Opinions On Whole Life Insurance

Yes, it costs more, but whole life insurance packs a few perks that term life insurance doesn’t. The perk most people are interested in is the fact that whole life insurance usually offers fixed premiums; since it covers you for life, you could have fixed premiums for life. Term life insurance doesn’t cover you for life, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing; however, you could end up paying higher premiums upon renewal. Opinions vary from person to person as to whether fixed premiums are enough to make whole life insurance the better life insurance.

The perk that tends to form stronger opinions, however, is the investment component that comes with whole life insurance policies. Whole life insurance policies come with an investment component, often referred to as “forced savings,” which is money your policy accumulates based on dividends the life insurance company pays you, and life insurance companies that sell whole life insurance policies label the investment component as an excellent way to save money; however, opinions on whether or not the investment component of a whole life insurance policy is worth the extra price – or even effective, for that matter – range from one end of the spectrum to the other.

If you’re considering purchasing a life insurance policy, but aren’t yet sure if you want to purchase term or whole, don’t base your decision solely on the perks offered. Sure, a whole life insurance policy allows you to save money, but so does a bank. The decision-making process doesn’t have to be complicated. If you want life insurance for life, look into whole life insurance; if you want life insurance for a certain period of time, look into term life insurance. Look at the perks of each policy only after you have a handle on the basics of each policy. You’re less likely to be swayed by the perks once you know which policy will better meet your needs.

Flirting And Body Language Opinions

If you’re on a first date and you’re trying to figure out what Mr. or Ms. Potentially Right thinks about you, look downward.

Not there, silly.

“The key to a man’s heart isn’t his stomach. It’s his feet,” says Lisa Daily, author of “Stop Getting Dumped!” (Subtitle: “All You Need to Know to Make Men Fall Madly in Love With You and Marry ‘The One’ in 3 Years or Less.”)

As it turns out, the foot rule also applies to women.

“Watch the feet of the person you’re attracted to,” she tips AdamandDrew.com. “People who are attracted to each other subconsciously try to ‘line up’ with the other person. Where the toes point, the heart follows.”

When you take the Sherlock Holmes approach to reading your date, trying to sleuth out whether he/she thinks you’re hot (or not), body language is the smoking gun, my dear Watson.

“Even if we’ve got our game faces on, the body doesn’t lie,” Daily says.

In fact, studies reveal that only 7% of our communication is verbal, according to Mari Smith, a relationship coach based in San Diego, California. The other 93% is nonverbal.

Tips & Clues

Men send out the following tips when they’re interested in you, according to Daily and Smith:

- Smiling.
- Extended eye contact.
- Grooming behaviors (straightening their ties, pulling up their socks).
- Upright stance or posture.
- Standing with their chests thrust outward and shoulders back (think of a giant preening peacock).
- Ego-driven comments about their successes in life (jobs, cash, their cars).

“He may have one hand in his pocket, with his thumb sticking out, or tuck his thumbs in his belt,” Smith adds.

As for the so-called “fairer” sex, look for the following nonverbal cues from a woman:

- Extended eye contact and smiling (just like men).
- Leaning inward or toward you.
- Exposing her neck, hands or palms.
- Flipping her hair (with her hands or a twist of the head) or twirling it playfully.
- Crossing and uncrossing her legs.
- Fondling cylindrical objects like the stem of a wine glass, straw, pen or cigarette. (Paging Dr. Freud…)

“Houston, We Have a Problem”

“For both sexes, there are also signs that things are not going well,” says Daily, who notes that distasteful dates, traumatic breakups and consequent crisis periods often call for “a few Nora Ephron movies and two tubes of frozen cookie dough eaten right out of the package.”

Look for speech patterns that are wildly out of sync. “He’s a slow talker, while she’s a thousand-words-a-minute,” she says.

Defensive body language—arms crossed in front of the chest or hands subconsciously protecting the groin area.

Someone who keeps looking over your shoulder while you speak.

“When someone is not interested in you, they will typically point their body and feet away from you and position themselves at a greater distance,” Smith adds.

Saying Goodnight…or Saying Goodbye?

As your date winds down, other cues foreshadow your relationship’s future.

“If you give your date a hug on the doorstep and he or she pats you on the back, it’s a sign of discomfort,” Daily says. “The more uncomfortable your date feels, the bigger the pat. The other obvious, not-so-great sign is going in for the doorstep kiss—and getting a handshake instead.” (Ouch!)

Positive signals are much easier to read: a concrete invitation for a second date, with firm plans—not just “let’s do this again” or “I’ll call you sometime,” Daily says.

The Flirt Factor

Flirting with your date—and being on the receiving end—meets Sherlock’s criteria for irrefutable evidence that your lovely evening may evolve into a bona fide relationship.

Daily takes it one step further, asserting that flirting is “absolutely necessary.”

“Flirting is how we communicate our interest—and how we connect emotionally before we connect physically,” she says. “Generally, flirting is harmless, but it can sometimes be interpreted incorrectly by the ‘flirtee.’ The key is to pay attention to the tone of the flirtation and wait to see how the flirter responds if you try to take it up a notch. If she backs down, she was probably just flirting for fun. If she escalates the flirting in turn, she’s communicating interest.”

“Use attitude, voice and body synchronization to make others feel like they have a special rapport with you,” advises Nicholas Boothman, a communication specialist and author of “ How to Make Someone Love You Forever in 90 Minutes or Less.” He encourages those he counsels to learn to “access—and rev up—your sex appeal, without going over the top.”

Translation?

Create chemistry by mirroring your partner’s physical presence and verbal behavior.

“When you synchronize your overall body language, your tone, the speed and volume of your voice, and even the type of words you use—as well as your attitude—people feel safe, familiar and trusting with you,” he tells AdamandDrew.com.

Smith believes women have the edge—and a lot more fun—when it comes to flirting. (Sorry, guys…)

“Playful, lighthearted behavior is really the domain of women,” she says, “and typically men love it and gravitate toward the woman who looks the most fun. It certainly pays to familiarize yourself with all of the signs of attraction so you know how and when to communicate interest—and make sure you’re sending the right message!”

Lucid Dreaming And Astral Projection?

Anyone trying to teach a projection or dreaming technique must naturally do so based on their own particular understanding. With the huge number of differing movements of thought, religions and philosophies in the world, it is easy to see how there can be so many differing teachings concerning the same subjects. Any of these perspectives will colour the descriptions differently.

Luckily for us, we are in a position to pick and choose! The projection process itself is fairly straightforward and there are definite commonalities in projection technique. Lucid Dreaming is equally universal. It remains for us to put to use the most expedient and effective techniques available. Well, that's my perspective anyway!

As for the nature of the Astral itself, it all comes down to what you believe. Your beliefs shape your experience. You can easily ignore any information that does not fit in with your beliefs. A hardcore sceptic is a classic example of a 'tunnel vision' belief system which refuses to acknowledge the validity of anything but a narrow physically-oriented (and often meaningless) universe.

Perception alters experience in any circumstance, but this is especially so in the Astral Plane, where you can create that experience virtually instantly. Your beliefs can act like glasses, automatically modifying what is perceived. So of course everyone will have a different experience of the same kind of 'event', to whatever degree.

Even witnesses to the same physical event can give radically different accounts according to their particular perspectives. But when they are directly viewing the product of their own subjective beliefs about reality, this effect is amplified considerably and those testimonies can be as divergent as any one system of thought to another.

Unfortunately for its adherents, physical science for example, will never arrive at the correct answers or conclusions regarding dreams and the inner reality from which they arise, because regardless of its chosen methods, its perspective is always from 'outside looking in'. That's why there is far more to learn from psychology than brainwave patterns in this regard. The only way to truly understand the inner dimensions is from within them. It is just as futile to seek to apply physical perspectives to the Astral, as it is to seek to apply physical laws: they are far too limiting. This mistake has been given the term 'confusion of planes'. It is as ludicrous to attempt astral flight by jumping off a physical building as it is to want to pack a physical microscope and ruler on astral journeys.

Especially in a realm where you can create exactly what you expect to see! 'Objective observation' is actually far more difficult in the Astral Plane for someone who has not examined their own subjective beliefs, expectations and assumptions regarding reality. One's first encounter on the Astral Plane will most likely be with one's own assumptions, regardless of the school of thought or belief they belong to, whether scientific, religious, occult, spiritual or whatever! You will first meet the seeming confirmation of your current beliefs. Surprise!

But then what? Experience doesn't just stop there! The error within such expectations is that they are far too static, not dynamic enough to contain the deeper reality upon which they are built - because no image or assumption or expectation can contain the infinite dynamicism of the universe! Assuming one continues, one's experience soon begins to 'leak out around the sides', escaping past such artificial boundaries, expanding and evolving beyond initial ideas.

It is not long before one begins to question those initial beliefs, which alter them slightly, allowing for even more space and leeway for difference. Again, it is not long after that that one notices the direct correlations between the change in beliefs and the change in the outwardly reflected inner environment and experience.

So why can there be so much contradictory information and conclusions regarding dreams, the Astral Plane, the afterlife...? I think it's because people can have spontaneous experiences, sometimes very brief, yet ones where for one reason or another they do not question their own beliefs, but merely experience their confirmation. Indeed, the strength of belief may provide no opportunity for contrary data at all. But again, given time (or better, the variation and dynamicism of experience), the greater inner reality will escape those constraints.

The information imparted in a brief experience may therefore be modified to suit the smaller 'expected' picture, and only hint at the larger realities back of it. So short experiences, not being willing to observe extraneous data, or ignoring it, or simply being easily convinced, can all play a part. Even memory is often modified according to the same kind of beliefs, so that certain aspects are further accentuated and others ignored.

What we can learn from all this is the importance of having an open mind, and learning to question and change our beliefs to correlate with new desires and conditions. No 'blanket solution' belief system works in all situations. We must simply learn to be flexible and to examine our perception and expectations as the need arises.

Second Opinions Count Or A Once Over Will Never Do

How many times have you written a document or email, sent it out, and then discovered some major typos or even words missing? What if it doesn’t get your point across – or worse yet – give off the exact opposite impression? If you’re like most, it’s happened to you at least once.

How do you keep yourself from making the same mistake when it comes to your resume? Here are a couple of necessities when it comes to having your resume stand up to the scrutiny of Hiring Managers.

1. Give your eyes a break. Do you notice that when you’re finding a task particularly difficult that if you take a break for a few hours – or even overnight – you can tackle it with a freshness and vigor that you had lost? You need to recharge before you require yourself to inspect a document that you’ve been working on for hours. The words all start to run together and nothing even makes sense to you. The passion for which you originally wrote with is lost on you due to mental fatigue. You need to take a step back, refresh your eyes and mind, then go back and take another look.

2. Have a friend (or family member) take a look. Having another person read your resume can be extremely helpful when it comes to having a fresh perspective. You are so close to your resume that you tend to not be very objective when it’s all said and done. It’s beneficial to have someone completely new look over it. Why? What important information can you gleam from this exercise?

• What’s their first impression? Professional? Amateur? Sloppy?
• Do they know what kind of job you are applying for and how you are qualified?
• Are they impressed with your achievements?
• Is there too little information? Too much?

Be sure that the person or people you choose can give you an honest opinion. You don’t want to depend on someone who is afraid to hurt your feelings or thinks that everything you do is great. It is best to choose someone with business acumen as well. It’s not necessary that they be efficient in human resources and the like, but the more they’re involved with the business world, the better.

3. Have a professional review it. There are many resume writing services who offer a free review of your resume. They can provide some great tips that you might never have thought of to improve your overall success at getting interviews. However, you want to choose one that is personalized and not just a checklist. Not that you won’t get anything out of a checklist but you’ll get a lot more out of a more thorough review.

Resume writing is an exhausting task so you need to be sure not to jump the gun and send out your resume package immediately after you complete it. It’ll pay to take one – if not all – the tips above to heart before you apply if you decide to write your own resume.

Now that you’re all set to send out your resume, we need to review some tips on how to do that effectively. But…that’s for next time.

Substitute For Professional Medical Opinions?

Let’s face it. A trip to the drugstore is a whole lot easier than a costly and time-consuming trip to the doctor’s office. No time wasted waiting for the physician; no embarrassing questions to answer; and no sticker shock when the bill comes. Just head for the section of your pharmacy with all of the gadgets and home test kits and you are ready to “play doctor.”

With skyrocketing medical costs and increased concerns about privacy, more and more Americans are taking advantage of products designed to help monitor existing conditions or to help diagnose new ones. Blood glucose monitors help diabetics manage their condition, blood pressure kits help monitor hypertension while those with cardiovascular concerns can track cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Of course, home pregnancy kits have been available for years. But now it is possible to go well beyond health management with these off-the-shelf products and individuals can now perform diagnostic tests in the comfort and “safety” of their homes.

But is this trend really safe?

Health care professionals have expressed concerns that the use of home test kits may cause users to delay or avoid proper medical care. Misinterpreting the results of self-administered tests can lead to decisions that are based on false assumptions. For example, there have been reports of people changing their medication dosage based on results of blood pressure readings at home. Decisions about any treatment based on self-administered tests should be deferred until a physician confirms them.

The list of conditions for which home diagnostic products are available is expanding rapidly. It is now possible to test for drug use, alcohol use, HIV, prostate cancer, hormone levels, diabetes, blood type, anemia, allergies, hepatitis, cholesterol levels, fertility and even certain strains of flu.

The opportunity is always present for a user to improperly administer a test or to misunderstand the results. Delaying treatment based on these results could have serious consequences. Now that the number of tests available is so large, and the conditions so potentially serious, it is absolutely critical that these test results be validated by a doctor.

Given this diverse menu of tests, users are sure to get results for which they may be unprepared. A positive reading for HIV could be devastating. Health care professionals are trained to address the concerns and possible psychological issues faced by a patient receiving bad news from a test. Individuals trying to cope with a similar result at home may find themselves alone and unable to cope.

Home health tests should be used with great care and should never be considered as a replacement for proper medical care. If you are seriously concerned about your health and well-being, it is fine to practice a bit of do-it-yourself medicine… as long as you get a second opinion.

Overview And Opinions

As you might have heard, there's a new console in town: Xbox 360™ Elite. For those of you who are not hardcore gamers or are parents of one, you may not know much about the Xbox 360 Elite that was recently released by Microsoft. The Xbox 360 Elite is the third and most expensive variation of the Xbox 360 console in addition to “core” and “premium.” Xbox 360 Elite is equipped with a premium black finish, three powerful core processors, full surround sound, a high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) cable, and DVD playback. Xbox 360 Elite is now the premier Xbox 360 console package that includes a large 120GB hard drive, a HDMI port, a high-definition cable. The Xbox 360 Elite is set up to extend the entertainment experience of the regular Xbox 360. The Xbox 360 Elite is based on the Zephyr motherboard, which features a HDMI port and an improved GPU heat sink. The $480 Xbox 360 Elite is black instead of white, includes a hard drive that is six times as large as the previous 360s and twice as big as the rival PS3s. The HDMI output makes for easier hookups to HDTVs. While it's primarily a game machine, the Xbox 360 Elite is a digital media hub as well. Users report that initial setup of the Xbox 360 Elite is easy; you just select the language and then either establish your Xbox Live account or re-link to an existing account. The consensus of opinion on the web seems to be that the Xbox 360 Elite is mainly for people who haven't bought a Xbox 360 yet and that the Xbox 360 Elite is a great choice for only $80 more than the premium version. The Xbox 360 Elite is still cheaper than Sony's 80GB console, but does lack some features such as a Blu-ray drive or any other integrated WiFi solution, as some gamers necessitate. The bottom line opinion, though, seems to be that while it's neither a must-have upgrade for existing 360 owners nor as feature-packed as the PS3, the Xbox 360 Elite's combination of top-notch gaming and digital media features make it the current game console of choice.

Xbox 360 Elite Features and News

The Xbox 360 Elite also includes a black wireless controller and black Xbox LIVE® headset. There is currently a rumor of a price drop on the way that the core and premium will get a $50 price drop but the Elite will only get a $29 price drop.

Building Your Business

If you want solid business, you need to do more than just have a lot of sales.

Don’t get me wrong, companies that hold a lot of sales are going to get a certain amount of business, but the kind they get will be short lived and last only until the sale is over with. The more sale based your customers are the less business you’ll do during those period between sales. What you need to do is develop stronger ties with your customers.

The first thing to do is contact them for reasons other than just sales. There are all sorts of methods for maintaining good relationships with your customers that go beyond simple sales. Why not use color printing to send out some newsletters each month? Tell your customers about what kind of people you have working for you and what other events you have planned. Let them get to know you, form a stronger bond with you, and you’ll find you have customers who really want to shop with you.

Holding events outside of sales is another good way to developing a strong relationship with your customers. Host local events or organize other kinds of interesting activities. I’ve seen plenty of bookstores that have special reading events where people can bring in their children to have stories read to them.

Back during the craze for Pokemon Toys R Us regularly held tournaments specifically for Pokemon cards. By going beyond purely advertising upcoming sales they were able to develop a different kind of bond with their customers and create the strong image of a fun store to shop at.

You also want to be sure that your line of communication is two way. Don’t just send out a bunch of ads without any concern for what your customers think. Ask them for their thoughts and opinions on what kinds of events you should do or what kinds of sales they’d like to see the most.

Make them feel important to you. Make sure they know that their input is valuable, and they’ll feel closer to your company. I always like the feeling that a company is really trying to do its best to make me happy. They aren’t just concerned with how much money they can make from me.

If you own a larger store, how often do you go down and walk the sales floor? How often do you actually talk to customers face to face to ask them how they’re doing and what they’d like to see more of?

I like to talk to the person in charge to know that my opinions are going to be heard by the real decision maker. There’s no reason to hide away from the people who are allowing your business to exist by shopping with you.

Just remember that color printing can be used for more than telling people about the next sale. Get up close and personal with your customers and I think you’ll find you’ll develop a much stronger relationship with them that works out better for everyone involved.