Eleven Ways to Think Outside the Box

Thinking outside the box is more than just a business cliché. It means approaching problems in new, innovative ways and conceptualizing problems differently. Here are 11 ways to beef up your out-of-the-box thinking skills.

1. Study another industry

Go to the library and pick up a trade magazine in an industry other than your own, or grab a few books from the library, and learn about how things are done in other industries.

2. Learn about another religion

Religions are the way that humans organize and understand their relationships not only with the supernatural or divine but with each other. Learning about how such relations are structured can teach you a lot about how people relate to each other and the world around them.

3. Take a class

Learning a new topic will not only teach you a new set of facts and figures, it will teach you a new way of looking at and making sense of aspects of your everyday life or of the society or natural world you live in.

4. Read a novel in an unfamiliar genre

Try reading something you’d never have touched otherwise -- if you read literary fiction, try a mystery or science fiction novel; if you read a lot of hard-boiled detective novels, try a romance; and so on. Pay attention not only to the story but to the particular problems the author has to deal with.

5. Write a poem

While most problem-solving leans heavily on your brain’s logical centers, poetry neatly bridges your more rational left-brain though processes and your more creative right-brain processes.

6. Draw a picture

Drawing a picture is even more right-brained, and can help break your logical left-brain’s hold on a problem the same way a poem can.

7. Turn it upside down

Turning something upside-down, whether physically by flipping a piece of paper around or metaphorically by re-imagining it can help you see patterns that wouldn’t otherwise be apparent.

8. Work backwards

Just like turning a thing upside down, working backwards breaks your brain’s normal conception of causality.

9. Ask a child for advice

Children think and speak with a n ignorance of convention that is often helpful.

10. Invite randomness

Embracing mistakes and incorporating them into your projects, developing strategies that allow for random input, working amid chaotic juxtapositions of sound and form -- all of these can help you to move beyond everyday patterns of thinking into the sublime.

11. Take a shower

There’s some kind of weird psychic link between showering and creativity. Who knows why? So maybe when the status quo response to some circumstance just isn’t working, try taking a shower and see if something remarkable doesn’t occur to you!

Sources:

Lifehack November 6, 2009

Important Notice: Information provided is for general background purposes and is not intended as a substitute for medical diagnosis or treatment by a trained professional. You should always consult your community pharmacist or physician about any health care questions you may have, especially before trying a new medication, diet, fitness program, or approach to health care issues.

Are You Using Your Fireplace Safely?

Cold winter nights lead many to light a fire for heat and comfort. But an outmoded fireplace or wood stove not only pollutes the outdoors, but the indoors as well.

Old fireplaces and stoves can emit eight times as much dangerous microparticulate matter per hour as new ones that meet the EPA's standards. Old fireplaces and old stoves can emit 60 times as much pollution as super-clean models.

In some parts of the U.S., wood-burning accounts for as much as 80 percent of the particulate pollution in the winter. Since millions of dangerous old stoves and fireplaces are still in operation, the EPA operates a change-out program in some regions.

Particle pollution can cause serious health problems including difficulty breathing, development of chronic bronchitis, irregular heartbeat, and premature death in people with heart or lung disease.

Sources:
Sierra Club December 21, 2009
http://blogs.mercola.com/sites/vitalvotes/archive/2010/01/08/Is-Your-Fireplace-Trying-to-Kill-You.aspx

Important Notice: Information provided is for general background purposes and is not intended as a substitute for medical diagnosis or treatment by a trained professional. You should always consult your community pharmacist or physician about any health care questions you may have, especially before trying a new medication, diet, fitness program, or approach to health care issues.

Should Pregnant Women Eat More Pork and Eggs?

A new research study shows that choline plays a critical role in helping fetal brains develop regions associated with memory. Choline is found in meats, including pork, as well as chicken eggs.

The diet of a pregnant mother, especially choline, can change the epigenetic switches that control brain development in the fetus.

Researchers made this discovery by feeding two groups of pregnant mice different diets during the window of time when a fetus develops the brain responsible for memory. The group that received no choline had changes in epigenetic marks on the proteins (histones) that wrap genes in cells responsible for the creation of new brain cells (neural progenitor cells).

Sources:
Eurekalert January 4, 2010
http://blogs.mercola.com/sites/vitalvotes/archive/2010/01/06/Should-Pregnant-Women-Eat-More-Pork-and-Eggs.aspx

Important Notice: Information provided is for general background purposes and is not intended as a substitute for medical diagnosis or treatment by a trained professional. You should always consult your community pharmacist or physician about any health care questions you may have, especially before trying a new medication, diet, fitness program, or approach to health care issues.

The Top 10 Things Children Really Want Their Parents To Do With Them

Many moms today feel as if they are not good mothers unless they are racing around, shuttling their children from lessons, to practices and back to lessons again. What do you think matters most to your children? You driving them to lessons and practices, or is it the smile and hug you greet them with after school? If you guessed the latter, you are correct.

Here is a list of the top ten things students around the world said they remembered and loved most about their mothers.

1. Come into my bedroom at night, tuck me in and sing me a song. Also tell me stories about when you were little.
2. Give me hugs and kisses and sit and talk with me privately.
3. Spend quality time just with me, not with my brothers and sisters around.
4. Give me nutritious food so I can grow up healthy.
5. At dinner talk about what we could do together on the weekend.
6. At night talk to me about anything; love, school, family etc.
7. Let me play outside a lot.
8. Cuddle under a blanket and watch our favorite TV show together.
9. Discipline me. It makes me feel like you care.
10. Leave special messages in my desk or lunch bag.

Sources:
Lifehack December 29, 2009
http://blogs.mercola.com/sites/vitalvotes/archive/2010/01/07/The-Top-10-Things-Children-Really-Want-Their-Parents-To-Do-With-Them.aspx

Important Notice: Information provided is for general background purposes and is not intended as a substitute for medical diagnosis or treatment by a trained professional. You should always consult your community pharmacist or physician about any health care questions you may have, especially before trying a new medication, diet, fitness program, or approach to health care issues.

Is 'Smoke' Flavored Food Toxic?

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) says one of the flavorings used to give smoke flavor to meat, cheese and fish may be toxic to humans.

The smoke flavorings are products which can be added to foods to give them a "smoked" flavor, as an alternative to traditional smoking.

EFSA says it "cannot rule out concerns" about a flavoring called Primary Product AM 01, which is obtained from beech wood. The wood particles are burnt under controlled conditions and the hot vapors are dissolved in a solvent. The Panel says the use of the substance "at the intended levels is a safety concern".

Sources:
http://blogs.mercola.com/sites/vitalvotes/archive/2010/01/12/Is-Smoke-Flavored-Food-Toxic.aspx
BBC News January 8, 2010

Important Notice: Information provided is for general background purposes and is not intended as a substitute for medical diagnosis or treatment by a trained professional. You should always consult your community pharmacist or physician about any health care questions you may have, especially before trying a new medication, diet, fitness program, or approach to health care issues.

If You Drink Coffee Make Sure it is Organic

Many Mesoamerican farmers here are starting to give up on organic coffee. The premium price that it used to fetch is disappearing.

From Mexico to Costa Rica, at least 10 percent of growers have returned to chemical fertilizers and pesticides in the past three years, at a significant cost to the environment. Although organic still pays a premium of as much as 25 percent over conventional coffee, it’s not enough to cover the added cost of production and make up for the smaller yields.

Under specialty “green” labels at places like Wal-Mart and McDonald’s, organic beans and brews have become cheaper and more widely available recently.

Sources:
Christian Science Monitor December 29, 2009
http://blogs.mercola.com/sites/vitalvotes/archive/2010/01/13/If-You-Drink-Coffee-Make-Sure-it-is-Organic.aspx


Important Notice: Information provided is for general background purposes and is not intended as a substitute for medical diagnosis or treatment by a trained professional. You should always consult your community pharmacist or physician about any health care questions you may have, especially before trying a new medication, diet, fitness program, or approach to health care issues.

How to Feel Better When You're Stressed

Here are some tips on how to make yourself feel better when you’re depressed:

1. Calm down

Before anything else, calm yourself down. Don’t panic. Close your eyes and take a deep breath.

2. Feed your mind with positive thoughts

When you’re depressed, it’s easy to fall into a vicious cycle of negative thoughts. It’s important that you break this cycle. To do that, feed your mind with positive thoughts. You may read spiritual texts, motivational books, or inspiring quotes. You may also listen to positive tapes.

3. Remember good things

Direct your mind to the positive. Remember the good things in your life. Remember the good people around you.

4. Look at the big picture

An event that seems bad might not seem that bad if you look at the big picture. Put the event in context.

5. Believe that everything will be all right

What you believe has a big effect on you. If you believe that things will go wrong, that would usually be the case. On the other hand, if you believe that everything will be all right, you will have a winning attitude.

6. Exercise

When you’re depressed, take time to exercise. Exercise relieves the symptoms of depression and anxiety.

7. Forgive

Sometimes one reason you feel bad is because you don’t forgive. Perhaps you had made mistakes in the past and you blamed yourself for it. You need to forgive yourself. Or perhaps someone mistreated you. You need to forgive them.

8. Take action

Things won’t get better if you just sit and do nothing. Instead of thinking about how bad things are, think of what you can do to solve the problem and take action.

9. Say something positive

Negative words have devastating effect on your confidence and motivation. So whenever you’re about to say something negative, stop yourself and take a deep breath. Reframe what you’re going to say and make it positive.

10. Think about other people

One of the best ways to make yourself feel better is simply by taking the focus away from yourself. Start thinking about other people and how you can help them. When you do that, your problems will no longer seem so hard.

Sources:
http://blogs.mercola.com/sites/vitalvotes/archive/2010/01/19/How-to-Feel-Better-When-Youre-Stressed.aspx

Life Optimizer December 16, 2009

Important Notice: Information provided is for general background purposes and is not intended as a substitute for medical diagnosis or treatment by a trained professional. You should always consult your community pharmacist or physician about any health care questions you may have, especially before trying a new medication, diet, fitness program, or approach to health care issues.