Anastasia

Job Satisfaction

As second term reports are round the corner, I've been burning the midnight oil all this week in order to meet deadlines and finish my marking before April 15.  "Why worry about deadlines? After all, you are your own boss!", friends and family often remark. The truth  is I don't always understand them. Since I started running my own language school back in 1997, I've  realised that nothing really changed compared to working for other schools.

Piles of tests to mark at the weekend.

The work has to be done. Ah right! I'm only called to account for myself but, then again, I find that myself as a boss is  much more demanding than any boss I've ever had in my teaching career. One of the many reasons why I declined a job offer in public schools is because I had a very different idea of teaching English and French as foreign languages and my idea did not comply with theirs.

Working at the Weekend

I don't employ other teachers apart from myself, so all the responsibility is mine. Nor do I aspire to make big money. My greatest satisfaction  lies in my students' success. Believe me, it's very rewarding! Job satisfaction is an important element of individual well being. To me, salary is not as important as enjoyment at the workplace which, in turn , brings happiness. Surely, money is important. However, money doesn't make happiness, it may just as well  contribute to it.

Magic Mirror on the Wall.....

In Grimm's well known fairy tale, the new Queen - Snow White's step mother - has a magic mirror which is an animate object. Being beautiful and vain, the Queen often asks her Mirror: " Magic Mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?" The Magic Mirror would always answer:"You are the fairest of them all." But when Snow White turned 18, the Mirror said: "Snow White is much fairer than you."

In the year 2012 and the era of advanced technologies, very young girls no longer trust their mirror or what their friends and family tell them. They'd rather upload themselves on You Tube and ask their viewers exactly the same question Snow White's stepmother asked her magic mirror in Grimm's fairy tale. "Am I pretty or ugly?" followd by "Please comment" The wording is different, the meaning is exactly the same. The anonymous commenters are just like the "magic mirror on the wall". They feel free to say anything ranging from flattering comments to nasty and hurting remarks. The girl in the video below received more than 6,000 comments. Naturally, I didn't read them all but I did browse through and came across some really nasty comments which I wouldn't like to quote here.

 

What really saddens me is that these young girls - aged 11-13 - crave for comments, negative or positive. Surely, they lack self-esteem and self-confidence and they rely on total strangers to know whether they're pretty or ugly. But this is not what it boils down to. These kids seek to attract the  attention they lack in their own home.

Smoking Ban in Cyprus: Much Ado About Nothing!

A NUMBER of MPs have co-signed a law proposal to amend the current smoking ban, which hopes to offer venues the right to have separate smoking areas.

According to DISY MP Andreas Themistocleous, who prepared the proposal, the current ban is not being adhered to, with members of the public smoking freely in entertainment venues – especially bars and nightclubs - in direct violation of the law, which came into effect in January this year.

The deputy felt it should be up to the public to decide whether they want to smoke or not – as long as they are not affecting anyone else.

“When the law was being passed, the margins were left for amendments,” he explained yesterday. “MPs promised to those who were reacting that the law would be implemented, a few months would pass and any weaknesses spotted would lead to amendments.”

He said the DISY, EDEK and DIKO MPs’ proposal offered venue owners the right to offer up to 50 per cent of the area to smokers – provided that the venue has an area of 70 square metres or more and the designated smoking area is completely separate and cut off.

“Our proposal for the smoking law is complete with justifications, it is balanced and it affects in no way whatsoever the rights of non smokers,” Themistocleous explained. “One thing is for sure: if the law remains as it is, it isn’t being implemented. So what is the use of this law? It needs to be amended. What we achieved here is a money-making machine for the government.”

The MP reasoned that it was illogical to allow the legal importation and sale of tobacco products, and then ban people from smoking them.

“Parliament can’t prevent members of the public from creating a club, where they could use this product,” he pointed out.

Ireland, Norway, Italy and Britain are among the states that implemented full smoking bans successfully.

However, Themistocleous suggested Cyprus follows the example of states such as Belgium and Bulgaria, where the smoking laws are not so severe.

“The seven MPs who co-signed the proposal feel the need for amendments,” he said. “Amendments that don’t affect non-smokers and don’t put their health or dignity at risk,” he added.

A prime example of how the current law has failed, said Themistocleous, was that there had been an increase in sales of tobacco products in the first four months of 2010, compared to the year before.

“The state’s income from taxes on tobacco products – without these being increased or altered in any way – reached €59 million in the first half of 2010, compared to €54 million in 2009,” he pointed out. “This means we have achieved the exact opposite from what we hoped to achieve with this law.”

The relevant law today is not being implemented, said Themistocleous. “A quick stroll around the island’s nightclubs will show you that from 11 pm onwards, youths are smoking freely.”

The DISY MP maintained there should be a place in society for non smokers as well as smokers. “I won’t go into the ethics of whether someone should smoke or not; obviously we shouldn’t smoke,” said the keen smoker.

“But if someone is to quit something, this is something that can’t be enforced with orders or laws. It is the personal life of each person and in a complete democracy, anyone can affect their health as much as they like. Anyway, there may be many other things that could be a lot more harmful than smoking.”

Themistocleous admitted there were many laws that were passed in parliament but had never been implemented, “due to their extremity or hollowness”.

The law proposal, which was submitted to the House Health Committee, and is still to be discussed, was co-signed by DISY’s George Georgiou, Soteris Sampson and Andreas Kyprianou, as well as DIKO’s Neophytos Constantinou and Zacharias Koulias, and Rikkos Erotokritou of EVROKO.

by Jacqueline Agathocleous

Published in Cyprus Mail on October 16, 2010

via www.cyprus-mail.com

Last night, I watched on TV a debate on the "severe" smoking ban in Cyprus which came into effect on January 1, 2010.  The gist of the debate was that two years later the smoking ban doesn't work in Cyprus . Consequently, both smokers,  non-smokers and many government officials are disatisfied with the law. Many breeches of the law have been reported, yet the police don't seem to be in contol! Now, it seems, we're looking for amendments to the law.

Much ado about nothing, if you ask me. I am a smoker and the ban made me cut down a lot! I don't have a problem to go outside and smoke if I feel like it. But I do hate people smoking indoors in public places and NO ONE tells them off!   What's more, the ban does not consider smokers as second-rate citizens. Yet, I hear that there are indoor smoking areas in many EU countries such as Germany, UK, Austria, the Netherlands, the Scandinavian Countries, Hungary, Spain - the exceptions being Cyprus, Italy and France.   OK, here in Cyprus no one can smoke in any public place. You can only smoke at home or outside. I believe that the smoking ban shouldn't be amended.  I also believe that non-smokers shouldn't be forced to work in smoking areas or breathe in our smoke! To me  this is a crime.I also think that the Greeks and Greek Cypriots should follow the law.  The law does not only protect non-smokers from our bad habit, but it also helps us smokers to cut down - don't you think so?

Is there a smoking ban law in your country? How do you feel about it?

 

 

   

Cosmetic Surgery

 

Marble statue of Aphrodite - the Greek goddess of beauty (1st century BC)

Few people are born with a "perfect" body.  A certain obsession with physical perfection is no longer confined to middle-aged women. Across the USA and in many European countries teenagers and men are becoming the latest patients to seek medical "remodelling". Teenagers are going under the knife, financed and encouraged by doting parents who consider bodily perfection to be a more desirable birthday present than the latest playstation version or even a car. They argue that surgery can help cure the insecurity and self-consciousness that comes from a lack of self-esteem. What I find even more shocking is that some Asian teenagers are having blepharoplasty to produce a more rounded Caucasian look! Surgeons have also developed a technique by which men no longer have to spend hours in gyms to achieve bulging muscles.

I am not against cosmetic surgery in so far as it helps correct deformities, such as remove acne scars. But I don't think I'd ever go under the knife to change or improve a part of my body. without a serious reason to do so. I believe that we should love ourselves the way we are. I find that women who grow old naturally are more beautiful than women who have gone through cosmetic surgery to look 10 years younger or a few kilos slimmer. Each one of us has something special, something unique. Besides, a balanced diet, exercising and cosmetics help us greatly to improve on nature without having to spend a fortune.

Is it true that beauty is in the eye of the beholder or do we have a uniform concept of physical beauty?

Would you consider undergoing cosmetic surgery? Why? Why not?

Quizzes by Quibblo.com

Changes

In the course of time and as we grow older, we change both physically and mentally. This is only natural, I think, as these changes are part of our evolution as individuals. We may dislike now things we used to love 10 years ago, we may adopt a different lifestyle or see things from a different perspective.

In the last 20 years, my life has changed in more ways than one. First of all, I used to have long, black hair but now my hair is short and blond. That was quite a change which occurred just before I turned forty! Apart from slight changes in colour, I haven't adopted any other ...dramatic hair styles. However, in my thirties, I'd adopt a different hair style every so often!

My lifestyle has changed a lot as well. I hate loud music and crowdy places - I'm not agoraphobic, though. I'd rather invite my friends over to dinner than hang out with them till the early morning hours as I used to do a few years ago. I'm an early riser now and I no longer stay out very late except on rare occasions. I also used to hate cooking, but now I really enjoy it! I find it very creative and, more often than not, I even invent recipes of my own.

Finally, I've recently realised that my tastes have changed too. Last week I saw on dvd a film I had already seen years before. That was "Decostructing Harry" with Woody Allen, who was then my favourite actor. When I first saw that film at the cinema, I loved it and couldn't stop laughing. whereas now I found it so very boring!

However, there are a few things that will never change:

• I still love Neil Diamond, Simon and Garfunkel, the Bee Gees,  the Beatles and Rachmaninov.
• I've watched "The  Sound of Music" 26 times so far and still love it!
• My incurable love for the sea is endless!
• Travelling and discovering new places or revisiting places I love.
• Playing board games such as chess, scrabble and Trivial Pursuit. They're much more fun than computer games!
• Belgian chocolate and French cheeses.
• My four favourite countries: Greece, Switzerland, France, the UK.

And last but not least

• my love for my husband
• some great true friendships

True friendships are difficult to find and it takes time to have a balance of give and take while building mutual trust. The type of friend you are may change. It often depends on age, background, commitments or priorities, yet true friends will love you for who you are.  I feel blessed to have a great marriage and a few, good friends who I love and trust and this is never going to change.

How has your life changed in the last 10 years or so?

Premonitions

A great thriller starring my favourite actress - Sandra Bullock

According to the Cambridge Paranormal Research Society, premonitions or its scientific term precognition is the apparent ability to predict future events beyond the normal expectations of chance. Maybe you have had a sense that someone was about to call or a bad feeling that something is going to happen to you or somebody or maybe you have had a dream that comes true at a future date.

From a scientific point of view precognition can be simply attributed to coincidence. How many times have we had a bad feeling or have been thinking about somebody when nothing at all has occurred. If nothing takes place then we simply dismiss it from our minds but if the phone rings as we are thinking about someone we put it down to a premonition. On the other hand there is also the chance that you may have a precognitive dream but, as the event does not take place for a few weeks after the dream then you may simply not connect the dream with the event when it occurs.

I don't think I've had any precognitive dreams - the truth is I can hardly ever remember my dreams- but about eight years ago, I had a premonition that something bad was going to happen. It was end of June, the first day of the summer break for us teachers. To celebrate the end of yet another school year, I went out with Alkis. He had arranged dinner for two at my favourite restaurant and I was really having a great time. By 10:00 pm, we had finished dinner. I was beginning to feel a bit worried and uneasy. Alkis asked me if there was anything wrong. I smiled at him and dismissed the thought. I told him that it was nothing but the stress and fatigue soon after the final exams. After dinner, he suggested going to a music bar, but I said I was a bit tired and wanted to go back home. No sooner had he parked the car in the garage than my mobile phone rang. It was my mother. She told me in tears that dad had just passed away - at exactly 10:00 pm.

Have you ever had visions of future events - great or small - but you didn't know how to report them or who to tell?

 

Déjà Vu

  
You step into your new office for the first time, yet you feel certain you had exactly the same office sometime in the past. You have just met your new neighbours but you are sure you have met these people before even though you can't remember where. You have never been to Italy, so you decide to spend a holiday there. Once in Rome, everything looks familiar as if you have already been there before. This eerie feeling of being certain you have already experienced a new situation in the recent past is commonly known as déjà vu meaning "already seen" in French. It is also known as paramnesia from the greek word para (=near) and mnimi (= memory).

Arthur Funkhouser defines three types of déjà vu in an attempt to more clearly delineate between associated, but different, neurological experiences. These are déjà vecu (already experienced), déjà senti (already felt) and déjà visité (already visited). With déjà vecu not only do you remember having done this thing before you even know what will come next. The experience will include seeing, hearing, tasting, sensing, smelling, thinking, and touching; everything that would be present in a real life situation. (excerpt from Yahoo! Health and Wellness)

I personally experienced the feeling of déjà visité when I first visited Cuevas Del Drach in Majorca, Spain, in August 2004. I had never been to Spain or Majorca before and , certainly, I had never visited the Cuevas Del Drach - yet I was sure I had seen that very cave before.

Have you ever felt sure of having already experienced something actually being experienced for the first time? How did you feel? How do you explain this phenomenon?

Fears

Photo Credit

Ever since I was a young child, I've been suffering from the fear of thunder and lightning that often led to an uncontollable urge to scream. What terrified me most was the lightning - I couldn't stand the sight of it so I'd bury my head under my pillow and scream! My mum hugged me and sang to me trying to soothe my fear. When I was 11, I saw The Sound of Music at the cinema for the first time and realised that other children also fear storms and so whenever there was a storm, I thought of my ...favourite things and felt better. I can't say, however, that I've completely overcome this fear as I still feel the urge to scream on a stormy day.

My second fear has to do with the dentist. When I was 15, I had a bad toothache but the dentist said that was nothing serious - I just needed a filling. However, he accidentally touched the nerve and I passed out. (I wasn't given any unesthetic for a filling!) Consequently, I decided never to visit the dentist again - not even for regular dental checkups every six months.  As a result, my negligence gradually led to more serious problems such as gum disease. Although now I fully trust my dentist, I still shiver while hearing that nightmarish sound of his drill and I urgently need the nurse to hold my hand!

My worst fear, though, is the fear of flying. I love travelling so much, yet I can't be on a plane for more than 5 hours (maximum!!).  What terrifies me most is the time before landing and take-off - since most airline accidents happen then. I really feel sick: I sweat all over, I feel weak and helpless, my mouth is unusually dry, I sometimes feel like screaming, I always feel dizzy during take-off. That terrible speed of the plane makes me feel numb. On a bumpy flight, I am unable to eat or drink or take a tranquilizer or sleep because I want to be alert in case of emergency. I also feel silly when I realise that I am the only person on board who listens to the flight attendant during the pre-flight safety instructions. And I am, I think, the only person on the plane who carefully reads the passenger safety information card - the one found in the seat pocket in front of me or watch the safety instructions video... while others are sitting back, relaxing and reading books or newspapers. This is an ordeal !

Photo Credit

Now ...your turn! What are some of your fears if you have any?

Do video games help shy youngsters build social skills?

 

Photo Credit

Hong Kong - Scientists have found that children who spend hours playing online games may be developing friendships and nurturing vital social skills, a news report said Tuesday.

Rather than causing them harm, playing computer games can help boost the self-esteem of shy youngsters and increase their satisfaction with life, the South China Morning Post reported.

The benefits of online games were similar to those of making friends in the real world, the researchers from the Chinese University in Hong Kong concluded.

More than 600 primary school children were interviewed for the study, which found they spent an average of 67 minutes a day playing online games and 44 minutes using hand-held game consoles.

Nearly one-fifth of the pupils interviewed said they played for three hours a day or more, according to the newspaper.

Dr Angel Leung of the university's psychology department said: "Online friendship is ... especially important to those who are extremely shy or introverted - those who have difficulties making friends in real life."

However, she conceded that playing online games too much could adversely affect their academic results with English the subject most affected by game playing, the report said.

Copyright DPA

via www.earthtimes.org

If you ask me, online games and more specifically these interactive video games can eventually turn out to be detrimental to a child's physical condition and psychological growth. They contribute greatly to child obesity and to aggressive personalities. I really don't think they can help shy children build social skills. On the contrary, they tend to cut off children from the real world by making them unfriendly and anti-social while their grades can drop dramatically- not only in English but in all other school subjects. What's worse, these games can become terribly addictive for the child who gradually begins to live in a virtual world of make believe. Children need to go out and play, run, jump, skip, meet their friends, practise sports and take up creative hobbies. That's how they can develop real social skills.

On the other hand, technology is part of both adults and children's lives. Some online games can be really fun for children and can help them develop creative skills, yet, even in this case, parents should, by all means supervise their children, set time limits and stick to them and, most importantly, talk with their children in order to make them realise that real life doesn't work the way they see it in their online games. In this way, children will be able to see the difference between the virtual, unreal world of a video game, and the many benefits they can gain in the real world.

Thinking Positively

in Larnaca Sunset

Photo by @anastasia.marou

Positive thinking--being optimistic and hopeful--is a habit anyone can adopt with some practice. Why might you want to do so? A positive attitude and optimistic thinking are healthy. The power of positive thinking is that hopeful, optimistic people are healthier, live longer, and report greater satisfaction with life than those who might be labeled pessimistic.

Positive Thinking and Reality

Positive thinking is not ignoring reality. Bad things happen to positive and negative people alike (though Law of Attraction advocates may disagree). The difference is that positive thinkers tend to look for the best in a situation. That doesn't mean they ignore the negative event, just that they accept it and look for ways to make things more positive.

Positive thinkers believe that good things abound, that opportunities exist aplenty, and that the majority of people are positive and well-meaning.

via changing-personal-habits.suite101.com

Judging from my own experience, thinking positively has helped me a lot to  face rocky times or difficult situations effectively and seek solutions and eventually get rid of stresses and strains. I guess I tend to think like Scarlet O'Hara in Gone With The Wind: "Tomorrow is another day." And when something goes wrong in my life, I say to myself: "Chin up, girl! Tomorrow is a new day! And things will get better." Sometimes, they don't, but by expecting the worst, you deprive yourself of positive energy which can help you make things better. After all, we are the architects of our own future.And let us not forget that after every sunset, after the darkest of nights, there's always the promise of the dawn and the greeting of the rising sun.