Category Archives: Personal Empowerment

Lisa A. Beach, USA TODAY Back to School magazine Published 8:18 a.m. ET July 15, 2017 | Updated 8:18 a.m. ET July 15, 2017

Girls work together to examine properties of soil as part of an activity at the Girls Inc. program in Lynn, Mass.(Photo: Provided by Girls Inc.)

When 9-year-old Jelani Jones discovered a passion for creating natural bath products, she decided to launch her own business Lani Boo Bath in October 2016. But when she needed help creating a more structured approach to grow her business, Jelani turned to SheEO, a Springfield, Va.-based mentoring and enrichment company that provides entrepreneurial training.

SheEO joins a growing number of girl empowerment organizations that share a common goal: to help young girls realize their dreams.

We work to empower the CEO in every girl to take steps towards business ownership and community leadership, explains DeShawn Robinson-Chew, the groups CEO and founder. Our hands-on, immersion program helps young ladies be a she while becoming an EO (executive officer). We foster both personal and professional development.

Founded in 2003, SheEO partners with schools, churches and youth centers to encourage budding entrepreneurs ages 8-16 through summer camps, classes, after-school clubs and individual coaching. With guidance from SheEO professionals, entrepreneurs-in-training plan and pitch business ideas, set goals, strategize and connect with like-minded peers.

While some girls need help on their path to entrepreneurship, others just need a helping hand.

When she was 11, Diamond Jones was living in extreme hardship in Chattanooga, Tenn. Her mom was ill, her dad was in jail and she was homeless. She turned to her local Girls Inc. organization for much-needed support and guidance as she overcame her struggles. Now 18, she recently graduated high school with a 3.8 GPA and is the first in her family to go to college; she will attend the University of Memphis in the fall.

Headquartered in New York, Girls Inc. taps into its network of more than 1,200 sites across the U.S. and Canada to serve 140,000 girls ages 6-18 each year. Its overarching purpose? To inspire girls to be strong, smart and bold by providing direct assistance and advocacy.

We are on the prevention side, says Judy Vredenburgh, Girls Inc. president and CEO. We create strong, long-lasting mentorship between girls and our professionals done in a sisterhood of support.

To accomplish this, Girls Inc. offers programs covering media literacy, healthy relationships, sports and initiatives like Operation SMART, which focuses on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

Another nonprofit, Girls Who Code, takes the STEM-focused approach even further. It strives to build the largest pipeline of future female engineers in the U.S. by providing free after-school clubs and summer immersion camps to girls wanting to learn computer programming.

Since 2012, the organization has grown from serving 20 girls in New York to 40,000 in 50 states.

In both our summer immersion program and our clubs, girls work on a final project using technology to solve an issue that matters to them. That personal relevancy is crucial in sparking and sustaining girls interest in the field, says founder and CEO Reshma Saujani.

As todays girls battle gender-specific stereotypes and biases, they can lean on girl empowerment organizations along the way.

We need to start challenging our girls to step outside of their comfort zone, to push girls to be brave and reward them for trying, Saujani says.

USA TODAY Back To School 2017 magazine(Photo: Studio Gannett)

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People naturally seek ways to improve their lives, relieve suffering and become happier, healthier and more vibrant. The traditional healthcare approach to wellness is to prescribe external treatment based on medical practice guidelines with less attention to a clients personal needs, strengths and challenges. Integrative health coaching helps people identify their innate wisdom for wellness based on personal mind, body and spirit needs. This partnership gives clients energy and desire to seek and find their own way through ongoing challenges of life.

Integrative health and wellness coaching is an emerging field with deep roots in psychology, professional coaching, and expertise in health promotion. Successful integrative health coaching motivates clients to decide what is most important to change and identify specific interventions to utilize their personal gifts and strengths to implement desired change. When a client creates behavior change while building self-efficacy, knowledge and resources, they become autonomous keepers of their health.

The integrative health coach inspires a person to see a new view of self, empowers self-fulfillment and hope, and enables a process of personal growth. Through a process of identifying a specific need, a measurable goal and prioritizing a realistic plan to reach the goal, the health coach supports transformative change toward wellness. Offering permission and power to gain autonomy creates resilience and empowerment. Through personal empowerment, people can transform their lives.

As a nurse practitioner and integrative health and wellness coach, I partner with people to increase self-efficacy and interpersonal skills that lead to fulfilling their goals for wellness and reduce the effects of illness.

I work with individuals who are looking to enhance their wellbeing, manage health challenges, illicit change and create a new vision for their life.

Dawn Ritter is an APRN CNP BC Family Nurse Practitioner and Integrative Health and Wellness Coach. She is the owner of Begin Again: Health & Wellbeing LLC. She can be reached at 507-676-7308

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HEALTH: Integrative Health Coaching may be an option for you - Southernminn.com

On a warm Thursday evening, kids from the Mayfair neighborhood of San Jose's East Side congregate at the Mexican Heritage Plaza pond. They're here to receive certificates from art instructors Roberto Romo and his wife, Elba Raquel Martinez. The students' original artwork is displayed on tables while street sign prototypesmade from their artworkhang from a wire encircling the patio.

The kids are coming together out of local pride to make art and beautify the streets. Thanks to the School of Arts and Culture at Mexican Heritage Plaza and Somos Mayfair, a local community booster organization, the idea began when locals pounded the pavement to identify priorities in their neglected neighborhood. The need for public art, community beautification and the expression of identity became immediate concerns. All three of those key points are now coming to life through Voices of the Mayfair, a project in which the prototype signage might someday appear on the streets.

Featuring bright, colorful imagery with personal statements or sayings painted by the artists, the vertical signs function as tools of personal empowerment. Some feature sayings like "Girl Power" and "Yes we can," while others offer more introspective reflection or simple imagery with words like, "Evolution" or "Strive for Success." Collectively, the signs serve as vehicles to beautify the neighborhood and inspire local residents, as well as provide an element of surprise, satirizing the more negative language used in San Jose transportation signage.

"You always see those signs, 'no parking,' 'no dumping,' no this, no that," says Tamara Alvarado, director of the School of Arts and Culture. "Everything's a 'no.' So what we're doing, many of these signs have positive imagery, positive messages. Everything is asset-based, power-based, internal identification in a positive way."

Voices of the Mayfair is part of the larger Celebrate Mayfair Project, a yearlong series of events unfolding at the Mexican Heritage Plaza in order to connect Mayfair residents to each other through arts and cultural experiences. For example, each month, Cafecito, a regular pop-up gathering, takes place in the garden area of the plaza. Poets and musicians perform on the platform in the middle of the pond area. Coffee, pan dulce and chocolate are served. Tables devoted to community resources are scattered throughout the property.

The most recent Cafecito coincided with the opening reception for Voices of the Mayfair. Tea Lyfe from Vietnam Town brought horchata mixed with Vietnamese coffee, a drink you'd only see on the East Side, at least for now.

Taking the microphone, Romo and Martinez rallied the students, articulating the collective identity of the artists and how they can all come together and create a dialog through art and expressing themselves, and make the streets a better-looking environment. Much of the Mayfair neighborhood is covered in graffiti and doesn't necessarily foster a positive image. But if artists can join together, beautify the area and simultaneously tap into the pride in themselves and their neighborhood, then everyone wins.

Community liaison Rosa Angelica Castaeda says such a process is the most empowering aspect of the project. When people in Mayfair come together, learn about each other and share with each other, a normally disregarded San Jose neighborhood comes to life.

"It's a way to really come out and shine and show people who we are," Castaeda says. "We're not a negative space. We're full of life and potential."

The plan is to install the art-signs throughout the Mayfair neighborhood, on utility poles, walls, parking lots and in other public places one would normally see standard signage.

However, when it comes to getting final permission, the process might not be a quick so easy, as multiple layers of grim, foreboding bureaucracy exist at City Hall. That won't stop Alvarado, who says she brings years of experience in navigating the obstacles.

"City departments tend to start with a 'no,' so our role as an arts organization is to try and work the city to a 'yes,'" she says. "They'll have demands like anti-graffiti-proofing, weather-proofing, who's going to maintain them. But all that stuff can be dealt with. Our job as artists is to give an opportunity for our community to express themselvespositively."

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East Side Art Project Celebrates Spirit of Mayfair Neighborhood - Silicon Valley's Metro

Following the successofher ballad Praying her first sincetrack since 2013 Kesha has released Woman, a free spirited anthem aimed at empowering her gender. Thevideo features Kesha clad in a country-inspired outfit as she boasts about making her own money and declares she is a motherfucking woman.

And now, as the release of her new LP entitled Rainbow approaches, Kesha has used her time to advocate female empowerment and speak about discovering inner strength in an essay for Rolling Stone.Her touching statement focuses on her newest track and how the song helped her proclaim her independence.

Musically, I really couldnt be more proud of this record, wrote Kesha. I think that this album sonically sounds more like the music I listen to than anything else Ive ever done in the past. With influences includingIggy Pop, Rolling Stones, the Beach Boys, T Rex, James Brown, the Beatles, Sweet and Dolly Parton, the singers newest record will be her most diverseone yet.

With her latest song, Kesha hopes fans appreciate its imperfections, such asthe laugh track placed sporadically throughout the track.I wanted this song to capture that organic, raw, soulful sound and keep the imperfect moments in the recordings, she wrote.

The essay reveals that her inspiration for writing Woman came at an unusual time while she was sitting in traffic. The singer explained she felt urged to screamIm a motherfucking woman, creating the path for empowering song.

I have always been a feminist, but for much of my life I felt like a little girl trying to figure things out. In the past few years, I have felt like a woman more than ever. I just feel the strength and awesomeness and power of being female. We hold the key to humanity. We decide if we populate the Earth, and if so, with whom. We could just decide not to have any more kids and the human race would be over. That is power. I just really fucking love being a woman and I wanted an anthem for anyone else who wants to yell about being self-sufficient and strong. (Yes, men, this song can be for you too.)

Kesha also uses her essay to express her appreciation for her co-writers and explains how their help made creating her new music a joyful experience. I really have to thank [them]for helping me through the past few years and making writing songs a beautiful thing again, she wrote. Both of those men made my art/work safe and fun, and every session with the two of them was so healing.

Kesha ended her essay with a personal note to her fans, telling them there are a lot of emotions on my new albumRainbowbut the wild fun energy that first inspired me to perform has not, and will never, go away.

Her journey toward self discovery follows an ugly legal battle with former producer Dr. Luke over abuse and sexual assault allegations which forced her to stop recording after an injunction was denied. Keshas empowering anthem and personal essay seem to serve asa reclamation of her own independence and serve as a reminder of her confidence and inner strength, even after tragedy.

Watch the video for Keshas latest track, Woman, here. Rainbow is due out August 11.

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Public Security Minister, Khemraj Ramjattan addressing a University of Guyana-organised Turkeyen-Tain Talks on Youth Crime and Violence

Guyana hopes to surpass Trinidad and Tobago, and Jamaica in the amount of monies it gives to youth empowerment and employment by scrapping a multi-billion dollar subsidy to the state-owned Sugar Corporation (Guysuco) and injecting more funds from oil revenues when production begins in 2020, Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan says.

This why we are making sure that the bailouts now that we are having on sugar will have to come to a halt and understand that, he said to applause Wednesday night at a University of Guyana-organised public forum on Youth Crime and Violence.

We will not be bailing out sugar and we have a plan for that and so there will be some more money that can go into some other sectors and rest assured that we are going to up that 0.7 percent to more. I cannot tell you how much more No, no, no I am being realistic here. We have to be realistic. If the economy produces much more and the price of sugar gets up high, youll expect us challenging the other two other countries in the percentage rather than being half Jamaica and just one-third of Trinidad, he said.

Speaking in his personal capacity, Registrar of the University of Guyana, Dr. Nigel Gravesande highlighted that Guyanas budgetary allocation for direct youth empowerment is 0.7 percent compared to 1.5 percent in Trinidad and Tobago, and 2.3 percent in Jamaica. That is the statistical reality and the most recent UNECLAC (United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean) report that I have seen spoke to a direct correlation in youth violence and economic empowerment, he said at the forum.

Dr. Nigel Gravesande

Gravesande questioned the Public Security Minister about whether there were short-term, medium-term and immediate plans to structure the economy to focus on sustainable youth empowerment through increased monies in annual national budgets.

He reiterated governments position at a time when authorities are grappling to manage the fall-out from last Sundays fire that destroyed the Georgetown Prison on Camp Street. The opposition Peoples Progressive Party Civic (PPPC) has already criticised Ramjattan for using the state of the sugar industry as a scapegoat.

The Public Security Minister acknowledged that more money needs to spent on empowerment, education and employment opportunities for youths. With a number of Guyanas sugar exports not doing well, he said government has had to decide on its priority areas for spending scarce cash.If we have to take our monies and do what is priority by our Cabinet. It does not necessarily mean that importance is not attached to others, he said.

Ramjattan suggested that with more revenues going into the national treasury from oil, Guyana would be able to spend more on a number of areas. Until such time that we have a better day with an oil-stream revenue, well have to start making some serious decisions and we have started that already, he said.

The Public Security Minister said it is time to implement the numerous recommendations contained in several reports on crime and violence among youths in Guyana and the Caribbean. We in the Caribbean, we in Guyana do a lot of reports. Somehow, that has to stop. We have to start utilizing the recommendations in those reports to immediately walk the talk as it were because we sometimes dont do that and we do that to the detriment of all of us he said.

Painting a picture of the reality confronting authorities, he said youths are affected by unemployment, poverty, alcohol and drug consumption- youths smoking marijuana as early as 11 years old.

Concerns were also raised about virtual illiteracy to the extent that only one in every five youths detained can read and there are also declining performances at high school and university among males . We have a number of things in these reports from which we have to move on, he said.

Ramjattan said authorities also have to address poor parenting, reduce risk factors and ensure that sport facilities ate made readily available to youths.

The state of youths has been thrown in the spotlight following an attempted bank robbery allegedly involving two qualified professionals and a number of members of the Guyana Police Force.

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Guyana hopes to invest more cash in youth empowerment from scrapped sugar subsidy, oil revenues- Ramjattan - Demerara Waves

Ally Garrett, a 29-year-old body-positive or "fat acceptance" activist, has a tattoo on her left thigh that helps explain why she's so passionate about posting selfies. It shows a yellow rose above a big red heart emblazoned with a single word: MYSELF. It's inky testimony to the millennial conviction that loving yourself, and being public about it, is nothing to be embarrassed about. It would have horrified my grandmother, fond of frosty Calvinist maxims along the lines of "Self-praise is no recommendation".

Garrett, whose right thigh shows Kim Kardashian as a madonna, meets me on a clear day in Sydney to talk about the world's continuing preoccupation with selfies, a passing fad that refuses, doggedly, to pass. It's how we get on to the separate, but not unrelated, subject of the self-love movement and radical self-love gurus like Gala Darling. Darling, once a depressed New Zealander with an eating disorder and now happy head of a mini self-love empire, is the author of a seminal text on the subject. Her message takes up where the '80s and '90s self-esteem movements left off, and declares that you are not merely adequate; you are "magnificent", "a shimmering, exploding supernova" who can have a life "bursting with magic, miracles, bliss and adventure", once you learn how to "fall madly in love with yourself". You can see how posting selfies could be a natural step in that empowering romance.

But they can also be an act of defiance. For a fat girl teased at school, for a fat woman living in a thinworshipping world, it took courage for Ally Garrett to post her first bikini selfies on social media some years back. Now there's no stopping her. A stream of selfies shows her in bikinis, sheer black lingerie, with friends, with cats, on rocks, on planes, looking powerful or pimpled, saucy in eyeliner. Even her phone conspires.

"I have a photo editing app and if you haven't taken a selfie that day, it sends you a notification," she says, laughing. "It's like, 'You look gorgeous today. Take a selfie.' " So how many does she take? "In a selfie session, if I'm feeling good or feeling a way that I want to share or document, then I could take 50. Then I'd narrow them down to four or five favourites and ask my housemate or my sister which one I should put up. They're always like, 'They all look exactly the same', and I'm like, 'No! They're so different.' "

After talking to Garrett, I try taking 50 selfies in a sitting. I only get to 11 before I'm pooped. The results can best be described as disappointing, despite taking pointers from sources like Kylie Jenner's Five Tips for Scoring the Perfect Selfie. I suspect the problem is that I'm not a luminous young woman. And I'm an amateur, unlike Garrett, who strikes a gleaming, professional pose the moment the phone is lifted. She is also pretty gorgeous and confident, even if she does worry excessively about her fringe. Of course, there are conventionally plain women, plain fat women and older women who post selfies but news flash they are wildly outnumbered and out-"liked" by the pretty, slim ones.

Selfie trends have come and gone since the arrival of the front-facing camera (introduced into mobile phones in 2003, although selfies didn't really become a cultural phenomenon until the iPhone4 included one in 2010). A walk down memory lane: #babybjorn, #duckface, #iwokeuplikethis, #bathroom, #elevator, #after-sex, #sexyselfie, #grandmaselfies, #dangerousanimal. Even the sex-toy industry got in on the act, with a selfie stick for orgasm selfies: "a powerful insertable vibrator featuring a built-in illuminated video camera". (Some buyers found it disappointingly medical.)

The selfie trend itself, however, shows no signs of slowing. We just can't get enough of ourselves. It's hard to come by accurate figures but in 2016, Google calculated that more than 24 billion selfies were posted in 2015 on its Google Photos app alone. In 2014, the company claimed that Android devices were capturing 93 million selfies every day. One estimate claims that 74 per cent of all images on Snapchat are selfies and that 1000 selfies are uploaded to Instagram every 10 seconds.

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Scores of scholars have picked over the phenomenon, analysing everything from selfie-taking at funerals or Auschwitz, to visual cues like head position, emotional expression, gender and age. On average, women post far more selfies than men until they hit about 40, at which point the trend reverses. (No surprise to me.) They also tilt their heads more.

Apart from just being fun, selfies can be a powerful political statement, says Garrett, who positions herself as a "fat femme" (for feminine) on the queer spectrum. Every minutely calibrated shade of identity politics, body politics, feminism, etc, can now be found chatting online, and selfies are part of the dialogue. Take #VBO, for example, meaning visible belly outline.

"The fat activism movement started," Garrett explains, "but then there was criticism within the movement, along the lines of, 'Yeah, this is great but often the really popular plus-size bloggers are still hourglass figures.' So then this movement started for #VBO primarily fat women, or fat femmes, some non-binary fatties taking pictures where you can see the belly more predominantly."

Who knew? Selfies, then, are a means to many ends, although even Garrett admits people tend to post ones that show them, or their magical lives, to advantage. "That sits alongside the expectation that social media is your highlight reel, not your real life."

Rebecca Carnegie*, 26, works in fashion media, where it's expected people will use selfies to build a "personal brand". She agrees that they have become an essential tool in art-directing an online fantasy life. Left to her own devices, Carnegie would never take a selfie. Her friends, on the other hand, are hooked on them, sometimes posting between 15 and 20 a day. "Whenever we go out, they insist on taking them before we leave, while we're in the Uber, at the venue, in the bathroom if it's nice, on the streets, with our cocktails, with our dessert, on the way to wherever else we're going. Sometimes it's of us as a group, sometimes it's of themselves. I think they like to have a mix so it looks like they're not just obsessed with their own image."

WE RE NOT NECESSARILY MORE SELF-ABSORBED THAN PREVIOUS GENERATIONS. WE JUST HAVE THE TECHNOLOGY TO BROADCAST THAT SELF-ABSORPTION.

Youth, of course, has always been in love with its gilded self. As one 28-year-old tells me, "We're not necessarily more self-absorbed than previous generations. We just have the technology to broadcast that selfabsorption." But it's also true that the pressure to project an enviable, successful life has become relentless. "Social media has made it really important to live out your life online," says Carnegie. "It's not enough to just be there, in the moment. People like everyone to know they have a great life and great friends and are always having a great time." It's the downside of being told you're really a shimmering supernova: you can feel obliged to look like one 24/7.

Carnegie says many of her friends are convinced a selfie is a powerful act "not just taking it but sharing it, having it out there in the world"

"And there are a lot of reasons to do it. One friend broke up with her boyfriend recently and she's posting a lot. She wants to keep up that appearance of not being brokenhearted, in case the ex-boyfriend is looking at her social media. And you do get a lot of data about who's looking at your pictures, so you can tell."

The "likes" are reinforcing, but they're also pretty meaningless, Carnegie says. That hasn't stopped people from wanting them or taking it personally if they don't get many.

"Numbers are so powerful and selfies do tend to get more likes. With my friends, I make sure I like every selfie they post because I don't want them to ask me why I didn't."

"I DON'T see taking selfies as being vain. For years I hated my reflection and now I love it! The curves of my cheeks, my tiny little nose, my lips that form my unique smile it's all me and I love it! So I will take as many selfies as I damn well please. I encourage you to do the same!" @curvykatpsm

"To an outsider this must seem like such a boring and selfindulgent IG account because it's just pic after pic of me. But to me it is a place that gives me a sense of pride and achievement Through these selfies and snaps I am garnering a true love and appreciation for my body. For someone who has spent their life feeling nothing but shame and disgust about their body, that's monumental." @chocolatecurvesmodel

(Posts published on a "body positive" site.)

When the Oxford Dictionary made "selfie" word of the year in 2013, ahead of "twerk", columnists, academics, misogynists, feminists and bloggers of all stripes had something to say about the apparently innocuous act of taking a photo of yourself. Did selfies indicate clinical narcissism? Just another Me Decade with added me-ness or a cry for help from a generation lost in a celebrity swamp? How could selfies be said to "empower" or build communities when they thrive on consumer capitalism's great drivers: comparison, envy and fear?

The debate goes on. Selfies as a worrying sign of the times are touched on in a recent book by journalist Will Storr, called Selfie: How We Became so Self-obsessed and What It's Doing to Us. Among other things, Storr takes a searching look at the role of hyper-individualists like Ayn Rand, of neoliberalism and the evangelistic selfesteem programs that built up a head of steam last century, some cultish, some even state-sanctioned. What are the consequences of taking such a confected pride in ourselves, but also living in an age of judgemental perfectionism? If all this, playing out in selfies and social media, is supposed to build people up all those likes, comments, all that hyperbolic feedback then why are eating disorders, depression, suicide and self-harming on the rise? Why do many studies show people feel worse about themselves after they've been on social media sites?

And what message do selfies send to women in particular? Yes, there are all those body-positive hashtags, but even there the focus is still on women's appearance. It's hard to ignore the mountain of selfie sites where "hotness" remains the revered female commodity. All those teenage girls needing to hear, over and over, "OMG, you're so pretty/hot/gorgeous!!!!"

Cause for concern? Not according to writers like New Yorker Rachel Syme, herself a devoted selfie taker, and also young and attractive, it's perhaps relevant, although risky, to note. In 2015, Syme wrote an impassioned online ode to selfies, witheringly disposing of selfie haters along the way, her sights often trained on middle-aged men, misogynists and old-school feminists.

Syme's eloquent panegyric, Selfie, claims that dismissing them as narcissism, or just silly, misses the point. Selfies, she says, are empowering, creative, diverse and an important plank in the revolutionary selflove movement ("revolutionary" because it makes a change from women hating themselves). In selfie-land, women finally have control over the how, when and where of their own image. Selfies hand power to the invisible, the marginalised, the doubting.

"Those who see selfies as signs of the end times," she writes, "are focusing on the outliers; the bad actors. The people who accidentally fall into a waterfall and die in the pursuit of the perfect shot. The kids who get addicted to the digital feedback loop and start relying on hearts to get up in the morning. The moms and dads who take selfies when they should be watching their babies; the seething loners who use their selfies as a way to spread hate (if this hate spills over into violence, then selfies will surely get the blame)... What the critics don't focus on is how to decode the language of selfies when they are being used correctly: what the people in them are trying to do with their portraiture."

To New Yorker Rachel Syme, selfies are both empowering and creative. Photo: Instagram/Rachsyme

As part of her essay, Syme sought and received brave, often potent, selfies from people undergoing chemo, say, or heartbreak; evidence of a selfie world beyond #Ihot. Indeed, Syme makes selfie-posting sound like a noble act, horribly misunderstood by those who think it's vanity or a kind of Zelig-like me-ism.

"When a young woman takes a picture alone, in a museum," she admonishes, "those who don't take selfies will scowl, thinking that she is ignoring the art that surrounds her. They will wonder why she cannot stop and breathe in the high culture without the safety blanket of her phone. But maybe, just maybe, this youth is someone who feels less than welcome in this museum, finding it an institution that is cold and sterile and enforcing of a visual language that doesn't always include faces that look like hers. Maybe it is a big deal to finally see herself there, standing in the same frame as the grand artistic canon."

Of course, it isn't so very different from having your picture taken standing next to the Three Sisters or Niagara Falls. It's just that you're the one doing the taking. And the posting, sometimes many times a day. And wanting those likes. Isn't that just another way of encouraging approval-seeking?

"If you put a selfie online," Ally Garrett acknowledges, "and there's an element of 'click like', you are seeking validation in some form. Helen Razer wrote a piece on that, saying, no, selfies aren't actually empowering because you're still saying please like me. But then, do we expect women to grow up in a culture that says those things but to be resilient enough to not want validation or not want to feel beautiful? So it brings up this odd predicament of, 'Be beautiful, but don't enjoy it. Do things to your appearance, but make it look effortless.' "

SHE'S RIGHT, of course, in that selfies and social media are rife with contradictions and mixed messages. A way to take control. A way to be enslaved by old paradigms, and now by your own hand. A way to be "authentic". A way to fake it. Selfies have become increasingly un-self-like, thanks to filters, photo-altering apps like Facetune and aids like built-in light-up phone cases, as recommended by selfie queens like Kim Kardashian.

Emma Dockery, 34, is a Melbourne casting agent. She looks at pictures of people all day long, but technology, and the obsession with celebrity posing, are making her job that much harder. Early on, she had to deal with the rash of photoshopped studio portraits. Now it's crazy selfies.

"Quite often you'll ask for a selfie and you'll get a photo taken at some absolutely extreme angle, you know, extreme Princess Di eyes up into the camera, with only the smallest part of their forehead showing," she says. "For a while, I was constantly getting these Snapchat selfies, where they'd have this ethereal glow or their faces would be totally obscured by a cloud of golden butterflies, or they'd send one with the dog filter on. So it was like, 'Okay, I have absolutely no idea what you look like, but if we're casting for a cartoon dog, well, you're it!'" She's saddened that young girls don't feel they can be themselves. "You're looking for a real, warts-and-all teenager and when you get an extreme, pout-lipped selfie back, you do wonder, 'Oh heck, is this how you feel you have to look for us?' "

A lot of Dockery's friends are mad selfie-posters but she's the opposite. We talk about what happens to the plain-looking girls. "Well, that's me," she says, laughing. "I won't post. My face is nowhere on social media because how could I compete with the babes out there with 2000 hits and 'Omigod, you're so beautiful!!'? Some of us aren't, so we're just going to stick with posting photos of what we're eating, and dogs. And captions that show how funny you can be about a chocolate."

I ask if she thinks selfies are narcissistic or useful. "If you want to present yourself to the world through photographs you take, then go for gold," she says. "But in a world dominated by a lot of male gaze, I do wonder whether taking selfies of yourself is the way to combat that. It's one of those areas where it has grown so quickly, everyone is struggling to figure out what it all means. It's like early feminist debate about pornography is it good, is it bad, are we for it or against it? If you're creating yourself, if you consent to it, does that make it fine?"

Dockery offers all this warily, worried she's going to step on one of the landmines that litter the landscape of contemporary feminism. She can see that posting selfies might be a powerful act, a brave act, but she also has reservations. "Part of me thinks a lot of it is just people putting photos of themselves out there, hoping someone will write a nice comment about them," she says. "That makes me feel diabolically sad for where we are, especially as women."

There is something poignant, at least, about some selfie-posting. "Selfies are all about presenting a face to the world," agrees 32-year-old Mimi Johnson*, as she recalls a work trip to Bali. "There I was, staying in the most beautiful villa, with my own pool and an amazing tropical garden. All I was doing was spending hours on these lilos in the pool, taking selfies and trying not to fall in with my phone. I took hundreds, wanting to get the perfect one.

"Finally I thought, this is stupid, I'm in this incredible place and I'm not actually enjoying it. All I'm doing is worrying about presenting this image to other people. 'Hey, look at me having the perfect holiday.' "

She thinks part of her motivation was simply wanting to connect. "I don't think it was narcissism, really. I think I was a little lonely and a little bored. When people post back, it's like an endorphin hit that instant moment of validation. And now there's this hard-wired need, compulsion, to share. It's like you haven't enjoyed an experience unless you've put it on social media."

THERE IS nothing as simultaneously familiar and strange as one's own reflection. You have only to stare at yourself, or even a picture of yourself, for more than a minute to have that weird "Who the hell are you?" feeling.

In 1970, an American psychologist called Gordon Gallup devised a test, called the mirror self-recognition test, to assess self-awareness in other species. As part of the study, chimps were anaesthetised, marked with an odourless dye and, once awake, put in front of a mirror. If they touched the dyed spot on their body, it suggested they realised that the reflection was of themselves.

A lot of species have since failed the test. Many animals seem to think the reflection is another of their kind, but that has its own effect. It helps with loneliness. Mirrors can have a calming effect on different animals, particularly isolated ones. Here is a creature like them, mimicking their behaviour. Echoes of Narcissus, who didn't realise it was his own beautiful and responsive image that he had fallen in love with in the pool.

As Gallup and his colleague wrote in 1970: "The animal confronting its own reflection has complete control over the behaviour of the image, and therefore the image is always attentive and ready to reciprocate when the animal is."

I can't help thinking that is part of the appeal of selfies. Here's someone just like you, smiling at you in a loving, happy way, full of the milk of human you-ness, and ready to pose and click a hundred times for that perfect shot of you. A constant, forgiving companion. Then you send the image out there, into the vast, jostling, lonely universe of cyberspace. You hear your own echo, see your own shadow, confirm you exist.

*Some names have been changed.

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Selfies: Rampant narcissism or healthy empowerment? - The Sydney Morning Herald

WASHINGTON, DC U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-05), U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.), Bill Cassidy, MD (R-Louis.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), and Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and U.S. Reps. Diane Black (R-Tenn.), Chris Collins (R-N.Y.), and Peter Welch (D-Vt.) on Tuesday reintroduced legislation to encourage Medicare beneficiaries to create electronic advance directives, legal documents that allow patients to clearly articulate their preferences for their medical care should they suffer from a debilitating illness or condition.

The Medicare Choices Empowerment and Protection Act would offer a small, one-time financial incentive to encourage Medicare beneficiaries to provide clear legal guidance to their medical providers and family members should they become incapable of speaking for themselves.

This legislation would incentivize Medicare beneficiaries themselves to create and register a certified and secure advance directive online. In addition, the bill would provide beneficiaries with access to a Web site with model advance directives representing a range of options.

According to a 2006 study by the Pew Research Center, 70 percent of Americans have thought about their health care preferences should they be faced with a life-threatening illness or injury, but only one-third have completed an advance directive.

Under the Medicare Choices Empowerment and Protection Act, Medicare beneficiaries would be able to voluntarily create and register an electronic advance directive with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) at any time.

Advance directives would be created through, and maintained by, outside organizations certified by CMS, and could be modified or terminated at any time by the beneficiary.

An advance directive would include any written statement that outlines the kind of treatment and care a beneficiary wants or does not want under certain conditions, and can include identification of a health care proxy. Beneficiaries would also receive a small, one-time incentive for registering an electronic advance directive.

To address concerns about confidentiality, the Medicare Choices Empowerment and Protection Act requires both CMS and outside groups maintaining advance directives to hold the highest standards for privacy and security protection as well as system functionality.

CMS would only keep track of the certified organization through which a beneficiary has created an advance directive and would not keep a database of these documents. The bill does not interfere with any state laws governing advance directives.

Read a one-page summary of the legislation here.

Every person has a right to determine their own end-of-life care, said Rep. Thompson. This bill will help put Medicare patients in charge their own end-of-life care decisions by providing them with the tools they need to direct their own care. I worked on this issue in the California State Senate, and I am proud to continue this effort to empower patients.

I am proud to introduce this bipartisan legislation with my colleagues to empower patients to make their own health decisions on their own terms, said Sen. Coons. This bill will encourage more Americans to think about what kind of medical care they wish to receive should they not be able speak for themselves, which will reduce confusion and heartache and allow patients to spend their final days as they see fit. The breadth of supporting organizations just reinforces the overwhelming need to encourage people to have these difficult, but critically important conversations.

"This legislation gives patients greater power and incentive to consult with her or his Doctor to decide end of life issues, said Dr. Cassidy.

Empowering patients to control their own health care decisions is an important personal priority of mine. As a doctor, Ive learned that the best patient relationships are partnerships with doctors providing information, so patients can make the best informed decisions, said Sen. Barrasso. This bill will help more Medicare patients communicate their personal decisions to both their families and health care providers. This will ensure that more patients get the care at the end of their life that they want.

Life-threatening illnesses and injuries are devastating for both patients and their loved ones, Sen. Bennet said. Advance care planning would provide seniors the support they need to manage their end-of-life care when they are most vulnerable. By encouraging seniors to make proactive plans, family members will face less confusion and more Americans will have ownership over their health care decisions.

Allowing patients to communicate their wishes with caregivers empowers them to take charge of their health care in the event they are unable to speak for themselves. By encouraging Medicare beneficiaries to plan ahead, their personal wishes are honored and made a priority, said Rep. Black. I am very proud to sponsor a bipartisan piece of legislation that keeps patients rights at the forefront of treatment based on their own values, not the priorities of the government or their doctors. As a nurse, I have too often seen families go through tremendously painful situations while making decisions for their loved one, and it is my hope that this bill offers some peace of mind in difficult circumstances.

This is an important piece of legislation that allows the very personal wishes of an individual to be respected when it comes to their care, said Rep. Collins. This bill will help ease the burden on loved ones and would provide clear guidance to healthcare providers when an individual has lost the ability to make and clearly communicate their desires.

Advance directives empower seniors to specify their health care preferences well in advance of a debilitating or terminal illness, said Rep. Welch. Having this important discussion with families and doctors in advance will give them peace of mind knowing that their wishes will be met should they not be able to make their own treatment decisions.

As staunch advocates for the patients we serve and our profession, we support legislation that empowers patients to plan in advance for the unforeseen and unimaginable. This bill would encourage Medicare beneficiaries to create advance directives to ensure individuals have provided clear guidance to their medical providers and family members about their health care decisions. This is why ANA applauds the reintroduction of the Medicare Choices Empowerment and Protection Act, said ANA President Pamela F. Cipriano, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN.

The bill is supported by the National Right to Life Committee, Coalition to Transform Advanced Care, National Partnership for Hospice Innovation, American Nurses Association, Third Way, Healthwise, MyDirectives, Center for Practical Bioethics, Get Real Health, Coordinated Care Health Network, Cerner and Altarium, American College of Emergency Physicians, and Zen Hospice.

The full text of the bill is available here.

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Lake County News | California - Bipartisan members of Congress ... - Lake County News

Why tax exemption on personal hygiene products for women is crucial The Hindu I have argued in Parliament on many an occasion to deliberate on issues of women's empowerment using data on the dismal percentage of women in the workforce, the high percentage of school dropouts among girls, and the rise in gender crimes. and more »

Originally posted here:

Why tax exemption on personal hygiene products for women is crucial - The Hindu

Photo Credit: Shutterstock / Kamira

The number one killer of Americans under the age of 50 isnt cancer, or suicide, or road traffic accidents.Its drug overdoses. They have quadrupled since 1999.More than 52,000 Americansdied from drug overdoses last year. Even in the UK, where illegal drug use is on the decline, overdose deaths are peaking, havinggrown by 10% from 2015 to 2016 alone. The war on drugs continues but its a war were losing.

Most drug-related deaths result from the use of opioids, the molecules that are marketed as painkillers by pharmaceutical companies and heroin by drug lords. Opioids, whatever their source, bond with receptors all over our bodies. Opioid receptors evolved to protect us from panic, anxiety and pain a considerate move by the oft-callous forces of evolution. But the gentle impact of natural opioids, produced by our own bodies, resembles a summer breeze compared to the hurricane of physiological disruption caused by drugs designed to mimic their function.

Most street opiates (including heroin) are now laced or replaced with fentanyl thedrug that killed the singer Prince and its analogues, far more powerful than heroin and so cheap that drug-dealing profits are skyrocketing at about the same rate as overdose deaths. The UKs National Crime Agency said that traces of fentanyl have been found in46 people who died this year. Users dont know what theyre getting and they take too much. Fentanyl is recognised as a primary driver of the overdose epidemic.

Societys response has been understandably desperate but generally wrongheaded. We start by blaming addicts. Then we blame the pharmaceutical companies for developing and marketing painkillers. We blame doctors, for overprescribing opiates, which pressures them to underprescribe, which drives patients to street drugs cheaper, home delivery via the internet, and zero quality control. We say were going to reignite the war on drugs, recognised by experts as a colossal failure from the 1930s onward. We also continue to view addiction as a chronic brain disease, so the benefits of education, social support, psychological intervention, and personal empowerment receive far too little attention. Yes, addiction involves brain change, butongoing medicalisation does little to combat it.

There has been some progress: There are pockets of activity here and there where prescribed opiates like methadone and Suboxone are made more easily available to addicts. Thats a good thing, because increasingly desperate addicts are often driven to the street, where theyre most likely die. The availability of naloxone, which works as an antidote, is slowly wending its way through the drug policy jungle, providing a simple resource todeal with an overdose on the spot. But in most segments of most communities in the US and elsewhere, it is still too difficult to obtain.

There are smarter answers at hand but also smarter questions to be asked. The overdose epidemic compels us to face one of the darkest corners of modern human experience head on, to stop wasting time blaming the players and start looking directly at the source of the problem. What does it feel like to be a youngish human growing up in the early 21st century? Why are we so stressed out that our internal supply of opioids isnt enough?

The opioid system evolved to allow us to function, not panic or shut down, when we are under threat or in pain. Support from other humans also helps us cope with stress, but that support is underpinned by opioids too. Our attachment to others, whether in friendship, family or romance, requires opioid metabolism so that we can feel the love. Opioids grant us a sense of warmth and safety when we connect with each other.

You get opioids from your own brain stem when you get a hug. Mothers milk is rich with opioids, which says a lot about the chemical foundation of mother-child attachment. When rats get an extra dose of opioids, they increase their play with each other, even tickle each other. And when rodents are allowed to socialise freely (rather than remain in isolated steel cages) theyvoluntarily avoid the opiate-laden bottlehanging from the bars of their cage. Theyve already got enough.

In short, mammals need opioids to feel safe and to trust each other. So what does it say about our lifestyle if our natural supply isnt sufficient and so we risk our lives to get more? It says we are stressed, isolated and untrusting. Thats a problem we need to resolve.

Many have proposed targeted education, community support and interpersonal bonding through group activities. Johann Haris powerful book,Chasing the Scream, reviews how such initiatives have worked in diverse societies. An intriguing example is the compassionate, blame-free dialogue that has evolved among high-school students in Portugal, highlighting the dangers of hard drugs and urging the most vulnerable to abstain not because theyre going to get in trouble, but because addiction is miserable and dangerous. This dialogue has paralleled the decriminalisation of drug use.

Portugal had an astoundingly high heroin addiction rate 16 years ago. It now boasts thesecond lowest overdose rateon the continent. Social inclusion actually works against addiction while punishment only fuels it.

But the peculiar appeal of opioids tells us more about ourselves as a society, as a culture, than the tumultuous ups and downs of addiction statistics. Todays young people come of age and carve out their adult lives in an environment of astronomical uncertainty. Corporations that used to pride themselves on fairness to their employees now strive only for profit. The upper echelons of management are as risk-infected as the lowest clerks. Massive layoffs rationalised by the eddies of globalisation make long-term contracts prehistoric relics. I ask the guys who come to the house to deliver packages how they like their jobs. They cant say. They get up to three six-month contracts in a row and then get laid off so the company wont have to pay them benefits.

People pour out of universities with all manner of degrees, yet with skills that are rapidly becoming irrelevant. But people without degrees are even worse off. They find themselves virtually unemployable, because there are so many others in the same pool, and employers will hire whoever comes cheapest. The absurdly low minimum wage figures in the US clearly exacerbate the situation. As hope for steady employment fizzles, so does the opportunity to connect with family, friends and society more broadly, and there is way too much time to kill.Opioids can help reduce the despair.

The opportunity to settle into a viable niche in ones family and ones society is being blown away by the winds of unregulated capitalism in aglobalised world. As for the intimacy and trust we humans have always sought in each other, in friends, colleagues, and lovers, the bonds are shaky these days. Even if we have the opportunity to connect were still too stressed and depressed to get to know each other well, to develop trust, to give and receive compassion. Urban life requires juggling high-stress relationships past the point of mental and emotional exhaustion.

The early 21st century offers less structure and stability through religion or extended family than we humans have experienced in millennia. And maybe thats just the way it is. But we dont have to throw away the basic currency of security and interconnectedness entirely. We can build social structures governments, corporations, community organisations, and systems of education and care that encourage stability, hope, and trust in our day-to-day lives. Like the school kids in Portugal, we can offer compassion and inclusion as an alternative over heroin. If we fail to do that, we may as well hook ourselves up to an opioid pump. Just to endure.

Marc Lewis is a neuroscientist and recently retired professor of developmental psychology, at the University of Toronto from 1989 to 2010, and at Radboud University in the Netherlands from 2010 to 2016. His latest book isThe Biology of Desire: Why Addiction is Not a Disease(2015-16). He lives in the Netherlands.

Read more here:

Why Are So Many People Dying from Opiate Overdoses? It's Our Broken Society - AlterNet

I have been reading a great deal lately about breath and its applications in Yoga, for example, as it is promoted in business; mindfulness training to help relieve stress and much more. But, nowhere do I read about integrating breath as profoundly, simply, as we do in Vocal Awareness.

Vocal Awareness is a technique that teaches Empowerment through Voice and Personal Mastery Through Communication. One of its primary techniques in mindfulness through breathing. I have been teaching this transformational and mindful Work for over five decades. After having trained for many years as a classical singer and voice teacher, I created this discipline and in doing so recognized that in all forms of mastery, there is what I call an off switch. For example, many practice yoga assiduously but do they actually apply the mind/body/spirit connection to the rest of their lives?

I have trained great numbers of artists and elite athletes who clearly are in mastery in their skill set but, once they leave the stage, the field, the courtthey are no longer in mastery. They are simply behaving as the rest of ushabitually in a less consciously aware statewhat we might call normal every day behavior. Once again, when great athletes/artists are in performance mastery, average would never be tolerated.

With Vocal Awareness, however, there is a truly important opportunity through a unique breathing technique called Conscious, Loving Breathing, to incorporate mindfulness Conscious Awareness a sense of empowerment and, ultimately, masterynot just through what we do, but in who we are and with no off switch.

A number of years ago I taught the noted motivational speaker, Tony Robbins, who referred to the 7 Rituals of Vocal Awareness as pattern interrupts. He said to create a new pattern you had to interrupt an old one, focus and effectively repeat the desired behavior to rid yourself of the unwanted pattern.

This article is focused on breathing and the new pattern I want to instill is this: breath has strategic value.

It is not only necessary for life, but the point is, this new breathing system will enhance your lifeintra and interpersonally. Our ability to breathe is regulated by the autonomic nervous system. It is a control system that acts largely unconsciously and regulates bodily functions. This new pattern is called a Conscious Loving Breath, what I often refer to as CLB.

When we engage in Conscious Loving Breathing, an integrative process begins to emerge which can help you energetically achieve multisensory integration. Through this technique, we can begin to shift our behavior from unconscious to consciously aware and systematically and energetically initiate a fundamentally new pattern that instills in us the ability to integrate and claim personal mastery through mind/body/spirit mindfulness in every breath, enabling you to tap into something truly inspiring that you are likely never to have experienced before.

The root of the word spirit means to breathe. The root of the word inspire, inspirare is to to breathe into. The Hebrew word, neshama means both soul and breath. I share this observation because a breath is not only physical but also emotional. I share the above observations about mastery and mindfulness because to achieve mastery requires the integration of mind/body/spirit. Once again, however, we tend to leave it in the yoga studio or in our meditation period. We do not take it with us everywhere we go. In Vocal Awareness we do. The following is a simple technique to begin to integrate this transformative breathing technique into your daily life.

1. Begin by standing or sitting comfortably in Stature, erect and relaxed with a certain sense of dignity. The concept of Stature helps us spiritually/emotionally claim our aspirational Self. First, experience what it is like to simply take a deep breath, as though it is the top of the morning and Its great to be alive. Notice how it feels to inhale like this. Does your chest rise? Does your larynx and tongue constrict? Then, exhale and relax. Refrain from judging the process.

2. Next, I would like you to experience a very different kind of breath. Please do not rush. This inhalation will take 5-7 seconds. As you inhale, please respond to this thought: Allow a slow, silent, Conscious Loving Breath. Now exhale.

Notice the difference from the breath you first took. When you allowed a breath, your abdomen and rib cage both expanded as a bellows and you felt more open and relaxed. Your internal and external space are instantly quieter. Please take time to observe what changes occurred. The shifts may be subtle or obvious but they are taking place.

As you get comfortable with this transformative breath, experiment. For example, notice what happens when you speak without a breath. What do you sound or feel like? Then, take a breath and speak. Lastly, when you experience a CLB speaking at the apex of your exhalation, please notice that your pitch will be lower; your voice stronger, more resonant and emotionally warmer.

Initially, please commit to practicing a Conscious Loving Breath for a total of 7 minutes a daya couple of minutes at night while in bed before you go to sleep, a couple in the morning before you get out of bed, and 3 minutes throughout the rest of your day at work or playbefore an important phone call, a meeting, PowerPoint presentationany time there is a critical opportunity to claim your power.

I will leave you with one final Vocal Awareness axiom: breath is fuel. If we dont put gas in the tank of our car, we will never reach our destination. By extension, please remember that if it is important enough to say, it is important enough to breathe before you say it and please do so integrating a Conscious Loving Breath to engage mind/body/spirit. CLB and this axiom are the pattern interrupts that I want you to retain. This breath will create the opportunity for you, not only to do but to be your best. As I say to all my students/clientsenjoy the Journey.

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Mindful Breathing For a Stress Free Life - HuffPost