Halloween prank

So Halloween was last week and I found a pretty funny video online which I think you guys might enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YQpbzQ6gzs&feature=player_embedded

I guess kids are pretty attached to their candy lol

Of all the forms of courage the ability to laugh is the most therapeutic

So here is the issue Children laugh about 400 times a day, while adults laugh on average only 15 times a day. Why do I say this is an issue well if you read the list below of why you should laugh by Rob Mansfield you will clearly see why it is an issue that adults laugh so rarely.

1. Laughter boosts your immune system

Researchers have found that laughter actually boosts the immune system, increasing the number of antibody-producing T cells. This then makes us less likely to get coughs and colds. It also lowers the levels of at least four hormones that are associated with stress, so after a good giggle you should be far less tense and anxious.

2. Laughter relieves pain

A good chortle has been found to reduce pain. Not only does it distract you from aches, but it releases feelgood endorphins into your system that are more powerful than the same amount of morphine.

3. Laughter improves your social life

If you can make people laugh, then you're likely to have more friends, because everyone loves a joker. You're also likely to achieve more at work: if you have a good sense of humour you'll be more productive, a better communicator and team player.

4. Laughter helps relieve depression

Laughter has long been known to help people who are suffering from the either SAD or full-blown depression. Laughing reduces tension and stress, and lowers anxiety and irritation, which are all major factors that contribute to the blues.

5. Laughter boosts your relationship

If you're looking to find a new partner, then laughter will help you find a new mate. Men love women who laugh in their presence and women actually laugh 125% more than men.

6. Laughter gives you a mini-work-out

In fact, laughing 100 times is the equivalent to 10 minutes on the rowing machine or 15 minutes on an exercise bike, so break out those Only Fools And Horses DVDs and start watching!

7. Laughter protects your heart

Laughter has been found to benefit the way blood flows around the body, reducing the likelihood of heart disease. The research said that 15 minutes of laughter a day is as important for your heart as 30 minutes of exercise 3 times a week!

8. Laughter lowers your blood pressure

People who laugh a lot on a regular basis have lower blood pressure than the average person. When people have a good laugh, the blood pressure increases at first, but then it decreases to levels below normal.

9. Laughter improves your breathing

Laughter empties your lungs of more air than it takes in resulting in a cleansing effect - similar to deep breathing. This is especially helpful for people who are suffering from respiratory ailments, such as asthma.

10. Laughter helps you lose weight

Burning off calories by laughing might not sound as if it has much use, but a hearty chuckle raises the heart rate and speeds up the metabolism.

Keeping up with the Kardashians…

It seems Kim Kardashian’s fairytale wedding has not lasted very long at all. With a total of 72 days under her wedding belt many are not very impressed with her especially after finding out she supposedly made around $18 million off her big day.

Kim says in the blog post below that this is all hogwash but who do we believe when it comes to these reality shows??

This is probably the hardest thing I’ve ever had to write. I see all of the support and I am so thankful for my fans, friends and family who are helping me through this difficult time.

I am trying not to read all the different media reports but it’s hard not to see all the negative ones. First and foremost, I married for love. I can’t believe I even have to defend this. I would not have spent so much time on something just for a TV show! I share so much of my life on a reality show, that contemplating whether to even film my wedding was a tough decision to make, and maybe it turned out to not be the smartest decision. But it’s who I am! We filmed Kourtney giving birth, Khloe getting married, break ups, make ups, our best moments and our worst moments. These were all real moments. That’s what makes us who we are. We share, we give, we love and we are open!

Everyone that knows me knows that I’m a hopeless romantic! I love with all of my heart and soul. I want a family and babies and a real life so badly that maybe I rushed in to something too soon. I believed in love and the dream of what I wanted so badly. I felt like I was on a fast roller coaster and couldn’t get off when now I know I probably should have. I got caught up with the hoopla and the filming of the TV show that when I probably should have ended my relationship, I didn’t know how to and didn’t want to disappoint a lot of people.

I’m being honest here and I hope you respect my courage because this isn’t easy to go through. But I do know that I have to follow my heart. I never had the intention of hurting anybody and I accept full responsibility for my actions and decisions, and for taking everyone on this journey with me. It just didn’t turn out to be the fairy tale I had so badly hoped for.

There are also reports that I made millions of dollars off of the wedding. These reports are simply not true and it makes me so sad to have to even clarify this. I’m so grateful to everyone who took the time to come to my wedding and I’ll be donating the money for all the gifts to the Dream Foundation.

I’m sorry if I have hurt anyone, but my dad always told me to follow my heart and I believe now that I really am.

Im not so sure but who am I to judge?

A statute of limitation has expired on the most of our childhood trauma

This statement was taken out of Dr. Gordon Livingston book “Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart”. The book was a compilation of 30 essential truths.

Below is the list of chapters 1-30 in the book and you can see how this book could be rather inspiring if you feeling down or overwhelmed.

1. If the map doesn’t agree with the ground, the map is wrong. We are given mental maps as children. Our parents and other adults tell us what is right and what is wrong – sometimes they don’t always get it right.

2. We are what we do. We are not what we think, or what we feel, or what we say, we are what we do. Actions do indeed speak louder than words.

3. It is difficult to remove by logic an idea not placed there by logic in the first place. By nature, we are emotional creatures. Often we live and react based on feelings, not logic.
4. The statute of limitations has expired on most of our childhood traumas. No matter your past, change is the essence of life. In order to move forward in life we need to learn to live in the present.
5. Any relationship is under the control of the person who cares the least. When relationships end it is typically because of unmet expectations or one person is not feeling love or cherished by the other.

6. Feelings follow behavior. No matter how hard we try, we don’t control what we think or what we feel. But, we do know which actions bring us happiness, pleasure and confidence.
7. Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid. When we step out and claim what we want from the world a wonderful thing happens – the Universe responds.
8. The perfect is the enemy of the good. While it’s important to have control over our lives, it can be counterproductive to attempt to control our lives.

9. Life’s two most important questions are “Why?” and “Why not?” The trick is in knowing which one to ask. Understanding why we do certain things is the first step to change.

10. Our greatest strengths are our greatest weaknesses. One of my biggest strengths as a person is I’m caring, sensitive and emotional – it is also my greatest weakness.

11. The most secure prisons are those we construct for ourselves. What is your fear of change costing you? Too often what keeps us stuck is the belief we can’t move forward.

12. The problems of the elderly are frequently serious but seldom interesting. The thought of our own mortality and demise can be a frightening one. Therefore, our attitude towards the aging can be callous because they are unwanted reminders of what’s ahead for us.

13. Happiness is the ultimate risk. No matter how painful, sometimes what we know is more comfortable than what we don’t know, even if we are depressed and miserable.
14. True love is the apple of Eden. True love is fair compensation for the obstacles and burdens of being human.
15. Only bad things happen quickly. When we think about the things that can change our lives in an instant we usually think of the negative ones first.
16. Not all who wander are lost. It’s OK to step outside of the lines in order to follow what your inner wisdom is suggesting you do with your life. It’s not that you are lost when you wander; it’s just the opposite.
17. Unrequited love is painful but not romantic. Love is meant to be shared. When you give your heart to someone who is uninterested, it will only result in loneliness and disappointment.
18. There is nothing more pointless, or common, than doing the same things and expecting different results. This truth also provides a very good definition for insanity.
19. We flee from the truth in vain. Somewhere along the way there are truths about ourselves we never allow to see the light of day. But remember, we cannot change or heal what we do not acknowledge.
20. It’s a poor idea to lie to oneself. While good intentions are important, living the truth has far greater value in our life.
21. We are all prone to the myth of the perfect stranger. It takes maturity, patience and trust to look across the fence and know your grass is greener.

22. Love is never lost, not even in death. To lose what means the most to us is the ultimate test of helplessness and survival.

23. Nobody likes to be told what to do. Rather than telling my children what to do, my job as a parent is to give them hope that they can be successful in a very uncertain world.
24. The major advantage of illness is that it provides relief from responsibility. In an ironic twist, the days we feel under the weather can be some of the healthiest for us.

25. We are afraid of the wrong things. For the first 18 years of my marriage I feared the wrong things. I should have feared losing my wife and family instead, because I almost did.

26. Parents have a limited ability to shape children’s behavior, except for the worse. Our hope is our children will have the self-love and confidence needed to live a rich and full life. With that said, we are far from being perfect parents.

27. The only real paradises are those we have lost. Too often we may view the past with a special fondness, perhaps reverence, too. But the past for most of us may be no different than the present, it just feels that way.

28. Of all the forms of courage, the ability to laugh is the most profoundly therapeutic. Yes, things can go wrong in life. Yes, there are issues and problems to solve. But we have a choice.
29. Mental health requires freedom of choice. No matter how bleak or desperate a situation may appear to look, we always have choices.

30. Forgiveness is a form of letting go, but they are not the same thing. Don’t just let go, forgive and truly surrender the feelings of anger and pain. This may seem difficult, almost impossible, until you attempt to do it.

I wrote this article on FNB for Realmdigital the company I have been interning with and felt I should let you guys read about it as well as I find it pretty interesting.

FNB seems to be ‘the bank’ to bank with in the 21st century. In line with the release of their new FNB Banking App, they have decided to go against the grain and provide their FNB Gold and Platinum Cheque Account holders with smart phones and tablets at a reduced rate. This reduction could be as much as 35% on these devices. Not bad when you looking at paying R4, 800 (16% off) for an iPad2 as opposed to R5, 699 or R1, 680 (35% off) for a HTC Wildfire S which normally retails for around R2, 600. Customers who wish to take up this offer should SMS "phone" or "tablet" to 32812 (standard network rates apply).

FNB have taken note of the transition from “traditional banking” to online banking and are vigorously promoting day to day banking via electronic banking channels, such as the FNB Banking App, Internet and Mobile banking, as well as paying for your goods with your card rather than cash.

The FNB App allows customers to do:

• Day to day banking
• View Forex rates
• Buying Prepaid airtime
• Make calls within South Africa at the cheapest rates
• Make cheap international calls with no roaming activation
• Find FNB branches and ATMs using location-based services

Will this increase the mobile adoption rate?

With this latest innovation from FNB the mobile adoption rate in South Africa is predicted to grow at phenomenal rates. But what does this mean for brands and consumers? Brands have to work on including a mobile strategy into their traditional marketing strategy. They need to realise that although the feature phone usage in South Africa highly dominates the smart phone and tablet usage, innovations such as these are set to change the mobile landscape. Niche brands need to start targeting their consumers via their smartphones and tablets. Apps are the way forward in this mobile landscape and companies like FNB have realised this early in the game by providing FNB clients with a FNB mobile banking app. You will also begin to see more brands embarking on strategies for Mobile Commerce targeting the smart shopper.

Kartik Mistry, Product Owner at FNB Core Banking Solutions explains that "this initiative is aimed at putting smartphones and tablets, including the world's most popular tablet, the Apple iPad 2 in the hands of our customers in order to promote access to electronic banking. A key feature of this offer is the affordability both in terms of bank fees and mobile devices. “

South African brands and consumers who have their doubts should keep an eye out for the increase in smart phone and tablet statistics. If you don't own a tablet and still complain about how terrible your bank is then you should highly consider moving to FNB today!

Elephants Eye

Last week Sunday I decided it was a good idea to go on a little hike. Summer is on its way and no one wants to be the fatty on the beach.  Junk and winter foods are definitely on their way out (with much resistance from my belly and persistence from my head) and hiking, walks and all other forms of exercising are in.

Anyway, so I contacted my cousin and he asked another friend to join us, Daniel and off we went. It was a fairly slow climb, with my cousin running circles around me (him being the fit one) and me stopping every so often stopping for a long drink of water.

When we were ¾’s of the way up we found a mini waterfall and as it was fairly hot we all put our heads under and filled our water bottles. I did regret the idea to wet my hair about 15 minutes later as the weather turned almost immediately and I was then wet and cold. We eventually reach the eye and decided to sit and rest for 30 minutes and look at the views.

The boys kept saying we should run down for fun and because the clouds were starting to roll in. I thought this was a silly idea and couldn’t understand why they would want to do it. Of course being competitive I joined in on the running down and it turns out I don’t hate running I love it but only running down a mountain.

I did learn one thing though, after being seriously stiff for around 3days afterwards, stretching before and after is essential if you need to walk for the next 3 days.

Only bad things happen quickly…

This statement is not something I can readily agree with by any means. I mean the saying “time flies when you’re having fun” is far truer and holds far more value for me in this situation.

I’m pretty sure any victim of violence would tell you how seconds felt like hours and hours felt like days and anything longer felt like a life time. I cannot think or get my head any around any bad situation that has taken place in a short amount of time.

I mean even being shouted at by a friend or your parents or whomever it may be seems to go on forever so much so that often your brain tries to take you to a place that doesn’t seem as bad as where you are at that point in time or perhaps that’s just my brain.

I’m not sure who believes this concept but if anyone can give me one decent example of what, when and where “bad things happen quickly” I will eat this page right off my computer cause I can’t think of one…