In order to successfully brave the changing landscape, it has become necessary to carve out your own niche in your line of work and stand unyielding in one’s beliefs, even when up against tough opposition. Despite the struggles associated with keeping up with the technological age and its advancements, there is a strong pull toward being proficient in communication and being aware of the endless changes in society. Even when the stakes are high, staying grounded in one’s mind and morals is the most important way to flow with the turbulence in every day life!

One way to get through the day in a fast-paced environment is to make time to breathe. Life might get stressful and difficult in its execution, especially if you’re running around like a crazy person. However, if you take time for yourself once in a while and just focus on the moment at hand, everything will feel much less stressful in the long run! Being adept at finding the time to “just be” can be hard to navigate, but keeping everything in perspective is one of the best lessons you can take from being stressed in the current world. Meditating is a strong component of this idea and sitting down in silence for a moment might be just what you need to take on the world!

When you are alone at your desk and just sifting through your e-mails, a good idea for stress relief is to start a list of the tasks you have to complete in a current day, crossing them out on-by-one as you complete them. Seeing all of your work out in front of you might look daunting at first, but as you start to go through all of your tasks, the tension in your gut will start to dissipate. While this is not a great idea for everyone, it can be a lifesaver for those proficient at sticking to schedule. If you are not a schedule type, making a mental list can be just as beneficial, especially since you can easily switch things around and not have to cross them out individually!

Another important skill in keeping yourself up-to-date in a fast-paced world is to market yourself and make contacts. If you know how to carry yourself in a mature, self-assured manner that shows off your strengths, you will be the strong, independent woman that you really are! Don’t shortchange yourself just because you don’t have the confidence to hold your head high and be yourself. If you know what makes you special and unique compared to others, work it, girl!

5 Ways To Market Yourself & Combat Overthinking

In a different vein, a good way to adapt to changing norms is to be open to whatever comes your way! If you continually keep yourself aware of what is going on around you and don’t let yourself be put off by challenges, you will be much healthier and less jaded. A sense of indifference is found when it seems like there is no hope of progress or that life has become stagnant in improvements. If you keep yourself up-to-date with the evolving landscape, you will find the diversity and change that you were looking for!

There might be a lot going on in this fast-paced world, but there is no reason that you cannot be fulfilled and optimistic about how your life is working out! Just keeping a level head and being prepared for whatever life throws at you is the best way to combat difficulties and setbacks in every day situations. As well, setting one’s goals and dreams optimistically, yet not idealistically, is the optimum way to create a scenario of strength and well-being in the lives of others. Never give up on what is possible, but also find time to stop and count your blessings. Life may be hard to navigate, but you can never forget how you got to where you are!

How To Deal With Life Challenges

The Importance Of Having Goals & Dreams

5 Ways To Make Yourself Stand Out

Doing the same things every day can get tedious and hard to deal with on occasion, especially if you happen to be a person who thrives on constant change and diversity in your life. Sometimes you just need to get out there and make life happen for you! What is the best way to add flavor to your routine and create a new precedent for yourself?

• Interact with people. If you’re constantly burying yourself in your work or keeping your headphones in when people walk by you in the office, how are you supposed to be open to change? The best moments are sometimes the most random, so keep your eye out for opportunities to communicate with others – you could end up making some new contacts or confidants!
• Keep an open mind. If you’re stuck in one routine and are not open to whatever comes your way, nothing is going to change in your life. In order to have the life with the diversity that you want, you have to keep your eyes peeled and your adventure-loving heart open! If you are not making snap judgments on what or who you run into, you could possibly snag some interesting opportunities you wouldn’t have otherwise. You might even meet some cool people in the process – you never know what you might find!
• Be the initiator. If you’re not getting the results you want in terms of friendships or plans, take the initiative yourself! You can’t just sit there and expect others to be mind readers. Maybe you have the opportunity to go to lunch with new people or join in an after-work drink. Sometimes you have to make the call yourself or you will never know what you missed out on!
• Make your own adventures. Sometimes, you just have to do stuff for on your own. Maybe nothing interesting is going on at lunchtime or in the office and you just need to get out into the open air. Go for a walk and explore the area by yourself; it’s really not that difficult. You don’t need another person to enjoy yourself – just imagination! Take a new route around the vicinity or pull out a book or your musical device. The world is your oyster if you just believe in the power of your choices, no matter how small they may seem!
• Be true to your dreams. If you have some aspirations that no one else seems to be interested in, should that really be an issue? You are who you are and no one can tell you what to like. If you have dreams to write a novel or become a singer-songwriter, you just have to have the guts to go for it. Do what excites you! No one else but you should be dictating your life goals or making it seem like your dreams don’t matter. Only you can accomplish what you want to in your life, so get out there and start planning!

How To Gain Inspiration Through Wanderlust

In the long run, most of the ways that you can make your days worthwhile is if you put your heart and soul into what you do. Plan out your dreams, aspirations, and put yourself out there when you need to. Keep your confidence strong and your mind open. There are limitless opportunities in this world and if you don’t make yourself available to what comes your way, how will you grow? Every day can be exciting if you just believe that you can change your life day by day. Work toward making every second count! Show your unshakable confidence and everything will fall into place. Your life is worth the effort you put into it!

What would happen if we didn’t think it was wrong to be vulnerable? Some judgments that come to mind when I express my vulnerability are that I am weak, stupid, a crybaby, and that doing it is a waste of time. But what is under that vulnerability? What is trying to bring itself into consciousness. ?

For more on how got to Uptown Magazine.

Related Stories

3 On-Point Ways To Avoid Morning Distractions

Do We Love Our Neighbor As We Love Ourselves?

With not even one celebrity endorsement or official record deal, the fan base for this groups official project has been tremendous! All songs on the album are written and produced by both, for the exception of Losing My Religion and Let’s Make a Baby, which were produced by Derek “D.O.A.” Allen (who also produced hit records for such artists as Tyrese, Dave Hollister, Slim [of 112] and Bobby Brown).

Since the age of 14 Ra Capone and Shay Swinga, native New Yorkers, would experiment with beat-making and mixing in the basement of Swinga’s house, where they honed their production skills. “It’s an art form that just pulls you in and makes you want more” Swinga says, “What level can an artist reach with their project? I’d think to myself… That’s what makes it so unique.  There’s no right or wrong answer.  It’s just about what you feel and when you love what you do, it shows in everything you do.” I say Indeed to that!

While they appreciate how the culture has evolved, they believe hip-hop lacks the essence that it was built on. “Now it’s turned into a look how much money I have game” says Capone; “No one really talks about anything of importance anymore”.

Ra Capone and Shay Swinga say they are returning to the music, what it gave to them…”life”. This goodlook comes courtesey of the wonderful folks at Hana & Associates

For more from Ra Capone and Shay Swinga click image below

Via: WRAL

Looks like the lifers will not be getting out of jail as expected.

Raleigh, N.C. — The state Department of Correction has adjusted release dates for 27 inmates who should be freed following an appellate court ruling, setting the earliest date for unconditional release in 2054, officials said Thursday.

The inmates – mostly convicted murderers and sex offenders – were scheduled to be released last month after the state Supreme Court upheld a Court of Appeals ruling in favor of double murderer Bobby Bowden. He contended that a 1970s law defined a life sentence as 80 years and sued for his release.

The 1981 Fair Sentencing Act included a retroactive provision that essentially cut all of those sentences in half, and Bowden and his attorneys argued that good behavior and other credits have shortened the sentences to the point that they are now complete.

The potential releases sparked outrage among many, including the governor, partly because all but one of the inmates would be free without any post-release supervision.

Gov. Beverly Perdue, who has vowed to block the releases, has argued that officials improperly applied some of the credits.

“I will continue to pursue all legal means of preventing the release of these inmates without any review by the parole board or any post-release supervision,” Perdue said in a statement.

Four inmates involved in pre-release programs who were scheduled to be released in 2010 and one in 2011 are not affected by the new plan, a DOC spokesman said.

DOC Secretary Alvin Keller has directed that the unconditional release date for each life sentence imposed for crimes between April 8, 1974, and June 30, 1978, be calculated as 80 years, minus applicable jail credit earned while the prisoner awaited conviction and sentencing.

Staples Hughes, the state appellate defender whose office represented Bowden, said it was regrettable the state was spending so much time and money pursuing an argument that has no legal basis.

“They, in essence, are continuing to attempt to defy the rule of law,” Hughes said. “It has long since ceased to be a legal issue. It is simply a political issue and a mechanism for the governor to use to attempt to raise her popularity.”

According to Keller, the Fair Sentencing Act specifically prohibited felons serving life prison sentences from receiving good behavior credits for purposes of unconditional release from prison.

James Woodward, the DOC secretary in 1983, expanded the rule to apply to those serving life terms.

Since 1955, the DOC has awarded good behavior credits for prisoners with life sentences only for purposes of earning a more favorable custody grade, for becoming eligible for parole and for a commutation of a sentence by the governor, Keller said.

The department will continue to do so but won’t award credits to calculate an unconditional release date, he said.

Via: WRAL

Gov. Bev Perdue justifies hiring a convicted killer but blocking inmates from being released under an old sentencing law.

Sally Holloman was convicted in 1981 of fatally poisoning her husband and killing a Selma businessman by shooting him five times in the back and setting him on fire.

About two decades later, then-Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue hired Holloman to work in her office in the State Capitol as part of a Department of Correction work-release program.

As governor, Perdue is now fighting a court order to release 27 inmates who were sentenced to life under an old sentencing law, but she said Tuesday that the two situations are “totally different.”

Holloman was paroled in 2005. Perdue wrote a positive evaluation of Holloman’s work, which was included in her file before the Parole Commission.

“Sally is now working in the private sector, making good money. She is an older woman who I believe is very well supervised,” Perdue said.

Although Perdue has repeatedly backed up her refusal to release the inmates by saying she believes a life sentence should mean life in prison, she said Tuesday that supervision outside of prison is what separates the Holloman case from the rest.

The 27 inmates were scheduled to be released last Thursday after the state Supreme Court agreed with double murderer Bobby Bowden, who contended that a 1970s law defined a life sentence as 80 years and sued for his release.

The 1981 Fair Sentencing Act included a retroactive provision that essentially cut all of those sentences in half, and good behavior and other credits have shortened the sentences to the point that they are now complete.

Over time, Perdue said, more than 120 people serving life sentences could qualify for early release under the Supreme Court’s ruling.

Holloman was in a supervised setting while working at the capitol and remains in one, Perdue said. The court-ordered release she opposes doesn’t provide the inmates with any supervision once they get out of prison, she said.

“(I) support parole under the auspices of the Parole Commission, where there is community supervision,” she said. “The release by the courts automatically of more than 120 rapists and murderers – people that are heinous – to live next door to you and your young child with no supervision is inappropriate in my opinion.

“I do not support automatic release without supervision. I can’t see these (cases) are anything near the same.”

According to the Department of Correction, 603 inmates serving life sentences have been paroled since 1995. All went through a comprehensive transitional program, and less than 8 percent returned to prison.

A majority of the 27 inmates covered by the court order will not have gone through any transitional program. Three of the inmates were enrolled in a work-release program and would have been free to pursue work outside prison walls before Perdue’s decision to block their release.

Appellate defender Staples Hughes, who represents the inmates, said the state should immediately begin preparing the inmates for release by offering them job training, mentoring and other counseling.

“If the governor is saying, ‘I am afraid that these people are going to be a problem for public safety,’ let’s do something about that because they’re going to be released,” Hughes said.

The Supreme Court is expected to hear arguments in the case in a few months.