Tuesday, February 1, 2011


NARA'S NOTEPAD

VOLUME 7
FEBRUARY 2011
NUMBER 2

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The January to March 2011 issues of NARA’S NOTEPAD are sponsored by
someone who does notwish to reveal his identity.
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I thank him for his good heart to lend a hand to continue NARA’S NOTEPAD successfully.

MEMO FROM NARA




Awards are presented to those who have achievements in various fields. There are people who achieve only to get awards and there are others who do not care about awards but they perform to achieve their goals. For example, sports – persons, actors, singers, business men and women, politicians – are the people who expect some kind of awards in their life. Some of the awards are specific to a particular achievement. Some others are shared as in Nobel Prize. There are awards for life-time achievements which are rather more general and non-specific. Generally once an award is given to a particular person, he continues getting many other awards for his same achievements. Selection of a person or organization for an award is usually done by a team of judges who are experts in a particular field. The consensus of these teams decides the award for certain deserving persons or organizations. There are many parameters used to decide the award. For most of the awards, people have to apply by sending their bio-data and the details of their achievements. Screening is done based on that and short listed and finally the selection is made. Those who are unfortunate and not selected for the award are naturally disappointed. However, awards are announced annually at national and international levels. There are local regional awards too to encourage people to perform. One of the international awards annually awarded to deserving people is the American Biographical Institute established in 1967. It is based at Raleigh, North Carolina, USA. I do not know much about the credibility of this Institute, however they award me every year for my correspondence with them about my present day activities. I received a letter recently from J. M. Evans, the President of this Institute. It says ”You Dr. Narayanan, have been selected by the American Biographical Institute to be a recipient of its Albert Einstein Award of Excellence for 2010. You have demonstrated effectiveness and distinction in your field and are deserving of this honor.” A copy of the letter is in my blog: www.narapcard.blogspot.com and in Facebook. You may have a look at it. Since I am happy, I share it with you and your friends.

THEY SAID...





The past cannot be changed; the future is still in your power.      

Hugh White


Think of what you have rather than of what you lack. Of the things you have, select the best and then reflect how eagerly you would have sought them if you did not have them.
- Marcus Aurelius
Success often comes to those who dare and act; it seldom goes to the timid who are ever afraid of consequences.
– Jawaharlal Nehru


JUST TO LAUGH...






In a plane bound for New York, the flight attendant approached a blonde sitting in the first-class section and requested that she move to economy since she did not have a first-class ticket. The blonde replied, "I'm blonde, I'm beautiful, I'm going to New York, and I'm not moving." Not wanting to argue with a customer, the flight attendant asked the co-pilot to speak with her. He went to talk with the woman, asking her to please move out of the first-class section. Again, the blonde replied, "I'm blonde, I'm beautiful, I'm going to New York, and I'm not moving."
The co-pilot returned to the cockpit and asked the captain what he should do. The captain said, "I'm married to a blonde, and I know how to handle this." He went to the first-class section and whispered in the blonde's ear. She immediately jumped up and ran to the economy section mumbling to herself, "Why didn't anyone just say so?" Surprised, the flight attendant and the co-pilot asked what he said to her that finally persuaded her to move from her seat. He said, "I told her the first-class section wasn't going to New York."





COMPARTMENTALIZATION OF PROBLEMS




I’ve got problems. You’ve got problems. Everybody has got problems. The difference between the winners and losers is how they handle those problems. The losers tend to be consumed by their problems. They think about their financial shortages, their rocky marriage, their friend’s illness, their ballistic boss, and all their other problems… almost constantly. And they often use those problems as an excuse of their lack of motivation or performance. Not the winners, however. They suck it up. For example, if you were flying to Rome on a Boeing 767, you would expect the pilot to suck it up and do the job he was trained to do…even if he was going through a rough patch in life. You wouldn’t want him to be consumed in worry…forgetting about his flying responsibilities. Oh sure, he can go back and think about his problems and work on his problems later…but not when he’s on the job. It’s what self-directed, self-motivated winners do. They compartmentalize. Self-motivated winners also know how to tuck their problems away away…temporarily. They put them on hold until they can deal with them efficiently and effectively…rather than have their problems color every part of every waking moment. They know they can hang their problems on an imaginary “Trouble Tree’ and come back to them at a more convenient time.

The difficulties in life are put on our path – not to OBSTRUCT – but to INSTRUCT.
Dr. Alan Zimmerman



CIRCADIAN RHYTHM



Our bodies are hormonally designed to stay in sync with the cycles of nature. When the sun goes down and the sky turns dark, we have to go to bed and sleep! When the sun comes up and the sky turns light, we are to get up! This natural rhythm of the body linked to nature is called the “circadian rhythm.”


Very few people, of course, go to bed when it becomes dark or get up when the sky turns light. We have tricked our bodies with light at night and draperies over windows during the day.
Biologically speaking, here is what happens. Melatonin is a hormone produced by the pineal gland that produces feelings of relaxation or ‘mellowness,’ even to the point of being drowsy and sleepy.


The amount of light that reaches the eyes determines the amount of melatonin produced by the pineal gland. The greater the light, the less production is of melatonin. This is why some people feel far more alert and energetic on sunny days and more lethargic on cloudy days – the less light, the greater the ‘mellowing out’ amount of melatonin released into their bodies. In the evening, the pineal gland gradually starts secreting more and more melatonin. Melatonin is secreted throughout the night but when light begins to hit the eyes in the morning, the melatonin production decreases dramatically and a person awakens.

GREAT SELF CONFIDENCE BOOSTER




1. Pump Up Your Self Esteem

Be honest and brave enough to take a look at yourself; find out who you are and where you presently are in life. Learn to have self discipline and silence your inner critic. Stop listening to that little voice of doubt that says you're not good enough or that other people are better than you. Tune in to thoughts that cheer you on and tell you exactly what you're good at. If you feel like focusing on your negative aspects, exercise self control and don't let yourself be overcome with despair.

2. Overcome Shyness:

Shyness prevents you from letting people see the real you, because you're afraid to say or do the wrong thing or to appear awkward. The problem is, by being shy and hanging back from the rest of the crowd, you're already projecting yourself as awkward. Take a look again at the first tip and give yourself a dose of self esteem by reminding yourself of your good traits.

3. Get Out There and Just Do It

Many of us don't think we are capable of doing the things we want because we're not sure about ourselves. Again, there's the dreaded voice of doubt. What you want is to be fearless enough so you'll be able to tackle all the things you've ever dreamed of doing.

4. Dress for Success

Instead of putting on clothes that only make you feel drab and dull, choose the very things that make you stand out and feel special. It all starts in how you feel; and if you feel good about yourself, you will really act more confidently (and intelligently) throughout the day. There are more ways on how to have great self confidence, but these are just some easy tactics for you to try. Building it may be a challenge for some, but just trust yourself and don't let doubt gnaw at you.

- Michael Lee

HISTORY OF LIFE ON EARTH




The history of life on Earth began about 3.8 billion years ago, during the Achaean era, initially with single-celled prokaryotic cells, such as bacteria. Multi-cellular life evolved over a billion years later and it's only in the last 570 million years that the kind of life forms we are familiar with began to evolve, starting with arthropods, followed by fish 530 million years ago (Ma), land plants 475Ma and forests 385Ma. Mammals didn't evolve until 200Ma and our own species, Homo sapiens, only 200,000 years ago. So humans have been around for a mere 0.004% of the Earth's history.

FUNNY LINES...





 I asked God for a bike, but I know God doesn’t work that way. So I stole a bike and asked for forgiveness.

 Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

 Dolphins are so smart that within a few weeks of captivity, they can train people to stand on the edge of the pool and throw them fish.

 To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target.
 
DANCE


Do what is right in stead of what is popular!

Meet you next month – MARCH 2011



Prof. A. Narayanan, Ph. D., FISPP

E-mail: arumugakannu@gmail.com

www.nara.tumblr.com (NARA’S DIGEST)

www.nara2007.blogspot.com (NARA’S NOTEPAD)

www.narapcard.blogspot.com (NARA’S POSTCARD)