An Ancient Egyptian Civil Service Precept

The following precept was laid down thousands of years ago for the Egyptian civil service:

Be courteous and tactful as well as honest and diligent. All your doings are publicly known, and therefore be beyond complaint or criticism. Be absolutely impartial. Always give a reason for refusing plea; complainants like a kindly hearing even more than a successful plea. Preserve dignity but avoid inspiring fear. Be an artist in words, that you may be strong, for the tongue is a sword.

Successful Intelligence

Robert Sternberg in his book, Successful Intelligence: How Practical and Creative Intelligence Determine Success in Life says that there are three main types of intellectual abilities:

1. Analytical Intelligence
2. Creative Intelligence
3. Practical Intelligence

He goes on to stress that a successfully intelligent person is someone who knows what their strengths are and take steps to improve on their areas of weakness in each of these three abilities. Here are some of his advice:

I. Improving Your Analytical intelligence:

• Recognize Problems before they become problems
• Represent Problems accurately
• Allocate your resources wisely
• Monitor your decisions and make corrections where needed

II. Improving Your Creative Intelligence:

• Don't just follow the crowd, think for yourself
• Question your assumptions, they aren't always true
• Allow yourself to think outside the box
  

III. Improving Your Practical Intelligence:

Practical Intelligence makes use of "tacit knowledge" or knowledge you have about a task that is just difficult to put into words.

• Tacit knowledge grows with experience

Recognising Others

It is often said that being recognized is the deepest craving of human nature. Not only we are who we think we are but we are also a function of what people think we are. It is important that we treat ourselves well. It is equally important that we treat others just as well. After all, we are all fighting the same war.

Here are 10 ways to make others feel important.

1. Give sincere praise. Always be on alert for opportunities to compliment or commend another.

2. Show enthusiasm. Always be enthusiastic when dealing with others.

3. Be supportive. Show your interest in what others are pursuing and encourage them.

4. Be attentive. Find out if others are in need of help.

5. Be appreciative.

6. Be approving.

7. Show affection. Let others know that you care.

8. Be accepting. Don't be judge others. Let them be themselves.

9. Be affirming. Positive affirmative statements does wonders to the human mind.

10. Be a friend. Emerson once said, "To have a friend, you must first be a friend."

10 Recommended Daily Habits

10 Recommended Daily Habits.

1. Read about your job.

2. Spent 15 minutes learning a new skill everyday.Once you've you mastered it. Find something new and repeat.

3. Read at least one inspirational story or poem a day.

4. Exercise for at least 30 minutes.

5. Do at least one daily task - such as brushing your teeth - with your non dominant hand.

6. Smile at a stranger at least once a day.

7. Play a mind stimulating game such as sudoku, crossword or chess.

8. Do one task that you do not like or been avoiding. This can be anything from washing your clothes to calling your mother-in-law.

9. Praise someone.

10. Review your activity at the end of everyday.

Tortoise-Pigeon-Dog

“Keep a quiet heart, sit like a tortoise, walk sprightly like a pigeon and sleep like a dog.” These were the words of advice Li Ching-Yun who was reported in Time Magazine back in 1933 to have buried 23 wives and fostered 180 descendants by the time he died at the age of 256.

Born in the province of Szechwan in China, where he also died in 1933 his diet mostly consisted plenty of herbs and rice wine.By his own admission he was born in 1736 and had lived 197 years. However, in 1930 a professor and dean at Minkuo University by the name of Wu Chung-chien, found records “proving” that Li was born in 1677. Records allegedly showed that the Imperial Chinese Government congratulated him on his 150th and 200th Birthdays.

If this true than, Li Ching-Yun's advice on longevity should be given serious consideration.

10 Goal Setting Principle

Here is a comprehensive list of 10 key goal setting principles as appeared in Dr Walter Doyle Staples' Think Like A Winner.

1. Identify a major goal that is challenging and important, one that is measurable.

2. Have a specific date to reach your goals.

3. Explore all possibilities that will help you to reach your goals.

4. Have definite plan. The actions you must take to (a) acquire the knowledge, (b) develop the skills, (c) meet the people you need to know who will assist you.

5. List all the major obstacles to overcome.

6. List all the benefit you will get when you achieve your goals on time.

7. Prepare a master plan using steps 1 to 6.

8.Read your master plan out loud everyday, after getting up and before to bed.

9. Visualize you have achieved your goals.

10. Act at once, ready or not.

Mind Control by Cell Phone

Two independent studies have established a person's brain waves are disrupted during cell phone use reports Scientific American today. The studies shows that cell phone use seems to increase the alpha waves in the brain. Alpha waves fluctuate at a rate of eight to 12 cycles per second (Hertz). These brainwaves reflect a person's state of arousal and attention. Alpha waves are generally regarded as an indicator of reduced mental effort, "cortical idling" or mind wandering.
Read more here.

Plants' Flavonoids Have Beneficial Effect On Alzheimer's Disease

A study by University of South Florida and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center have found that a set of molecules found in certain plants appears to have a beneficial effect in brain tissue associated with Alzheimer's disease. Researchers administered molecules called flavonoids, which are found
in certain fruits and vegetables, to a mouse model genetically programmed to develop Alzheimer's disease. Using two of these molecules, luteolin and diosmin, they were able to reduce the levels of a protein called amyloid-beta, which forms the sticky deposits that build up in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's.

"These flavonoids are widely available in natural foods and it appears that they may be used in purified form as therapeutic agents. The compounds have few if any side effects and are naturally occurring in citrus fruits. They also can be found as dietary supplements in health food stores," says Terrence Town, Ph.D., one of the lead authors.

Source: Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (2008, May 8). Plants' Flavonoids Have Beneficial Effect On Alzheimer's Disease, Study In Mice Suggests.

Inspirational Wrtiting #7

Watch out For Self-Pity ~ Robert H. Schuller

You certainly do not rebuild self-love by indulging in self-pity. Self-pity does not generate self-respect. Self-pity focuses on the unhappy past, keeping alive the very experiences that must be forgotten and left behind. Self-pity focuses on what has happened. while you are concentrating on the unfortunate past, you are in the moment enslaved, controlled and dominated by that self-demoralizing past. When you recall the past, you are at the moment recaptured by it. It may have happened, but don't allow yourself to remain trapped in the experience by self-pity.
"Forgetting these things are behind-I press toward the mark," Paul wrote. If unpleasant things come to pass-by all means let them do so. Why are we so inclined to self-pity? Are we trying to tenderly nurse a wounded self-love? If so, we must see that self-pity only keeps the wounded pride raw and open. In our self-pity we hope to gain the pity of others, mistaking sympathy for respect. We crave to reassure the faltering self that it is worthy after all. If we feel this way, we must understand that pity is not necessarily respect. Sympathy is not necessarily esteem. Or do we indulge in self-pity-trapping ourselves in the past-for fear of moving ahead into a future where we might suffer additional assaults? Is self-pity a deceptive defense mechanism willfully experienced to protect me from the new risks I may encounter if I start thinking of beginning again?

Reflective Mind

The Complete Lawyer published an interesting article today about being reflective. Stephanie West Allen and Jeffrey Schwartz discuss about:

• Banishing The Reactive Mind
• Becoming More Self-Aware
• The Golden Moment Of Choice
• Exercising The Mind

Excerpt ~

If you understand how to skillfully orchestrate your GMCs, your reflective mind will be in command of your reactive brain and you will have much greater life control. Golden Moments of Choice are possible because your brain is always changing (that's called neuroplasticity). The changes are either by default as it interacts with your environment or deliberately as it interacts with your mind. Your brain can either be randomly molded by external circumstances or artistically sculptedby your self-aware mind. Which do you think leads to an intentional-and
self-directed life—letting your brain be rewired by outside forces, or
ensuring that the brain rewire is an inside operation?

Read the entire article here.