Ring of Life - The Amazing Metal Structure In Fushun, China

Ring of Life - The Amazing Metal Structure In Fushun, China

Also under construction near Fushun, China, is Shenfu New Town- an entire city designed and master planned by the Goddard Group in concert with the local government and development agencies. Wrapped around two massive lakes, at the heart of the city is the “Circle of Life” – a 100-meter stainless steel ring that serves as the city’s icon.

A new landmark is taking shape in the north-eastern city of Fushun in Liaoning province in China. A gigantic steel loop dubbed the ‘Ring of Life’. The structure stands 515 foot tall and is made of a whopping 3,000 tonnes of steel. At night, it will glow with a phenomenal 12,000 LED lights. The project is estimated to cost $16M US dollars.

According to Fushun Municipal Government's officials, this titanic structure has been built simply to serve as an viewing platform. The developer originally planned to add a platform for visitors to bungee jump off. However, the idea was abandoned because the ring is too high for bungee jumpers.

Image Source:    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_of_Life

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Top Twenty Tips Life Success and Happiness

Top Twenty Tips Life Success and Happiness

Do you want to move ahead in your life, career, relationships, confidence, health or personal happiness? Typically it’s a lack of self-belief, focus and action caused by a whole host of thoughts, fears and ideas that hold you back from the happiness and fulfillment you seek. It’s is no surprise because from infancy we’re all bombarded with all sorts of ideas and beliefs (conditioning) about who you should be, how you should look, what you should own and all sorts of other nonsense.  The good news is that some simple steps will help build the vision, belief and action the keys to unlock greater success and happiness: 

Top twenty tips 
1.  Be yourself, no-one else (this is one the greatest keys to happiness).

2.  Appreciate who you truly are (remember you’re the magic, rich, whole spirit beneath the ideas and fears you’ve been handed by society).

3.  Take responsibility for your life / actions from now (let others do the same)

4.  Focus on your life don’t be sidetracked by those of others, celebrities or the characters in whatever TV show others may be hooked on!

5.  Let go of negative relationships and build positive ones. Be kind to yourself and supportive of others.

6.  Stop thinking about what you don’t want in life and start acting on what you do want (this is one of the key traits of happy and fulfilled people).

7.  Write down all your personal and professional qualities, strengths and achievements -keep them in mind and always work from your strengths.

8.  Find a quiet space. Take 15 minutes to imagine / picture / think about where you’d like to be in your life, career, relationships, health and interests in three years time. Make it as specific and detailed as you can. Now jot down what steps you’d need to take to achieve them. Include all the skills, talents, resources and support you have now and all those that you’d need to seek out or develop.

9.  List the 3 people who inspire you most and 3 qualities you admire in each of them. Now write down all the ways you share their qualities/ values. Finally write down what 3 pieces of advice each of your 3 people would give you to help you move ahead in your life.

10.  Spend quality quiet time with yourself every day and live one day at a time. Move toward your goals at your own pace.  Be flexible, trust your instincts and learn from success and setbacks in equal measure. Flowers grow by both sun and rain.

11. Make happiness a priority.  If happiness is not at the top of your list then other  things will take precedence.  If other things take precedence, they may well interfere with your efforts to feel good.

12. Play and have fun. Don’t take life too seriously. Although we all have responsibilities there’s no reason why we can’t approach much of our lives in a playful manner.  In fact, those who do so will undoubtedly be happier.

13. Identify where your strengths lie.  Know where your faults and weaknesses are to avoid problems.  Know where your strengths lie to be really happy and to succeed in life.

14. Utilise your strengths. Although we all can and should endeavour to improve in areas in which we’re weak there’s just as much, if not more, to be gained from focusing on the maximal utilisation of your strengths (including all your positive qualities and attributes).

15. Be curious. Constantly search for new ways to be happy.  Keep a look out for new ways to approach life and to have fun.

16. Be grateful and appreciate what you have. We all have many choices in life one of which is whether to focus on all the things we don’t have (of which there might be many), or to focus on all the things we do have. There’s no doubt, that gratitude and appreciation will significantly increase your chances of experiencing happiness.

17. Invest time and energy in to your key relationships. Happy people spend more time working on and in their relationships. Happy people tend to be more supportive of other people in their life. Happy people are more generous and altruistic.

18. Weed out unhelpful thoughts. The Dalai Lama has been quoted saying that “The central method for achieving a happier life is to train your mind in a daily practice that weakens negative attitudes and strengthens positive ones.” Learn first to identify your thoughts and then begin to challenge those that are negative and unhelpful.

19. Live a healthy life. Eat well and keep active. Exercise regularly. Although not impossible, it’s difficult to be happy if you’re constantly sick and not very healthy.

20. Live in the present moment. The author, Henry Miller once said  “Every moment is a golden one for him who has the vision to recognise it as such.” The only moment in which we can truly be happy is the present moment. The only moment over which we have control is the present moment. So be happy now!  Because if not now, then when? .

Above all:  Remember whatever you do, ‘happiness is who you are within not that you are without’. You are already whole and full of potential. This is the birthplace of success. Your value is innate – not dependent on what you achieve. Enjoy your life.

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How Can I Eliminate Stress from My Life?

How Can I Eliminate Stress from My Life?

As we have seen, positive stress adds anticipation and excitement to life, and we all thrive under a certain amount of stress. Deadlines, competitions, confrontations, and even our frustrations and sorrows add depth and enrichment to our lives. Our goal is not to eliminate stress but to learn how to manage it and how to use it to help us. Insufficient stress acts as a depressant and may leave us feeling bored or dejected; on the other hand, excessive stress may leave us feeling "tied up in knots." What we need to do is find the optimal level of stress which will individually motivate but not overwhelm each of us.

How Can I Tell What is Optimal Stress for Me?
There is no single level of stress that is optimal for all people. We are all individual creatures with unique requirements. As such, what is distressing to one may be a joy to another. And even when we agree that a particular event is distressing, we are likely to differ in our physiological and psychological responses to it.

The person who loves to arbitrate disputes and moves from job site to job site would be stressed in a job which was stable and routine, whereas the person who thrives under stable conditions would very likely be stressed on a job where duties were highly varied. Also, our personal stress requirements and the amount which we can tolerate before we become distressed changes with our ages.

It has been found that most illness is related to unrelieved stress. If you are experiencing stress symptoms, you have gone beyond your optimal stress level; you need to reduce the stress in your life and/or improve your ability to manage it.

How Can I Manage Stress Better?
Identifying unrelieved stress and being aware of its effect on our lives is not sufficient for reducing its harmful effects. Just as there are many sources of stress, there are many possibilities for its management. However, all require work toward change: changing the source of stress and/or changing your reaction to it. How do you proceed?

1. Become aware of your stressors and your emotional and physical reactions.
Notice your distress. Don't ignore it. Don't gloss over your problems.
Determine what events distress you. What are you telling yourself about meaning of these events?
Determine how your body responds to the stress. Do you become nervous or physically upset? If so, in what specific ways?

2. Recognize what you can change
Can you change your stressors by avoiding or eliminating them completely?
Can you reduce their intensity (manage them over a period of time instead of on a daily or weekly basis)?
Can you shorten your exposure to stress (take a break, leave the physical premises)?
Can you devote the time and energy necessary to making a change (goal setting, time management techniques, and delayed gratification strategies may be helpful here)?

3. Reduce the intensity of your emotional reactions to stress
The stress reaction is triggered by your perception of danger...physical danger and/or emotional danger. Are you viewing your stressors in exaggerated terms and/or taking a difficult situation and making it a disaster?
Are you expecting to please everyone?
Are you overreacting and viewing things as absolutely critical and urgent? Do you feel you must always prevail in every situation?
Work at adopting more moderate views; try to see the stress as something you can cope with rather than something that overpowers you.
Try to temper your excess emotions. Put the situation in perspective. Do not labor on the negative aspects and the "what if's."

4. Learn to moderate your physical reactions to stress
Slow, deep breathing will bring your heart rate and respiration back to normal.
Relaxation techniques can reduce muscle tension. Electronic biofeedback can help you gain voluntary control over such things as muscle tension, heart rate, and blood pressure.
Medications, when prescribed by a physician, can help in the short term in moderating your physical reactions. However, they alone are not the answer. Learning to moderate these reactions on your own is a preferable long-term solution.

5. Build your physical reserves
Exercise for cardiovascular fitness three to four times a week (moderate, prolonged rhythmic exercise is best, such as walking, swimming, cycling, or jogging).
Eat well-balanced, nutritious meals.
Maintain your ideal weight.
Avoid nicotine, excessive caffeine, and other stimulants.
Mix leisure with work. Take breaks and get away when you can.
Get enough sleep. Be as consistent with your sleep schedule as possible.

6. Maintain your emotional reserves
Develop some mutually supportive friendships/relationships.
Pursue realistic goals which are meaningful to you, rather than goals others have for you that you do not share.
Expect some frustrations, failures, and sorrows.
Always be kind and gentle with yourself -- be a friend to yourself.

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Life Lessons

Life Lessons

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1. Accept what you are able to do and what you are not able to do.
2. Accept the past as past, without denying it or discarding it.
3. Learn to forgive yourself and to forgive others.
4. Don’t assume that it is too late to get involved.
5. Find someone to share your heart, give to your community, be at peace with yourself, try to be as human as you can be.
6. Love always wins.
7. The culture we have does not make people feel good about themselves. And you have to be strong enough to say if the culture doesn’t work, don’t buy it.
8. So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they’re busy doing things they think are important. This is because they’re chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.
9.  If you really want it, then you’ll make your dream happen.
10.  The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in.
11. Love is the only rational act.
12.  I don’t allow myself any more self-pity than that. A little each morning, a few tears, and that’s all . It’s horrible to watch my body slowly wilt away to nothing. But it’s also wonderful because of all the time I get to say goodbye.
13.  Sometimes you can’t believe what you see; you have to believe what you feel.
14.  What if today were my last day on earth?.
15.  Once you learn how to die, you learn how to live.
16.  If you accept you are going to die at any time, then you might not be as ambitious as you are.
17.  There is no foundation, no secure ground, upon which people may stand today if it isn’t the family.
18.  Don’t cling to things, because everything is impermanent.
19.  If you’ve found meaning in your life you don’t want to go back. You want to go forward. You want to see more, do more. You can’t wait until sixty-five.
20.  Money is not a substitute for tenderness, and power is not a substitute for tenderness.
21.  Love is how you stay alive, even after you are gone.
22.  Love each other or perish.
23.  The big things how we think, what we value those you must choose yourself. You can’t let anyone-or any society determine those for you.
24.  Don’t let go too soon, but don’t hang on too long.
25.  Be compassionate. And take responsibility for each other. If we only learned those lessons, this world would be so much better a place.
26.  Forgive yourself before you die. Then forgive others.
27.  As long as we can love each other, and remember the feeling of love we had, we can die without ever really going away. All the love you created is still there. All the memories are still there. You live on in the hearts of everyone you have touched and nurtured while you were here.
28.  Death ends a life, not a relationship.
29.  The important questions have to do with love, responsibility, spirituality,awareness.
30.  You’re not a wave, you are part of the ocean.
31.  There is no such thing as ‘too late’ in life.

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