goals, where it could be vague but when it comes to more details, she felt like she’s “run­ning in fren­zied cir­cles try­ing to clar­ify every­thing enough to cattle-prod The Universe into mak­ing it hap­pen”. And she decides to focus on what she knows. Read on and perhaps you will find some hints on what you really want in your life.

What about you? Do you feel like, espe­cially those of you who have grad­u­ated col­lege, that you don’t know what you want in life? And for those of you who know, do you some­times feel you lack the means and guid­ance to get where you want? What are your insights and sug­ges­tions in find­ing our life goals? Share with us, and per­haps we can help each other enjoy life better.

Image source: http://www.paragonfineart.com/artists/vladimir-kush.html

On Superwoman and International Women’s Day

Christina

With the effort of many men and women, women have been per­mit­ted to do a lot more things than gen­er­a­tions ago can. Though we can be a lot of things, we can­not be every­thing. I am not sure about you, but at least I am guilty of it. It is almost as though if I don’t do what I’m allowed to do, I’m wast­ing someone’s effort in fight­ing that right for me. I aimed for straight aces in col­lege, aim to be the sweet­est girl­friend, and now I am jug­gling mul­ti­ple roles on MyShimmer. You too, right? We think we have to be the Superwoman – all things to all people. It’s likely we’ve all been guilty of try­ing to do every­thing at one time or another.

Truth is, “it is not pos­si­ble to do every­thing and do it well.” Carol,  partner and new Head of Walkers’ Investment Funds Group in Hong Kong, reminded us that this mentality could limit who we can be

“International Women’s Day is a great way to stop and cel­e­brate the strides that women have made. It’s a won­der­ful oppor­tu­nity for us to stop and appre­ci­ate suc­cess achieved by our moth­ers, sis­ters and daugh­ters across the world. But we must also remem­ber the chal­lenges women in other cul­tures and soci­eties face as we hon­our women who have helped us get this far.”

What are you able to do, that your grandma/ mother’s gen­er­a­tion couldn’t have done? What is in your cul­ture, that is not per­mis­si­ble for women, while it is accept­able for men to do? Do you find the lib­erty to achieve some­times become pres­sure to achieve?

Bay Area, CA, becoming the Mecca for a New Type of Beauty Industry

Christina

from San Fran Mag – “Bay Area beauty entre­pre­neurs have a long tra­di­tion of brew­ing creams and potions in their kitchens and back­yards, but today’s play­ers are com­pet­ing in the inter­na­tional mar­ket­place with a level of sophis­ti­ca­tion rarely seen before.

… Bay Area has solid­i­fied its rep­utation as the epi­cen­ter of the organic and nat­ural beauty move­ment, cur­rently esti­mated by Nutrition Business Journal to be worth more than $7.9 bil-lion in the United States alone. Almost 30 brands are based here, rang­ing from Oakland’s $20 million-a-year 100% Pure line to Yes to Inc., for­merly of Tel Aviv, whose Yes to Carrots prod­ucts are sold at Target. “It def­i­nitely feels like a mag­net,” says Meehan, who chose the Bay Area because of its rep­u­ta­tion for inno­va­tion, its asso­ci­a­tion with health and well-being, and its obses­sion with food and nature. The rip­ples are being felt as far away as New York and Paris.”

How is the sit­u­a­tion by you, our lovely read­ers from around the world? What’s your pref­er­ence? Scientifically-proven and –for­mu­lated prod­ucts, or ones that are nat­ural and sounds good? Do you dream of one day hav­ing your own beauty line?

This Is Not An Invitation To Rape Me

Christina

on Exhibit at University of Pennsylvania Fox Gallery (Feb 17th through March 5th, 2010)

In 1993, “This Is Not An Invitation To Rape Me” was just an artis­tic response to the sex­ual assault of a dear friend.  With the help of Jay Chiat, Eric Mc Clellan, Julia Leach, Christie Hefner, Mark Coppos, Ellen Von Unwerth, Daniella Federicci, Moshe Brahka, Mario De Lopez, Walter Chin, Howard Schatz, Tony Ward, Julie Cerise, Susan Sorenson, Patti Gigans and many oth­ers, what started as a guerilla sticker attack on New York City, became a multi-media mes­sage heard around the world, on behalf of all women.

This is not an invi­ta­tion to rape me” is a state­ment designed to attack the per­cep­tion, when a woman is raped, she asked for it, deserved it or wanted it. The University of Pennsylvania exhi­bi­tion rep­re­sents the first time the idea is inter­preted and expressed by fine artists and mem­bers of the school’s stu­dent body.

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Introducing Computer Engineer Barbie! Barbie Unveils Her 125th & 126th Careers

Carrie

On this side of the world, we are just griev­ing the lost of fash­ion genius Alexander McQueen. On the other side of the world (I don’t know how many of you reads Reddit, Gizmodo as well), we are happy about Barbie’s new career — Computer Engineer. Hot on red­dit, giz­modo, chipchick and oth­ers blogs and Twitter stream is that Barbie’s 126th career is being a Computer Engineer. As a female engi­neer, I am, per­haps a bit irraitonal, happy for it. While her out­fit may not be exactly be rep­re­sen­ta­tional of all female engi­neers (which, I can assure you, is just as diverse as in any career and any gen­der), her exis­tance is def­i­nitely to prove a mes­sage, “As a com­puter engi­neer, Barbie will show girls that women can turn their ideas into real­i­ties that have a direct and pos­i­tive impact on people’s every­day lives in this excit­ing and reward­ing career”.

Barbie as Computer Engineer

Is it me, or is that her lip­stick color resem­bles the M.A.C. spring 2010 plum col­lec­tion closely?

(And for any­one inter­ested in what those 0s and 1s on her screen are say­ing, you prob­a­bly can guess it. “Barbie”. Let’s hope that is not what she plans to put on Ken’s computer.)

More details on Gizmodo

Beauty Bee-haviors: Why we DON’T need make-up…

Christina

Brittany suc­ceeded again in mak­ing a stat­ment and empow­er­ing that lit­tle voice of jus­tice that often got silenced.

One of her 10 year old reader asked her for beauty advice, and appar­ently, her attempts to tell her that make-up is SOOOO not needed at that age meant noth­ing because she was still desirous of a tips and tricks. So she wrote a post and ask all read­ers to tell her Baby Clumps read­ers understand 

Why we don’t need make-up…

This is one of them I par­tic­u­larly like.

Khalil Gibran, (1883 — 1931)
Beauty is not in the face;
beauty is a light in the heart.
A smile is the best make-up!

Do you have some­thing to add to the topic? Comment at Clumps of Mascara or below.

Read more at Clumps of Mascara.

Students and Holiday Shoppers: Tips on How to De-stress

Carrie
A simple hot shower or foot bath can take away a long day's stress

A sim­ple hot shower or foot bath can take away a long day’s stress

This time of the year often brings with it the joys of the sea­son but the stress of work and the hol­i­day in gen­eral.  Regardless of whether you find your­self hun­kered down in the office a few extra hours a day to make an extra dol­lar or two for gifts or so you can take an extra day or two off the cel­e­brate, chances are you are going to feel the ten­sion in the neck, in the shoul­ders, pos­si­bly with the kind of ten­sion headache that can take you down.  Finding ways to relax so you can enjoy the sea­son has to be put at the top of your to-do list. 

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Beauty Bummer — Anxiety

Carrie

Get past anx­i­ety, break the cycle, and be your beau­ti­ful self.  Chantilliscious has some great tips on how to be beau­ti­ful from within. It may sound like a lec­ture, but seri­ously, take 5 min­utes of your time and watch it, you know it is good for you.

 

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Inner Beauty and Definition of Beautiful

Carrie

Definition of Beau.ti.ful [byoo-tuh-fuhl]

Angelina, you showed us that being ourselves is Beautiful!

Angelina, you showed us that being real and true to our­selves is Beautiful!

Photo Credit: The Insider

Growing up in a tra­di­tional Asian fam­ily, the focus was never about beauty, or how to look beau­ti­ful, or how being beau­ti­ful might help get the things you want in life. NO WAY!  Looking good in my fam­ily was about clean cloth­ing, combed hair, prac­tice good table man­ners and pre­sen­ta­tion, work hard (harder!), and respect. Respecting your elders, respect­ing the “It’s for your own good.” deci­sions, respect­ing the hard work and energy my par­ents invested into each day to bring food on the din­ner table.

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