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Author: James Fishman
James Fishman has been involved in the world of online magazines for more than 15 years. He helped launch Sunstone Online and continues to improve the magazine as site editor and administrator. His writing focuses primarily business and technology. To be in touch with James, feel free to contact him at james[at]sunstoneonline.com.
Journal Your Way to Happiness
Everyone is always searching for the key to happiness, and they might be surprised to hear this. Keeping a diary just might be one of the magical keys. Author Dr. Stefan Klein has found that being happy isn’t a given – it’s a skill that can be learned. One way to train ourselves to be happy is to write down things during our day that make us smile and cheer us up.
Dr. Klein’s book The Science of Happiness has allowed him to look at the topic in a scientific way. The German-born researcher has studied happiness for decades.
Italian psychiatrist Giovanni Fava found, through his research, that patients who kept diaries about happy events were “helped…a lot to get better.” As Dr. Klein said, “It is incredibly simple – you just sit down in the evening and write down the moments where you feel happy and the circumstances. The object of the exercise is to simply make you more aware of these moments to know yourself better.
He also said that helping others can help us.
Geoff Richards Shares His Thoughts about Rugby
Steve Mitchell from www.rugbymatters.net recently interviewed Geoff Richards, the former rugby union player and coach. He coached England at the 2006 Women’s Rugby World Cup and then resigned as Head Coach in 2007. The article was published in the Rugby Times.
Here are some of his thoughts in his own words. When asked how he and the team responded to losing to New Zealand in the World Cup Final, Geoff Richards said, ““Following the last World Cup in Barcelona, we were very disappointed, we had set our sights high and wanted to win but you have to take away the positives and move forward. We had after all moved up in the World rankings from third best to second best in the World.”
When asked whose decision it was to switch Selena Rudge from center to hooker, Geoff Richards responded,
“It was her decision and it started some time ago before the World Cup. It arose from the way she plays, she loves contact and really wanted to play in the forwards where she would be more comfortable. She has fantastic abilities but she has to learn the technical aspects of that position and she is doing that and working on the scrummaging aspects of play and that’s coming and as it does she will develop as an international in her new position.”
Mitchell then asked him how he can ensure that the team maintains its streak of form. Richards answered, “Well, it’s all down to the individual and personal bests. How we can help them to develop as a player and as a unit. There is still a lot that we can do, but above all we need to be playing New Zealand every year. They are so strong that when you play against them it becomes a different game. We need to be playing top opposition and the more you play them, the better you are going to get. That isn’t to say that the women’s game is in anything like a two tier Six Nations situation, women’s rugby is still a fast developing sport amongst all of the competing nations and we ourselves expect a very vigorous examination against Scotland in a couple of weeks time.”
Summer Safety Tips in the Car
With the summer upon us, more people will be on the road taking those great summer trips. It’s imperative, when you buckle the kids in and get ready to go, that you do so safely. This video reminds you of the importance of baby seats and car seats and gives you tips to make sure that you are using them correctly.
Make sure, as well, never to leave a child or animal unattended in a hot car.
Wealthy Clients Turn to Dany Bahar for One-of-a-Kind Cars
For those people who want to express their individuality through their motor vehicles, Dany Bahar and his custom-made car company holds the key to that dream. Former head of Lotus, Bahar is the man the wealthy turn to for their bespoke autos, made to each customer’s particular specifications.
Born in Turkey and raised in Switzerland, Dany Bahar takes a Bugatti, valued at £1.5 million, and gives it a makeover so that his costumer is satisfied that there is only one car like his on the road. This satisfies, on a deep level, the need for his clients to feel unique and special through the uniqueness of their automobile.
“Individualization is becoming so big – you can do everything, shoes, shirts, watches, everything,” Bahar says. “The super-rich who can buy a Bugatti for £1.5 million, LA Ferrari for £1 million, the McLaren P1 for £850,000, they can afford this no problem,” he adds.
Bahar explains why the usual kind of choices are simply not enough for his clients. Cars delivered from the main manufacturers allow customers to:
“Chose their own color, leather, wood application from these [manufacturers] but then they realize that 399 or however many other cars are in the series, can have the same.”
A wealthy car-owner can rise to the next level, as Bahar points out:
“If I spent £2 million on this car and I am in central London I don’t want to see two more Bugattis. I don’t want to see the same,” he says. “Having something you cannot buy anywhere else is what fascinates clients. This was the main reason we launched Ares… to take, for example, a Bugatti and give it a makeover, a real makeover.”
Rather than changing the specs that a particular car is renowned for, such as the engine, gearbox, or unmatched aerodynamics, Bahar and his company, Ares, takes the best of the car and gives it a new outer look that the client demands. As Bahar puts it: “It’s a Bugatti but covered with a different skin.”
A Cure for the Pain of Shots?
If you’re one of the millions of people terrified of needles, there just might be a solution for you. Spanish scientists have found an answer that they believe will work – hold your breath. If you breathe in sharply, it triggers the brain to dampen the nervous system which leaves you less sensitive to pain.
When you are stressed, your blood pressure rises for the fight or flight reflect. Dr. Gustavo Reyes del Paso of the University of Jaén, Spain set out to see if holding your breath (a natural way to raise your blood pressure) come take away some of the pain. His findings were published in the journal Pain Medicine.
What he did was, perhaps, a bit strange. He squished the fingernail of people while they held their breath. He then repeated the action with the volunteers while they breathed slowly. He found that both techniques managed to distract people from their pain but that people reported that it hurt less when they held their breath. He believes that this method might be helpful in situations where people know that pain is on the way (like with a shot) but not in situations where unexpected pain occurs.
In order for it to work, the person has to hold his breath before the pain starts.
Some medical professionals aren’t buying it, however. As Dr. Richard Chapman of the University of Utah told New Scientist journalists, “Holding the breath can also make a person tense their muscles, which might make some painful conditions worse.” Dr. Anne Murphy of Georgia State University mentioned that the solution only reduces the pain slightly.