We all want to have a photographic memory. Just imagine being able to remember every single fact that you have read since you were a kid. You would be a shoo in when it comes to game shows and trivial pursuit games. Besides, havig a great memory will get you through tough times in college. Unfortunately not all people are blessed with such great memory but there are ways to make it better. Here are some of them:

1. Exercise your mind
The more you use your brain, the more it will be better. When it comes to the brain, there is no such thing as drain. If you want to improve your memory, then use your brain as much as you can. Read a book. Answer a crossword puzzle. Engage in memory games that will develop your brain’s power.

2. Play memory games
There are a lot of games out there that will help you exercise your memory. Log on to the internet and look for memory games that you can play. There is also the game board mastermind and Games of the Generals that will help you improve your memory and your logic skills.

3. Use visual tactics
Most people who have had to improve their memory have used visual tactics to help them remember things. For instance, if you want to remember a grocery list without writing them on paper, all you have to do is visualize your house and associate every part of it with the things that you have to buy. If you need a bathroom cleanser, then visualize it with your bathroom. The same goes with a vinegar and cooking oil with the kitchen or a moisturizer for the face with your bedroom. Thinking visually will help you keep the list in mind.

4. Say it over and over again.
Some people remember when they repeat it to themselves. For instance, the best way to remember the name of a person is to use it in a conversation with that person. That way, you will be able to associate the name with the face right on the onset. It will be easier then to remember that person’s name the next time you meet her or him. The same also goes with remembering telephone numbers. The more you use it and repeatedly use it, the more you will be able to remember them.

5. Eat right
There are foods that will help keep your brain healthy and thus improve your memory. Foods like peanuts, tofu and milk help keep the brain in tip top shape. The same goes with fish and meat that have proteins that help nourish the brain and keep it developing. In fact, these foods are especially important with children who are growing because their brain is just developing.

6. Group them
Another effective way to remember things easily is to group them. For instance, in remembering telephone numbers, it will be easier to group them into two and remember them as two chunks than remembering them as seven separate numbers. Thus, numbers are given hyphens to make it easier to commit to memory.

There are a lot of other ways to better your memory but before you can do it, you have to first commit to the task.

Instant everything-including convenience, solutions, and results among so many others-is one of the major causes of stress that eventually lead to serious problems. Because of this stress, more and more people are learning to practice one of the most powerful means of concentration called “meditation.”

Described as a state wherein a person is in deep concentration on something, either awareness or some object of thought, meditation can be considered as one of the oldest means of calming the mind and the soul. Usually involving one’s attention to be turned into a single point of reference, meditation is practiced by so many people because it can lead a person to a consciousness an inch higher than the ordinary person.

If you are one of those who planning to indulge in practicing meditation or just interested in its seemingly limitless possibilities, then you should start by familiarizing yourself with the various forms of meditation known today. The most common forms of meditation include “Bodhidharma,” “Hinduism,” “Bahá’í Faith,” “Buddhism,” “Christian meditation,” “Islam Meditation,” “Jainism,” “Judaism,” “Sikhism,” and “Taoism.” Each and every one of these forms mentioned has their own understanding of meditation and also have different sets of practices that come with it.

Another important thing to take note about meditation is that it involves various physical postures to be able to perform the practice well. These postures include standing, sitting, and supine depending on the tradition of that you would want to follow.

Aside from the postures that are used, it is also important to take note about the various types of meditation before finally indulging into it. Experts say that the most common type is the prayer because this is the one of the most practiced types people does. Aside from the simple prayer, other types of meditation also include what is called transcendental meditation (TM), the mindfulness meditation, and some of the forms included in the Eastern tradition including the buddhist, Taoist, and zen meditation.

If you are just starting, the first thing that you need to concentrate on is the elements for involved in a basic traditional meditation. Usually, there are four elements that greatly affect traditional meditation including a place that is quiet, a posture that is comfortable, an object that a person can to focus his or her attention and n attitude that is relatively passive.

Learning meditation techniques

Meditation techniques are known to vary depending on the origin of the practice and the culture in that place. It also varies depending on the personality of the person and where he or she comfortable with.

Meditation techniques can be classified as “concentrative” that involves the means of focusing into a specific object and the other can be termed as “expansive” that involves a person’s free flowing thoughts, observation, and reflection. The most common meditation techniques that are being practiced by many people today include the “Mantra Meditation” which involve production of sound or the combination of one or more sounds that are played in a very spontaneous manner, the “trataka” or Steady Gaze where the person meditating is asked to gaze steadily in a certain an object and focus his or her attention to it, and the “Chakra Meditation” which greatly helps in the manifestation of energy and mind control.

Those who are practicing advanced meditation are also learning other effective meditation techniques including Vipassana Meditation, Raja Yoga Meditation, Zazen, and Nada Yoga, which have their own respective practices and postures.

Although the modern times have opened a lot of possibilities to the brides when it comes to wedding dresses, it has also created confusion because of so many choices available. This is basically the reason why many women-at least those who are planning to get married and wear a wedding dress-should be learning which is the most suitable type for them this early to avoid too much confusion when that big day comes.

Things to consider before shopping for wedding dresses

To avoid choosing wrong wedding dresses, there are many considerations brides-to-be must ponder upon. The first thing among these considerations is the body type. Knowing one’s body type is very important because it will determine if you would or wouldn’t look good in your dress. Since not all women are created with perfect body figure, it is best to know your body type to avoid highlighting your not-so-pleasant “assets.”

For women who possess an hourglass figure, ideal wedding dresses are bodices with corsets or two-piece items such as ball gowns to give emphasis to their curves. Wedding dresses that have something that would highlight the waist of the bride are also ideal. For women who are pear shaped, one of the perfect options is Princess dresses with A-line cut. This is very ideal because the style will hide the full hips and will highlight the torso as well as the bust area of the bride. Petite women should avoid ball gowns that are big as well as wedding dress with mermaid cut because these only overwhelm the natural shape of the body.

Wedding dresses for women who have petite frame should be those that have simple cuts and fabric type to make them look taller and slender. For tall women who can carry majority of the dress styles out there, wedding dresses with A- line cut, princess line cut, ball gowns, mermaid style, and straight dresses are ideal wedding dresses. Although almost all styles can fit tall women, they should avoid empire line dresses because these can overemphasize their tall frame and can be too overwhelming especially when paired with small sizes of wedding accessories.

For women who have full waist, drop waist and princess-line dresses are the best because these flatter the curves of the waist. Women who have broad shoulder should avoid wearing wedding dresses that are off-the-shoulder and halter types because these will only make the broad shoulder “broader.” Opt for wedding dresses that don’t have straps or those that have scoop necklines to enhance the shoulder and wear accessories or jewelry that have intricate design. Brides that are that have flat bust should choose wedding dresses that have square or scoop necklines that will emphasize the bust area.

Learning what are the most available dress shapes out there is a must. These shapes include straight wedding dresses that have revealing and daring cuts and highlight to the body’s contour, A-line princess wedding dresses that is perfect for women who want to hide something from the bust line down because it practically covers everything from the bust line to the toes, empire wedding dresses which is practically an A-line dress except for the seam that is strategically placed under the bust line to emphasize some body shapes, strapless wedding dresses which are designed to reveal the neck are shoulder areas, mermaid wedding dresses that are designed to fit from the waist area until the knees before it comes with stylish flair down to the feet, and ball gown wedding dresses that are practically two-piece items including a full skit and fitted or corseted bodice.

Fear of flying or aviophobia is considered as among those that are very common to people. Although some might find the overall concept of fear of flying somehow absurd, experts say that it is something that is very serious. And people who experience this should get started in overcoming fear of flying as soon as possible to avoid further complications in their emotional and mental state.

What makes flying safe?

Statistics show that flying is the safest form of travel there is. Why? because the airplane is managed by a professional and licensed pilot who spent years and years of expertise to perfect the art of flying. Aside from that, owners of airline companies themselves spend billions of dollars just to ensure that the facilities are of great quality not only to ensure the safety of their passengers but to make sure that they are comfortable and taken care of during their flights.

Aside from that, no plane ever flies without strict inspection-mechanical and technical aspects-by a crew of people who are also experts in the field of flying. This is to ensure that there would be no problems when the aircraft is thousand feet up in the sky. And, most of all, all airplanes comply with AIR Transportation rules to ensure that they are obeying all the rules and following all the guidelines of safe flying.

The key to success

Experts say that although air travel is safe, the number of people who fear it continue to increase. This is because the fear itself is a phobia that is hard to explain. So, the best way to go about it is for the person to understand what he or she is afraid of in air travel. Once he or she knows what it is about flying the he or she fears the most, these issues can be slowly addressed.

After knowing and acknowledging that fear, the next best thing to do is to be more familiar about the symptoms of the condition. Experts say that every individual have different perceptions and reactions to their phobia. Although the degree and intensity of these fears may vary, there would be commonalities in these symptoms-they are manifested through physical, emotional and psychological aspects.

1. The physical symptoms. This is the easiest way to identify the condition. Physical symptoms may include drastic changes in respiration or heavy breathing, nausea, dizziness, and vomiting. Other common symptoms include involuntary muscle tensions, excessive sweating or perspiration despite the cold temperature, and mild to extreme tremors of the body.

2. The emotional symptoms. Trust issues are the main culprits in this aspect. This is because the fears of the person are deeply rooted and linked to his or her emotional responses. The problem here is the person does not trust the people who will be manning the flight. He or she thinks that the pilot as well as the cabin crew are not capable of protecting her or him during the flight that is why the panic attacks sink in and the passenger may start to be over anxious.

3. The psychological symptoms. This is the hardest part to deal with in overcoming fear of flying because you will need to seek professional help for the psychological issues to be addressed. These issues may involve matters of self-control, the inability to cope, and the struggle to fight the fear that grip the person once the airplane takes off.

As much as many people would like to believe that it is very difficult to overcome the fear of public speaking, understanding the basic principles and ideas about overcoming fear, then you may be surprised to see that it is not difficult to overcome the fear of public speaking.

One of the most common fears that man has when it comes to public speaking or speaking before a group of people is that they do not want to look foolish whenever they commit a mistake in front of many people.

This is a very common source of stress that makes people fear the uncertainty of how good or bad their discussion or talk before the public turns out.

As we all know, there is always the uncertainty of things that could always happen and human instincts usually tell us that in order for us to be made aware of what may or may not happen, our minds rationalize the steps to address these concerns.

The next step that the mind does to rationalize these is to establish solutions to common problems that we encounter.

It is then processed in the mind based on the extent of out learning, experiences in life and a lot of other factors that help us come up with ideas and solutions to address all of these.

Then this is when fear usually comes in.

Fear is usually characterized by man’s inability to think of a logical or practical way of dealing with adversities or difficulties, especially where one does not have any idea about how to think of ways to solve a problem or being unable to prepare for any flic speakire eventuality.

But do not fret, as much as fear is a consequence of past actions or conditioning of the mind to dwell on past mistakes, it is reassuring to note that fear is but a normal occurrence in everyday life.
Please find below some guidelines that can help one overcome the fear of public speaking.

First rule is to relax and free the mind of thoughts that may help increase the chances of increasing fear, rather than diminishing or eliminating it.
One good practice tip for this is to take deep breaths prior to going up the stage and delivering the speech or facilitating a meeting.

This is so since breathing is a physiological human process that helps the mind to clear and aids in the lowering of blood pressure,
Also try to practice your speech in front of a mirror, better yet, you may also practice speaking by asking others to listen and provide critique to your speech, that way, you also get the impression that those listening to you re out to help you and not to castigate you.

After all, the saying ‘practice makes perfect’ is indeed a true testament to those who believe that the more you are comfortable you are with the situation, the less likelihood of you making a mistake and will make you better at what you do.

Ask friends or family members to help you out by listening to you delivering your speech as part of your rehearsal before you actually go on the stage.

Lastly, be familiar with your topic, since this will greatly help you condition your mind that you are going for good times ahead.
Now that you know the common and practical steps to ensuring that you are likely to succeed at public speaking, it is, after all, not difficult to overcome the fear of public speaking.

Memory is important in our lives. It will not only tell us who we are and remind us of the things that have happened in our lives, it will also give us the knowledge that we need to survive. We use memory when we learn new lessons in school or when we are studying for an exam. We also need an excellent memory when socializing. People who can remember names and people appear to be warmer and are better conversationalists than people who are forgetful. Thus it is important that you start bettering your memory.

Below are some tips on how to improve your memory. Some you can do to improve your brain’s function while the others are preventive measures that will help you have great memory skills even after old age.

1. Change your lifestyle
As far-fetched as it seems, what you do with your life can affect your memory. Thus, people who want to better their memory do not only try out memory techniques but also change their whole lifestyle. You can start by avoiding vices that will hurt your brain processes. This includes smoking and drinking beyond the one bottle a day limit for women and two bottles a day for men. This is of course for beers only.

Stress is another factor that can lessen your memory skills. Stress have been shown to not only weaken the body and the immune system but also to weaken the mental processes. Since stress cannot really be avoided, you need to make sure that you find ways to relax and curtail stress. You can do this by resting your head on weekends and having enough sleep everyday. You should also start exercising and meditating which are both good for the brain.

2. Change your diet
What you eat will determine who you are. This may be a cliché but it is true nonetheless. If you want to have a more powerful brain, you should make sure that you include in your diet what is often called the brain foods. These are foods that contain choline and proteins which help in the development of the brain. Examples of these brain foods are tuna, salmon and other fishes; soya, tofu, milk, peanuts and meat which are rich in proteins. Veggies and fruits also help by keeping the body strong and rich in supply of anti-oxidants. Young children in fact are encouraged to eat lots of these foods especially at that age when their brains are still developing.

3. Exercise your mind
One of the reasons why the brain slows down is because it is not used as often as it should be used. There are studies in fact that support this. People who answer crossword puzzles, play strategic games and work even when they are old are less likely to have Alzheimer’s. The use of the brain is actually a preventive measure for the onset of forgetfulness during old age.

4. Use memory techniques
Your brain also needs you help. It does not mean that if your brain is powerful, you will not make the job easy for it. If you want to better your memory, use memory techniques that will help you remember more. One example is the use of mnemonics, or key letters or words that will represent a whole lot of information. Another memory technique is the association, which allows you to associate an information or item with something that you can already see or what you already know.

It will be cool to actually remember all the names of the people we meet or recite from memory all of the books that we have read. But not all people are blessed with a photographic memory that can capture a lot of data. The most that most people can do is to remember about 50 percent of the details in the books that they have read and recall about 10 names in the 50 people they meet. But hey, this does not mean that we should all give up wanting to make our memory better.

Although we cannot actually make our memory as powerful as one with a photographic memory, we can at least improve its processes so that we can recall more names than we usually do. This is especially true with people who are already aging. As we grow older, our memory slips. This is why most of our grandfathers and mothers often forget a lot of things, even our names.

Below are some names on how to make your memory a little bit better. Read on and you might still be able to do something with that faulty memory of yours.

1. Start early
It is important to take care of the brain early on to avoid forgetfulness when old age comes. Brain development starts at a very young age, from 0-3 years old. It is during this time when your brain grows the fastest. Although you may not have any power over your parents actions during this time, you can at least add to their care when you are much older, say 6 or 7 years old, by eating the right foods and avoiding as you grow old vices like cigarettes and alcohol which are proven to lessen memory skills.

2. Commit to the improvement
You should at least be able to commit to the task of bettering your memory. You may not realize it but it is not as simple as memorizing a grocery list and practicing your brain with crossword puzzles and memory games; you will also be changing the way you live your life and the food that you eat. Changing your lifestyle and your diet takes a lot of gumption and self-discipline from you. You will not be able to do it if you do not commit wholeheartedly to the task.

3. Practice
Use your brain. Whether it is something as simple as reading a book or playing a strategy game like chess, exercising your brain will help keep those neurons awake and working. In fact, studies have shown that those who answer crossword puzzles, read or generally use their brains will less likely become senile or acquire Alzheimer’s Disease. Using your brain will prevent it from being rusty and dusty.

4. Visualize it
One of the most common techniques to improve memory is to visualize words and things. You see, the brain sees data as pictures. It will be easily stored and faster to retrieve if it is seen and visualized as one picture than when it is memorized as numbers or words. For instance, if you are trying to memorize a grocery list, you do not memorize the words. You memorize the pictures of the things that you need to buy. That way, when you go to the grocery store, you will remember to buy that item, bettering your memory in the process.

More and more people are finding ways in overcoming their fear of flying because being afraid of flying can be difficult especially to those who love to go to places. This is because that very fear of being inside the place is what hinders them from enjoying the places that are waiting to be seen and experienced. To some people, aside from not being able to enjoy going to places, fear of flying of also causes them several complications in their health as well as in their emotional and mental state.

If you are one of those who feel fear of flying, it is always best to visit a professional to help you determine if you have this phobia or not. The doctor will ask you several questions and would probably conduct an overall physical and mental exam to determine the degree of your fear in flying. Once there is a final diagnosis, he or she would recommend some activities or even medication to help you in overcoming your fear of flying.

What you need to know

People who have fear in flying often times deny this condition due to the fact they may receive criticisms from other people. They are afraid to acknowledge that they indeed have a phobia in flying because they are afraid that they will become a laughing stock of others. These people are also afraid that their character is judged based on their fear of flying alone.

If you are one of those who have developed a fear in flying but would want to overcome it, the best way to go about this is to stop thinking what others may think. This is very important because if one is able to veer away from what others are thinking about them, they can focus more on the things that they need to do in overcoming fear in flying.

The next best thing that should be done is to finally acknowledge that you are indeed afraid of flying. Experts say that fear of flying is a kind of phobia, thus, it can be irrational. There is really no specific explanation why a person feels this anxiety or stress when flying since people vary in terms of imagination and thinking. What is proven is that people who have developed fear of flying have some commonalities when it comes to this phobia. Some of the commonalities include are the reasons why are they afraid to fly. These reasons stem from the fear that something might happen during the flight such as the plane taking emergency landing due to mechanical problems or prolonged turbulence that is usually caused by bad weather. Once these fears have been addressed, there is a greater possibility for a person to overcome his or her fear in flying.

Another thing that is also important in overcoming fear of flying is understanding the symptoms of the phobia. The most common symptom of aviophobia in a person is that the intensity of anxiety that grips him or her just thinking about flying, when a plane is in sight or when inside the airplane. All throughout the flight, the person with aviophobia is expected to be overwhelmed with nervousness that is close to panic attack especially when untoward incidents occur. Other symptoms also include nausea, vomiting, motion sickness, dizziness, excessive sweating despite the cold temperature, involuntary muscle tension, ragged or heavy breathing, palpitations or increased heart rate and uncontrolled shaking or trembling of the body.

Overcoming your fear of public speaking may not be difficult at all, as long as you know and understand the nature of how that fear came to be.
For many people, the very thought of speaking in front of people or an audience is reason enough for them to be afraid.

These may be due to several reasons, the fear of committing a mistake in the middle of the process, public scrutiny, shame and not meeting up to expectations, are among the many and common reasons why people fear the thought of going in front of the public.

But for starters, the first step in helping you overcome that fear is to know how to study and prepare.

Nothing beats research and preparation, after all, if you sum up all the factors that make up the fear of public speaking is uncertainty.
It is the general thought of uncertainty, that makes the fear more frightening and makes people feel anxious.

However, with research and careful preparation, it may not predict any uncertain circumstances that may come your way, but can surely diminish the fear of unpreparedness and inadequacy of information that you can surely remove from the fear equation.

First thing’s first, know and anticipate what to expect.
Try to get information about the audience as to age, gender, occupation or personality levels or character.

This will give you basic information about how you may carry on with your presentation, what things to say or not to say or even ideas on how you may be able to win them over to your way of thinking or ideas.

As much as possible, get to know what the audience generally feels about the topic at large, which will provide you with good points to stress your ideas.

Also, take note of the audience’s treatment of the subject for discussion, since it will provide you with an idea for the flow of your topic.
So before speaking in front of a crowd, avoid the notion that you are perfect and that you cannot make mistakes .

Always come prepared, since you need to make sure that you need to get your message across in the most concise and comprehensible manner possible.
You don’t need to be perfect, all that is needed is for you to be prepared and ready since this will make you less fearful of committing a mistake.
Having only two or three main ideas or points can aid in providing more meat and focus to any message, rather than a cauldron of facts and figures that may sometimes cause more confusion instead of driving home the message.

Making a mistake during the presentation process is nothing to be fearful about, nor should it be a cause for stress.

It is also important to know the key factors in making the presentation, first, know what may be expected, since this will give you an idea on how you may address the audience.

Lastly, always try to buy yourself into what ideas you would like to convey, since being uncertain about one idea and selling it to others can only end up in a variety of shameful or embarrassing experiences.
So take these ideas to heart, since this is not rocket science and tell you that overcoming your fear of public speaking may not be difficult after all.

For a person to learn overcoming fear of flying, he or she must understand what causes that fear being up in the air. This is very important for him or her to know what are the best possible ways to adjust to these fears. Experts say that fear of flying is a “learned fear”. It is something that causes people-even those who were once confident travelers-to stop from taking flights via plane to go to places. This phobia is caused by so many factors which hinders people to being up in the air again.

Studies show that the major reason why people developed fear of flying is their own personal experiences when flying. These bad experiences are the ones that register in their mind whenever they go aboard, thus, causing them to be uncomfortable when they are aboard. The bad experiences when flying may include prolonged turbulence caused by a bad weather. It can also be some mechanical problems that have caused the plane to have an emergency landing. Or it can be a terrifying experience such as a near-death encounter while flying.

Another reason why many people develop fear of flying is what the experts call “stress contamination.” Here, the person who already has high levels of stress develops an anxiety episode, which makes it harder for that person to overcome that fear. At first, some people do not immediately this fear but it develops when they experience more bad encounters during their next flights.

A news coverage of an air disaster is also another reason why people who are already afraid of flying are having a hard time overcoming that fear. Experts say that it is only common for people to develop fear of flying since it may lead to their death once an accident happens. To some people, they take this possibility into greater a length-that is why they tend to develop fear of flying even if the flight is safe. And this fear only doubles when they see how tragic it is to die during a plane crash or an accident.

The best way

Although people have valid reasons to be afraid of flying, not riding planes should not be the option. This is because the person mainly allows his or her imagination to get the best or better of him or her. So, if you want to overcome that fear, try these strategies to find out which may work for you.

Know in yourself what it is really that you are afraid of when flying. It is the thought of you being up in the skies? Or is it the feeling that you are contained in a place where you cannot get out when you want to? Or is it the fear of pressure when you are aboard? Whatever it is, you should know which specifically scares you so you will find a way to adjust to it. If it the thought that you are thousands of feet from the ground, think that it’s like riding a car where you are also suspended from the land in a specific time frame. If you are afraid that you are secluded, request if you can be seated near the emergency exit so you are the first person to eject when an accident happens. If you are afraid of the pressure, think that the cabin is pressurized so you won’t be able to feel “pain” of take off.