Negative thoughts come from many different places, but reframing how you think can be beneficial to your mental health. Here are some healthy ways to challenge negative thoughts when they arise.
Ask yourself why you are thinking the negative thought. Perhaps you made a small error in class and think to yourself, “I’m the worst student ever.” Ask yourself: Is there any evidence to back up this thought? Are you really the worst or did you just make a small error? Did you receive bad grades or not turn in any work? Would one bad grade constitute failure? Have you done anything that could work against this thought, such as receiving a high mark on a quiz or finishing your homework days before a deadline?
Talk to yourself as if you were speaking to the child version of yourself, somewhat like that recent trend on Tik Tok. Think to yourself: would I tell the child version of myself that they were the worst student just because they made a mistake? What about a friend? Try to treat yourself the way you treat other people. Afford yourself the benefit of the doubt.
Looking at the situation positively, how is it different? Is there another side of the story? For instance, instead of focusing on how you made a mistake, think of how you are learning that waiting until the last minute to do your homework may lead to stress. Or, you should give yourself some slack, you were working a lot that week and sometimes certain priorities take precedence.
In any case, challenging negative thoughts can get you in the habit of seeing more positive aspects of life. It can also help you defeat insecurities.
This blog post is part of the CIMA Law Group blog. If you are located in Arizona and are seeking legal services, CIMA Law Group specializes in Immigration Law, Criminal Defense, Personal Injury, and Government Relations.
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the legal consequence of being killed for committing a crime. This is an extremely rare sentence, as it is only given to criminals who have committed the most heinous crimes. In America, 23 states and Washington, DC, have abolished the death penalty.
Recently, our society has grown to have strong feelings toward this punishment. Many believe it should be entirely abolished in our country because of the high number of wrongfully convicted inmates on death row. There is also the argument that it is just wholly hypocritical. Killing someone as a punishment for killing someone. But most Americans support the death penalty, particularly for murder cases. The argument is that if someone takes a life, they should not get to live theirs. It has become a political debate with strong justifications from both ends of the spectrum.
The last person sentenced to death in the United States was in 2019. The number of executions each year has steadily decreased, with only 11 in 2021. With this punishment being so rarely used, it raises the question of why does the death penalty even exist anymore?
Nikolas Cruz was just recently recommended life in prison by a jury for opening fire at a high school in Parkland, Florida, in 2018, killing 17 people. The victim’s families and survivors spoke in court, pleading for Cruz to get the death penalty. Their lives will never be the same, and they expressed how unfair it is for him to take so many lives but continue to live his. After the jury’s sentencing, people across the nation were infuriated. If he could kill 17 young innocent people and not be sentenced to death, who will be?
This case highlighted several significant problems in our society. It ultimately proved that capital punishment has no purpose of being legal because even the most wicked crimes, like what Cruz did, do not get the death sentence. People might support it more if it was used widely and when necessary in these extremely vile cases.
Our military personnel put themselves in harm’s way to protect our nation. The activities they engage in often leave deep scars, both mentally and physically. In 2019, there were 130 suicides per day and, of those 130 suicides, “17 of those lives lost were Veterans”. From 2001 to 2019, “the rate of suicide among Veterans increased nearly 36% relative to an increase of 30% in the general population”. Veteran suicide-related deaths are increasing becoming more frequent and are overtaking the general U.S. population suicide rate. The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) works to provide care to 9 million Veterans each year through their health care facilities, “including 171 medical centers and 1,113 outpatient sites of varying complexity (VHA outpatient clinics)”. However, out of the 17.2 average Veteran suicide-related deaths per day, 6.8 of them were among those who had VHA encounters in 2018 and/or 2019, while the remaining 10.4 were among those who had no VHA encounters in 2018 and/or 2019, begging the question of how effective these programs are.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) states that there are “three primary mental health concerns you may encounter serving in the military”: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Depression, and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). If you or a loved one who served in the military are suffering from mental illness, please contact Military OneSource at 1-800-342-9647, your primary care provider, or behavioral health care providers, who work on many military bases. The Military Crisis Line is available at 800-273-8255, then press 1, or you can access the online chat by texting 838255.
A banna republic is defined as a nation that relies almost exclusively on one export for its entire economy to function. One of the earliest and most famous examples of a banana republic is the Central American nation of Guatemala. Where their sole export was the banana the export was bringing in millions of dollars for the United Fruit company. This is where the suffering of Guatemala begins.
Logo of the United Company
“The United Fruit Company”. The company was beginning by Captain Lorenzo Don Baker due to the fact that when he made a stop in Jamaica he saw bananas and brought them back to Boston he saw that Americans loved the fruit. This then lead to baker actually opening several stores and he began making hundreds of dollars by importing bananas from nations all over the Caribbean and central America. Yet Baker and his associated wanted to be able to now be able to control land where he grew his bananas where people had not used before, this is why he then decided to set his sights on a small nation in central America Guatemala. With the help of Minor Keith, a man who was trying to open railroads all over central America. United fruit was able to buy land all over Guatemala. The company was prosperous for many years in the nation. Also Untied Fruit had control over Purto Barrios which meant they also made money from any good entering or leaving the nation. Yet this then lead to a problem, there was much land disparity in the nation United fruit had more land than any other company or individual in the country, and also had always refused to allow the organization of independent labor unions among its employees. From here we can see that the company was not trying to make friends or even try to help the people of the nation they were occupying and were making them successful.
The continued power of the United Fruit Company and the government that supported it led to the rise of many left-wing groups all over Guatemala. These groups began waging a war against the very state of Guatemala in what would become a civil war that would last from 1966 to 1996. More than 200,000 people were killed over the course of the 36-year-long civil war that began in 1960 and ended with peace accords in 1996. About 83 percent of those killed were Mayan, U.S. involvement in the country was also singled out by the commission as a key factor contributing to human rights violations, including training of officers in counterinsurgency techniques and assisting the national intelligence apparatus. One interesting aspect that we see from the United states during this time was actually its openly supportive attitude towards the several dictators that came to power in Guatemala. Which included General Efrain Rios Mont, just to highlight this support President Ronald Regan is quoted as saying President Ríos Montt is a man of great personal integrity and commitment. I know he wants to improve the quality of life for all Guatemalans and to promote social justice. My administration will do all it can to support his progressive efforts. Rios Mont before his death in 2013 was accused of ordering the murder of 1,700 indigenous Mayan people all over Guatemala.
Although past dictators were not as harsh as Rios Montt, they all also ordered the deaths of hundreds of indigenous people. President Carlos Ana Osario had several military crackdowns and was even known for having death squads patrolling Guatemala looking for leftist groups all over the country, most of the members of the leftist groups were of indigenous origin. This all ended in 1996 when president Alvaro Arzu was finally able to negotiate peace talks with several leftist talks and bring an end to the civil war.
Although the civil war has come to an end we continue to see the reverberations of the civil war and power that was given to several corrupt institutions in Guatemala by the United States. An example of this can be seen with the level of inequality still present today all over Guatemala. As mentioned before the indigenous population was treated very negatively before and unfortunately this mistreatment still continues today.The predominantly rural indigenous areas of the country have the worst conditions of poverty, health, education, and land shortages. The indigenous population of Guatemala make up about 40% of the population but they are treated as second class citizens.Overall racism/xenophobia created in the country during the civil war of indigenous people continues the prolonged negligence of this group and support of what is considered the ladino group in Guatemala.21.8 percent of the indigenous population is affected by extreme poverty, compared to 7.4 per cent of the non-indigenous population.
Guatemala even down to today still feels the ramifications of its time as a Banana republic. There continues to be rampant violence and inequality all over the country. But one interesting development is that the united fruit company was succeeded by the Chiquita fruit company.
Logo for Chiquita Fruit company the
This is a CIMA Law Group blog entry. CIMA Law Group is located in Arizona and specializes in Immigration Law, Criminal Defense, Personal Injury, and Government Relations. If you live in Arizona and need legal assistance CIMA Law Group can help.
Get your home Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified. By getting your home checked by a LEED inspector and going through the application process you can actually increase the value of your home by 4%! Plus, you are certifying that your home is eco-friendly to some capacity.
Utilize solar energy in your home. This can both increase your property value, and by not using fossil fuels, aid the planet.
If some of these tasks seem too daunting there are smaller things you can do, such as having a home garden, collecting rainwater, and installing light dimmers. Any small thing you can do such as reducing your plastic use is a great step towards helping the planet.
This blog post is part of the CIMA Law Group blog. If you are located in Arizona and are seeking legal services, CIMA Law Group specializes in Immigration Law, Criminal Defense, Personal Injury, and Government Relations.
On September 26th, 2022, Vladimir Putin granted former American NSA employee Edward Snowden citizenship in Russia. To most people, this news is irrelevant and does not impact their lives. But the reality is that this is a highly significant situation and puts the security of the United States and all of our citizens at extreme risk. So who is Snowden and why does all of this even matter?
Edward Snowden was born in North Carolina and grew up wanting to serve his country. As a young man, he enlisted in the Army Reserve, but unfortunately, his dreams were crushed when he could not complete training due to a severe leg injury. To serve his country in a different way, Snowden got a job with the Central Intelligence Agency for a few years specializing in computer science while mastering the technology. He was known to be a genius among genius’s. Following that position, he worked for the National Security Administration through a contract with Dell. During this position, he was exposed to some of the nation’s top security secrets. What he saw alarmed him so much that he could not sit back and let it continue to happen. His work revealed that the NSA was violating the privacy of American citizens, as well as European countries. The agency was secretly recording phone calls, text messages, emails, search histories, and so much more from innocent American people without their knowledge. The NSA claims this was to prevent terrorist attacks and to strengthen the security of the nation. Snowden also discovered that the NSA was spying on European offices located in the US. He felt enraged for the American people and the way their rights were being violated by their own government. Along with these findings, he discovered other information that is still very dangerous to the American government.
After hitting his breaking point, Snowden knew he had to do something. In 2013, he leaked this information to news sources and fled the country. He first went to Hong Kong, where freedom of speech is highly valued. The US government was attempting to get him extradited, but he escaped to Russia. He gained asylum, which kept getting extended until he just recently was granted citizenship. It is predicted that he has almost one million copies of classified government information. The public was outraged with the information he shared. Because of his actions, Obama passed the USA Freedom Act that limits the country’s surveillance on private citizens. He faces up to 30 years in prison in the United States if he ever returned.
Snowden is loved by many, hated by many, and many have mixed feelings toward him. Some Americans feel strongly that he revealed this information in the wrong way by going to the media. Others applaud him for exposing the NSA for violating their rights. Many people believe that his work was a necessary evil. The big issue here is now that Snowden is a Russian citizen, what will he do with all of the top secret information he has from the American government?
Ever since mid July, the Republican lead over the Democrats over the House majority has dwindled in terms of both percentage chance and projected majority. Previous conventional wisdom held that Republicans would comfortably take the House majority due to the Republicans effectively being able to lay inflation, international unrest, a struggling economy, and lack of legislative results at the feet of the Biden Administration and the Democratic majority in both the House and Senate.
However, ever since the overturning of Roe vs Wade, the Democratic party has rallied to not only integrate the controversial decision into its campaign rhetoric, but also recently delivered on major results such as the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, Biden’s student loan forgiveness executive order, and Biden’s leadership during America’s navigation of the Russo-Ukrainian conflict.
Projections as of October 6th from 538 show Republicans have a 69% chance of taking the House majority, down from its peak at 88% in mid-July. More significantly, their projected majority total is down from 238-197 in mid-June to 225-210.
This blog post is part of the CIMA Law Group blog. If you are are seeking legal services, CIMA Law Group specializes in Immigration Law, Criminal Defense, Personal Injury, and Government Relations.
But what is a tropical storm, and how does it differ from a hurricane?
First, “an area of low atmospheric pressure” forms and is known as a tropical depression, which is the precursor to a tropical storm. A tropical depression is defined by a maximum sustained wind speed of 38 mph (33 knots) or less. Only a 1 mph difference separates a tropical depression from a tropical storm; as soon as the tropical depression’s wind speed rises to 39 mph, it becomes a tropical storm. It is from here that a hurricane can easily form. Philip Klotzbach, a hurricane researcher at Colorado State University, says that there are two main factors that help determine hurricane season: wind and water temperature. Hurricanes need warm water to thrive and “surface water temperatures about 80 degrees Fahrenheit are prime hurricane fuel”.
As a tropical storm’s winds pick up and grow, they become a hurricane—defined by winds of “74 mph (64 knots) or higher”. They easily shift to major hurricane status once their winds reach a sustained “111 mph (96 knots) or higher”.
For now, the National Hurricane Center is keeping a close eye on the two evolving cyclones.
The prerequisite being that they have to be an ayatollah, a high ranking member in the Shia clergy in Iran, with the law actually being changed that one doesn’t have to be, as is the case with the current supreme leader. The revolution occurred due to the abuse that the monarchy of the Shah was abusing the resources and rights of the Iranian people. This was able to propel the original Ayatollah, Ruhollah Khomeini, as a leader who spoke against the monarchy and the west in general inspiring the people to begin their fight against the monarchy eventually winning the revolution. The government of Iran bases its laws on that of Sharia law, the law code explained in the Koran. With the Supreme leader literally having almost unlimited power they are both the head of state and the person who chooses almost all members in the government. Due to this following of the Koran we are able to see that Iran is a very conservative nation following most of the laws of Sharia law and giving out harsh punishments as mentioned in the Koran.
Flag of Iran
This lead to the forced wearing of the Hijab by the female population. The Hijab is a piece of cloth that covers the head and chest of women, with the amount of covering used by women based on different nations and their interpretations of the Koran. In Iran the rule that they have to follow is that the Hijab must cover their head, and that they wear loose fitting clothes. The Hijab actually predates Islam and was used by people to protect themselves from the harsh weather of the Middle East. The reason as to why it is now used by so many members of the muslim faith is due to two reasons: It represents modest, privacy, and morality. The second reason that it is worn is due to the fact that it goes all the way back to Muhammad, Islam’s most important prophet. Muhammad asked his wives to wear hijabs to set them apart from others. It was meant to indicate their special status.
The Hijab is used as the blanket term for all other forms of covering worn by woman all over the world
Iranian Women before and after the 1979 revolution
The mandatory hijab laws and the strict enforcement by the so-called “Morality Police” showcases the horrible treatment of women in Iran. Unlike any time since 1979, a younger generation of Iranians, particularly women, are now rallying around opposition to mandatory hijab rules to not only defy this one law but the entirety of the Islamic Republic’s draconian social-religious dogma and the lengths to which it goes to impose its values on society. We are now seeing mass protest all over Iran against the mandatory law and the horrible treatment of women. Sadly along with the protest we also see the cruel crackdown on the people by the government. The government is now spending more money and arresting more and more people who are part of the protest, showcasing just how cruel and oppressive the government truly is. Yet, inspired by the unjustified death of Masha Amini the people of Iran are not backing down, and actually have even gotten international support from celebrities and several world leaders as well. Several European leaders are currently calling for sanctions against the nation. There are also several protest in solidarity with the Iranian people happening all over the world. There is no telling what is going to happen in Iran or if there will be justice for Masha Amini but the protest have brought forward the fact that the people of Iran want a government and nation that doesn’t ignore their needs and treats them like nothing.
Several Iranian women have burned their Hijabs during protest all over the nation
This is a CIMA Law Group blog entry. CIMA Law Group is located in Arizona and specializes in Immigration Law, Criminal Defense, Personal Injury, and Government Relations. If you live in Arizona and need legal assistance CIMA Law Group can help.
Avoid taking long naps throughout the day and stick to a sleep schedule. Try to go to bed at the same time every night and wake up at the same time every morning. If you have an iPhone you can set a sleep schedule on the health app. On the app, you can have it set to where you stop getting notifications at a certain time. Setting alarms in the morning can help. Avoid setting up too many alarms as that can cause you to keep hitting snooze!
Avoiding drinking alcohol or eating too close to bedtime. Alcohol can seem like a sleep-inducer but it can actually lower your quality of sleep. Eating too close to bedtime can cause the same issues because your body is busy digesting food.
Don’t spend all day in bed. Using your bed strictly for sleep can help your brain shut off when it’s in bed. When you use your bed to do work, your brain associates that space with work, not sleep. Another way to help with sleep is to make your bedroom a calming space. Be that with minimal noise and lighting. Make sure your bed is soft and comfortable. Wash your sheets often.
This blog post is part of the CIMA Law Group blog. If you are located in Arizona and are seeking legal services, CIMA Law Group specializes in Immigration Law, Criminal Defense, Personal Injury, and Government Relations.
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