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Articles from Yolanda Carden | Selfgrowth.com
- Victorine’s Art of Seduction - by Submitted on Aug 08, 2007 from Yolanda CardenWe women in the twenty first century are the most accomplished, talented, educated women in history. But are we as charming or mysterious as women we read about from the past? Do we flirt and fascinate? I don’t mean just flirting with men. Do we flirt with old ladies, the butcher behind the ...
Views: 1219 - I Wanna Go Home! When Your Child is in the Hospital - by Submitted on Jul 19, 2007 from Yolanda CardenWhen a child is admitted to the hospital, pediatricians have the same concerns that families have: make sure the child stays safe, comfortable, and as emotionally secure as possible. In my childcare book The Portable Pediatrician, I talk about the emotional meaning of hospitalization for ...
Views: 1144 - Why Write? - by Submitted on Jul 12, 2007 from Yolanda CardenWhen someone asks why write? My answer -- writing is like making love. When they ask how to write? Same answer. For each writer the act of writing is as individual as his/her own personality. I write because I have to. I have to because I want to. I want to because I love it. When I was a ...
Views: 1070 - Boosting Metabolism - by Submitted on May 29, 2007 from Yolanda CardenClients -- and just about everyone I meet who learns I'm a nutritionist -- ask me this question all the time: How can I boost my metabolism? Metabolism is simply the total of all body processes that burn calories -- your basal metabolic rate plus your activity factor. When it comes to improving ...
Views: 1228 - Getting Back on the Career Track - by Submitted on May 24, 2007 from Yolanda CardenWould you like to return to the work world but are concerned about how to find an opportunity that will allow you to fulfill your family or other non-work obligations, nervous about how to “market yourself” to potential employers, or unsure about what type of work you want to do? We know how you ...
Views: 1090 - Time: How Long Will It Take? - by Submitted on May 23, 2007 from Yolanda CardenWaiting? OK. But will a lightness of heart ever come? Does time really heal all wounds? Mothers who have experienced child death assure us that "it will get better." Friends and loved ones may tell us that "it is time to get over it and get on with life." We hear about closure, but researchers ...
Views: 1293 - Setting as a Character - by Submitted on May 18, 2007 from Yolanda Carden“Everything happens somewhere” -- Pieter Haag Where does your book take place? Of course, on one level, it takes place in the hearts, minds, and imaginations of your characters. On another level, it might take place in Omaha. Or Venus. Nicolson Baker once set an entire novel (I ...
Views: 1137 - Aboard the African Star - by Submitted on May 14, 2007 from Yolanda CardenAfter working on the book for more than a decade, Haley was stuck -- and desperate I just love to get out in the ocean. You are really out there, thinking in ways you haven't thought before. The best writing I ever possibly could do was after The Digest helped me go to Africa and Europe, and I ...
Views: 1044 - Saying No to Demands - by Submitted on May 08, 2007 from Yolanda CardenBelow are some specific key words or phrases you can use in saying No to the other's demand in a way that flows naturally from your Yes, your power, and your respect. Remember that your tone and underlying intent need to be congruent with your words if they are to have the right impact. "No" or ...
Views: 1069 - Spice Up Your Treadmill Workout - by Submitted on Apr 25, 2007 from Yolanda CardenLike many folks, I do my cardio on a treadmill. But because the pounding of running makes my back hurt and tightens my hips, I created this 30-minute treadmill routine. Now, I'm passing it on to you. Some of the moves can be tricky at first, but that's a good thing, especially if your current ...
Views: 1066 - How to Avoid Kids’ Blood Sugar “Spike and Crash” - by Submitted on Apr 23, 2007 from Yolanda CardenKids love roller coasters. Moms don’t -- well, at least not the ones that take place inside our homes! I’m talking about the “spike and crash” syndrome that describes the rapid ups and downs of children’s blood sugar levels when they eat too much sugar and overly processed carbs, especially on ...
Views: 3515 - Ten Tips For A Safe Hospital Stay - by Submitted on Apr 03, 2007 from Yolanda CardenWe’re going through a sticky patch in hospital care. Patients and their loved ones often feel that there are too many doctors (and you rarely see the same one twice) and too few nurses (and it’s hard to get their attention). Worse: it’s hard to figure out just who is in charge -- or whether ...
Views: 990 - No Body is Perfect: Body Image and Shame - by Submitted on Mar 30, 2007 from Yolanda CardenWe often want to believe that shame is reserved for the unfortunate few who have survived terrible traumas, but this is not true. Shame is something we all experience. And, while it feels like shame hides in our darkest corners, it actually tends to lurk in all of the familiar places. After ...
Views: 1289 - Be Your Own Press Secretary - by Submitted on Feb 01, 2007 from Yolanda CardenWouldn’t the world be a better place if we each had our own presidential press secretary to answer tough questions and “spin” our message all day long against any and all adversaries? (It would be great for us perhaps, but I’m not sure I want to live in a world where everyone is “spinning” ...
Views: 1168 - How The Right Carbs Can Help You Lose Antidepressant-Related Weight Gain - by Submitted on Jan 30, 2007 from Yolanda CardenAudrey, in her 30’s, is typical of people who experience medication-induced weight gain. “I never ate junk food until 6 months ago, when I started taking medication for my depression,” she related. “In college, I used to feel superior to my friends who lived on chocolate cupcakes and French ...
Views: 1891 - Edging Into Exercise - by Submitted on Jan 19, 2007 from Yolanda CardenOne of my all-time favorite clients was a professional baseball player I’ll call Dan, who was making the transition from athletics to civilian life. Dan was an impressive specimen in every way: smart, funny, energetic, and incredibly fit. At the time he consulted me, I was doing a lot of my ...
Views: 1029 - Exercising Smarter - by Submitted on Jan 10, 2007 from Yolanda CardenThe best health and weight-loss exercise regimen includes all three methods: fat burning, cardio conditioning, and muscle building. Fat-Burning Activity Low-intensity activity should be done as much as possible for as long as possible. We recommend at least thirty minutes or more each day. If ...
Views: 1105 - How to Start a Novel: The Willingness to be the Best and the Worst - by Submitted on Dec 13, 2006 from Yolanda CardenWriting fiction is like allowing yourself to be the ugliest person in the room and the most beautiful person at the same time. The ‘beautiful’ you swans into the party, garnering admiration, presuming that everyone else will be interested in what you have to say -- about anything. The ‘ugly’ you ...
Views: 2173 - The Mystery of Character - by Submitted on Nov 07, 2006 from Yolanda CardenThe second most asked question of any writer after: Where do you get your ideas from? is: How do you think up your characters? The answer to the first question is that they just pop out of my diseased brain. The answer to the second is more complicated, but linked to the first. I am a great ...
Views: 1048 - The Seven Most Common Nap Traps - by Submitted on Sep 22, 2006 from Yolanda CardenHave you been tripped up by any of these situations? Nap Trap #1: "My baby wakes up the instant I put him down." He shouldn't fall asleep in your arms in the first place. Remember the rule: to bed semi-awake. Nap Trap #2: "My baby refuses to nap." Typically, the problem is timing. A baby won't ...
Views: 20714(2 votes) - The Unlovable Heroine - by Submitted on Sep 11, 2006 from Yolanda CardenUnlovableness is a subtle beast. Most of us think we can detect it right off the bat, right there on the surface. We spot things like a tendency to pause too long before answering a simple question or a bad dental smell, or a habit of telling long, boring stories over and over again; or a simple ...
Views: 2042 - Daughters of the Revolution - by Submitted on Aug 31, 2006 from Yolanda CardenAmerican girls today are the daughters of the revolution -- the first generation that is reaping the full benefits of the women's movement. Their mothers and grandmothers fought and won the battles that produced the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, giving women the right to vote. They ...
Views: 1197 - Turning Vision into Something Real - by Submitted on Aug 23, 2006 from Yolanda CardenVision is fuel, energy, passion -- or, as I like to suggest, as important as water to a garden. Unless that vision is clear in your mind, it is hard, if not impossible, to complete the process of refining your dream into an actionable plan. Furthermore, without clarity of vision the hard work ...
Views: 1294 - Love - by Submitted on Aug 16, 2006 from Yolanda CardenLove He may not look like it, but that Elmo's a love machine. When parents tell me, "My child lives for Elmo," I tell them that Elmo lives because of their child's love for him. I don't just mean that Elmo is alive in their child's imagination, though that is certainly a part of it. That child ...
Views: 1158 - Creating Positive Change -- There Is No Beginning Too Small - by Submitted on Aug 14, 2006 from Yolanda CardenHave you ever had the feeling while reading a newspaper, listening to a lecture, or sitting around a dinner table talking with friends about current events, that “Something ought to be done about that”? Or perhaps you have felt appalled by an injustice of some sad event and thought, “What is to ...
Views: 1016 - Preparing to Negotiate Strategically - by Submitted on Aug 02, 2006 from Yolanda CardenNegotiation is never the only option for addressing conflicts. Therefore, parties considering negotiation need to ask: Is negotiation the best option for addressing our issues and problems? What are the alternatives to negotiation? Parties should assess their Best Alternative to a ...
Views: 2782 - Recipe for First Draft: ¼ cup structure, ¾ cup imagination - by Submitted on Jul 10, 2006 from Yolanda CardenImagination is more important than knowledge. Albert Einstein I’ll tell you something that you already know: writing is work. It is work that requires structure and rules: subjects, verbs, semi-colons, question marks, diagrammed sentences, outline plots, character dossiers, synopses and query ...
Views: 1184 - Bully Busting - by Submitted on Jun 19, 2006 from Yolanda Carden"He that respects himself is safe from others, he wears a coat of armor that none can pierce." --Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Bullies are, without a doubt, the bane of the social world of childhood. Alas, they're everywhere, and not always where you would expect. They may be the stereotypical ...
Views: 2492 - The Emotional Roller Coaster of Divorce - by Submitted on May 30, 2006 from Yolanda CardenDivorce is an emotional task unlike any other in modern society, and different people experience it in different ways. While some individuals go through nearly all of the extreme emotional states that we describe here, others have an easier time getting through this period and will maneuver ...
Views: 2494 - How to Motivate Unmotivated People - by Submitted on May 15, 2006 from Yolanda CardenIf you walk around a Walt Disney World resort or theme park, you are likely to witness something that in most other settings would seem bizarre. Not the presence of a large animated character, although you may witness that also. Rather, at any given moment, a person in dress clothes will be ...
Views: 15834(2 votes) - What is Organic Food? - by Submitted on Apr 25, 2006 from Yolanda CardenUsing the label "organic" to distinguish one tomato from another is a big stretch from the word's original meaning, for until the middle of the twentieth century it simply meant something living or derived from living matter. In that sense, the idea of an "inorganic tomato" is a contradiction in ...
Views: 1316 - In Praise of Lying: Fiction vs. Nonfiction - by Submitted on Apr 10, 2006 from Yolanda CardenNon-fiction is very much in the news these days. Capote, the James Frey debacle and the even creepier Nasdijj scam have raised the kinds of questions that plague many a memoir writer: how much can you really remember? How much can you ethically invent (creating dialogue, for example, from a ...
Views: 1426 - 6 Steps to Manage Cancer Pain - by Submitted on Apr 10, 2006 from Yolanda CardenOnce your pain management team is in place, you can work together to create a plan that anticipates every level of pain and institutes measures for alleviating it. Remember, the key to effective pain management is early intervention -- and that starts with you. You need to inform your team when ...
Views: 1189 - In Search of Real Gardens: A Novelist’s Onsite Research - by Submitted on Mar 22, 2006 from Yolanda Carden“A fairytale is an imaginary garden with real toads in it.” I don’t know the source of this quotation, but I take it as my starting point for this account, because the opposite definition applies to my novels about the Celtic Mary Magdalen. Maeve is an imaginary character, with no claim to ...
Views: 1219 - Make Water Count - by Submitted on Mar 15, 2006 from Yolanda CardenMillions of us don't feel as good as we should because we don't drink the eight or more glasses of water we need daily. Water is an often overlooked nutrient, one that's involved in practically every bodily process. I know that if I'm dehydrated, I feel really tired. But when I drink water ...
Views: 1250 - Seven Rules for Writing Historical Fiction - by Submitted on Mar 13, 2006 from Yolanda CardenWe grow up being told to “write” what we “know”, but history is the unknown. You have to learn almost everything about a period and the social customs just to get your characters out of their beds (or off of their skins), and feed them breakfast. Rule #1: Sweat the Small Stuff. The ...
Views: 1246 - Types of Pain - by Submitted on Mar 08, 2006 from Yolanda CardenTypes of Pain It's clear that pain is understood by anyone and that everyone feels it a bit differently. Overall, pain is an unpleasant sensation that occurs in varying degrees of severity and is a consequence of a number of processes. In order to manage pain, doctors discern its intensity and ...
Views: 1225 - The First Date Interview - by Submitted on Feb 16, 2006 from Yolanda CardenThose singles who can't stand ambiguity from the very beginning develop a more direct dating approach. Meet, for instance, Steven Kaplan -- as several of my girlfriends did. I was on yet another blind date -- my third in the last two weeks. Here we go again, I thought, as I walked out my front ...
Views: 1337 - One Is Not the Loneliest Number - by Submitted on Feb 15, 2006 from Yolanda Carden“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” Virginia Woolf There are several life skills my mother taught me before I set off into the world: how to properly separate my laundry; how to balance my checkbook; how to prepare red meat in an assortment of ...
Views: 1277 - Climb to Health - by Submitted on Feb 09, 2006 from Yolanda CardenStair-climbing is the best-kept secret in exercise for health. It is a great way to add CME points during the course of daily life, and it will help improve your leg strength and balance as well as your heart and waistline. By way of example, let me tell you the story of Lewis Ripps. Lew is a ...
Views: 1151 - Excerpt: Woman First, Family Always - by Submitted on Jan 18, 2006 from Yolanda CardenYour Body, Your Self 16. Accept Your Body It's the bane of many a mother's existence: We eat our children's leftovers, snack when bored or unhappy, or simply never lose the extra pounds we put on with pregnancy. And though there are many strategies and diets that can help women lose unwanted ...
Views: 1466 - Better Ways to Cope with Stress: Your Way Out of the Toxic Triangle - by Submitted on Jan 12, 2006 from Yolanda CardenDepressive symptoms, unhealthy eating habits, and heavy drinking unite to create a space that is so poisonous for women that I have called it the toxic triangle. Eating, Drinking, Overthinking will help you understand your own relationship to the toxic triangle. It is not just for women who have ...
Views: 1141 - Excerpt: The Secret Life of Water - by Submitted on Jan 12, 2006 from Yolanda CardenA Thankful Heart Is the Way to Happiness Why do people go through life looking for happiness? Dogs and cats look for food and comfort, but they certainly don't go to all the trouble that people do in their continual search for happiness. I suppose the reason is that we are the only ones who ...
Views: 1210 - Listen to the Deep Know: The Urge for a Writer's Life - by Submitted on Jan 11, 2006 from Yolanda CardenI know the moment I realized who I was supposed to spend my life with. It was a Sunday in August 1987. He was a friend who shared my penchants for B-movies, Monty Python, and the band Rush. We were driving back to my house after spending the afternoon at a nearby park. I looked at him at some ...
Views: 1129 - How to be in the Right Place at the Right Time: How I Got Published - by Submitted on Dec 30, 2005 from Yolanda Carden“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” --Thomas Edison Once my first novel was published, I was astounded at the number of people who asked me for advice. I want to be helpful. Many people helped me along my way, so I give my advice with ...
Views: 1186 - Excerpt: MicroMiracles: Discover the Healing Power of Enzymes - by Submitted on Nov 15, 2005 from Yolanda CardenThe Stress of Poor Digestion These days, everyone seems to be climbing on the nutrition bandwagon. Books and articles offering dietary advice abound, and health food stores are thriving. The trouble is, much of the available information is contradictory at best and inaccurate -- and potentially ...
Views: 1555 - Recipe for Getting Your Book Published: Baste it Now and Again . . . Then Let it Bake for Twelve Years! - by Submitted on Nov 08, 2005 from Yolanda CardenI was never much of a reader until one day, in the early eighties, I picked up a copy of Helter Skelter, by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry. This is an often used adage, but I couldn’t put it down. The author’s attention to detail fascinated me. After that, I was hooked on novels depicting ...
Views: 1043 - On Saying Goodbye to a Drama King - by Submitted on Nov 04, 2005 from Yolanda CardenCharles left her, just left altogether with no satisfactory explanation. Just announced, after six months of a hot-house infatuation that had swept her off her feet, “Sorry, Miranda, this isn’t working” -- said it not even kindly, at that -- and said he wanted out. He wasn’t interested in ...
Views: 1386 - Excerpt: Body Intelligence: Lose Weight, Keep It Off, and Feel Great About Your Body Without Dieting! - by Submitted on Oct 21, 2005 from Yolanda CardenSupersize That? The idea that eating a large amount of food is an accomplishment has been taken to the limit by Takeru Kobayashi and more than three thousand of his colleagues. Kobayashi is the ultimate “big eater.” A twenty-five-year-old from Japan, he holds the world record for eating ...
Views: 1511 - Excerpt: Drama Kings: The Men Who Drive Strong Women Crazy - by Submitted on Oct 10, 2005 from Yolanda CardenChapter Eight "Why Do They Stay?" When they are unhappy, women usually think they need more love, but the objective evidence suggests that they need more independence. --Historian Francesca M. Cancian, Love in America If you're still wondering why you and other strong women put so much ...
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