Psychological Benefits of Playing Online Games

 

Nowadays, the popularity of online games is on the rise. Today, the advent of technology, especially the internet has allowed gamers to play traditional games on the latest devices, such as mobile phones and computers. Online games offer a lot of benefits, such as reduced stress, enhanced judgment, improved analytical skills, improved time-management skills, and a relaxing mind. Let's get a deeper insight into some psychological benefits that you can enjoy by playing games on the internet.

Stress Relief

According to research studies, if you play online card games, you can enjoy a lot of psychological benefits. For example, regular players of these games reported a reduction in their stress levels. Aside from this, card games also help you relax and stay free of worries.

Skill Development

Playing card games with your family and friends can help you improve your analytical skills, concentration, and memory skills. The reason is that many games include strategy and money, which require attentiveness and concentration.

Actually, card games involve interpersonal and cognitive skills that can help you keep your brain active and fit.

Staying Engaged

Although online games rely on your short term memory, playing the games can improve your important skills as well as long term memory. If you follow the same routine always, you may suffer from boredom and mental stagnation. By playing games online, you can fill up this gap and keep yourself occupied.

Although there is a lack of social interaction and conversation, playing these games can help you improve your focus and concentration.

Interaction

Today we know that teamwork and communication are quite important in every field of business. Online games provide players with an incentive to communicate with each other during a game. And this improves their interaction with each other. This is good news for introverts and allows them to get in touch with each other through these simple games.

Entertainment

These games are a great source of convenience and entertainment. You can play these games anytime, anywhere and using any of the various internet-enabled devices such as mobile phones and tablet PCs. You can choose from a lot of games based on your needs and preferences.

Aside from this, online games involve competition and provide rewards and a lot of other benefits such as everyday jackpots, festive Bonanzas, and reward points. Therefore, there's always something that you can look forward to. Often, online portals have practice games and video tutorials to assist beginners and newcomers. This way they can improve their skills.

This type of platform features user-friendly, customer support, encryption-based security and a lot of other features and benefits. Therefore online games are quite pleasurable.

In short, online games can help you to improve your problem solving and leadership skills. This way you are in a better position to deal with unexpected consequences. Besides, they can help you improve many of your skills such as concentration, alertness, intuitiveness, and observation. If you have a busy life, you can play these games to find relief from stress and develop your major social skills.

If you love playing online games, you may want to check out IDWinner [http://idwinner.me], which is an ideal platform for online gamers.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/10200715

Don't Get Hysterical About The Historical

 

The tension was palpable in the room as I began the first marital counseling session ever for the couple who had passed their 50th anniversary several years before. After a few pleasantries designed to put them more at ease, I invited, "Tell me about what brought you here."

Immediately, she straightened up in her chair and asserted boldly, "I'll start!"

"Go ahead," I said.

She continued, "Let me tell you what this man did to me on our honeymoon!"

I glanced at her partner, and immediately I could see that this was definitely not the first time he had heard this story. I groaned to myself, "I should have scheduled more than one hour for this session!"

Clinging to the past...especially the negative past...can wreak havoc in workplace harmony, organizational progress, and personal peace.

LETTING GO OF HOLDING ON

Do you find it difficult to let go of holding on?

What experiences in your past do you hold on to, either deliberately or unintentionally? The woman in the counseling session had chosen to hold on to her husband's perceived transgressions, enumerating them for him at every opportunity. Sometimes, however, your past difficult experiences seem to interfere against your will with your life today.

A recent issue of Workforce Magazine listed "The Simmering Malaise" as one of the 25 strongest trends. They attributed this negative emotional undercurrent to the past few years of workplace trauma...downsizing, diminished financial benefits, loss of opportunity.

Things happen in our personal lives, too.

I heard about one guy who admitted, "I've had trouble with both of my wives."

"What kind of trouble?"

"First one ran off on me."

"And the second?"

"Didn't."

Have you experienced traumatic events in your past or work life? If you have, and especially if you haven't been able to come to terms with them emotionally, you may find yourself overreacting any time something remotely reminds you of them. You may become anxious, leading you to misinterpret, suspect, and emotionally exaggerate.

HOW TO LET GO OF THE PAST AND REACH FOR THE FUTURE

Minimize the toll that unresolved history can have on your present life. Don't let past events rob you of life quality today.

1. Do the necessary emotional work, if you haven't already.

Unresolved grief, often masked by anger, can continue to distort your perceptions and keep you from free, positive actions in situations you confront today. When the damaging event(s) happened, how did you deal with them? Did you refuse to acknowledge the reality of your powerlessness to change what happened, mentally or behaviorally resolving to even the score? Did you stay busy, busy, busy so that you wouldn't think about it? Did you become angry and stay there?

If you answered "yes," to any of those questions, you may have some grief work to do. Spend time focusing on the emotional losses you experienced and let it hurt. I know, that's not fun. Remember, though, grief is temporary. And it persistently insists on your attention until you do it.

Courageously do the necessary grief work; it can free you from the grip your past.

2. Check your reactions for "overgeneralization."

When you have experienced a painful situation, it's easy to transfer your reaction to other situations that are in any way similar to it.

When my children were little, they were less than thrilled with their visits to the pediatrician, especially on the days they got shots. The doctor wore a white jacket. One day I was getting a prescription filled at the drugstore and my daughter began to cry loudly. I couldn't figure out why. Finally, she pointed to the druggist who was wearing a white coat and asked, "Am I going to have to get a shot?"

Have you ever had the experience of having an unusual negative reaction to someone you just met, without apparent bad behavior on their part? Do you sometimes jump to conclusions about others' motives, based on experiences you've had with people in your past? If so, you may have a tendency to overgeneralize, projecting your past onto your present.

Learn to separate "then" and "now."

3. Confront your fears.

When you've been through work or personal trauma, it's normal to want to avoid such experiences in the future. However, avoidance can grow and can actually increase your overall level of fear.

As soon as possible, confront feared situations. Prepare yourself with courage, self-encouragement, and realistic skills.

"Get back on the bicycle after you take a tumble."

4. Rewrite history, with clearer emotional vision and self compassion.

Yes, there's a sense in which you can rewrite your history. You may be carrying memories that you stored at a time when you had limited understanding . It's easy to harshly judge your reactions from your current vantage point. "I should have known better." But did you know better then? Or were you doing the best you knew to do at the time?

As a more mature and experienced individual, you can look back on your life experiences with a broader, more balanced, more compassionate view. This will not change the facts of the events, but it may well change the meaning and interpretation you give them. That can make all the difference in the degree to which you continue to berate and condemn yourself. H.W. Beecher said, "Compassion will cure more sins than condemnation."

5. Practice Forgiveness.

When you refuse to forgive others for the harm they caused you, you tie yourself to them forever. You ensure that the traumatic experiences will rule your life and rob you of the freedom to build genuine life quality and experience peace.

George Herbert said, "He who cannot forgive others breaks the bridge over which he must pass himself."

I've had people protest to me, "But if I forgive them, they'll go scot free!"

The truth is, your lack of forgiveness is not harming them, it's harming you.

Forgive to release yourself.

6. Learn from everything, and use it to build a stronger life and future.

I believe that every single thing that happens to us has gifts in it, if we look for them. Closed doors may cause us to step out into areas we would never have tackled under more comfortable circumstances. The loss of a valued support person can stimulate the development of self reliance as well as new connections.

Being forced to leave a company during downsizing can be the impetus to explore new job opportunities or to start your own business.

One of the very best gifts in life's challenges is the opportunity to learn...to discover how to begin again, more intelligently.

Madame Chiang Kai-shek observed, "We live in the present. We dream of the future. But we learn eternal truths from the past." Learn to extract wisdom from your experiences.

Charles Kettering estimated that 99 percent of success is built on former failure.

Boy, do I find that comforting!

Dr. Bev Smallwood is a psychologist who has worked with organizations across the globe for over 20 years. Her high-energy, high-content, high-involvement Magnetic Workplaces (r) programs provide dozens of practical strategies and skills that can be put to work immediately to:

1. build strong leaders who influence and develop others through serving
2. energize, motivate, and retain team members
3. successfully accomplish important organizational transitions
4. impress customers and build their loyalty

Review a complete list of her programs available for your convention or corporate meeting at the website, www.MagneticWorkplaces.com [http://www.MagneticWorkplaces.com]

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/659

Forex trading analysis - EURGBP

Forex trading analysis - EURCAD

 

Become What You Want, Not What Others Want. Motivational Speech

DISCIPLINE YOUR THOUGHTS - Motivational Speech

Why the Squirrel Kept Winning!

 

I had the good fortune (or misfortune depending on your climate perspective) of living in Minnesota for ten years. The Summers were beautiful, Fall was spectacular with the changing colors of the leaves on trees and winter was,...well, damn cold.

My neighbor, Harold was a nice old guy who had retired many years ago who hibernated all winter but loved to garden during the summer. The only time I saw Harold come out of his house was to put some bird food in the feeder he'd setup on his tree in the front yard.

Every year, as winter began to set in, I would see squirrels all around our front lawns gathering food. They'd scurry around digging and prodding hoping to fill their jowls with some food and return to their hole.

One day I saw Harold putting some metal sheets around the base of his tree where he kept his bird feeder. I didn't understand why until another neighbor explained to me that Harold was trying to keep the squirrels from eating the bird food. By putting the metal sheets around the base Harold thought the squirrels wouldn't be able to climb up the tree. The next morning, the food was gone.

Later that week I saw him wrap a jagged funnel around the base of the tree. It looked like those funnels dog's wear around their neck so it won't bite or lick its wounds. Well imagine one of those wrapped around the tree with the wide part pointing down with jagged edged. It looked like something out of a Frankenstein flick. Yet, the next day, the food was gone.

The following week Harold figured he'd put the bird feeder on a string and hang it from the tip of one of the branches. I believe his thinking was that the squirrel couldn't go out to the edge of the branch because the branch wouldn't support the weight thereby not allowing the squirrel to get to the feeder. Next day, you got it, the food was gone.

This battle between Harold and the squirrel went on for at least the 10 years I was his neighbor. I wanted to tell Harold that his attempts were futile and that he would never win this 'War of the Feeder'; but I didn't say anything. I just watched. It was cheap entertainment.

As this was happening, I started thinking about how unfair the match up was between a man and a squirrel. I didn't feel sorry for the squirrel...I felt sorry for Harold. Although Harold was stronger and smarter than the squirrel, he lacked the one quality that would guarantee him victory, focus.

You see Harold thinks about ways of preventing the squirrel from getting the food on occasion, when he has time. The squirrel on the other hand has its mind on getting that food 24 hours a day. The squirrel's very survival depends on it. Survival brings about, not just focus but an intense focus on solving a problem by removing an obstacle. Unless Harold shows that same level of 24 hour commitment and intensity, I have my money on the squirrel every time.

Success is not about who is stronger. Success is not about who has more money. Success is not about who has a better GPA. Success is about who is more focused and committed to achieving their objectives. You, the reader, can compete with any person no matter who they may be. The only thing you have to do is commit yourself to focusing in on the very subject that interests you. When you focus in on one thing, like the squirrel, all of your mind's resources are directed at attaining your objective and obtaining your rewards. With focus, you begin to take in more information quickly because you're interested in learning, you want know everything. You are consumed by your focus to succeed!

Harold was not an expert in stopping squirrels; it was a task that needed to be done and he attended to it when he had time. The squirrel on the other hand became an expert at bypassing obstacles and solving problems because he focused all its attention on obtaining the end goal, food.

In today's market, too many people want to be generalist (i.e., good at a lot of things or jack of all trades but master of none). But the market DOES NOT REWARD generalists, they REWARD experts. The market wants people who are good at doing a particular task; an expert. You want job security? Become an expert in your field of expertise. How do you become an expert? Like the squirrel, you focus.

Harold was 92 and died the year we moved from Minnesota. I don't know how long Harold fought the 'War of the Feeder' but as I drove off on the last day I looked back and saw a squirrel scurrying around the front lawn still trying to get to the bird feeder that still hung from the tree. Harold was gone but the squirrel was still around, still strategizing and still focused. The squirrel had won!

Please forward this article; share it with a friend who needs it.

Victor Gonzalez, top Hispanic motivational speaker and author of “The LOGIC of Success”. For more info go to: www.thelogicofsuccess.com [http://www.thelogicofsuccess.com] or by email victor@thelogicofsuccess.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/722