Category Archives: Activity

5 Reasons Why Journaling Improves Your Mental Health

Journaling is a powerful tool for improving mental health. Journaling can help you manage your thoughts, feelings, and emotions. It also allows you to process things that happened in the past and set goals for the future. Journaling offers many benefits beyond what we often associate with journaling, like stress reduction or increased focus.

Enhances creativity

Journaling for wellbeing is a great way to express your thoughts, feelings, and emotions as they happen. It’s a simple practice that helps you gain new insights into yourself and the world around you. It makes it easier for us to notice things we might not have noticed otherwise or forget about important events in our lives.

Enhances self-awareness

Journaling allows you to be more intentional with how you’re spending your time by making space for reflection on what happened yesterday (or last week). Journaling can help us take stock of where we are in life right now, which is crucial if we want to make progress toward meaningful goals like pursuing education opportunities or changing careers. By writing down our memories rather than just about them, journaling enhances our memory of past experiences and makes it easier to recall them.

Builds self-awareness.

Self-awareness is the ability to know what you need, want, and feel. Journaling helps us get in touch with our emotions by giving us a chance to write about them at length rather than just thinking or saying how we feel. When journaling is done consistently over time, it can help people identify behavior patterns that might be harmful (to others or themselves).

Helps find clarity

By reading back through your journal entries from years past, you’ll begin to notice recurring themes that may have been going on for a long time without your realizing it. And when awareness sets in, progress becomes possible because now there’s a clear reason why things aren’t working out as well as they are if certain positive changes were to be made.

Helps people to feel more in control

Often journaling is recommended for helping you feel more in control of your life again, especially if there are any issues that may have long-term effects on your mental health or wellbeing. This can help with feelings of anxiety and depression, too, because you’ll start gaining the ability to see how specific thoughts/patterns affect your emotions over time. So when journaling becomes part of daily practice, it’s easier than ever to spot what triggers these negative moods, so they don’t come online as often (or at all).

To conclude, journaling for wellbeing is one of the best ways to explore your thoughts and feelings. It can help you understand what triggers certain moods/emotions, so they don’t come online as often (or at all).

A Comprehensive Gear List For Scuba Diving In Palawan

So you have chosen Palawan to be your next diving destination. But you are not sure what to pack for an amazing experience. Check out this packing list for scuba diving Palawan.

Essential Dive Gear

Make plans in advance regarding what gear you want to bring to a dive site. Make sure your itinerary specialist is aware of this so they can deduct from the overall cost of the package. You must thoroughly check the dive equipment and have it serviced. The most fundamental gear is as follows:

• Fins, dive mask, and breathing tube/snorkel
• Dive computer
• Mask defog
• Safety sausage
• Gear bag
• Underwater slate and pencil
• Pony bottle
• Dry bag
• Dive socks and boots
• Cutting tool
• Wetsuit
• Backup light
• Dive console, octopus, and regulator
• Rash guard
• Weight belt

Clothing

Because space could be limited when you get onboard, you need a soft backpack to carry clothes. You don’t want to deal with the weight of the suitcase wheels. The climate in Palawan is usually warm and humid. Start packing basic items like light clothing and make sure they are breathable. They should cover you up and keep off mosquitoes. Linen tees and cotton tank tops go a long way. Get some sleeveless shirts in light colors that repel insects. Summer skirts, dresses, and shorts are recommended. Find a good windbreaker, a raincoat, or poncho for protection during light showers. As for the pants, they should be loose and do not forget pajamas and underwear. Swimsuits and trunks are perfect when relaxing on the beach. Remember to pack flip flops or breathable slip-ons. Because you will be walking around, you might need to carry comfortable sneakers or sandals. Lastly, have a quick-dry towel, sunglasses, and a stylish hat.

Health Items

Of course, you will be vaccinated for various diseases before taking a flight. You still need to keep your health a top priority while diving. So you will need:

• Eyedrops
• Hand sanitizer
• Antibacterial wipes
• Motion sickness pills
• Bug spray
• Sunscreen
• Thermometer
• Pain relievers
• Antimicrobial ointment
• Allergy drugs
• First aid kit with gauze, moleskin, bandages, etc.
• Throat lozenges

Personal Hygiene Basics

Your toiletry bag should be as light as possible. The pastes, gels, creams, and gels inside your carry-on bag must not exceed 100ml. Put them in transparent plastic bags. Pack the following:

• Toilet paper, tissue packets and facial tissues
• Face cream
• Comb and hairbrush
• Skin conditioner and moisturizer
• Deodorant and Cologne
• Pocket mirror
• Shampoo
• Toothbrush and toothpaste
• Hair pins and ties
• Antibacterial soap

Planning the perfect diving vacation should not be a stressful adventure. Make the most of the trip with the above list and consult a local itinerary expert. It goes without saying that you need a passport or visa when travelling to the Philippines. Make sure the passport is valid beyond the planned vacation period.

Scuba diving Palawan requires you to pack the essentials beforehand. While the many sites may have all you need to dive, from gourmet meals to dive equipment, you must show your readiness for a staggering encounter. It goes a long way to travel with the right diving gear and travel essentials for a psyched-up game plan.

Benefits Of Pregnancy Diary Journal

The pregnancy period is one of the difficult periods in a woman’s life, the mood swings, and the kicking can be stressful. Keeping such memory or even recording them in a pregnancy diary journal means a lot to you as a mother and the unborn baby. When it comes to uncovering the actual benefits of pregnancy journals, it is wise if we try to understand the main reason why you need it in the first place. Here are some of the benefits that you get as a mother when you choose to keep and record day-to-day events during pregnancy.

Top Benefits of Pregnancy Diary

Promotes a Strong Bond

Life is all about memories, and memories involving the mother and the baby help create a strong bond between the two. If you choose to write every move and turning of your unborn baby, the chances are that you will develop a strong relationship with him or her. Research shows that mothers who recorded or have that ability to remember every moment of their pregnancy period tend to love and relate well with their kids. So, having these writings about the day feeling and the baby turning over can improve your parental bond, and it is even proved.

Reduce Stress

One of the stressful moments in a woman’s life is during the nine months of pregnancy diary journal . Some even are taken away with the new body size and shape; others start to worry about their general appearance. All of the events above lead to a series of brain stress, and if not addressed well, they can cause a severe problem. You need to accept the status, and the only way out is by taking down the experience daily. Reading writing has been the number one stress reliever and keeping journals one of the reading and writing. We can consider it as a brain and stress reliever.

Help you to Stay Ahead of Pregnancy.

The whole pregnancy thing is all about a series of events, and trucking them down makes you prepare for the next event well. For instance, if the baby is expected to kick after four months and you are in the last three months, then preparing can be essential. If you can adjust and approximate your next feeling, you are ahead of everything, which is quite good and healthy. The point is understanding your situation and preparing to adhere to well; a good book should help you go through its line smoothly.

Kids Indoor Activities

Kids Indoor Activities because of the situation, we find ourselves in, in today’s world, having a bored child as well as an adult at home 24/7 can be very hectic and sometimes the cabin fever can lead to families not only cracking at the seams but breaking apart and the child education and or activities or lack of it can cause even more animosity and struggles beyond any parent’s solution or save or create solutions

  • THE TRUST AND FAMILY SIDE OF THINGS: Games and or
    Kids Indoor Activities that include the whole family whether for just one hour, a few hours or even just a half an hour, can grow from there (and if you can include the whole family and that includes the elusive and morbid teenager if you can disconnect them of the “cyber world”, which is advised) can be great fun, for the whole family and re-build a bond that was under strain and could be under immense pressure depending on your time together indoors and level of cabin fever.

Here games of trust and communication are great starting points like :

  • Cluedo
  • Pictionary
  • Charades

All these can build trust amongst siblings if you put them together against parents and parents deliberately lose.

  • THE GOOD OLD JUST HAVING FUN: Nothing can beat that tried and trusted good old feeling have just having fun:

Like waking your kids with a pillow fight or putting them to bed with one. pillow fight end it off with them staying in bed and joining them for breakfast in bed watching their favorite morning cartoons and asking questions that are especially funny and especially if you do know the answer but in a funny way, making yourself look silly

If the kid knows you are doing this, it makes them feel even more appreciative and makes it even more fun, and if they don’t they will use terms like a dork and so silly which also puts smiles on face and that’s a start of an improvement

If it is a night pillow fight then…

  • THE PARENT LEARNING FROM THE KID SIDE OF THINGS:

After pillow fights, show some interest in their games, especially video, PC, Xbox, or PlayStation and try and join them.

Don’t forget to ask as many questions as possible making them feel important and most likely here you down have to “dumb-down” as you will not be as good as them.

So some good ideas to keep you and family together or divide and conquer and you might just make it through these hard times.

Fiding A Great Scuba Diving Site

Being able to go underwater and stay under there for 30 minutes or more is a dream that seems unaffordable to many people. This does not have to be the case, as many services will rent scuba equipment as apart of a larger tourist package. Imagine riding a boat or touring company that will take you out to excellent scuba diving sites and then let you spend half an hour looking at the reefs and the fishes.

The service overall includes the tour guide, room on a boat, and the use of scuba diving sites. Customers can bring their own air tank and fins and wet suit, but it might be cheaper just to rent. Since this equipment is not exactly cheap, there are plenty of businesses that rent diving equipment and even have a fitting room like when trying on pants or a dress.

A wet suit does need to fit snugly. It has some elastic potential, but a good fit will be within a given range. It needs to be a good fit because this prevents seawater form getting trapped and becoming an impediment to motion. In cool water, a diving outfit is important for insulation. More advanced equipment becomes increasingly expensive, with $300 not being uncommon just for the wetsuit. Ask the diving service about renting equipment.

The diving site itself might be close to shore or else it might be a bar farther out at sea. It takes a ship to get there, and the ship is ideally large enough to have deck space to easily put on and off personal equipment. Transportation aboard a sizeable vessel with useful amenities is also an important part of the service. The ticket might cost a hundred dollars or more, but the service is well worth it.

In addition to transportation, the captain and a skilled guide might also be paid. The guide might dive with the customers and watch them like a lifeguard. The guide can also point out very interesting objects and features. The captain is an expert on the operation of a ship and its equipment and. is essential in diver safety.

Getting out there means talking to a tour guide, and this is where all the options are laid out on the table. Choose between diving to the seafloor or visiting a pubic reef or visiting a sunken feature set in place by a commercial company just for divers. There are many possibilities, and booking is just the first step in a unique and delightful journey

Ensuring Ethical Volunteering Overseas

Volunteering can be a great way to see another country and help those in it as opposed to just visiting the most illustrious places for personal pleasure. Since so many people want to volunteer in foreign countries, it pays to understand what traps might be set up in order to scam volunteers out of their time and money. Volunteering can be worthwhile, but check organizations to make sure that your ethical volunteering overseas is not wasted.

It is actually possible to volunteer and to make the wrong choice. The community in question might not need actual help, but the organization that arranges such meetings is actually a for-profit company. They might control the condition of children or communities in order to keep them in a perpetual state of needing assistance. What would seem horrendous to a Westerner might seem legitimate in a society where good-paying opportunities are rare and scamming foreigners is common.

One very important consideration is to research all the organizations involved. Established charitable organizations with a long history of legitimate work are a great starting point, although occasionally honest old charities fall under the management of someone who is more profit-minded. It pays to look at both the history and the current condition of a charity.

Sometimes affiliated businesses or organizations might be running a scam. One example might be a school that keeps its kids constantly deprived because local business people earn a great deal of money providing housing and food to tourists willing to spend their own money in order to help. Some organizations pay their volunteers a salary, although a lot of volunteers pay out of their own pockets or receive a third party sponsor. In any case, a source of money is quickly tapped and controlled by those who have the power.

Reconsider new organizations or those under obscure local leadership. It is best to work with organizations that have a base in a Western country. Ethical volunteering overseas can vary dramatically by country, and organizations based in developing countries might be comfortable with corruption or with lying about expenses and living conditions. A lot of cultures consider exploiting Westerners to be fair game.

If a good volunteering opportunity does arise, then check to see if there is a local volunteer or expat community. Prior residents can give a wealth of feedback about what is actually going on. Vacation or volunteer colonies of Westerners exists all over the world. These places might be safer and more pleasant than other areas in the country, and the people who have been there can give a great deal of information about the actual costs.

Corporate Retreat Activities To Do In Brisbane During Christmas

Working during Christmas can feel lonely and tough considering that most of your family and friends have already taken their Christmas break. But in the spirit of bringing the Christmas mood into the office, you can quickly turn a dull situation around. Here are some original and fun corporate retreat activities to do in Brisbane during Christmas.

Social work

Straying away from the norm of activities that involve the office employees alone, how about helping other people out by doing some social work? The main goal of a corporate retreat is to have staff members get together and bond. Social work allows you to give back. After a long day at work, take a day off and visit the children’s hospital or the homeless shelter. Carry some food, toys and clothes and blankets that they would need during the cold season. You could also plan to clean up your town in collaboration with the council. Such corporate retreat Brisbane activities show that you care about your community and present you to the same people in good light.

Play Secret Santa

You may have missed your chance to buy a Christmas present or have someone buy you one. But by playing secret Santa, you now get a chance to do so. Secret Santa is a game where everyone writes their name on a small piece of paper, folds it and throws it inside a bowl. The little pieces of paper are mixed together and everyone takes turns to pick a piece of paper. The person whose name is written on the paper you picked is the one you are supposed to buy a gift. It’s a fun game that forces you to learn more about each other and also brings you closer.

Bring your kids to work day

You probably don’t know much about your colleagues’ personal lives despite having worked with them for years. Bring your kids to work day presents you with bonding time not just between you and your colleagues but also for you and your kids. You can plan for child-friendly treats for the kids to snack on or prepare some simple presentations of what your job is at the company. This enables you all together with your kids a chance to have fun and learn something new about what mommy or daddy does at work.

With a little creativity on your part, you can successfully bring some Christmas joy to the work environment. In the long run, corporate retreat Brisbane activities listed above will help you learn and know your workmates better leaving you to work more cohesively and productively in the office.

4 Components That Make A Successful Community Action Program

Perhaps you already know that a community action program is a partnership between government agencies, local government, and members of a specific community geared to bring in some changes and developments to the community. The unique thing about the approach is that all decision making must include the residents and serves to implement activities decided by the community. Nevertheless, the success of the program is not guaranteed unless there is close cooperation among the involved parties. Let’s take a look at essential things that make a successful community action initiative.

Project Plan

It’s necessary to develop a plan before investing in resources in the implementation of physical developments. The plan serves as the road map for the initiative. Additionally, it describes the goals of the community, the specific activities, and the resources needed, including labor, materials, and money. The population should be actively involved in the preparation of the plan.

Partnership

As said earlier, the approach involves different people with different responsibilities. However, there is a need for the cooperation of the people involved in the project for the achievement of the goals. This will include the integration of people in the initiative and their full participation in the outlined works. It’s, therefore, important for the parties to develop trust and positive relations to keep the project going.

Budget

Whether your community is looking to install new sanitation facilities or build houses, you will need financial resources to accomplish the goals. Conventionally, the national and local governments fund community initiatives but donors may also be involved. Donors can be domestic or international, and it’s has been a common thing for international donor organizations and private foundations to fund community programs. Furthermore, recognized worldwide and local NGOs can also bring in much needed financial aid to steer the project forward.

Alignment With The Community’s Vision

All in all, the program should be implemented with the sole aim of reaching the community’s goals. A key thing to note is that such an initiative aims to involve the residents in formulating and implementing their preferred development projects. Hence, without the satisfaction of the community, the project is termed as a failure. It’s crucial for government agencies and people playing leadership and guidance roles to keep the mission and vision of the community in mind.

Wrap-up

A community action program involves the residents of a particular community in decision making and implementation of activities outlined in a project plan. Besides the plan, the partnership of the parties, funding, and alignment with the peoples’ vision will be required to complete the initiative successfully.

Daily Word Puzzles: Science Explains Why They Are Good For Your Mental Health

If you thought that the advent of tablets and smartphones had made word puzzles obsolete, think again. While it’s true that today’s kids are more likely to be seen playing videos games, more and more adults are turning to puzzles both to unwind and to challenge their brains in a new way. In fact, if you are one of those people who love to solve them, you’ll be glad to note that science has explained why these particular puzzles are good for your brain.

Although solving puzzles alone is beneficial, working in a group adds a bigger advantage to one’s brain. One of the best things about them is that they boost your ability to think creatively in a more strategic way. Getting involved in such a brain-consuming activity help you a lot by making you solve problems, improving your verbal skills, and challenging you to think deeply among other benefits. Still not convinced? Well, here are other solid reasons why daily word puzzles are good for your mental health.

If solved in a group, they trigger bonding

The group may consist of brothers, friends, sisters or even cooperative couples. Working as a group will not only improve the speed of talking and thinking, but you will also be able to strengthen your social bonds.

They alleviate Alzheimer condition

This is perhaps one of the most discussed reasons for doing word puzzles daily. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, doing word puzzles daily is a perfect way to ensure that your brain remains sharp, especially as you advance in age.

They engage you deeply

When you are solving word puzzles, you tend to dig deeper into the problem at hand. This means you become less focused on your own issues. Word puzzles, therefore, offer you a great way to relax and forget about your worries even for a moment. More so, since they are not quite easy to solve, they help you to deal with your regular problems as you learn to start thinking clearly.

They provide the best way to overcome boredom

If you are bored, depressed, or anxious, daily word puzzles will provide you with an excellent way to overcome this. They will help you to keep your mind engaged, relax, and just have fun.

Whether you are a fun person or just want to benefit from the highlighted benefits of this amazing activity, don’t hesitate to give word puzzles a try. The good thing is that you have several options even if you want to take them with you wherever you go.

Why Self-defense Classes Are A Good Investment

Investments should not be limited to financial assets and real property. You should also invest on yourself. In fact, this is probably the best use of your money. Take classes that will enhance your abilities as a person and make you even more capable of tackling whatever life throws at you. Self-defense classes are a perfect example of this. It could be a general session on the topic to a full-blown study of your preferred martial art like Krav Maga. Enjoy the following benefits from this activity:

1. Improve Your Fitness

Nearly everyone needs a little more movement in their lives. If you are the type that cannot stick well to an exercise routine, then you may have to find an activity that you actually like and that serves a greater purpose. You will be more committed to finishing what you started. You will be excited to attend each session. You will not mind the body pain that comes along with hard training. Before long, you will find yourself getting stronger and losing weight. You can be fitter than you have ever been.

2. Develop Your Confidence

Low self-esteem can make a person’s life harder than it already is. It could make you withdraw from society and say no to various opportunities that come your way. There is a nagging fear of failure that prevents you from going out of your comfort zone. This is often caused by childhood experiences like bullying and parental abuse. Self-defense classes can make you feel empowered. You will be physically and mentally stronger. Gradually, you will develop confidence in your own abilities. This will spill over to other aspects of your life.

3. Sharpen Your Survival Instinct

When we get confronted with a threatening situation, we usually have to choose fight or flight to survive the situation. The better option will depend on the circumstances. If you are outnumbered or outgunned, then it would be smarter to run while you can. If you are trapped in a corner, then you may not have any choice but to fight. Of course, the level of resistance will depend on your abilities. Armed with self-defense techniques, there will be a greater likelihood of survival as well as better decision-making in different situations.

4. Enhance Your Reflexes

Blows can come fast. You need to have excellent awareness of your surroundings and quick reaction times to any form of stimulus. Only training can sharpen your skills and reflexes. Repetition of movements will provide the muscle memory you need to react in a flash with good precision. If you would like to get these benefits, then enroll in self defence training in Sydney right away. It could be the best decision you ever made.