10 things women should know about men's brains

http://www.rediff.com/getahead/slide-show/slide-show-1-specials-what-you-should-know-about-mens-brains/20110105.htm

According to Live Science, here are the things you need to know about guys' minds.

Having a tough time understanding what's going on in your man's mind? Things might just get easier for you, as experts have revealed ten things you should know about a man's brain.

A man's brain varies tremendously over his lifetime. From his wandering eye to his desire to mate for life, there are some things every woman need to know about a man.

According to Live Science, here are the things you need to know about guys' minds.

More emotional
While females are generally considered the more emotional, infant boys are more emotionally reactive and expressive than infant girls, researchers have found.

Adult men have slightly stronger emotional reactions, too -- Adult mbut only before they are aware of their feelings, found a 2008 study published in the Scandinavian Journal of Psychology.

More vulnerable to loneliness
While loneliness can take a toll on everyone's health and brain, older men seem particularly vulnerable, said Louann Brizendine, of the University of California, San Francisco, and author of The Male Brain.

"Men tend to reach out less than women, which exacerbates loneliness and the toll it takes on their brains" social circuits, she said.

Focused on solutions
While many studies suggest that women are more empathetic than men, Brizendine stressed this is not entirely true. The empathy system of the male brain does respond when someone is stressed or expressing a problem. But the "fix-it" region quickly takes over.

Hard-wired to check out women
While often linked to aggression and hostility, testosterone is also the hormone of the libido. And guys have six times the amount surging through their veins as women, said Pranjal Mehta, of the Columbia University in New York.

Mehta and colleagues found that testosterone impairs the impulse-control region of the brain. While it has yet to be studied, this may explain why, as Brizendine says, men ogle women as if on "auto-pilot."

They often forget about the woman once she is out of their visual field, said Brizendine.

Must defend turf
"Part of the male job, evolutionarily speaking, is to defend turf," said Brizendine.

More research is needed in humans but in other male mammals, the "defend my turf" brain area is larger than their female counterparts," she said.

While women too have fits of possessiveness, men are much more likely to become violent when faced with a threat to their love life or territory, she said.

Embraces chain of command

An unstable hierarchy can cause men considerable anxiety, said Brizendine. But an established chain of command, such as that practiced by the military and many work places, reduces testosterone and curbs male aggression, she said.

Matures over time, really
Pre-occupation with establishing pecking order, which starts as early as age 6, motivates the "male dance, where they are always putting each other down," added Brizendine.

"It is better to be aggressive in a verbal jab than to duke it out," she said.

Psychological studies have shown that one-upmanship holds less appeal for older men. Instead, they pay more attention to relationships and bettering the community, said Brizendine.

The change is likely aided by the slow natural decline in testosterone as a man ages.

Primed for fatherhood
The male brain becomes especially primed for cooperation in the months before becoming a father. Fathers-to-be go through hormone changes -- prolactin goes up, testosterone goes down -- which likely encourage paternal behavior, found a 2000 study in Evolution and Human Behaviour.

Daddy-play
Daddy-specific ways of playing with their kids -- more rough-housing, more spontaneity, more teasing -- can help kids learn better, be more confident, and prepare them for the real world, studies have shown. Also, involved dads lessen risky kids' sexual behaviour.

Covets wedding bells, too
Women want to settle down, and men want to sow their wild oats forever, the refrain usually goes. But this might be one of the largest misconceptions stemming from the U.S. tendency of using undergrads as test subjects.

Infidelities are most likely to occur before men hit 30, found a study of Bolivian men published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society in 2007. After that, men primarily focus on providing for their families, the study found.

The price of children!!!

The US government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 and came up with $160,140.00 for a middle-income family.

But $160,140.00 isn't so bad if you break it down.

It translates into:

• $8,896.66 a year 
• $741.38 a month 
• $171.08 a week. 
• A mere $24.24 a day! 
• Just over a dollar an hour. 

Still, you might think the best financial advice is: Don't have children if you want to be 'rich.'
Actually, it is just the opposite.

What do you get for your $160,140.00?

• Naming rights. First, middle, and last! 
• Glimpses of God every day 
• Giggles under the covers every night 
• More love than your heart can hold 
• Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs 
• Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm cookies. 
• A hand to hold usually covered with jelly or chocolate 
• A partner for blowing bubbles and flying kites 
• Someone to laugh yourself silly with, no matter what the boss said or how your stocks performed that day 
• You get to: 
• Finger-paint, 
• Carve pumpkins, 
• Play hide-and-seek, 
• Catch lightning bugs 
• For $160,140.00, you never have to grow up 
• Keep reading the Adventures of Piglet and Pooh 
• Watch Saturday morning cartoons 
• Go to Disney movies 
• And wish on stars 
• You get to frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator magnets and collect spray painted noodle wreaths for Christmas, hand prints set in clay for Mother's Day, and cards with backward letters for Father's Day 

For a mere $24.24 a day, there is no greater bang for your buck.

You get to be a hero just for:

• Retrieving a Frisbee off the garage roof 
• Taking the training wheels off a bike 
• Removing a splinter 
• Filling a wading pool 
• Coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs 
• And coaching a baseball team that never wins but always gets treated to ice cream regardless 

You get a front row seat in history to witness the:

• First step 
• First word 
• First date 
• First time behind the wheel 

You get to be immortal.

You get another branch added to your family tree, and if you're lucky, a long list of limbs in your obituary called grandchildren and great grandchildren. You get an education in psychology, nursing, criminal justice, communications, and human sexuality that no college can match.
In the eyes of a child, you rank right up there under God.

You have all the power to heal a boo-boo, scare away the monsters under the bed, patch a broken heart, police a slumber party, ground them forever, and love them without limits - so one day they will, like you, love without counting the cost.

That is quite a deal for the price !!!

Love and enjoy your children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren!!!

It's the best investment you'll ever make !!!

And I think to myself… What a wonderful world!

I am not much into English songs, least of all the Classics. But, there's one song, which I heard first time ages back when I was in school, and which has lingered on in the back of my mind. Now, I did not remember the words, except for the title line which goes "And I think to myself… What a wonderful world!", but I still clearly remember the effect it had on me when I first heard it. I guess this song is filled with happiness and hope. And that is the effect it generates inside me whenever I hear it. It's as if God is trying to reach out to me and say no matter what hardships you encounter, what problems you face, this life is still worth living, this world is still worth seeing. There are pleasures spread over in every nook and corner, you just need to open your eyes and see. There is beauty in everything around us: sunshine, greenery, kids, parents, family, friends… It's only a perspective that is required. With that the same mundane daily chores would seem interesting and something to look forward to.

I heard this song again recently – in the beautiful movie Guzaarish. Ethan, the male protagonist of the film, brilliantly portrayed by the super-talented Hrithik Roshan, who also sang the song in the film sans any background score; actually sings the song at his mother's funeral. I found it so touching that I just couldn't hold back my tears. One would say if this is such a happy song then why at a funeral? I would say that it's because it was symbolic to the legacy that Ethan's mother left him. She was not a rich woman and did not have anything to leave behind to her debt-striken ailing quadriplegic son. But, she left her son hope beyond all vagaries in life and courage greater than all odds put together.

Today, I was suddenly reminded of the song and while I already happened to be surfing the net, I took a few minutes out to search the actual lyrics of the song. It goes as follows:

I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself:
"What a wonderful world!"

I see skies of blue and clouds of white
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to my self:
"What a wonderful world!"

The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of people going by
I see friends shaking hands saying "How do you do."
They really say: "I love you!"

I hear babies crying I watch them grow
They'll learn much more than I'll ever know
And I think to myself:
"What a wonderful world!"
Yes, I think to myself:
"What a wonderful world!"

Quips and Quotes to help you toast the New Year

One of the most innovative holiday greetings I received this new year's eve came from a friend who sent a titled "Quips and Quotes to help you toast the New Year". It contained thoughtful quotes from Harvey Mackay, author of the New York Times #1 bestseller "Swim With The Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive" and more. Since I am an aphorism junkie and always on the lookout for creative and interesting ways to stay in touch with my friends and readers, I especially welcomed their effort.

In fact, I liked it so much I decided to reproduce the same here to guide you through 2011 and beyond.

• They don't pay off on effort ... they pay off on results.
• No one ever choked swallowing his or her pride.
• Don't just mark time; use time to make your mark.
• People don't plan to fail, they fail to plan.
• Technology should improve your life, not become your life.
• The best way to be somebody is just to be yourself.
• The best vitamin for making friends is B1.
• It is not a question as to who is right but what is right.
• The difference between failure and success is doing a thing nearly right and doing it exactly right.
• Many people hear ... but few people listen.
• There is no free tuition in the school of experience.
• The person who has no goal does not fear failure.
• The best way to get even is to forget.
• It is better to forgive and forget than to resent and remember.
• Make decisions with your heart and you'll wind up with heart disease.
• People have a way of becoming what you encourage them to be—not what you nag them to be.
• You can win more friends with your ears than with your mouth.
• When you kill a little time, you may be murdering opportunity.
• Education is an investment and never an expense.
• Ideas won't work unless I do.
• It's never right to do wrong, and it's never wrong to do right.
• Your smile is more important than anything else you wear.
• Gratitude shouldn't be an occasional incident but a continuous attitude.
• Helping someone up won't pull you down.
• Those that have the most to say usually say it with fewest words.
• If you don't learn from your mistakes, there's no sense in making them.
• People wrapped up in themselves make pretty small packages.
• When is the last time you did something for the first time?

I also wanted to share these gems from unknown authors whose wisdom is timeless.

• Smart is believing half of what you hear; brilliant is knowing which half to believe.
• One thing I can give and still keep is my word.
• Those who beef too much often land in the stew.
• Compromise is always wrong when it means sacrificing principle.
• Most people say they are willing to meet each other halfway; trouble is most people are pretty poor judges of distance.
• If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there.
• Most people aim to do right; they just fail to pull the trigger.
• Most people fail in life because the wishbone is where the backbone should be.
• Courage is not the absence of fear; it is the mastery of it.
• Friendship doubles our joy and divides our grief.
• Happiness can be thought, taught and caught—but not bought.
• Burying your talents is a grave mistake.
• Praise, like sunlight, helps all things to grow.
• Life just gives you time and space—it's up to you to fill it.
• The heaviest thing I can carry is a grudge.
• A stumble may prevent a fall.
• Failure is no more fatal than success is permanent.

Mackay's Moral: Not just words to live by, words to live better.

So,

Happy NEW YEAR  Friends!!!!!!!!

Here are My Wishes for You...

H ours of happy times with friends and family

A bundant time for relaxation

P rosperity

P lenty of love when you need it the most

Y outhful excitement at lifes simple pleasures

N ights of restful slumber (you know - don't worry be happy)

E verything you need

W ishing you love and light

Y ears and years of good health

E njoyment and mirth

A angels to watch over you

R embrances of a happy years!