INPUT ARTICLE: Article: Your gifts are your strengths, they are what you are good at doing. Compile a list of your strongest skills. Your list will include practical skills, like filing taxes, social skills, such as listening, and interpersonal skills, like evaluating a situation or having a high level of self-awareness. In addition to self-reporting your strengths, take a gift or skill inventory test. The results may reveal new gifts or affirm your evaluation of your strengths. Your passions reveal what you care about. You may be passionate about the environment, animals, social justice, education, or children. Your passions move you to action. What moves you to pick up a sign in protest? Do you regularly donate to an organization? If you struggle to readily identify your passions, take time to explore different issues. Educate yourself on global warming, familiarize yourself with immigration reform, dedicate yourself to social justice. Over time, you will discover your passions. Values are a set a principles you live your life by. Often, our values are derived from our religion, family, and society. Your values guide your decisions and actions. If you value integrity and honesty, you strive to tell the truth and appreciate when others are open with you. You may value equality, freedom, or family, generosity or dedication. When you work or live in an environment that does not respect your values conflict and tension naturally arises. Identify your core values by completing a series of easy exercises. Consider which characteristics are present in the people you respect—how do your parents, mentors, and teachers live their lives? Evaluate which issues inspire you to take action and why these issues excite you. Assess your community and determine 1 thing you would change. Review your answers and search for common themes. The themes and principles that emerge will resemble your values and beliefs. The key to finding your calling requires you to meld your gifts, passions, and your values. Find a way to lend your strengths to a cause you are passionate about while maintaining your values. When you reach the perfect balance of all three, you will experience a feeling of satisfaction—you will have figured out your life! Finding the perfect balance between your gifts, passions, and values may take awhile. Don't expect to perfect the formula on your first try!

SUMMARY: Identify your gifts. Recognize your passions. Examine your values. Find your calling.


INPUT ARTICLE: Article: Hemorrhoids are swollen blood vessels in the rectal area, which cause itchiness, discomfort or pain. If you're brave enough to venture a look, you'll see that they look like a bunch of grapes or small marbles protruding from the anus. Hemorrhoids usually form during the first trimester of pregnancy or after child birth. Symptoms include:  Anal itching. Anal pain, especially while sitting. Bright red blood on the stool. Pain during bowel movements, hard painful lumps in the anus. Hemorrhoids are caused by increased blood pressure in the veins in the lower half of your body. Too much pressure in these veins can lead to swollen or dilated blood vessels, which manifest as hemorrhoids. Pregnant women are more susceptible to hemorrhoids for a variety of reasons:  As you progress through your pregnancy, your growing uterus puts more and more pressure on the pelvic veins and the inferior vena cava (a large vein which receives blood from the lower body). This slows blood flow from these veins, leading to increased pressure, and therefore hemorrhoids.  Pregnant women are also more like to experience constipation. When you strain to pass a hard bowel movement, you put excess pressure on your rectal area. This can lead to the formation of hemorrhoids or exacerbate existing ones.  Pregnant women also have a higher level of a hormone known as progesterone in their systems. This hormone causes the walls of you veins to relax, making them more likely to swell and develop hemorrhoids as a result. Progesterone also has an impact on your digestive system, making constipation more likely. If you're still unsure about whether you have hemorrhoids, or you have any concerns about how they'll affect your pregnancy, it's a good idea to see your doctor. A doctor can diagnose hemorrhoids by a simple rectal exam. However, other tests may be performed to rule out other diagnoses. These may include a stool-guiac-test (which indicates the presence of fresh blood in the stool), or either a sigmoidoscopy or an anoscopy  - both of which use a scope to check for the presence of obstructions or malignancies which can mimic the signs of hemorrhoids.

SUMMARY: Recognize the symptoms of hemorrhoids. Understand what causes pregnancy hemorrhoids. See a doctor to confirm the diagnosis.


INPUT ARTICLE: Article: A licensed massage therapist can help facilitate muscle relaxation. Seek out a licensed professional in your area and schedule a massage therapy appointment. Shoot for a 30-45 minute appointment to begin with, and pay close attention to how your body responds. If you find the therapy induces muscles relaxation in your back, you can schedule regular appointment with your massage therapist. You might consider finding a massage therapist who is certified in rolfing, which is a form of deep tissue massage. Acupuncture can help relax tense back muscles, easing the pain that is often associated with a tight back. Consider making an appointment with a local acupuncture professional to ease your back muscles.  Some health insurance plans may cover acupuncture. Call your provider to see if these services are covered. Many acupuncture professional hold community clinics where services are performed for a reduced cost. Ask local professionals if there is a community clinic in your area. Sometimes a physical therapist can help patients achieve muscle relaxation through supervised exercise and therapy. Make an appointment with your primary care provider and explain the ways in which tense back muscles are affecting you. Ask your provider is physical therapy is a good option for you and, if so, set up an appointment with a physical therapist.  Before scheduling your appointment, contact your health insurance provider to gain a detailed understanding of what types of therapy are and are not covered by your healthcare plan. You may also look into borrowing a TENS (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation) machine from a physical therapist. The machine requires placing electrodes in specific locations on your back and then shocking those areas with a mild electrical current, which may help to promote muscle relaxation. Some medical professionals may prescribe medication to help you relax your back muscles. While medications like muscle relaxants can be helpful, certain medications can be addictive and/or harmful. Always take medication exactly as prescribed by your doctor. Try taking a dose of ibuprofen for back pain or take 200 to 400 mg of magnesium citrate, which acts as a muscle relaxant. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions for use.

SUMMARY: Use massage therapy for deep relaxation of your back muscles. Try acupuncture if tense back muscles are causing you pain. Ask your doctor about physical therapy. Exercise caution when using medication.


INPUT ARTICLE: Article: You want to make sure that your hands are clean and dry before you massage your eyelids, otherwise you could risk irritating your eyes or causing pimples (styes) to form. You can also use a clean washcloth soaked in very warm water. Just be sure that the water isn’t so hot that it burns your skin. This will help unclog pores and deep clean your eyelids and lash line.

SUMMARY:
Wash and dry your hands. Apply a warm compress to your eyelids.