We are a distracted people – and by distracted, I don’t merely mean that we are momentarily preoccupied, rather we are incapable of focus. A recent study from Microsoft measures the modern human attention span at a mere 8 seconds… less than that of a goldfish and more akin to a bee or a fruit fly.

Our ability to concentrate has deteriorated in proportion to our obsession with digital devices and applications which have had a pronounced effect on the human brain. Modern attempts at coherent thought are regularly disrupted by texts, emails, social media alerts, or some other restless and twitchy digital distraction.

This sets forth the question of our time… how shall we preserve the glory of our past when we are preoccupied with the commotion of our present?

Consider those fundamental things that required more than 8 seconds of coherent thought… The American Revolution, the US Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Emancipation Proclamation, the Women’s Suffrage Movement, the Civil Rights Movement, Space Travel, and The Internet. And then there are the great works of literature that are neither character-limited nor condensed: The Scarlet Letter, The Great Gatsby, The Red Badge of Courage, Middlemarch, Wuthering Heights, Anna Karenina, The Fountainhead, Brave New World, The Catcher in the Rye, etc.

These enduring masterworks capture the conversations of their time, but what about our time? In what section of what library will they house our collections? In what galleries will they display our still-lifes and landscapes? In what halls will they play our sonatas and concertos?

Our moment in time is fraught with disruption, detachment and the transmission of so much information that we have lost our words, masked our canvas, and silenced our symphonies. We have forfeited precious, human relationships for vapid, digital connections and snubbed a mortal embrace for the cold tap of a soulless automaton. While we walk in the shadow of the inspired minds of Shakespeare, Tolstoy, Bronte, Dickens, Nabokov, Woolf and Eliot – our progress has come at the price of creative expression. The poetry of our time has been deadened by touchpads and dumbed down by smartphones as our metaphors and allegories have slipped somewhere beneath the protective film of our iPad Air and the haptic engine of our Apple Watch.

Every generation seeks to escape the limitations of the human condition by crafting a unique story. There are no short-cuts… not even for us. Siri is not going to chronicle our times. We cannot Roomba through the halls of modern consciousness or Uber our heart back home. We will not find our “mind’s eye” shared on Instagram or our heart’s desire booked into a $99/per night spare bedroom on Airbnb.

At some point, we have to address the meaning of life and the emotion of existence as so many societies, generations and civilizations have before us… or our very short stint on planet earth and our very small moment on the human stage may very well be deemed inconsequential.

In the 2012 James Bond movie Skyfall one of the best moments is when Daniel Craig jumps on to a moving train. James Bond is pursuing a bad guy and is desperate to get his hands on some classified information which his adversary holds. Bond’s first thought when he lands on the train is to adjust his cufflinks. It’s classic James Bond. A memorable moment.

Everyone’s favorite British hero can be in the fight of his life and still find time to make sure his shirt looks good. Of course his Tom Ford suit and custom made Striped T Cylinder Cufflinks portray the very essence of the modern day man. Such a sophisticated man of today would not be seen with mere buttons on his cuffs. It simply isn’t done.

But what about the origin of the cufflink? Well it goes back way further than our hero James Bond.

The cufflink has a long, interesting past which is entwined with the evolution of the shirt. We have to go back to the middle ages to see how cufflinks developed to solve the fundamental problem – how do you deal with shirt cuffs?

At first the answer was strings or buttons. But that was never really a long term solution. Fashion had to intervene somehow.

Legend would have you believe that the cufflink was first introduced to the masses in the book, “The Count of Monte Cristo” by Alexander Dumas. One of the characters he created always wore huge diamonds on his shirt cuffs. The effect on the fashion direction of the people was unprecedented. Legend would have us believe that this book inspired the French cuff. Of course the cufflink is tailor made for the French cuff – and the rest is history.

Envy got the better of the readers of The Count of Monte Cristo and tailors had a great idea of how to incorporate this into their designs. The combination of the popular media and consumer demand meant that the modern cufflink was born.

Cufflinks have always been associated with a man’s wish to keep up with fashion but also to be an individual. In the 18th century shirts started becoming stiffer to keep up with the new fashions. Buttons and strings just didn’t help much with the stiffer fabrics. Cufflinks offered the best solution and were a stylish addition for the fashion conscious.

The greatest popularity of the cufflink was in Victorian times. Stiff formal fabric was the height of fashion for the middle and upper classes and cufflinks were very popular.

The 1970s saw a big decline in the popularity of the cufflink. The fashions of the time were very much about moving away from tradition and the cufflink went into a decline for a while. The Hippy Generation simply did not embrace the cufflink and it went out of fashion for a while.

Good ideas always come back and the cufflink was not out of favor for very long. Television and film has played a huge role in the revival of the popularity of this iconic fashion accessory.

Many say that it was the highly popular British television series of the 1980s “Brideshead Revisited” that sparked the revival of interest in the cufflink. Evelyn Waugh’s story of the lives of two men who meet at Oxford University in the 1920s captured the imagination of millions of television viewers around the world. The costumes were outstanding and the lure of the upper class fashions lead, some would say, to a revival of the cufflink.

Which brings us back to James Bond and his long history of cuff links. They appeared in the very first Bond movie, “Doctor No” and take us right up to the present day with the much anticipated “Spectre”. First worn by many people’s idea of the perfect Bond – Sean Connery, the British spy has always made formal dress look cool. Very cool.

The popularity of the cufflink is even linked to the British Royal Family. Prince George is said to have received a monogrammed pair of cufflinks to mark his Christening from India Hicks. Prince George has a very special pair of cufflinks monogrammed with the letter G. You may remember the socialite turned fashion designer India Hicks as one of the bridesmaids from the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer.

But you don’t have to be a royal or James Bond to enjoy the sophistication of wearing a great pair of cufflinks. They say so much about your individuality. There are so many to choose from that you will surely find your niche.

Consider a special engraved cufflink to make a special occasion. Maybe a wedding, a christening or a promotion at work. Or a Star Wars cufflink to celebrate the release of The Force Awakens. Sports fans will love our range of cufflinks to suit everyone’s special interests. You can even choose a USB flash drive cufflink. The choices are endless.

We can’t promise that you will be quite as cool as James Bond but you will be wearing something your friends will secretly envy.

We are living in a world of tough competition. Here every business is trying to be far ahead of its competitors. Digital marketing has made the job easier for them. Needless to say, by the grace of digital marketing a small business can easily compete with their giant competitors. Taking the advantage of web marketing, small and medium-sized enterprises can get more exposure. They can get more traffic and customers than the giant companies. This is why the importance of internet marketing is increasing day by day.

There are various ways of digital marketing. SEO is probably the most significant among all digital marketing methods. As SEO is a non-paid digital marketing method, web marketing executives and digital marketing experts like it over the other online marketing methods. It allows a website get higher ranks for a longer period of time without spending significantly for it. Unlike, PPC and display ad, SEO does not need to pay Google for online promotion. Your website stays longer on SERPs (search engine result pages).

Roles of search engine optimization services in the present business scenario:

It never stops working suddenly

Search engine optimization services help your website come at the very first pages of Google against your targeted keywords and other relevant search terms. The process is slow but steady. This is why it never disappears suddenly. Apart from web searches, you can indulge in image, audio and video searches to get more traffic on your website. Consequently, you can easily reach your target market and targeted customers.

It is cost-effective

Compared to the costs of other online marketing methods, the cost of search engine optimization services is lower when you get it done by a service provider. When you do it by yourself, you need not spend a single farthing for it. PPC may drive more traffic for sometimes but your ad disappears as soon as your account balance ends. Social media may be beneficial for your images, but SEO can give you more business. It can help you sell and market your products and services over the internet. This is why the importance of organic SEO remains bedrock till date.

It is highly useful

SEO is highly useful for grabbing more market share. As the web analysts say more than 80% customers come on your website through organic SEO, you should ensure it for your website. Another important thing is that nowadays a vast majority of customers look for reviews and testimonials about a company before purchasing anything from it. This is why if you do not ensure ORM factors and SEO works perfectly, you may not be successful in selling and marketing products over the internet.

In November of 2016, the Journal of Medicinal Food reported on a study showing people diagnosed with diabetes and/or heart problems, as well as healthy people, have distinctly different types of bacteria predominating in their intestines. Scientists at the University of Agronomic Science and Veterinary Medicine and the University of Bucharest in Romania analyzed the different bacteria taken from the intestines of the three groups…
1. The diabetic group showed higher levels of aerobic bacteria and coliforms, and low levels of bifidobacteria. Clostridia was present in large numbers, and there were different numbers of each species of bacteria throughout the intestines of the diabetic group.

2. The heart and blood vessel disease group showed a more nearly normal bacterial content, with a higher number of beneficial bacteria than were seen in the people in the diabetes group.

Some bacteria make lactic acid, or lactate, which changes the acid balance in the colon. The three groups showed different levels of the molecule, suggesting acid levels could play a part in colonic health.

Another molecule, ammonium, linked with colon cancer, was found in high concentrations in gram-positive bacteria, a type of bacteria found in quantity in Type 2 diabetics. Could this be the reason for the high risk of some types of cancer in diabetes?

The researchers concluded these discoveries could lead to important treatments for the two serious diseases.

The types of bacteria usually found in the colon are as follows…

1. Aerobic bacteria are those that use oxygen to “breathe.” Anaerobic bacteria do not use oxygen.

2. Clostridia are commonly found in the gut of many species, including humans. There is some research showing this particular bacteria might help protect against the development of food allergies. Clostridia can cause illness if it overgrows.

3. Bifidobacteria are classed as being helpful bacteria because they produce an acid that blocks harmful bacteria.

4. Coliforms include E. coli, harmless strains which are typically found in the human gut. Rare strains can cause severe disease. Other species include Klebsiella, Enterobacter, and Citrobacter.

5. Lactate-forming bacteria are often given as probiotics and can be found in yogurt. There is some concern about the overgrowth of these bacteria causing lactic acidosis.

6. Gram-positive bacteria refers to the gram-stain test, used to help identify the species. Bacteria can be either gram-positive or gram-negative depending upon their cell wall compositions. Ammonium is usually found in the small intestine and is harmless in small quantities.

Although managing your disease can be very challenging, Type 2 diabetes is not a condition you must just live with. You can make simple changes to your daily routine and lower both your weight and your blood sugar levels. Hang in there, the longer you do it, the easier it gets.

If one was to think about why they are a relationship with someone, they could begin to list what they like about them. This is then going to be a time when they will go over what they bring to their life.

Having them in their life is not simply going to give them someone to spend time with; it is going to allow their life far more fulfilling than it would be if this wasn’t the case. What they bring to the table, so to speak, is not going to be something that the average person can offer them.

A Special Connection

Perhaps one could describe this person as being the one, or they might even see them as their soul mate. At the same time, they could just believe that they are with the right person.

In addition to this, the people around then could also have the same outlook as they do. This might have a positive effect on what they believe, or they could see it as being something that doesn’t have a big effect on their outlook.

Looking Back

On one hand, there will be what their connection is like in present moment, and on the other hand, there will be what has taken place in the past. When thinks about the past, there could a number of memories that come to the surface.

This doesn’t mean that the only memories that arise will cause them to have a big smile on their face and a warm feeling in their heart, as this is unlikely to take place. There can be times when they remember experiencing some kind of conflict, for instance.

Going Through It

During these moments, they may have taken the time to work though what took place, as opposed to allowing it to build-up. There would then have been no reason for one negative moment to have a lasting effect on their relationship.

This could even have been a time where they agreed to disagree, and this would have shown the level of respect they have for each other. And as there are two people in the relationship, it is to be expected that there will be moments when conflict arises.

The Opposite

If this didn’t happen, it could show that they are not paying attention to what is taking place within them. They could then have moments when they are focused on pleasing the other person, and this would mean that there are no longer two people in the relationship.

In the short-term this would allow one to avoid pain, but as time passes this pain will gradually being it appear. One could then explode for no apparent reason, and this could create even more damage.

Looking Ahead

However, one won’t need to think about what their relationship is like or to think about what has taken place in the past in order to feel good about their relationship. What they will also be able to do is to think about what will happen in the future.

This could be a time when they will think about moving in together, and they may even imagine what it will be like to get married and/or to have children, amongst other things. One is then going to have three places to visit when it comes to their relationship.

Caught Up In The Past

Yet, even though one might be in this position, there is also the chance that their attention is focused on what took place in the past. What this can show is that their relationship is no longer alive, and that they are holding onto the past as a way to avoid what is currently taking place.

Through focusing on how things were, they can delude themselves into believe that it will only be a matter of time before everything will return to how it was, or they could actually believe that their relationship is still as good as it was.

Trapped

One could even think about future, and see this as a time when everything will change for the better. Now, there is always the chance that this could take place, but it could be said that it is highly unlikely.

It might be better for one to get in touch with reality and to face the pain the pain that will arise. As if the relationship is finished, the sooner they walk away the sooner they will be able to find someone who is right for them.

Caught Up In The Future

Alternatively, one could find that they are so caught up in the future that it stops them from being able to see that their relationship is over. In fact, one could be oblivious to what is actually going on.

What they are looking forward to is then going to distract them from reality, and this will be what gives them the energy to continue. The idea of getting married and/or having children could be what keeps them going.

Stepping Back

Unless one is able to take their focus away from the future, it is going to be possible for them to face reality. This is not going to be easy, and they will have to let go of the future they had created in their mind.

What they can focus on is that they are not going to live forever and the longer they are caught up in an illusion, the less time they will have to meet someone who actually wants what they want. The pain that they have to go through will be nothing like the pain they would have to face if they were to wait until it was too late.

Awareness

This is not something that was has to do by themselves, as they can reach out for external support. This can be provided by a trusted friend and/or a therapist.

Prolific writer, author, and coach, Oliver JR Cooper, hails from England. His insightful commentary and analysis covers all aspects of human transformation, including love, partnership, self-love, and inner awareness. With over one thousand in-depth articles highlighting human psychology and behaviour, Oliver offers hope along with his sound advice. His current projects include ‘A Dialogue With The Heart’ and ‘Communication Made Easy’.