Interesting Things to Know
Three steps to volunteer abroad
Volunteering abroad can be an incredibly rewarding experience. It gives you the chance to make a positive difference while discovering a new corner of the globe. However, there’s a fair bit of planning involved. Here are three things you’ll need to do beforehand.
1. Plan your budget
Volunteering abroad can be expensive. You need to make sure you can afford the airfare, the cost of visas and vaccinations, and the cost of the placement itself, which typically comprises accommodation, food, training, local transport, insurance and background checks.
2. Find a good organization
There are many international volunteering organizations but not all of them are reputable. Make sure you do a lot of research before making any decisions. Check online reviews and, if possible, speak with people who’ve done the placement themselves. Once you’ve narrowed down your choices, communicate directly with organizations, preferably by phone or in person, asking their representatives pertinent questions you’ve prepared in advance.
3. Look for a placement
Volunteering can be a great way to gain practical experience. It’s also a big asset on your university application or resume. And if the placement lines up with your skills and interests, it’s all the more useful. For instance, if you’re interested in teaching, think about working for a literacy program. Or if you plan to work in the veterinary field, look for a placement in which you rehabilitate animals back into the wild.
Once you’ve locked down your budget, found a great organization to volunteer with and uncovered a position that aligns with your interests and ambitions, all that’s left is to pack your bags and prepare for the adventure of a lifetime.
Online volunteering
Did you know that you can do volunteer work for another country without having to leave the comfort of your own home? The United Nations Volunteers program allows you to make a positive difference from your computer, tablet or smartphone. For more information visit www.onlinevolunteering.org.
Interesting Things to Know
Harnessing Your Sixth Sense: How to Use Intuition Effectively
Intuition, often called a “sixth sense” or a hunch, is a powerful mental tool that can guide us through decisions when logic alone isn’t enough. Psychologists from York University in Toronto have explored the origins of these intuitive insights and suggest practical ways to harness them effectively.
Understanding Intuition
Intuition operates as an ability to understand something immediately without needing conscious reasoning. It allows us to make decisions quickly, especially when we have limited information but a wealth of relevant experience. This sixth sense can often seem like it comes from nowhere, yet it’s deeply rooted in our past experiences and knowledge.
Enhancing Your Intuitive Abilities
- Expand Your Knowledge Base: Intuition is stronger in fields where you have more expertise. Invest time learning and expanding your knowledge to improve your intuitive abilities, especially outside your current areas of expertise. This broader understanding sets the stage for more frequent and accurate insights.
- Take a Step Back: To cultivate intuition, engage deeply with your questions and potential answers, then take a deliberate break. Activities that fully relax and occupy your mind can refresh your cognitive processes and lead to breakthroughs when you revisit the problem.
- Trust Your Gut: Experience fuels intuition. Trust your gut feelings, especially in areas where you have deep knowledge. While intuition sometimes contradicts logical reasoning, it often points toward innovative solutions that logic might miss.
- Verify Your Insights: While intuition can lead to rapid conclusions, validating these insights with facts and data is crucial. Before acting on a gut feeling, cross-check it with reality to ensure it stands up to scrutiny. This process confirms the validity of your intuitive leaps and can prevent potential mistakes.
Intuition as a Problem-Solving Tool
Intuition isn’t about making random guesses. It’s an advanced form of cognitive processing that blends past experiences with present awareness. By fostering your intuition through learning, relaxation, trust, and verification, you can enhance your decision-making skills in both personal and professional realms.
Remember, while facts and data are crucial, there comes a point in decision-making where you must rely on intuition’s less tangible yet profoundly insightful power. Embrace it as a complementary tool that, when used wisely, can lead to more holistic and effective problem-solving.
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The Mystery of Fingerprints: Why Do We Have Them?
Fingerprints have become integral to our daily lives, from unlocking smartphones to helping detectives solve crimes. But why do humans even have fingerprints in the first place? This question has intrigued researchers, and recent studies illuminate this fascinating feature.
A 2020 study published in the “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences” suggests that the unique ridges on our fingertips enhance our ability to grip and hold objects. Another study featured in the “Journal of Neuroscience,” indicates that these ridges play a role in the sensitivity of human touch, making our sense of touch more refined.
Fascinating Facts about Fingerprints:
- Shared Traits: Fingerprints aren’t exclusive to humans. Only primates and koalas share this characteristic.
- Ageless Patterns: Fingerprints remain unchanged throughout a person’s life, even as other features evolve with age.
- Natural Patterns: The unique patterns of a zebra’s stripes and a leopard’s spots form like human fingerprints.
- Early Formation: Human fingerprints begin developing around the 10th week of gestation and are fully formed by 17 weeks.
Fingerprints are not just functional; they are unique identifiers that reveal much about us. The ongoing research into why they exist continues to unveil their remarkable properties and role in human evolution.