Self Improvement | Why Take a Risk? | The Self Improvement Blog

By Lynette Crane -

Some people take risks more readily than other people. And risks can be a little scary, whether they involve making a major career change and/or cross-country move, asking for a promotion or a raise, declaring your affection to someone else when you?re not sure how that person feels, or when it necessitates speaking up to someone whose behavior has been making you unhappy. Risks come in all sizes and shapes.

The first thing to remember is that it is impossible to avoid risks ? life is full of them.

First of all, there are Imposed risks: things that happen to us that we can?t avoid ? floods and tornadoes come to mind ? with the possibility of leaving you feeling helpless and victimized, as do financial disasters, broken relationships, and any situation you can?t control.

That sense of a loss of control is what makes stress so stressful ? in fact it is the key factor in determining whether we view an event as stress or as a challenge.

Then there are Chosen risks: Actions you deliberately take to get something you want or to get away from something you don?t want. With a chosen risk, there is always the possibility of embarrassment, failure and loss.

Why would anyone choose to take a risk when it may be accompanied by lots of anxiety?

It can result in a rich reward and ? think of this, you will never know whether you could have gotten what you wanted if you never try. Even if the outcome isn?t exactly what you want, the long term consequence of that risk-taking act can be positive because you become more resilient and able to deal with imposed risks more easily.

Do you feel safer when you don?t take a risk? Research indicates that, at the end of their lives, people don?t worry about what they have done. They worry about what they have not done. As John Greenleaf Whittier said, ?For all sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest are these, ?It might have been.?

Here?s a little exercise to get you started:

Think of a risk you would like to take. What is the worst thing that could happen?

This is called the ?worst case scenario.? Why would you want to think of that?

Because it is the bogeyman that is keeping you from even thinking deeply about taking the risk. Facing it is necessary if you want to move forward.

On a scale of 0 to 100, what is the probability the worst will happen? Take a minute to think about this. You may find, to your surprise, that the probability isn?t really all that high, but you have been acting as if it is 100%.

If the probability is less than 50% that it will turn out badly, you are in a good position to go ahead. It is probably a lot less than 50%.

Finally, can you handle the feelings, or are you undermining yourself by saying, ?it will be soawful if this doesn?t work out?? Will it really, or are you being dramatic?

Risk-taking doesn?t have to be scary or dramatic; it?s a skill, and it can be learned and practiced, just like any other skill you might want to acquire in order to enrich your life.

Next week, we will look at how to set up a risk so it is not so risky at all.

Lynette Crane, M.A.(Psychology) and Certified Life Coach, is a Minneapolis-based speaker, writer, and coach. She has more than 30 years? experience in the field of stress management. She currently works to provide stress and time pressure solutions to harried women, those women who seek ?Islands of Peace? in their overly-busy lives. Her talks to groups of what she calls ?harried women? are receiving rave reviews. Visit her website at http://www.creativelifechanges.com/ to see more in-depth articles and to view her programs.

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Source: http://theselfimprovementblog.com/self-improvement/featured/why-take-a-risk/

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Diabetes in Cats and Dogs: What Pet Parents Need to Know ...

In last week?s post, we discussed a problem that?s sadly becoming more and more prevalent in the majority of pets: overweight and obese dogs and cats. This week, we?re going to follow up with a discussion about one of the possible complications of pudgy pets: diabetes. This condition is affecting more and more of America?s pets but can be managed with the proper knowledge and care. Keep reading to find out what you need to know to help treat and possibly avoid this condition in your furry friend.

Diabetes in Dogs
Diabetes mellitus, or ?sugar diabetes? is a condition in which the concentration of glucose (a sugar) in your dog?s body is abnormal. It is a result of a failure to properly process or produce insulin. If you know anything about diabetes in humans, what we just described might sound familiar. This is because diabetes in pets is surprisingly similar both in causes and treatment to diabetes in humans. Diabetes in dogs is quite common and becoming increasingly prevalent. On average, 1 in 100 dogs in the U.S. has the disease but concentrations in specific areas can be as high as 1 in 50!

Diabetes in dogs can be caused by both genetic and environmental factors. Genetically, certain breeds of dogs are more susceptible to developing the condition than others. Breeds at a higher risk include:

• Cocker Spaniels
• Dachshunds
• Doberman Pinschers
• German Shepherds
• Golden Retrievers
• Labrador Retrievers
• Pomeranians
• Toy Poodles
• Terriers

Since every pup is different, yours might have a genetic predisposition to developing the disease even if his breed didn?t make the list. But there?s a factor much more likely than genetics that can cause diabetes: your pet?s weight. Overweight or obese pets are at a much higher risk for developing diabetes, which is a big reason why you should strive to help your dog maintain a healthy weight. Increasing age also plays a role in whether or not dogs are at a higher risk for developing diabetes, with the average age for diagnosis between 4 and 14 years.

Poor management of glucose levels in your dog?s body will cause symptoms that you can identify if you?re well-acquainted with your dog?s normal habits. Check for such signs as:

• Drinking more water than usual
• Urinating more than usual
• Acting Hungry. This may or may not be accompanied by weight loss or an inability to gain weight
• Cloudy Eyes

Diabetes in Cats
Diabetes mellitus in cats is similar to the condition described in dogs above: it?s a condition that affects her body?s ability to regulate glucose levels. One key difference, though, is that all breeds of cats are equally at risk for developing the disease. Likewise, cats of all ages are of equal risk as far as research has been able to determine. Diabetes affects more than 1 in 100 cats in the US currently, and just like in dogs that number is on the rise.

Diabetes affects more cats than dogs partially due to the increased difficulty that pet parent?s have in exercising them. Many cats with indoor lifestyles can become overweight and then will want to play less. It?s a difficult cycle to break and prolonged heaviness and inactivity are big warning signs in kitty?s case.

Cats will often exhibit the same signs and symptoms of diabetes as dogs with a couple additions:

• Lethargy (your cat seems to lack energy)
• Dull and/or thinning fur. A cat?s coat is often a sentinel of internal physical problems.

Diagnosing and Treating Diabetes in Pets
If you or your veterinarian suspect that your pet has diabetes, rather simple tests can be done to diagnose the disease. A diagnosis of the condition is considered definite when both a urine and blood test confirm persistently high levels of glucose. Usually, your pet?s doctor will start with a urine test and proceed with additional testing to determine consistency in elevated glucose levels.

The good news is, diabetes is a treatable condition in pets and can be well-managed and even put in remission with proper care and a bit of good fortune (as far as your pet?s natural abilities to combat the disease). Here are the main treatment methods:

• Diet: your vet will work with you to determine the proper type and amount of food that you should feed your furry friend in order to maintain the most stable glucose levels. You?ll need to feed your pet on a schedule and stick to the recommended amounts.
• Exercise: As dogs and cats with diabetes are often inactive and overweight, proper exercise will be necessary to help return their body to a healthy state. Remember to start slow and work within your pet?s ability level.
• Insulin: You will need to administer insulin to your pet on a daily basis to help him or her break down the excess glucose that is being produced as a result of the condition. The schedule and amount of insulin to give your pet will vary animal to animal, so your vet will help you determine what is right. You?ll also want to carefully monitor your pet?s blood glucose levels to insure that they?re staying within the proper range. This can help prevent any spikes or dips that could cause complications.
• Routine Check-ups: Treatments, including diet and insulin amounts and schedules, may vary in your pet after diagnosis. Seeing your vet on a consistent basis will be crucial to staying a step ahead of the disease and keeping it at bay.

You may have realized by now that the best scenario when it comes to diabetes in pets is to do what you can to avoid it entirely. Fortunately, this is possible in the case of many animals. Having a fit and healthy pet will save you a lot of heartache and money. In some cases where genetics are concerned, diabetes may become a challenge that you will have to face with your pet. You and your furry friend will be in good hands with our expert staff at Boulder?s Natural Animal Hospital in the event that diabetes becomes a concern.

Posted in Cat Care, Dog Care, Feeding Your Pet Tagged Boulder's Natural Animal Hospital, cat, diabetes in cats, diabetes in dogs, diabetes in pets, dog, furry friend, managing diabetes, overweight cat, overweight dog, overweight pets, pet, pet diabetes, pet insulin

Source: http://blog.bouldersnaturalanimal.com/2012/diabetes-in-cats-and-dogs-what-pet-parents-need-to-know

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Spain's Bankia to receive immediate aid

MADRID (AP) ? The Spanish government will immediately inject financial aid into Bankia after the troubled lender announced losses of ?4.4 billion ($5.6 billion) in the first half of the year, authorities said Friday.

The money will come from the fund for the orderly restructuring of banks, or FROB, a bank rescue fund set up to help Spain's deeply troubled financial sector. The fund said in a statement late Friday that it planned to transfer capital into Bankia SA and its parent group Banco Financiero y de Ahorros SA with immediate effect after "the accounts declared significant losses."

The fund did not specify how much it would inject into Bankia. But it said the money was an advance loan prior to Spain receiving a package of up to ?100 billion ($126.1 billion) from other eurozone countries so that it can bail out all of its troubled banks.

Bankia was nationalized in May and has called for ?24 billion ($30.3 billion) in public aid.

At its Friday cabinet meeting, Spain's government approved a new package of measures to create a "bad bank" to handle the country's toxic property investments and give the central bank more powers to shut down troubled lenders.

The reform is the fifth such package Spain has introduced since its financial difficulties began in 2008.

Economy Minister Luis de Guindos said the new "bad bank" would be up and running by the end of November and will be controlled by the central bank but would also involve the private sector.

He said the measure was chiefly aimed at unburdening banks of their bad investments so they can concentrate on managing people's savings and investments and get credit flowing again into the ailing economy. The bad bank would be able to bring some of the real estate assets ? such as land which had been destined for construction and unsold houses ? back onto the market.

The reform comes as Spain battles to convince investors it can handle its finances and avoid following Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Cyprus in requesting a government bailout

Spain's banks have an estimated ?184 billion ($232 billion) in problematic real estate loans and investments following the collapse of the country's property market in 2008. Concerns about the sector pushed Spain in June to accept a ?100 billion loan from the other 16 eurozone countries to spend on rescuing banks.

De Guindos gave no indication as to how much or what type of toxic assets the new bank would take on or at what discount they would be bought from the troubled banks. The creation of the bad bank was among conditions of the eurozone's loan package.

The minister did say the new institution would have between 10 and 15 years to sell off those assets and the Bank of Spain would decide the value of the toxic assets.

"We're laying the basis to avoid a repetition of such a crisis in the future," the minister said at a news conference after a Cabinet meeting.

De Guindos said that given that the new entity would only be dealing with those banks that have been bailed out, it would be managing a figure considerably smaller than ?184 billion, though he declined to say how much it would amount to. So far, eight banks have been taken over.

Analysts were not immediately impressed and said the reforms were short on detail.

"The reform is a step in the right direction but there is still a lot to do," said Carles Vergara, Professor of Financial Management at Barcelona's IESE Business School.

The markets responded with mixed results as the IBEX-35 rose 3.13 percent but Spain's benchmark 10-year bond rate also went up 0.28 to 6.83 percent at close of trading Friday.

Spain's "bad bank" will be the eurozone's second ? the first was set up by Ireland in 2009.

However, Irelands's National Asset Management Agency or NAMA, has not been the success it was billed to be as soaring bank-rescue costs ruined the country's creditworthiness and forced it to negotiate an EU-IMF loan rescue in November 2010.

NAMA paid its banks just ?30 billion ($38 billion) in government-backed bonds for assets originally valued at ?74 billion, forcing the banks to record ?44 billion in loan write-offs ? which led to more rescues.

By 2011, NAMA reported a profit of ?247 million as it cashed in some of the best of the property it seized from the U.K. and the U.S. But the state-owned agency plans to hold most Irish properties and development sites for up to a decade in hopes that the market will rebound first. It originally envisaged a ?1 billion profit over its expected decade-long lifetime, but now says a break-even is more likely. Analysts expect losses.

De Guindos said Spain's new institution would be financed mostly by private investment with additional money from Spain's bank restructuring fund. He said only a small amount would come from the eurozone aid package.

De Guindos also announced the Bank of Spain would be given greater powers to intervene in earlier ? and close down if necessary ? banks with financial problems. The central bank would be able to intervene in banks that meet solvency requirements but are uncertain of fulfilling them in the future.

He said that in line with European banking rules, the government was raising the core capital requirements ? the level of high-quality assets a lender has to hold to protect it from economic shocks ? to 9 percent for all banks.

Results of a comprehensive audit of all Spanish banks are expected next month.

The reforms come as Spain got yet another dose of bad news Friday as the Bank of Spain reported a net capital outflow of ?56.6 billion in June, topping an exit of ?41.3 billion in May.

It said the outflow for the first six months of 2012 was nearly ?220 billion, compared with an intake of ?22 billion for the same period last year.

____

Jorge Sainz in Madrid, Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal and Shawn Pogatchnik in Dublin, Ireland contributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/spains-bankia-receive-immediate-aid-175407429--finance.html

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US drone strike kills 5 militants in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD (AP) ? Pakistani intelligence officials say a U.S. drone strike has killed five militants in northwest Pakistan.

Two intelligence officials said at least seven missiles were fired from U.S. drones Saturday at a vehicle and a house in the village of Degan in the Pakistani tribal region of North Waziristan near the Afghan border.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to the media.

They said the area is dominated by anti-American militant commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur. They did not know whether the killed men belong to his group.

The CIA-run drone program is controversial in Pakistan where many call it an infringement on the nation's sovereignty. The U.S. maintains it is necessary tool to combat militants.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-drone-strike-kills-5-militants-pakistan-053921820.html

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Fall of Maldives president not a 'coup': panel

A Commonwealth-backed investigation in the Maldives on Thursday dismissed claims that a coup forced Mohamed Nasheed from the presidency in February and declared it was a legitimate transfer of power.

The panel's report concluded that Nasheed, who alleged he was ousted in a coup, had resigned voluntarily -- a judgment promptly rejected by his party which staged another street protest and clashed with police.

The Commission of National Inquiry (CoNI), consisting of four nationals named by political parties and a Singaporean judge nominated by the Commonwealth, found the change of president was "legal and constitutional".

"The resignation of President Nasheed was voluntary and of his own free will," it said in a 62-page report which was also signed by a Canadian and New Zealander who functioned as observers for the UN and the Commonwealth.

Nasheed's departure "was not caused by any illegal coercion or intimidation," the report said.

Nasheed has previously told his supporters that it would be legitimate to challenge the current government through "street action" if the report rejected his claims that he was overthrown in a military and police coup.

Nasheed's Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) activists took to the streets Thursday night in a repeat of protests that have gripped the capital Male for the past six months.

Police Superintendent Abdulla Nawaz said they arrested at least 23 activists. "They have assaulted one of our officers and damaged the windows of a police vehicle," Nawaz said when contacted by telephone.

MDP activists said about 50 of their supporters had been arrested within a two-hour period and accused police of clamping down on their nightly street demonstration.

"We will keep up our campaign to press for early elections," MDP spokesman Hamid Abdul Ghafoor told AFP by telephone. He rejected the CoNI report as a "total outrage".

However, both the Commonwealth and the United States welcomed the report.

"We urge all parties to respect those findings, to exercise restraint, obey the rule of law, and continue to express themselves in a peaceful and non-violent manner," the US state department said in a statement.

Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma said that "the task ahead for all Maldivians must be to strengthen democracy".

"An atmosphere of peace and public order is essential for that to happen," he said.

Nasheed's nominee on the CoNI panel resigned late on Wednesday saying that it had ignored vital evidence, including photographs and videos.

The Maldives -- a string of islands set in the Indian Ocean -- relies on luxury resorts that attract wealthy tourists from around the world to its palm-fringed beaches, pristine seas and renowned diving.

This year's upheavals have not directly affected the resorts but have damaged the nation's image as a tropical paradise.

The CoNI report also noted acts of "police brutality" over the three days in February when Nasheed left office, and it called for further inquiries.

President Mohamed Waheed, who took over from Nasheed and was formerly his deputy, had earlier announced he would back its verdict.

One of his ministers, Mohamed Hussain Shareef, said Thursday that the government respected the panel's work and added that police would ensure that no civil unrest erupted at any demonstration by opposition activists.

Shareef said several unnamed countries had cut off aid to the Maldives and shunned high-level contacts over Nasheed's coup claims.

"The CoNI process is the catalyst for further engagement with the international community," Shareef, who is visiting Sri Lanka, told reporters.

President Waheed has rejected international calls for early elections, saying it was not practical to hold a vote before July 2013 in the Islamic state of 330,000 Sunni Muslims.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fall-maldives-president-not-coup-panel-091853399.html

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