Culture

The Importance of Random Acts of Kindness

December 4, 2017

We go through our routines day by day, often not thinking about them or questioning them at all. And then at the end of the day we go to bed with that vague feeling that something’s really not right with our lives, but we can’t pinpoint it. I submit to all of you that many of us would go a long way towards solving that by committing more random acts of kindness.

Where To Start?

A random act of kindness can be anything from taking a quick moment during your day to donate to Oxfam by phone, to leaving an unusually generous tip, to sending someone who you think might be lonely a postcard (a real postcard, emails aren’t nearly as nice), to paying for someone else’s purchase at a store, to giving stuff away for free online. There are so many other possibilities; be creative. The more you do it the better you will get at it.

One other way to start is to think of the people you see on a regular basis but are still strangers. These are the doormen or security guards at your work, or maybe the guard at a gated community you live in or frequent, the cashiers at the neighborhood shopping spots, etc. Make a point of greeting these people warmly, and at the very least getting to know their names. You are guaranteed to see a smile on their faces if you do this, and it’s very unfortunate how many people don’t even bother. Reverse the trend.

Excuses Begone!

-”I just don’t have the time”…. You will find that if you are mindful, opportunities to be kind are presenting themselves to you regularly, in the normal course of your daily grind. You just have to be open to them.

-”I don’t trust people”…. If you’re thinking of donating to an organization but not sure about their trustworthiness, you can put your mind at ease by going to a website that has already pre-vetted a bunch of orgs, for example, this one here. It takes a mere couple of minutes, and then you can put your mind at ease. If you want to help someone on the street, give them food instead of money.

-”It won’t make a difference”…. It will! And the most important difference it will make will be the one inside of you. All that positivity will come back to you in surprising and unexpected ways; trust us on this one!

 

Food

How Eating Healthy After a Breakup Can Help You Heal

December 4, 2017

Breakups are painful, whether you see them coming or not.  We’ve all helped others through these times but when it is you, it can be hard to remember your own advice.  One of the tops ways that we fail ourselves can often be with our diet – so how can you make sure you eat healthily and look after yourself after a breakup?

Breakup with bad habits

As you are at a crossroads of sorts due to the end of the relationship, it can also be a good time to kick and bad food habits you have picked up.  Eating too many takeaways, too much fatty food, drinking too much, all of these can be habits that we fall into and that don’t help our body.  By getting rid of some of these habits and cleansing our bodies, we can also do the same with our minds and this helps us to heal after the breakup.

Eat foods that lift your mood

One of the biggest problems after a breakup can be low mood – feeling depressed and sad.  But foods can actually help by naturally boosting your mood and helping you overcome these feelings.  Try to eat foods that boost your mood naturally such as:

  • Salmon – source of energy-boosting omega-3 fatty acids that make the brain work well
  • Bananas – give you potassium and Vitamin B that gives you energy and helps you do more
  • Coconut – source of triglycerides, a kind of fat that turns to energy and boost you
  • Goji berries – add these to a smoothie to help with a healthy mood and sharpen the mind

Food and exercise

If you think that the breakup might not be final, you may want to work on keeping yourself in good shape.  This is just one of the ways you can deal with the breakup – check this website on breakups for more tips.  You can also look at eating the right foods to give you the energy to try a new type of exercise – maybe your ex was a jogger, but you never really enjoyed it.  So why not take on yoga or Pilates instead?  Eating the right food is key to giving yourself plenty of energy to try these things.

Try something different

You can also try something different in the kitchen now you are on your own.  Maybe your ex didn’t like spicy food, but you always wanted to try making your own curries.  Or maybe they insisted on plain dishes where you want to try the alternative recipes.  Make meals fun by eating what you want to eat, no compromises.

Uncategorized

Why You Shouldn’t Buy OEM Car Parts

November 22, 2017

Lately there’s been a slightly disturbing commercial airing on Youtube and on TV networks. Said commercial talks about the importance of being able to “choose” to buy parts from the original manufacturer. While obviously consumer choice is part of a healthy market, when it comes to anything involving cars, there are so many scams out there it’s not even funny.

Ironically enough, often the people most guilty of overcharging and borderline illegal business practises (sometimes crossing over into downright illegal territory) are the dealerships themselves. This is especially ironic because the dealerships are the ones people tend to trust the most, and often pay needless amounts of extra money just for the privilege of doing business with them.

Tricky Title:

I’m even willing to bet that many people read that title and thought that this article was going to advocate for buying the cheapers and lowest quality parts out there! The facts are, nothing could be further from the truth.

But what a lot of us don’t realize is that OEM is actually a MINIMUM standard. There are many 3rd party parts suppliers that set the bar higher than OEM, in some cases way higher.

What To Replace:

Sometimes, in fact, it can be in the interest of safety and also save you money in the long run to replace OEM parts with better parts. In general, here are some parts to think about replacing on your car, even if they are still in working condition, and especially if the car is more than 5 years old:

Tyres: Go somewhere like TyrePlus and get some real tires on that car, and you will see the difference immediately. Not only will your car handle better, especially in nasty weather, it will obatin better fuel efficiency instantly, and be much safer on the road.

Rims: People often think of these things as a way of showing off your car and impractical, but nothing could be further from the truth. And OEM rims are often mediocre at best. These also go a long way as far as improving handling, fuel efficiency and safety.

Brake Pads: Proper brake pads are a must, and they are not that expensive. At the very minimum, your car should have a set of nice new ceramic brake pads on them. Steel ones are not recommended.

In Case Of Repair:

So if you need to repair your car and the repair includes replacing old parts, what should I look for? Here are some simple guidelines:

-If replacing brake pads, always go for ceramic, (unless you are driving a big truck or planning to race your car) and don’t look at the price, look at their rating.

-If replacing shocks, go for gas shocks all the way, even if your car didn’t have them. On paper, they usually represent a 25% improvement in performance over the original part, but in practise it can feel like 100%.

-If a mechanic starts suggesting ripping critical parts off of a wreck in the junkyard, run, don’t walk away. Non-critical parts like, for example, a cover to the light assembly are fine to buy second hand, but nothing critical to the car’s operation.

Around The World

How To Tell If A Charitable Org Is Legit

November 22, 2017

These days, it’s an unfortunate reality that bad faith is everywhere. And quite honestly, why shouldn’t it be that way?

One may wish to debate whether there is more bad faith than ever because people are more apt to take advantage of each other than ever, or whether we are simply more aware of our surroundings and of human nature than ever, but in any case, this is where we are right now, a world of people trying to figure each other’s true intentions out and not get burned in the process.

“I Want To Help BUT…”:

Many of us want to be generous with some of what we have left over after paying the bills, be that a tiny little but or a substantial sum. However, when it comes time to look at a suitable space for donating our dough, we run into a bunch of people, organizations, and websites that we have trouble taking at face value, and perhaps for good reason. Maybe we’ve been wanting to donate to Oxfam by phone , for example, but our suspicion and paranoia got the better of us, so we held off. Maybe Oxfam (or insert name of charity here) is actually a good organization that deserves our resources, but we want to be sure. So what can be done about this?

How To Vet A Charitable Organization:

There are several tools for vetting organizations to tell if they are worth the donations they are getting, and the good news is that none of them are overly complicated:

-Charitable organizations that are international in scope are almost always registered with the IRS as such. You can check here in this database to see if they have been included.

-There are also less formal but perhaps even more useful websites dedicated to vetting charities. I’m saying they are more useful because they include data on transparency and financial practises.

Red Flags:

Run away if any of the following things occur when dealing with a charity:

-They thank you for a previous contribution that you didn’t actually make.

-They insist on donating by text, or by cash or wire, methods that are not easily traceable

-They are not able to provide you with a receipt for tax purposes.

-They are not able to provide you with detailed information about the organization

-They can’t take a phone call and/or there is no way of contacting them by phone.

-Their name is suspiciously close to that of another bigger organization.

Food

5 Reasons To Be A Proud Foodie

October 24, 2017

Some people eat to live and foodies live to eat. There is nothing that makes a foodie happier than trying out variety of foods and enjoying every morsel of their food.

It’s not just us food bloggers like myself and Hungry Harriet that do this. Here are 5 reasons why you should call yourself a foodie with utmost pride;

  1. You have a great understanding about food

There are people who will have just about anything for a meal, and then there are foodies, who relish each meal and are always looking for new things to try out. Your taste buds are always active and you have a great understanding of every ingredient in your food.

  1. You know the best places to eat

Foodies try about anything and don’t hesitate going out of their comfort zone, trying out new places to eat at, which is you have a good eye for some of the best hotels and restaurants in town

  1. You are highly trusted with your choice

Because of your reputation as a foodie, people will know you will choose the best of places to eat which is why, when you pick out a place to eat, your friends and family blindly trust your choice

  1. You are probably a great cook

Being a foodie is not just about eating, it is also about enjoying the whole process of cooking.  You love experimenting in your kitchen and the outcome of these experiments can be some of the most delicious dishes that people drool on.

  1. Food cheers you up like nothing else

Foodies recover from a rough day like no one else. All you have to do is, take away your favorite food from your favorite restaurant and every bite of the food acts as a stress buster for you.

Well, now you know why being foodie is the best thing ever.  So, don’t shy away from saying that you are a proud and a passionate foodie.  However, there is one thing that foodies dislike, and that is to wait for their order to arrive. Play bingo games on GameVillage, one of the best bingo sites so you don’t have to get bored as you wait for your delicious meal.