Let's face facts, ladies: life is full of both nasty and good surprises. You cannot live your life worried about bad news. Otherwise, you will numb yourself with fear. Instead, you must become extra resilient and learn to expect the unexpected.

You really can learn how to cope with unexpected news and become a stronger, more confident person in times of pressure.

Let's go through a variety of ways to make coping with the unexpected more straightforward.

Expect the Unexpected

Did you ever receive that phone call from someone to cancel a get-together you were looking forward to having? This is a highly trivial example of unexpected news, but it represents what we all deal with daily.

You may feel disappointed or annoyed, especially if you devoted time planning for the event. But, you have a couple of choices: move on and make the best of the day or let it spoil your mood and hold you back.

Ask yourself: what do you usually do when you face...

Did you know that fear is debilitating? It can totally ruin your day or even, in some cases, your life! Fear is an emotion, and while sometimes it is very valid and can help preserve your life, there are other times it must be faced and dealt with to be free.

Here are some practical strategies you can use to overcome your fears:

1. Do you know your fears? If you can identify them, you are off to a good start. Can whatever you fear hurt you? Begin to conquer your fears by determining if they are rational or irrational.

• When you fear things that cannot harm you in any way, you are acting with irrational fears. In reality, there is not anything to fear there. But it sure is easier said than done!
• When they can hurt you, then there is justification in your fears. In this case, you can work out a backup plan that affords you some level of comfort.

2. What do other women do? Whatever your fears are, someone else has experienced them as well. Search out women...

I don't know about you, but there are times when I feel less than fine. Low, grouchy, fed-up, and bored are the words I use to describe what I am like on those days, and I am almost certainly not the greatest company. The thing is, times like those are part of being human – it is not an elective. There will always be off days, and that is all right.

But what happens after you get a whole string of those off-days, maybe lasting weeks, months, or even years?

Too many women say that they are in a rut, feel stuck, fed-up, or bored and admit that they do not want things to be that way. But we do not know what to do to change. That is the problem. When you are in a rut, you do not have the strength or motivation to shift things for the better. And it is hard to find the insight or resources you must to do that jump.

Here are things to do right now to climb, or better yet, leap, out of the rut:

1. Do things differently

Life has a tendency to run smoothly after we...

Every woman faces disappointments in life, both big and small.

It is essential to accept our disappointments and not just ignore them, but how do we do it effectively? The answer rests in discovering constructive ways to accept disappointments.

* If you let it, disappointment can build character and patience. Learning to deal with disappointments constructively can make you a stronger woman in the end.

Coping with Disappointment

One of the first things to do when dealing with disappointment is to identify old coping strategies. Everyone has them. Do you reach for that pint of rocky road ice cream? Do you withdraw into a room all by yourself? Do you get drunk trying to forget the disappointment?

Once you recognize that your old strategy is not working, it is time to create a new one.

Five tips for effectively dealing with your disappointments:

1. Acknowledge what you are feeling. You can honestly express the emotions you are feeling....

One key to achieving goals is to remove any escape route. It is tempting to draw back into safety and comfort when challenges and difficulties occur. To avoid turning around and discarding your goals, you must make going forward more convincing than going back.

While striving towards a goal, you need to focus on what you want to achieve and avoid the inclination to go back to what you know - your comfort zone. After the Spanish Conquistador Hernando Cortez landed in Mexico, one of his first orders was to burn the ships.

Cortez was committed to his objective and did not want to allow himself or his men the option of going back to Spain. Removing this option forced Cortez and his men to focus on how they could make the mission successful.

Removing an escape route creates a compelling reason to focus on the goal and to keep moving forward. But it is essential to keep in mind that although Cortez did have his crew burn their ships, he did not have them burn their...

What do you suppose it means to be happy?  There is a lot of exploring going on these days for the elusive emotion of “being happy” --where do you find it, how do you create it, even what it is.

 But I would like to share a little secret with you -- happiness is not only for a lucky few born with it.

Happiness is not a thing that you can reach out and touch or leave in the fridge and take a sip when you need it.  Happiness is not on a beach in Hawaii (really!) or a perfect body.  It is not even in that ideal relationship that Chris Pratt tries to sell us in movies. 

With the images bombarding you every day, it is easy to think that happiness will arrive on your doorstep if you have the newest car, the best clothes, a fancy home.  It is easy to get caught in the trap of thinking that if you could find the right person, they would arrive with a box of happiness attached to his hip.  But all this does is persuade you that...

Feel like something is just absent from your life? Focusing on yourself, not others, may be the key to what is missing!

Are you comparing yourself to others and coming up short? It is time to end that destructive habit. Comparisons get you nowhere! Instead of leading to positive improvements, they cause you pain and discontentment.

A better option is to focus on your own needs and wants. You are a unique woman who requires a personal tactic! This method helps you boost your self-image because you are focused on refining yourself and not struggling to outrun someone else in an unknown race.

Learning to focus on yourself instead of everyone else around you is challenging. Women are so focused on families and friends that we do not appreciate how to focus on choices that define our lives.

Try these five tips to help you focus on thoroughly experiencing your life:

1. Allocate one hour a day to "me time." During this time, focus entirely on yourself and...

Life becomes more worth living when you know that a reward is bound to come your way for every good thing you did. By this time, you already know that stopping your addictions is possible only if you will put your heart and mind into it. The last but not the least tool for you to completely free yourself from your bad habits is learning to reward yourself for every accomplishment you make.

Through meaningful rewards, you can be more motivated to do better the next day, and you will strive even harder to make sure that you will get another great bonus in the future. With this kind of inspiration and motivation, you will have the drive to become better and better every day as you finish your journey to complete recovery from your addiction.

Every Accomplishment Deserves a Good Reward

Reward systems are being used in many situations today. At home, in schools, and even in workplaces, a reward system is considered a helpful tool for people to do better. This system serves as a...

Anything you focus on will usually manifest itself in your life. Many individuals refer to this as the Law of Attraction. Unlike the speed limit, it is one of those universal laws that you really cannot break. Sooner or later, whatever you focus on will be what your life becomes.

Discovering the proper life focus can be challenging. Lots of factors catch your attention and drag you away from your passions. If you devote too much time to look at the distractions of life, those distractions can keep you from accomplishing the things you value most.

Activities to Focus on in Your Life

Countless ideas, obligations, and thoughts compete for your attention every day. Consider the following questions when you are trying to decide on the activities you want to focus on more deeply:

1. Where would you like to be in your profession? If you are not where you would like to be, what could you do to move forward in the direction of your professional aspirations?
2. How are...

Despite what you might think, nothing is between you and your goals! Obstacles are for conquering, so long as you keep trying. You can reach excellence if you do your best to get to your fullest potential.

Apply these three easy steps for just four minutes daily, and you will be on your way to extraordinary successes:

1. Reaffirm your self-belief. It is easy to suffer the loss of your self-confidence. When it seems like things are not going your way, the instinct is to feel doubtful. It is crucial to reaffirm your self-belief daily.

* Look in the mirror. Tell yourself that you trust in your capabilities.

* Reflect on the past. Think about all you have accomplished. If you have been successful in the past, why couldn't you do it again?

* Write a personal affirmation. Commit it to memory. Recite it daily. Positive self-talk can offer you the motivation to go after anything your heart desires.

2. Assess your hard work. Take time every day to evaluate your efforts. Did you try your best in...