Pic of the day

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Beyonce Knowles arrives at the MTV Video Music Awards at the Palms Hotel and Casino in this Sept. 9, 2007 file photo, in Las Vegas. Beyonce is coming to China. The American R&B star will perform in Shanghai on Nov. 3, 2007, at the Grand Stage, according to an international tour schedule on her official Web site Monday, Oct. 15, 2007. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles, File)   :::ChEpOi Izzy::: http://doctorgeliga.blogspot.com

Get Down (On The Floor!) And Play With Your Children

by: Heidi Hoff When was the last time you and your kids rolled around on the floor together laughing yourselves silly? If you're like me, it may have been a while! Sometimes I get caught up in household chores, give errands a priority or answer the phone when I know I should let it ring, instead of making time for my two daughters. It's not that I don't play with them; just the opposite is true. It simply seems as if I'm trying to fit them into my daily schedule when in fact I should be scheduling my day around them. I used to be a planner. I would try to organize activities that I thought my girls would learn something from. I'm now much more free and spontaneous with them and I've discovered that at their respective ages of four and 20 months that this is the type of play they prefer. Here are some suggestions on how you can be more spontaneous with your children: 1. Play "Chase Around The House" - Kids love to be chased, especially if you're making a roaring or growling noise while you're doing it. You'd be surprised how fast their little legs can carry them. This exercise is sure get you're heart rate up and tone your glutes as well! 2. Have a Pillow Fight - Make sure the pillows are small and not too heavy. Throw cushions work best for this activity. Lay a few ground rules, such as not hitting in the face or on the head and when somebody yells: "stop", then stop. 3. How Many Times Can Each of You Hop on One Foot - Again, a great cardiovascular activity for you and the kids. Alternate feet and vary the directions you're hopping in. This is good for your children's coordination and learning left and right, forwards and backwards. 4. Pretend You're Animals- Play a guessing game of what animal Sally is by the sounds she makes and the way she moves. Children love to imitate animals and can imitate various animals from a young age. 5. Tickle Each other when you've run out of ideas, then a good old-fashioned tickle fight is the answer. Again, don't tickle too hard and when someone (possibly you!) yells stop, then the tickler must stop. At our house, this game always ends with a kiss! These activities take little time play and benefit you and your children greatly. They are highly interactive, involve a lot of laughter and take no preparation. They also let your children know that you enjoy being with them and that they make great playmates.

7 Easy Ideas for Organizing Kids Artwork

In school, kids are encouraged to create, draw, color, paint and build. These activities can certainly stimulate children, and help them grow. Very often, these masterpieces that your children create are brought home and proudly displayed. But what do you do when all of the artwork begins to take over your home? Here are 7 great ideas: 1. FIND THE DIAMONDS. Rather than keeping every single piece of artwork your child creates, sit down with your child on a regular basis and ask him to choose the one or two he likes best. By the end of the year, you should have no more than 5 pieces of artwork that your child believes to be his "best" pieces. This will help keep the artwork under control, and will still give you an opportunity to save his creations for future memories. 2. A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS. Take photos of the artwork that your child creates and keep these photos in a scrapbook. This way, even if the artwork is discarded for space purposes, you'll still have the memory! 3. KIDS FILE STORAGE BOX. Office supply stores carry portable file boxes that hold hanging file folders. These generally have a cover and a handle for easy portability. Help your child create her very own filing system. Perhaps one file folder for 2nd grade artwork, one for 3rd grade artwork, and so on. Now, all the drawings, and any type of artwork that lays flat, will be kept safe and organized. You'll even be teaching your child filing skills! It's never too early! 4. KEEP IT CONTAINED. For other artwork that does not lay flat, the perfect container may be a large, plastic container with a lid. Your child will have a space for shadowboxes, and other artwork that won't fit into a file folder. Again, be choosy. If you keep every single piece of artwork your child brings home for the next 15 years, your house is going to be overflowing with it. 5. HANG IT. Get your child his very own artwork bulletin board so he can display his favorite artwork in his bedroom. When organized on a nice cork board, this really adds a nice touch to a child's room. Plus, your child can very easily switch one piece of art, with another. 6. SUPPLY MANIA. If your child produces a lot of artwork at home, she probably has tons of crayons, markers and other art supplies. Keep it all in a portable box, light enough for your child to be able to transport it from one room into the next. In addition, separate and organize the supplies into separate Zip-lock baggies before putting them in the box. This will keep everything organized and easily accessible. 7. THE PERFECT GIFT. Kids artwork makes the perfect gift for grandma, grandpa, sister Jane, Aunt Sue, Uncle Jim, and so on. Rather than buying gifts for your child to give to family members, encourage them to give their creations away as special gifts to special people.

Are You a Monkey With Your Hand Stuck in a Coconut

It is a true story of how tribesmen caught monkeys in Africa. What they would do would be to take a coconut and make a hole that is just big enough for a monkey’s hand to go into. However, once the hand is closed, it will not be able to come out. They would tehn tie this coconut to a tree. Next, they would place a handful of peanuts (not the NKF one…the real one) into the coconut and leave a trail of it along the ground all the way to the nearby forest. They would then sit and wait patiently. Sure enough, a monkey would soon appear and start picking up the peanuts one by one. Upon reaching the coconut, he would plunge his hand into the large fruit and grab as many peanuts as he can. The next thing he knows, his hand is trapped in the coconut. With his fist full of nuts, he cannot take his hand out. Once knowing that it has been trapped, the monkey will then scream and shout and alert all the tribesmen who will then come along and capture the monkey! This poor monkey would then lose its freedom forever. Now, at any point in time, could the monkey have ACTUALLY escaped? Of couse he could. All he had to do was to LET THE PEANUTS GO. But you know what? The nature of the monkey is such that it would NEVER LET GO of its peanuts. Why? Because it is so afraid of losing it. As a result, the monkey loses more than just his peanuts…he loses HIS FREEDOM! I told this story to the man and told him, do you realize that you are acting like this monkey right now? I said it with as much tact as I could to prevent being slapped in the face. You hold on so tightly to your limiting beliefs, habits and $3,000 that you miss out on your chance of escaping from the rat race and the mediocrity of life and achieving FINANCIAL FREEDOM. Is it really worth holding onto all these things just because it feels safe and comfortable to do so? How long are you going to be trapped and keep on complaining? I said to him, ‘let go of your past, your peanuts and go for something much bigger in life that your deserve’. ‘Go for your success and financial freedom’.

Zakat Fitrah: Rahmat Aidilfitri Untuk Orang Miskin

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Kefarduan mengeluarkan zakat fitrah pada Ramadan adalah bukti bahawa umat Islam perlu hidup bertolak ansur dan bersatu padu tanpa membezakan status ekonomi, keturunan, pendidikan dan kadar ketakwaan.

Ini seiring dengan fungsinya untuk meningkatkan daya saing ekonomi kaum dua'fa (orang lemah).

Jelasnya, dengan zakat itu dapat merapatkan jurang pendapatan di antara orang kaya dan miskin. Zakat fitrah adalah tuntutan yang wajib ditunaikan apabila seseorang memenuhi syaratnya.

Ia berdasarkan hadis yang bermaksud: "Rasulullah memfardukan zakat fitrah pada Ramadan segantang tamar atau segantang gandum atas orang Islam sama ada hamba sahaya atau merdeka, lelaki atau perempuan, kecil atau besar."

Umat Islam hendaklah bersegera dalam mengeluarkan zakat dengan menyedari bahawa ia adalah antara tuntutan Rukun Islam yang lima. Sesungguhnya, Islam seseorang belum lagi sempurna jika tidak mengeluarkan zakat. Setiap Muslim hendaklah mengeluarkannya dengan hati terbuka, ikhlas dan bukannya berasakan ia adalah satu paksaan.

Zakat fitrah juga berfungsi membersihkan jiwa pembayar. Hakikatnya, zakat berfungsi sebagai amalan ibadat untuk mendekatkan diri kepada Allah hingga menjauhkan manusia daripada sifat mencintai dunia secara berlebihan dan melupakan hari akhirat.

Hikmatnya zakat juga dapat menyucikan diri orang yang berpuasa kerana ada kemungkinan dirinya itu mengalami kesan kelalaian, kerosakan puasanya. Begitu juga dia akan mengelakkan orang fakir dan miskin daripada meminta-minta pada hari raya.

Ibnu Abbas berkata yang bermaksud: "Rasulullah telah memfardukan zakat fitrah sebagai menyucikan orang yang berpuasa daripada sia-sia dan untuk menjadi makanan pada orang miskin."

Islam menetapkan lapan asnaf yang berhak menerima zakat. Dalam al-Quran, Allah berfirman maksudnya:

Bagaimanapun, masih ada umat Islam yang mengambil mudah kewajipan berzakat fitrah. Mereka terlupa mengeluarkannya hingga tiba Aidilfitri.

Mengikut syarak, zakat fitrah perlu dilakukan sepanjang Ramadan manakala hukumnya menjadi haram selepas solat Aidilfitri. Perkara ini ada disebut Rasulullah SAW dalam sabdanya yang bermaksud; "Zakat fitrah itu dibuat bagi membersihkan orang yang berpuasa daripada percakapan yang sia-sia dan kotor dan makanan bagi orang miskin. Sesiapa yang menunaikannya sebelum solat Aidilfitri, maka itulah zakat yang diterima. Dan sesiapa yang membayar zakatnya sesudah solat, maka itu adalah sedekah biasa saja." (Hadis riwayat Abu Daud dan Ibnu Majah).

Berdasarkan hadis ini, janganlah kita berlengah untuk berzakat fitrah. Ingatkan ahli keluarga dan rakan supaya ibadat yang difardukan setahun sekali ini dapat dilakukan tepat pada masanya.

Dengan segera mengeluarkan zakat, wang itu dapat diagihkan segera kepada mereka yang memerlukan dan berhak menerimanya.

"Sesungguhnya sedekah (zakat) itu hanya tertentu untuk orang fakir, miskin, amil yang menguruskan zakat, muallaf yang dijinakkan hatinya dan hamba yang ingin membebaskan diri (diberi peluang menebus diri tetapi tidak mampu), orang berhutang. :: Surah At-Taubah : 60 ::

Orang yang berjuang di jalan Allah dan orang musafir (yang kehabisan bekalan) dalam perjalanan, sebagai kewajipan fardu yang ditetapkan Allah, dan Allah Maha Mengetahui lagi Maha Bijaksana"

Nota: Dipetik dari iluvislam.com

How Do You See Yourself? Another Elephant Metaphor

I am glad alot of people are enjoying the powerful life metaphor of the elephant trapped by its own beliefs. I would like to share with you another elephant metaphor, except this is about a prehistoric elephant known as a Mammoth. One of my favorite movies is ICE AGE and ICE AGE 2. In this second installment, there was this female mammoth (again a very powerful creature) named Ally who was abandoned by her herd when she was young. She was raised by a family of possums (rodent like creatures) who taught her that she was a possum. Since she had never met any other mammoth before and the only thing around her were possums, she began to create an identity for herself that she was a possum. Becauae she believed she was a possum, she acted exactly like one. When birds of prey flew near, she would run and hide and even play dead. At night, she would sleep upside down just like a possum. Like a possum, she would run from tree to tree, hiding from predators. One day, another mammoth named Manfred meets her and tells her that she is in fact a mammoth full of strength and power and not a possum. When Manfred gets her to look into her own reflection in the lake to convince her, she replies ‘wow! I am a big fat possum.’   What’s the meaning of this story and what can it teach us?

Let me ask you this, ‘ how do you see yourself?’

Do you see yourself as a leader or a follower? Are you a shy person or are you an outgoing person? Are you a winner or are you a loser? Are you a possum or are you a mammoth. All of us see ourselves in a certain way and this is known as our IDENTITY! Your identity is so important because it affects the decisions you make and the way you behave! The way you see yourself affects what you ask of yourself and the actions you take. If you see yourself as a leader, then you will tend to take charge of situations whenever there is an opportunity. If you see yourself as a follower, then you will always wait for someone else to take charge! If you see yourself as a winner, you will behave like one! You will set high goals for yourself and take responsibility for your life! Do winners fail and make mistakes? of course they do! But as a winner, you will tend to get up again and move on. As a winner, you will learn from your mistakes. However, if you see yourself a a loser, then you will tend to keep giving excuses. You will tend to blame everything and everyone for your problems! You have a choice of how you want to see yourself. You have a choice of being a loser or a winner, a victor or a victim. You see, I believe that we are all born winners and that God has given us everything we need to succeed, which is amazing human potential and free will to use it! The trouble is that alot of people have bought the idea that they are possums! Maybe becasue when they were growing up, people around them told them they were ’stupid’, ‘lazy’, ’shy’, ’slow learner’ & ‘average’. If you do not know who YOU REALLY ARE (a powerful and amazing human being), you will allow others to define who you are. And once you choose to believe that you are a possum, even if you see the winner inside you at times, you will convince yourself that it was just luck (that you are a fat possum). So, remember that you are a MAMMOTH of great potential, so stop acting like a possum! Although all of us are born in different families, have different friends and grow up in different environments, we have been given a power by our creator…the power to choose who we are! So choose wisely