I have a riddle for you. It affects how you feel, but you can’t touch it. It is invisible, but it affects how you look at yourself in the mirror. It makes no sound, but people can hear it every time you talk about yourself. What am I talking about?

Stumped? I am referring to self esteem, of course. Self esteem essentially means how much you value yourself. It is a measure of your own self worth. So a beautiful, intelligent and talented human being must automatically have a high self esteem, right? Wrong!

Self esteem is related to the way you perceive yourself. How many of the people reading this article would use the words good looking, intelligent or talented to refer to themselves and really mean it?

It may sound trite or clichéd to say so, but you are a unique and special human being. It is better to be proud of who you are rather than try to remake yourself as a pale imitation of someone else.

To improve your self esteem, you need to let go of the past and focus on the future. If people have made hurtful or destructive criticisms of you in the past, then ask yourself whether they had any basis for saying the things that they did. Introspect and ask yourself, “Could I have done anything differently?” If the answer is no, then forget the past and move on. If the answer is yes, then learn from your mistakes and try your best not to repeat them. After all, at the end of the day, your opinion of yourself is the only thing that counts. If you always try to please everyone, then you end up pleasing no one. So ask yourself: Do you want to be happy or do you want to be right?

Confidence is essential for succeeding in every arena of life – whether it is your love life or your professional life. Do women look right through you as though you are invisible? Does your boss use you for a doormat regularly? If any of these sentences strike a chord within you, then chances are that you are suffering from lack of confidence.

If you do not recognize your own worth, then how can you expect others to respect you? That is the essence of confidence – knowing your own self worth.

Self knowledge is essential to build your confidence. After all, unless you know yourself well, how will you know what your strengths and weaknesses are? How else will you work on turning your weaknesses into strengths? The great American President, Abraham Lincoln, struggled with a debilitating stutter in his youth. He overcame that stutter by practicing how to speak with pebbles in his mouth and became a lawyer before he ran for President and delivered the immortal Gettysburg address.

So spend some time doing self introspection. What are your worst fears? What are your greatest insecurities? Why are you ashamed of yourself? What does that little voice in your mind say when it is trying to keep you from succeeding? It could be anything from acne to weight to consciousness about the way you look.

Attaining self knowledge is the first step on the path to true confidence. Discuss your issues with your friends and family. Your loved ones know you best and would be able to help you to see yourself clearly. There is no shortcut for this process – every single issue has to be addressed, one at a time, until all ghosts from the past have been duly laid to rest.

Last, but certainly not the least, remember that no one is perfect.

I wonder why it is that so many young men bomb around in their souped-up little cars, convinced it will impress the ladies? And this has gone on for… well, as long as there have been cars I guess. But when you stop and think about it, the whole thing is just plain ridiculous. Or at least I think it is. Boy racers have certainly never made me think ‘WOW, that is so cool!’ and none of my friends are particularly ‘bowled over’. If anything, men like this make me want to yawn…

Oh well, at least they are helping to keep other folk in business. After all, with their ludicrously oversized engines, they must be turning ‘ red diesel Bradford ‘ into very rich people indeed! And then there is the insurance factor to consider… I mean, if you are eighteen years old and you insist on driving around in something that is effectively a ‘sports car’, you are bound to be paying out a massive amount of money for your cover. It’s not exactly rocket science, is it?

If the majority of women were going to be ‘impressed'by a guy in a car, then it don’t think it would be one with a ‘hot hatch’. No, I’m pretty sure that most girls would be far more interested in a man who; a) drove around carefully, b) had a vehicle that fell into a sensible insurance bracket, c) had more of a ‘life'than to spend hundreds of pounds ‘modding'his car.

Or maybe I (and my friends) are just plain old-fashioned. Perhaps lots of modern girls really do go for a man who tears around the high street with thumping Drum and Bass blasting out from his car. But I don’t really think so… I mean, come on!

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The other day I was at lunch with some girlfriends and the subject was raised about how to get your ex boyfriend back. For some reason my friends are all under the impression that I am a relationship expert. I am not sure why though, as I have been in a steady relationship for 8 years which started in high school, so I have never actually had to go through the grueling ordeal of what you have to do to get your ex back.

The whole conversation came about because two of my friends recently split from their partners, ( who were both builders from north london ) and they just haven’t been able to figure out why.

The first piece of advice I gave them was to take a step back from it all and try and identify, where it all went wrong. This was something I read in a how to get your ex boyfriend back article the other day, whilst on the subway. There was clearly a reason that their boyfriends wanted to finish the relationship, and before they could possibly move forward they needed to try and figure out what these reasons were.

Once they started to take a cold hard look at possible reasons for the relationship disintegrating they realized that maybe they were to blame, and that their boyfriends wanting out, wasn’t as unjustified as they originally thought.

My one friend noted that she had been taking on so many extra hours at work that she had been feeling really tired and often was moody and snappy when she got home and this had been causing arguments. My other friend realized that her and her boyfriend hadn’t been having much fun together, due to that she was also working a lot.

After they identified these issues they got together with their ex boyfriends and talked things through. The boyfriends were so happy that they understood that they were the ones to blame and decided to give them another chance.

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Dressing up can be a real challenge. Some people find picking up clothes so hard that they often end up getting mocked for the way they look. But did you know that what you wear is so closely related to your mood and your mind and spirit that it is almost hard to believe. Naturally, people with chaotic minds and confusing thoughts will have no idea how to dress up and how to appear in public. And people with clear thoughts will always wear appropriate clothing and radiate a natural and peaceful glow, simply fantastic.

Let me now further investigate the link between the way you dress up and your mind and spirit. Colour, the colour of your clothes tells a lot about you. If you prefer to dress up in black or very dark colours you are probably a rather conservative gal with calm character and you might even turn out to be a bit boring. On the other hand, if you like bright colours, you are almost certainly very bold, fun, provocative and energetic person with lots of enthusiasm, a person who won’t hesitate to visit the nearest botox London clinic for a quick rejuvenation or even completely change the way he/she looks. You don’t care about the taboos and pay no attention to what others think of you. Nevertheless, people wearing such colours can also be too hyperactive and irrational. Their mind and spirits are anything but calm and relaxed; they can also become ludicrous and be too spontaneous. Anyway, if you asked me to pick just one colour, I would probably choose the white. This colour symbolises purity, peace of mind, love and humbleness. People who wear white clothes are honest, very calm and friendly. As a matter of fact, many spiritual leaders wear white clothes; there is even a white brotherhood, a movement which teaches people to be good and to do good, see the video below.

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My boy friends often ask me why it is I have so many shoes. I might as well ask them why they have so many DVDs or CDs. They love their DVD collection just as much as I love my shoe collection. There doesn’t seem to be any particular rhyme or reason behind our decisions, they just are what they are. As to why I pick certain shoes over others, well that’s a little more complicated.

Picking the perfect shoe at any one time is harder then you think. Price now more then ever is definitely the first thing I think of when trying on shoes. I might want the latest pair of high heels from a top designer, but my purse has a tendency to argue with my desire lately. Clarks are fast becoming one of my favourite brands. Many people are looking for reliable footwear that will last as well as style. The reason people shop for Clarks shoes is because they have been around for so long and fill the style and reliability quotas people are after. Thanks to Clarks I now own several pairs of boots and shoes that are comfortable and to the relief of my purse, affordable. However I haven’t been buying my shoes from the high street.

When I first started shopping online (years ago!), I was initially afraid of this scary looking electronic high street. I found it hard to understand how I could browse through the aisles for something I wanted like I could in a shop. After a few goes on the computer though, I suddenly had my eyes opened to a whole new world. Finding what you want online is far easier then looking for it in a shop. My shoe fetish has been far better served online then it has when I’ve been tramping up and down the high street or navigating my way through a shopping centre.

I’ve been able to find some amazing pairs of shoes all for a really reasonable price online. Clarks shoes, Birkenstock shoes…you name it I’ve been buying it. My purse hasn’t been groaning with the strain, and my collection hasn’t been suffering. People have talked a lot about how bad the global economic situation is. Whilst I can’t deny that things are a little tougher then before, I don’t really understand why there has been such a fuss. Prices on the net are cheaper then in-store making all the things I need and want available. Most importantly, my shoes are secure!

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When I was growing up, during the 1980s – I still LOVE the 1980s… – posters were the in-thing. Any poster would do: it might be a poster of the latest boy-band, or a poster of Kylie Minogue. And the great thing about all these Big Posters which adorned every wall was that sex was irrelevant. And by that I don’t mean the physical act of doing it but the gender of a teenager: boy or girl, big or small, we all loved nothing more than getting our favourite magazine, usually just for the free poster that was inside…

On more than one occasion I remember being told off at the local corner-shop for rooting about for posters. They’d send me home, but a few days later I would be back. I was pretty much obsessed, if you couldn’t tell…

I got thinking about this recently: wait, I thought, why don’t I make my own poster? I could make a few! It’ll be just like the olden days!

After a few tantrums and a lot of blood, sweat and tears, you should be well away. Get to it, people! It’s a great way to pass some time

So I did…

I began by finding some excellent images off the internet.

Then I did the following. Feel free to borrow my advice and tips if it puts a big 1980s style smile upon your face!

1) I found the images and I drew a grid network on a large sheet of card. You need card because otherwise the paper will buckle. It’s cheating a bit, but it means a much better result.
2) I then drew a grid network on tracing paper and taped this to my computer screen.

3) Very quickly I was away! Sketching like a pro! With the grid system in place it’s oh so much easier to draw things if you are terrible at art. It didn’t take me that long to recreate James Bond, Worked a treat it did.

4) Then I got my paints out. For the purpose of a poster, boldness is key, so don’t muck about with watercolour. Acrylic is where it is at, indeed.

5) Paint in the big sections of colour first. If the design is too complex, put it in Photoshop and do an effect so it becomes more simple to paint.

6) After a few tantrums and a lot of blood, sweat and tears, you should be well away. Get to it, people! It’s a great way to pass some time and it’s a brilliant way of bringing back loads of old nostalgic memories. You’ll just love it!

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However, what was not fun was the first time I got caught by the farmer. I was minding my own business when I heard this massive terrifying noise. It was a combine harvester, about to turn me into lots of pieces of shredded bloody bits!

Anyway, I was scared, and as the farmer came running out shouting at me I legged it. But he caught me. And then he gave me a swift telling off and said never to do it again. Which I didn’t. Not when he was around, at least…

And there he was…just as I remembered him.

The next time I saw the farmer – I still didn’t even know his name and anyway, names weren’t really important out in the fields – he was much happier. He smiled and asked me if I wanted to come for a ride in the tractor. When I told him my mum had made me promise I would never do that, he looked very sad and forlorn. A few days later I found out why.

Years before, the farmer had lost his little girl, his daughter. I overheard the farmer’s wife crying by the side of the field one day and she confessed it to me. After that, the next time I saw the farmer, I agreed to go for a ride in the tractor. He was like a father figure to me – many years older and a decent man.

Up until recently I hadn’t even thought about the farmer – and I still didn’t know his name. I had moved away many years earlier and now I was back in Devon I wanted to see if he was there.

And there he was…just as I remembered him. Going up and down. And when he saw me, pregnant now, he stopped the tractor and silence rang out across the wind and the fields.

Then he got out and came running fast as he could, and gave me a hug. It was a lovely moment.

The issue was, in the tractor, with my bump, I didn’t know what to talk to him about. He never was one for words.

But then I got a great idea. I remembered a story I had read the week before. It was about some charity bus companies in Devon lobbying for red diesel suppliers to help them out with the cost of their fuel. I remembered it to be a great story because they agreed, and I knew the farmer would really appreciate it. And he did. We had a good old chat about diesel and he even explained to me what it was made out of. Not the most thrilling conversation I have ever had, but it was lovely to see the farmer. So much older now, but a good man, a kind man, a man who I was happy to sit with and learn about tractors and fuel and things a million miles away from my daily life.

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Tablet PCs baffle me, and really, they should baffle you (but knowing my luck you’re one of them technologically advanced people who works for a tablet PC firm, aren’t you? Let’s hope not, as if that is the case you will not like some of what I have to say below!). What I always find myself thinking whenever I see one is this: what’s the point? I already own a PC with a keyboard and everything. So why would I buy one of these things?

the tablet looks suave and sophisticated and is better for reading on %u2013 this makes boredom on any kind of journey a thing of the past

I am still no closer to a real answer, but, after some research – about an hour’s worth, which is quite enough for me – I discovered the following information which I have compiled into a list of positives and negatives.

POSITIVES: portability is the first. The tablet makes a lot more sense than a bulky laptop which is cumbersome on your lap while travelling on the train. Secondly, like learning how to paint from art tuition with a really helpful teacher, the tablet PC is designed to work with you and be user friendly at all times (unlike my school art teacher who said I was absolute rubbish. Not the best way to encourage someone me thinks!). Thirdly, the tablet looks suave and sophisticated and is better for reading on – this makes boredom on any kind of journey a thing of the past.

NEGATIVES: the first has to be the price. Most of them are very expensive, so maybe you should think twice before taking them places where they might get stolen? Secondly, the user friendly display is all well and good, but it has to be said that if you really want to write something, you need a proper keyboard. It just doesn’t feel right, typing for any length of time on a tablet PC. Thirdly, new tablets are coming out all the time, making each version redundant. This is bad news of course, and could potentially mean you’ve chucked all your money away! Not good!

MY CONCLUSION: I am still un-concluded…if that is even a word. But what I do know is that there is definitely a place for the tablet PC: with people who spend a lot of time browsing the web and just don’t need the functionality of a keyboard.

But then again…who needs the functionality of a keyboard when you’ve got tons of apps and access to magazines and books galore? Hmm…maybe I am more tempted than I first thought…

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Firstly, I cut out all kinds of beans and nuts. And I do mean all. I also cut out eating Ryvita, because while it was good for me in many ways, it was also causing a nightmare in my stomach! Funny the things you learn when you finally visit a dietician…

Now, just by cutting those things out I was already feeling much better, but little did I know that by cutting out more things and replacing them with healthier alternatives, I would be doing myself nothing less than an ENORMOUS FAVOUR.

In the morning I’ll eat a cereal like sugar puffs or some other such thing. This releases energy slowly

One problem I have always had is feeling sick in the morning. My doctor could never put a finger on why this was, but he didn’t disbelieve me, I don’t think.

Well the good news is that by eating lots of different pasta recipes and lots of bread, I have improved even more! (I have also cut out a fair bit of alcohol and also a fair bot of sugar, too) In the morning I’ll eat a cereal like sugar puffs or some other such thing. This releases energy slowly and also tastes much better than muesli if you ask me. Then, at lunch it’s a sandwich with a piece of fruit…the fruit without the skin, of course. Because if you didn’t know, there is loads of fibre in the skin of fruit. You definitely want to avoid eating that fibre at all costs!

Now, you might be under the impression that not eating loads of fibre will be harmful to you and you won’t be able to go to the toilet. This can sometimes be true, but to be honest, there is a little bit of fibre in everything, so it’s unlikely you will ever totally cut it out (and nor should you need to). And for the most part, it’s true that people who suffer from bowel conditions have a system which gets on much better without fibre, anyway.

In other words, a low-fibre diet can work wonders, so why not try it out and see if it helps you?

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So I am a dog lover and until recently I did not know that dogs can have diabetes. The things you find out while struggling with vinyl packaging at an auto accessories shop! According to the vet I met there, dogs do suffer from diabetes in much the say way we humans do.

If diabetes is detected in a dog, especially if the dog has been having a fever for a few weeks, it is important to treat it as soon as possible. If it is a bitch, odds are the veterinarian may need to remove the ovaries and therefore stop the production of progesterone.

If the dog is diagnosed with diabetes at an early stage, sometimes an insulin treatment is not necessary or only for a short time. Especially in the so-called “pre-diabetes” (drinking a lot, level of blood sugar too high, but not demonstrably the presence of sugar in the urine), the success of castration (including removal of the ovaries) is high .

When there is evidence that the pancreas is producing little or no insulin, insulin must be administered by daily injection. Subcutaneous injections should be given every day at the same time of day. Just before the daily injection of insulin and about 7-8 hours later, the dog should eat.

Initially, the insulin dose will be determined by your veterinarian based on the dog’s body weight and level of glucose in the blood. The final dosage should be determined by regular monitoring of blood glucose levels during the initiation of treatment. These measurements should be about 7 hours after administration of insulin and, therefore, just before the second meal.

The administration of adrenal cortex hormones (prednisone) or preparations of progesterone for patients with diabetes are out of question!

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