Audio books are generally taped spoken versions of books and magazines. Some are electronically generated but most people seem to prefer listening to an actual human voice reciting a novel or article. These books are often used by the blind but anyone can get enjoyment from this type of book, from children to adults. Audio books can enable people with poor attention spans or those that simply don’t have the time or inclination to read a book an opportunity to still hear the story and not miss out on the opportunity to experience the thrill of a good story. Many children’s toys now come with variations of audio books, designed to encourage the child to develop an interest in books even before they can actually read them by themselves. These types of audio books can also free up time for busy parents. Any book can be recorded onto CD’s or tapes and therefore can be easily listened to on the move. They are handy when traveling or at times when there is not enough light to read by. People with poor sight that do not wish to use reading glasses in order to enjoy their favorite books can also make valuable use of audio books.

How to Pick Between an Audio Book and a Regular Book

Some people do not like listening to audio books, preferring to read the story themselves at their own pace. Others much prefer the use of spoken books, especially if the person reciting the tale is a familiar voice or is particularly good at showing emotions in the tones that they use. If you are the type of person that could happily fall asleep while listening to someone else recite a story or if you travel a lot and need something to distract you from the boredom, then maybe these books are for you. An excessive amount of reading can be bad for the eyes particularly if the person is a student who is required to look at text books all day and it can be a welcome break to listen to an audio book version for a change.

If a person’s eyesight is poor or if the eye is strained for some reason, then audio books may be a good solution to a replacement for reading literature. Audio books are so widely available in so many varying genres that it would be nearly impossible for a person to get bored or run out of audio books to listen to. Many people are turning to these books for the chance to make their favorite novels come to life or to experience the joy of a good book that they may never have bothered with before, particularly if it was a long book as some people can be intimidated at the thoughts of reading a long story themselves and many give up before the end. Audio books can be a welcome solution to this type of problem.

What is extremely important when it comes to changing any aspect of your life?  For some, that might be quitting smoking.  For others, it may be losing weight, changing careers or leaving a bad relationship.

ATTITUDE!

That’s right.  I learned something awhile back that’s changed my perspective on virtually every aspect of life.  Maybe you’ve heard the saying as well.

“Life is 90% attitude.”

The viewpoint goes something like this.  There are things in our life that we can control.  There are things in our life that we can’t control.  What we can control in either situation is how we perceive the situation.  Is it good or bad?  Postive or negative?

I think a lot of our perception of what we deem a bad situation stems way back to when we were children.  So many of us have or had authoritarian parents who used a strict discipline system for child-rearing that focused more on the negative than the positive.

When we did something great, we probably received some kudos, kisses and “ad-a-boys.”  However, that positive reinforcement didn’t last nearly as long as the one-hour lecture on why we should have received a better grade.

I don’t know, maybe your house was different.  The point is this.  We were geared toward thinking that mistakes were bad.  In fact, mistakes are imperative for growth.  When we make a mistake, we have the opportunity to learn and grow from the experience IF that’s how we choose to perceive the situation.

So, back to the attitude is 90% statement…

If life is 90% attitude, then it’s imperative to strive for a positive attitude.  How can we do this?  For one, look at life’s disappointments or mistakes as opportunities rather than negative things.  What did you learn?  What did you take with you?  Where can you go with it now?

Another way to encourage a positive attitude is to quit stressing over the little things.  I know this is hard to do, but you’ll find it extremely liberating if you are able to set aside the little annoyances in life such as heavy traffic or a rainy day when you’d planned an outdoor activity.  Go with the flow!

And last but not least, look at problems as though they were merely “situations.”  Don’t attach yourself so much to every difficulty.  Look at it more pragmatically and figure out a way to work through it.  “This too shall pass” could be your new attitude.

Think now for a minute how all of this might change your outlook on quitting smoking.

1.  You’ve merely made a mistake by smoking.  Learn, grow and move forward.

2.  Don’t sweat the small stuff!  Smoking has become so entwined in your life that you may be worrying and wondering how you’ll enjoy your coffee or glass of wine without your cigarette.  You’ll find other ways!

3.  This too shall pass…. those nic fits only last a short, short time.  With a little help from Ciga Cease, you’ll get through it!  I promise!

I hope this information helped you as much as it helped me years ago!

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Read My Quit Smoking Story
I had been smoking for thirty-six years until I was diagnosed with Emphysema, I had no choice I had to quit, My Story is about how I managed to go from more than a pack a day to an EX in less than 30 days

When you are thinking of purchasing and reading a book, a good way to make sure that you are going to be investing in something that is worthwhile for you and for your time is to look at a review. By reading a review, you are going to be able to read some things about the book, and to find out if the book sounds like something you are going to want to read. The same is true with audio books. An audio book review, which is basically a way of looking at the audio book and telling you what it has to offer, is an important thing for you to look at before you get the audio book.

Importance of Book Reviews

An audio book review is going to end up being very important to you because it is going to tell you about the audio book. First of all, it is going to tell you about the book itself, if the character and the plot lines are all solid, and if it is a good story to listen to. This is the area where the audio book review is just like the book review, because it talks about the central issues of the book, and tells whether or not they are presented in a good way to the reader. However, the audio book review is slightly different in a few ways.

First of all, the audio book review is going to have more information about the way that the book is presented than the regular book review. You probably wouldn’t see a book review that talks about the type set of the novel, and whether it is easy to read. However, an audio book review is going to give you those things. It is going to tell you that certain voices work well and certain voices do not. It is going to tell you if the book is read in such a way that helps you to understand it and to move the story along.

An audio book review is a great thing for you to look at if you are considering getting an audio book, because if the audio book is not read the right way, it might ruin the entire story for you. It is also a good idea because you can get a better glimpse of what the entire book is about.

Audio books are probably the best inventions for those of use that miss reading due to being too busy with our daily routines. Those of us who enjoy reading and cannot make time for it are faced with unimaginable frustration when you see book after books on themes and by authors that you enjoy and you even indulge and buy them but never get past the first few pages before your eyes and mind give in and fall asleep. Audio books have helped us enjoy a boring ride in the subway to school or work, made cooking, cleaning, dusting and even laundry interesting as you can listen to them on any audio book player that can fit right in your pocket.

Our Choices of Audio Book Players

Electronics is another field where we have progressed enormously from cassette players to CD players to ipod and MP3 players; it is amazing. Well, cassette players are out of question ad they are antique pieces now but CD players, ipods and MP3 players can all facilitate as audio book players.

The most popular form in which we get audio book today is CDs and therefore the best way to play them is on a CD player which can be portable for your convenience when you are working around the house or out of the house; the other audio book players such as the ipod and the MP3 player need the book to the downloaded to it but, because they are smaller and usually have a large memory are more convenient to carry around as well as listen to the entire book without any interruptions. All audio book players are small enough for one to carry in the purse or coat pocket whether you are around the house or running errands.

Where to Shop For Audio Books

The best place to shop for audio books are bookstores and store that specialize in carrying CDs; sometimes you will find them in department stores such as Wal-Mart but there might not be a very large selection. In order to use the ipod or MP3 player as your audio book player you will need to download audio books from the Internet after purchasing them in store found there. By using the latest gadgets and technology you can once again enjoy your favorite books while you do boring chores without having to miss a line as you can rewind and listen to the same page as many times as you desire without tiring your eyes in the process.

You’re a busy person who loves to read, but just doesn’t have the time. When you do have the time to read a magazine, you often see advertisements for new novels, and you wish that you could have time to read them. For people like you, there is a way that you can get things don and enjoy a new novel experience too, thanks to audio books and tapes.

About Audio Books and Tapes

Audio books and tapes are becoming more and more popular for many reasons. First of all, many people have jobs that take up most of their time, and they are too tired to read at the end of the day. These people choose audio books and tapes as a unique way to catch up on their reading. They listen to audio books and tapes as they are falling asleep at night, or they listen to audio books and tapes on their way to work.

Truck drivers often listen to audio books and tapes. These people are on the road for hours and even days at a time, and when regular radio music does not seem interesting, they like to listen to audio books and tapes to make the trip go by faster.

People also like to listen to audio books and tapes for curiosity reasons. Many people have a particular author that they like and would like to know more about them. Nowadays many authors actually narrate the books that audio form of the books that they write, so audio books and tapes are a way for people who have already read a particular book to listen to it and gain a different perspective.

This alternative to regular literature is also popular because it features the voices of famous actors and actresses sometimes. For example, if the movie form of a novel was particularly popular, the actors or actresses who played the main characters in the movie might agree to also narrate the audio book.

Sometimes audio books can be very simple, with no background noise at all, just the narrator’s voice. Other times, audio books can be like radio shows, in that they come complete with multiple actors and sound effects. So the next time you are in the mood for an alternative kind of literature, go to you local bookstore and pick up an audio book and tape.

Mind Mapping Info

Oftentimes, when you have a project, you can’t avoid having questions in your mind. Most individuals are like that and so they try to come up with solutions or alternatives to answer those  questions. Are you one of them? If you are, then you will benefit a lot from this mind mapping info.

When you’re doing something which involves high stakes, it’s natural for you to draw some kind of diagram so that you can visualize the obstacles ahead while seeing your ultimate goal at the end.

The diagrams you drew may be very simple lines or complex models but whatever it looks like, it can be considered as mind maps. Through the diagrams, one can easily make good decisions or better yet, make complicated decisions easier. Another important thing is, the diagrams can be an effective system or way for better and effective communication.

There are three ways to effectively communicate through mind mapping. One is to show the components of difficult situations; second, it gives you the idea of the possible outcomes of certain actions; and third, it highlights unrecognized linkages.

A typical example is maintaining your very own website. If you’re utilizing mind mapping, you will usually draw diagrams of boxes and some lines representing the connections. Even if you have a simple website, it is sometimes difficult to track the connections and hierarchy. But what if you need to work with several complex situations? Do you think you can handle such task?

If you’re asked to explain mind mapping to another person, you might find it quite hard but did you know that with a visual component outline, you can effectively communicate even the most complex relationships and structures?

Have you tried applying mind mapping to determine the outcome of certain actions? Manufacturers of various consumer products take a lot of time in weighing things. These manufacturers know that the internet can help them a lot in marketing their products but they still need to see if it’s a profitable endeavor. If the manufacturers don’t find it profitable, then they will not advertise their products online but if they find it profitable, they will need to determine the possible expenses and the time it takes to set up an online site to market the products. After the concerns are answered, other things will come up.

So, are you getting a good picture of how mind mapping is carried out? A certain action or decision depends on a certain factor; and in order to determine the correct answer, you will need to consider the answer to a previous query. Through mind mapping, you can easily illustrate certain actions and their possible consequences. By doing so, you can immediately forecast the outcome.

When you make a decision, you will often encounter outer forces which can be responsible for some changes in the outcome. How do you respond to such forces and changes? By answering this question, you might be able to highlight the unrecognized linkages.

Once you master mind mapping, complex situations can be simplified so that you can arrive at the best possible decision. All the possible consequences to a certain action can also be determined; at the same time, you can uncover linkages. Practice mind mapping now so that you can face any situation, no matter how hard it is.

10 Ways to Begin Taking Control with Positive Thinking.

At first glance, it would seem that positive thinking and Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) have nothing to do with one another. But many of us with ADD develop negative thinking patterns because we become frustrated by our challenges and frequent feelings of being overwhelmed. A negative outlook only magnifies the situation, making it all the more difficult to handle challenges and move forward.

Practicing positive thinking allows people with ADD to focus on our strengths and accomplishments, which increases happiness and motivation. This, in turn, allows us to spend more time making progress, and less time feeling down and stuck. The following tips provide practical suggestions that you can use to help you shift into more positive thinking patterns :

1. Take Good Care of Yourself

When you take good care of yourself by eating healthy, exercising and getting adequate rest, it is much easier to be positive.

2. Make a List of the Things You are Grateful for in Life

Stresses and challenges don’t seem quite as bad when you are constantly reminding yourself of the things that are good in life. Taking just 60 seconds a day to stop and appreciate the good things will make a huge difference.

3. Look for the Proof Instead of Making Assumptions

A fear of not being liked or accepted sometimes leads us to assume that we know what others are thinking, but our fears are usually not reality. If you have a fear that a friend or family member’s bad mood is due to something you did, or that your co-workers are secretly gossiping about you when you turn your back, speak up and ask them. Don’t waste time worrying that you did something wrong unless you have proof that there is something to worry about.

4. You Should Not Use Absolutes

Words like, ’ALWAYS’ or ’NEVER’ when used in a negative descriptive way, such as: “You NEVER call me any more” will only increase the negative experience. Thinking and speaking absolutes in this way will only work to make the situation seem worse than it really is, and will cause you to believe something about others that very well may not be true.

5. Get Rid of ALL Negative Thoughts that cause Anxiety

Your thoughts can hold power over you if you don’t judge them. When a negative thought begins to invade your thinking, you need to recognize it right away as a negative influence, immediately change your thinking by turning it around to something that will make you stronger and happier.

6. Get rid of the “ANTs”

Dr. Daniel Amen, founder of the Amen Clinics for, ADD tests and ADHD Tests, authored a book called; “Change Your Brain, Change Your Life”, in which he talks about the ’ANTs’ - Automatic Negative Thoughts.

These are the bad thoughts that are usually reactionary, like “Those people are laughing, they must be talking about me” or “The boss wants to see me, it must be bad”! When you notice these thoughts, realize that they are nothing more than ANTs and squash them!

7. Practice Lovin’, Touchin” & Squeezin” (Your Friends and Family)

Giving and receiving a good hug can go along way in making your day better. Positive physical contact with friends, loved ones, and even pets, is an instant pick-me-up. One research study on this subject had a waitress touch some of her customers on the arm as she handed them their checks. She received higher tips from these customers than from the ones she didn’t touch!

8. Increase Your Social Activity

Loneliness feeds on negative thinking and one way to combat it, is by increasing social activity in your life. Surround yourself with healthy, happy people, and their positive energy will affect you in a positive way.

9. Be Involved with Helping Other People or Volunteer in an Organization

Everyone feels good after helping. There are several ways to do this, you can volunteer your time, resources or money. You may have heard it said, ’Give and it shall be given’, this is a true saying and the more positive energy you put in the world, the more you will get back.

10. Have a New Thought Pattern to Fight Against Depressing Thoughts.

If you find yourself beginning to think negatively, a great way to stop it is to interrupt the pattern and force yourself to do something completely different. Recognize old thought patterns that may be hyper-focusing on something negative. That way of thinking is never productive, but only leads to stress and unnecessary anxiety. Try changing your physical environment - go for a walk or sit outside. Or, you could call a friend, turn on some music or look at a magazine.

Find sayings, scripture verses or quotes that will help motivate you to remain positive in your thinking, the following are some of my favorites: “Think like a queen. A queen is not afraid to fail. Failure is another steppingstone to greatness.” - Oprah Winfrey A Swedish Proverb - “Fear less, hope more; Eat less, chew more; Whine less, breathe more; Talk less, say more; Love more, and all good things will be yours”

There are no hard and fast rules about what tools you must own, if you are going to embark on a mission to improve your time management skills. The following simple tools, however, are inexpensive, and can help make the process of tracking, planning and organizing your time easier and less burdensome.

Time Monitor Journal- This resource comes in both the digital and traditional varieties. It is useful in helping you to monitor and record your own use of time, in order to identify key areas for change.

While a special journal is not needed, you may find that a ready made one saves you time in the long run, by doing the majority of the work for you prior to the actual recording of your activities.

Planner- Available in digital and traditional formats, planners are wonderful for recording goals, making notes, keeping track of appointments and more. A planner is a must have to help you stay organized and on target, when working toward your goals.

Select a planner that allows you enough room to keep track of a number of appointments and daily goals, but that is small enough so that you are able to carry it with you at all times.

Organizer- These can be useful for planning a specific project, or managing a number of projects all at the same time. Digital and traditional versions of project organizers are available that can help you stay on top of the job.

Time Management - About Time Boxing

Time boxing is a system of time management which breaks down a long and complex task into smaller pieces. Each piece of the task must be accomplished by a specific deadline. In time boxing deadlines are not flexible, but everything else in the project is.

In time boxing a large task is broken down into several sections. Each section has specific guidelines for its completion. When the boxes are first “laid out”, along with their deadlines, the project may be very detailed. As each deadline approaches, if the tasks first pinpointed in the time box are not near to completion, certain aspects of those tasks may be scraped.

One example of this type of time management system might be to consider a script for a motion picture. The scenes are laid out in boxes, with 5 or 6 scenes to be completed at each deadline. As the deadline approaches one of scenes may be dropped, in order to finish the completion of that section of the project on time.

Time boxing does not work in every instance. The key element to this system of time management is the deadline. In some cases if the deadline is not met, the entire project is scraped as a result.

The system works best when a strict budget must be adhered to, thus preventing the extending of deadlines, in order to finish the work.

TV. Like it or loathe it, we almost all watch it. Lots

Often we watch too much television. Consciously or just as background noise and flicker.

There’s a reasonable chance that if I came up to you and asked you to tell me about the program you have just seen, you would be able to give me at least an outline of it. But what about the programs you watched yesterday? Or last week? Wait a second… Your recall probably isn’t as good.

So is there anything you can do that will help you to watch less television?

Here are 5 simple tips and tricks to help you cut down the amount of television you watch.

1. Press the off switch

Eek! Turn the television off? In some households, the thing stays on 24 hours a day. But if you’re on your own and you’re not really watching the TV, it’s just “on”, then pluck up the courage to hit the off switch.

2. Diarize with yourself to watch the important shows

Chances are that there are some shows you really “must” watch. Maybe it’s Kiefer Sutherland saving the world (again) in 24. Or possibly there’s no way you want to miss the next instalment on how those desperate housewives are coping. Whatever your choices, that’s good. Keep watching those. We’re talking about cutting out all the other shows that you just watch because the broadcasters broadcast them.

3. Switch off the news

Another big issue for a lot of people. But if anything really happens, you’ll find out soon enough. Most of the time, watching the news rotate on television is just an excuse for feeling sorry for strangers you’ve never met. Cut that negativity out of your life and gain back the extra hours every week.

4. Get a television hard disk recorder

Set the timer record for those “must watch” programs. And series link them. Then watch them, but with your finger poised to fast forward through all the trailers and commercial breaks. This will cut your viewing time down dramatically, probably around a quarter to a third. Which at least means you get more time to watch even more shows if you fail in your quest to watch less TV!

5. Hypnotize yourself to watch less TV

Yes. This is easy to do and it works. Simply listen to a special hypnosis track to help you watch less television and you’ll quickly find your mind coming up with other things to do than sit and watch tv.

Get more help on watching less television here.

A Secret To Happiness

Something that all of us want but does not come easily is happiness. Happiness is definitely that we may need to work on. We have to find ways to be able to learn happiness regardless of the things that happen in our lives. It really is something that we are able to do and able to do well. It is not necessary for us to worry about what other people may think because we only get a single chance to make the most of our lives and after all it is our life and not anyone else’s.

The Method

There are several different methods that you can try in order to find happiness in life that you truly deserve. It will take quite a bit of work and time on your part, but you will be able to accomplish it and as soon as you see the changes in your disposition, then you will know that the effort is worth it and that you have made a good choice in the way your life has gone. Utilizing these methods or simply just considering them is important. You will have to make things work out for you so that you enjoy your life the way you should.

1. As human beings, a life without happiness is really meaningless. For happiness to be truly felt, we have to set goals. Once we have established the goals we want in life, then we will know what we want and will then have to figure ways in which to achieve those goals. We will need ways to make the things we want happen for us so that we will have what we deserve. We should make our lives special to us so that we will be able to feel happiness of completing an achievement. When goals are set in our lives and we move towards accomplishing them, we will have the feeling of happiness as we will have a meaning and a goal to reach for.

2. A second thing to be considered is that we need to live life for today. We need to ensure that we use our best intentions and that we make the days that we have worthwhile. We definitely have to also think of the future and that the choices we make are the right ones for our health and security, however we also need to have fun and enjoyment in our lives and need to ensure that we succeed in our goals.

3. Another thing to do is to think about what things will make us lose our happiness. What are the factors or events in our life that would make us feel discontented with who we are and would cause us not to feel happy. These are items that we have to really stay away from. We should ensure that we are able to keep away the negative factors from our life, and that we are able to make the correct choices without putting risks on our happiness. It is essential that we continue to make things work out for us and that we are able to stay happy.

4. Being healthy is the fourth thing that we need to do to ensure that we are happy. We need to make good health choices so that we are able to stay happy and healthy no matter what we do. We need to continue to eat the right way and to think about the choices that we make for our body. We need to keep ourselves from anything that will make us unhealthy and sick.  We have to keep the negative things out of our body and also stay in good mental health so that we are able to be emotionally and physically happy as well.

5. The last thing we need you ensure is to keep the good feelings in our hearts and mind. We need to keep these feelings with us so that we are able to give it back to others when they need it. We should be pleasant and as much as possible try to be happy. The more pleasant we are will show to us that we will be able to stay happy and that we will be able to make others happy too. We should strive to make others happy and bring joy to them as this will give us a way to feel good about how we affect others. Do not let events take you down emotionally as we may unintentionally bring down others too.