To Busy To Take A Walk In Nature? Try This 1-Minute Tool.

How are you feeling right now? On a scale of one to five stars, how would you rate how you feel right now? If you rated yourself at three stars or less, you are not alone. According to a report by the Conference Board, 49% the US workforce is unhappy. What makes them the most unhappy about their work? According the the report, the three at the top of the employees list are: the company’s promotion policy, the bonus plan, and the performance review process. Add to that a constant workload that forces many employees to cut back on vacation time, and the lack of on-demand education/job training programs that helps the workforce keep pace with a rapidly changing workplace. So what will companies have to do to improve the worklife of their employees especially millennials? Smart, resilitant companies that are able to pivot the fastest will begin to assemble a suite of accelerated learning tools that offer both on-demad actionable advice, and a moment of clarity like a walk in Nature so the user can take a moment to decide on the next steps to take. Here’s What Happens When You Walk in Nature Do you feel more relaxed, upbeat and happy? Yes. Here’s why. When walking on a trail in Nature, your left brain, logical brain is busy concentrating on the trail to keep you upright. It is focused on challenges or obsticles that lie just ahead: a stick on the path that might cause you to trip and fall; a pothole. Your right brain is also fully occupied. It is busy taking in all of the surroundings:...

FINE DINING ON $5-A-DAY – For Life, Health and Happiness

FINE DINING ON $5-A-DAY  23 Ingredients to eat and repeat, twice daily, for Life, Health and Longevity. Dr Longevity.org: a HEALTHY LIFESTYLE AND LONGEVITY REPORT – 1/14/19 Mother Nature gave us so many wonderful ingredients to enjoy, why limit yourself to just 23? Here’s why: When you eat and repeat this same meal twice a day, it will both simplify your life and save you money, while lifting you to a higher level of health, fitness, and happiness. FINE DINING on $5-A-Day offers a shopping list of 23 ingredients that combine to create a 5-Star dining experience. First, it looks like a meal you might be served at the best restaurants in town. Second, it’s low cost, with off-the-shelf produce and local products that give a boost to the local economy. Third, every bite is delicious. It offers a burst of pleasure that turns your dining experience into pure joy. I’m saying this from personal experience. As a person who has spent a lifetime dining out 80% of the time, I’ve now switched to dining at home, enjoying the same meal twice a day for the last 50-days. Over the years, our kitchen as been the test kitchen for Dr Joel, who has been dining alone, most of the time, because the dishes he prepared were too spartan for me. Finally, after 50 years of experimentation, he has finally come up with a recipe that I love and enjoy every day, twice daily. For me, these 23 ingredients have become the GOLD standard for a good meal. It is the meal that I compare with all other meals, and...

OWN Your POWER: How Happiness and Truth Are Linked

Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the Greek philosopher Aristotle believed. He went so far as to call happiness “the whole aim and end of human existence.” But what if you are so unhappy that you don’t have time to focus on being happy? One fix for this problem is called: TRUTH. Truth cuts a path through a forest of distractions. It is the sum total of our words and actions that define us. It’s the bundle of habits that define our character. Truth, when expressed as kindness, compassion and respect for others, never wanders. It guides our actions, like a lighthouse in a darkened sea. Situational rhetoric is different. When your happiness depends on situational rhetoric, it means that your words must match the different types of people you talk to, or groups you join. With situational rhetoric you must learn to talk differently and act differently each time you talk, depending on the person or group you are with. This takes practice. Remembering what you said, when, and to whom, wastes your time and wears down your happiness. Telling the truth takes practice. When it becomes a habit, it will save more than your time, it could save your life. Mark Twain got it right when he said: “If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember...

Countdown: A 50-Day Personal Leadership Challenge

DAY 50: Today’s challenge is to stay mindful, stay sane, and stay healthy. What steps will you take to achieve this goal?  Start by setting a goal to think GOOD thoughts. Did you know that up to 70% of the thoughts that most people think are negative. And, of all the thoughts we think each day, research suggests that up to 95% are the same thoughts we thought yesterday.  How is this possible? It may be built-in to your job description. For example, when I recently mentioned this 95% figure to a bright young sales clerk at an office equipment store he looked at me in disbelief. Then I explained that the sales pitch he had just given me was probably the same one that he had delivered to a 100 people before me. Knowing this was true, he smiled at me and nodded his head in agreement. To boost the number of good thoughts you think each day, try this simple exercise: say to yourself “Be Mindful” each time you take an action. The more mindful you are, the more present you become. While staying fully present in every moment may not be possible, it’s a worthy goal. It means that you are taking full responsibility for what happens in your life.  Learning how to lead from the INSIDE out is a leadership practice. You recognize that every thought, words or action is the result of a choice you have made. Chose well. Others may be watching, and following your lead. Alexia Parks is president of 10TRAITS Leadership Institute: Offering 1-Minute conflict resolution tools, research, and trait-based training...

Hooyah! 5 LIFE Lessons from the THAI Cave Rescue

Over history there have been numerous examples of the power of collective human compassion to lift humanity up and bring us closer together. The dramatic Thai Cave Rescue of all 12 Wild Boar soccer team members perhaps offers us the most powerful example yet.. What stands out most, I believe, is the remarkable ability of the entire group to overcome what seemed like unsurmountable odds With LIFE lessons in mind, here are some of my thoughts on what has been called “a miracle” that may provide some personal insights and inspiration for you. The CONTEXT: The mission the international team of divers and volunteers set out to accomplish was accomplished! Their personal focus became a global focus thanks to the 24/7 coverage by global news media and social media shares. Sharing live updates, the news media became a powerful force for GOOD by keeping the world focused on the same goal: Everyone safe. The most important lesson we learned is this: Stay connected! Live by the rule “one for all and all for one.” No one is safe until ALL are safe.We are all part of a larger ecology of life. Everyone and everything is connected. Like the soccer team, each of us will be tested. An old truth is still true today: “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” We are each on a hero’s journey. This is the time of our rapid transformation. Stay strong! Through our thoughts, words and actions each one of us can become the change we want to see in the world. While many news reporters are speculating on the long term mental...

Three TECH Savvy Solutions That Could Reunite Migrant Families

If you, like me, wake up every day wondering what single action you can take to help solve the problem of the 2,400 migrant children separated from their parent(s), here are three ideas I came up with that are starting to attract attention: IDEA #1: The 3-Meter Tech Solution: Lawyers in collaborate with tech smart what3words and Google Earth, could identify the specific location of each child within 3 meters and give them a wrist band with their own unique three words embossed on it. Take a photo of each child showing their three-word wrist band, then do the same with their parent(s). IDEA #2: The StartUp Village Project: If a safe return to their home country is possible –  where poverty, not violence, was the reason for leaving – migrant families could be provided with a 5-year-guaranteed income to live in a new *startup village.* This would require an agreement by the government of the country and skills training. For example, THIS location in Guatemala. The cost would be in the millions, not billions, and recognize America’s role in creating an unnecessary humanitarian crisis and PTSD and separation anxiety that could last a lifetime for these migrant families. IDEA #3: CANADA’S new immigration program. This easy to implement program could also work in America. In the U.S.  a reunited family would be released from custody await legal determination in the U.S. if they are able to secure five sponsors, using Matchmaking technology. Alexia Parks, inventor of the Gender Equality Tool and G.E.T. Smarter Together 1-Minute Learning Tool, is Founder and CEO of 10TRAITS Leadership...