Tips for a safe summer - how to prevent shark attacks

I got the following email from my boss this morning - it is excellent!!

Tips for a safe summer - how to prevent shark attacks

1. Don't swim in the sea.

More than 99% of all shark attacks happen in large water masses,
also known as oceans. The way to establish if you're in an ocean
is to taste the water. It should taste salty.


2. Don't go in the water without a knife.

That's to stab the nearest swimmer when you see a shark. As soon
as he/she bleeds profusely, swim as fast as you can to the shore
and claim you tried your best to save him/her. You might end up
getting an award for bravery.


3. Listen intently.

All sharks have a 'theme song' - If you hear the following, swim
for your life :
   da-dam, da-dam, da-dam
If it sounds like this:
   dadam, dadam, dadam
you're already gone.


4. Don't panic.

Stay calm when a shark bites you. Its over, you're gone and
it doesn't help you to try to survive. The people on the shore
will appreciate it, they don't want to hear your mad yelling and
screaming, it's not nice. It's not all about you.

Thank god it's caturday

A guy at work often sends out these "caturday" pictures and they're always good for a bit of giggle. I thought I'd share todays with you as they're a pretty good bunch :-)

Mum's car

Well it has to be said people - my mum is cooler than your mum. Case and point is mum;s new car that she bought recently - AWESOME! It's a gold 1999 Mazda mx5! See - I told you mum was cool! Mum has always talked about wanting a sporty little car one day so I'm very glad that she finally got to have it :-)

Enjoy it mum!

Empathic listening

I went to a couple of sessions at work listening to a guy who had recently been on a 3 day course on the 7 habits of highly effective people. It was really interesting and hopefully I can implement some of the principles mentioned. One thing that really struct me though was about empathic listening - something that most people are really bad at but which is so important.

It said the following:

Listen Empathically
Empathic listening is reflecting what a person feels and says in your own words. It is not listening to advise, counsel, reply, refute, solve, fix, change, judge, agree, disagree, question, analyse, or figure out.

So if you want to try something different today then try practising empathic listening - at home with your kids, parther, with your friends and even at work with your colleagues. It's definitely worth it!!

Bounce Bounce

Yay I am very excited at the moment because Paul, Theresa and I are planning on going camping finally this weekend. Yay!!! The current plan is to go to Binna Burra which I guess is in the Gold Coast hinterland (very pretty) near Lamington National Park. Very exciting!! It's just under 2 hours drive from the city so we'll be leaving about 4pm on Friday to hopefully get there and be able to pitch our tent before it's too dark. Yay!! We have lots of new camping stuff that we will be using for the first time like our new gas stove, our grunty camping lamp and our little camping table :-)

http://www.binnaburralodge.com.au/index.php

We'll probably do a walk or 2 while we're up there as well so I can start walking off my winter butt ;-) lol
http://www.binnaburralodge.com.au/exploring/index.php

Happiness Enhancing Activities

I just read an interesting article this morning about thekey to happiness. Part of the article had the following 12 happiness enhancing activitiesn - I have included an exert from the article. Very interesting!!

12 happiness-enhancing activities - things happy people do naturally. They may sound corny but they're scientifically proven. You don't have to do them all - decide which fit you best.

1. express gratitude.
   
2. cultivate optimism: visualise a future in which everything has turned out the way you want it, then write it down.
   
3. avoid obsessing over things or paying too much attention to what others are doing.
   
4. practise acts of kindness - more than you're used to.
   
5. make time for friends; be supportive and loyal.
   
6. develop coping strategies: write down your feelings when you're feeling upset and try to see that traumatic events often make us stronger.
   
7. learn to forgive.
   
8. immerse yourself in activities and be open to new ones.
   
9. savour life's joys - linger over a pastry rather than mindlessly consuming it.
   
10. work towards meaningful goals.
    
11. practise religion and spirituality.
    
12. exercise.
    

You won't see the results from these activities right away: like anything important, you have to work at it

If you want to read more then you can find the article here: http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/wellbeing/key-to-happiness-be-kind-exercise-20090909-fhnc.html

I like the sound of this. One of the things I have been trying to work on this year is positivity - I think that I will be a much happier person if I stop being so negative all the time and try to be positive. And that's what another part of the article talks about - so I'm not so silly afterall aye ;-)

Be Positive: Positivity makes you more attractive and resilient, with lower blood pressure, less pain, fewer colds, better sleep. Increase the number of positive emotions in your day, however fleeting. One can lead to another and so on, until we're in an upward spiral of positivity. Take a moment to find the good in a situation. Don't over-generalise ('I can never hold down a relationship'), jump to conclusions ('I'll never finish this job') or ruminate endlessly. Any healthy distraction - a run, a swim - that lifts your mood is good

Acupuncture

Well after talking to Marea and thinking about it for a while I finally decided to try having acupuncture. I've actually had acupuncture before to help with OOS stuff when I was at uni and I really liked it :-) If anyone in Wellington is thinking about getting acupuncture then let me know and I'll pass on the guys details. It was at a place in the city end of Karori and he used traditional Chinese acupuncture which is much better than the sort you get at the local physio :-)

[edited because grumpy husband doesn't like me putting personal info on the internet]

Right... back to Brisbane and not random ranting! So I went along yesterday in my lunch break, had a big long chat to the chick there - ticked way too many boxes on her sheet of symptoms, and lay down on the table. Her theory is that a lot of my problems stem from liver and spleen issues, so that is what she is treating. I had needles put in the top of my right foot, side of the right ankle, my right albow area (the squissy bit when you fold your arms), my right wrist, in my frown lines (between the eyes ;-) ), and one in either side of my neck :-) I don't know if last night is anything to go by but Paul reckons that I barely moved all night - so I'm taking that as a good sign :-) Fingers crossed aye :-)

Righto - back to work now :-)