Discuss the interrelationship between the exchange rate regime and Essay

Discuss the interrelationship between the exchange rate regime and viability of the alternative approaches to resolving a balanc - Essay Example Since balance of payments accounts have to be balanced therefore a change in the exchange rate between the domestic and foreign currencies can actually create the balance. In order to re-balance the accounts the overall adjustment in the exchange rate regime of the country can play significant role. Thus equilibrium in balance of payments accounts could be achieved through subsequent adjustment of the exchange rates in the economy. There are however, different approaches underlying the balance of payments and it’s interlinking with the exchange rate regimes. The traditional analyses through IS-LM framework, monetarist approach as well as structural approaches are the key economic analysis frameworks underlying the issue of balance of payments. This paper will therefore attempt to discuss and explore the exchange rate regimes and the viability of the alternative approaches to resolve the balance of payments issues faced by the economies over the period of time. Balance of Payme nts and Exchange Rates Before discussing alternative approaches and their viability in resolving the balance of payment issues, it is critical to discus and set the theoretical foundations of the balance of payments and it’s interlinking with exchange rate regimes. ... The overall purpose is to keep the record of the flow of goods, services and capital moving to and from the country.( Krugman & Obstfeld, 2009) There are two parts of the balance of payments accounts i.e. current and capital account and both sum to zero at the end of period. Current account shows all the trade and factor income includes exports, imports whereas the factor income side includes both the payments and the earnings. The capital account however records the changes in the capital asset base of a country thus the changes in the assets of the country take place when domestic and foreign assets of the country change hands. It is also argued that the major changes in the balance of payments arise due to the changes in the capital account. (Beko ,2003). It is the movement in the capital that potentially explains the changes which take place in the balance of payment as well as the exchange rate of a country. Balance of payments Crisis Balance of payment however, can become a sig nificant issue as at the macroeconomic level, it tends to create important political implications. Balance of payments crisis can emerge when a country is actually unable to pay for its essential imports or cannot service its debt comfortably. This normally occurs owing to the changes in the exchange rate of a country which can register a sharp decline in value during the crisis.( Hallwood & MacDonald, 2000). Apparently such crisis emerge when countries initially experience heavy capital inflows however, after a certain point, considering the overall risk associated with the international debt, investors tend to withdraw their capital in haste thus putting pressure not only on the balance of payments accounts of a country but also on its exchange rate. Capital outflows in

Leadership and Management Essay Example for Free

Leadership and Management Essay Initially I plan on reviewing the prevailing leadership styles in my organisation and then assessing the impact of these on the organisation’s values and performance. In order to assess the leadership styles I have produced a questionnaire (see appendix 1). The questionnaire was designed to find out how directive, participative and permissive each manager in our organisation is and then study the most prevailing style. It was evident from the information collated that the prevailing leadership style in our organisation is participative and directive rather than permissive. On assessing this information it became apparent that our manager’s leadership styles reflect a Contingency theory and they rather be present and take part in services in order to ensure controlled success. Contingency theory is a class of behavioral theories that claim there is no best way to lead a company, or to make decisions. Instead, the best action is contingent (dependent) upon the situation. Several contingency approaches were developed in the1960s. They suggested that previous theories such as Webers bureaucracy and Taylors Scientific Management had failed because they neglected that management style and organisational structure were influenced by various aspects of the environment: known as contingency factors. There could not be one best way for leadership or organisation. Historically, contingency theory has attempted to formulate broad views about formal structures that are typically associated with or best fit the use of different organisations. This perspective originated with the work of Joan Woodward (1958), who argued that skills directly determine differences in such organisational attributes as a span of control, centralisation of authority, and the formalisation of rules and procedures. My Organisation Values and Performance The organisation that I work for delivers a range of high quality services and projects, these services follow the principles of empowering communities, developing lives, furthering equality, diversity and inclusion and strengthening local voluntary sector delivery. These principles dictate the values in which we function. We are very much a voluntary sector, charitable organisation ensuring that at the heart of our services are the people that access them. Performance is measured through a set of service delivery indicators which form the base of our promises to funding bodies, staff, volunteers and customers in everything we do. These indicators are measured via our service development plan. Each year we publish an Annual Report based on our Service Delivery Indicators, which measure our progress and informs the public of our work over the previous year in delivering against our priorities. (See Appendix 2 for our organisations SDI’s) Our organisation values and performance clearly highlight a need for the leadership to be open and receptive. This allows us to except feedback and input from our service users. A directive and participatory leadership style is imposed by managers in our organisation for staff; however when dealing with service users we have to adopt a more directive style to ensure commination is clear and there is no room for bought. We have found in the past when we have given service users who are vulnerable and have mental health difficulties an opportunity to contribute to services they feel empowered, however they need time and guidance in order to make informed decisions. Effectiveness of my Own Leadership Style On assessing my own leadership style I appeared to be more directive, in the middle when it came to participation, however I did not seem to be very permissive. The results did not surprise me and seemed to be consistent with my approach. I tend to direct staff by the use of many models including action plans which are produced in team meeting and each member of staff is allocated actions, timescales, budget and directions. I am participatory when tasks are being carried out I ensure I understand the delivery method and observe when necessary. For example if we are promoting a new group I will ensure all promotion literature is checked by me prior to going out and visit the new group to view session delivery. I do not hide away form front line delivery and ensure I gage with staff, clients and volunteers therefore I understand the reason why on my leadership assessment I did not score highly on being permissive. Therefore I feel my management style suits the organisation. However with the changing nature of our organisation leading towards a more business-like approach I may find I have to review my management style. I may need to become more permissive, less participatory and even more directive. This will ensure I can work more strategically to order to retain services and staff. Changing my approach may be difficult for my staff to accept, however explaining that their jobs may be at risks if I do not manage differently may put it all into perspective. By applying a Contingency theory mentioned earlier I should be able to manage this effectively. I asked my staff to assess my leadership style using the questionnaire I produced and gave to fellow managers (Appendix 1). The results mirrored my self assessment, demonstrating that I understand my own leadership style well and that the staff have the same opinion. Apply Own Leadership Style in Range of Situations Over the last two weeks I have begun to assess my own leadership style in a variety of situations. These have mainly taken the form of meetings. I have chaired a client/volunteer meeting and a full staff meeting. My leadership style tended to change in these situations. I became less formal with the client and volunteer meeting in order to project at their level of understanding. Less detail was presented and less decision making was required. The meeting was more informative and decisions had been made by the staff team prior to the meeting. Feedback and participation was welcomed however it was in a manner in which it could be controlled so as a staff team we could make informed decisions.

Essay example --

AN APPROACH FOR RDF INDEXING AND QUERY PROCESSING February 21, 2014 Rajesh Kannan - 16164021 Prudhvi Nalluri - 16163411 Kranthi Reddy - 12366438 V.Y.V. Akhilesh - 16165666 Overview RDF (Resource Description Framework) is used for describing the resources on the web. It provides structured, machine – understandable metadata for the web. The statements on resources are formed in the form of subject-predicate-object (triples), which can be represented as labeled graphs. SPARQL is the query language for RDF. It provides the standard format and rules for writing and processing queries on RDF data set and the results can be results sets or RDF graphs. The Objective We are provided with the large RDF dataset and will be given a collection of SPARQL queries to fire on the dataset. Our aim is to implement a new approach for query processing and get the results same like getting the result through standard SPARQL query processor. Jena is a framework for java used for semantic web and it’s open source. Main use of Jena is to write the data to and read the data from RDF graph. The main purpose of this project is to design and implement a RDF storage mechanism to store data with good performance and scalability. The Opportunity Many approaches have been proposed to retrieve the data from NoSQL database such as vertical partitioning approach, RDF-3X, Matrix Bit, Bit Mat, etc. We will use vertical partitioning approach because of its performance technique and it was proved to be effective in variety of applications like biomedical data, data warehousing and for taxonomic data. We have lot of NoSQL databases to use such as MongoDB, Cassandra, Hbase, Couchbase, Etc. We are going with Cassandra, which is an open source database and there will be ... ...thms are not mandatory for this approach. Cassandra Pros †¢ Cassandra has all the advantages of the NoSQL. It does not use the relational model, which is required to maintain complex relationships as seen with current relational database systems. †¢ Cassandra is designed to be distributed and scalable, So Cassandra can support massive amount of data spread across multiple servers and also Cassandra is an open source. †¢ Cassandra is decentralized system and also works well in clustered and cloud environment. Bibliography †¢ http://blog.datagraph.org/2010/04/transmuting-ntriples †¢ http://docs.mongodb.org/manual/tutorial/install-mongodb-on-windows/ †¢ http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/279947/Migration-of-Relational-Data-structure-to-Cassandr †¢ http://answers.semanticweb.com/questions/716/storing-rdf-data-into-hbase †¢ http://cs-www.cs.yale.edu/homes/dna/abadirdf.pdf

Themes of Arthur Millers The Crucible :: Essay on The Crucible

Arthur Miller's The Crucible A group of teenage girls were secretly dancing in the woods with a black slave, named Tituba. When they were discovered of what they were doing, the girls started accusing certain individuals in the village of dealing with witchcraft. Within a blink of an eye, the entire village is controlled by a devil that exists within the fear of each person. A drama of suspense and impact, Arthur Miller's The Crucible, explores through the individuals' vengeance, fear, reputation, and quest for power. Vengeance is the main theme of The Crucible. The people of the town of Salem were not united, but instead, distrusted and disliked each other. During the court trials, the girls started accusing certain people that they didn't like of dealing with witchcraft. For example, Abigail Williams couldn't forget John Proctor even though their affair was over. She believed that if his wife, Elizabeth Proctor, was out of the way, Abigail and John would be together again. Therefore, she told everyone that Elizabeth's spirit was trying to kill her and accused Elizabeth of being a witch. Fear also played an important role in The Crucible. The girls were afraid of being accused as witches themselves, so they started accusing other people in the town of being witches. Moreover, many people who were accused of being witches confessed to being witches because they were scared of death. People who confessed to witchcraft and dealing with the devil only stayed in the jail for a short time while others who refused to give in were hanged. Towards the end of the play, Abigail and Mercy ran away with huge amounts of money because they were afraid that if the authorities found out that they were lying they would be punished severely. The theme of reputation and quest for people is also portrayed clearly in The Crucible. In the old days, children were considered unimportant. They weren't allowed to speak until given permission to, and they didn't make important decisions at all. However, during the witch court trials, Abigail and other girls had the power to say who was innocent and who was guilty. Probably, for the first time in their lives, they had power over Salem and they wanted to maintain it. Moreover, the authorities of Salem were afraid of losing authorities and power. For example, the judges, Governor Danforth and Ezekiel Cheever didn't want to admit that they were being fooled by a bunch of girls so they insisted that witchcraft existed in the town of Salem.

Aviation Professionalism

Aviation Professionalism The Qualifications, Attributes, Ethics, and Responsibilities of Aviation Professionals Yadvinder Singh ASCI – 202 Anthony Miller March 7, 2013 Once someone joins the Airlines industry as a professional, be it a pilot, a technician, or an air traffic controller, they are committing to a certain level of responsibility and expectation. In my experience I have come across professionals who I have felt suited their role to near perfection while others in the same position at times fall short of basic expectations.The issue of professionalism and responsibility in the airline industry has been in focus recently due to some recent events like the Northwest pilots flying past their destination airport, in-flight breakdowns and rants by pilots and flight attendants, and airline mergers. I feel that sometimes media speculation exaggerates the issues presented to society and highlights mistakes where the public gets the impression that these types of incidents a nd errors are taking place daily.The reality is that safety measures are an integral part of an airline worker’s training and major errors or incidents occur rather infrequently. At the same time, another reality is that a mistake made by an airline employee, whether pilot, technician, or air traffic controller runs the risk of being fatal and this is where the attributes and ethics of an individual come into play. Pilots are required to complete extensive training and log thousands of hours of flight time before they can land a job with the major carriers, soI feel the qualifications alone can be met by many but perhaps there needs to be some sort of training or measure of ethical behavior of an individual because that can help determine how they will treat the level of responsibility associated with their job. Most flights complete their course without incident and this can naturally cause someone to relax their mind or reflexes a little, but no flight should be treated wit h any negligence whatsoever. The incident with the Northwest flight (NY Times 2009) crew is an ideal example of this.The pilots had a combined flying experience of over 30,000 hours, yet they committed an error that resulted in a major embarrassment and which could have cost lives. The main cause cited for this blunder is that the pilots were distracted during flight because they were engaged in personal matters on their laptops, which is a violation of airline safety guidelines. Is the root reason for this incident just poor judgment and misbehavior of the pilots or perhaps not enough emphasis on responsibility in their training?The hundreds of hours of flight time required to be a pilot come with a hefty price, so anyone who is a pilot has surely proven their passion and persistence for flying. However, it’s a wonder that this same dedication doesn’t follow through for some once they’ve landed a job with a major carrier and I think it may be because the path i s often so strenuous that getting a job itself is treated as the goal, when it actually is a stepping stone to really being a pilot. Air traffic controllers have also been in the news recently with incidents of suspicion that they are distracted and even sleeping on the job (USA Today, 2011).Here is a profession where mistakes are simply not allowed because the repercussions can very likely be fatal. I think there has to be a close monitoring of on the job behavior because the job itself runs the risk of complacency. It’s important to note that fatal incidents have been few and far between, but the risk is still great enough to warrant better oversight. A person who works as an air traffic controller needs to be one who is naturally very focused and detail oriented because the rules, the risks, the guidelines and need to be responsible and focused can be taught, but ultimately, this is behavior they have to showcase.Technicians are a group of people I’ve had several ye ars of close working experience with as both a former technician and in my current role of Inspector. Unfortunately, the current crop of technicians are a group I find to be well intentioned, but without enough working experience as they’re often straight out of high school. This doesn’t mean they don’t possess the necessary attributes or approach to be successful and responsible technicians, because these are often the deciding factors but I think there needs to be more training and understanding of the great deal of responsibility they are taking on as technicians.Professionalism to me is a good mix of knowledge, a candid commitment to ones job, the disciplined passion, and the ability to make proper but sound judgments. To put it into simple terms Professionalism simply means doing the right thing, even when you have had a long day and also when you are not in some spotlight. Whether you are a pilot, a technician, or an air traffic controller or any employee in the aviation profession these attributes or qualities have to be considered in taking the professional approach in today’s aviation profession.Works Cited Matthew L. Wald (2009, Oct 26). Off-Course Pilots Cite Computer Distraction. NY Times. Retrieved October 26, 2002 from http://www. nytimes. com/2009/10/27/us/27plane. html? _r=0 Alan Levin (2011, Apr 21). Recent air controller incidents no signs of crisis, experts say. Us Today. Retrieved April 21, 2011 from http://travel. usatoday. com/flights/story/2011/04/Recent-air-controller-incidents-no-sign-of-crisis-experts-say/46338056/1

9 Sample Excellent Recommendation Letters for Your Job

9 Sample Excellent Recommendation Letters for Your Job SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Anyone who’s applied for a job knows how important recommendation letters can be to getting hired. While you've probably asked for a reference letter in the past, you may be less familiar with writing one. If someone asks you for a reference, how can you produce a greatletter that will help your employee, colleague, or friend get hired? To help you through the writing process, we’re providing nine samples of effective letters of recommendation (scroll down to skip to the samples!). By reading through these examples, you’ll gain a clear understanding of how to structure your own letters. Before getting to the free recommendation letter samples, let’s briefly review the role that referenceletters play in the hiring process. Why are they important, and what makes some stand out over others? Why Are Recommendation Letters Important? Many employers request recommendation letters to help them decide who to hire or internally promote. Throughout the hiring process, the applicant strives to present herself in the best light. Beyond the interview and resume, hiring managers look to recommendation letters to confirm the candidate’s qualifications and to gain insight from an outside party. The hiring manager wants to know what experiences the candidate will bring to the new role, how she’ll contribute to the company or organization, and how she’ll behave in the day-to-day. Recommendation letters can point to a candidate’s future performance by talking about her past achievements. Reference letters can also shed light on what it’s like to manage, work with, or, in the case of a character reference, be friends with the person under consideration. Theycomplement the candidate’s story and suggest what she’ll bring to the table in her next job. If you get asked to write a letter for someone, it’s safe to assume you want to do a good job. Helping someone get hired is not just a satisfying good deed, but it’s also good professional karma! So how can you turn those good intentions into a stand-out employee letter of recommendation? Each letter will, of course, be different, but good letters share certain key features. Read on to learn about three important characteristics of strong reference letters. Your recommendation letter's not the time to be cagey about your identity! The hiring manager wants to know who you are and why you're qualified to recommend the applicant. What Makes a Recommendation Letter Stand Out? 3Key Features Strong letters give positive descriptions of a candidate’s skills in a concise and powerful way. Beyond using language that's clear and error-free, what elements should your recommendation letter include to be effective? As you write your letter, make sure it does the following: #1: Explains Why You’re Qualified to Recommend the Candidate In order to hold weight, a recommendation letter should come from a reputable source. If an employer wants a professional reference, then the writer of that letter probably worked with the candidate in a supervisory capacity. Some employers will also be interested in letters from a colleague or, occasionally, a friend, neighbor, or family member. Most letters, though, will be written by a supervisor, manager, or boss of some sort. In the first paragraph, you should explain who you are and how you know the candidate. How long did you work with her and in what capacity? By explaining your relationship, you show that you’re qualified to give an honest assessment. If someone who feels like a relative stranger asks you to write a letter, you might consider declining or recommending someone else to write it. If you didn’t get to know the candidate’s work performance or only did so in a way completely unrelated to the new position, then you might not be able to provide a helpful letter of recommendation from employer to employee. The best letters are written by people who can speak to the candidate’s skills and accomplishments. Make sure to state clearly in the beginning of your letter who you are and why your opinion matters. #2: Customized to the New Position While you should speak to the candidate’s accomplishments in her past role, you should also show why she’d make a good fit in the next one. Even if the candidate’s making a career change, you can explain why she’ll be able to do well in the new industry. Here’s where open communication with the applicant is important. She should share the job description so you have a clear understanding of the position’s requirements. As the writer, you’re not expected to do much research on the new job. The candidate should provide you with everything you need to know to customize your letter. By drawing on this information, you can express confidence that the candidate will succeed in the new role. Then when the hiring manager reads your letter, she’ll feel reassured that the candidate would make a good fit. #3: Uses Specific Examples and Anecdotes Finally, and perhaps most importantly, your letter should provide specific examples about the candidate. Don’t just list adjectives like, â€Å"friendly, intelligent, and hard-working†; instead, present circumstances in which the candidate demonstrated those qualities. To borrow a favorite phrase of English teachers, â€Å"show, don’t just tell.† Not only will examples point to the value the candidate brought to your organization or company, but they’ll also paint a picture of how she works in day-to-day operations. Using two to three specific anecdotes in your letter will boost its level of persuasiveness. It will also sidestep a common rec letter trap: becoming a generic list of cliches. Just as you should only write a recommendation letter if you feel qualified to assess the candidate, you should also only write it if you can provide a great one. While you don’t want to go over the top and sound insincere, your letter should be a strongly positive endorsement. Want to provide a strong recommendation for your employee, but don't have the time to craft the perfect letter? PrepScholar's new recommendation tool, SimpleRec, takes you from good intentions and a blank page to a fully written and formatted letter of recommendation in under 5 minutes. All you need to do is give us some simple pieces of information about your employee and your experience working with them, and we'll do the rest. Try out SimpleRec risk-free today: Sample Recommendation Letters As you read through the nine free job recommendation letters below, notice how they all share the three key features described above, even though they differ in terms of their source and target audience. Below are nine sample recommendation letters, each followed by an analysis of what it does well! Sample Recommendation Letter 1: Written by a Direct Manager for a Full-Time Employee Sample Recommendation Letter 2: Written by a Principal for a Teacher Sample Recommendation Letter 3: Written by a Direct Manager for a Part-Time Employee Sample Recommendation Letter 4: Written by a Manager for a RemoteWorker Sample Recommendation Letter 5: Written by aSupervisor for an Internal Promotion Sample Recommendation Letter 6: Written by aSupervisor for a Student Intern Sample Recommendation Letter 7: Written by a Coworker Sample Recommendation Letter 8: Written by a Professor for a Former Student Sample Recommendation Letter 9: Written by a Friend as a Character Reference After checking out the above samples of recommendation letters, read on for some final thoughts onhow to write an excellent letter of recommendation for an employee, coworker, or friend. Now that you've got all the building blocks, you can put them together into a powerful letter of recommendation! Writing Strong Letters of Recommendation: Final Thoughts While the above samples of recommendation letters will help guide you through the letter writing process, they can’t look exactly like your final product. Writing a letter is a significant undertaking, as it requires you to customize your words to the candidate and make your letter unique. Even though the specifics will vary, strong letters of recommendation do have certain features in common.Each letter should... Use an Official Format The sample letters show the proper format for a recommendation letter. They have the employer’s name, position, company, and company’s address at the top. To give one example, here's the header for recommendation letter sample #1: Ms. Greta JohanssenSales ManagerStreambase Corp.66 Western BoulevardSanta Fe, New Mexico 87500 You should also use official letterhead that has your name and contact information across the top, in whatever way you've chosen to present it. Each letter is addressed to a specific person, a greeting that’s more personal than, â€Å"Dear Hiring Manager.† Typically, paragraphs are single-spaced with a double space in between each one. Finally, every letter concludes with an invitation to contact the writer for any further information. Then the writer may include her position, company, phone number, and email below her name. Start with a Strong Opener The strongest letters start out with an immediate statement of support. They might say, â€Å"It’s my honor,† â€Å"It’s my pleasure,† or â€Å"I’m very pleased to provide this letter of recommendation for Joe.† Stating the obvious with a sentence like, â€Å"I’m writing to recommend Joe,† looks weak beside a more enthusiastic opener. In the first paragraph, explain who you are and why you’re qualified to recommend the candidate. Write a line or two of praise about her professional and personal strengths, perhaps with a summary of the main points you’ll present in the rest of the letter. Include Two to Three Specific Examples As mentioned above, strong letters typically include two to three body paragraphs with specific anecdotes about the candidate. They don’t just describe the applicant’s great qualities and accomplishments; they give examples and prove to her prospective employer that she’s made achievements in the past that predict future success. You might talk about a project or responsibility of the applicant or the value she’s brought to your company. Consider relevant qualities like flexibility, initiative, leadership, growth, collaboration, interpersonal skills, and/or ability to perform within a certain environment or culture. To Sum Up... Depending on your relationship with the candidate, you might focus more on her work performance or personal character in your recommendation letter. An employer will focus more heavily on professional skills while a coworker may add personal qualities. A friend or neighbor providing a character reference would produce the most personal letter. It falls upon the candidate to choose her recommenders wisely and to share any relevant information about the prospective position to help them write the best letter they can. As long as you incorporate the key features discussed above and take the time to make your letter positive and specific, you’ll provide a strong recommendation letter that will help your employee, colleague, or friend get hired. And who knows - perhaps in a year or two, she’ll be writing a recommendation letter for you! What's Next? Are you tasked with writing a recommendation letter for a student applying to college? If so, check out these samples of recommendation letters from teachers and counselors, along with additional writing tips and a thorough recommendation letter template! 4 Amazing Samples of Recommendation Letters from Teachers Should You Move to a State with No Income Taxes 3 Examples of Excellent Recommendation Letters from Counselors Complete Guide: Writing a Strong Letter of Recommendation Unsecured Credit Cards for Those with Bad Credit A Great College Recommendation Letter Template Want to provide a strong recommendation for your employee, but don't have the time to craft the perfect letter? PrepScholar's new recommendation tool, SimpleRec, takes you from good intentions and a blank page to a fully written and formatted letter of recommendation in under 5 minutes. All you need to do is give us some simple pieces of information about your employee and your experience working with them, and we'll do the rest. Try out SimpleRec risk-free today:

The Art of Receiving - Guest Post by Ann Murgatroyd-Soe

The Art of Receiving - Guest Post by Ann Murgatroyd-Soe A few weeks ago, I went to my spinal care practitioner and asked her to check some pain I’ve been having in my wrist. After completing some physical adjustments to my arm, she said, â€Å"Remember to receive. You don’t need to push all the time. Just receive.† Receiving is not something I’ve historically been great at, but I’m inspired to do more of it. That’s why I was particularly inspired by the following article by a woman leader in my community. I think you’ll be inspired too by her vulnerability and willingness to receive, when she has always been the â€Å"strong† one. When the Helper Needs Help Christie and I talk and teach often about The Art of Receiving. Most of us tend to be great givers, but we struggle with receiving.  Christie and I had just decided this would be the playshop we would be holding for our travel tribe on this trip-little did we both know how we would personally be in the need to receive on this trip! We were coming off an amazing, deeply spiritual sunrise ceremony on the sacred Ganges River.  I was in an open, loving, peaceful state as we entered the streets of Varanasi, where my senses were overtaken by the sheer magnitude of people, sounds, uncontrolled traffic speeding within inches of us, the unrelenting pace and push of the street vendors and people seemingly in need at such a level that I had never witnessed before.  We had been advised not to bring out money and had been â€Å"prepped† for what we would see and experience, but I was still completely overwhelmed in both heart and mind. My love and I were approached by a woman with a baby that appeared lethargic in her arms.  She cried and pleaded with us over and over for money for food. I tried to keep moving and look ahead for safety as we were instructed to do.  The sound of her pleading and of Joel having to say over and over he was sorry but couldn’t stop or help was just more than my heart could take. In my thoughts there was no acceptable answer or action.  If it was the truth, she and her baby were in such need and we wanted to help.  If it was that she was being exploited by men who would then collect all the money or objects she was given it was a terrible abuse and we would be enabling if we reached out. There was no way in that moment we could help.  The helper in me was devastated.  The thoughts hit me so hard I was literally stunned. I had a completely unexpected, shake me to my core, break my heart open, can’t process fast enough, can’t breathe, can’t, can’t, can’t moment on the streets of Varanasi.  I could feel the breath leaving my body and the sights and sounds begin to dim around me. I called out to Joel as we got separated and my arm got lightly clipped by a passing motorcycle. He thought I was just asking him to walk with me so he stayed his helpful course.  It was the last straw and I burst into tears calling out to him loudly that I couldn’t make it, that I wasn’t okay. Here I was, the helper, the facilitator, the leader, in such a state of vulnerability and overload that I couldn’t get my breath or my bearings. I was quickly wrapped in the safety of Joel’s arms and in the love of several of my travel companions who approached gently from behind and let me know they were right there with me. I let myself be held and protected for the res t of that long walk back to our bus. As I was crying and trying to catch my breath a young man came up likely to sell to us but he saw my pain and didn’t.  He asked Joel several times, â€Å"Why is your wife sad, why is she crying?† Joel’s reply as he held me tight and kept walking was â€Å"She is just a little sad, a little overwhelmed.† I will never forget what that young man said next and it was what quite literally brought my breath back and helped me regain my strength.  Ã¢â‚¬Å"You are a very lucky man, your wife has the most beautiful, loving heart.†Ã‚  This is the core of love in the people that we saw and experienced over and over on our journey through India. Back at our hotel, I was feeling embarrassed. I thought I had let others down. I found myself starting to apologize but was quickly met with another opportunity to receive. This is just a bit of what I heard:  Ã¢â‚¬Å"No need for sorry.  You were just in complete compassion in that moment.†Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"It was beautiful how much your heart felt.†Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"No need to apologize, you were just the one to express and release what all of us were feeling in that street today.† This was a life-changing lesson in the Art of Receiving for me and this Helper has learned on an even deeper level how to open herself to help. Ann Murgatroyd-Soe, Hot Pink University When’s the last time you found yourself apologizing for having your feelings or showing your weakness? To me, the ability to show this level of vulnerability is a true strength. As you venture further into the year 2016, I encourage you to find your own opportunities to receive. I think you’ll find that the people around you are more than willing to give. Category:Life and LeadershipBy Brenda BernsteinJanuary 25, 2016