Friday 6 March 2015

WHY VOLUNTEER ?

 

Helping our fellow men and women has long been seen as an altruistic behavioral model. But it turns out that more selfish motives—pleasing friends, doing what you want—are more successful causes of effective volunteering. Whatever the motive, volunteering improves the health, happiness, (and in some cases) the longevity of volunteers. Children who volunteer are more likely to grow up to be adults who volunteer. Even unwilling children who are forced to volunteer fare better than kids who don't volunteer. In a virtuous circle, communities with lots of volunteers are more stable and better places to live, which in turn further boosts volunteerism.

People volunteer for a wide variety of reasons, especially wanting to help others. However, it's also reasonable to want some benefits for yourself from volunteering. Some people are uncomfortable with the notion that a volunteer "benefits" from doing volunteer work. There is a long tradition of seeing volunteering as a form of charity, based on altruism and selflessness. The best volunteering does involve the desire to serve others, but this does not exclude other motivations as well. Instead of considering volunteering as something you do for people who are not as fortunate as yourself, begin to think of it as an exchange.

Consider that most people find themselves in need at some point in their lives. So today you may be the person with the ability to help, but tomorrow you may be the recipient of someone else's volunteer effort. Even now you might be on both sides of the service cycle: maybe you are a tutor for someone who can't read, while last month the volunteer ambulance corps rushed you to the emergency room. Volunteering also includes "self-help." So if you are active in your neighborhood crime watch, your home is protected by other homeowners while you protect your neighbors' homes, too. Adding your effort to the work of others makes everyone's lives better. Think about how much you receive when you give and consider why you want to volunteer.

Wednesday 4 March 2015

Lets FLIP the COIN !

Optimism is a strategy for making a better future. Because unless you believe that the future can be better you are unlikely to step up and take responsibility for making it so. If you assume there is an instinct for freedom, there are opportunities to change things, there’s a chance you may contribute to making a better world. The choice is yours."
Noam Chomsky
How many times have you heard someone say, “Hey, cheer up!” or “Turn that frown upside-down!”? Unconsciously we all seem to know that optimism is a virtue and that a negative outlook is something to be concerned about. And did you know that there are actually a host of concrete reasons why this is so?. Whoever said that everything in moderation is a good thing was definitely onto something.
How many of us grew up believing in Peter Pan philosophies, that thinking happy thoughts would make everything better? Or that "every cloud has a silver lining", "the glass is always half-full", and that no matter how awful life gets, "there's a light at the end of the tunnel"? Perhaps you were at the other extreme, raised on the belief that by thinking the worst of everything and everyone, you'd be better prepared for inevitable disappointment.
The truth is, there are benefits to both sides. The ideal, it seems, may just lie somewhere in the middle. This article discusses the downside and upside to both perpetual optimism and pessimism, and attempts to find a happy medium between the two.
Optimism is a belief system with three major components: first, the belief in your own power to make your life and your future better; second, the belief that negative events in your life are not permanent, personal or pervasive; and third, the belief that positive events in your life are permanent, personal and pervasive.
Permanent refers to the lasting effects of an event. If you make a mistake, fail at something, run into an obstacle or encounter some misfortune, do you tell yourself that this is not going to go away or change, that this problem is permanent? Or do you, as the optimist, tell yourself that this is a temporary state of affairs? If something positive happens, do you tell yourself it is temporary, or as the optimist, you tell yourself that it will have a permanent and positive effect on your future?
Personal refers to your interpretation of who is responsible for the event and why it happened. If you are besieged by a negative event, do you believe you are a victim or that you brought this terrible thing upon yourself? Or, as the optimist, do you believe bad things happen to everyone, that your response to them is what will make the difference in the future? If something positive happens, do you tell yourself that this is a fluke, or as the optimist, do you tell yourself that you had a lot to do with this welcome occurrence?
Pervasive pertains to your belief about how other parts of your life will be affected by the event. In the case of a negative event, do you believe this will have a counterproductive influence on other aspects of your life, or as the optimist, believe that the effect will be related only to the area in which it occurred? If a positive event occurs, are you convinced that the results will only be beneficial to this specific part, or as the optimist, do you think that the sunshine will spread throughout your life?
Medically speaking, anxiety, anger and stress can all do a lot of damage to the body. Too much stress has been shown in research to shorten a person’s life span; in the shorter term it can wreak havoc on the skin as well as on the internal systems, including the immune system and other vital organs. Holding negative feelings inside can even throw the digestive functions of your body out of whack, too. So you see that a bad attitude isn’t just something to be waved off or taken lightly — it can have a significant impact on your health.
Every hardship, every seemingly impossible thing is actually a brilliant opportunity for you to show just how far you can push yourself to accomplish your goals. Expect some curveballs along the way and accept that they are an inevitable part of life. Whatever comes your way, exude positive energies to those around you, and it will be reflected back to you!
Its all about serving our community disregard of differences and promoting an OPTIMISTIC APPROACH!
kindly like and share the page to promote an effort to educate the underprivileged
https://www.facebook.com/theceap

Tuesday 3 March 2015

Why giving back is important ?

Three things in human life are important: the first is to be kind; the second is to be kind; and the third is to be kind.” ”• Henry James
It feels good to give. Sure, giving back should be an altruistic, selfless notion, but the truth is that giving back is good for both the giver and the recipient. Studies even prove that there are amazing benefits to giving, whether you are taking on a regular volunteer position, donating money, or simply doing a random act of kindness.


Giving back is important to me. Growing up with a society facing hundreds and thousands of problem. Now I want society to realize the importance of being kind and not blaming others for all the problems, when they have the ability to change it. Volunteering may not just be good for the recipient of your time and kindness, but it may be good for your own health too. Researchers found a 20% increase in mortality among volunteers compared to non-volunteers.

Children who make an effort to perform acts of kindness report being happier and feeling more accepted by their peers. Being kind to others can have a cyclical effect in that those who are kind are less likely to be bullies, and those who are kind (and therefore more accepted) are less likely to be bullied. So let's be a good example for the next generation and teach them ways to be kind to others.

If we, knowing all the facts and importance of kindness, still waiting for others to groom and uplift our society then we are living in the world of fantasies. Pakistan is not just a country rather it is a land of struggles, we need to keep our spirits high in order to keep our country progressive in a right direction and that is only possible if we take a step to render our service towards our community

The Dark Side of Pakistan

"Education is the movement from darkness to light", Allan bloom

Education in Pakistan suffer from a chronic lack of spending in the education sector. The power of education is still hidden in the eyes of people residing or governing Pakistan. We "PAKISTANI" claim our self to be Muslims but are we following the saying of our beloved prophet ? Are we taking a step to educate our children in a better way ? Are we fulfilling the basic need of education for all?
these questions and many more raised are still unanswered or may be neglected. Pakistan can build a stronger nation by educating their upcoming generation. Although the successive government announced various programs to promote literacy, they have unable to translate their words into action.

"The min is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled", a saying by Plutarch, describes our vision is demolishing, we have to revisit our priorities to keep the country on the track of progress. Hence three youngster of our own generation initialized the idea of educating all by creating an organization "THE CEAP". They are neither aliens nor superheroes, they are the heads producing ideas out of the box. The aim behind forming an organization is to start an era of learning, educating and voluntarism.

A video attached with the blog presents the vision of forming Ceap
http://www.ytpak.com/?component=video&task=view&id=N9mWNloPNOY