Why worry?

It is our most common daily mental activity. It is the greatest misuse of our mental energy. It is a complete waste of time. It’s called WORRY.

It’s good to worry, isn’t it? Worry shows you care, doesn’t it? It means you are cleverly anticipating the future … yet?

No!

Worry is anxiety based on fiction. It is a series of negative thoughts which disempowers the natural creativity of your consciousness. It is the dredging up of memories of hurt, rearranged into an imaginary tale of conflict or loss still to come.

The most surprising fact is that despite the majority of us acknowledging worry as a waste of time and energy, it is still one of the most common lessons we learn from our parents. The prevailing myth that is handed down from generation is, ‘it’s good to worry, it shows you care.’

Worry is fear, and care is love, and fear and love are polar opposites. If you stop for a moment and become aware of why you worry about someone else, you may also find it is motivated by selfishness — you actually are really worried for yourself.

You are worried about how you will feel if something bad happens to someone else. In fact you are already feeling it. Worry is simply a learned habit, an addiction that is fed by a toxic diet of bad news, unfortunate events and tales of personal traumas of others.

The best and the easiest way to get rid of this habit of worrying is “to live in the present”, rather than escape into a negative future or a painful past.

Remember, we can only find peace in now, we can only live with love now and be fully present and available for others now.

Editor’s note: Rajyogi Brahmakumar Nikunj ji is a writer at www.brahmakumaris.com and can be reached at nikunjji@brahmakumaris.in.

Effective email management

Those good old letter boxes are now on the verge of extinction! Email inboxes have taken charge, making letterboxes a nostalgic memory. Whether you like it or not, email has changed the way of communication to a great extent. Not only that, it has also made communication faster and less complicated, making it easier for people to stay in touch with each other sans the hassle of glue stamps and post-office visits.

Emails have also made communication more regular and hence more specific than paper letters, however, there are instances when you get tired of managing your email account and the overflowing inbox. It is now well-known that unorganised email management decidedly affects productivity negatively. Being a little organised would help you minimise the time that you spend browsing your mails, making it easier for you to focus on your core job. Read the following section to better your email management skills.

Turn-off email alert indicator

This should be the first step if you really think you need to hone your email management skills. It is natural that you feel like checking the inbox whenever you see an alert pop up so turn off the alerts to avoid wasting time on checking irrelevant alerts.

Allot a specific time slot

Allotting a specific time slot to log in to your account would help you manage your email account, without spending too much time on it. Process your mail once a day and if you do not finish it within the time, continue the task the next day. This habit would help you spend less time sorting your emails which, in turn, would increase your productivity. However, this rule may exempt those mails which need to be considered on an urgent basis. Remember, you mustn’t allow your mails to rule your life.

Prioritise mails

Each email is different in terms of the relevance of its subject. It is not good to keep all read mails forever. Read the mail, consider the subject, work on it and delete. However, job opportunities, interview calls, work related mails and personal letters should be kept in your mailbox for some times whereas, all others, including subscription letters and ads, need not to be kept in your account.

Create a reply box

Do you think it is important to reply to every mail? It is not! Reply only to those mails which you cannot avoid. Also, create a reply folder and allot three days in a week to reply to the mails. However, those which need to be looked into urgently should be exempted from this rule.

Create template

If you need to send similar replies very often then there is no point in wasting time in typing the same thing over and over again. Create reply templates for different types of mails. You may create separate folders for separate categories. For example, you can have different templates for replying to an interview mail, thank you mail, business proposal mail et cetera. Stick to the template whenever you need to respond. This would help you save a lot of time.

Act judiciously

You need not read all the mails that find their way to your mail box. You may already have an idea about the content of some letters, especially newsletter subscription, fitness, blogging et cetera. Do not read them important; just delete! This would help you avoid reading unimportant letters.

Segregate mails

You might be aware that most of the email providers allow you to label the mails. You may categorise mails under different labels like professional, personal, family, friends et cetera. This would keep your mails organised. Also, use hierarchy system where you can segregate big categories into first level folders and their sub categories into second level folders. For example if you are a writer, then you may make a first level folder for your work and sub folders for your writing and editing works.

Use filters

It is sickening to see a bulk of the unread mails whenever you open the mailbox. Well, getting irritated will not help; you need to find some solution for this. You need not do a research on this; most of the email providers have filters with which you can select the kind of mails you wish to receive in your mailbox. You can filter mails based on email IDs, subject lines, body text and more!

Unsubscribe!

It is quite common that you subscribe to certain things and then irrelevant mails start filling your inbox daily and you end up deleting these mails without even opening them. Then why not unsubscribe then and lessen you efforts?

De-clutter

Do not kept too many mails in your account. Delete unwanted mails and spam on a regular basis and keep enough space in your inbox. Be judicious about the mails that need to be kept and the ones that needn’t. Do not save your chats unless you consider the conversation important.

People have a tendency to glance through the inbox every the inbox every now and then. This can distract you from your regular work and you might end up spending a large part of your productive time checking mails. This is why effective email management has become necessary to improve productivity. — Agencies

More than just a laptop

Touchscreens are spurring wild new designs in a category called convertibles

Your next laptop is probably going to be a lot more than just a laptop. Touchscreens are spurring wild new designs in a category called convertibles. So will your next notebook flip, rip, double or roll? Let us think of this historically; your old laptop opens and closes. Or maybe you have a tablet with a single, standard touchscreen. But the introduction of touch screen recognition in the Windows 8 operating system has computer manufacturers trying to combine those devices in inventive new ways.

Lenovo Helix: It flips over the Yoga, and has the option to rip the screen out into a stand-alone tablet. It is fully touch capable and has a built in Wacom stylus. Lenovo says it will run for five hours in stand-alone tablet mode or 10 hours if docked. It will be available in February at USD 1,499.

Lenovo Yoga 11S: An 11-inch laptop running a full version of Windows 8, but its double-jointed hinge opens it all the way up and you can flip it over into a tablet at USD 799. The Yoga 11S is also one of the first device to be powered by Intel’s enhanced ultra-low-voltage processors.

MSI Slider: This runs a full version of Windows 8 on an Intel Core i5 processor, but it seems like it is primarily designed to be used as a touch tablet. When you want a keyboard, you slide the screen back and up. The keyboard is at the front of the underlying dock, so there’s no place to rest your palms and wrists, but if you only want a keyboard occasionally, this might be the design choice which will be available by March, 2013; at USD 1,099.

ASUS Transformer All-In-One: ASUS is going in a totally different direction with one of its convertibles. The Transformer All-In-One looks like a desktop PC running Windows 8. But the 18-inch screen can be pulled from its stand to function as a massive Android tablet. Imagine putting it on your lap to play Plants vs Zombies or stream a movie and its battery will last four to five hours.

Lenovo Horizon 27: Another big statement in convertibles is the Lenovo Horizon 27. This 27-nch touch screen tablet runs Windows 8 with a wireless keyboard and mouse. You can prop it up on your desk for a display or put it on a rolling stand so it lays flat. But the more practical idea is for meeting where people could stand around the tablet and collaborate. Available at USD 1,699.

ASUS Taichi: ASUS announced the Taichi hybrid earlier. It is a dual screen notebook. So you can use it as a notebook when open, a touch tablet when closed, or two people could use it at the same time when open, one on the notebook side and one on the tablet side.

Intel Haswell Chips: One development for convertibles and ultrabooks alike is the chips from Intel. Codenamed Haswell, these new fourth generation Intel Core processors are all about reducing power consumption to improve battery life. Their aim is to double existing battery life up to 13 hours in some devices.

Android Devices and Tablets: Finally, this year will provide a boom in Android tablets. NVIDIA shook things up early when they announced their entry into gaming devices, called Project Shield, which plays Android games. It has a console-quality controller complete with D-pad, face buttons, and can stream video over Wi-Fi. Appliance maker Dacor has a USD 7,500 oven that has an Android tablet ‘baked in.’ On the other end of the spectrum, the Coby has a USD 149 Android tablet. Alcatel has two Android tablets for less than USD 200. And Acer has confirmed a USD 99 Android tablet called the Iconia B1 that’s aimed pretty squarely at newbies and kids. Polaroid has gone whole hog for the under 12 set, releasing a USD 149 ‘Kid Tablet’ loaded with goodies for the aspiring digital photographer or videographer. — Agencies

Charge smartphone with disposable fuel cells

LONDON: Soon, giving your phone a quick charge on the go could get a lot easier than it is today. No longer will we need to carry phone-chargers and spare batteries to keep our phones juiced up.

Developed by Rohm, these disposable fuel-cell chargers are easy to use and seem like a practical concept. With only hydrogen as a byproduct, these disposable chargers power up with the reaction of a metal material and water. Providing each handset about 5W with a single charge, these juice-packs are good enough to keep your phone switched on until you can finally spot a more-permanent charging solution. — Agencies

Remember only the best

When I come to the end of my journey
And I travel my last weary mile
Just forget if you can, that I ever frowned
And remember only the smile
Forget unkind words I have spoken
Remember some good I have done
Forget that I ever had heartache
And remember I’ve had loads of fun
Forget that I’ve stumbled and blundered
And sometimes fell by the way
Remember I have fought some hard battles
And won, ere the close of the day
Then forget to grieve for my going
I would not have you sad for a day
But in summer just gather some flowers
And remember the place where I lay
And come in the shade of evening
When the sun paints the sky in the west
Stand for a few moments beside me
And remember only my best.

— Lyman Hancock

Feeling truly great

All of us want to feel great all the time, who doesn’t? Perhaps there would be none.

However, to start with, we should first begin with thinking positive, then feeling positive, then good, then better till best and, finally, great.

Certainly, we cannot feel great about anything until we feel good and positive about the self within, despite what others say or what negative things that have happened in the past. The idea is not to hide the negative, pretending that it’s not there. Instead we must extract the hidden opportunities from what appears chaotic, unfair and unwanted to us in a given situation. We must not forget the fact that everything that’s happening in our life has a reason for coming our way, trusting that it has a specific purpose. This helps us to maintain a positive outlook that would make us feel satisfied from within, which forms the foundation of feeling great. Feeling great is not a temporary euphoria. It propels us into a constant positive awareness of our self — driven by conscience. This comes when we experience our true self, the identity and resources as inherent facts of our being, not just a hope, or a theory but a reality to be experienced once in a lifetime. In quietness we connect with the reality that anchors our life in such a way that no upheaval can make us a victim. As we gain self-mastery, we feel great and confident in all situations. No excuse of hiding behind ‘because’, ‘if’ and ‘but’ and can deceive us in any way. Instead we say: ‘I can – let’s do it – now.’

So, when we have the courage to dare, to experiment, and not fear the outcome, we feel great as we haven’t simply done the usual complaining, blaming and regretting. Spiritual perspectives that emerge from quietness enable us to drive towards inner self and perceive the positive, the good, the better, the best and the great, enabling us to reach greater heights of consciousness.

Editor’s note: Rajyogi Brahmakumar Nikunj ji is a writer at www.brahmakumaris.com and can be reached at nikunjji@brahmakumaris.in.

Expect The Expected

Five new Apple products that may be launched this year

Analysts Gene Munster and Douglas Clinton of Piper Jaffray took a stab at predicting what used to be unpredictable: Apple’s product calendar. Their report includes a number of not-so-prominent product upgrades, which lead Piper’s analysts to the conclusion that 2013 will set the stage for bigger changes in the product lineup in 2014 and beyond.

Apple Radio in March

Media discussion surrounding Apple Radio has been ongoing since October, so an expected release in early 2013 would come as no surprise. The free radio service — which would make money through ad revenues — will most likely be part of iTunes and offer major competition to the likes of Pandora. Piper analysts believe that Apple Radio will be unveiled alongside another product launch in March.

iPad mini with Retina Display in March

Apple sold more than three million iPads with retina display over a single weekend in March, and between eight to 10 million iPad mini devices are reported to have shipped by the end of 2012, according to Digitimes. By combining the best of both products, Apple is hoping to maintain its place atop of the growing tablet market. The timing would make sense — Apple launched new iPads in March of 2011 (iPad 2) and 2012 (iPad with retina display).

iOS 7 in June

Apple users were outraged with the iOS 6 upgrade that eliminated YouTube and Google Maps apps. Apple’s maps app was so bad, in fact, that CEO Tim Cook issued an apology to customer in September and even encouraged them to try competitor’s apps until the problem could be resolved. Factor in the management shakeup that resulted in the firing of Mobile Software Chief, Scott Forstall, and the pressure is on Apple to come back strong with iOS 7. Look for Passbook, the mobile wallet feature of Apple’s operating system, to play a more prominent role in the upgrade.

iPhone 5S in June

Munster and Clinton believe a new iPhone 5S will come out in September, although some reports have pegged a launch date as June. The iPhone 5 was a September release; so was the iPhone 4S in 2011. Regardless of the date, users can expect an updated camera and better battery life. The 5S will took the same as the iPhone 5 — same size and width but the new stuff will all be inside.

Apple Television in November

Not just the digital receiver box already available as Apple TV — an actual Apple Television. Munster and Clinton predict an predict an Apple TV will measure 42 to 55 inches and cost between USD 1,500 and USD 2,000. Similarly sized plasma and LCD TVs from Vizio, Samsung and Panasonic all clock in at under USD 1,000 but Apple has never shied away from offering high quality at high cost.