Digg it UP - Reference and Education

Real Estate Bubble – The End
All those illustrious ‘bubbleologists’ out there are not going to like this one bit: not all real estate bubbles burst. Some of them actually sink – just like The TitanicOnly a few weeks ago the real estate bubble captured the attention of a great many bloggers, authors, even news commentators all of which had in common a very dire prediction, which can be encapsulated into what has become known as the ninth note of the musical diatonic scale, right after Do-Re-Mi-Fa-Sol-La-Ti-Do: ‘Pop’, with all the consequences that such novel high-octave implied, including a cataclysmic price crash, Armageddon and, possibly, the end of life on Earth (save and except, perhaps, for a handful of protozoa).At the root of the Theory of The Bubble, it will be recalled, were the notions that U.S. consumers have too much already and want more, that they do not save enough, that the trade deficit is too large and bound to become even larger and that the American economy is far too dependent on housing. Absent from the minds of the bubbleologists, however, was the fact that much of this debt is anchored on the built-in equity of real property assets, which thus far has been growing steadily. So therefore, to make the monthly debt burden onerous enough to cause a bubble to burst - that is a cascade of mortgage defaults with a flood of foreclosures on the market, which in turn would bring prices down - one would have to look not to higher interest rates but, rather, for a big drop in family income. As monthly debt payments remain the same, a drop in income would quickly dry up the cash reserves of many consumers, so that the predicted avalanche of mortgage defaults would start rolling down.

ir clients and support them by effectively applying the theoretical concepts they have learned.

Dealing with the normal anxieties of the first few sessions is part of the process of inner development that the counselling profession requires from all its peers. The fact that it deals with human beings, which can be vastly unpredictable, will affect the Counsellor's confidence to some extent. The nature of a counselling session, which can have a major impact in a client's life, also evokes doubts in the Counsellor's mind. It is important for the Counsellor to simply recognise such doubts as a normal part of their own behaviour, and to understand the feelings which are associated with them. Beginning Counsellors can be so overwhelmed by their anxieties that they will fail to really 'see through' the situation. This inability to deal with a client could result in stress and possibly burnout.

Professional Insight: Strategies from Counsellors

There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of strategies that can help a Counsellor with self care. Each individual differentiates in the strategies used, and the need for them. Therefore, we've decided to get a first hand insight on burnout by asking two experienced professional Counsellors what were their opinions and strategies towards the problem.

"If there are challenges at work, talking with somebody (anybody) immediately after is called de-briefing, and may result in problematic issues not manifesting within the body and causing frustration, anger, hurt, and even illness. For difficult clients, supervision is imperative to access a mind to break the difficulties into manageable parts.

Outside of work, personally, what works for me is to have a regime of care for my body by attending a wellness centre where I involve myself in a class of Aqua Fit and Yoga every week. Massage when I can - preferably once a month or even a facial is good.

Because of Yoga, I have learned the art of switching off in a meditative mode very quickly, so the minute I walk outside of work I am in another area of life (i.e. the going home mode). I look forward to time spent with family and good friends or attending a movie and eating pop corn - to me, that is bliss. Then by the time I go back to work I feel as if I've been away for a week. This works really well for me - the art of deceit of your own mind." (Kathleen Casagr

Healthcare and Medical Treatment in Canada - Information for Expats
Primary healthcareCanada's primary healthcare system provides services to individuals, families and communities. It also involves a proactive approach to preventing health problems and ensuring better management and follow-up once a health problem has occurred.These services are publicly funded from general tax revenues without direct charges to the patient.A patient may be referred for specialised care at a hospital or long-term care facility or in the community. The majority of Canadian hospitals are operated by community boards of trustees, voluntary organisations or municipalities.Healthcare services are mainly provided in long-term institutions, paid for by the provincial and territorial governments, while room and board are paid for by the individual; in some cases these payments are subsidised by the provincial and territorial governments.Healthcare services can also be provided in the home and/or community. Referrals to home care can be made by doctors, hospitals, community agencies, families and potential residents.These services, such as specialised nursing care, homemaker services and adult day care, are provided to people who are partially or totally incapacitated. Needs are assessed and services are coordinated to provide continuity of care and comprehensive care.Provincial servicesThe provinces and territories also provide coverage to certain groups of people - seniors, children and social assistance recipients, for example - for health services that are not generally covered under the publicly funded health care system.These supplementary health benefits often include prescription drugs, dental care, vision care, medica

Self-care is an intrinsic, continuous and highly important activity performed by any professional, particularly those involved in health care. Also called the 'inner therapy', this practice aims to ensure that both mental and physical health of the professional is in good shape. So why is self-care for Counsellors important? Essentially, Counsellors have a clear responsibility: their clients. If a Counsellor is not mentally and physically healthy, his/her ability to provide support to clients is limited.

So what are the strategies for self-care in the counselling profession? There are many strategies which vary according to each person's state of mind. Irrespective of the strategy being used, a Counsellor's self-care activities are in place for a single purpose: that is, ensuring daily work stress does not result in burnout.

The Problem: Burnout

Burnout is the consequence of excessive work, stress and other related factors. Although the concept of burnout can also be applied to other contexts, for the purpose of this article we'll stick to the work environment. Many people suffer from burnout for various reasons, and usually the problem is related to several prominent areas of an individual's life: happiness, health, success, and others.

"Burnout is not simply excessive stress. Rather, it is a complex human reaction to ongoing stress, and it relates to feeling that your inner resources are inadequate for managing the tasks and situations presented to you. The signs and symptoms of burnout are similar to those of stress, but burnout includes an emotional exhaustion and an increasingly negative attitude toward your work and, perhaps, your life." (Help Guide Mental Health)*

This concept is well-known in mental health disciplines, particularly counselling. For this reason, many counselling courses include the topic in their training schedule: a measurement to ensure that each prospective professional is aware of their own limitations.

Burnout in Counsellor Training: The Principles

According to Corey, "burnout manifests itself in many ways. Those who experience this syndrome typically find they are tired, drained, and without enthusiasm. They feel unappreciated, unrecognised, and unimportant, and they go about their jobs in a mechanical and routine way." (Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy)**

Counsellor education generally introduces the concept of burnout to students, aiming to provide sound theoretical material that will help future counsellors to prevent, understand and act upon such a problem. The material commonly refers to the causes, remedies and prevention methods of burnout.

Causes

As cited previously, burnout is the result of a complex human reaction to stress. Such reaction can be so diversified among people that it would require highly advanced mathematical algorithms to actually derive all the possible cause combinations of burnout, and the influence of each of these causes. However, despite the unpredictability of individual responses to stress, there is a set of causes which are common to most people:

- Performance of repeated activities over time which seem to be insignificant; - Lack of appreciation for a certain task or overall effort at work; - Strong pressure to perform at work; - Excessive conflict in work relationships; - Lack of opportunities for expression and improvement; and - Presence of unresolved personal conflicts outside of the work environment.

Recognising such causes is the first step to understanding a series of events that may lead to burnout. The next step would involve the person's particular responses to mental stress and their capability to recognise certain physical traits that could indicate over-stressed responses from the body.

Remedies

Burnout remedies for professional counsellors will vastly diverge between individuals. Resembling the causes, remedies are effective according to individual traits, particularly when referring to the level of stress each person can deal with.

Some people prefer to deal with their stress-related problems by increasing or decreasing certain individual activities, such as increasing the amount of time exercising and/or decreasing the amount of time working in the office. Interactive individuals may prefer to work through their issues with others, such as participating in workshops, consulting with their supervisors or simply allocating time to talk to a friend or colleague. Many Counsellors would mix individual and group activities to reduce incidence of stress and attempt to eradicate burnout.

Counsellors may also diverge in their perspectives towards stress and burnout. Some people are naturally passive and tend to surrender to their own circumstances, generally putting themselves in the position of victims. This assumption leads to feelings of hopelessness and powerlessness, which increases the difficulty of dealing with stressing factors, resulting in either a delay in eliminating burnout, or increased intensity. However, there are also Counsellors who are proactive towards stress. Such people have a different perspective towards stressful events - they recognise the individual traits which are affecting them, and actively attempt to resolve them through a mix of introspection and scenario analysis. This approach - or active stance - is desired in order to improve stress management skills and avoid burnout.

In an industry where human relationships are so intrinsically related to work, it is sometimes inevitable to experience distress and burnout. On these occasions, it is important that Counsellors effectively remediate burnout in order to invoke balance in both professional and personal lives.

Prevention It is better to prevent rather than remediate - this saying illustrates the need for preventing burnout before it happens. Most people ignore the first signs of excessive stress, and by doing so, become vulnerable to further pressure from work. At some point, Counsellors may find it very difficult to attend counselling sessions, to get to work, and to perform in several other areas of life. Preventing burnout is simply a necessary task to anyone aiming for a balanced and fulfilling career (and life).

There are several burnout prevention principles which can be divided into three categories: physical, mental and strategic.

Physical

Stress is a pattern of physiological responses which are caused by specific events in people's lives. Such responses include an increase in blood pressure, heart rate, sugar levels and re-direction of blood flow to major organs. With such a complex set of events, it is reasonable to assume that maintaining good health will reduce the incidence of 'undesired' stress (distress). In fact, it is more than reasonable. Because stress causes such 'explosive' reactions in the body, a healthier body is vastly more capable of dealing with excessive amounts of stress than an unhealthy body.

How do you improve your health? Exercising will play the leading role in improving and maintaining a 'healthy status', allowing your body to be ready for the energy boost caused by stress. A balanced diet will ensure that the body has all nutrients necessary to perform daily activities, including regular stress-related responses. A balanced diet includes avoiding excessive intake of particular stress-related substances, such as caffeine and sugar.

Mental

Relaxation techniques such as imagery, meditation and breathing can at first conjure up feelings of inaction and statis. Music and introspection are also a good combination for improving the state of mind of a person. These are commonly used techniques, however any mental exercises that draw attention away from stressful events, and provide a 'relaxed' state to the individual, are useful. Such exercises will depend on the personal preferences of each Counsellor, and the resources that are available at the time.

Furthermore, the role of perception is extremely important in determining the health issues associated with the incidence of stress. Sometimes Counsellors perform a kind of mental 'self mutilation' in which they take responsibility for anything that goes wrong in a counselling session, or with a client. In this context, feelings of powerlessness and hopelessness will remain obstacles and can perpetuate to the Counsellor's personal life. In these instances, the Counsellor needs to re-assess their perception towards certain events: you may call it a self-directed cognitive behaviour therapy.

Strategic

Probably the most prominent cause of burnout in a workplace is the inability of an individual to meet certain deadlines and achieve particular goals which are simply impossible to achieve in the first place. Applying strategy as a form of burnout prevention means ensuring that goals are achievable.

This way, Counsellors will not put themselves under unnecessary pressure. Furthermore, strategic thinking also allows individuals to recognise their personal and professional limitations, and work effectively with those limitations in order to achieve a balanced (and successful) counselling career.

The First Steps: Shaping a Career

In the beginning of their counselling careers, most individuals are much more sensitive to burnout than experienced Counsellors. Why is that? Because their levels of anxiety are peaking as they are about to find out whether this profession is really for them, and if they can handle their clients and support them by effectively applying the theoretical concepts they have learned.

Professional Insight: Strategies from Counsellors

Transform Your Relationship Using The Power Of Appreciation
What is the single thing you can do to improve your relationship. I would like you to think back to your childhood. How often did you get appreciation from your parents? Or did you come from a family where criticism and even putdowns was the norm.I have found that my early childhood has set up patterns of behaviour that I carried out in later life. I do not remember much praise at all in my early years. If you came from a very critical family, this behaviour is very familiar to you. Generally you will choose a critical partner as this is what you feel comfortable with! I personally married a very critical partner. And the relationship did have a lot of criticism and not much appreciation at all. In my new relationship I actually use praise everyday.We want something from your lover and we feel entitled to having this. When we don't get what we want we complain about it and we criticise our partner. Mostly the criticism drives our partner away or they give in and feel powerless. This cycle continues and eventually this can cause the couple to separate.The cycle of praise goes something like this. We first make a commitment to use appreciation every day. During the day we actively look for things to appreciate about our partner. These can be about anything at all. We speak our appreciation to our partner and this actually cause us to see more things to appreciate.When you are actively looking for the good in your partner you will see lots of things you love. In fact I have found that in this act of appreciation my heart opens to my partner. And the great thing is that the person being appreciated feels love in turn.As this way of

or education generally introduces the concept of burnout to students, aiming to provide sound theoretical material that will help future counsellors to prevent, understand and act upon such a problem. The material commonly refers to the causes, remedies and prevention methods of burnout.

Causes

Remedies

There are several burnout prevention principles which can be divided into three categories: physical, mental and strategic.

Physical

Mental

Strategic

The First Steps: Shaping a Career

Professional Insight: Strategies from Counsellors

Paris Hilton - Should She Go to Jail?
The law may be flawed and it may have served countless personal interests that have been hanging since they were created but still, once a person is found guilty, whatever her social standing may be, she must still be put to justice that’s within the context of the law.The law must apply equally, that’s practically a common knowledge. So for those who are hoping that she could run away from it, well then its better for them to realize early that she could never be acquitted of her mistakes, however clueless she is about them.Should she go to jail? Obviously, no matter what people tell about her, she will go to jail and serve her sentence. Luckily for her, someone stood up to make her an example of justice for drunk and clueless drivers who didn't know that their driver's licenses were expired. She has been living a life of comfort that have blinded her from some universal truths and maybe this incident with a 45-day service in jail will teach her the meaning of the world "reality". Because apparently she had been living a life of false reality where all she could see are people who love and adore her while choosing to expel from her thoughts the possibility that many people hate her, although this evidently applies for nearly a hundred percent of people who have heard stories and gossips about her.Even if she thought that the "gods are blinded", remembering a part in one of her songs, nothing would still reverse the truth that "we have to take the consequences of our actions", remembering what our parents used to tell us at some point during our childhood.Perhaps the world gets it right with karma after all. And she has now turned to spank a person who needed spanking

n circumstances, generally putting themselves in the position of victims. This assumption leads to feelings of hopelessness and powerlessness, which increases the difficulty of dealing with stressing factors, resulting in either a delay in eliminating burnout, or increased intensity. However, there are also Counsellors who are proactive towards stress. Such people have a different perspective towards stressful events - they recognise the individual traits which are affecting them, and actively attempt to resolve them through a mix of introspection and scenario analysis. This approach - or active stance - is desired in order to improve stress management skills and avoid burnout.

There are several burnout prevention principles which can be divided into three categories: physical, mental and strategic.

Physical

Mental

Strategic

The First Steps: Shaping a Career

Professional Insight: Strategies from Counsellors

What You Should Know About Student Loan Debt Consolidation
After four years of college, the time has finally come, it has been dreaded, it has been feared, but the time to start paying off those student loans has arrived. For many people, they have the unfortunate experience of having many different loans and payments at the same time. This alone can be enough to make any person buckle under pressure, they are hard to manage and afford all the way around. However, there is some light at the end of that tunnel. This light comes in the form of student loan debt consolidation.Sure, you have heard of student loan debt consolidation, but do you really know what it is? This form of consolidation takes all of the student loans you current have and are required to pay to different lenders, combining them into one payment that you can actually afford.What happens is the bank or other financial institution you choose to work with on your student loan debt consolidation will essentially pay the lenders what you currently owe. This is basically a loan, however, you never get the money yourself, it goes directly to the lenders of your student loans. You will then be required to make one monthly payment to the new lender, instead of having to pay several lenders.You will then get a new interest rate as well. Some student loans have no interest and others do, this will need to be a deciding factor for you when you decide to seek student loan debt consolidation. Some lenders will provide a fixed interest rate and other will offer a variable interest rate, this will be something you definitely want to check with the lender you do choose.In general, you will have for choices when it comes to student loan debt consolidation, which includes:<

e energy boost caused by stress. A balanced diet will ensure that the body has all nutrients necessary to perform daily activities, including regular stress-related responses. A balanced diet includes avoiding excessive intake of particular stress-related substances, such as caffeine and sugar.

Mental

Strategic

The First Steps: Shaping a Career

Professional Insight: Strategies from Counsellors

Multi-Step Marketing Campaign And The Secret Of How You Can Get Better Responses To Your Advertising
Strictly speaking, a good multi-step mailing will always out-perform a good single step mailing. Let me explain why. People in contemporary America a caught up in the hustle and bustle of life. Every day without even realizing it, we are bombarded by thousands of marketing messages. From the TV in your living room, to the computer in your den, even cell phones, we are being constantly assaulted with advertisements.A natural reaction to this phenomenon is to tune out, and this partially explains the increasingly short attention spans of most people. People become so overwhelmed with the amount of advertising they receive that their subconscious mind becomes trained to ignore a great deal of it. It’s almost as if there is a wall that we have to break through, and believe me this is really bad for us marketers out there. People are forgetful creatures and selling in this type of environment almost necessitates multi-stage mailings.By adding multiple stages to your marketing campaigns you are increasing the chances that your message will get to them. More importantly though, it establishes a rapport with your prospect. It makes them feel valued and builds a relationship with your prospect. They begin to feel that they are the ones that are selecting you rather than the other way around. It also prevents too much burden from being placed on one single step of the campaign, and the multiple stages allow you to lower their natural resistance to your marketing efforts.Another good idea would be to vary the medium that you are delivering in the campaign to maximize response. Here is an example of a sequence I might send. You could try sending a postcard telling the prosp

ir clients and support them by effectively applying the theoretical concepts they have learned.

Professional Insight: Strategies from Counsellors

"To function effectively as a Counsellor we need to be in good shape personally - physically, mentally and emotionally.

Given that, just like everyone else, we will have times of difficulty in our own lives, it is particularly important for us to recognise the danger signals and take action to deal with any undue stress quickly.

Like many of my colleagues I have a number of tried and tested remedies for keeping my life in balance.

A quick fix which I can use anytime and in any stressful situation is to concentrate on my breathing rhythm and deliberately make it slower and deeper.

Listening to music is a sure-fire way for me to de-stress, as are walking on a beach, playing tennis, being out on the water or getting involved with a good book.

On the subject of reading, I work on maintaining and upgrading my skills and knowledge - having confidence in one's ability is an important element in avoiding workplace stress.

And my very favourite way to look after myself? A glass of wine on a sunny afternoon with my partner somewhere by the water." (Wendy Mead, AIPC Senior Education Adviser)

Sources
*Help Guide Mental Health (www.helguide.org/mental/burnout_signs_symptoms.htm).
** Corey G (1996) Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy (p. 44).

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You spend years building up a successful cleaning business. And, unfortunately, in just a matter of minutes it can be wiped out by a disaster - fires, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, and chemical spills are just a few of the things that can wipe out your business in a matter of minutes. How you prepare ahead of time can determine if your business succeeds or fails after a disaster happens.

Never give in to the fast buck, 6-weeks to success, 3 months to #1, or any other almost instant success program or format. It may take you 3 or more months just understand the magnitude of what it takes to become a successful internet marketer. Creating a plan of what you must do everyday is vital to success. It is a road map to keeping your website in a favorable position to be seen when the real shoppers click through your ad links.

Without good, relevant content the Internet would be nothing. When the article gets indexed in the search engine the article will be in the same theme as the keywords, search engines ranking will increase because this is natural.

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