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We all face challenges in our life. We may have been affected by a natural disaster, lost a job or home due to the economic climate, experienced a health crisis, lost a loved one, or ended a relationship.

When life gets tough, I try to remember and live by these 3 inspirational quotes.

1. I’m Only given what I Can Handle

I know God will not give me anything I can’t handle. I just wish he didn’t trust me so much.- Mother Teresa

This belief helps keep me grounded and relatively calm when it feels like everything is falling apart. It changes the focus to something more constructive – that somehow this challenge will help me grow and will serve my life (and whomever I touch) in the long run. Otherwise it would be easy to fall into a victim mode of thinking, being and acting.

I adopted this belief in my teens and only recently read Mother Teresa’s quote. While the last bit strikes me as humorous, I wonder what she was feeling when she said it.

2. Looking for the Gift

In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.- Albert Einstein

When faced with a challenging situation, I try to remember to ask – what is great about this? (ie. use whatever words you want. Where is the good in this? what is the gem or learning? etc.)

This shifts my focus from looking at all the possible negative consequences that may or may not happen to looking at the gift in the situation. It empowers me to stay calm and look for solutions.

3. Will you be a Victim or a Victor?

In my darkest hours I had a choice to make. I could be a victim or a victor.- Wynonna Judd on the Oprah show

No matter what happens in our life, we get to choose how we respond. We get to choose our attitude. We can choose to feel sorry for ourselves and be a victim or we can choose to rise above.

Years ago I needed to have a dental procedure and I was feeling really stressed. Then it hit me – the procedure was going to happen regardless of how I felt. I could choose to feel anxious and mad that I even needed the procedure or I could choose to relax. I choose the latter and it made a huge difference.

No matter what challenge you are facing, you don’t need to figure it out alone. find someone you can talk to for both emotional and strategic support. as a species we are very resourceful and can find a way. you can too.

OK so you’re trying for a baby but no matter what you do you just can’t seem to get pregnant naturally. that can put a strain on your relationship with your partner which in itself will not help you to conceive so it is normal that you should think of investigating why that should be.

Before we go into the details did you know that statistically if you are under 35 then you only have a 17% chance of having a baby if you have intercourse at the right time in your cycle. at the end of a year 80% of couples under 35 do end up conceiving and of the remainder 10% will manage to conceive within 2 years. the remaining 10% will not be able to conceive without some assistance.

As you get older the chance of you being able to get pregnant naturally will decline. those women under 40 will have an 8% chance of conception, if you’re over 40 and under 45 then that percentage drops to 3.5% and for over 45′s the chance is just 0.5%.

You can therefore see that age can be major barrier in your quest to get pregnant naturally.

We can split the common reasons for not being able to conceive into the 3 categories below:

Female issues: e.g.

1. sporadic ovulation frequency or no ovulations
2. tubal obstruction
3. fibroid, polyps or adhesions on the Uterus

Male issues: e.g.

1. low sperm count
2. unusually shaped sperms
3. inability for sperms to move spontaneously and actively

The third category is essentially an unknown category as in some cases it is possible for both parties not to suffer from any of the issues above yet they still find it impossible to conceive.

The good news is that despite the statistics above and even the issues highlighted it is still possible to have children so today is not the day to stop trying for a baby. We can therefore look at a few tips that will help you to conceive and have a baby.

One of the things that you should consider is what foods you are eating when you are trying to get pregnant naturally.

For example caffeine can cause your chances of conceiving being cut in half which when you consider the numbers already mentioned can be quite a large amount. a simple tip is therefore to stop drinking coffee, black tea and carbonated drinks that contain caffeine whilst you are trying to conceive.

Other food sources to keep an eye on are eggs, meats and dairy products. the simple tip here is to go organic so that you know that none of the foods have had any contact with any chemicals which may affect your chances of having a baby.

Another great tip is to give up alcohol whilst you are trying to get pregnant. you will know what happens when you have too much alcohol so naturally the same thing affects sperm which results in the sperm not being as viable as what would otherwise be the case. in women alcohol can imbalance the hormones on your body which doesn’t help when you need your body to be functioning at its maximum to have the conditions right for conception.

These are just some simple tips that can help you to get pregnant naturally.

James Patterson, Sundays at Tiffany’s – Hachette Book GroupA neglected 8-year-old girl, Jane turned to Michael, her imaginary friend, for comfort. twenty years later, Jane runs into Michael – but, he’s imaginary. Isn’t he?

Jane Margaux lives in the shadow of her mother, Vivienne, a successful Broadway producer. as a child, she relied on Michael for the support and love she needed. as an adult, however, Jane continues to live under her mother’s thumb. although Jane has produced her own popular Broadway show and has a handsome, if unreliable boyfriend, her mother continues to wield her influence. Unfortunately for Jane, she suffers from being "too nice.” at a low point in her life, she believes she sees Michael again, but that should be impossible.

James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet present a classic chick-lit, love-and-happy-endings story with Sundays at Tiffany’s. although the concept of an imaginary friend is not unusual, their take on how and why imaginary friends exist is original and imaginative. as Patterson and Charbonnet take Jane and Michael’s relationship into adulthood, the elements of the child-imaginary friend bond take on a new light. Sundays at Tiffany’s might suffer from bouts of predictability, but it is a sweet, optimistic take on love and friendships.

Plot Overview: Friendship, Love and Happiness

Jane is a lonely little girl. Her mother rarely makes time for her, except on Sundays; on this particular day of the week, the mother and daughter pair have dessert at the St. Regis – though they may not sit at the same table – and go to Tiffany’s to look at jewelry. Luckily for Jane, she has Michael, her kind, handsome, funny imaginary friend. Michael appreciates Jane, listens to her, protects her. on the night of Jane’s ninth birthday, however, their friendship must cease to exist. although the child is supposed to forget her imaginary friend, Jane never forgets Michael.

Close to 20 years later, Jane is a Broadway producer, having successfully written and produced a show about a girl and her imaginary friend. in a strange twist, Michael happens to be on vacation in New York City. as Jane deals with blow after blow, Michael, under the assumption that Jane does not remember him, follows her, observing her adult life. on one fateful day, Michael and Jane reconnect, recognizing their feelings and longing for each other. what happens next between the two friends can only be described as remarkable.

Criticisms and Compliments

Although James Patterson frequently includes elements of love in his novels, Sundays at Tiffany’s is the only one of his books that appears to be purely chick-lit. in addition, while Patterson may invoke various tones and personalities in his writing, Jane Margaux is unlike any other female character that Patterson has created, perhaps due to the influence of his writing partner, Charbonnet. Patterson is the more highly credited author, but with Charbonnet’s input, it would seem that Sundays at Tiffany’s is a collaborative, creative effort, one that succeeds wonderfully.

Source:

• Patterson, James and Gabrielle Charbonnet. Sundays at Tiffany’s. Vision, 2009 ISBN 9780446536318

The more closely an employee is connected to his role (he likes what he does) and the more personally the employee is connected to his manager (has a strong relationship) the better he performs. These connections are the power behind all millennial performance.

Today, service is king; service events are passionate or connective events. The more passionate a customer is about a brand, product or company, the more he buys. The more passionate an employee is about his work and his manager, the better he performs. Feeling connected is the key to igniting passion; by looking at connections we see how to make the right management changes to drive performance and results.

The industrial age ended as much of manufacturing moving offshore. we now have a very different service economy. Managing in today’s economy is not effective with industrial age command-and-control methods; today, managers must inspire and engage to create powerful connections with their employees. all performance is based on these connections.

There are many things in current management methods that need to change to ignite passionate performance and connections in today’s workplace. however, no workplace likes significant change, even if the change is for the better. The process to bring about significant performance changes through a modification of management methods must be approached gradually. Too much change too quickly will send employees running and inhibit their performance instead of encourage it.

Therefore remember the mantra of change: implement incremental changes that yield exponential results. Assess the magnitude of the change, the degree of connection and its performance impact. most great connection ideas involve very gradual or small changes yet have significant effects on performance. consider these five incremental changes that yield exponential results:

1.Spend time with each employee. this is critical to building personal connections. Here is a great phase worth remembering: people quit people before they quit companies. that means when a personal connection does not exist between the manager and employee, the employee is less loyal, performs less and is less committed. Take an employee to lunch. Spend five minutes before the day starts or after the day ends just catching up. Ask questions of the employee that indicate his values, interests and talents. The more you know about the employee, the stronger you can also make his connection to his role. Spending time to get to know your employees is a small, simple change that yields significant results.

2.Match the employee’s talents to his role. In today’s intellectual workplace, employees contribute thinking and ideas. The closer the employee’s natural thinking (called talents) matches the thinking required in his role, the more capable the employee feels and the greater his contribution, effort and performance will be. to assess employee talents, buy Strengthsfinder 2.0 by Tom Rath and have each employee complete the on-line questionnaire. this helps to introduce the language of talents and helps all employees learn and articulate what they are intrinsically good at. The more an employee uses these talents in his role, the more passionate he becomes about performance because talents also represent areas that we enjoy. If an employee is not suited to or dislikes his role, his performance will suffer. Once known, start to realign employees to roles that are a better fit for their talents. a review of talents is a small step that yields exponential results.

3.Give the employee a problem or project to handle on his own. now that you are aware of the employee’s talents, show that you trust this employee by giving a problem or project to the employee to manage, solve or complete. this encourages ownership, engagement and passionate performance so long as the project or problem is in the employee’s talent area. Besides getting the problem or project off your desk, it activates employees to step up and contribute in a more significant way. In their talent areas, employees are capable of significantly more performance than they currently offer. Assigning a problem or project to an employee is an incremental change that can yield exponential results.

4.Talk about the future. Here is a question for you: how willing are you to perform in a great way if you do not know where your job or career is going? how willing are you to commit to a company or manager if you never talk about your future? Employees watch everything; they are very connected through today’s many social networks. Word gets around quickly and favorably about organizations that actively involve employees in recurring discussions about their futures. Career conversations keep employees connected to their work and to their management. Employees are given a voice in the development process. they have input in determining a meaningful future with the company that accommodates their talents and interests. Managers, who take this time, connect significantly with employees. Career development that matches the talents of the employees significantly connects employees to their work. Hosting a career conversation is an incremental change that has an exponential impact on loyalty and performance.

5.Commit to having fun. Work, for most employees, is truly a four-letter word. it doesn’t have to be that way and if you want exponential performance, it can’t be that way. Employees want to have fun in the workplace. Employees want to be part of high energy and dynamic environments that celebrate, build rapport.in short.connect. it takes very little resources to emotionally connect employees to their workplace by hosting lunches, theme days, fun programs, community events and other things to keep employees interested, excited and performing. a small change to having more fun at work can yield exponential results.

Make small changes – nobody likes too much change at once. But assess your changes and their impact on results. Today, we are in the age of connection. Be sure to make small improvements that help connect employees to their work (brain connections) and manager/workplace (people connections). Being human (passionate) at work, is the key to performance. to be passionate, humans need connections – intellectual and emotional, mind and heart. The stronger the connections, the more employees perform. make these incremental connection changes for exponential results.

The five Love Languages of Children by Gary Chapman Ph.D and Ross Campbell, M.D.is marked down 30% right now and is only $7.81. 

Does your child speak a different language? Sometimes they wager for your attention, and other times they ignore you completely. Sometimes they are filled with gratitude and affection, and other times they seem totally indifferent. Attitude. Behavior. Development. everything depends on the love relationship between you and your child. When children feel loved, they do their best. But how can you make sure your child feels loved? Since 1992, Dr. Gary Chapman’s best-selling book the five Love Languages has helped more than 300,000 couples develop stronger, more fulfilling relationships by teaching them to speak each others love language. Each child, too, expresses and receives love through one of five different communication styles. And your love language may be totally different from that of your child. While you are doing all you can to show your child love, he may be hearing it as something completely opposite.Discover your child’s primary language and learn what you can do to effectively convey unconditional feelings of respect, affection, and commitment that will resonate in your child’s emotions and behavior.