Christmas shopping should not be stressful, yet many of us wait to the last minute to gather our gifts for loved ones and end up feeing the holiday stress. This gift guide is composed for the skin health contious person in your life. Someone that loves to care for their skin, and of course, pamper their skin every once-in-a-while. 

1.    Electronice Facial Cleansing Brush

The Clarisonic is a handheld facial cleansing brush that helps to exfoliate skin and unclog pores, and is perhaps the most popular electronic facial cleansing brush on the market, but it does have a rather heafty price tag. You can remove more makeup and toxins from your skin by using a Clarisonic a few times a week. They come in an array of colors and sets. The Clarisonic can be purchased as www.clarisonic.com or most major department stores such as Macy’s, Nordstrom, or Dillards. Other less-expensive options also exist and can be found at stores like Wal-Mart and Target. You can find an array of less-expensive options by searching "clarisonic alternative." 

2.    Schedule a Facial

Getting a facial is a real luxury. Often in our busy lives, we don’t take time to pamper ourselves. Schedule a facial for your loved one to help them take time to relax and improve their skin. Popular places to schedule a facial are Origins, Message Envy, or your local spa.

3.    Lip Balm with SPF

Most people have a few lip balms laying around the house, but it is important to have a lip balm that contains SPF. Skin cancer can develop on the delicate skin of lips, so it’s important to protect the skin on your lips from the harmful rays of the sun.
There are a wide variety of lip balms with SPF available at most drug stores and department stores.

4.    Sunscreen 

This may seem like a lame gift, but think about the last time you went to the beach. Where you frantically searching last-minute for the bottle of sunscreen only to find that its almost empty? Having a brand new bottle of sunscreen ready to go for the summer months can be a major help for people who are conscious about protecting their skin from the sun. It is almost certain that they will be grateful for your thoughtfulness.

Sunscreen can be purchased at most drug stores or department stores. Just be sure to check the label and make sure that the sunscreen you are purchasing contains at least one of the following ingredients: titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, and avobenzone (a.k.a. Mexoryl). 

5.    Sephora Gift Card

If you are doing your last minute shopping and don’t have the time to shop around to decide on a specific gift, just pop in to Sephora and get a gift card. Sephora has many high end skin care lines with every product a skin health conscious person could want. From face wash to anti-aging products and moisturizers, you can never go wrong with a gift card from Sephora. Ulta Beauty is another great option as well, the nice thing about Ulta is they carry both expensive high-end brands, as well as less-expensive drug strore brands.

A study conducted by Michael Steger, a psychologist at the University of Louisville in Kentucky, suggests that perhaps engaging in meaningful activities, such as helping others, listening to friend’s problems or pursuing one’s life goals can actually help a person to feel happier.

In the study, Steger and his colleagues asked a group of 65 undergraduates to complete an online survey each day for three weeks that assessed how many times a day they participated in hedonic (pleasure-seeking behaviors), versus meaningful activities (helping others). The survey asked participants how much purpose they felt their lives had each day and whether they felt happy or sad. Participants also completed two sets of questionnaires at the beginning and end of the study to assess how they felt about their lives more generally. The study found that the more people participated in meaningful activities, the happier they were and the more purposeful their lives felt. Pleasure seeking behavior did not make people happier.

“A lot of times we think that happiness comes about because you get things for yourself,” said Richard Ryan, a psychologist at the University of Rochester, who was not involved in the study. But “it turns out that in a paradoxical way, giving gets you more, and I think that’s an important message in a culture that’s pretty often getting messages to the opposite effect.” Perhaps you can make a difference in the life of someone around you and, in return, feel more satisfied with your own life. Feeling like you’ve made a difference in the world can be a powerful tool of encouragement. Take some time today or in the future to help someone along their path, and perhaps find purpose and satisfaction in your own life. 

Source: via www.livescience.com

6 Rules for Making Your Home Life Easier

Living with other people can sometimes be difficult. In his book How to Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie discusses several tips to making life at home, with your spouse or loved ones, easier:

1.      Don't nag. Nagging is annoying. Make sure they understand what needs to be done, but try not to harass. This can cause a person to become irritated and less likely to do what you are asking.

2.      Don't try to make your partner over. Let them be who they are. When someone feels comfortable expressing their true self, they will be happier.

3.      Don't criticize. Instead, encourage and uplift.

4.      Give honest appreciation. Everyone wants to feel valuable and appreciated. Sometimes all it takes is a simple word of appreciation and gratitude from a loved one to change a person’s entire outlook.

5.      Pay little attentions. Noticing details of someone else’s life makes them feel special and lets them know you care.

6.      Do little things useful things for your partner. If you know your partner hates taking the time to fill the coffee maker with grounds and brew their coffee in the morning, get it all set up for them the night before so when they wake up, all they have to do is hit the power button. Or take out the trash and do the dishes when it’s not your turn. Taking time to think about ways to make your partner’s life easier will show them how much you care. And doing little things for them can make a huge difference.

Going to work can be a struggle some days. Sometimes you just don’t feel like facing that long to-do list you know was left waiting for you on your desk. Often times we can get burnt out or discouraged if we feel like we’re not making meaningful progress in our daily tasks. It is important to take time to reflect on the “small wins” that you accomplish at work. This can help you to fell more satisfied with the work you’re completing and cause you to perhaps even become more productive.

In a Harvard Business review article entitled The Power of Small Wins, Teresa Amabile and Steven J. Kramer explain that the key to motivating performance is supporting progress in meaningful work. The authors conducted an experiment where they asked creative professionals to keep a work diary to record their emotions and accomplishments at work. After studying these diaries, they identified the progress principle, which states:

“Of all the things that can boost emotions, motivation, and perceptions during a workday, the single most important is making progress in meaningful work. And the more frequently people experience that sense of progress, the more likely they are to be creatively productive in the long run.”

In order to garner more meaning from the work your do, keep a work diary. It can help you to appreciate just how meaningful and effect the work is that you do. It can help you to see more of the big picture of your career. It will allow you to reflect on what you’ve already accomplished and feel good about that. Take time to appreciate your hard work. You will also be able to focus yourself on what still needs to be accomplished. Try keeping a work journal for a month and take time every week to review what you’ve accomplished. Appreciating the small wins will help you to be more motivated and find meaning in what you do. 

What I learned from Abraham Lincoln 

Each one of us makes mistakes, right? Well some of us forget how the other fellow might feel. I once read that if Abraham Lincoln was upset he would write a letter about how he felt and then never send it. He had a general in the Civil War that he instructed to close in on the opposition when they were tired and weak, but the general felt his men were too tired to proceed so he waited. During the wait time, his opponent’s reinforcements surprised them and prevented the Union general from capturing a huge victory. A victory some thought might have ended the war. It was believed that President Lincoln wrote a scathing letter outlining how if the general had just followed through with the recommendations the President had given him, he could have ended the war and saved countless lives. The letter was found later not delivered. You see, by that time in his career, the President had figured out tearing down the man would not help the situation, and the general probably already had been losing sleep over his mistake.

This is much like each of us. We probably beat ourselves up way too often over our mistakes. Most people find it easy to find fault in the other person. I have learned that mourning a bad decision can prevent me from making the next good decision or distract me from creating a more positive situation. Though I am still a work in progress myself, I learn more as I get older. I too realize the good in each person is sure to be there and helping others rather than scolding leads to more positive results.  A pat on the back can help a person blossom like a flower.