Jumpstart Your Dream Life

Drinks, Drugs, and Dinners: How Diet Affects Your Sleep

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It’s that dreaded time again.

Not when you have to get out of bed. Not when you have to step into a meeting. It’s when the clock strikes, signaling time for you to sleep.

As you crawl into bed, you wonder if things will be different. Will you shut your eyes and finally fall into slumber? Or will you once again stare at the ceiling, waiting until you drift asleep? If it’s the latter, you’re likely to end up exhausted the next morning, even though you went to bed early.

There are numerous reasons why we have difficulty falling asleep. Sometimes, it’s psychological. Other times, it’s due to the stresses that life cruelly throws at us. But what about our dietary habits?

We carefully plan out our diets to energize ourselves, trim our figures, and improve our overall health. Yet, the substances we ingest take a secondary role when it comes to sleep.

Here are four dietary factors that might be affecting your sleep:

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Are Humans Built to Be Happy?

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These days, the concept of happiness seems ever-present on our minds.

We reflect on the things that give us joy and how to incorporate more of it into our lives. We talk about how to deal with mental disorders and depression. We battle isolation, criticism, and negativity on a regular basis.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), over 4 percent of the world’s population suffers from depression. Global economic losses amount to over $1 trillion a year due to decreased productivity. When people become fatigued or stressed, they find it hard to resolve problems at work and in the home.

If we’re so obsessed with happiness, why are we so unhappy?

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Vicious Cycles and Virtuous Cycles: Why the Poor get Poorer (and the Rich Get Richer)

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Sometimes, it feels like situations compound upon themselves.

Those who experience good fortune continue to have more of it. Others just can’t stay away from bad circumstances. It’s as if we’re stuck in an endless cycle, where our actions and their consequences further perpetuate the situation that we’re in.

One of the most alarming examples of this concerns social mobility, or the lack of it.

The Legacy of Surnames

What’s in a name?

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5 Great Reads for October

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October evokes images of colorful leaves, dropping temperatures, and pumpkin spice lattes. But it’s also the perfect time to catch up on books that might have been too heavy for the summer.

Since Halloween is the biggest event of October, the question that comes to mind is: What does the word “scary” mean to you?

While we quickly think of ghouls, zombies, and vampires, scary can reach far beyond characters found in horror films. Maybe scary means being taken away from everything you know, or continuing on a path you don’t want to go down. Maybe scary is getting a visit from your landlady.

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Expand On What Works: How to Generate Multiple Income Streams From a Single Idea

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“There is something delicious about writing the first words of a story. You never quite know where they’ll take you.” – Beatrix Potter

Since the publication of The Tale of Peter Rabbit, the Peter Rabbit series has sold over 150 million copies in dozens of languages. Countless children have grown up reading the charming adventures of Peter and his friends.

What many aren’t familiar with is the story behind the series.

Beatrix Potter was born in 1866 in London. She and her younger brother grew up under the influence of their artistic parents, who enjoyed nature and spent their summers in the countryside. The two siblings were surrounded by many pets, such as rabbits, mice, frogs, and lizards.

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20 Things You Need to Stop Doing Now

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“You spend your whole life stuck in the labyrinth, thinking about how you’ll escape one day, and how awesome it will be, and imagining that future keeps you going, but you never do it. You just use the future to escape the present.”
― John Green, Looking for Alaska

Once in a while, we sit down and try to figure out what we need to start doing. We ponder our past actions and their results, where we are right now, and what we should do next.

While these are logical steps to take, we neglect the fact that putting more things into our lives means we have to take out other components. After all, we only have so much time and energy in the day. And in order to make space for what we want to do, we need to discard our bad habits first.

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The Man, The Boy, and the Donkey: A Lesson on Critics

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Have you ever received criticism that you felt was unfair or downright spiteful? If so, here is an interesting Aesop’s fable:

A man and his son were once going with their donkey to market. As they were walking along by his side a countryman passed them and said, “You fools, what is a donkey for but to ride upon?” So the man put the boy on the donkey, and they went on their way.

But soon they passed a group of men, one of whom said, “See that lazy youngster, he lets his father walk while he rides.”

So the man ordered his boy to get off, and got on himself. But they hadn’t gone far when they passed two women, one of whom said to the other, “Shame on that lazy lout to let his poor little son trudge along.”

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How to Read the Right Way: A Complete Guide

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Reading is dead.

The nature of books has evolved. Society and technology have changed. Forcibly, our approach to reading has taken on new forms to accommodate a different way of life.

The question is: For better or worse?

Previously, I talked about the science behind reading books versus watching television, and how each medium affects our brains in various ways. Although books give us new ideas, spark discussions, and explore topics in detail, the same information can be delivered in a variety of formats. When it comes to exactly how we should absorbing books, the debate rages on.

Let’s take a look.

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Play to Your Strengths, Hide Your Weaknesses

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At only four years old, Yeou-Cheng Ma exhibited a clear talent for the violin.

Under the tutelage of her father, a Ph.D. student at the Paris Conservatory of Music, Yeou-Cheng began to play the instrument at two-and-a-half years old. Only a year later, she entered in her first competition against students ranging from fourteen to nineteen years old. She won.

Her violin teacher praised Yeou-Cheng’s ability to her mother, a vocal student who later sang opera. She said, “Your daughter is a brilliant musician. There’s no doubt in my mind that she inherits this talent from you and your husband…It’s in her genes.”

Finally, the teacher added: “Mrs. Ma, what I’m trying to tell you is that I think it is a great pity that you don’t plan on having another child.”

At the time, the three of them lived in a tiny apartment in Paris. They struggled to earn a living and had barely enough for themselves. Yet, four years after the birth of their daughter, a son was born in 1955. He was named Yo-Yo Ma.

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7 Ways to Reignite Your Creative Spark

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“Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark in the hopeless swamps of the not-quite, the not-yet, and the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish in lonely frustration for the life you deserved and have never been able to reach. The world you desire can be won. It exists.. it is real.. it is possible.. it’s yours.” – Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

In the beginning, there is always a spark. All endeavors start off fresh, exciting, and full of possibilities. Unfortunately, sparks vanish just as quickly as they are ignited.

Rejection discourages attempts at anything new. Criticism keeps us from stepping out of convention. Inner fears kill any creativity we might have had.

The good news is that, with care and focus, we can learn to create again. By practicing and developing our sense of spirit, we can step outside the bounds set by both ourselves and others. By incorporating various practices, we can rediscover concepts and ideas.

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