Wednesday, May 10, 2017

How to React when Insulted or Teased


Learning how to cope with being teased or insulted can help you get a better handle on these unfortunate social situations. Assessing the situation, responding appropriately, and seeking help when necessary will all help you overcome being teased or insulted.


Method 1
Assessing the Situation

Realize it’s not about you. People who tease and insult others are insecure. Their bullying is often driven by fear, narcissism, and the need to control a situation. Picking on others makes them feel powerful. Recognizing that it’s about them, not you, will help you gain confidence in the situation.
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Understand your aggressor’s motivation. Making an effort to understand why a particular person is insulting or teasing you is key to coming up with a resolution to the situation. Sometimes people tease you to make themselves feel better; other times they might do it because they don't understand you or the situation as well as they could.

For example, the coworker who always insults your clothing may feel like you are getting more credit than you deserve from your boss.
In another example, your aggressor might be teasing you because they do not understand that your disability prevents you from fully participating in an activity.
Keep in mind that some forms of teasing can be playful and are not meant to hurt your feelings. For example, a relative or close friend might tease you about something, such as a quirk that they find amusing about you.

Develop a plan to avoid the person or situation if possible. Avoiding your aggressor can help minimize the insults and/or teasing you are experiencing. While this is not always possible, come up with ways to minimize the time you must spend in the presence of the bully or avoid contact altogether.
If you are being teased while walking home from school, work with your parents to come up with a safe route home that will help you avoid being teased or insulted.
If you are being teased or insulted online, consider deleting the bully from your social media networks or limiting the time you spend on certain applications.

Determine if the teasing is a violation of the law. Sometimes teasing or insults are a direct violation of state or federal law. For example, if you have a co-worker who is sexually harassing you at work by commenting on your body, this is a violation of the law and must be reported immediately.
If you are at school, you have a right to feel safe and to have a distraction-free environment to learn. If someone is teasing you in a way that makes you feel unsafe or distracts you from school (such as by making you not want to attend), you should talk to your parents or teacher about it.

Method2

Responding to Being Teased or Insulted

Prepare for the situation. If you must spend time with a person who repeatedly insults or teases you, come up with a plan for how you will address the situation. Thinking through ways you can respond and role-playing can help you handle the situation.
Practice role playing with a trusted friend or family member. Try having your best friend say, “Anna, your haircut is really awful.” You can respond with, “Thank you for your opinion, but I like it and that is what matters.”
If your boss is insulting you in a belittling way, come up with a plan. Try saying, “Bob, your teasing is unprofessional, hurtful, and is hindering my productivity. I will report it to human resources if it continues.”

Stay calm. It’s important to stay calm when you are being teased or insulted, even if your instinct is to get angry or cry. People who tease and insult others are often looking for a reaction. Keep your cool and stay grounded.
When someone insults you, try taking several deep breaths before responding to them.

Be assertive. Be confident and clear with the aggressor about how his or her insults affect you. Use a firm, yet calm tone and explain why you are not okay with their teasing.
Try saying to a classmate who teases you about your shoes, “It makes me angry when you insult me in front of our classmates. So stop it.”
If your co-workers are heckling you at work in a sexist way, try saying, “Your teasing and insults are bordering on sexual harassment. If this happens again I will report you immediately to our supervisor.”

Ignore the insult. Sometimes the best response to an insult is to ignore it. You can pretend you didn’t hear it at all or change the subject to something completely off topic. Ignoring your aggressor’s teasing or insults instead of reacting will prevent fuel being added to the fire.
If you are insulted or teased online, don’t respond.
If you are being insulted by a family member, try to ignore the insult and leave the room.

React with humor. Using humor to react to being teased or insulted is an effective response. Humor can diffuse a tense situation, disarm the aggressor, and even undermine the insult. Try making a joke when someone insults or teases you.
If your coworker insults the poster you bring to a conference try saying, “You’re right. This is an awful poster. I really shouldn’t have let my five-year-old do my work for me.”
Another option might be to act shocked and engage in some playful banter with the person. For example, you might say something like, “Oh my goodness! You’re right! Thank you for helping me to see the light!”

Report teasing and insults based on your gender, sexuality, religion, or disability. It is important that you report these kinds of harassment immediately. This type of teasing is often against the law. Go directly to an authority figure if you are being teased or insulted in this way.

Have a conversation with your aggressor. For example, if you are being repeatedly insulted by a parent or family member it might be time to sit down and have a conversation about the abuse. Be direct about how the teasing makes you feel and how such harassment affects your life.
If your mother continually insults your appearance, try saying, “Mom, I feel hurt when you comment on my clothing, hair, or makeup. It hurts my feelings. From now on, please stop making these comments.”
Even if the teasing is non-malicious, you can still say something to the person if it bothers you, such as "I love hanging out with you and it's fun teasing each other sometimes, but the following topics hurt my feelings and those are off limits now: clothes, husband, kids, etc…”

Method3
Feeling Better About Yourself

Work on your self-esteem. Having low self-esteem can make it harder to handle teasing, whether it is mean-spirited or not. Improving your self-esteem takes time, but you can do it using simple activities, such as:
Giving yourself compliments. Try looking in the mirror every morning and saying one positive thing about your appearance, such as “Your eyes look especially bright and beautiful today.”
Making a list of your strengths, achievements, and things that you admire about yourself. Try to list at least five things in each column. Keep the list and read over it daily.

Practice self care. Taking care of yourself is important and a good strategy to deal with being insulted or teased. Try taking a long bath, going on a quiet walk, or doing something nice for yourself like getting a pedicure. These self care strategies will help you build self esteem and feel better about yourself.
Develop your resilience. Being resilient means that it is easier for you to recover from teasing, insults, and other obstacles. Try to work on your resilience to improve your ability to bounce back from the teasing and insults that you endure. Some things you can do to build up your resilience include:
Looking at your mistakes as learning opportunities.
Reminding yourself that you have the power to choose your response.
Setting realistic goals for yourself.
Building up your confidence.

Learn how to be more assertive. Being able to express yourself in an assertive way can also help you to deal with teasing. To be assertive, it is important to be comfortable saying “No” to people and to express your needs in a clear, direct way.
Say what is bothering you in a specific way. For example, “You often tease me about my hair, such as by calling me a poodle or frizzball.”
Express your feelings about the teasing. For example, you might say something like, “I feel angry when you say these things because I think my hair looks awesome.”
Say what you want to happen. For example, “I want you to stop teasing me about my hair. If you do it again, then I will walk away.”

Method 4
Getting Help

Talk to your parents. If you are a child or teenager and are being teased or insulted, it is important that you let them know what is going on. Tell them about the situation and ask for their help in resolving it.
Try saying something like, "Mom/Dad, I have been getting teased by someone at school and I have tried to get them to stop, but it is not working."

Reach out to a teacher or other trusted professional. If someone at school is insulting or teasing you, touch base with your teacher, school counselor, or even the school nurse. These educational professionals can help you devise a strategy for dealing with the situation.
Try saying something like, "I am being teased/insulted by someone at school and I am not sure what to do."

Go through the proper channels at work. If you are being insulted or teased in your place of work, it is important that you document the abuse and go through the proper channels. Discuss the situation with your boss or go straight to human resources and report the situation.
Try saying something like, "A coworker is teasing/insulting me on a regular basis and it is affecting me. I would like some help to resolve this situation."
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Monday, May 8, 2017

What to Do When You Find Out You’ve Been Cheated On


Conservative estimates suggest that cheating occurs in about half of all relationships. Being cheated on can be a profoundly painful experience, and it can be hard to know what to do after the initial discovery. Here’s a comprehensive, mapped-out guide to deciding whether to stay or go.

First: Get Your Facts Straight

If your relationship is on the line, make sure you have the correct information about what happened. If you suspect that cheating occurred, or if you heard the information second-hand, don’t jump to conclusions just yet. You need to have a conversation. It will be horribly painful, there’s no way around that—but you should find out:

What exactly happened. Are we talking an online flirtation or an in-person tryst? Are there emotions involved, or was it just physical?
The circumstances around it happening. Was this a planned affair, or something that “just happened”? There’s a big difference between someone signing up for an Ashley Madison account and kissing someone in a drunken haze at a party.
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How many times it happened.
The status of your partner’s relationship with the other person. Has your partner told the other person that it’s over?
If your partner wants to stay in your relationship or not. The question of what to do next may already be answered.

If your partner used protection. This won’t help you decide what to do in terms of the relationship, but it’s important for you to know if you need to get tested for STIs.

A word of warning: don’t ask for all the gory details of the affair. As much as the masochistic devil on your shoulder wants to know if the other person was better in bed than you were, that type of information really won’t help you in any way.

Give Yourself a Time Out to Take Care of Yourself

Your emotions are going to be all over the place after finding out about your partner cheating. You’re going to need time to figure out up-from-down, much less figure out your next steps. After you’ve heard your partner out, tell them that you need some time alone to think about what you’re going to do. Ask them to respect your boundaries and not contact you until you reach out. You can give your partner a rough time frame (like two to four weeks), or just let them know you’ll get in touch when you’re ready.

 
Be aware that your immediate reaction may be to take drastic measures in either direction. Some people want to repair the relationship right away. After experiencing such a powerful threat to your relationship, it’s natural to feel drawn to your partner. Others may want to leave and never look back. Try to resist these urges, and give yourself the opportunity to make as clear-headed a decision as possible.

During this break, try your best to treat yourself well. Call in sick to work for a week. Reach out to your most trusted friends and talk it over with them. Try to eat and sleep. Go outside for fresh air and the opportunity to move your body. Write down all of your tortured thoughts in a journal. Meditate. Cook. Nap. Sing. Whatever makes you feel even the tiniest little bit better. Keep doing all of these things for as long as possible. Most of us struggle with self care, even when things are good, so it’s likely that you’ll find this step incredibly challenging. That doesn’t mean it’s not worth making an effort.

I’m obviously biased, but I think seeing a therapist is an excellent idea. Even your best, most compassionate friends will reach a limit where they’re a little tired of hearing you rehash all the same details. It’s nice to talk it all out with without having to worry about annoying anyone. And, you know, therapy will actually help you process the feelings instead of just rehash them.

Decide What to Do

You’re never going to get to a point where making this decision is easy, but some time and good self care should make this process feel a little bit clearer. Here are some other variables to consider:

How severe was this betrayal? As I said before, there’s a big difference between getting caught up in a moment and having a months-long affair. Motivations are important.

Has your partner cheated in the past? If your partner has cheated on you before, it’s time to move on. You may also want to consider whether your partner has cheated in past relationships.

What’s your relationship history? If you’re relatively early in your relationship, it may be best to cut your losses. On the other hand, if you’ve been with your partner for a decade, you may want to ask yourself if it’s worth throwing away all of that history for one moment of horrible judgment.

Is this relationship worth salvaging? Sometimes cheating is a sign that the relationship is long over. If you’ve been fighting or if you’ve been tempted to cheat yourself, it may be time to throw in the towel. If you’re with someone with whom you’ve never been able to visualize a future, this may be the opportunity to end things before they become even more complicated.

Does your partner understand the impacts of their behavior? If they’re not immensely apologetic, they don’t deserve your consideration. How you found out about the infidelity also matters. Did they fess up of their own accord, or did they get caught?

Is your partner willing to work through this with you? Is your partner is offering to make concrete steps to repair your relationship, like going to couples counseling?

Can you see yourself eventually forgiving? In order for a relationship to survive infidelity, you have to be willing to forgive. You can’t lord it over their heads in order to get what you want, or break it out as a trump card during arguments.

It’s unbelievably difficult to decide whether or not to end a relationship, but it’s important for you to make a concrete decision instead of letting yourself get caught up in the tide of emotions.

If You Decide to Go

It’s perfectly understandable it you don’t think you can move past the infidelity. The best thing you can do is try to preserve your dignity as you make your exit. Don’t try to hurt your ex, don’t try to get revenge, and don’t try to get in contact with the “other person”. These things might feel good in the moment, but they’ll just prolong your pain. Make a clean break, and focus on rebuilding your life without them.

If You Decide to Stay

Being cheated on is a horrifically painful experience. You’re going to be reeling for quite some time, but here’s what you can do to help the healing process

Get Couples Counseling

This is really not something that the two of you should try to get through together. I’m biased, of course, but I truly think that intensive therapy is necessary to helping you process the experience, rebuild your relationship, and learn how to create an even stronger connection.

Expect to Be Triggered by Mundane Events

Psychological pain like this has the ability to worm its way into every fiber of your existence and keep popping up when you least expect it to. Seemingly mundane things, like seeing another couple hand in hand, may evoke a flood of unexpected emotions. Be prepared to cry over your cereal, during your haircut, and in your car. You’re going to be having a lot of big feelings in the upcoming weeks and months.

As we therapists are fond of saying, the only way out is through. As painful as it may be, try to allow yourself to feel all of your feelings. Keeping a journal and writing free-form (without editing yourself) is a great way to do this. If you try to bury your feelings, the healing process will just take longer.

Try Not to Obsess Over It

After experiencing trauma, our brains work overtime to try to understand what happened. It’s usually a feeble attempt to prevent pain like this from ever happening again. Unfortunately, you can’t just rationalize why someone whom you love so deeply would betray you, so these ruminations don’t bring any relief. Over-analyzing is going to be unavoidable at all times, but it’s worth trying to stop your thoughts from running away from you. If you feel yourself obsessing, take a deep breath and see if you can slow down your thoughts. If it helps, remind yourself of the ways that obsessing actually hurts you, for example, “all I’m doing with this train of thought is punishing myself.”

With all the rumination going on in your brain, you may be tempted to ask your partner for details about the affair. I talked about this last time, but don’t pressure your partner into giving you the downlow on their infidelity. Seriously, it won’t help.

Expect Big Changes to Your Sex Life

Your sex life is undoubtedly going to be different for a while. The partner who has been cheated in is bound to compare themselves to the “other person”, and may feel crippling performance pressure. It might be helpful to take your usual forms of sex off the table for a while, and try to focus on reconnecting through simple touch.

Don’t Punish Them by Violating Their Privacy

Something horribly painful happened to you that was out of your control, so it’s natural to want to regain control. It’s understandable that you want to ensure your partner won’t cheat again, but some people go way overboard, doing things like demanding access to their partner’s email, phone, credit cards, and other private information. Some don’t even bother asking for permission, and just snoop on their own accord.

Unfortunately, this is a terrible tactic. Snooping through your partner’s accounts (with their permission or without) won’t guarantee that they won’t cheat again. It doesn’t help rebuild trust, and it will create a lot of ill will between the two of you at a time where you desperately need some good interactions. No one wants to be in a relationship where one person is constantly monitoring the other, and it can even lead to abuse in some instances. It also won’t help you heal, since you’ll find yourself increasingly paranoid. Every time you grab their phone or open their email, you’ll keep yourself stuck in a horrible, unending anxiety spiral.

Repair Your Relationship with What You’ve Learned

Sometimes cheating is just a spur-of-the-moment terrible decision, but sometimes it’s a sign that there are deeper issues in the relationship. Once you’ve moved past the initial crisis stage of discovery, you may want to have some conversations about what was going on in your relationship before the infidelity occurred (this is another step best taken with a competent therapist!) For example, some partners cheat because their partner has been withholding or uninterested in sex, affection, or attention..

Infidelity may also be the opportunity for the two of you to have some (undoubtedly tricky) conversations about the relationship model that works best for the two of you. Most people default to serial monogamy, but that isn’t an arrangement that works for everyone. There’s no point in recommitting yourselves to a closed, monogamous relationship if it’s not working for the two of you.

Let It Go

Cheating can feel unforgivable at first, but you are eventually going to have to forgive your partner. Your partner has a lot of work to do to regain your trust and rebuild your relationship, but they can’t keep making it up to you for the rest of your lives. You can’t pull it out as a trump card in every argument. If you can’t forgive and try to move on, it may be a sign that staying in the relationship isn’t a doable option for you.

It’s probably not going to feel like things are improving steadily or linearly, but trust that time will do it’s thing. With patience, hard work, and dedication, you can bring your relationship back from the brink.
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Wednesday, May 3, 2017

10 Most Expensive Luxury Sedan Cars


A sedan is a body style of a car which is one of the most popular car forms in the world. Many luxurious car manufacturers have given the world some of the most stylish, feature-rich and ofcourse expensive luxury sedan cars.Most Expensive Sports CarsMost Expensive Armored CarsLet’s look at the illustrious list of the 10 most expensive luxury sedan cars in the world at present:

1. Aston martin RapideAston martin Rapide

This is a 4 door luxury sedan car that was launched in 2010 and is a car known for its superb looks, tremendous power and six speed automatic transmission.  It was introduced during the Frankfurt Motor show and is packed in with a powerful 5.9 litre V12 Engine. Aston Martin is the most expensive luxury sedan in the world.

2. Jaguar XJ X351
Second on this list is Jaguar - XJ X351 which is a full size luxury sedan launched by the British car giant.  Calling it luxurious will be an understatement as this car is one of the official vehicles of the royal family of UK.  This car is available in three versions-three litre diesel, five litre V8 and five litre V8 Supercharged engines.

3. BMW 640i Gran Coupe
 Gran CoupeThe German car giant BMW is known for its 6 series luxury sedans, and this particular model finds itself a place on the list of the most expensive ones.  It was introduced in 2010 at the Paris Motor Show and has an engine with a horsepower of 302 at 5800 rpm.  This vehicle has 8 speed automatic transmission systems with Steptronic.

4. Mercedes Benz S63 AMG
The S class of Mercedes benz consists of several luxury sedans but this one stands out.  This is a special and limited edition model and is loaded with a strong 6.3 liter V12 Engine.  This is the 4th most expensive luxury sedan car in the world.

5. Maybach 
62Maybach 625th on this list is Maybach 62 which has a 6 liter V12 Engine and 5 speed automatic transmission system.  The superb features of this car make it truly world class and take the luxury element to a completely different level.

6. Porsche Panamera 
TurboPorsche Panamera TurboAssembled in Germany, Porsche Panamer Turbo runs on 4 .8 liter V8 Twin turbo engines which have the capability of delivering 520 horsepower.  It can reach a maximum speed of 305 kilometers per hour and has a front engine layout.

7. Bentley Flying SpurBentley
 Flying Spur7th on this list is Bentley Flying Spur which has a front engine layout and is a 4 wheel drive.  It was launched recently in 2013 and is known for its powerful 6 liter W12 Twin turbo engine.

8. Maserati QuattroporteMaserati 
QuattroporteMaserati - Powered by an 8 speed ZF automatic transmission system, this car definitely deserves to be as expensive as it is! Its engines are designed by Ferrari.

9. Ferrari FFFerrari 
FFAnother car on this list is Ferrari FF. This is a three door grand tourer which boasts of a 6.3 liter V12 Engine with a top speed of 335 kilometers per hour.

10. Rolls Royce PhantomRolls
Royce PhantomRolls Royce car truly redefines the meaning of luxury and makes it to the list of the top 10 most expensive luxurious cars.
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Tuesday, May 2, 2017

How to Live a Long Life


Living a Healthy LifestyleEating 
There are many uncertainties in life, and no one can predict how long they will live. However, taking good care of yourself can help to increase your chances of living a long life. Take good care of your physical and psychological health by living a healthy lifestyle, following a healthy diet, and keeping your stress under control.

Prepare your body for a long life by exercising. Exercise benefits both your physical and mental health. The physical activity strengthens your body, helps you control your weight, and improves your balance and coordination. Simultaneously, your body releases endorphins which will help you relax and feel good. Endorphins can also reduce pain and improve your mood.
Try to do both aerobic exercise and strength training.
Aerobic exercise gets your heart rate up and improves your endurance. Possible activities include jogging, fast walking, swimming, and many types of sports. Try to do 75 to 150 minutes per week.
Strength training, like weight lifting, will improve your bone density and build muscle. Try to do it two times per week.

Be proactive about identifying and treating health problems. Preventative care is important for identifying health problems before they become a major concern. It is also important to identify lifestyle factors, familial history, and work exposures that may lead to the development of a disease or dysfunction. If you skip doctor’s appointments, you increase the chances of not catching a developing health problem right at the start. This means that it will likely be more complicated and harder to treat.

Have a checkup once a year. If your doctor recommends other screenings, do them.
If you have a chronic condition, talk to your doctor about how to manage it to either improve it or prevent it from getting worse.
Know what health problems may run in your family and get screened regularly.

Avoid high risk behavior. Accidents, including during sports or driving, are frequent causes of head trauma and spinal cord injuries.
Drive carefully, wear your seat belt, and obey speed limits.
Use caution when crossing the street as a pedestrian. Look both ways to see if there are any cars around.
Wear appropriate protective and safety gear when playing sports, particularly risky sports like football, horseback riding, rock climbing, bungee jumping, skydiving, skiing, and snowboarding.

Avoid toxic substances. It is important to avoid substances that may increase your chances of developing health problems. This includes pollutants, pesticides, chemical fumes, and asbestos.

Avoid excessive alcohol intake. If you do drink, daily recommendations are that women should drink no more than one drink per day and men no more than one or two drinks per day.
Drinking alcohol in low amounts should be ok for your health as long as you are healthy and don’t overdo it.
Excessive drinking can make you more likely to get cancers of the digestive tract, heart problems, strokes, high blood pressure, liver disease, and to suffer injuries in accidents.
If you do drink, be careful not to mix alcohol with medicines, including over-the-counter medicines, that may interact.
Don’t drink and drive.

Quit smoking and using nicotine products. Even if you’ve smoked or used other nicotine products for many years, quitting will still improve your health and help you live longer. Smoking greatly increases your risks of:
Lung diseases, including cancer
Cancer of the esophagus, larynx, throat, mouth, bladder, pancreas, kidney, and cervix
Heart attacks
Strokes
Diabetes
Eye disorders like cataracts
Respiratory infections
Gum disease

Avoid street drugs. Street drugs are risky for multiple reasons. Not only may the drug itself harm you - it may also be mixed with other harmful substances. The health risks include:
Dehydration
Confusion
Memory loss
Psychosis
Seizures
Coma
Brain damage
Death

Eating a Healthy Diet

Support your body’s ability to heal by eating enough protein. Your body uses protein to make new cells. This means that it is important for repairing tissue damage in your body.
Though meat and animal products are common sources of protein, you can also get all of the proteins you need from plant foods, such as lentils, beans, hemp seeds, quinoa, chia seeds, quinoa, seeds, and nuts.
Proteins are found in meat, milk, fish, eggs, soy, beans, legumes, and nuts.
Adults should eat 2 to 3 servings of high protein foods per day. Childrens’ needs will vary according to their ages.

Keep your vitality by enjoying a diet with diverse fruits and vegetables. Fruits are foods that grow from the flower of plants while vegetables are foods that come from the stems, flower buds leaves, and roots. Both are excellent sources of the vitamins and minerals your body needs to stay healthy throughout a long life.[
Fruits include berries, beans, corn, peas, cucumber, grains, nuts, olives, peppers, pumpkin, squash, sunflower seeds, and tomatoes. Vegetables include celery, lettuce, spinach, cauliflower, broccoli, beets, carrots, and potatoes.
Fruits and vegetables are low in calories and fat, but high in fiber and vitamins. Eating a diet that is high in fruits and vegetables can reduce your risks of developing cancer, heart problems, high blood pressure, strokes, and diabetes.
Try to eat 4 servings of fruits and 5 servings of vegetables per day.

Eat healthy amounts of carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are abundant in nature, such as in fruits and vegetables. Carbohydrates include sugars, starches, and fiber. Your body obtains energy by breaking down these compounds. Simple sugars are digested more quickly than complex sugars.
Focus on getting most of your carbohydrates from natural sources like fruits and vegetables and reduce your intake of carbohydrates from items like baked goods and other processed foods.
Simple sugars are found in fruits, milk, milk products, vegetables, and processed sweets.
Complex carbohydrates are in beans, peas, lentils, peanuts, potatoes, corn, green peas, parsnips, whole-grain breads.
About half of your daily calories should come from carbohydrates, with most of it coming from complex carbohydrates as opposed to simple sugars.


Eat a controlled amount of fat. Your body needs some fat to help it absorb fat soluble vitamins, control inflammation, assist with muscle repair, clot blood and maintain proper brain function, but too much is not good.
Common sources of fats are butter, cheese, whole milk, cream, meats, and vegetable oils.
Eating too much fat increases your chances of high cholesterol, heart problems, and strokes. You can reduce your fat consumption by eating lean meats, poultry, fish, and drinking low-fat milk.
Many restaurants enhance the flavor of their foods with ingredients that are high in fat such as cream, whole milk, or butter. By cooking your food yourself, you can control the amount of fat in your food.
Don't choose fat-free or low fat foods. You need fat. Contrary to popular beliefs, dietary fat does not make you fat. However, don't eat too much fat as it is unhealthy.

Get enough vitamins and minerals through a healthy diet. If you are eating a balanced diet, you are probably getting sufficient vitamins and minerals. These substances are vital for your body to function properly, repair itself and grow.
Vitamins and minerals occur naturally in many foods, especially fruits, vegetables, whole grains, meats, and dairy.
If you are concerned that you may not be getting enough vitamins and minerals, talk to your doctor about adding some multivitamin and multi-mineral supplements to your diet.
The needs of pregnant women and children may differ from the needs of others.

Eat a low salt diet. While your body needs some salt too so that you maintain muscle and nerve function and manage your blood volume and pressure and blood volume, too much over a long period of time is unhealthy. The CDC recommends keeping your sodium intake below 2,300 milligrams per day.
Too much salt can cause high blood pressure and aggravate heart, liver, or kidney conditions.
Most foods contain some salt naturally and many have salt added to enhance the flavor.
Adults should consume no more than about a teaspoon of salt per day. If you have a health condition, you may need to eat much less.
Avoid fast food. Not only is it high in fat, but it is also usually very high in salt.

Cleanse your body by drinking enough water. Drinking enough water will help your body flush out toxins, maintain your bodily functions, and keep your kidneys healthy. Drink at least eight 8-ounce glasses of water per day to stay hydrated, and drink more if you are sweating, such as from exercising or doing physical labor.
The amount you need will be influenced by your body weight, your activity level, and the climate you live in.
The best way to stay hydrated is to drink enough water that you don’t feel thirsty.
If you urinate infrequently or pass dark or cloudy urine, you probably need to drink more.

Reducing Stress

Protect your psychological well-being by maintaining close social relationships. Friends and family will make relaxation fun when things are good and they can provide you with support and distraction when life is hard.
Maintain your social network though corresponding by writing, telephone, or in person. Using social media can also help people stay connected.
Regular social interaction will help you relax and take your mind off your stress.
If you feel isolated, consider locating a support group or counselor to help you.

Stay resilient by sleeping enough. By not getting enough sleep you are compounding the psychological stressors in your life with the physical stress of sleep deprivation.
When you sleep your body can put more energy into fighting off infections and healing.
Try to get at least 7 to 8 hours of sleep per night. Some people may need even more.

Stay excited about life through hobbies. This will give you something to look forward to and prevent you from dwelling on the things that are stressing you out.
Look for something that is inexpensive which you can do all year long. Possibilities include reading, listening to music, art or photography, crafts, or sports.
Avoid competitive activities that will put additional pressures on you.

Set aside time for relaxation. Whether this involves simply free time or a formal relaxation technique, do what works for you. Or try several until you find the one you like the best:
Visualization of calming images
Progressive muscle relaxation in which you concentrate on tensing and then relaxing each muscle group in your body
Meditation
Yoga
Massage
Tai chi
Music or art therapy
Deep breathing

Cultivate happiness. Take time to enjoy life and do the things that make your life meaningful to you.
Do activities that give you a sense of purpose. Many people enjoy volunteer work in their free time.
Nourish your brain with intellectual stimulation. Whether it comes from friends, family, or taking informal courses, or taking up a new craft, learning will keep you enthusiastic about the world around you.
Connect with others. For some people it is with family, friends, a religious organization, or the community around them, but whoever the people close to you are, they will help you stay happy and young of heart.
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Monday, May 1, 2017

North Korea–South Korea relations full story


North Korea–South Korea relations  are the political, commercial, diplomatic, and military interactions between North Korea and South Korea. These interactions extend from the division of Korea in 1945 following World War II to today. The 1950–1953 Korean War and the subsequent Korean conflict are major factors impacting the efforts to achieve peace and Korean reunification.

According to a 2014 BBC World Service Poll, 3% of South Koreans view North Korea's influence positively, with 91% expressing a negative view, making South Korea, after Japan, the country with the most negative feelings of North Korea in the world. However, a 2014 government-funded survey found only 13% of South Koreans viewed North Korea as hostile, and 58% of South Koreans believed North Korea was a country they should cooperate with.

The Korean peninsula had been occupied by Japan from 1910. On August 9, 1945, in the closing days of World War Two, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan and advanced into Korea. Though the Soviet declaration of war had been agreed by the Allies at the Yalta Conference, the US government became concerned at the prospect of all of Korea falling under Soviet control. The US government therefore requested Soviet forces halt their advance at the 38th parallel north, leaving the south of the peninsula, including the capital, Seoul, to be occupied by the US. This was incorporated into General Order No. 1 to Japanese forces after the Surrender of Japan on August 15. On August 24, the Red Army entered Pyongyang and established a military government over Korea north of the parallel. American forces landed in the south on September 8 and established the United States Army Military Government in Korea.

The Allies had originally envisaged a joint trusteeship which would usher Korea towards independence, but most Korean nationalists wanted independence immediately. Meanwhile, the wartime co-operation between the Soviet Union and the US deteriorated as the Cold War took hold. Both occupying powers began promoting into positions of authority Koreans aligned with their side of politics and marginalizing their opponents. Many of these emerging political leaders were returning exiles with little popular support.In North Korea, the Soviet Union supported Korean Communists. Kim Il-sung, who from 1941 had served in the Soviet Army, became the major political figure. Society was centralized and collectivized, following the Soviet model. Politics in the South was more tumultuous, but the strongly anti-Communist Syngman Rhee emerged as the most prominent politician.

The US government took the issue to the United Nations, which led to the formation of the United Nations Temporary Commission on Korea (UNTCOK) in 1947. The Soviet Union opposed this move and refused to allow UNTCOK to operate in the North. UNTCOK organised a general election in the South, which was held on May 10, 1948.[13] The Republic of Korea was established with Syngman Rhee as President, and formally replaced the US military occupation on August 15. In North Korea, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea was declared on September 9, with Kim Il-sung, as prime minister. Soviet occupation forces left the North on December 10, 1948. US forces left the South the following year, though the US Korean Military Advisory Group remained to train the Republic of Korea Army.

As a result, two antagonistic states emerged, with diametrically opposed political, economic, and social systems. Both opposing governments considered themselves to be the government of the whole of Korea, and both saw the division as temporary.The DPRK proclaimed Seoul to be its official capital, a position not changed until 1972.

Korean War
North Korea invaded the South on June 25, 1950, and swiftly overran most of the country. In September 1950 United Nations force, led by the United States, intervened to defend the South, and rapidly advanced into North Korea. As they neared the border with China, Chinese forces intervened on behalf of North Korea, shifting the balance of the war again. Fighting ended on July 27, 1953, with an armistice that approximately restored the original boundaries between North and South Korea.Syngman Rhee refused to sign the armistice, but reluctantly agreed to abide by it.The armistice inaugurated an official ceasefire but did not lead to a peace treaty. It established the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), a buffer zone between the two sides, that intersected the 38th parallel but did not follow it.

Large numbers of people were displaced as a result of the war, and many families were divided by the reconstituted border. In 2007 it was estimated that around 750,000 people remained separated from immediate family members, and family reunions have long been a diplomatic priority.

Cold War

Competition between North and South Korea became key to decision-making on both sides. For example, the construction of the Pyongyang Metro spurred the construction of one in Seoul.

Tensions escalated in the late 1960s with a series of low-level armed clashes known as the Korean DMZ Conflict. During this time South Korea launched covert raids on the North. On January 21, 1968, North Koreans commandos attacked the South Korean Blue House. On December 11, 1969, a South Korean airliner was hijacked.

During preparations for US President Nixon's visit to China in 1972, South Korean President Park Chung-hee initiated covert contact with the North's Kim Il-sung.[24] In August 1971, the first Red Cross talks between North and South Korea were held. Many of the participants were really intelligence or party officials.In May 1972, Lee Hu-rak, the director of the Korean CIA, secretly met with Kim Il-sung in Pyongyang. Kim apologized for the Blue House Raid, denying he had approved it. In return, North Korea's deputy premier Pak Song-chol made a secret visit to Seoul. On July 4, 1972, the North-South Joint Statement was issued. The statement announced the Three Principles of Reunification: first, reunification must be solved independently without interference from or reliance on foreign powers; second, reunification must be realized in a peaceful way without use of armed forces against each other; finally, reunification transcend the differences of ideologies and institutions to promote the unification of Korea as one ethnic group. It also established the first "hotline" between the two sides.

North Korea suspended talks in 1973 after the kidnapping of South Korean opposition leader Kim Dae-jung by the Korean CIA. Talks restarted, however, and between 1973 and 1975 there were 10 meetings of the North-South Coordinating Committee at Panmunjom.

In the late 1970s, US President Jimmy Carter hoped to achieve peace in Korea. However, his plans were derailed because of the unpopularity of his proposed withdrawal of troops.

In 1983, a North Korean proposal for three-way talks with the United States and South Korea coincided with the Rangoon assassination attempt against the South Korean President.This contradictory behavior has never been explained.

In September 1984, North Korea's Red Cross sent emergency supplies to the South after severe floods. Talks resumed, resulting in the first reunion of separated families in 1985, as well as a series of cultural exchanges. Goodwill dissipated with the staging of the US-South Korean military exercise
, Team Spirit, in 1986.

Reconciliation and antagonism
When Seoul was chosen to host the 1988 Summer Olympics, North Korea tried to arrange a boycott by its Communist allies or a joint hosting of the Game. This failed, and the bombing of Korean Air Flight 858 in 1987 was seen as North Korea's response.However, at the same time, amid a global thawing of the Cold War, the newly elected South Korean President Roh Tae-woo launched a diplomatic initiative known as Nordpolitik. This proposed the interim development of a "Korean Community", which was similar to a North Korean proposal for a confederation. From September 4 to 7, 1990, the high-level talks were held in Seoul, at the same time that the North was protesting about the Soviet Union normalizing relations with the South. These talks led in 1991 to the
Agreement on Reconciliation, Non-Aggression, Exchanges and Cooperation and the Joint Declaration on the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.This coincided with the admission of both North and South Korea into the United Nations. Meanwhile, on March 25, 1991, a unified Korean team first used the Korean Unification Flag at the World Table Tennis Competition in Japan, and on May 6, 1991, a unified team competed at the World Youth Football Competition in Portugal.

There were limits to the thaw in relations, however. In 1989 a South Korean student activist who participated in the World Youth Festival in Pyongyang was jailed on her return.

The goodwill generated began to dissipate with disagreements over North Korea's nuclear program which led in 1994 to the Agreed Framework between the US and North Korea. At the same time, the end of the Cold War brought economic crisis to North Korea and led to expectations that reunification was imminent.North Koreans began to flee to the South in increasing numbers. According to official statistics there were 561 defectors living in South Korea in 1995, and over 10,000 in 2007.

In 1998, South Korean President Kim Dae-jung announced a Sunshine Policy towards North Korea. Despite a naval clash in 1999, this led in June, 2000, to the first Inter-Korean Summit, between Kim Dae-jung and Kim Jong-il. As a result, Kim Dae-jung was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The summit was followed in August by a family reunion.In September, the North and South Korean teams marched together at the Sydney Olympics.Trade increased to the point where South Korea became North Korea's largest trading partner.Starting in 1998, the Mount Kumgang Tourist Region was developed as a joint venture between the North Korean government and Hyundai.In 2003, the Kaesong Industrial Region was established to allow South Korean businesses to invest in the North.

US President George W Bush, however, did not support the Sunshine Policy and in 2002 branded North Korea as a member of an Axis of Evil.

Continuing concerns about North Korea's potential to develop nuclear missiles led in 2003 to the six-party talks that included North Korea, South Korea, the USA, Russia, China, and Japan.[56] In 2006, however, North Korea resumed testing missiles and on October 9 conducted its first nuclear test.

The June 15, 2000 Joint Declaration that the two leaders signed during the first South-North summit stated that they would hold the second summit at an appropriate time. It was originally envisaged that the second summit would be held in South Korea, but that did not eventuate. South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun walked across the Korean Demilitarized Zone on October 2, 2007 and travelled on to Pyongyang for talks with Kim Jong-il.The two sides reaffirmed the spirit of the June 15 Joint Declaration and had discussions on various issues related to realizing the advancement of South-North relations, peace on the Korean Peninsula, common prosperity of the people and the unification of Korea. On October 4, 2007, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il signed the peace declaration. The document called for international talks to replace the Armistice which ended the Korean War with a permanent peace treaty.

During this period, the political developments were reflected in art. The films, Shiri in 1999 and Joint Security Area in 2000, gave sympathetic representations of North Koreans.

After the Sunshine Policy
The Sunshine Policy was formally abandoned by the new South Korean President Lee Myung-bak in 2010.

On March 26, 2010, the 1,500-ton ROKS Cheonan with a crew of 104, sank off Baengnyeong Island in the Yellow Sea. Seoul said there was an explosion at the stern, and was investigating whether a torpedo attack was the cause. Out of 104 sailors, 46 died and 58 were rescued. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak convened an emergency meeting of security officials and ordered the military to focus on rescuing the sailors. On May 20, 2010, a team of international researchers published results claiming that the sinking had been caused by a North Korean torpedo; North Korea rejected the findings.South Korea agreed with the findings from the research group and President Lee Myung-bak declared afterwards that Seoul would cut all trade with North Korea as part of measures primarily aimed at striking back at North Korea diplomatically and financially. North Korea denied all such allegations and responded by severing ties between the countries and announced it abrogated the previous non-aggression agreement.

On November 23, North Korea's artillery fired at South Korea's Yeonpyeong island in the Yellow Sea and South Korea returned fire. Two South Korean marines and two civilians were killed, more than a dozen were wounded, including three civilians. About 10 North Koreans were believed to be killed; however the North Korean government denies this. The town was evacuated and South Korea warned of stern retaliation, with President Lee Myung-bak ordering the destruction of a nearby North Korea missile base if further provocation should occur.The official North Korean news agency, KCNA, stated that North Korea only fired after the South had "recklessly fired into our sea area".

In 2011 it was revealed that North Korea abducted four high-ranking South Korean military officers in 1999.

On December 12, North Korea launched the Kwangmyongsong-3 Unit 2, a scientific and technological satellite, and it reached orbit.The United States moved warships to the region. January–September 2013 saw an escalation of tensions between North Korea and South Korea, the United States, and Japan that began because of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2087, which condemned North Korea for the launch of Kwangmyongsong-3 Unit 2. The crisis was marked by extreme escalation of rhetoric by the new North Korean administration under Kim Jong-un and actions suggesting imminent nuclear attacks against South Korea, Japan, and the United States.

On March 24, 2014, a crashed North Korean drone was found near Paju, the onboard cameras contained pictures of the Blue House and military installations near the DMZ. On March 31, following an exchange of artillery fire into the waters of the NLL, a North Korean drone was found crashed on Baengnyeongdo.On September 15, wreckage of a suspected North Korean drone was found by a fisherman in the waters near Baengnyeongdo, the drone was reported to be similar to one of the North Korean drones which had crashed in March 2014.

On January 1, 2015, Kim Jong-un, in his New Year's address to the country, stated that he was willing to resume higher-level talks with the South.
             

In the first week of August 2015, a mine went off at the DMZ, wounding two South Korean soldiers. The South Korean government accused the North of planting the mine, which the North denied. Since then South Korea started propaganda broadcasts to the North.

On August 20, 2015, North Korea fired a shell on the city of Yeoncheon. South Korea launched several artillery rounds in response. Although there were no casualties, it caused the evacuation of an area of the west coast of South Korea and forced others to head for bunkers. The shelling caused both countries to adopt pre-war statuses and a talk that was held by high level officials in the Panmunjeom to relieve tensions on August 22, 2015, and the talks carried over to the next day. Nonetheless while talks were going on, North Korea deployed over 70 percent of their submarines, which increased the tension once more on August 23, 2015. Talks continued into the next day and finally concluded on August 25 when both parties reached an agreement and military tensions were eased.

Despite peace talks between South Korea and North Korea on September 9, 2016 regarding the North's missile test, North Korea continued to progress with its missile testing. North Korea carried out its fifth nuclear test as part of the state's 68th anniversary since its founding. South Korea responded that they have a plan to assassinate Kim Jong-un.

  ********************Have a Nice Time*******************************
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Sunday, April 30, 2017

How To Become A Better Singer


How To Become A Better Singer
Learning how to become a better singer is quite possible if you follow some simple steps. Here is a list of the 17 best singing exercises and voice lessons which are suitable for both beginners as well as for singers at an advanced level. These vocal exercises are time-tested and proven to improve your singing voice no matter what level you are at. Professional voice coaches teach these simple and powerful tricks to budding vocalists to help them reach their full potential quickly and easily.


Become A Better Singer By Learning How To Breathe Correctly When Singing
The first step to becoming a better singer is to breathe correctly when you are singing. Let us take a look at one of the best breathing exercises for singing.

Diaphragmatic breathing or Belly breathing allows you to sing at full power while maintaining a steady, high-quality voice. As you sing while breathing with your belly, your voice rides on the exhaled air and creates the best tonal quality. Belly breathing is especially helpful when singing for long durations of time and so it is one of the most preferred breathing techniques for singers.

As you start singing, air in your throat starts vibrating and generates sound. This air keeps on vibrating as you breathe out until you run out of air. If you breathe only using your upper chest, your sound will be airy and weak and you will quickly run out of air thus causing your voice to break.

Practicing the following breathing exercise will train you to belly breathing correctly when you are singing.

Lay down with your back on the floor. Keep your knees bent and pointed upwards towards the ceiling. Keep your feet flat on the ground and your hands on your sides.
Keep a slightly heavy book on your stomach near your waist.
Now slowly take a deep breath in through your nose and fill your belly with air.
Notice how the book rises as you inhale. Once you belly is full of air, hold your breath for 10 seconds.
Then gently breathe out using both your nose and your mouth and watch the book slowly go down. As you breathe out hum a note or make the sound “Haaa”.
Repeat this breathing in and out for 10 more times.
You can hum a different note each time you breathe out or make the same “Haaa” sound each time.
This is possibly the best breath control exercise for singers as it will gradually build the strength of your abdominal walls and slowly retrain you to breathe with your belly whenever you sing.

Once you have become comfortable with taking 10 in and out breaths with the book on your belly, you can then switch to a heavier book like the yellow pages. After you become comfortable with that book, then start using multiple heavy books.

As the strength of you abdominal walls and your diaphragmatic muscles gradually increase you will become much more comfortable at singing.

Once you are able to comfortably breathe with you belly and sing, then do this exercise standing up. Only this time instead of the book, place your hand on your abdomen and press inward. Then breathe in and expand your belly pushing your hand away from your body. Remember to always sing a note on the out breath. This simple breathing tip will help singers get a clear, strong voice of high tonal quality every time they sing.


16 How To Be A Better Singer By Simply Changing Your Standing Posture

How To Be A Better Singer By Simply Changing Your Standing Posture
Once you’ve learned to breathe properly when you sing, the next step to get a better singing voice is to learn proper singing posture.

Standing the right way can make a huge impact on a vocalist’s voice. In proper singing posture, your will observe the following features.

Chin would be almost parallel to the floor
Shoulders will be pulled back and down and chest held high in a relaxed position
Abdomen would be flat and firm and set in an position where you can expand it easily
Hands will be relaxed and motionless on your sides
Knees would be loose, flexible and unlocked
Feet will be shoulder width apart and one foot would be slightly in front of the other
You can get a feel for what it is like to be in proper singing posture, by practicing the below exercise.

Stand up against a wall with your head, shoulder, buttocks, calves and heels touching the wall.
Notice how your spine stretches and becomes erect in this posture.
Now shift the weight of your body forward until you are almost standing on the tips of your toes. Feel the sense of floating balance as you are in this position.
Then step away from the wall, stand in a slouched manner and notice how it feels different.
Step back to the wall and repeat steps 1 to 4 and take notice again of how it feels to stand erect in an almost floating state.
Now step away from the wall, maintain this erect posture and practice singing.
Proper singing posture is very vital for anyone who wants to learn how to become a better singer. Don’t underestimate the power of this simple technique. It is often the first thing taught in professional voice training classes by vocal coaches.




15 How To Get A Better Singing Voice Fast By Understanding Your Three Voices

How To Get A Better Singing Voice Fast By Understanding Your Three Voices
It is a common misconception among novice vocalists that head voice, middle voice and chest voice are 3 separate registers (sections of voice) independent of each other. This is not true. In reality there are four different vocal registers but only one register, the modal register is used in singing. The modal register is manipulated during singing to produce, the head, middle and chest voice.

You simply cannot flip a switch and turn off your chest voice and move into head voice or vice versa. Believing that these 3 voices exist independent of each other may make a beginner feel that it is quite difficult to manipulate their voice during singing to produce the appropriate note.

There is a smooth continuum between head voice, middle voice and chest voice. These terms don’t refer to 3 different registers, but a single register which resonates in different regions of your body.

Before your voice leaves your body it resonates with different structures inside your body. The kind of voice you produce will depend on which body part your voice is in maximum resonance with.

Head Voice

When a singer in using their “head voice” it means they will feel vibrations around the upper half of their face, because, during head voice the main body part in resonance with their voice is their sinuses. However, this does not imply that other vocal parts are not resonating. It only means that the most amount of resonance is happening in their sinuses as compared to any other part.

Middle Voice

When a vocalist sings in their “middle voice” they feel most of the vibrations around the lower half of their face, their chin, and upper neck. In this scenario, the vocal structure in maximum resonance is their hard palate (roof of the mouth). Again, this doesn’t imply that remaining structures aren’t vibrating. Their chest and sinuses also contribute, but to a much lower degree.

Chest Voice

When a songster in using their “chest voice” most of their sound vibrations are felt around their lower neck, and chest area. This is the voice most people use during regular speaking. If you put your hand at the center of your chest when you speak, you can feel it vibrating. This is the chest voice.

These 3 voices form a continuous spectrum with the head voice at one end and the chest voice at the other end. With regular practice you will be able to carry your voice comfortably from one end of the voice spectrum to other end without your voice breaking. You can also mix you resonance areas, to produce all kinds of mixtures between chest, middle and head voice.

Here are some fun exercises which will help you get a feel for your 3 voices.

Hum a note, and slowly move the pitch of your voice up and down.

Close your eyes and feel as the sound vibrations move inside your body. Notice how the intensity and region of vibrations change as you change the pitch of your voice.
Sing each of the vowels A, E, I, O and U and notice in which body region each vowel resonates most. Does “EE” resonate in a different area than “O” or “A”?

Pretend you are yawning as you are singing a note. Notice how it changes the vibrations.
Now pretend to buzz like a bee while humming a note.
Play around with you voice and notice the difference in each of these three voices. It will help you become a much better singer.

14 How To Get A Great Singing Voice By Building A Daily Practice Routine

How To Get A Great Singing Voice By Building A Daily Practice Routine
This may sound like an obvious fact but this is actually the most important action you can take in your journey to becoming a better singer. Practice singing daily. Practice truly does make you perfect. Repetition is the mother of skill.

As you train your voice and mind over and over again, you will slowly hand over the more difficult nuances of singing to your unconscious mind. In time you will reach a point where you will be able to sing completely on auto-pilot with very little conscious effort.

There is only one way to reach this level of mastery and that is through constant practice. Recent research has revealed that every person who is a master in their field has practiced their skill for at least 10,000 hours. Same is true for world-class singers also.

These 10,000 hours may seem like a lot at first, but when you break this down into regular practice sessions, day after day, month after month, year after year, that target will seem smaller and smaller.

The trick to building a successful daily practice routine for singing is to turn it into a habit. Pick a time of day and a place where you can practice singing for at least an hour without any interruptions. Turn off your cellphone and lock your door. Perform some warm up vocal exercises to get yourself into a singing mood.

It is important to practice your singing at the same time and same place every day, because by doing this, in just a few weeks, your mind will get “primed” for singing as soon as you enter your practice room at that time of day.

Once you have built a habit out of it, then you will no longer need to put as much effort into your singing. Your brain will automatically bring you into the perfect mental state for singing as soon as you start your practice.

Find Out How You Can Get Better Control On Your Singing Voice And Increase Your Range By A Full Octave By Clicking Here

13 How To Improve Your Singing Voice Quickly By Modifying Your Diet

How To Improve Your Singing Voice Quickly By Modifying Your Diet
Foods you eat on a regular basis and foods you consume immediately before singing both have a huge impact on your voice as well as mental state. Some foods can greatly help your singing while others can do great damage. One of the simplest tips for singing better is to change your diet so that you avoid foods that hurt your voice and eat foods that help you sing better.

Bad Foods That Can Hurt Your Singing Voice

Alcohol: Alcohol increases the diameter of your blood vessels and causes them to swell. That can be very harmful for your voice box. When your blood vessels are swollen, blood thins out and arrives closer to the surface thus increasing the chances of hemorrhaging your vocal cords when you sing. Alcohol also dehydrates your body so you should drink plenty of water on days you drink. Alcohol also delays your reaction time and makes you lose co-ordination of your vocal muscles. You must control your alcohol intake and completely avoid it on days when you have a performance.
Caffeine: Like alcohol, caffeine dehydrates your body by making it lose water quickly. It will make your throat dry out faster. Dry vocal chords make you sound hoarse and severely limit your vocal range and endurance. If you do have to drink coffee, choose decaf instant coffee rather than filtered coffee. Also make sure to drink plenty of water later to rehydrate your body.
Dairy Products: Milk, butter, cheese and other dairy products increase the thickness of the mucous present in your airway making it more difficult for your vocal chords to produce sound. Avoid any kind of dairy before a show.
Smoke: Any kind of smoke, from cigarettes or anything else will cause inflammation of the tissue in your throat which will drastically affect your vocal chords. Long term exposure to smoke can even cause permanent damage to your voice.
Spicy Foods: Foods that are too spicy will irritate your throat and produce discomfort when singing.
Sodas and Cold Drinks: These will fill your stomach with gas and make it hard for you to breathe and sing comfortably. Drinking too many of them can also end up giving you a sore throat.

Good Foods That Can Help Your Singing Voice

Water: Drink at least 8 glasses of water a day to keep your vocal chords hydrated, toned and healthy.
Honey & Lemon: Both honey and lemons have anti-microbial properties that help to kill any resident germs in your throat. They help prevent sore throat and also sooth your vocal chords. Honey is also a good source of energy that will invigorate you and put you in better emotional state for singing.
Ginger Tea: It can be a great substitute for coffee as it has the same energy boosting capability of coffee without containing any caffeine. It also has anti-bacterial properties that helps heal and prevent sore throat.
Green Leafy Vegetables: These vegetables are a good source of energy and they help maintain a healthy and strong voice. They reduce swelling and inflammation of the throat and boost your immune system.
Salt Water Gargling: Gargling with warm salt water every night before going to bed is an effective way to avoid sore throats and keep your vocal chords in top condition.

12 How To Train Your Voice For Better Singing By Re-Conditioning Your Mouth And Jaw

     How To Train Your Voice For Better Singing By Re-Conditioning Your Mouth And Jaw
Here is a voice training exercise that will quickly train your mouth and jaw to make you singing sound better.

Stand in front of a mirror and say A…E…I…O…U. Watch your jaw movement as you say each vowel. Did you close your mouth while speaking any of the vowels? You most likely closed your jaw on E and U.
Now take the first two fingers of your left hand and put them in your mouth. This will lower your jaw about two inches. If you don’t want to use your fingers, you can also use a cork or bottle cap to hold your jaw open.
Speak the vowels once more and notice how your tongue and throat move a bit differently this time. Now repeat the vowels five more times.
Then take out your fingers from the mouth and speak the vowels again, this time taking care that your jaws don’t close on any of the vowels.
Once you can successfully speak the vowels then practice singing the vowels in a single pitch. Again take care that your jaw and mouth don’t close.
After you have successfully mastered singing the vowels with your mouth open, now practice singing few phrases from a song keeping your mouth open.
If you perform this exercise correctly and regularly, very soon you will notice an improvement in your voice.

You will sound more resonant and louder. Also you will put lesser strain on your voice when singing louder. This exercise will also release any unconscious tension you may be holding in your throat, jaw or neck muscles.




11 How To Master Singing By Adding More Emotion To Your Voice

How To Master Singing By Adding More Emotion To Your Voice
Every song has an emotion attached to it like happiness, sadness, anger or guilt. Sometimes the same song can go through multiple emotions at different verses. The seasoned vocalist knows how to bring the right emotion into their voice when singing a song.

This may not feel like a vocal technique for singers but with just a little practice you will quickly notice the difference in your voice.

First part of this trick to add more emotion in your voice is to simply change your facial gestures and body language to match the emotion of the song you are singing. If you are singing a happy song, put a big smile on your face. If you’re singing a sad song, then make a sad face.

The second and more important part of the trick is to think thoughts that naturally produce the appropriate emotion. So if you are singing a song about sorrow and pain, think of a time in your life when you felt sorrow and pain.

See the things you saw at that time in your mind, listen to the sounds you heard at the time and feel the feelings you felt in your body at the time. Live that moment again in your mind and your voice will naturally change and produce the appropriate emotion in it.

This may seem difficult at first especially if you are singing a song from memory. It is better to read the song when you practice this technique so that you can focus on just thinking the right thoughts.

After few practice sessions, you will be able to evoke the right emotion for the right song and modulate your voice for maximum impact on your audience.

10 How To Develop A Better Singing Voice By Feeling And Improving Your Vibrato

How To Develop A Better Singing Voice By Feeling And Improving Your Vibrato
Vibrato is a vocalist’s ability to produce a slight, steady and even tonal oscillation of the center of a pitch.

Vibrato occurs when your voice changes quickly between two pitches. For example, if you were to sing a C note, and then sing a C# and then sing a C again, then a C# and then again a C, you would be singing with vibrato.

The secret to a great vibrato is the speed with which you oscillate between the two pitches.

If you can change between the two pitches at a speed of around six times per second, you will have a great natural sounding vibrato.

Vibrato adds a depth and warmth to your voice. Vibrato not only sounds good, but is also very helpful for your voice. It helps your vocal muscles relax and protects your vocal folds from over-exertion. Vibrato usually sounds best at the end of a phrase or at the last syllable of a sentence.

Here are some voice training techniques that will help you get a feel for your vibrato.

Diaphragmatic Exercise

Put your left hand on the lower part of your chest in the middle where your ribs come together. Slide your hand down until you reach about an inch above your belly button.
Now sing any single note at one pitch in a range that is easy for you.
As you sing, slowly push your hand into your belly. Notice how your voice changes. Then push out and again and notice how your voice changes.
Keep pushing in and out faster and faster until you reach a speed of about 5 pushes per second.
Notice how your voice vibrates. You will hear your voice wavering in vibrato. This is what natural vibrato feels like.
Take special notice of how your vocal chords, diaphragm and tongue vibrate.
Larynx Exercise

Place a finger on your larynx and sing an easy note at one pitch.
As you are singing, gently push your finger in and out at a rate of 5 cycles per second.
Notice how your voice wobbles.
These exercises will help you get a better understanding of vibrato. Although, vibrato is an advanced vocal technique, understanding it at an early stage will help you to become a better singer quickly.

You must take care not to force your vibrato or mimic it, but to let it develop naturally. As the muscles you use for singing become stronger through practice, you will naturally learn how to produce better vibrato.



9 How To Become A Better Vocalist Fast By Recording Yourself

How To Become A Better Vocalist Fast By Recording Yourself
When you listen to yourself singing, the sound that you hear is slightly different from the sound that others hear. This is because when your own voice reaches your ears, it passes through your jaw bones, which slightly alters the tone of the sound.

Hence, it is best to record and hear your own voice in order to hear the actual tone that other people hear when they listen to you sing.

Also, when you listen to your own recordings, you will be able to better make out the places where you can do better. You will quickly notice where you went out of tune, or where the pitch was too high or too low. This is why one of the greatest tips for better singing is to simply record yourself singing and listen to it.

You don’t need any fancy recording equipment, especially when you are just starting out. Most cellphones, and smart phones come with a built in recorder program which can be pretty helpful.

If you want something better, you can buy a decent quality USB microphone at your local computer store or online for an affordable price. Hook this up to your computer and record yourself singing.

Make sure to record in a peaceful environment. If you have a basement, that would be best. Otherwise, just pick a place and a time when there is least likely to be background noise.

Keep a distance of at least 5 inches from the mike when singing to get an even volume on the recording and for better voice quality.

8 How To Get A Beautiful Singing Voice By Developing Your Falsetto

How To Get A Beautiful Singing Voice By Developing Your Falsetto
Falsetto means false voice. It is often confused with head voice but it is quite different from it. Falsetto is an airy and light-sounding tone at a high pitch. Head voice is in comparison much clearer and firmer.

During falsetto, your vocal folds don’t come together completely and so a little air leaks through. This makes your voice sound airy and that is why it is considered a “false voice”.

Developing your falsetto will help you sing better at higher pitches and also add more variety to your voice. It will train your voice to sing sustained high notes for long durations.

Here are some exercises that will help develop your falsetto and make your voice sound better when singing higher notes.

Siren Sounds

Make the “ooh” noise a siren makes, like on a police car, an ambulance or a fire engine.
Take care to start the sound from the top of your pitch and then move lower and then higher and so on.
Keep making the sound for about 2 minutes. Vary the speed at which you switch from the high note to the low note for maximum effectiveness.
Imitate a Child or Female Voice

Talk like a 3 or 4 year old child. Notice how you have to change your pitch to do this. Notice the sensations in your sinuses. You will feel your voice in your forehead and sinuses.
Next try talking in a sexy female voice. Imagine Marilyn Monroe’s voice or any of the traditional “sexy” sounding female voices. It should be airy and high pitched.
While practicing these exercises keep your volume low. Falsetto can be quite straining on the vocal chords. You don’t want to tire you voice out by generating falsetto at loud volumes. Instead, practice at a lower, hushed volume level.


7 How To Become A Good Singer Fast By Visualizing The Desired Outcome

How To Become A Good Singer Fast By Visualizing The Desired Outcome
What kind of a singer do you want to become? Do you want to perform theater, musicals, or do you want to sing in clubs? Would you like to become a famous pop, rock or jazz singer, or do you dream of singing in an opera?

You must have a clear picture of the singer you want to become in your mind, to reach your goal in the minimum possible time.

Let’s do a fun exercise.

Imagine, yourself standing in the wings on a stage, just about to make your entry. The theater/club/concert is packed with people. You walk out onto the stage and the crowd goes wild with applause and cheers. Then as you bring the microphone to your mouth, the crowd falls silent, in eager anticipation. You start singing. Your voice is simply breathtaking.

Listen to your own voice, look at the people around you, feel the wonderful sensations in your body as you sing.

Hear yourself, singing the song, from start to end, with perfect pitch, hitting each note precisely. Imagine giving the best performance of your life. And then, you finish your song.

The audience rises up once again in wild applause and cheer. They give you a standing ovation. Feel the thrill of having done a wonderful performance and the deep joy of receiving your audience’s appreciation.

How did you like that? Now each time before you start your singing practice, play that same scene inside your mind. This will guide your subconscious mind and it will slowly turn you into the singer you want to be.

As you run this movie inside you mind before each practice session, your unconscious mind will slowly start making all the necessary changes in your mind and body, so that you gradually start turning into the singer you dream of becoming one day. This trick is used by several professional voice coaches when teaching new singers.

6 How To Train Your Voice To Be A Good Singer With Warm Up Singing Exercises

How To Train Your Voice To Be A Good Singer With Warm Up Singing Exercises
Vocal training for singers always includes a group of warm up singing exercises which are used to prime your vocal chords for better singing. Just like an athlete does warm up exercises before running a 20 mile marathon, similarly professional singers warm up their voices using these techniques, so that they can sing effectively at full power.

Lip Trills/Rolls



To perform a lip trill, gently blow air through your pursed lips while making a sound of any pitch. Release your breath from the mouth, as your lips vibrate in a relaxed manner. Manage the flow of air with the muscles of your diaphragm. It will sound like a child playing with a kazoo or someone making engine noises with their mouth.

You can do any interval, melody pattern or scales and even complete songs while performing the lip trill.

If you find it difficult to vibrate your lips freely, then put one finger of each hand on either side of your face where your dimples would be and slightly press into your cheeks. Now pull your fingers outwards to support your lip muscles. This takes away tension from the lips and helps them vibrate more easily with your breath.

When doing the lip trill you are effectively singing while making a partial block in your vocal tract. This changes the environment of the resonance cavities across which sound travels. It affects the pattern of vibrations of your vocal folds and produces a backward air pressure that allows your vocal folds to oscillate more easily.

It improves the vibration of the slim edges of your vocal cords. This is very soothing to the cords and helps them warm up. It will also help to heal your voice if it feels tired after singing continuously for a long time.

Tongue Trills



To perform a tongue trill, touch the tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth and hold it there as you blow air on your tongue while making the “R” sound. It will cause the tip of your tongue to flutter. Once you have learned the technique and are able to produce a single steady note, you can then vary the notes and sing different scales as you do tongue trills.

Tongue trills will decrease tension on your vocal chords, and teach them how to sing higher notes comfortably without any strain. They also help improve your pitch and flexibility.

5 How To Train Your Singing Voice By Humming Songs

How To Train Your Singing Voice By Humming Songs
Humming is another great way to warm up your vocal chords and practice proper breathing technique without actually singing. You can develop a good singing voice faster if you practice humming before each singing session.

Begin by humming the simple sound “Hmm” in different notes. While making the “Hmm” sound each time, allow the pitch to slide upwards, as if there’s a question at the end of it. Take your pitch higher and higher as you make the “Hmm” sound each time.

As your pitch increases, you may feel a buzzing in your nasal area and your head. This is just the sound resonating through your head.

Once you can comfortably hum “Hmm” from low to high pitch, then you can practice humming each of the vowels. After mastering that, you can move on to humming entire songs.

Humming is not only a warm up exercise before singing but can also be used as a cool-down exercise after signing to relax and soothe your vocal chords.

4 How To Improve Your Voice Quality By Enhancing Tonal Clarity Of Your Voice

How To Improve Your Voice Quality By Enhancing Tonal Clarity Of Your Voice
Tone or timbre is that quality of sound which helps you distinguish which instrument is making the sound. Tonal quality of your singing voice depends on two important places. First is the place where the tone is produced and second is the place where the tone resonates.

To have great vocal tonality you must create a rich, high quality tone at your vocal chords and then balance your vocal resonance by controlling the amount of sound that resonates in your head, mouth and throat.

One of the biggest hurdles to rich tonal quality is the larynx moving upwards when singing. To learn what this feels like, do the following. Put your finger on the notch on your neck (Adam’s apple) and swallow. Notice how the notch moves upwards when you swallow. This same upward motion happens sometimes when you sing and it can greatly disrupt the quality of your tone.

To prevent this from happening you can use these simple exercises to improve your voice quality for singing.

Reverse Thinking Technique

As you are singing into a higher note, think “down”. Imagine an elevator being lifted by a counter-weight attached to a pulley. As the weight goes down the elevator rises up. Similarly, as you move your voice into higher notes, imagine the weight moving downward.

Think “up” for lower notes. As you sing into lower notes, think of the weight rising up. As the weight rises, the elevator comes down.

This simple mental trick will prevent your tone from fluctuating too quickly as you change notes and give you an even tone.

Tongue-Twister Technique

Another easy trick to even out your tone is to repeat the following tongue-twister.

“Sally sells sea shells by the sea shore.”

Repeat this phrase over and over again until you can say each word clearly and quickly without any breaks. This will help you enhance your articulation and create a better balanced tone.

3 How To Become A Better Singer Fast By Singing Higher Notes With More Power And Less Effort

How To Become A Better Singer Fast By Singing Higher Notes With More Power And Less Effort
Most singers have trouble singing high notes when they are starting out. They feel like it takes more and more power as the notes become higher and higher. For them, as the notes get higher, so does the tension in their throat. Finally they reach a point when their vocal chords can no longer take the tension and their voice breaks.

The real issue here is not that your voice doesn’t have power but that your vocal chords are under too much tension. As your move into high notes, the body has a natural tendency to tense up the vocal chords which eventually causes your voice to break. The trick is to teach your voice how to stay relaxed when singing the high notes.

The digastric muscle located right under your chin causes your vocal chords to tense up when singing high notes. Here is a good exercise to disengage this muscle and re-train it to stay relaxed when singing higher notes.

Press your thumb underneath your chin on the fleshy part such that the tip of your thumb is just touching your neck. Your thumb will now be pressing into the floor of your mouth.
Keeping your mouth closed, start humming nasally like a fire engine’s siren and breathe out through your nose.
Put your other hand’s index finger beneath your nose and feel the air blowing out. This will ensure that you are blowing air through your nose and not through your mouth. Feel the humming buzz through your nasal cavity.
You don’t have to hum loudly just make sure to hum from low to high and then high to low just like a fire siren.
As you are humming you will feel the digastric muscle pressing into your thumb. Relax this muscle, and keep humming taking care that you don’t feel any push into your thumb.
This may seem difficult initially, but with practice you will learn to hum from low to high, keeping the digastric muscle completely relaxed such that you will feel no pressure on your thumb at all.
Once you have learned to sing high notes without tightening your digastric muscle you can practice this next exercise to further open up you head voice and sing higher.

Relax you neck, let go of your shoulders and let them hang loose, almost as if you are going to sleep.
Now gently lower your head and repeat the sound “wee” over and over again, while gently wobbling your head from side to side like a bobble head toy.
As you sing “wee…wee…wee…”, sing higher and higher with each “wee” and feel the sound resonating inside your head and sinuses. As you raise your pitch higher, gently raise your head and continue to wobble from side to side.
So you will start with you neck slightly lowered, and with each “wee”, you raise the pitch and also raise your neck a little bit, while moving your head gently from side to side.
This exercise will help teach your vocal muscles to relax as you sing higher and prevent them from tensing up. It is one of the best tips to become a better singer quickly. With regular practice, it will boost your head voice and help you sing higher notes with more power effortlessly.

2 How To Control Your Singing Voice Better By Getting Enough Physical And Mental Rest

How To Control Your Singing Voice Better By Getting Enough Physical And Mental Rest
Singing is strenuous work. It takes a good deal of both physical and mental effort to sing at your best continuously for long periods of time. Any singer who performs professionally will tell you that singing for long periods can drain your energy completely.

Hence, it is vitally important to store up on as much energy as possible before you start singing. A good vocalist needs to be in a healthy physical state and an agile mental state. That is why one of the most effective tips to help you sing better, is to get plenty of physical and mental rest.

Physical rest is easy to get. Just get eight solid hours of sleep every night. This is easier said than done. If you have a tight daily schedule, you may find yourself skipping some sleep every day and soon this missed sleep adds up to your “sleep debt”.

Once you collect enough sleep debt it will start affecting your physical and mental health. It will severely impair the stamina and co-ordination of your vocal chords when singing and make it much more difficult to sing at your full potential.

So if you have been gathering a lot of sleep debt, now is the time to start paying it back. Adjust your daily routine as much as possible to get full eight hours of sleep or as close to eight as possible. It will greatly help you in becoming a better vocalist.

Mental rest is a bit trickier. It may seem that getting physical rest will also give you mental rest. This is not always the case. Most people carry a lot of thoughts and worries inside their head all day long. Sleep only puts this flood of thoughts on pause for a while but it starts right back up in the morning when you wake up. To get mental peace you will need to do some kind of activity which focuses all your thoughts on just one task.

Meditation is probably the best activity which can give you mental peace. However, many people feel it is too difficult without even trying it. In case you don’t want to meditate, the next best thing would be to take up a hobby which calms you down.

This will depend totally upon your choice and varies from person to person. It can be as simple as taking a walk, listening to music or building stuff with your hands. Think about what kind of activities make you feel peaceful inside, and do this activity every day.

Over time, as you gather more and more physical and mental energy, you will soon discover that singing is no longer as difficult as it used to feel.

1 How To Better Your Voice For Singing By Developing A Deeper Voice

How To Better Your Voice For Singing By Developing A Deeper Voice
Many singers focus more on singing the high notes and end up ignoring the lower notes in their practice. If you want to become a good vocalist then singing high is not enough. You will also have to learn how to handle the lower notes with finesse.

Here are two of the best methods for bass voice training that will make your voice deeper. They will help you sing lower notes with better tonal quality.

Ding Dong Exercise

Sing the phrase “Ding Dong, Bing Bong, King Kong” very slowly and clearly in your natural speaking voice without forcing your voice.
Extend the “ng” sound at the end of each word. Prolong the “ng” sound at the end of the last word for as long as possible without running out of breath.
Slowly deepen your voice with each repetition of the phrase. You will feel your vocal chords stretch and tighten.
Repeat the phrase total 3 times, each time deepening your voice a little bit more than last time.
Take a deep breath each time before singing the phrase, so that you can extend the “ng” sound for as long as possible.
Repeat this exercise every day for a week and make sure not to do it more than once daily otherwise you may strain your vocal chords.
After practicing this exercise for a week, on the eight day do the exercise again but now tilt your head upward and look at the ceiling when singing the phrase.
This will further stretch your vocal chords and make your voice even deeper. Due to the strain it puts on your vocal chords, make sure to only do this exercise (3 repetitions of the phrase) once daily.
OO Exercise

Sing the vowel ‘oo’ at a medium pitch and slowly slide the pitch downwards. Go as low as you can until your voice breaks and you have to take another breath.
Then start at a lower note in your middle range and once again slide the ‘oo’ sound downwards.
After you have practiced a few times and have become comfortable with sliding the ‘oo’ sound, then start singing louder.
Begin at higher volume and as you slide the pitch of ‘oo’ downwards, gradually make your voice quieter.
Each time as you end the ‘oo’ sound, for the next repetition, begin at a lower note and move further downwards. Notice as your throat opens more and more and your larynx moves downward.
Make sure to breathe with your diaphragm and avoid forcing your voice.
With regular practice of these two exercises, you will soon find that you are able to sing lower notes effortlessly with perfect clarity.
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