| How to Analyze Yourself Posted: 20 Feb 2017 04:00 PM PST Self-awareness is about knowing who you are at your core, such as values and beliefs, and it is also about knowing your behaviors and tendencies. Being aware of yourself is an important first step in knowing you are as a person. Building self-awareness is one way to go about analyzing yourself including your beliefs, attitudes, behaviors, and reactions.[1] There are many ways to learn how to analyze yourself. EditBecoming Aware of Your Feelings - Notice your thoughts. Your thoughts are an integral part of who you are. They often guide how you feel as well as your attitude and perceptions of situations. Monitor your thoughts and recognize the content. Are your thoughts negative? Do you put yourself down, or always think something will go wrong? Which areas of your life are you most hard on yourself?
- Do this in every aspect of your life. You want to make sure you think about your thoughts every day and during all different kinds of activities.[2]
- Write a journal. To help you keep track of your thoughts everyday, start a journal and write about your day, your struggles, your goals, and your dreams. Analyze your journal entries and take note of their quality. Are the hopeful or bleak? Do you feel stuck or powerful? Continue to analyze your thoughts to become more aware of who you are.
- Become aware of your perceptions. Sometimes our perceptions of situations lead us to make faulty conclusions about what happened or what we saw. For example, if you perceived that your friend was mad at you after lunch, you may be confused and automatically think that because her mood was low, you did something wrong. Becoming aware of your perception of her mood can help you to analyze why you jumped to the conclusion she was mad at you.
- When you have a situation like this, take time to analyze your actions and beliefs about what occurred. Write down what you saw, heard, or felt that made you interpret the situation in the way that you did. Ask yourself if there could be other causes for your friends mood or if there are outside factors that you are unaware of.
- Recognize your feelings. Your feelings can also give you clues into who you are and why you react to certain situations or people in the way that you do. Analyze your feelings by becoming aware of your reactions to topics of conversations, tones of voices, facial expressions, and body language. Identify what you are feeling and ask yourself why you had this type of emotional response. What were you responding to? What about it made you feel the way you do?
- You can also use physical cues to tune you into how you are feeling. For example, if you notice you are breathing heavier or faster, so may be stressed, mad, or afraid.[3]
- If you can't figure out exactly how you feel at first, keep writing down your reactions and thoughts about certain situations. You may need time and distance from a situation to recognize how you feel.
- You also can ask a trusted friend or family member to help go over your thoughts and reactions to help you figure out exactly what you feel. It may be hard for you to distance yourself enough from the ideas to truly know how you feel or what these things mean about you.
EditAnalyzing Your Values - Understand values. Knowing what you value can give you insight into who you are at your core. Many values are based on your personal experiences, and some change as you learn more about yourself.
- Sometimes values are hard to identify because the term and concept is abstract and often vague. Your values are your beliefs and ideals that you base your choices on throughout life.[4]
- Identify your values. Identifying and defining your values will bring you closer to realizing who you are and what is important to you. In order to seek out your values, you will need to spend some time in reflection, analyzing what is important to you and which values make you who you are. Begin identifying your values by writing your answers to the following questions:
- Identify two people you most admire. What are the qualities they have that you admire? What is it about this person that makes them admirable to you?
- If you could only have three of your possessions for the rest of you life, which would they be? Why?
- What topics, events, or hobbies are you passionate about? Why are these things important to you? What is it about these things that make you passionate?
- What event made you feel the most complete and fulfilled? What about that time made you feel this way? Why?[5]
- Group your core values. You should start to have an idea about what is important to you and what you value. Try to group these ideas, moments, or things into core values to help you have a better idea of your core beliefs and ideals. Some examples of core values include courtesy, honesty, optimism, confidence, friendship, achievement, faith, friendship, kindness, justice, trust, and peace.
- Use these core values to understand and know yourself better. These values should help you make choices and identify what is important to you. Through analyzing yourself in this way, you are that much closer to unlocking your true self.[6]
- Your may have multiple groups of values. This is normal because humans are complex and feel many different things. For example, you may value honesty, faith, competence, and confidence, values that don't necessarily group together. But these traits show you the kinds of situations and people you value around you as well as traits you likely strive for in yourself.
EditDiscovering Your Story - Write your story. Writing your life's story can tell you a lot about who you are as well as how you view your life's challenges, joys, opportunities, and struggles. Writing out your personal story can give you insight into what you have learned through your experiences and how those experiences have affected you.[7]
- In this way, you can analyze how your experiences helped shape who you are, which encompasses your values, attitudes, beliefs, biases, reactions, and the way you interact with your world.
- Analyze your story. Once you've written the story of your life, analyze yourself by asking the following questions:
- What are the themes that are present in your story? Are you always being saved or are you the person who saves others? Does your story have a theme of helplessness or ability? Is your story a love story, a comedy, a drama, or something else?
- If you titled your story, what would the title be?
- Divide your story into chapters. Why are the chapters divided where they are? What changed? What did you learn? What are the titles of your chapters?
- Did you label yourself in your story? Did you label others? What do those labels mean to you and what do they say about how you see yourself, others, and the world?
- What kinds of words do you use to describe yourself, others, and the world? What do these descriptive words tell you about your story and how you lived it?[8]
- Decide what your analysis means. Once you write your story, you need to decide what it means. The interesting thing about writing your own story for analysis, which is called narrative therapy, is that is shows you what you think is important or crucial to your existence. It showcases those moments in your life that you feel are important or worth note. It also shows you how you view yourself and the trajectory of your life so far.
- For example, if you write your life as a drama, you may feel that your life is more dramatic and intense. If you wrote it as a comedy, you may think your life has been fun and upbeat to this point. If you wrote your life as a love story, maybe you are a hopeless romantic who either has great love or is hoping for one in the future.[9]
- Remember that it takes time. Even when you have followed all of these steps, you need to realize that it can take time. It is important to understand that becoming more aware of who you are, or analyzing yourself, is also an ongoing, lifelong pursuit. Who you are today or what you believe today may change in the future.[10]
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| How to Make Peppermint Tea Posted: 20 Feb 2017 08:00 AM PST Peppermint tea is a delicious and relaxing beverage that has numerous health benefits. Whether you are preparing it from a tea bag or using fresh leaves, peppermint tea can be made in a matter of minutes. Make a steaming mug of peppermint tea on a cold winter night, or whip up a batch of iced peppermint tea for a summer party and enjoy the invigorating taste of peppermint! EditIngredients EditFresh Hot Peppermint Tea "'Serving: 1 cup of tea"' - 7-10 peppermint leaves
- 8 ounces (250 ml) water
- honey, milk or lemon to taste (optional)
EditPeppermint Tea Using a Teabag "'Serving: 1 cup of tea"' - 1 peppermint teabag
- 8 ounces (250 ml) water
- honey, milk or lemon to taste (optional)
EditIced Peppermint Tea "'Serving: 4-5 glasses of iced tea"' - 3-5 mint teabags (or 30 fresh peppermint leaves)
- 5 spearmint leaves (optional)
- 4 cups (32 ounces) water
- lemon or honey to taste (optional)
EditMaking Fresh Peppermint Tea - Pick the peppermint. For each serving of tea you plan on making, pick 7-10 peppermint leaves from the stem of the plant. Try to pick leaves that are green and unblemished. If you bought a bunch of pre-cut peppermint stems, choose the healthiest looking leaves to pick off.[1]
- Rinse the peppermint leaves. Give the peppermint leaves a good rinse under the faucet. Even if you picked the peppermint from your own garden, you still want to make sure to wash off any dirt or impurities from the leaves.[2]
- Crush the peppermint. Use your hands to crush the peppermint by rubbing the leaves in between your fingers. Crushing the peppermint helps to release the flavor and aroma of the herb.[3]
- You can also use the back of a spoon to lightly press and rub the leaves.
- If you have a mortar and pestle, use the pestle to very lightly crush the leaves.
- Makes sure not to overdo it when you crush the leaves. The leaves should look crumpled and slightly greener, not mashed to bits.
- Place the leaves in a mug. Put the freshly crushed peppermint leaves into a mug. For every serving of tea, place 7-10 leaves in the mug, depending on how strong you like the tea.[4]
- Boil water. Boil water in an electric kettle, a stove top kettle, or a pot on the stove. Wait for the water to boil, then turn off the heat and take the kettle or pot off the heat source.
- Wait a couple minutes for the water to cool. Instead of pouring the boiling water into your mug, wait a couple minutes for the water to cool slightly. Like other herbal teas, peppermint tea is better when brewed in hot, but not boiling, water.[5]
- Pour the hot water into the mug. After you have let the water cool for a few minutes, carefully pour the water over the peppermint leaves. Make sure that all the leaves are submerged in the water, then cover the mug.[6]
- Let the tea steep for 7-12 minutes. If you prefer mild tea, steep for 7 minutes. If you prefer strong tea with a robust peppermint flavor, leave the peppermint in for the full 12 minutes.
- Remove the peppermint leaves. After the tea has finished steeping, remove the leaves. You can take them out either by fishing them out with a spoon, or by straining the tea into another mug so that all the leaves get caught in the strainer.
- Add honey or lemon if you wish. Your tea is now ready! If you like putting extras in your tea like honey, milk or lemon, add them right after straining. Otherwise, enjoy your fresh cup of peppermint tea!
EditMaking Peppermint Tea From a Teabag - Boil water. Boil water either on the stovetop or in an electric kettle. Make sure that you pour in enough water, which should be around 8 ounces (250 ml) of water for each serving of tea.[7]
- Let the water cool for a minute after boiling. Because herbal tea is better made with hot rather than with boiling water, allow the water to cool for a couple minutes after boiling.[8]
- Pour the water over the teabag. Place one teabag in each mug of tea that you are making. Then pour the hot water carefully into each mug. Cover each mug so the tea can steep without too much steam escaping.[9]
- You can also throw in a couple fresh peppermint leaves if you want!
- Let the tea steep for 3-10 minutes. Let the covered mugs sit so that the tea can steep. If you prefer mild tea, only let the tea sit for three to five minutes. If you like strong tea, keep the bag in for 10.[10]
- Remove the teabag. After your tea is done steeping, remove the tea bag. If the tea bag has a string, simply pull it out by the string. If it doesn't, fish it out with a spoon so that you don't burn your fingers.
- Add extras. If you wish, add extras to your tea like honey, sugar, milk or lemon. If you prefer your tea plain, sip and enjoy it while it's hot![11]
EditMaking Iced Peppermint Tea - Fill a pot water and add 3-5 teabags or 30-40 peppermint leaves. Place a medium sized pot on the stove and fill it with 4 cups (32 ounces) of water. Then add either 3 peppermint teabags or 30 peppermint leaves.[12]
- It may seem like you are adding a lot of peppermint, but you are essentially making a strong infusion so that you can later add ice to the tea without diluting the flavor.
- You can also add 5 or so spearmint leaves, which gives the tea a slightly sharper flavor.
- Turn on the burner to medium heat. After you have added the teabags or mint leaves, turn on the burner to medium heat. Heating up the teabags or the peppermint leaves in the water helps to make the tea stronger.[13]
- Bring the tea to a boil. Bring the tea to a boil, then turn the heat down slightly and let it boil for about five minutes. This will strengthen the flavor of the tea, which is important since you will be diluting it with ice, and don't want the flavor to get lost.[14]
- Pour the iced tea into a pitcher of ice. Fill a large pitcher up with cubed ice while the tea is boiling. Five minutes after the tea reaches a boil, remove the tea from the heat. Pour the tea into the pitcher over the ice. The ice should help to immediately cool down the tea.[15]
- Make sure to either wait for the boiled tea to mostly cool, or use a pitcher that can handle hot beverages.
- Add extras to the tea. If you wish, add extras like honey or lemon to the iced tea. You can even squirt in a little bit of orange or lime to give the iced tea a more nuanced flavor. If you're happy with the flavor already, leave as is.
- Let the tea cool and serve chilled. Try the iced tea and see whether it's cold enough just from the ice. If it is still warm, place the pitcher in the fridge or add more ice. Serve the iced tea when it is completely chilled.[16]
- Experiment adding additional ingredients like lemon, cinnamon or honey to your tea!
- Serve iced tea in tall glasses with ice and an umbrella for a fun, summery treat.
- Remember to stick the pitcher of iced tea back in the fridge after pouring your glass.
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| How to Do a One Armed Push Up Posted: 20 Feb 2017 12:00 AM PST Are you bored with your workout routine and want to spice things up? Or maybe you just want to impress friends? Why not challenge yourself with one-armed push-ups? The one-armer is just like the classic push-up but, of course, with half the support and double the difficulty. You may need to work up to it — just build up strength with elevated and "self-assisted" push-ups before trying the real deal. EditStarting with Elevated Push-ups - Find an elevated surface. Elevated one-armed push-ups are a good way to start. The idea is that by using a raised surface, your legs take on more body weight and give you a mechanical advantage. The push-up is therefore easier to accomplish.[1]
- Try a countertop, steps, couch, or wall at home. If you are outdoors, a bench or bar will do.
- Keep in mind that the higher you angle your body, the more body weight your legs will support and the easier the push-up will be.
- Don't overdo it. Find a surface and inclination that suit your current strength level and work from there.
- Lean in with your feet spread apart. Besides inclination, your feet will also make a difference. Namely, the push-up will be easier if they are wider apart.[2] Stand with your feet positioned a bit wider than your shoulders, and slowly lower yourself into push-up position on the elevated surface.
- Some purists think that one-armed push-ups should be done with the feet together. You don't need to follow this rule absolutely. You can also start wide and gradually move your feet inward as you progress.
- It's a good idea to start with your "dominant" arm. In other words, whichever arm you favor and that is naturally stronger. You can alternate arms, as well.
- As you get in a starting position, let your free arm rest behind your back or against one leg.
- Lower yourself. Slowly and deliberately lower your body until your chest almost touches the elevated surface. Your supporting arm should be bent at an acute angle of less than 90 degrees. If you want, hold this position for a few seconds.
- Some people advise keeping your whole body tense during the downward motion. This is supposed to help you explode upward. It will also keep your spine straight and reduce the risk of injury.[3]
- Keep your bent arm back and close to your body, not jutting out like a chicken wing. Flaring your elbow out can lead to shoulder and rotator cuff injuries.[4]
- Brace your abs and clench your gluteal muscles — that is, the muscles around your torso and bum.
- Push upward. Push away from the incline and back to the starting position in a single, fluid motion. The body tension you have generated before and during this move should help you to explode upward and finish the first "rep."
- Imagine that you are pushing the floor away rather than pushing yourself up. This image should let you generate more tension and engage more muscle groups.[5]
- Repeat and change sides. Repeat the above steps and complete a full set of reps. Then, switch to the other side. For instance, if you started with right-armed push-ups, try it with your left arm. Adjust your elevation height to suit any differences in strength.
- Try to do about six reps comfortably in a set to start.[6] In other words, you should be able to do the full push-up motion in good form.
- If you are bold, try another set of reps after resting a few hours. Doing the reps while fresh will encourage you to use good form and build up greater power and endurance.[7]
- Once you feel good at a certain level, lower the inclination and raise the weight resistance. Continue to repeat these steps until you have reached the ground.
EditBuilding Strength with Self-Assisted Push-ups - Lower yourself to the ground on two hands. The next step in your progression is to do "self-assisted" push-ups. These are almost true one-handed push-ups, but with small cheats to let you build up more strength. First, lower yourself slowly to the ground with both hands. These push-ups are done level to the ground, rather than on an elevated surface.
- Assume a position as if you were going to do normal, two-handed push-ups.
- Again, make sure to keep your feet slightly wider than your shoulders.
- Extend your secondary arm outward. Reach out — up and to the side — with your secondary arm, i.e. the arm that will not be supporting your body. The idea is to let this free arm "assist" in the push-up by taking on a small amount of weight, but to rely on it as little as possible. Over time, you will build up strength and come to rely on it even less.[8]
- You can also place the assisting arm on a slightly elevated surface.
- Lower and raise yourself. As before, slowly lower your body until your chest is nearly touching the ground and your supporting arm is at an acute angle. Then, try to explode upward in a single and fluid motion.
- You may have trouble at first with raising yourself. That is OK. Simply shift some body weight to the assisting arm. You can also try widening your foot stance.
- Again, keep your core muscles tight through the motion to create body tension and protect your spine. Keep your elbow in (no chicken wings), and pull your shoulder blades down and back
- Try a "negative" one-armed push-up, alternately. Another move that can build up your strength and perfect your form is the "negative" push-up. This means focusing on the negative or lowering phase. At this point, you are nearly at the true one-armed push-up.[9]
- Use one arm for this maneuver. Keep your free arm behind your back.
- From the starting position, lower yourself to the ground. Move as slowly as you can and keep control over the movement.
- When you reach the bottom, place your free hand on the ground and push up. Continue with your set.
- Repeat and change sides. Whether you try the self-assisted or negative one-armed push-up, make sure to switch it up and use your other arm. You can also alternate arms for each rep rather than doing a full set.
- It is important to use both arms to avoid creating muscle imbalances or differences in strength.
EditDoing a True One-Armed Push-up - Assume the position. OK, you know what to do by now. Take the standard push-up position: prone, feet apart, and hands on the floor just below your shoulders.[10]
- Begin from the "up" position, i.e. with your body raised off the ground and supported by your arm.
- Keep your feet apart. If you want to increase the challenge, though, feel free to move your feet in so that they nearly touch.
- Take your off-arm and rest it on the small of your back.
- In a resting position, the elbow of your supporting arm should be slightly bent, not locked.
- Lower your body with one arm. Let your body move toward the ground. Be sure to control the movement as much as you can. It should be slow and deliberate, not strained or jerky. Continue until your chin is about a fist's width above the floor.
- To maintain your balance better, Turning your torso slightly away from the supporting arm, form a sort of triangle with your arm and two feet, can help you keep your balance.[11] Keeping your hips and shoulders square throughout the movement will be more challenging. Either way, do not let your hips sag.
- If you've angled your body, your chin will be about where your free hand was before you started the exercise.
- Remember to keep your elbow back and close to your body and do not allow it to flare out. Keep your shoulder blades retracted.
- Push up from the floor. Now, with all your might, push your body up from the floor to the starting position. Make sure to keep your back straight and to stop just before you "lock out" at the elbow. Congratulations! You've now done a true, one-armed push-up![12]
- Keep your muscle tightened as before, so that it is possible for you to "explode" upward.
- Be careful to stop if you don't think you can make it. You could injure yourself if your arm gives out.
- Repeat, if you're up to it. Ideally, your first true one arm will be the first of many. Try to do it with your other arm and see if you can manage a set of two, three, or more.
- Continue to go slowly. Start with reps of one or two. Rest for several hours before trying again.
- Over time, you should be able to work up to higher and higher rep numbers — repeat to exhaustion for an intense arm and chest workout!
- If you are starting to tire and feel like quitting with only a few reps left, push through. It'll be worth it after and you'll recover.
- Be very careful to stop before you tire completely. If your arm gives out you could injure yourself by hitting the floor first!
- Build up arm strength before trying this kind of push-up. For instance, you should be able to do around 30 regular push-ups in strict form. You will require a lot of shoulder and tricep strength for this exercise, particularly if you have a high body weight.
- As with any strength training exercise, stop immediately if you feel any sudden or intense pain. If the pain persists, consult a physician right away.
- This is a very challenging move. Progress slowly and focus on correct form so that you do not injure yourself.
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