Twenty minutes to calm
Being outdoors can trigger measurable changes inside your body from lowering stress hormones to easing blood pressure and even improving gut health. Even a lunch time walk in the park where you can smell pine or hear birds and the rustling of the leaves helps you to unconsciously relax. Spending time outdoors triggers our endocrine system and the scent of the trees and soil is full of organic compounds that, when you breathe them in, pass into your bloodstream.
Source: BBC
What’s Ghost Tapping?
Contactless payment where fraudsters get close to your wallet or phone often by bumping into you. They steal funds from your accounts by using a hidden reader that triggers a small tap-to-pay transaction at first. When you don’t notice quickly they move to larger charges. Protect yourself by using cash, setting up instant transaction notifications using a phone case to block signals, disabling the tap features and regularly review statements.
Source: Northumberland News
Overcoming ‘workslop’
In a survey of more than 1,000 employees, 40 per cent said they’d received “workslop” in the past month—a polished output that looked professional but adds no value. Workslop breeds more workslop, small errors and fosters lazy thinking throughout the team says Google’s former Chief Decision Scientist, Cassie Kozyrkov who calls AI “the great thoughtlessness enabler.” Her proposed fix is to add back the human checks that make work reliable, even when the tools make it easy not to.
Source: The Medium
Dating a political opposite
In a recent study singles were asked how political division affected their romantic lives. Women seemed to lean left while men opted more for the right which, many felt, created a political gender divide and could cause tension and even breakups. Most felt having different political beliefs reflected different values and therefore affected dating lives negatively. Many believed these differences were harder to overcome than financial or religious divisions.
Source: The Kit
Be interested, not interesting
I’m not saying be dull—but it may be wise to focus on showing how interested you are in what another person has to say versus trying to be dazzling yourself. In other words, it pays to “pull”, rather than push. Some believe in redirecting the conversation back to themselves in an effort to impress. Yet, people tend to feel more connected when you ask them questions. It’s about trying to create a warm, memorable conversation that makes the other person feel cared for.
Source: CNBC
The right questions
Known as the “fast friend procedure”, researchers have suggested some questions to help parents feel closer bonds with their children. Fun questions include: What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever experienced. If you could go anywhere, where that be? And, if a crystal ball could tell you about your life, what would you want to know? Also, thoughtfully discussing topics that really matter or exchange personal information that might be painful, or negative also brings families closer.
Source: University of Amsterdam
Images: Fotos, Michael T, Arturo Portillo, Unsplash. iStock.
