June 8 was National Get Outdoors Day. Did you miss it? I did -- and chances are, you did, too. In 2012, out of the 313 million people in the United States, 70,000 participated. That's .0002 percent.

National Get Outdoors Day. Let's think about that.

Our nation's indoor-dwelling denizens, like you and me, have such a dearth of outside activity that a coalition of people and organizations banded together to get us to go outside. These folks tempted us with geocaching, bike clinics, fly-fishing lessons, hikes, canoeing, rock climbing and fairs in parks all over the country.

By many standards, these events were deemed a success. People went outdoors. Awareness was raised. People felt energized and happy. All good things.

But why aren't we outside anyway?

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As a clinical psychologist and sleep researcher at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University, Kelly Glazer Baron frequently heard complaints from aggrieved patients about exercise. They would work out, they told her, sometimes to the point of exhaustion, but they would not sleep better that night.

Dr. Baron was surprised and perplexed. A fan of exercise for treating sleep problems, but also a scientist, she decided to examine more closely the day-to-day relationship between sweat and sleep.

What she and her colleagues found, according to a study published last week in The Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, is that the influence of daily exercise on sleep habits is more convoluted than many of us might expect and that, in the short term, sleep might have more of an impact on exercise than exercise has on sleep.

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This is your life.

Do what you love and do it often.

If you don’t like something, change it.

If you don’t like your job, quit.

If you don’t have enough time, stop watching TV.

If you’re looking for the love of your life, stop; they’ll be waiting for you when you start doing things you love.

Does any of this sound familiar?

If so, you might be one of the 100 million people who’ve read and shared the Holstee Manifesto.

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"We know that the human brain is a powerful organ, but many of us aren't aware of how much the mind is truly capable of -- and much more powerful it can become through deliberate training. By exercising the brain (yes, you can use repetition and habit as you do when you exercise the body), we can achieve what may have previously seemed nearly impossible.

A multitude of studies have linked meditation with both physical and mental health benefits, from reduced depression and anxiety to improved immune system functioning. And thanks to a line of research that looks at the brain power of of Buddhist monks -- who have devoted their lives to the practice of meditation, compassion and non-attachment -- we now know that the brain changes that result from years of mindfulness practices can be staggering."

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This set of 1-hour modules is for anyone who wishes to master the art and mechanics of business writing.  In the first module you will learn how to identify and develop the appropriate message for your readers, discern the best written message for different situations, and recognize the importance of tone and how to convey this in a business message for a certain audience.  Module two will teach you how to recognize sentences that reflect the techniques of clear writing and how to apply these techniques to a given sample of business writing, as well as how to identify ways to organize content to increase reader understanding.  Finally, in the third module, you will learn how to distinguish between editing and proofreading, identify general techniques that help you edit and proofread effectively, and recognize and identify the types of errors made in a given business document.

• Know Your Readers and Your Purpose: comm_19_a01_bs_enus
• How to Write Clearly and Concisely: comm_19_a02_bs_enus
• Editing and Proofreading: comm_19_a03_bs_enus

Visit the UMBC SkillSoft website for a Quick Start Guide, FAQs, and the link to log in to SkillPort.

For more information about the Business Exploration Series courseware, click here.

To schedule a department presentation about using SkillSoft for professional development, call ext. 5-6262 or hrtraining@umbc.edu.