Marc and Angel Hack Life

Conquering drowsiness before it overwhelms your mind can be quite a challenge without the help of caffeine, taurine and drugs.  With the prevalence of energy drinks and coffee shops conveniently located all around us, finding an unnatural, unhealthy energy boost is easy.  You’ll certainly be wide awake and wired, but your health will pay the price too.

So the question is:  What are some healthy, natural ways to boost your energy and stay awake and alert when you must.  Let’s take a look at 50 possibilities:

1. Turn on all the lights. – Darkness promotes fatigue and laziness.  Turn on every light in the room.
2. Go outdoors. – Getting some fresh air outdoors is always a good way to rouse your senses.
3. Pull down on your earlobes. – This may sound strange, but pulling down on your earlobes can help you stay awake and alert when you’re feeling drowsy.
4. Rub the roof of your mouth with your tongue. – Rub your tongue against the top front area of your mouth cavity.  It feels a little weird, but it does give you a quick nerve jolt that’s bound to make you a bit more alert.
5. Call a close friend. – Sometimes a quick conversation with someone you care about is just what you need to boost your mood.
6. Eat nutritious low carb snacks. – Low carb fruits such as raspberries, apples, oranges, and grapefruits are great energy boosters.  Heaping scoops of spicy salsa on a few small crackers is another goodie.  Stay away from meats, breads and dairy products.
7. Listen to some fast beat music. – If it’s not too much of a distraction, listening to fast beat music can be a great way to keep your mind awake.
8. Roll up and down on your toes. – This stimulates your circulatory system, which will deliver much-needed oxygen and fuel (glucose) throughout your body.
9. Watch or read something that inspires you. – Sometimes all you need is a little pep talk.  Watch a motivational video or read something that inspires you.
10. Have a good laugh. – Watch a funny video clip or read your favorite comic strip.  A good chuckle will stimulate your mind, giving you a renewed level on energy.
11. Crank up the AC. – Warm, stuffy environments accelerate mental fatigue.  If you need to stay awake and energized in a lecture hall or meeting room find an open seat under an AC vent.
12. Apply pressure to the top of the back of your neck. – Use your fingertips to apply pressure and lightly massage the top part of the back of Keep reading →

Act as if what you do makes a difference.  It does.
-William James

Doing something nice for someone can change the world.  Maybe not the whole world, but their world.

Start small.  Start now.

1. Smile when you make eye contact with someone.
2. Hold the door open for the person behind you.
3. Send a hand-written thank you card to someone who assisted you with something.
4. Clean out all your old clothes and donate them to someone in need.
5. Give a compliment about a waiter, waitress, sales clerk, etc. to his or her manager.  Or write a nice note to or about your waiter or waitress on the back of your bill.
6. Compliment a stranger’s appearance.  Flatter them.
7. Leave encouraging post-it notes in a library books and other random places.  (Read Operation Beautiful.)
8. Connect like minds.  Introduce two friends or colleagues who you feel have something to gain from each other.
9. Send flowers to someone.
10. Be a courteous driver.  Let people merge in front of you.
11. Volunteer at a children’s hospital or nursing home.
12. Donate blood.
13. Live each moment with enthusiasm.
14. Spend time with children and greet the world with wide-eyed wonder. Keep reading →

by Jacob Sokol of Sensophy

“I’d always believed that a life of quality, enjoyment, and wisdom were my human birthright and would be automatically bestowed upon me as time passed.  I never suspected that I would have to learn how to live - that there were specific disciplines and ways of seeing the world I had to master before I could awaken to a simple, happy, uncomplicated life.”
-Dan Millman

Studies conducted by positivity psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky point to 12 things happy people do differently to increase their levels of happiness.  These are things that we can start doing today to feel the effects of more happiness in our lives.  (Check out her book The How of Happiness.)

I want to honor and discuss each of these 12 points, because no matter what part of life’s path we’re currently traveling on, these ‘happiness habits’ will always be applicable.

1. Express gratitude. – When you appreciate what you have, what you have appreciates in value.  Kinda cool right?  So basically, being grateful for the goodness that is already evident in your life will bring you a deeper sense of happiness.  And that’s without having to go out and buy anything.  It makes sense.  We’re gonna have a hard time ever being happy if we aren’t thankful for what we already have.
2. Cultivate optimism. – Winners have the ability to manufacture their own optimism.  No matter what the situation, the successful diva is the chick who will always find a way to put an optimistic spin on it.  She knows failure only as an opportunity to grow and learn a new lesson from life.  People who think optimistically see the world as a place packed with endless opportunities, especially in trying times.
3. Avoid over-thinking and social comparison. – Comparing yourself to someone else can be poisonous.  If we’re somehow ‘better’ than the person that we’re comparing ourselves to, it gives us an unhealthy sense of Keep reading →

Let’s face it, fewer moments are more awkward than trying to strike up a casual conversation with someone you don’t know very well.  Here are some quick tips to lighten up the situation:

1. Talk about who you know and what you have in common.  Mutual friends, bosses, hometowns, etc.
2. Ask relevant questions about life, work, hobbies, and pop-culture.  Keeping abreast of current events will provide you with great conversation builders.  Lead with “What do you think of…?”, “Have you heard…?”, “What is your take on…?”, etc.  Stay away from negative or controversial topics, and refrain from long-winded stories.
3. If you notice yourself getting bored with what you’re saying, stop talking, acknowledge the situation, and move on to the next topic.
4. Listen more than you talk.
5. With people you have never met before, limit stories to the last few moments of your life.  Bring up casual points about your current surroundings, like the funny music playing in the background or the tasty martinis the bar is serving.
6. Know a few interesting historical facts, like this one:  As a child, Albert Einstein seldom spoke.  When he did, he spoke very slowly – indeed, he tried out entire sentences in his head until he got them right before he spoke aloud.  Einstein did this until he was nine years old.  His parents were worried about his lack of talking.  But at last, at the supper table one Keep reading →

If you don’t go after what you want, you’ll never get it.  If you don’t ask the right questions, you’ll always get the wrong answers.  If you don’t take a step forward, you’re always going to be in the same place.  Life is a journey full of choices.  Here are 50 wasteful choices to avoid.

1. Spend time regretting the past and feeling sorry for yourself.
2. Complain about problems and do nothing to solve them.
3. Follow the path of least resistance and quit when the going gets tough.
4. Ignore your passion and follow the money.
5. Setup your lifestyle so it’s dependant on your next paycheck.
6. Spend more than you earn and rack up lots of financial debt.
7. Try to control everything and then worry about the things you can’t control.
8. Focus on what you don’t want to happen.
9. Fear the things you don’t fully understand.
10. Let everyone else make decisions for you.  Don’t decide on anything, ever.
11. Let small issues snowball into big problems.
12. Be jealous of everyone else.
13. Hold onto anger.  Never forgive anyone.
14. Always be right.  Never let anyone be more right than you.
15. Seek external validation before you consider yourself good enough.
16. Make sure everything you do impresses someone else.
17. Lie to yourself and those around you and put up with others who lie to you.
18. Keep doing the same thing over and over again until the day you die.
19. Never finish what you start.
20. Stay in the same place forever.  Never travel.
21. Compare yourself unfavorably to those who you feel are more successful. Keep reading →

To forgive is to set a prisoner free
and discover the prisoner was you.

Healing

Once upon a time there lived a woman who had a bad temper.  She screamed at and scolded everyone around her.  For most of her life she believed the fiery rage inside her was everyone else’s fault.  But one morning she woke up and realized she had isolated herself from all the people in her life who she cared about.  She had no friends, and even her family wanted nothing to do with her.  She knew in that moment that she needed to make a change.

She went to see a well respected Buddhist monk to ask for advice.  The monk told her to take a large clay jug from his kitchen, fill it with water, and stand outside on the sidewalk in front of his house.  “It’s hot outside, and that’s a busy sidewalk with lots of pedestrians,” the monk told her as he pointed out the front window of his house.  “When a pedestrian passes, you must offer them a glass of water.  Do this until there is no rage left inside you.”

The woman with the bad temper was confused – she didn’t understand how this would help her.  But she had heard that this monk was known for his unconventional wisdom and avant-garde methods of healing, and she was willing to do anything to heal herself and rebuild her relationships with those she cared about.

The Rage

So she stood outside with a water jug and served water to pedestrians every day for the next several weeks.  And every morning she asked herself if rage still pulsed through her veins.  And every morning the answer was, “yes.”  So she continued serving water.  Until this afternoon when a burly man walked up, snatched the water jug out of her hand, drank directly out of it, and then tossed the jug on the ground as he continued on his way.

The rage within the woman skyrocketed into an irrepressible fit.  Unable to contain herself, she picked-up the clay jug off the ground and, with all her might, Keep reading →

by Barrie Davenport of Live Bold and Bloom.

If you cut to the chase of the meaning of life, it’s the ‘meaning’ part that we all long for.  Beyond all of the stuff, excitement, and happiness we chase on any given day, all of us want to feel like we’ve made an impact on the world in some way.  We need to know that we’ve made a difference.

Does the idea of making an impact on the world cause you to hyperventilate a bit – like you might have to join the Peace Corps or adopt an orphan from Indonesia?

Those are great things for sure, and there are many bold and courageous people whose lives are dedicated to making a huge difference in the world.  But most of us aren’t those people.  We have our jobs and families and lives that need our time and attention.  We don’t have the time, or perhaps even the desire, to save the world or even volunteer at the soup kitchen.  If that makes you feel guilty or frustrated, here’s a redeeming thought:

You can make a difference in the world and create some good karma for yourself in the short, often forgotten, free moments of your day or week.  There are many small, simple actions you can take to profoundly impact your family, your community, and the world.

Lost time is never found again.
-Benjamin Franklin

Think about those times when you are in an elevator, sitting in traffic, surfing the Internet.  Or the Saturday when rain interrupts your plans for the day.  These unallocated, free gaps of time could be spent creating small ripples of positive thought and action that add up to huge waves of good karma.

Here are some ideas for spending these time gaps in purpose-filled ways:

1–5 Minute Gaps of Free Time

1.  Visualize someone you know who is suffering in some way and send them thoughts of loving kindness and peace.

2.  Say something kind or complementary to the person who is serving you or waiting on you in a store or restaurant.

3.  Help someone with their groceries or some other small service to assist them.

4.  Pick up and throw away trash that you see on the street or in a park.

5.  Send an email to someone to let them know you are thinking of them or to compliment something.

6.  Find something in your house that you no longer need to give away to someone who can use it.

7.  Forgive someone or ask for forgiveness.

8.  Read something inspirational to create positive energy for yourself.

9.  Take a minute to grab your own shopping bags to take to the grocery store. Keep reading →

“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning,
but anyone can start today and make a new ending.”
-Maria Robinson

We all need second chances.  This isn’t a perfect world.  We’re not perfect people.  I’m probably on my 1000th second chance right now and I’m not ashamed to admit it.  Because even though I’ve failed a lot, it means I’ve tried a lot too.

We rarely get things right the first time.  Almost every major accomplishment in a person’s life starts with the decision to try again and again – to get up after every failed attempt and give it another shot.

The only difference between an opportunity and an obstacle is attitude.  Getting a second chance in life is about giving yourself the opportunity to grow beyond your past failures.  It’s about positively adjusting your attitude toward future possibilities.  Here’s how:

1.  Let go of the past.

What’s done is done.  When life throws us nasty curveballs it typically doesn’t make any sense to us, and our natural emotional reaction might be to get extremely upset and scream obscenities at the top of our lungs.  But how does this help our dilemma?  Obviously, it doesn’t.

The smartest, and oftentimes hardest, thing we can do in these kinds of situations is to be more tempered in our reactions.  To want to scream obscenities, but to wiser and more disciplined than that.  To remember that emotional rage only makes matters worse.  And to remember that tragedies are rarely as bad as they seem, and even when they are, they give us an opportunity to grow stronger.

Every difficult moment in our lives is accompanied by an opportunity for personal growth and creativity.  But in order to attain this growth and creativity, we must first learn to let go of the past.  We must recognize that difficulties pass like everything else in life.  And once they pass, all we’re left with are our unique experiences and the lessons required two make a better attempt next time.

2.  Identify the lesson.

Everything is a life lesson.  Everyone you meet, everything you encounter, etc.  They’re all part of the learning experience we call ‘life.’

Never forget to acknowledge the lesson, especially when things don’t go your Keep reading →

This post was written by Caz, author of the y Travel Blog.

Travel means so much more to me than simply seeing new destinations and learning about new cultures.  Travel is a journey within myself.  It is through my 14 years of living and traveling around the world that I have learned more about who I am and what my purpose is.  And I have also discovered certain natural laws and truths about life.

Here are 54 lessons I have gradually learned throughout my travels that have helped me to grow into, what I think, is a person who lives an empowered life.

Not all those who wander are lost.
- J. R. R. Tolkien

1. People all over the world have the same basic wants and needs.  It doesn’t matter where we come from, what we look like, how we talk, or what we believe.  Deep down the essence of who we are as human beings is the same.  This is all that matters.  The outside differences are there to learn from and celebrate without fear.
2. There is absolute joy and wonder to be had in the simplest of moments.  Swinging in a hammock on the beach while watching the sunset over the horizon, for example.
3. The more we own, the more enslaved we become.
4. We don’t need stuff to be happy or to fulfill us; we just need memorable moments and loving relationships.  (Read The Joy of Less.)
5. Negotiation, business transactions and even personal relationships should always be conducted with the mutual belief in it being a win-win situation.  Everyone needs to walk away with a smile.
6. The more you help others, the more you get in return.
7. A smile, a wave and a friendly attitude can break down any barrier and create friendships where language cannot be understood.  Kindness is a universal.
8. You are powerful beyond measure.  You never know what you are capable of until you push your barriers of comfort, even if it’s just a little bit each day.
9. Fear can be a guiding friend if you learn how to swallow it, and listen to it only when it serves its true purpose of warning you when you are in danger.
10. Mother Nature knows everything.  Turn to her more to help ease your medical discomforts and your mental anguishes.
11. When things frighten you, the best way to do what needs to be done is “1… 2… 3… jump!”  Sometimes you have to dive in before you talk yourself out of it.
12. The purpose of life is to live in joy.
13. Life is constantly changing.  You cannot set up rigid rules and expectations.  If you do, you will only be disappointed.
14. Don’t over plan.  Jump in the boat and let the river take you for an amazing ride.  You will get to the ocean eventually and it be way more fun. Keep reading →

Dare to reach out your hand into the darkness,
to pull another hand into the light.
-Norman B. Rice

A silhouette of a human being stands before you.

Perhaps a friend.  Perhaps a lover.  Perhaps a perfect stranger.

They need you to connect with them.  They need you to share this moment.

They need you to…

• Notice without critiquing.
• Appreciate without comparing.
• Listen without interruption.
• Question without objection.
• Challenge without mocking.
• Consider without doubting.
• Discuss without criticizing.
• Smile without hesitation.
• Give without expectation.
• Comfort without lying.
• Guide without misleading.
• Forgive without resentment.
• Rest without judgment.

They need you to be you – just the way you are.

And they need you to respect them – just the way they are.

Photo by: Evan Lane