8 Years of Life in #Johannesburg #SouthAfrica #9YearsofTheLifesWay 2450th Blog Post

Hi Friends, 

2021 is almost over and this will also mark the 9th anniversary of The Life's Way and I wanted to have this 2450th blog post as my self-promotion rather than for any brand. I  completed 8 Years in Johannesburg on 2nd November 2021 and the best part for this year is that I got my South African driving license. Now I can drive here easily for the next 5 years or so. 

Last time I did one report on my 5 Years of Life in Johannesburg and since then what I have achieved till date will be mentioned in this blog post - 

My love my blog The Life's Way has crossed 3.4 Million page views and this is my 2450th blog post. I am currently using Samsung Z Flip 3 5G smartphone which is my first foldable device and I am really grateful to Samsung for the same. I am still driving the Honda Civic 1.8 Elegance but I want to move to an SUV soon enough next year. I also bought my first house in Johannesburg, South Africa and am now no longer living in rented accommodation and can buy my own stuff as per my requirements and needs. Lockdown due to Covid-19 gave me enough time to think about my priorities and now I intend to not waste my time on things of no returns like free blog posts for the brands who are not sending me anything or not even calling me to their launch events and not even retweeting the shared blog posts. Why waste time on such brands when you can have fun with limited few brands enough to last your lifetime? 

During the last three years, I made trips to Kruger National Park, Garden Route, Northern Cape and many more places which I had not visited earlier too. My Google Maps photos have crossed 39 Million views and places reviews are standing at 214721 views. I have reviewed over 230 places so far and reached the top 10% places reviewer whereas I am the top 1% contributor in terms of photographs on Google Maps. In the next year or so I intend to reach Top 1% in terms of reviews too by taking the count to around 500+ reviews of places. 17092 contribution with 73025 points so far and still on Level 9 in the Let's Guide programme. 

My youtube channel crossed 851 subscribers and has now 386k views in total. I have crossed 200 videos and also started posting Shorts on the channel. I am still far from the mandatory 4000 hours and 1000 subscribers to be considered for monetization by Youtube. Though I will continue to post videos on this platform but let's see where this takes us in the longer run. I don't see it reaching 4000 hours unless I switch to the Hindi/Punjabi language and create content in the same. I also plan to bring in some insights into how a person I am and what makes me unique in my own perspective if anyone wants to take inspiration or tips and tricks I followed and learned through the last 41 years of my life. 

I have reduced my photography to a much smaller level as I didn't pick up my cameras other than for making Youtube thumbnails or to shoot some products. I mostly used the smartphone camera to cover my travels locally whatsoever and to post on Google Maps too. I am also giving away my Canon 100D to my brother-in-law for his Youtube channel on YOGA and other exercises like Pranayam, Meditation etc which has crossed the monetization stage and can achieve greater heights with a proper DSLR camera. I have thought of clearing my inventory of stuff which I don't want to use myself to reach the hands of people who can enjoy the same. 

Keisha's channel was deleted by me due to some restrictions and now I plan to have her channel on my email id only. I will repost all her videos and will check if she wants to create more content in the future of 2022. 

I now intend to try out other platforms too with all their new tools like Reels, Stories, IGTV and Live on Instagram. Similarly, I will try out Facebook Live and other tools to post regular content. I completed my 12 books this year in 2021 and am really grateful for the same as for the last few years I was not doing it. I now am putting a good pressure on myself to complete one per month and wants to continue doing the same next year too with 25 books to complete. I put all my reads to track on Goodreads - follow me there and I continue to read on my Amazon Kindle Keyboard which is so far working fine. 

When I had Covid this year, I rewatched a lot of Bollywood movies on Youtube and loved seeing them and also I watch all the web series and movies in English and Hindi on the same day of the launch. I have not posted any reviews of those so far but I can do so in the near future as it means a lot of content for my blog posts. 

Cheers!!!

Support me if you like reading this blog post by buying me a cup of tea or coffee - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/TheLifesWay Contact at thelifesway@gmail.com to collaborate and promote your services and products. Subscribe to my YOUTUBE Channel for giveaways, product reviews and mystery unboxings. #TheLifesWay #9YearsofTheLifesWay. Namaste!

A Memoir - This Month Last Year - Aug 2020 www.thelifesway.com #TheLifesWay

Hi Friends, 

August 2020 was very hectic as I joined a project for an Australian client from here and the work timings were really hectic. Some of the days I have worked for more than 18 hours or so and it was always sleepy but somehow I had the energy from the lockdown level to concentrate despite so many demanding circumstances. I also thought that I will start my life again in Australia or maybe visit the country using this chance but it didn't work out in the end. 

1. As it was the time of watching a lot of movies on the weekends and also reviewing the same as I had the unlimited energy to share the same with my readers - 

#TheLifesWayReviews LOOTCASE @DisneyplusHSVIP #Movies #Lootcase #Comedy
#TheLifesWayReviews NAUKAR VAHUTI DA @PrimeVideoIN #Punjabi #Comedy #Movie
#TheLifesWayReviews SHAKUNTALA DEVI @PrimeVideoIN #Biography #Drama #Movie
#TheLifesWayReviews - RAAT AKELI HAI @NetflixSA #Movie #Crime #RaatAkeliHai
#TheLifesWayReviews - DOOR KE DARSHAN @NetflixSA #Movie #Comedy #DoorDarshan
#TheLifesWayReviews - GUNJAN SAXENA The Kargil Girl @NetflixSA #Movie #Biography
#TheLifesWayReviews - CLASS OF '83 @NetflixSA #Crime #Movie #ClassOf83

Some of the web series and movies launched during the lockdown around the world really kept audiences glued to their TV, tablet or mobile screens and I have watched most on my smartphone at 1.5x or speeds of that kind because I can't wait for music to play out when you have so much of content to watch and review. 

2. Time To Learn Smartwatch #FisherPriceSmartWatch @FisherPrice @Mattel
Introducing #Thomas&FriendsSA Track Master #ThomasDieselTunnel Blast @FisherPrice

Reyansh suffered from a drop from the office chair which we bought recently and hurt his chin where he needed more than 5-6 stitches and it was after my insurance was not there as my deputation ended in South Africa. It was really hectic to see him suffer and it was all blood. The hospital didn't allow us to enter to only one person as the covid protocols were in place. It was really a hectic evening and I was not happy to see my kid crying a lot to the point where I just took out my jacket in distress as I walked towards the hospital without any in the cold winters of the season. But somehow these Mattel toys came in for review and he was very happy to play with them. You can see the band-aid on his chin in all these pictures. 

3. Introducing #KeishaAndYou Youtube Channel by Keisha #TheLifesWay 

Unboxing #BarbieColorReveal from @Mattel #KeishaAndYou
Unboxing #CloudeesSA from @Mattel #KeishaAndYou #TheLifesWay

Keisha started her Youtube channel and started doing some unboxing videos and toys review on her channel. She did a lot of videos but currently today, the channel has been sitting idle as she is not getting time from her studies. Soon I will start the shooting and post more on her channel. 

4. #TheLifesWayReviews - @Sandisk SSD Plus 480GB #SSDPlus #SolidStateDrive - I received this review unit of the SSD which didn't worked despite using all the casings I had and it didn't work in plug and play mode for me. I even sent the company a request to sponsor me the device but still I have not received any update on my proposal. I am sure it's a no as the other bloggers have received the better versions of the devices to keep.

5. Getting Introduced to the #SamsungNote20Ultra at Virtual #SamsungEvent #Unpacked2020 @SamsungMobileSA  - It was a great affair to join the team at the virtual Samsung Event after a long time and it was my first in many years. Not only I got to enjoy the devices after the launch events at the experience zone but I also won myself a Samsung Note 20 device. It was a great upgrade from my Samsung Note 8 which I bought in 2018 at the birth of my son Reyansh from Amazon India. I am really grateful to the Samsung Electronics for making me a winner. 

I really loved the month of August because of my win of a Galaxy device and it was wonderful to receive one and start using one. I have been taking a lot of pictures using the device and totally in love with the flat design of the screen. Sometimes Universe has great plans for you and you should be always grateful for those opportunities that it present to make it your own. 

Cheers!!!

Contact Aashish Rai Jain at thelifesway@gmail.com to collaborate and promote your brand, services and products. #TheLifesWay #PhotoYatra #9YearsofTheLifesWay. Follow me on www.instagram.com/thelifesway for all travel-related photo posts and subscribe to my YOUTUBE Channel too. Namaste!

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Playing with @Barbie Dolls Allows Children To Develop #Empathy & #SocialProcessing Skills

Hi Friends, 

Barbie® and neuroscientists from Cardiff University have collaborated on a new study which for the first time uses neuroimaging as evidence to explore the effects of doll play 

• Evidence shows that doll play activates brain regions which are associated with social information processing and empathy, indicating that doll play enables children to rehearse, use and perform these skills even when playing on their own 
• Other findings show that doll play allows children to develop empathy and social processing skills more so than solo tablet play, even when playing by themselves 
• To understand the relevancy of the study, Barbie independently commissioned a global survey in 22 different countries questioning 15,000 parents which showed 91 percent of parents rank empathy as a key social skill they would like their child to develop, but only 26 percent were aware that doll play could help their child develop these skills 
• Today Barbie launches an online hub featuring resources for parents, caregivers, and children, to support them in their social processing skills which has been developed alongside leading empathy expert, writer, and educational psychologist, Dr. Michele Borba 

Barbie®, and a team of neuroscientists from Cardiff University, announces findings of a new study conducted using neuroscience for the first time to explore the positive impact doll play has on children, bringing to light new evidence that doll play activates brain regions that allow children to develop empathy and social information processing skills, even when playing by themselves. 

Over the past 18 months, senior lecturer Dr. Sarah Gerson and colleagues at Cardiff University’s Centre for Human Developmental Science have used neuroimaging technology to provide the first indications of the benefits of doll play at a brain level. Through monitoring the brain activity of 33 children* between the ages of 4 and 8, as they played with a range of Barbie dolls, the team found that the posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS), a region of the brain associated with social information processing such as empathy, was activated even when the child was playing on their own. These benefits of solo doll play were shown to be equal for both boys and girls. 

Dr. Gerson explains: “This is a completely new finding. We use this area of the brain when we think about other people, especially when we think about another person’s thoughts or feelings. Dolls encourage them to create their own little imaginary worlds, as opposed to say, problem-solving or building games. They encourage children to think about other people and how they might interact with each other. The fact that we saw the pSTS to be active in our study shows that playing with dolls is helping them rehearse some of the social skills they will need in later life. Because this brain region has been shown to play a similar role in supporting empathy and social processing across six continents, these findings are likely to be country agnostic”. 

To gather the data for the study, the children’s play was split into different sections so the Cardiff team could capture the brain activity relating to each other kind of play separately: playing with the dolls on their own; playing with the dolls together with another person (the research assistant); playing with the tablet game on their own and playing with the tablet game along with another person (the research assistant). 

The dolls used included a diverse range of Barbie dolls and play sets, with all Barbie dolls and sets returned to starting positions before each child began their test to ensure consistency of experience. Tablet play was carried out using games that allow children to engage with open and creative play (rather than a rule or goal-based games) to provide a similar play experience to doll play. 

The findings of the study show that when children played alone with dolls, they showed the same levels of activation of the pSTS as they do when playing with others. Another finding of the study is that when children were left to play tablet games on their own, there was far less activation of the pSTS, even though the games involved a considerable creative element. 

To understand the relevancy of these neuroscience findings, Barbie independently commissioned a global survey** that asked more than 15,000 parents of children in 22 countries. Results of this showed 91 percent of parents ranked empathy as a key social skill they would like their child to develop, but only 26 percent were aware that doll play could help their child develop these skills. During this time at home, parents are increasingly worried about ensuring their child is developing social development skills, with more than two-thirds (70 percent) saying they are concerned about how this isolation might affect their child and how their child interacts with others. Similarly, 74 percent of parents are more likely to encourage their child to play with a toy if they knew it was proven to help their child develop social and emotional skills, like empathy. 

“As leaders in the dolls category, we’ve always known that doll play has a positive impact on kids, but up until now, we have not had neuroscientific data that demonstrates these benefits,” says Lisa McKnight, SVP and Global Head of Barbie and Dolls, Mattel. “The findings of this research highlights that playing with dolls, such as Barbie, offers positive benefits in preparing children for the future through nurturing social skills like empathy. As we continue to inspire the limitless potential in every child, we are proud to offer dolls that encourage skills we know are highly valued by parents and are determinants in children’s future emotional, academic, and social success.” 

Barbie will be supporting these findings with an online hub, Barbie.com/Benefits, featuring resources for parents, caregivers, and children, to assist them in enhancing and applying their social processing skills. These resources have been developed alongside leading empathy expert, writer, and educational psychologist, Dr. Michele Borba. 

Michele Borba says: “The latest scientific findings from Cardiff University and Barbie are extraordinary and so relevant to the times we are living, given the limited social interaction our children can have. It’s been shown that children who have developed empathy and social skills early in life can have better grades, stay in school longer and make healthier choices overall. Empathetic children might also be more likely to stand up for a child being bullied and try to engage and resolve the conflict. Understanding that kids can help develop these skills through playing with dolls like Barbie, is remarkable and a helpful tool for parents.” 

The results of the study are published today in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience as ‘Exploring the Benefits of Doll Play through Neuroscience.’ Recognising that this study is a first step towards understanding the positive impact of doll play with further research required to build on these initial findings, Dr. Sarah Gerson and the Cardiff University team along with Mattel, have committed to further neuroscience studies in 2021.

*Study was conducted with 42 children (20 x boys and 22 x girls) aged from 4-8 years old with full data captured from 33 children.
**Survey by OnePoll in July 2020 in 22 different countries questioning 15,000 parents of children aged from 3-10 years old.

Cheers!!!

Support me if you like reading this blog post by buying me a cup of tea or coffee - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/TheLifesWay Contact at thelifesway@gmail.com to collaborate and promote your services and products. Subscribe to my YOUTUBE Channel for giveaways, product reviews and mystery unboxings. #TheLifesWay #9YearsofTheLifesWay. Namaste!