Book Review: The Transformation: Discovering Wholeness and Healing After Trauma by Dr. James .S. Gordon

Book review: The Transformation by Dr. James S Gordon. | Image source: Dr. James S Gordon.

A few months ago, I received an ebook for my honest review. As soon as I read the book title, I knew I had to read it!

This book came my way at the right time because I was looking for a good book on mental/emotional trauma. The effects of trauma have always intrigued me, and I wanted to learn more about it. 

After reading this book, I must say I really enjoyed this book! It really does justice to the book title.

6 Simple Resolutions for This New Year

Here we are, once again-- making all the resolutions and hoping for the best. 

I hope this year was great for you. Speaking for myself, it was a bit bumpy for me but I'm taking away some important life lessons from this year to the next. I know that counts as a good thing, and so I won't call this year a total bummer. What I learned this year is going to help me make the coming year better, and I'm really looking forward to it!

I'm sure you've decided on some of your resolutions that you're going to make (or already started with... Jeez I'm late to the party!). I've decided that this year my resolutions are going to be really basic. You know, sometimes it's better to go back to basics, and that's exactly what I'm doing this year. I want to bring about some basic changes in my habits.

This year I've decided my resolutions to be more health-focused, but not just physical but also mental health. I'm dedicating this year to PEACE. That's my theme for this year. So, if you've not thought of any resolutions or if you want to include some peace in your life then you can include some of my resolutions into yours. And trust me, if you are millennial, you need it!

How to Create a Schedule (That Actually Serves You)

How to Create a Schedule

 How do you create a good daily routine? Why do you need a daily routine? What are the things you should consider while creating a routine for yourself? This post will deal with all these questions.

You, my friend, need a schedule:

1. if you struggle with achieving your goals,
2. you procrastinate a lot,
3. you spend more time watching Netflix than working, i.e don't realize how much time your are spending on what,
4. you tend to forget things, or if
5. you overwork.

A schedule can turn your day around and make you super productive. It makes sure that you do everything that you're supposed to do.

A lot of people think that schedules put a lot of restriction on you. This, however, is not true. It, in fact, creates free time while making sure that you are not missing on the important things.

5 Things I've Learned About Motivation

We all struggle with motivation, and here are a few things I've learned from that struggle.

Do you struggle with motivation? I do sometimes. Most people do.

It's a tricky thing, I'd say. Sometimes it's available in abundance that you end up doing a week's work in advance, and sometimes you're looking for reasons to get out of the bed.

Last year I decided to add a few new habits, and boy did I struggle! I ended up learning a few things about motivation during this whole experience. It's quite interesting to me because if you know the factors that affect motivation, you can manipulate yourself to stay motivated a little more.

And from my experience, here are the things that affects motivation the most:

Vertical Vs Horizontal Breathing: Did You Know You're Breathing Incorrectly?

Are You Breathing Correctly?

Are you breathing right now? Well, of course you are! But what if I tell you that you're breathing wrong?

 I know what you're thinking: "What does that even mean? "Breathing wrong?" 

How is it even possible. You've been breathing since the time you were born, so how can someone breathe wrong. It's one of the innate things hardwired in our brain by birth, so how can someone breathe wrong?

All of them are valid thoughts, but still I would say that you are breathing wrong, and you have been breathing wrong most of your life.

So, what exactly do I mean by that? Lets explore this issue in this post.

The Best Method to Tackle Procrastination: The POMODORO Technique

If procrastination is your best friend then you should read this post. Why you ask? Because today we're going to discuss a productivity technique that is one of the best techniques to cut procrastination and be all productive!

The Pomodoro technique was discovered by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s when he was a university student himself. The technique is named after the tomato-shaped kitchen timer he used back then (Pomodoro= Tomato in Italian).

Ever since its discovery, this method has been adopted by millions of people, and they all swear by its effectiveness. So do I. It is effective. How much? Well, that depends from person to person. But before you start judging whether it's effective or not, have a look into what pomodoro method exactly is.

5 Simple Ways To Save Time Everyday

You can't increase the length of your day, but you sure can create some spaces in your day by changing some of your habits.

Do you ever feel like 24 hours are not enough? If you are like me then maybe you do. At least occasionally.

The older you get, the shorter the days seem because there's always an increase in responsibility requiring you to devote more time.

The work never ends! And so balancing personal and professional life becomes a great challenge because of lack of time.

You want to build some healthy habits like exercising, reading or preparing your own meals, but you're always running late, leaving no time for any extra-curriculum.

But here's what I believe: life should be more than just our work. When you wake up every morning you should not think only about what you're going to do at work. You should also think about how you can be a little better than you were yesterday, in every aspect of your life. But again, who has time, right?

Wrong!

How to Read Effectively: The Basics

Reading is one thing, and reading effectively is another.

Reading is awesome! It’s one of the most positive habits that you can have. It's a wonderful way of experiencing things without ever actually experiencing it.

You can peek into 80 years of life experience without being 80. You can know what Jupiter is like without being to Jupiter. You can find out what cuisines to try out in Japan while sitting on your bed somewhere in Europe.

It’s a great and the most trusted way of gaining knowledge. And if you ask me, it’s one of the keystone habits; habits that trigger other positive changes in our lives.

Reading is a whole package of learning, improving, relaxing and having fun; all at the same time.

Since you are here, I'm guessing you are into reading. You're either trying to develop a reading habit or want to improve your reading skills. Great!

So my first question to you is: how do you read a book?

No, I’m not asking how your reading skills are or how good your vocabulary is. Although those are some more things you can work on to improve. But that’s a discussion for another day.

Okay, let me rephrase: How effectively do you read a book?

When you read a book, how much of the information do you actually absorb? What are your reading strategies?

In this post, we're going to explore some of my strategies for a better reading session.

How to Stick to New Year Resolutions

80% of the resolutions fail by February. How are you planning to follow through?

It's that time of the year again; the time when we all get a bit nostalgic, and make new plans and get excited about the future.

Yes, it's the end of this year.

Gosh, this year went by so quickly!

Talking about myself, I'm excited about what the future holds, and about the things I'm planning to execute this new year. Who else is excited about 2019? I guess you are, that's why you are here reading this post. In fact, you probably already have a few ideas about what resolutions you are going to make for 2019.

It's good to make new plans, hoping to improve overall and experience new things.

But did you know that only 8% people actually achieve their new year resolutions?

In fact, 80% of resolutions fail by February.

Why is that?

30-Days Water Challenge: My Experience and Findings

Water Is The Real Elixir!

I don't think I need to mention how important water is for us. We are 60% water, and this is enough to support that statement. Each and every single cell in our body needs water to function.

Even 1% dehydration causes significant disturbance in our body's functioning.

Yet, the sad truth is that most of us are dehydrated most of the time. This included me. And that's why I took the 30-days Water Challenge, as a part of my wellness journey.

I started the challenge on 5th Oct 2018. The main motivation for me to take this challenge was the fact that I suddenly developed a lot of acne, and my skin looked dead overall- really dry and rough.

I noticed that my water intake was nil, other than the coffee/tea that I was consuming and a glass of water or two that followed my meals. This was really shocking, to be honest, when I realized how dehydrated I had been for the past 2 months, which was exactly when I started developing the problems.

I knew at that moment that my problems are rooting from the fact that I was not drinking enough water, and so I started monitoring my water intake.