Keywords; key thoughts?

     If you ever tried writing on blogs or even write an article, you'll find that the key question hovering on most writer's heads is," How do I reach my target audience?".Simply put another way, " How does one write well enough and at the same time include a good amount of keywords that search engines search for on a daily basis? If you've ever played around with SEO, you know what I mean. The main challenge, at least I believe, is how do you convey your thoughts across a medium and not be a slave to a slew of keywords you know you'd have to insert somewhere just so someone out there gets to read your work. Where do we strike a balance between a well written piece and one that gets picked up by search phrases? In other words, quality v.s. quantity on a whole different light.

     I write because I like to write. Writing allows me a sense of freedom in sharing my thoughts, my ideas, my ideals, to the world. First and foremost it gives me a medium to put my thoughts down even if only to evaluate them later. I also believe writing is an art. You can say a hundred different things about something but find yourself limited when trying to write those things down. I write on a whim most times so I don't really pay attention to what keywords I type down, if any. As a matter of fact, the question begs to be asked regarding what keywords really are. Key words to what? To whom? Ever try writing poetry while minding what key words you jot down? Of course not! I have a deep respect for poets because writing poetry is like seeing your soul on a mirror and describing what you see. Poets write out of passion and whatever moves them is what gives them lifeblood.

     Going back to our dilemma. A good writer writes for himself or herself, first and foremost, before writing for anyone else. This signature must be established in order to cover deeper ground in writing. Writing, you see, isn't just about putting words on paper. It's so much more than that. Your'e written work must flow and convey your thoughts with clarity. On that note I'd like to say that there are two types of writers who publish on the internet; for every writer who writes for himself or herself is another writer who writes for an audience or a group of audiences. The latter targets a specific demographic and keys in on topics which may have some value to these group of people. The former writes about issues and challenges which have profound effects on their daily lives and offers alternatives or solutions to these ailments. Which one are you? Better yet, which of the two would you most likely read published works on. I prefer being a writer who writes from experience. I can write passionately then. 

     Another key topic most writers concern themselves with is Content. How do you cover ground on the basis of delivering quality content? Well, let's ponder for a minute what quality content is. For me, quality content must cover two areas effectively. These key areas are Substance and Delivery. Let's talk about Substance. Say I was searching through the web and typed in a keyword phrase in the hope of finding a solution to a problem I have. On the first page I open the first 5 websites that are keyed in on the question or keyword phrase I typed. Going through the data I noticed that very few of these websites offered ACTUAL, real-world answers to my problem. Instead, what I got out of them are suggestions and not solutions. I want a road-map to solving whatever it is I want solved, not another referral to yet another possibility. Delivery, on the other hand, is an entirely different ballpark from Substance. You have to grab your audience long enough  to convey your message across and not lose them in translation. Do you write blandly or with gusto? Do you at least keep things interesting enough to arouse your audience's curiosity making them come back for more? A good delivery depends on how you structure your written work. You need to flow into your next paragraph and the next and so forth. Avoid using distractors and thought shifts. Don't jump from one topic to the other. Instead,cover them in terms of relevance tackling the most relevant first and  the least last.

     Write for yourself. Genuine written work is much more appreciated when read. Someone out there will eventually stumble on your article and blog and say, "Wow!". Write from the heart and write your own. Don't rewrite someone else's work just so you can jump in the bandwagon and get some traffic to your site.

Writing is like speaking in front of an audience, in some ways. You can never get everyone's attention but you try anyway. That goes without saying that writing, like speaking, takes patience and practice. You don't need to be a gifted writer. Skill comes with consistency and time. And of keywords? What keywords?

Laugh Your Troubles Away

Ever heard of the age-old adage, " Laughter is the Best Medicine"? Well, surprisingly enough, that may very well be true. I know you probably already read or heard somewhere how Laughter reduces stress in our daily lives but, in actuality, it does so much more. Ok, here's the deal: I am a sincere believer of alternative medicine that offer real life solutions, meaning they are applicable and actually work when applied to the daily   health issues that continue to cripple us, preventing us from living our lives to the utmost. Although many and varied in their categories, alternative forms of medicine are increasingly being practiced by clinicians and even take it up as a sub-specialization. How does laughing some more and more often factor in in all of this? quite simply, it's the cheapest form of alternative medicine you can be doing now. It's free and you can do it as often as you like, when you like , and feel like it. Ok, as I have done in my past posts which has something to do with anything medical, I will list the benefits down first and then we'll delve into each and everyone of them in detail as to why they are so. Although there are many literature on how laughter benefits us, the conclusions are rather iffy at best. No two schools of thought arrives at the same conclusion. This is because the benefits of laughter can't be proved scientifically(yet) and the studies conducted on its benefits are merely to support theories. However, what science can't, or is incapable as of yet, prove doesn't necessarily mean it has no merit. Studies show laughing indeed has beneficial effects and although we can't gauge what those are, we can certainly see clearly how our body responds accordingly.The Benefits of Laughter are:

1.   Laughter reduces Stress
2.   Laughter strengthens your immune response
3.   Laughter as a form of exercise
4.   Laughter is beneficial for better mental health
5.   Laughter as a social tool
6.   Laughter increases our sense of focus and alertness
7.   Laughter lets you sleep more soundly
8.   Laughter lowers your chances of acquiring lifestyle diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, and cancer.
9.   Laughter  prolongs your life
10. Laughter helps detoxify our bodies

There are very few constants in life and one of those that we can be sure of is Stress. There are many forms of stress whether it be physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual stress. What we need to understand about stress, firstly, is what causes it and how our body responds to it. Stress is caused by a number of stressors or triggering mechanisms. It is how we perceive these stressors, and more importantly, how we process their potential effects, whether they be short term or long term which dictates how we respond accordingly. When we see a potential threat to imbalance us our body responds by increasing production of  hormones. In other words, we adapt to engage in a fight or flight response. Hormones which increase in their levels during stressful situations are aptly called stress hormones. Opioids produced by our body such as Corticotrophin, and Cortisol as well as Catecholamines such as Epinephrine and Norepinephrine act by preparing our body for a "fight or flight" response in the face of stressful events such as a life threatening situation. There's a lot of physiologic changes going on during a fight or flight response and they are geared to adapt our body to these situations. These hormones reduce stress and relieve pain. How does laughter factor in in all of these? Well, laughter increases the production of another set of hormones called endorphins. Although there are many types of endorphins, the one that has the most benefit in terms of pain is the type called beta-Endorphin. By blocking pain receptors, these hormones essentially modulate how we feel pain. Laughter, however,has a two-fold effect on stress. The first we have just covered and that has something so do with endorphin production. In this regard, we can modulate pain as it comes to us. The other,perhaps more important, role of laughter in stress management is it's ability to fine tune our focus by increasing our level of attention and awareness in any given situation, allowing us to develop a keener sense of observation. This helps in assessing a stressful situation such as a threat, and modulating our response to it depending on it's gravity.

How then does laughter improve our immune response? Without going into the vast field of Immunology it is suffice for us to know that some immune cells are inherently affected in terms of their function and production when the body experiences stress. Antibody production goes down as well as antibody producing cells ( your B-cells). Laughter boosts our immune response for reasons being unclear but the key point is that we strengthen our immune defense against antigens and infections in general when we are happy and full of laughter in our lives. Another benefit of laughter is a rather not so obvious one. When we laugh our body does indeed get a workout. There's a reason why your stomach muscles hurt when you laugh excessively. With this workout you can see and feel your abdominal muscles tense as well as your other respiratory muscles such as the diaphragm, for instance. Of course, with this form of unassuming workout you can expect your heart rate to go up, delivering much needed oxygen to our tissues, in essence giving them a boost. Another benefit is that diabetics are shown to have a lower blood sugar level when subjected to laughing ( have them watch a stand up comedy session ) and this is partly due to the increased tissue delivery of nutrients I mentioned earlier when our heart rate does increase.

One other health benefit of laughter is it's ability to negate depression. Depression, you see has far reaching effects besides our emotions. When we are depressed our bodies produce a lot of radicals and as you know free radical production damages our cells and it is perhaps the sole reason why we age. A healthy daily dose of laughter can indeed  make you feel and look young by decreasing free radical production. This free detoxification process is readily available and indeed life-saving. When practiced daily along with proper breathing exercises ( you'd be surprised to know that not a whole lot of people know how to breath properly ) helps our organs function optimally in terms of oxygenation, nutrient acquisition, and waste removal. One important health benefit of laughter that needs mentioning is how it affects our mental state. Beyond its psychological standpoint, laughter increases our level of awareness and sense of focus aptly increasing our capacity for better decision hence improving our decision making skills.

Perhaps the most obvious affect of laughter, as most people would agree on, is that it is indeed contagious. It is a social tool in that it binds people together, making fuller and richer relationships, easing tensions, and promotes a conducive environment towards positivity. We don't have to talk about how that enriches our lives because it's pretty obvious  how it does so. On that note let me include, however, that lesser tension means better sleep. On a later post we will cover how sleep affects our daily lives and why we must realize its untapped potential.

The question then boils down to how do we incorporate a little laughter in our lives? Well, to start we should establish some practices which promote humor. There are a lot of things we can do and a prime example is try renting out some comedy movies for a change during movie night. Practice silliness daily. By making someone laugh you are actually doing them some good ( now that you know how). Avoid negative people because negativity only breeds negativity. Lastly, keep an open mind and learn to let go. What I mean by that is learn to not take your problems so seriously. Don't fret over the small stuff and you'll do fine. I hope this post has helped you in your quest for a better and fuller life. Glad to be of help. email me if you need to talk to me about anything any comment would be appreciated. Once again, JowelMD signing off. Until our next post. Take care and feel better today. You deserve it.