Meditation isn’t for everyone. Many people have never tried it. Some think it's "woo-woo." Others just don't have the patience for it. But there is a huge body of evidence that meditation is a useful practice for calming a frantic mind, reducing cortisol from stress, controlling anxiety, and gaining fresh energy for demanding tasks.
Meditation means focusing your mind on a single discrete thing to train your attention. With steady practice, the result is a state of mental clarity and emotional calm that many people claim has changed their lives. But meditation takes time, and time is something lacking in our hurried lives.
Fortunately, there is a way to do meditation without sitting cross-legged in front of a lotus flower for hours. You can turn some of your daily tasks into a "walking meditation," which involves very deliberately thinking about tasks that you normally do automatically.
Want to try it? Pick any routine task like walking, exercising, cooking, working in the garden, or eating. Stay completely present with the task. Take deep breaths. Notice what is most vividly tied to the activity--your feet touching the ground, the air through your nostrils, the sensation of food on your tongue. When you feel your attention slipping away from those immediate sensations, just bring your focus back.
How long should you meditate in this way? As long as you like. I don't think there's a rule. Just do it until you don't want to anymore. Then next time go a little longer to see how it feels. Enjoy!
Send your answer for a chance to win a $5 coffee card!Last month's Q&A: You can touch me, break me, and win me. What am I? A heart.Congratulations to last month's winner!
Mardin's Advice
3 Keys to Making a Good Real Estate Deal
If you or your friends are planning to buy or sell a home, then it's useful to keep your eye on 3 things that can affect your real estate deal in 2023:
First, interest rates for buying. You probably know rates have been going up. But did you know there are ways to keep your rate lower than what you see in the news? You can buy the rate down, increase your credit score, and/or put more money down. All of these will have an impact on what interest rate a lender decides to offer you.
Next, seller concessions. No one likes to give away money! But seller concessions can help a buyer, and the cost may be lower than dropping your price. For instance, instead of dropping the price by $20,000, a seller can offer to pay $10,000 in an interest rate buy-down, which can benefit the buyer more than the lower price.
Third, strong negotiation skills are a must! In "yesterday's" market, deals were made in minutes, with very little negotiation. Today, knowing how to negotiate and stand firm at the right time are critical factors in making deals. Fortunately, you have me in your corner to negotiate firmly on your behalf. Call to start your 2023 home purchase or sale. ~Mardin, (408) 210-2073
Nuggets of News
How much money do we need to live entirely off dividends?
Why Ben & Jerry's Is Chunky and Häagen-Dazs Is Smooth
If you love your fancy ice creams, you might know that Ben & Jerry's specializes in chunky mixes, like Cherry Garcia or The Tonight Dough, while Haagen-Dazs is all about creamy flavoring, but not pieces. The two hardly ever cross each other's turf. Why? Experts suspect the two companies might be engaging in what's known as "tacit collusion," where two parties silently agree to stick to their own territory. It's not illegal, and makes solid business sense for the companies and consumers.
Selling? Here's a DIY project that will help attract buyers
In the current real estate market, buyers are looking for big incentives to pull the trigger on a new home purchase. One place sellers can add a lot of "umph" to attract better offers is the kitchen backsplash. Even a dated kitchen can be brought back to life by a trendy backsplash. Fortunately, you can likely add your own, and depending on the materials you choose, it can be quite inexpensive relative to the return you get. You'll wonder why you never did it before!
Strange Real Estate Words: Amortize
The word "amortization" refers to the process of paying off your mortgage, where the interest is paid first and the principal last. The word amortize comes from the Old French word "amortiser," which means "to kill off." Recognize the word "mort" in there -- as in mortuary, mortal, and mortgage? Amortize was first used in the 16th century in reference to religious orders and their practice of gradually buying back land and property that had been pledged as collateral for loans. Over time, the concept was applied to finance and real estate.
Where Is the Space Tesla Now?
Remember the red Tesla sportscar that Elon Musk shot into space five years ago? Where is it now? According to the website whereisroadster.com, the car has completed three-and-a-quarter loops around the sun and is 203 million miles (327 million kilometers) from Earth. For all we know, the car may have been obliterated by a meteoroid or eroded beyond recognition by radiation. Chances are nearly non-existent that we'll ever see it again. One scientist estimated a 22% chance of the car colliding with the Earth within the next 15 million years.
Just for Fun
In the tiny town of Indian Hills, Colorado, a guy named Vince Rozmiarek, started volunteering at the local Community Center on April Fool’s Day in 2013. He began adding puns and one-liners to the outdoor message board. They are so good that the Indian Hills Community Sign's Facebook page has 162K followers, which is over 100 times more people than the population of the town. See a few of Vince's signs below:
