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Gadgets, once exclusively the domain of teenage boys now has an appeal to both boys and girls alike. Chances are, these Christmas ideas are items that will feature on many a teenager’s top 10 wish list, if they do not already have them all.

Games Consoles

Nintendo Wii is particularly desired because it takes gaming to a whole new level being that body movement becomes a key component in playing many of the games.

Wii Fit. If your teenager already has a Wii, the Wii Fit is a must have. As the name suggests it promotes fitness. As such it involves the use of a platform on which you will twist and turn and shift your weight to achieve the objectives of the games, and lose some calories in the process. This is great fun for all the family.

PlayStation 3 and X-Box 360 remain the other two strong contenders in the market. All three consoles are Christmas ideas that will make great presents. However, with the Wii bringing with it greater interactivity and being pitched as not only a multiplayer console but also as a family friendly multiplayer console, Nintendo have cleverly and successfully created a new niche in the games console market that has made it all the rage and brought families that end up playing together, closer together.

iPod or iPhone

Since the iPod first arrived on the market, it has been a must have. The latest incarnation, the iPod Touch and its mobile phone expanded big brother – the iPhone, ensure this demand is still going strong. If the budget fits, either these are Christmas ideas that you can be sure are high up in the gadget loving teen’s wish list if they have not got an iPod or iPhone already. And even if they do already have the iPod, they most likely are wanting to upgrade to an iPhone.

When it comes to mp3 players, the iPod leads the pack. Many competitors have entered the market, but iPod remains the King of mp3 players. With the latest incarnation, rather than using physical controls, the controls on the iPod Touch are activated by using the touch screen interface of the iPod.

The iPhone takes the iPod touch, and propels it into the mobile phone market. As well as having phone functionality, it also obviously has a built in microphone for speaking and recording. There is also has a built in 2.0 megapixel camera – great for taking pictures of special moments while on the move and emailing them off to your contacts.

Handheld Games Consoles

The Nintendo DS Lite and the PlayStation Portable (PSP) are the younger siblings to the “grown up” home game consoles. The main reason these are desired and are also great Christmas ideas for presents, is that you can take them wherever you go. Fantastic for use when on the move, especially during long boring journeys.

The Nintendo DS Lite is particularly popular as it has a wide choice of games. It also boasts a touch screen interface, bringing with it a whole new element to entertainment and gaming. The main feature PSP has as a standard feature that DS Lite does not, is built in media capability – but unless there is a really strong desire to buy movies to watch on the go, this feature probably does not really matter.

Games for Above Consoles

To be lighter on the pocket, and assuming that the teenager in question already has one of the above consoles, you can simply buy them a game for that console. Before purchasing a game, you might want to try to find out what type of game they like first, or if they have been talking about their desire for a new game recently. This should enable you to be discreet, yet ensure that you gift them a game that they will really appreciate.

So there you have it, 3 gadgets and games. Christmas ideas that make fantastic gifts for the technology and gadget loving teenage boy or girl that are sure to put a smile on their face.

Success with PowerPoint presentations boils down to consistently doing a handful of simple, commonsense things. Try these 7 tips on your next PowerPoint presentation and I promise your life will be much easier the next time you’re in front of a crowd:

1. Choose a PowerPoint template that uses high contrast between background and text. Like white letters on a dark blue background. Or vice versa. Otherwise your audience can’t read it.
2. Use lots of pictures to break up the monotony of page after page of text. Shoot for a picture or two on each page. Sprinkle in some humor if you can. Otherwise your audience will go to sleep.
3. Use text sparingly in as large a font as practical. Lots of text in small font will quickly lose the attention of your audience. Don’t turn your back to read the text off the slide out loud to them. Your audience can read without your help. The text should be a way to jog your memory at a glance about a point that you want to make and that you can expound upon. Bring some value to the presentation. Otherwise, why are you there?
4. Stand up and speak up when you’re giving a presentation. You’ll command more attention and respect this way. Force yourself to use a louder voice than you normally would. This will give you authority and keep the whispers and side conversations to a minimum.
5. Ask questions of your audience. Invite questions back to you. Get the audience engaged. If they know they might have to answer a question, then they’ll pay more attention and they’ll remember what you said better.
6. Withhold all props until the last third or quarter of the presentation. If you immediately give out widgets to pass around and play with, you’ll lose your audience right out of the box. Gizmos have a high cool factor and everyone gets excited once they’re loose in the crowd. It’s the number one train wreck causer if you don’t use them right.
7. Don’t give out copies of the presentation until the end. This one is a little more controversial because many people want a handout that they can use to take notes on as you go along. In fact some will demand a handout at the beginning, and may get a little irate if you don’t give them one. Resist the urge to give in and pass them out. I have had too many presentations derailed by folks flipping through to the end of the handout and asking questions out of order. If taking notes is necessary, then they can use their notepad and staple their notes to the handout afterward.

Transformational Counseling is about assisting others to transform their life. Transformational Counseling is a process of assisting others to learn how to let go of the past and live fully in the present. To live fully in the present is to become awaken to what is truly real and to our own natural power. Much of our life is spent living in the past, and in the process, attempting to fix it, to make it something that it is or was not. It is from living in the past that we also attempt to create our future, the result always being a living of life as it was in the past. Transformation takes place when we learn to exist in and be present to the Now.

The practice of staying present to our natural power and to that which is real is becoming conscious to what is so, to the Now, to the present. What is so, the Now, has no meaning and exists outside of thought and language. As human beings we tend to give meaning to everything, including other people, ourselves and even life itself. It is in our meaning making that we leave the present and create our life from the past, a life that can be filled with a great deal of anxiety, fear and stress. What is so merely exists and it is in the experience of the Now that we begin to live a life of power and freedom, a life and way of being free from our past.

A specific technique that is very powerful for practicing staying present to the Now is meditation. It is in meditation that one creates the space to experience a very deep state of relaxation, a state that is very healing to both the mind and body. As we know, in meditation ones metabolism slows down, including heart rate and blood pressure. The consistent practice of meditation will reduce anxiety and stress. For some the practice of meditation allows them to access true Being. For others it is way of reconnecting to the Spirit within us. It is in the consistent practice of meditation that the subject and object distinction inherent in language, thought and meaning making collapses thereby resulting in our access to the present, to the Now.

The meditative process can be enhanced by the use of therapeutic relaxation music. Music has always been a very powerful modality for promoting a very deep state of relaxation and even healings. I have found that musical compositions that are harmonically slow, repetitious, with sustained voices, which are rhythmically, random in tempo assists an individual in experiencing a very deep state of relaxation. A second important component of the use of therapeutic relaxation music is the use of binaural audio tones that have been interwoven into the music. The binaural tones, through a process referred to as entrainment or frequency following, gently guides or directs the mind/body to generate more of the targeted frequency of brain wave activity for an even more profound state of relaxation.

The meditative process of practicing staying present to the Now is as follows:

1. Take a comfortable position in an upright sitting position.

2. Allow your legs and arms to be open.

3. Allow your eyes to focus upon a chosen object. The chosen object could be a candle light in a darkened room or any point that you choose.

4. As you focus on the chosen object, allow your muscles to slowly relax from the top of your head to the tips of your toes.

5. Take three slow deep breathes in through your nose as you inhale. Hold each breath to the mental count of four. Slowly exhale each breath out through your mouth. Continue to breath at a slow pace after the three breaths.

6. Continue to focus on the chosen object. When your mind wanders to some thought or thoughts slowly and gently bring it back to your focused concentration upon the chosen object. Simply let go of the thoughts that arise. The thoughts are from the past. Stay focused to what is so.

7. Continue the practice for a prescribed period of time and then go about your daily activities. Each day that you practice you may even choose to lengthen the time you spend with this technique.

The ability to stay in the present, to access the Now, can be enhanced with the consistent practice of meditation. What this will necessitate is one making the practice of meditation apart of his or her daily schedule. With the consistent practice of meditation one will also create the ability to stay even more present to what is so even when not actively engaged in the meditative process. It is through a commitment to the practice of meditation on a daily basis that one will begin to live more fully in the Now.

Harry Henshaw, Ed.D., LMHC

http://www.enhancedhealing.com