Have you ever been considering whether you should or should not do something & then asked yourself, “Well, would it kill me to _________?” Did you feel a twinge of obligation, guilt, or effort when you made your choice? Was there something else you were longing to do instead?
If so, that longing or twinge was probably your spirit speaking. Your spirit that desires to be heeded, considered, and listened to when you make decisions about your time.
I was recently coaching a colleague around a difficult family circumstance. When she was making decisions she was saying to herself, “well it won’t kill me to _______.” And, she was continuing to get more drained and frustrated by putting forth all this effort toward another person instead of focusing on her own needs. Then, she had an “aha”. That “aha” was her discovery of the question that she really needed to be asking herself: “Will it kill my spirit if I ___________?”
It may be a subtle wording change, but it results in a world of difference in the question. What was getting ignored and shortchanged in the situation was her spirit. And, in my point of view, there is nothing more important than nurturing our spirit because that is the essence of who we are. Our spirit is what makes us come alive; what makes us unique, and what allows us to truly live our life rather than just “get along”. When we kill off our spirit (and ignoring it is one way to kill it off) we are essentially killing off ourselves becoming just a shell of a person in physical form going through the motions. Surely you’ve seen this person walking down the hall with their head tilted down and laboring to just get through the day. Maybe you see this person when you look in the mirror. Not only is it not very inspiring, but it is also a terrible waste of potential and gifts that need to be shared with the world.
Nurturing your spirit need not be a monumental undertaking. You don’t have to blow off your friends, family, and obligations to give some attention to your spirit. All you need to do is listen to your intuition to hear what your spirit is most longing for.
Consider:
How often do you make decisions where you say something like - it won’t kill me to ________?
Would your answer to the previous question be the same if you asked instead the question: will it kill my spirit to __________?
What is your spirit longing for?
What is one small step you can take or one small thing you can do to nourish that longing?
Paula specializes in helping stressed out and overwhelmed women business owners achieve more success without all the burnout. Get the FREE REPORT: “Top 10 Causes of Burnout and How to Avoid or Eliminate Them” at her website http://www.thepaulagcompany.com.
Consumers are increasingly feeling more comfortable in buying
products through the Internet. According to a report released
recently by the Department of Commerce first-quarter retail sales
rose 23.8 percent to US$ 19.8 billion in the United States from
US$ 16 billion a year ago. E-commerce sales during the first
quarter of 2005 rose 6.4 percent from the fourth quarter of last
year. Forrester Research estimated that 2005 online retail sales
will increase at a pace of 22 percent. Today, a third of all
households in US make at least one purchase online within a year,
a figure which will grow to almost 40 percent by 2009, predicts
Forrester. As a seller, this strong growth of online sales means
that you have to put considerable stress on your Internet sales
endeavor if you are not doing this as yet.
According to statistics compiled for the Internet Retailer Top
400 Guide, the top retailers in 2004 garnered combined online
sales of more than US$ 51 billion, which accounts for 58.3
percent of all US Internet sales. The growth in online sales is
quite impressive for large retailers. J.C. Penny Co. Inc., for
example, reported a 35 percent year-over-year rise of online
sales in May, 2005. Can new online ventures boast same type of
significant growth? Unfortunately, not!
Each day, there are thousands of new companies are setting up
shops on the Internet trying to sell every conceivable type of
products and services. Most of these websites do not attract
enough visitors to make them profitable. Competition on the
Internet is fierce! Internet marketing campaigns are becoming
increasing expensive. Many small companies can’t afford to spend
money required to promote their sites. So, what are the options
available for a small company with modest product range to thrive
on the Internet? One of the best sales channels, in my opinion,
on the Internet by far is auction marketplaces. Of course, no
matter what, you will still need to promote your website with all
the methods you can master. However, selling your products and
services through established auction marketplaces has its own
advantage.
eBay
With 63.8 million unique visitors hitting the auction site only
in April of this year, eBay has established itself as the largest
marketplace on earth. In 2004 alone US$ 34.2 billion worth of
merchandize exchange hands on eBay. Presently, the site has
around 135 million registered users in 32 markets worldwide.
With such a vast community of buyers and sellers, eBay should be
your number one choice for selling your products or services
online. On the eBay you can sell any kind of item. The varieties
of stuffs people are selling through eBay are mind boggling! At
any given time there are over 29 million items displayed on eBay.
The number of new items added each day exceeds 3.5 million.
However, still many offline sellers perceive eBay as an auction
site for mainly collectible items. They can’t be more wrong! The
largest selling category on the eBay is, believe it or not,
automobile and accessories, which comprises of almost 22 percent
of all sales. I have, personally, bought three luxury cars over
the course of last two years through eBay and I have nothing to
complain about.
As a seller on the eBay, the biggest advantage that you gain is
the possibility of becoming from a local merchant to an
international player over night. If you are already selling
merchandize to consumers online or offline, eBay gives you an
additional sales channel without any extra cost. If you are
planning to begin selling goods or services through the Internet,
eBay allows you to start your business online quickly and with
minimum expenses.
Yahoo
You may have difficulty in imagining the biggest portal on our
planet as a marketplace, in some countries, like Japan and
Canada, Yahoo auction is, actually, doing better than eBay. In
the US market Yahoo has just announced its intention to eliminate
fees charged for using its auction site. This is a good news for
even many eBay power sellers. Some of them will definitely move
to Yahoo in a bid to save on high fees charged by eBay. The good
thing about Yahoo is slowly it is becoming a major hub for many
small business web stores. As a matter of fact, according to
Yahoo, every eighth online store is now hosted by Yahoo.
Amazon
Amazon, may be is not as popular as eBay or Yahoo as far as
auction marketplace is concerned, however, many auctioneers claim
that some of the products sell better on Amazon than any other
auction marketplace.
Why should you consider selling through auction marketplaces?
Here are some reasons, why auction marketplaces are viable sales
channel for businesses:
• The auction marketplaces are very popular and each of
them has huge community of buyers and sellers.
• There is virtually no start-up cost involved.
• No extra overhead is required.
• You really don’t have to set up a website to start
selling.
• Easy to learn.
While determining what to sell through auction marketplaces,
choose your products very carefully. Don’t try to sell products
like DVD, cellular phones and similar common items. There are way
too many people are trying to sell those products. Do your
research before jumping into online auctions. Go through the
categories of your choice. See how your competitors are doing.
Check out the listings of sold items. For how much the products
you intend to list are getting sold for? What keywords your
prospective competitors are using to market these products? On
which auction site these products are selling better?
Go with the trend! Travel, cosmetics and jewelry sales are
expected to do better than other categories of e-commerce in
coming years. In every category of goods and services you will
find a niche, which is doing fairly well. All you have to do is
find that niche by making extensive and thorough research!
Selling through auction marketplaces like any other business
process requires sound judgment and careful planning. Be sure to
use them before starting your online sales.
Nowshade Kabir, is the founder, primary developer and present
CEO of Rusbiz.com - a Global B2B Exchange with solutions to
create e-catalog, Web store, business process management and
other features to run a business online. You can read various
articles written by Nowshade Kabir at http://ezine.rusbiz.com.
According to the charity, Diabetes UK, over 2 million people have been diagnosed with diabetes in the UK, yet it is believed there may be another million who are unaware that they have the disease.
What is Diabetes?
Diabetes is a condition where the body is unable to produce sufficient insulin to control blood sugar, allowing higher than normal levels into the bloodstream.
There are two main types of diabetes:
Type 1 - this usually occurs in children and develops when the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas have been destroyed. It is not yet understood why this happens but it may be a combination of genes and environmental triggers. The incidence of Type 1 diabetes in children is rising at a rate of 3-4% a year.
Type 2 - this usually occurs in adults over 40, also known as “late onset diabetes”. However, it is now being diagnosed in children as young as seven. Type 2 diabetes develops when the body can still make some insulin, but not enough, or when the insulin that is produced does not work properly (known as insulin resistance). In most cases this is linked with being overweight.
Common Symptoms of Diabetes:
increased thirst
frequent urination
tiredness
itchiness, especially around the genitals
recurrent infections on the skin, eg boils.
weight loss, although appetite often increases, especially with Type 1 diabetes
How is diabetes treated?
Diabetes is treated in two ways - a combination of diet and exercise and/or medication with tablets or insulin.
Type 1 diabetes must be treated with insulin injections due to the body’s inability to produce its own insulin. With new research, islet cell transplants from donor pancreases are proving to be promising for the future which allows the patient to start producing their own insulin again.
Type 2 diabetes may be controlled by diet and exercise alone. When this is insufficient, there are three types of medication that may be prescribed. One type increases the amount of insulin secreted by the pancreas. Another increases the action of insulin within the body. The third type is able to delay the absorption of glucose from the digestive system.
Once diabetes has been diagnosed, the patient is taught how to check their glucose levels regularly from a fingerprick blood test, and also a urine test. They should also receive advice on healthy eating from a dietician and have regular health checks by their GP, Practice Nurse or at their Diabetic Clinic.
The health checks are very important and every diabetic patient should be seen at least once a year to monitor blood sugar control and to check for any complications.
Diabetics have a higher than average risk of cardiovascular disease, strokes and neuropathy which affects the sensation in the feet and lower legs. Eye tests are also necessary to check for retinopathy which may lead to blindness.
Managing Diabetes
Living a healthy lifestyle can make a big difference in not only managing diabetes but preventing diabetes Type 2, as well. Studies have shown that eating three small meals a day with healthy snacks in between helps to regulate blood sugar. Regular exercise of at least 30 minutes three times a week is also beneficial.
Avoiding foods that are high in saturated or hydrogenated fats, and eating carbohydrates with a low glycaemic index will also help with blood sugar regulation. See http://www.glycemicindex.com for the values of a range of foods. High fibre foods such as wholemeal bread and brown rice are preferable to their white versions. Oat bran or oat meal are also good sources of fibre. Sugar should be limited but beware of some artificial sweeteners as they have been found to adversely effect blood sugar.
Nutrients such as vitamins C and E can help insulin penetrate cells more efficiently and also protect the cardiovascular system. The trace mineral chromium found in broccoli and grapefruit has been shown to regulate blood sugar. Magnesium is also good for glucose control and is often lacking in diabetics.
More information is available at http://www.diabetes.org.uk.
Sue Bedford is a Registered Nurse with a Diploma in Nutrition, specialising in health screening and health promotion. More information can be found at http://www.healthychoices.co.uk
