Inner Peace and Joy Daily Tip: Make Home Work Fun

I work with high-risk boys as a youth counselor and assisting them with their math homework assignments can be very stressful at times, especially when they are not interested in learning math. I hear the boys state often that learning math for them is stressful because math is boring. When I am helping the boys with their math homework, the first thing that I do is figure out how to hold their attention by finding out what are the things that they enjoy most. I know that if I can get them to identify with the things that they enjoy most, then I can get them interested in learning. If I can get them interested in learning, then helping them with their math homework will not be so stressful. For instance, I know that the boys really enjoy football so I use football to show them how to understand the principles of math and how to make learning math fun.

Football Rules Made Simple

1. There is an offensive and defensive team
2. The objective of the football game is to score in the end zone and the team with the highest score at the end of the game wins
3. The middle of the football field is the 50-yard line. The numbers on the football field increase and decrease in increments of 10

How to Use Football to teach Math

1. Let the students name their teams based on their favorite college or NFL team
2. Draw a replica of a football field on the chalk board
3. Use colored chalk to write out the plays "math problems" and to show the movement of the football on the field

Math Problem #1
How to Teach Subtraction: 50-20=?

"Team A" has possession of the football on the 50-yard line. The Play: the Quarterback throws the football down the field. The Receiver runs down the field and catches the football at the 20- yard line. If "Team A " started at the 50-yard line and now has possession of the football at the 20-yard line how many yards did the Receiver on "Team A " gain on the play? Answer 30-yards.

Math Problem #2
How to Teach Addition 10 +30 =?

"Team B" is at the 10-yard line. The Play: The Quarterback is going to pass the football to the Running back and see how many yards he can gain on the play. The play is successful! The Running back on "Team B" gained 30-yards. If the play started at the 10 yard-line and the Running Back gained 30 yards, Where is the ball positioned at the start of the new play? Answer- 40 yard line.

I find that children who are challenged socially learn better when you can hold their attention. If you implement football or any other sport in the learning process, it helps make teaching math less stressful because it makes learning interesting. Football also allows you to involve the children in the learning process and that will help them to remember the mathematical concepts.

Inner Peace and Joy Daily Tip: Are You Dealing With Stress

Are You Stressed Out?

Stress is your body's inside response to what you perceive as outside pressure. You may be stressed if you are experiencing these physical and behavioral signs. Check with your doctor to be sure!

7 Physical Signs that You May Be Stressed

• Chest pain
• loss of appetite
  
• menstrual irregularity
• hair loss/ baldness
• neck and back pain
• constipation or diarrhea
  
• skin conditions such as eczema
  

7 Behaviors Signs That You May Be Stressed

• Inability to concentrate
• Irritability
• Trouble sleeping
• Feeling excessively tired
• Nail biting
• Crying often
  
• Paranoia
  

Stress Management: 2 Ways To Manage Your Stress

If you are stressed, then it is important to understand that you may have limited control over your circumstance but you can have total control over your emotional response to your circumstance. Two things that you can do to have total control over your emotions and have a positive response when you are in a negative situation are: 1) Identify your triggers and 2) Replace your negative thoughts with positive actions.

How To Deal With Your Stress: Stress Management Exercise
Before you can deal with your stress, you have to first identify what it is that is actually causing you to be stressed out. It is important to understand that what you perceive as stressful may not be a stressful situation to some one else. For example: I get stressed out when I am around a lot of noise. What triggers you to perceive a situation as stressful?

Step #1: Identify Your Triggers
1. Keep a journal of all of the things that ticks you off for a week
2. Each time that you are ticked off, ask yourself "Why do I react negatively to this situation?" "What is it about this particular situation that gets to me in this way?"Write down your thoughts in numerical sequence in your journal.
3. At the end of the week, review your journal and identify what you were thinking each time that you felt ticked off.


Step #2: Replace Negative Thoughts with Positive Action
Now that you are able to identify the reasons why certain people and situations ticks you off, your next step is;

1. to write out several positive ways that you can respond to each of the items that you listed in your journal that ticks you off.
2. Practice role-playing with a partner. Pretend that you are in a particular situations or you are in the presence of the type of person that ticks you off.
3. You should practice until you are comfortable responding positively to the negative situation so that when you encounter a negative situation you are not triggered to respond with negative actions.

Positive Ways To Respond To Stress

The way that you are going to maintain a state of inner peace is by not being stressed out. In the exercise, you learned how to be positive and stay calm in situations that are negative. Now, you should be able to take positive actions the next time that you encounter negative people and a negative situation because you will not be taken off guard. You have also learned how to recognize your triggers and you will be well rehearsed on how to take positive actions when you are faced in your trigger situations.


More Useful Tips
Relax

Inner Peace and Joy Daily Tip: Don't Answer Your Cell Phone

My Cell phone, Friends and Family

If I allow it, my cell phone can be one of my worse enemies especially when I working on maintaining my Inner Peace. You see, I do not like to talk on the telephone no longer than ten or fifteen minutes but my family and friends, on the other hand, like to stay on their cell phone for hours. They call me throughout the day wanting to talk about what is going right or wrong in their life and it can be very stressful at times.




Dilemma:

My dilemma is "Answer my cell phone and be stressed out or do not answer my cell phone which would piss my family members off"You may be saying "Just do not answer your phone" but not answering the phone is not an easy solution because I really want to stay in touch with my family and friends but I do not want to spend a lot of time on the phone talking to them.

Well, if you are faced with a similar stressful dilemma, I have 4 things that you can do to stay in touch with your friends and family members without spending too much time on the telephone talking to them and they are: 1)Text 2) Send a multimedia message 3) Email and 4) Social media





#1 Text:

I enjoy using the text feature on my cell phone because I can check in with everyone in my circle without answering my cell phone. The text feature causes a few extra dollars on your cell phone bill but it is worth the investment because you can send and receive written messages to anyone who has the text feature on their cell phone. I usually send out "hello" or "inspirational" texts to everyone in the morning. I usually get a reply back within minutes that says something like "Thank you" or " How are you doing today?"





#2: T.V. Cellphone, Multimedia Messages:

I have a Verizon Blackberry Storm and along with the text feature, I also can send videos, pictures or sound recordings. This is a great feature for staying in touch with people who you have not seen in a while. My sister, who lives far away, use this multimedia feature to send me videos of my nephew who is growing fast.



# 3: Email:

If you want to send a message from your cell phone that contains more characters than texting will allow you, try sending an email. Email is another great way you can stay in touch with people. You can check your email messages from your cell phone as well, if you have that feature enabled on your phone.




#4: Social Media:

My cell phone offers me a social media application that allows me to stay in touch with my friends in real time on Facebook, Twitter and Instant Messenger. This application is great because you can send short messages, upload pictures and share information without ever answering your cell phone.

Cell Phone Plans, Cell Phone Offers, Cell Phone Features and Your Inner Peace
If you are like me and you do not like talking on the cell phone because it disturbs your inner peace then you should check out different cell phone plans, cell phone options and cell phone features that will help you reach out to your friends and family without answering your cell phone.

Inner Peace and Joy Daily Tip: How To Deal With Depression

Inner Peace and Depression
I am going to put it out there, financial stress can cause you to be depressed. If you do not have enough money to take care of your basic needs (such as paying your all of your bills on time, buying food, or purchasing clothes) or enough money to do some of the things that you enjoy in life (such as taking a vacation or engaging in recreational activities) then you can easily find yourself being depressed.

The thing is, if you are depressed then you are not going to be at a state of Inner Peace and that is what this blog is about "How to maintain Inner Peace and live your life full of Joy Daily".

In this post, you are going to: 1) Get a glimpse at some of the causes of depression 2)Identify some of the signs and symptoms of depression and 3) Gain a better understanding on How To Deal With Depression.





Signs, Symptoms of Depression





What are the Signs of Depression

Your emotions are going to be your number one indicator to let you know if you are at a state of Inner Peace or if you are depressed. You may be depressed if you are experiencing these symptoms for an extended period of time.

• #1 Symptom of Depression: Feeling sad
• #2 Symptom of Depression: Sleeping too much
  
• #3 Symptom of Depression: Not sleeping enough
  
• #4 Symptom of Depression: Feeling fatigued
• #5 Symptom of Depression: Feeling worthless:
• #6 Symptom of Depression: Being agitated
• #7 Symptom of Depression: Trouble concentrating

Causes of Depression:



Financial Stress can cause you to experience depression. You may depressed because:

• #1: You Have More Bills than Money
• #2: You are Not Being Paid Enough
• #3: Need Better Skills
  
• #4: Feeling Over Worked and Underpaid
• #5: Unemployed
  

This is a small list and I am sure that you can add unlimited other possible stressful events that can cause you to be depressed but before you add to this list, I want you to know that I made this list short for a reason. The reason that the list of possible stressful events is so small is because events and situations do not cause you to be stressed nor do they cause you to be depressed. Your stress and depression is based in part on how you are responding or reacting to your perceived stressful situation.


Inner Peace: Dealing With Depression




How To Deal With Stress and Depression
One possible way that you can deal with stress, over come your depression and return to your mental state of peace is by dealing directly with the issues that you face. I would suggest that you make a list and identify precisely what it is exactly that you are perceiving as being a stressful.

If you are depressed because you do not liking your present job, then you should:

• Developing a Plan of Action: If you want a better paying job, start your own business or change careers, then you are going to have to plan it out. When you develop your plan of action you have to make sure that you set reasonable goals and a time to achieve your goals

If you are experiencing symptoms of stress and you are depressed because you spend more money than you make then you may need to:

• Learn how to Budget
  
• Seek Counseling
• Take courses to help you learn how to manage your finances

More Tips: How To Deal With Depression
Cope With Stress: Write a Plan

Inner Peace and Joy Tip #32 : Protect Your Peace and Joy

Inner Peace and Joy Daily Meditation Tip: The Book of Proverbs is loaded with wisdom nuggets. Read Proverbs 1, pull out the wisdom nuggets and apply it to your life

Do not let anyone take your Joy or your Peace away from you. Your Joy and your Peace are your gifts from God. You have to stand firm and do not give them away to anyone.

If you are in a relationship that is causing you stress, it is your responsibility to get counseling or take the next steps to remove yourself from the situation.

If you are on a job and your coworkers are mean or you do not see any opportunities for advancement and you are really stressed out, You have to take the necessary steps to get a better one.

These are just a couple of possible stressful situations. The point is, "You have to take charge of your life. Protecting your Joy and Peace is your responsibility. "

More Useful Tips:
How To Have Peace in Your Home
Managing Job Stress and Getting Along With Coworkers
Use Wisdom When Making Decisions

Inner Peace and Joy: Tip # 19 Get Active

Inner Peace and Joy Daily Meditation: the Book of Proverbs is loaded with wisdom nuggets. Read Proverbs 19, pull out the wisdom nuggets and apply it to your life

Walking is a great way to relax and reduce stress. And walking is free!

Get Active and Make Walking Enjoyable!
-Upload your favorite songs to your Mp3 player and walk and listen to music
-Listen to the news, your favorite speakers or sermons while you walk
- Use your walking time as prayer time. Walk and talk with God
- Meet with your friends on the track and catch up
-Have your next business meeting while you are walking instead of over lunch

More Useful Tips:
Maintain a Positive Self-Image
Love the skin that you are in
Exercise Helps to lower high blood pressure