Life can be incredibly stressful at times. We all have way too much to do every day, and there never seems to be enough time to get everything done. In the morning we wake up to a jarring alarm clock and bolt out of bed to shower, get dressed and help get the kids ready for school. We need coffee to rev our system up as we get ready to tackle the endless projects and to do list from work. Hour after hour goes by, and by the end of the day we feel totally drained. 

Even with normal life, we’re all constantly stressed. With the pandemic added to the mix, we can easily find ourselves overwhelmed by everything going on in our lives and in the world around us. Life can start feeling pretty out of control and hopeless when we are facing our current challenges. Caring for ourselves is so very important right now, and finding ways to lower stress levels should be at the top of our list.

Reducing Your Financial Stress

Money and your financial well-being can create a lot of stress in our lives. It seems that no matter how hard we work, no matter how many hours we put in, there is never enough money at the end of the month. To add to the pressure, the pandemic wreaked havoc and many people were laid off or had their work hours cut. 

It helps if you have a financial cushion and know you can handle your monthly financial obligations. If you want to have access to the money you need to get through everything, you can look into taking out a personal loan from a private lender. By taking out a loan you’ll be able to pay your bills more easily and you’ll reduce the financial pressure on you every month.

Create Your Own Spa at Home

When the pandemic triggered lockdowns, we suddenly found ourselves living our entire life in our house or apartment. As the weeks went by, the walls seemed to be closing in and there was seemingly no way to escape the events in the world and the building stress. To survive, you have to come up with creative ways to help you unwind and enjoy life again. 

One of the ways you can nurture yourself is to create a spa at home. You can take a bathroom with a lovely tub and dedicate it as a sanctuary where you can get away from it all. Find the best bath salts, so you can soak your cares away. Nice lighting, aromatherapy candles and beautiful, fluffy towels can add to the ambiance. 

Spend Time Outside in Nature

During times of stress, our bodies are under constant pressure as fight or flight chemicals are released into our bloodstream. We have to break this cycle, and give our beings and minds a chance to reset. If you want to break the cycle of stress, you should be sure to spend time in nature each day. 

When we spend time outside in a peaceful place, our bodies are entrained by the more soothing rhythms of nature. Our cares seem to drift away and we are blessed and blissed by the beauty of the world around us. It’s especially helpful if you can walk in a park, a forest or by the sea away from civilization.

An ordinary person does not always manage to cope with nervous tension, and sooner or later he has a breakdown. Let alone people with special needs. Let’s talk about Asperger’s meltdown. What is autism meltdown and how to deal with it?

Causes of Aspergers meltdown

Such people often experience sensory overload, which results in breakdowns. What can cause an autistic meltdown in children? Any situation that seems normal can serve as a trigger point. For example, places where there are a lot of loud sounds, a large crowd of people, bright, pungent odors, and aggressive fluorescent lighting, as well as many other factors.

You need to understand that such a breakdown and the usual tantrum of an autistic child are not the same things. Hysteria can be provoked, but meltdown is not. This is a completely uncontrolled state.

How does one go through an autism meltdown?

Every person with autism experiences the condition differently. But there are similar characteristics of seizures. They say that a breakdown is something like a nuclear explosion in the brain. When the entire nervous system and brain simply overheat and respond to this recycling with a momentary burst of energy.

People with autism themselves describe the condition as a moving uncontrollable train at full throttle. For some, it seems as if their consciousness is in the form of uncontrollable anger. Aggression is bursting out, while some part of them remains watching, but cannot influence the process. No matter how the meltdown is described, it is clear that the person at that moment feels nothing but fear, rage, and anger. He has no control over his body, a huge charge of energy has been given to his brain. And he is not told how to use it.

Strategies for dealing with an autistic meltdown

Meltdowns in children with autism are quite common. They can be caused by nervous overexcitation or fatigue if the child has been stressed for a long time. Such meltdowns are very dangerous for children. Therefore, the task of parents is to find ways to stop this condition and minimize the number of such cases.

So, how to calm an autistic child?

Try to understand what exactly caused such behavior

Possible causes:

1. Anger over inability to explain his desires. Imagine how frustrating it is when a person needs to explain something, but cannot express it in words or understandable sentences. This causes great distress, and the child may snap.
2. Sensory overload. Autistic children may experience irritation when there are too many stimuli in the room. Bright lights and loud noises make a child angry and uncomfortable. This can cause an emotional breakdown (which looks like a tantrum, with the child unable to control himself) or withdrawal (when the child stops responding to what is going on around him).
3. Unwillingness to do anything. When a child is forced to do something against their will, they may lose their temper.
4. Last resort. If a child doesn’t believe he can get his way with words or alternative means of communication, he may resort to this behavior, believing it is the only way to be understood.

Respond calmly and patiently

Never raise your voice or threaten your child. Demonstrate the kind of behavior that you yourself would like to see in moments of anger. A child learns behavioral patterns by watching you. Give yourself time to cool down, if necessary.

Take a time out

If the above actions don’t work and the baby is difficult to calm down, this is usually due to an older age. Then it is necessary to show firmness. Simply tell him that he needs to be alone and leave him in the room. No one will tell you the exact amount of time it takes to calm him down. It may take anywhere from 3 minutes to several hours. It all depends on the severity of the breakdown and the age of the child.

Prepare for the next breakdown

Unfortunately, this condition is not an isolated incident. Therefore, it is necessary to be prepared for subsequent attacks. Hide items that can cause injury. A child with a breakdown does not control himself and can harm himself and others. Warn those around him of the possible condition so that they do not feel fear and make the situation worse. Always carry your work phone with you. To have contact with the doctor or other relatives and acquaintances in case you can’t make it on your own.

Autism is one of the widespread developmental disorders, with symptoms usually appearing before the age of three. Life is a source of stress for individuals with autism. This stress results in behavioral patterns that pose some difficulty for parents. However, if treated with love and respect, it is possible to improve the child’s social skills and make the child’s life happy.

Fortunately today conventional treatment as well as treating with stem cells offer an entirely new tool for parents and patients to explore. Thus, stem cell treatment for autism in Switzerland lessens some autistic characteristics. So that it reduces their negative impact on the patient’s life. This type of treatment has several other positive changes in the health of people with autism.

How to prevent seizures in autistic children?

Don’t let your child get bored or overexcited. Fatigue, frustration, and overexcitement are the main signs of such conditions. Protect the child from stressful situations. Do not let him be in places with a lot of people and loud noises. Try to talk to older children. Explain the difference between good and bad behavior, and explain that the child can try to cope with a meltdown on their own. When a child tries to control his behavior, be sure to praise him, and in general, try to punish less and emphasize positive parenting.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of increasing your website’s visibility in search engine’s results by optimizing your website’s pages with keyword phrases that people are most likely to search for or are relevant to your website. Improving your website’s SEO will allow your website to reach more people as it will be ranked higher on various search engines. There are many other reasons you should improve your website’s SEO, not only for your website’s users but also for yourself. In the following article we will take a look at some of the main reasons why you should improve your website’s SEO.

Drives more traffic to your website

One of the most significant benefits that come with improving your website’s SEO is that it brings more traffic to your website. Without exception, SEO optimized websites will be ranked higher in a search engine’s results, for example, on Google, Bing or Yahoo. Optimizing the site means that it will be more visible to people who search for keywords related to or relevant to your website and pages, and the products or services you sell. Therefore, these people will be more likely to visit your website over other websites listed further down and will ultimately increase the traffic on your site. Increased traffic proves that SEO can be highly beneficial for your website and its revenue.

It helps to target an audience.

As well as bringing more traffic to your website, when you improve your website’s SEO, you will be able to target a more specific audience. This audience, or target market, will be the group of people that you want to view and use your website. They are also the group of people most likely to search for keywords relating to your website on a search engine. For example, this website that offers space theme slots has optimized its website with SEO keywords to target a specific audience that they want to visit their website.

Helps to overtake competitors

As previously mentioned, when you use SEO on your website, it helps to boost your website’s ranking on a search engine. By improving your website’s SEO, you will rank higher than your competitors when a keyword relating to your website is searched for in Google or Bing, for example. Having a high SEO means that as your website moves up in search results, it will earn a more significant percentage of the clicks for your target keywords, and your competitors will earn less. Increased clicks mean that your website can quickly overtake its competition within the market and reap more benefits.

Improves user’s experience

Not only does SEO have some great benefits for your website, but it also offers benefits to your website’s users. The goal of a search engine is to provide its users with the best possible results when they search for something. Therefore, with a website optimized with relevant SEO and critical phrases, search engines rank the website highest in a user’s search. Optimization means that users will be provided with precisely what they are looking for and will be satisfied with their result, overall improving their experience with a search engine and your website.

As you can see, there are many reasons why you should improve the SEO that is on your website. Not only will it help to improve a user’s experience, but it will also allow you to overtake your competitors within the market and drive more of a targeted audience to your website. If you have been considering optimizing your website with SEO, now is the time for you to do so.

Flowers aren’t commonly used as ingredients in food, but it’s in our opinion that cooks should start adding edible arrangements to their recipes. Flowers contain vitamins and nutrients that can be found in fruits and vegetables, but their unique taste will add some spice to your dishes. These 6 flowers can easily be incorporated into your healthy recipes for weight loss or nutrition.

How to Incorporate Edible Flowers in Weight-Loss Recipes

With over thousands of edible flowers to choose from, it was challenging to narrow down our list. However, the following picked flowers are easy to find, taste incredible, and full of nutrition.

1. Dandelions

It sounds hard to believe, but dandelions are a superfood filled with vitamins and nutrients. Despite their status as a weed, they are highly nutritious as they contain vitamins A, B, C, E, K, folate, iron, calcium potassium, and magnesium. Dandelions are classified as an antioxidant, can reduce your cholesterol, boost your immune system and protect against skin damage.

Dandelions work best in salads and bread, but they can be eaten raw or steeped in teas.

2. Nasturtiums

One of the most popular flowers used in cooking are nasturtiums. Their bright orange and yellow colors add depth to most dishes that can be served raw or cooked. Nasturtium blossoms taste similar to pepper with an added spicy flavor, but its leaves are milder and less peppery. Nasturtium blooms open like lily pads, making them easy to stuff with cheese.

Nasturtiums can be blended into a pesto or used as a garnish on pastries, cakes, and salads.

3. Rose Petals

With over 150 species of roses available to purchase, you can find them in any color or size at a local market. Just be careful; roses contain more pesticides than any other flower. Buy locally grown roses or add them to your garden so you can experience their sweet, aromatic flavor without worry. Roses can be eaten cooked, raw, and mixed with other sweet fruits in a salad.

For a low-calorie and healthier candy snack, make candied rose petals with sugar and water.

4. Squash Blossoms

Squash blossoms are the male version of squash plants, but the zucchini squash blossom is the most popular. They taste similar to the female squash plant but milder and can be eaten raw or chopped into salads. Squash blossoms are popular in traditional Mexican cuisine, but you can use them in virtually any spring salad, cheese or meat-based dish, or baked bread.

Some popular ways to eat squash blossoms include stuffing them or dipping them in hummus.

5. Hibiscus

The large ornate blossoms of the hibiscus flower are popular in European and Asian cuisine because they’re packed with antioxidants, fight bacteria, and help promote weight loss. The most common use for hibiscus is in teas, as the drink is easily made at home with hot water. Besides teas, hibiscus is used in mechanical applications and can be eaten raw or cooked.

Add hibiscus petals to relishes, salads, or jams and as a garnish for cakes and cookies.

6. Lavender

Another flower that goes well in teas, lavender’s distinct fragrance, is widely sought for its calming effects. Along with the color and unique, aromatic taste, lavender can be eaten cooked or raw by humans, but not by pets. When paired with savory or sweet ingredients like berries, citrus, thyme, sage, and chocolate, lavender’s sweet flavor platelet truly comes through.

Infuse lavender in herbal teas, spice rubs, syrups, and herb mixtures for color and flavor.

Start Adding Flowers to Your Meals Today

Although cooking with flowers may put many healthy eaters out of their comfort zone, adding them to your meals can bring a pop of texture and color to any diet. Additionally, flowers aren’t just pretty to look at: they’re filled with vitamins and nutrients integral to good health.

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Want to Learn more about eating plants? Check out this video on our Youtube channel were we walk through 5 more plants you can eat in the wild.

Main horse hoof problems: types, symptoms

The health of horses is largely determined by the condition of their hooves. The limbs of these noble animals require increased attention. Unfortunately, no matter how attentive the owner is, it is impossible to completely exclude the risk of diseases. A horse may get injured and get an infection, get an abrasion or bruise that will cause a serious illness. Therefore, every horse owner should know what diseases of the hooves occur in his wards. Unfortunately, horse hoof problems is not a well-covered topic. If you need a biology research, dissertation or thesis, you request these paper works from professionals on writemyessays.me. This article will look over the main types of diseases and the symptoms of various injuries. Please remember: do not engage in self-diagnosis and treatment. Always seek help from a competent veterinarian. Unhealthy horse hooves can really lead to serious problems.

Corns

Corns are tumours on the sole. Most often, they appear because of stuck stones, strong pressure on the hoof or poor-quality forging. If a horse has corns, you should remove them immediately. Then you have to cut out the discoloured part of the horn. If an infection has added to the corn and the hoof is too hot, you need to make an epitheme. You can ease the pressure on the hoof by putting a horseshoe that will protrude beyond the level of the heel. This will help it to not touch the ground. Most often, you can find corn on the front hooves.

Laminitis

This horse hoof disease is also known as the founder. There are quite a lot of reasons for this, let’s look at the most common ones:

• Obesity and poor nutrition;
• Excessive grazing on young grass;
• Riding and heavy physical activity on hard ground;
• Weight transfer from one leg to the other (when the first leg is ill).

However, most veterinarians think that the cause of laminitis is watering a hot horse with cold water, bathing it or a draft.

The most common symptoms are:

• Inflammation and swelling of the hooves;
• Strong pulsation of the finger arteries;
• When pressed with hoof tongs, the animal will experience pain and significant discomfort;
• The hooves may have a high temperature;
• Lameness.

Disease of the navicular bone (or navicular disease)

In this case, a small shuttle-shaped bone that supports the flexor tendon is deformed. This is one of horse foot diseases that affects both front legs. If the horse has a navicular disease, it will usually stumble and limp. The animal lowers its hooves when walking firstly on the front part to reduce the pressure on the sore spot. Exercises can eliminate the problem at an early stage of the disease. If the disease has started, the horse is likely to limp. There are no methods of treating this horse hoof disease, but you can use various meds to ease the pain. The doctors prescribe anti-inflammatory drugs or anticoagulants. You can also use corrective horseshoes that will lift the heel and reduce pressure on the navicular bone.

Hoof cracks

The causes of cracks are excessive drying of the horn or serious mechanical injuries to the hooves. It is necessary to eliminate the causes of the disease.

Wounds in the region of the sole

In most cases, the wounds are stabbed, less often — cut. When examining the affected area, you can find a puncture channel. After mechanical cleaning and clearing of hooves, you should treat the affected area with a 5% alcohol solution of iodine.

Grease

This is one of horse hoof diseases that horses get mainly in the fall and slushy winters. The horses are  usually kept in muddy fields and the hygiene rules are not followed. The disease is caused by blood-sucking microorganisms. They live in the soil, where they can wait for years to get into damaged, chapped or softened skin. Grease usually appears in the area of the heel bumps and headstock, but in advanced cases it spreads higher up the leg and can even cover the stomach.

Inflammation of the hoof bone

Radiography reveals structural changes in the hoof bone — it is thinning, the number of channels increases. However, all these changes in the initial stages of the disease can be pronounced. Sometimes it is quite difficult to detect inflammation of the hoof bone. The reasons for the disease are serious injuries to the sole. Sometimes it can also be caused by repeated systematic microtraumas of the hoof bone, for example, due to prolonged work on hard ground. Especially often the pathology affects thoroughbred riding horses. Unfortunately, treatment is rarely effective. The use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs has a short-term effect. You should place the protective pads made of polymer materials under the horse’s shoes. Good results are obtained by using orthopedic horseshoes with the effect of limiting the work of the hoof. At the same time, round off the hook part of the horseshoe for ease when pushing off from the ground.

Shoeing  

If the shoe is not properly shod, the hoof nails will hit the sensitive part of the horse’s foot or pass too close to it in the hoof wall. The horse shows signs of pain when driving a horseshoe nail. Sometimes there is blood on the nail. After 1-3 days (up to a week), the horse starts to limp. It practically does not rely on the affected limb. You should immediately remove the incorrectly inserted nail. Then you have to treat the remaining wound with antiseptic. Do not allow sudden movements of the horse during shoeing.

Follow the horse care guidelines published by The Humane Society of The United States to avoid health problems for your horses.

Science videos are usually brief films that describe science experiments, concepts, and interesting facts to people. When it comes to science, it is much easier to show a project than to explain it with words. A video becomes a wonderful tool to visually present to the audience the power of the big bang, the flow of a chemical reaction, or detailed information about wildlife. 

It is surprising that the videos that look natural are often created with the inevitable help of sophisticated video editing techniques. This works with all kinds of videos, and science videos are not an exception. Although you can’t apply video editing instruments to alter the reality of what happens in a science video, you can utilize the actionable video editing tips to improve some technical points in it and make it more pleasant for people to watch. 

Top Tips for Creating and Editing Science Videos  

#1 Utilize the Right Editing Techniques 

When editing your video, you can go beyond changing the order of your clips and removing unnecessary footage. Don’t restrict yourself when using video editing software to make your video look more aesthetic. Through creative editing, you can encourage a wider audience to get involved in the subject of your video by showing them a scientific story from an interesting edge. 

Standard Shortcuts

Standard shortcuts are considered to be the easiest tool to edit video. A standard cut ties together the film where the final frame of one cut guides us to the first frame of the following one. This tool for joining footage can be used for introducing the technique or some key information in your scientific video. 

Jump Cuts

Jump cuts push the action forward in time by cutting out some footage but not changing the sequence of the cuts. In usual videos, this technique is applied to skip some boring scenes or to keep the interest of your audience. In science videos, it helps when you need to present some process in a shorter time than it takes in normal conditions. 

It is decisive that you set it in context so that the public can understand how much time the presented action takes.

Montage

A montage is a wonderful way to shrink the activity into a smaller time period. A montage includes jump cuts and is great to show the history of the invention or the development of the scientific study. For example, the montage can be implied to show the creating process of a new invention, like Alexander Graham Bell working on the telephone. 

J and L Cuts

J and L cuts are a functional and appealing way to introduce audio and video content. A J cut arranges such a workflow when the picture changes while the original narration goes on. With an L cut, the audio changes when visual material stays the same from the very beginning. 

This can be beneficial for use in a documentary, for instance, to present an interview with an inventor and change the visual to show some pictures and videos related to the topic of the conversation. 

Cross-Dissolves

Cross-dissolves are one more valuable way of shortening time, and it is easy to comprehend for the audience. When you need to show the procedure that takes some longer time, for example, the growing process of the tree, cross-dissolves can easily move the audience in time through the experiment. 

Cross-Cuts 

Cross-cuts are used in most modern movies. Remember a movie where the main character is sleeping at home, and another person is in the car in the center of New York going to see his friend at his home. Such scenes showing several actions happening at the same time are created with the help of cross-cuts.

How do we use this in science films? Imagine that there is a tiger on one side and a tiger on another side, and you have to show them both in detail in your movie. This is a hint of how you can use this movie editing tool in your science clip.

Match Cuts

Match cuts are an interesting video editing technique. It is highly popular in the modern film industry. This tool represents cutting together a couple of similar objects which are visually alike. For example, after showing footage of a spark appears the video of a burning flame. This technique can make your science video look exceptional and unforgettable to the viewer.

#2 Add Captions and Make Science Approachable

The main rule for creating videos is to make them understandable for your audience. This is especially important for science videos.

Science videos may include terms that can be difficult for understanding to the viewers who hear them for the first time in their lives. By adding captions, you make science videos accessible not only to people who suffer from hearing difficulties but the elaborate language used in science and various technical fields becomes easier for a mass viewer. People are more likely to memorize what is written on the screen when in the video you are simultaneously talking about the same matter.

You can add captions with any free video editing tool such as Animoto, Videosoftdev, or Magisto.

#3 Pick a Relevant Audio for your Video

Choosing the right audio is crucial for delivering your message. An audio style decides what your story style is going to be like:

• Voice-over uses the voice, which is not a part of the narrative, also known as first-person narration.
• The interview production technique introduces the talk facing the camera.
• Journalistic style presentation involves the reporter delivering his speech “live” in front of the camera while the experiment is in progress.

#4 Introduce Your Video to the Public 

Youtube is full of science channels aiming at presenting the brightest examples of the natural world and is a perfect source for curious learners who are eager to see science functioning. On Youtube, you can watch all the videos online. Science videos can become popular among teachers who are preparing for a class, students who are learning for their finals, and just inquisitive people who want to discover something new for themselves. 

You can also burn video to a DVD, a CD, or another recordable disk. Here you can find more details on how to burn a DVD. This way, you will always have the recorded video on your disk. 

Conclusion

Video editing is critical for science videos as it makes the movie flow smoothly as well as look natural to the viewer. Video editing can help the audience greatly with understanding difficult science terms and gives a chance that elaborate educational topics will appeal to a wider range of people. 

Without web design, today we wouldn’t be able to have the right websites that were made to either present ourselves or the things we do. It’s worth mentioning that web design doesn’t just throw things together to create a first-class site.

In order for web designers to provide people with a good user experience, they need to develop web pages that feel fluid and smooth. It’s of huge importance for them to meet the expectations and desires of users.

The whole goal behind it is to create an engaging page that has a purpose. That’s not going to force people to aimlessly click and eventually give up, but to stimulate them to come face to face with what the website has to offer. What else is there to know?

How Web Design Can Tell Your Story?

Website Purpose

When you’re creating your website, you need to think about people who are going to visit it and figure out ways it is going to accommodate the needs of these individuals. That’s why you must have a relatively clear intention on every single page in order to help users interact with everything you have to offer.

Have you determined the purpose of your site? Do you want to create something that is going to provide users with some basic information on a certain topic, such as “How to guide”, or do you want to develop something that is related to entertaining things, like celebrities, sports, traveling, etc?  

Every single website has its own purpose, hence, it’s of huge importance to determine it before you even begin creating a web page. Here are some of the most common core purposes, that practically every site has:

1. Depicting Expertise
2. Building A Solid Reputation
3. Generating Leads
4. After Care And Sales

How Does It Have To Be?

Sometimes being simple is the best solution in the world. You do not have to be the most experienced web designer to reach people. On the contrary. With a number of useful tools, some skills, and creativity, you’ll be able to gain as many users as you want to.

How can you do so? There are so many awesome website builders and one of them is the Google Sites website builder that can help you easily build your very own web page. Luckily, there are many sources of information that can provide you with useful tips when it comes to it. If that doesn’t seem like your cup of tea, search for other options. Now, when it comes to visual aspects, you need to put something that is going to be effective. It revolves around color, type, and imagery. 

As far as the color is concerned, you need to choose a color palette that is perfect for your brand and if you choose the right one, you’ll be able to impact consumer’s behavior toward your brand. Make sure you do not use more than five colors and ensure to apply complementary colors because they usually work very well. If you create a nice color combination, you are going to increase engagement and make people feel good while they are browsing.

When it comes to typography, it is also one of the most essential elements of your web page. It acts as the visual interpretation of your brands’ voice. Bear in mind that you shouldn’t employ more than three different fonts on your site.

Even though they are one of the most important elements of the website, images are often overlooked. It shouldn’t be that way due to the fact that they can be extremely inviting and something that users notice immediately, as soon as they enter a certain site.

Therefore, they must look good, professional, and enticing, because if they don’t, your web page is not going to look either. Choose images that are convincing and warm and that are going to be able to properly describe you, your products, and your service.

And The Most Important Thing…

The Content

This is for sure the most crucial part. Web design prioritizes content because that’s the reason why people are visiting your site. You have to create something that is easy to comprehend and digest.

Having a web page that is easy to browse and maneuver is the best thing a person can experience when it comes to this topic, hence, you should focus all your attention on a layout. Perceive content as the answer to all consumer’s questions.

They have entered your site so they can find solutions, overcome some obstacles, and maybe (if you’re selling something) become your loyal buyer.  That’s precisely why content simply must be readable and understandable, otherwise, it is going to push people away and force them to turn to other web pages. 

Today we discussed some of the most important factors when it comes to web design. As you can see, the whole point of it is to convey a certain message and if you focus on all these previously mentioned elements, you’ll be able to do just that.

People often talk about ‘the art of seduction,’ but the rational, scientific aspect of the relationship is rarely mentioned, even if it could offer a workable solution for many relationship issues.

Since interpersonal relationships are among the most important parts of our lives, it is strange that we don’t spend more time analyzing them rationally and impartially. When you peel away the emotional layer and start thinking about the basics of a successful relationship, it’s possible to identify certain factors that greatly affect how two people will get along. However, it’s very difficult to do this when you are involved in an ongoing relationship, which is why some external guidance is welcome.

This is especially true for people who meet through dating sites because it is difficult to establish communication and interest the person you like by correspondence. But many dating sites have blogs and tutorials to help you get there faster. Among these sites – cupid or other matchmaking platforms with these features. They connect people and help to find the most suitable partner for a relationship with similar goals. It becomes easier to build relationships online and transform them into something more serious.

Here are some interesting views on this topic from the scientific angle:

Friendship with a partner is a great foundation

All human relationships are based on mutual trust, and this is true for romantic couples, too. That’s why building a strong and stable foundation is so important – if you are able to have deep understanding and empathy with the other person, you won’t have difficulties achieving emotional closeness. Men often avoid being labeled as ‘friends’ by the women they are attracted to, but the truth is that friendship comes before love and could be seen as a key component of it. Instead of resisting a friendly relationship, it may be wiser to embrace the long-term approach and try to develop real psychological rapport before talking about undying passion.

Always try something new

Another key factor that can make a relationship more fulfilling is innovativeness (or freshness, if you like). People sometimes expect to meet an amazing person without leaving their comfort zone, but this is rarely possible. Introducing a bit of change into your lifestyle can do wonders for your confidence and reinvigorate your spirit. For example, if you are not meeting suitable partners at a local bar, perhaps you should try any dating site where you can meet singles. The excitement you will feel when you are chatting with complete strangers on the internet could make you appreciate any romantic success more than you would normally do.

5 magic hours together

Perhaps the most insightful scientific theory about happiness in a relationship was proposed by Gottman & Silver (1999), who suggested that 5 quality hours spent with a partner every week are enough to build a powerful and lasting bond. The trick is for those five hours to be dedicated exclusively to your relationship and involve shared activities that you don’t otherwise engage in. Those researchers went a step further and calculated how much time it takes to show appreciation for your partner and found that often just a few minutes are sufficient to express your true feelings. However, the couple should have at least one scheduled date every week – even if they have been married for many years.

The power of positive thinking

The same authors insist that a positive attitude can do a lot to prevent marital problems. If you are using affirmative language and you acknowledge all the good things that the other side deserves credit for, you will shrink the space for possible conflicts. The motto of the Gottman institute is ‘small things often,’ and it encapsulates this principle in very simple words. You don’t have to move the mountains in order to satisfy your partner, but you have to keep tugging at loose ends day after day. This kind of dedication sends a clear message that you are in it for the long haul and that you won’t jump ship if the relationship ever runs into dire straits.

Using the above scientific facts, your chances to interest the person you like grow exponentially. It is best to use several of them at the same time to achieve the desired result.

Did you know that much of Europe only has about 6-8 main tree species that it turns into lumber? If you think this number is low, you’re thinking along the same lines as our crew and I. Coming from the southeastern US I was used to a lot of trees that come from the forests. But, here in Europe, it’s much less diverse. In Czechia where we were for this video short, the main three trees are Norwegian Spruce, Silver Fir, and Beech. After that you have Scotts Pine, Oak and Ash. That’s most of what you get from the forest. Here is a walkthrough of these main trees from the lumber mill in Czechia with expert Dr. Jiri Hulcr.

European Tree Species Recap

Here is a recap of the trees we discussed in the main video

Norwegian Spruce

Spruce is the main timber product in much of Europe. It grows tall and straight. It’s relatively hard and grows quickly. They bring in the most money for loggers. However, this tree is now being devastated recently by drought and then finished off by the spruce bark beetle. This is actually the topic of our latest documentary. Stay tuned for that soon.

Silver Fir

Silver fir grows slower than spruce but is an extremely resilient tree. It does much better with drought and insects and lasts forever.

Beech

Beech is a common early colonizer of forest plots. It grows relatively quickly and is one of the big three timber products in Europe. It is used for tables, and furniture.

Oak

Oak is a hard wood that is valued for it’s use in fine furniture. It grows much slower than most of the other trees though and hence takes longer to reach a size that it can be harvested.

Ash

Ash trees are relatively soft as a lumber. They’re used traditionally in baseball bats. They are actually being hit by a fungal disease currently in Europe.

Scotts Pine

This is the main pine species in Europe. Like other pines, it grows quickly and has straight trunks. It can grow on poor soil as well so it’s a very versatile tree.