The following is a guest post by Anthony Garcia from OnlineGraduatePrograms.com.

In today’s world, many people are finding themselves working more and more hours, but not spending much time actually enjoying life. Luckily, if you want to change that pattern, there are several things you can do to realign your life and spend less time working and more time living.

Change Your Perception of “Work”

For many people work is not necessarily something they enjoy or are passionate about. Work often feels like chore that prevents them from getting involved with the things that interests them. However, if you are doing something you love, it no longer is “work” and instead becomes something that you really enjoy and lose yourself in. For example, if you absolutely love writing, writing for a living is no longer a just a job, but can feel like more like a hobby or an exercise in doing something you enjoy.

Thus, if you find yourself dreading going to work every morning, it might be time to reevaluate your career path to find employment doing something you love and are passionate about. As an article posted on Online Graduate Programs explains, the New York Times suggests that graduate school is a great way to reinvent yourself, as it will provide you with the necessary skills to explore a new avenue as well as help connect you with alumni and professionals working in the field. However, before committing to going back to school, it’s important to consider how much time and money you will need to invest, and whether the program will allow you to shift to a career that you will really enjoy.

Limit Your Availability

According to the Mayo Clinic, stress levels are at all-time high for many people. However, there are a number of ways to reduce your stress levels and refocus your attention on doing things you enjoy. One way to minimize your stress is to eliminate interruptions. For example, inform your co-workers that you will only be available for email, instant messages or cell phone calls at certain times each day. As result, you’ll be able to reduce the number of times you are side tracked by responding to miscellaneous messages. This will allow you to stay focused and get more accomplished during your work hours.

Manage Your Priorities

These days most people are bombarded with technology on a daily basis, making it easy to get overwhelmed with all the distractions. However, one way to stay focused is to be very targeted in what you place on your priority list. When making your list, use the old fashioned method of writing down your priorities rather than using an electronic tool, such as a PDA. Although PDA’s and the like are great tools, the disadvantage of using electronic time management tools is that you can continue adding tasks endlessly with little limitation. By writing things down, you can see it in front of you and will automatically limit yourself to what is reasonable.

Additionally, by thinking carefully about whether or not something really needs to be done that day, you are more likely to only put things on it that can actually be accomplished. This will help keep your daily “to do” list reasonably short (try to limit it to three or four items), preventing you from feeling overwhelmed.

Delegate and Outsource

One way to work less and have more time for living is to delegate and outsource activities that can be done by others. While many people think of outsourcing as a bad thing, it can actually be a good approach to managing your work activities. For example, if someone else can answer emails for you, it will free up your time to do work on other projects.

Outsourcing is also a way to expand your global perception and social responsibility. If you have your own business, you may be able to affordably outsource business activities such as content writing, appointment scheduling or answering emails. This can provide work and support for people who might not otherwise be able to support themselves or their families.

Control Your Environment

Finally, one of the best ways to reduce the amount of time you spend working is to control your environment. You can accomplish this goal by limiting your access to wireless technology or other things that constantly interrupt your thoughts and work flow. By focusing your attention, you will discover that you are more productive and able to accomplish more in a shorter amount of time.

Ultimately, by working more efficiently and productively you will be able to spend less time on work activities and more time on doing things you love. If you are already doing what you love and are passionate about, then you may not feel like you are working at all. With less interruptions and more focused attention, you can turn your time toward other priorities of your life, like your family and favorite past times.

Anthony recently completed an online graduate program in English Literature. A New Mexico native, he currently resides and writes in Seattle, Washington. He writes primarily about education, travel, literature, and American culture.

Photo by BdwayDiva1M

Saturated fat is good for you. That might sound like crazy talk to some of you, but it really isn’t. My views on what constitutes a healthy diet have changed quite a bit since I started this blog. Way back in 2008 I thought that the best way to maintain health was to avoid fats and eat lots of “healthy whole grain.” Boy have I changed my mind. Since I’ve changed the way I eat, I’ve lost weight and I feel great.

It all started when I heard of a book called Nutrition and Physical Degeneration written by a dentist named Weston A. Price. Price was a dentist who started to see an increased amount of tooth decay in his patients and he thought that it might be caused by diet. He traveled around the world looking at the dental health and diet of traditional people who did not eat the processed Western diet that was starting to become popular at the time. Once he completed his research he published it in the book I mentioned above in 1939.

Price looked at a variety of cultures including the Swiss, Polynesians, Africans, and Native Americans. He found that the people in these cultures had healthy straight teeth with little to no decay when they ate their traditional diets. He also found that once people switched to a diet of processed foods that contain like white flour and white sugar they had increased amounts of tooth decay. Besides noticing the states of the people’s mouths, Price also took note of the general health of the population in the area. He found that they were generally healthy, strong and sturdy. He also found that they had good facial bone structure and no problems with crowding of teeth.

These cultures were from all over the world and they eat a variety of different diets, but they all had some things in common. They didn’t eat refined foods like white flour, white sugar, and vegetable oils. They all ate some kind of animal products like unpasteurized milk, eggs, fish, insects, and animals. When they ate animals the entire animal is used. That means that people eat the organs and also boil the bones for broth. This makes their diet full of fat soluble vitamins like A, D, and K2 that modern diets are lacking. The fat contents of these diets actually tend to be quite high.

They ate fermented foods like sauerkraut, kefir and kimchi that contain healthy bacteria that keep intestinal flora well-balanced. When they ate grains those grains were soaked or fermented to lessen the nutrient leeching effects of the phytic acid in those grains.

You can read a bit of Prices book for free here. You can also buy from Amazon if you’re interested. That’s an affiliate link just to be transparent and all that. Here’s the link. Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
It was written in 1939 so it is full of references to primitive peoples that I find to be a bit bothersome, but it is worth the read.

When I first started looking into this type of eating it seemed almost impossible to me. It was so incredibly overwhelming. I just didn’t know how to begin, but through reading a lot of blogs and doing some research on the Weston A. Price Association website I was able to figure it out. Soaking my grains the day before I cook them is easy now. It just takes a little bit of planning.

Before I started eating like this I was avoiding saturated fat. I was only eating fish and no other meats. I cooked in Canola oil and olive oil exclusively. Now I eat organ meat once a week. My favorite is liver. I make bone broth regularly. I’ve thrown away all vegetable oils and only cook in coconut oil, lard, tallow, butter, and ghee. I don’t cook with olive oil any more. I only use it on salads. I eat eggs on a regular basis. I eat meat from grass-fed pasture-raised animals. Animals raised on factory farms are sick and you shouldn’t consume them. My diet is full of fresh organic ingredients.

I think that the way most people in Western society eat is why they are so unhealthy. Some of the things people eat aren’t even food. They’re chemicals that you have no business putting in your mouth.

Last week, I saw this great video that I want to share with you. This woman cured her MS by changing her diet. It’s a TED Talk and it’s really worth watching.

Photo by Earl-Wilkerson.

Integrity is not a conditional word. It doesn’t blow in the wind or change with the weather. It is your inner image of yourself, and if you look in there and see a man who won’t cheat, then you know he never will.
– John D. MacDonald

The other day I listened to a podcast interview with a couple who had given up everything they had to preserve their integrity. As a result of their actions they lost their jobs, friendships and even weakened their relationships with extended family members because they couldn’t continue to support something they knew wasn’t true.

Listening to their story got me thinking about integrity and wondering what I would be able to give up to maintain mine.

Not too long ago, I had to make a similarly difficult decision about my life. While I didn’t have nearly as much to loose as they did, I was still taking a bit of a risk. I still had something to loose, but in the end I realized that my integrity meant too much to me to continue living something I didn’t believe.

How important is integrity to you?

When I turn on the television it seems that integrity isn’t something that is valued in our society. On reality shows people lie, cheat and steal to get what they want. Gossip magazines are full of stories of infidelity and fighting and they seem to be the most popular things for people to read.

If you go by what you see on television and in magazines you would think that integrity isn’t important at all. What is valued instead is the ability to get whatever you want by any means. What is the end result of living that way though?

Sometimes it may seem to you that it may be easier to live life without integrity. Maybe there is a little lie that you could tell that would make life much easier than telling the truth. Maybe you’ll benefit financially or socially by associating yourself with a group that you know doesn’t reflect your values.

Why live with integrity?

It builds trust – When people realize that you live your life with integrity they will trust you. You will be seen as someone who is honest and keeps their word. People who are trusted can excel in business and excel in true lasting relationships.

It’s easier – There may be times when it seems like not having integrity is easier than maintaining it, but in reality when you look at your life it isn’t. The emotional consequences of not having maintaining your integrity can weigh you down.

It provides consistency – If you already know how you stand on issues you don’t have to worry about what you will do when presented with a difficult situation that challenges your integrity. If you already know what you stand for and that you are going stand up for it there is less wavering when these situations arise in your life.

Living my life with integrity has not always been easy, but it has made me a stronger better person. I know that if you make the commitment to live with integrity too, you’ll see the benefits.

Photo by Victor Bezrukov

We’ve been gluten free in this house for a while now and I’m always looking for great gluten free recipes. I found this recipe and modified it a bit this morning to suit my family.

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients

• 2 ripe bananas
• 1 egg
• 4 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 buckwheat flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon gluten free baking powder

Put your bananas in a bowl and mash them up really well. Add the vanilla extract, milk and egg. Stir these ingredients well so that it is fluffy. Then add the baking powder and cinnamon. Again stir well to make sure it is all mixed in. Finally add the buckwheat flour and stir it well. Cook your pancakes in a pan or on a griddle just as you normally would cook pancakes.

I made these this morning and they were really delicious. We ate them with some raw grass fed butter. We didn’t put syrup on them because the bananas made the pancakes quite sweet. Try them out and let me know what you think.

Photo by simplyla

The following is a guest post by Gina Williams from MotorcycleAccident.org.

A couple of years ago, a friend of mine lost his life doing something many of us do often: speeding. Unfortunately, he happened to be doing it on a motorcycle on a highway overpass. It seems almost redundant for people who experience the loss of a friend or other loved one to express how short life is and the importance of not letting the small things be bothersome.

I wouldn’t say that’s what I took out of his death; I took something much deeper than that. Before his death, I understood to an extent that not everything in life is about your career, social position, how much money you make, etc. Life is about attaining happiness; however, understanding that we should pursue happiness is one thing, actually attaining it is a completely different matter.

What my friend’s death really made me understand is human sympathy, empathy, and unity; we can’t explain it, we don’t understand it, but it’s there. It’s our humanity, our nature. Years later, his parents, both “motorheads,” have organized a car/motorcycle related meet event to help create awareness for causes that are related to his death. This year, I felt something that is difficult to explain on that date. A group of friends and I gathered at a friend’s house in the same neighborhood as my deceased friend’s family continues to live. We stood there talking about things that weren’t really related to our friend. As we stood there, his mother drove by in my friend’s Corvette, yet another one of his automotive toys, on her way to the event and it hit me: The reason I’m standing here today with these people and about to go to this event is because my friend died. In some alternative universe where my friend had lived through his trauma or not chosen to drive on that road, we’d all be in different places doing different things; but we’re all here, and it’s because his life and death affected us.

We’ve been raised to live in this way: You go to school, you get a job, you buy a house and a car and other things, you have a family, you retire, and, though it’s sort of unsaid, then you die. But that isn’t what life is. My friend’s death brought people together and made me see that something exists beyond the way we’ve been raised to live. We’re all so concentrated with getting our work deadlines in, getting that promotion, getting into college, keeping up with our family responsibilities, and other life goals, that we think all of that is our life. But it isn’t; those are just things that society has created to make the world work. And those things make it hard to see that humanity and other intangibles do exist. It’s like we get so caught up in life that we forget to live and enjoy what life has to offer. And in ignoring life, we can never really attain true happiness, can we?

To live a truly fulfilled life, we must keep our eyes on the prize. The prize isn’t money or material things; it’s happiness. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t try to be successful in life, I’m saying that if there are things that will make you happy, you should find time for them; don’t ignore them. And if you aren’t happy with your life, change it; never, ever settle for unhappiness. Everyone achieves happiness differently; understanding that intangibles, like empathy and unity, exist will help you see beyond what we’ve been raised to see and ultimately change your perspective on life.

Gina Williams is a guest blogger and article writer bringing to us the importance of taking the time to truly live. Gina spends much of her professional life about motorcycle accidents.

This holiday, I’m staying with my parents in Florida for a few weeks. They live about a block from the mall. This time of year the traffic in their area is always horrendous. Today it was really crazy around here with people rushing around doing last minute shopping.

It’s so easy to get caught up in the holiday rush. The commercials on television make it seem like this time of year is all about buying the perfect presents for the people around you. Games, jewelry, cars and all the latest gadgets…that’s what’s important, isn’t it? I’m sure you know that the answer is, not really.

Stop to think about what’s really important in your life. Is it the newest iPad or is it the time you spend with family and friends? The most precious things you have in your life are the relationships you’ve formed with other people. Positive human connections teach you, lift you up and make you stronger.

More important than giving physical gifts this season is the gift of time, companionship, compassion, love and listening. Don’t sweat the presents. Spend this holiday season trying to be the best person you can be to yourself and those around you.

Happy holidays!! I wish all of you the best this holiday season and during the new year.

Photo by jenny downing

The other day I was having a conversation with someone about some important things he needed to get done in his life. As we were discussing his life and the tasks he needed to perform he kept saying, “Hopefully, I’ll be able to do that.”

Hopefully…That word really stuck with me. Hope is something that is important in all of our lives. Hope is what helps us have the strength to continue on in even the most desperate times, but in this instant the word hope was not being used in a positive way.

Hopefully, I’ll be able to …

Beginning a sentence like this implies that whatever the task is you’re talking about is far beyond your control. If you need to or want to get something done you need to take the word hopefully out of the equation and just do it.

After the conversation, I took a good look at my life to try to figure out if I was doing the same thing this person was doing. Was I relinquishing control of my life? Was I pretending that aspects of my life that were fully under my control really weren’t? Unfortunately, I was.  To be honest with you, I have been for a long time. That ‘s a hard thing for me to admit, but it’s important that I do. Though I’ve only come to this realization recently I can also tell that it is life changing.

What are you putting off?

There are so many things people put off doing for various reasons. You may feel like you need to wait for the time to be right. You may feel like you need just a little bit more money. You may think you need to get your relationships in line first.

I found that I’d been making excuses so that I could been put off an important part of my life for more than a year without feeling guilty. The excuses that were getting in my way weren’t even legitimate excuses. They were just ways to avoid facing my fears of failure.

If you are putting off doing what you really dream of doing now is the time to stop. Get off you behind and start making your dreams come true. If you start today you’ll be one step closer to where you want to be tomorrow. If you do nothing you’ll be in the same spot tomorrow. Being in the same spot is not where you really want to be, is it?

I’ve been thinking about a lot of things recently. I know that I’ve said I was going to start this blog up again before, but this time I feel like it is for real. I have something to say again. My hope is that what I have to say will ring true with you and inspire you to make changes in your life. Let’s change our lives together.

Here’s a video I saw yesterday that I found inspirational.

Photo by Lel4nd

New Online Cooking Class – Ann Marie from Cheeseslave.com is offering an online cooking class that looks like it will be really good. I read Ann Marie’s blog and it’s full of tons of really useful information about food.  Check out the class here.

Boost Your Metabolism – Matt Stone from 180 Degree Health was interviewed on Underground Wellness Radio this week. It’s a great interview and I recommend listening to it. If you’re not an Underground Wellness fan you should definitely become one. Sean Croxton really does a great job interviewing a variety of guests. Here’s the link to the Matt Stone episode.

The Thyroid-Gut Connection - This is are really informative post on the Health Skeptic. Check it out.

Don’t Read this if you Want to be a Better Blogger – If you’re a blogger you should read this post. It’s really good. Trust me. Check it out here.

That’s it for interesting links this week. Have a great weekend. I’ll see you again next Tuesday.