The Law Of Attraction and Business

There is a lot of excitement around the concept of the Law Of Attraction at the moment. The Law of Attraction simply states, "Like attracts like". This means that the thoughts you are putting out will attract back to you similar realities, so that your thoughts and intentions become self-prophetic. In business, this can be very powerful and you can use "The Law" to attract new clients, get great media coverage, loyal employees, business opportunities and empower and motivate yourself and any staff members you may have because you will be able put out thoughts and intentions of success and attract these things into your business.

Here is a bit of historical background on what the Law Attraction is: Thomas Trowad was one of the earliest thinkers of the New Thought movement and he explained that "thought comes before its physical manifestation". This means that the conditions you experience in your business (and in your personal life too) first originated from your thoughts.

When you start out in business, you are excited and optimistic that you will find success in your enterprise. You can visualize having more time, making more money, travelling more and growing your spirituality. However, something happens along the way and you start to work harder, earning less and having little time for yourself or for family, this is the situation I found myself in personally whilst still discovering the law. I really was no better off that when I was working a 9-5 job, in fact I had much longer hours running my business.

What happens at that moment? It all depends on the vibration or intentional thoughts that you are sending out to the Universe. Most of the times we do not even know that we are projecting negative thoughts and emotions and thus attracting back these things. When the initial euphoria of starting a business is no longer alive, it is easy to give into negative states of mind, notably worry and doubt about the performance of your business. And, because the law of attraction is always at work, you will attract situations of scarcity, under performance, low sales and return on investment.

However there is hope because this also works the other way. When you project mental images, thoughts and firm intentions of success in your business, the concept of the law of attraction & business begins to work for you. But this is more than just luck and positive thinking, though positive thinking does play a big role in your attracting of business success. For the law of attraction & business concept to work for you, you must first realize that you are a spiritual being and so are your customers. You and all other living things in the universe communicate through spiritual energy. Visualization is how you make use of this spiritual medium to create mental images that are then projected to the Universe and send back to you in their physical form. Thus, you need to be sending strong intentions or visualizing what you want for your business.

Is it more customers? More sales and revenues? More referrals and new, bigger customers? Expansion into other towns, cities or countries?

According to the law of attraction, visualization is much more than dreaming and hoping that customers will come. It is setting powerful intentions that customers are coming to buy from you, that they will be willing to spend money on your products, and they will refer others to your business. Visualization also comes with emotion. By mixing thought and emotion, you are automatically setting the Law of Attraction into motion and the universe will begin to fulfil your desires.

It is important that you do not permit feelings and thoughts of doubt and fear to contaminate your positive mental images. If this happens, you will receive mixed results, for example, one big customer comes, buys from you for a short time and then leaves.

One way to look at it is this way: ask, believe and receive. Ask by visualizing, believe by having faith that the business success you have asked for is already yours, and then anticipate what you have asked for. As you anticipate, you have to put yourself in the emotional state you will be in when you receive the conducive business conditions you have asked for.

The mistake that most of use make when using the law of attraction in regards to business is that we forget to draw the line between deliberate attraction and being too attached to the outcome. This is a big no-no. Deliberate attraction is really aligning yourself with the positive energy of the business success you want. This means no self-doubt and pessimism. However, do not fall into the trap of obsessing over this particular outcome. If you do, you will be sending out the emotion of fear, and resistance and doubting that the Universe will bring to you that which you have asked for. This might be difficult to do, especially when your business and income is at stake, but you have to learn to be unattached to the outcome.

Give up the fear and resistance and you will be on the true road.

When you are less attached to the outcome, you have more time to positively and deliberately work on the processes in your business. Yes, you will have to take action while you use the concept of the law of attraction & business. However, the action you take will be inspired by positive visualization, positive anticipation and positive thought.

Here is something to consider about taking action: The law of attraction does not work in a vacuum; you have to take action in your business, carrying out the tasks that you should be. However, this will not feel like work, once you align yourself with the positive energy of the success that you are attracting. If you are planning to launch and implement your marketing campaign, go ahead and do this. However, remember to deliberately set the intentions for what you want your campaign to achieve. If you are looking to launch a new product, take action and deliberately attract positive responses from clients.

Experiencing the law of attraction work in your life and business will give you more confidence in these theories, gradually you will then begin to attract success much more easily.

This news article is brought to you by LONG-DISTANCE RELATIONSHIP - where latest news are our top priority.

Challenges: The Bridge Back to You

Part of the human condition is to experience challenges. Whether that be physical, emotional, relational or spiritual, we all have experiences that we would not consciously choose. If it's something we would not choose, we often judge it as wrong or bad and label it as a challenge. We all have things that we wish would just go away whether that's a nagging physical condition or a nagging co-worker! However, when you view challenges merely as an annoyance, or something to take a pill for, or schedule surgery, or hope and pray it will go away, you are missing out on valuable information. This information is designed to help and support you on your evolutionary journey.

When your mind, body and life speaks to you through challenges, it's a signal that something is not working in your life. There's a disconnect - whether that be physically, emotionally, mentally and/or spiritually. The way that disconnect gets noticed and communicated is through challenges. That's the intrinsic and ingenious connectedness of your mind/body/spirit!

All challenges are merely an opportunity to reconnect - reconnect to the lost, wounded or judged parts of you.

Challenges are a way of getting your attention, letting you know that you are not owning and honoring a part of you (whether that's thoughts, feelings, beliefs, needs wants or desires). The only way for you to stay connected to that energy is through a challenge - whether that be physical challenges or a challenge in your life that does not seem to shift or resolve itself. Energetically, challenges keep you connected to parts of yourself that you are not consciously choosing to own, honor and support.

For example, have you ever found yourself judging another person harshly, saying things like, "I would never do that!" Inherent in all of us is the capacity for every emotion and the corresponding expression of that emotion whether that be in words or behaviors. When we judge another harshly, it often represents that what we see in that person is something we have disowned in us. We judge it because if we connect to that part of us, it might trigger shame or a sense of failure, or something we don't want to feel.

Challenges are the opportunity to reconnect to your soul, your body, your essence and your spirit. Nothing more and nothing less. They are here to reveal the deeper truth of yourself and your life.

When challenges are approached with curiosity and intrigue, they become a precious map guiding you to your inner treasure. So ask yourself this question, what is this challenge trying to tell me? If you are open, you will get an answer. All challenges, whether physical, emotional or spiritual, contain precious messages which are the bridge back to you.

--
~ Gabrielle

This news article is brought to you by TOYS - where latest news are our top priority.

Do People Choose Before Birth To Be Born With Genetic Disorders?

I have always said that all illness has mental roots. I have also said that any illness or disease that you contract some time after your birth can be cured, except of course, for the loss of a limb or something similar that lies outside of the inherent capabilities of the human species. These are not freak accidents of nature gone awry, but nature following the lines of consciousness as it always does, since consciousness creates nature, not the other way around.

Sometimes illness, disease, incapacities and some birth defects are adopted before physical birth for specific reasons known only to the personality later to be afflicted. These kinds of inherited genetic defects are adopted by the personality as "Life Challenges" and barring some life shattering changes; they will be with you for life. If you take this statement in the context of one life only, then it does seem that a great inequity has been perpetrated upon you. But you have all the lives that you need to solve whatever challenges are adopted in each life.

You should also remember that many people who have had cancers and other diseases have seen their illnesses disappear overnight; it's called spontaneous remission. The lesson is that "what happens to one, can happen to all. There is but one singularity in all worlds and universes, and that is All That Is/God. Otherwise, nothing exists alone, no problem is solved for one that cannot be solved for all.

Sometimes challenges not satisfactorily dealt with in a past life will be carried over into a future life, making discovery of reasons for present problems hard to understand. Genetic propensities are often acquired from the parents, but not always activated at birth, and these may or may not be triggered by any number of influences during any given lifetime.

It is important to know that genes can be altered by beliefs as cells are altered by beliefs, so in these cases where the genetic propensity points to a particular disease or illness, it is important to know that changes can be made in the genes themselves, and the disease or illness will never be activated.

It is also important to understand that the knowledge that you carry a certain designated defective gene sometimes influences whether or not it will be activated. The personality sometimes is so obsessed with concern over carrying a defective gene, that he will through his intense concentration on the genetic deficiency, will be lending energy to the very genetic condition that he hopes to avoid and thereby can facilitate the activation of that particular gene, inadvertently bringing about the illness that he so dearly hopes to avoid.

I will address your case in particular, since it is what you are most concerned with.

I don't like to say that any illness adopted before birth and present upon birth is permanent, but in many instances this is the case, but you must always remember that the illness was adopted before birth for known reasons, and if that motivation should change somewhere along the line, then the infirmity could also change course. Nothing in the universe is permanent and if fact, the universe and all within is constantly in a state of change, otherwise stagnation would reign and creativity would cease.

In order to gain a deeper understanding of these matters, it's important to realize that from "before the beginning" in your terms, the universe has always existed, and still does, in an inner realm of psychological reality (it may make you feel warm and fuzzy about it if I called this inner universe heaven), and the so-called big bang was not some accidental freak of nature, it was instead, a psychological emergence, a triumph of consciousness forcing itself into a new kind of reality, physical matter. All matter is filled with consciousness.

You have said that it seems that consciousness is the result of some larger framework of happening and to you it seems to be capricious, and have no purpose, being an accident in the slippery hands of chance, a random happening without any rhyme or reason.

Consciousness always comes first, and all that you perceive came from consciousness. Consciousness creates matter, matter does not evolve consciousness. The universe is of good intent, and I know that may sound preposterous, but it's so. The universe leans in your direction, whether you realize it or not. By you, I mean all of the physical world and its creatures. It's easier for good events to materialize than negative events, and I realize that you can probably present much evidence to the contrary, but that is for another story.

In this case, you, my dear reader, like it or not, are an eternal being, and certainly that is hard for me to explain. Life at any level includes a series of challenges, bringing forth creativity and creativity is the driving force behind all reality systems. All entities, including yourself, creates your own reality, then examines, explores, and lives amongst what you have created until your creations become mundane and you create something new.

You believe, you think, you expect and you get. Always in that order.

You have lived more lives than you know, and if you doubt that statement, go find yourself a good professional hypnotist experienced in age regression hypnosis and they will be able to acquaint you quite easily with past lives that you cannot consciously recall.

You have lived many past lives and you will live many future lives, but always as new personalities. Reincarnation does not infer the repetitive recycling of the same personality over and over into eternity. I know this because no new emerging personality, I mean any new consciousness, new to physical reality experience, would have ever taken on such a challenge as you are presented with at this time.

With every incarnation, a new personality is formed around characteristics of the past personality, but those characteristics remain latent and cannot interfere with the free development of the new personality that takes over from the past personality. The past personality steps aside after the inner work is completed.

All life experiences, memories, past loves, acquaintances, knowledge of past family, and general knowledge is retained and passed on, infused in the genetic structure of the new emerging personality. I will not go into where the past personality goes or does at this time, for we are only concerned with the chain of life as it led up to your present life experience, and why your life is experienced as it is.

I must digress for a minute here to tell you that the universe has meaning and purpose, the world as you know it has meaning and purpose, the soul has meaning and purpose and by inference, you have meaning and purpose, whether you know it or not.

You cannot believe your way out of your meaning and purpose, even if you believe that none exists, even the belief that there is no purpose to life, will become your purpose. You are a small but necessary part of the fabric of the universe, and your every motivation in life whether it is mental or physical, changes everything in the universe.

Your consciousness cannot be negated, diminished or extinguished once infused with self awareness by the soul, it is eternal, but don't worry, rest periods are built in, you call these periods death, so every new life is refreshed and anxious to embark on a new adventure when that time comes. And for those still immersed in religious dogma, it is impossible to lose your soul, since you are your soul in physical clothing and you cannot lose yourself.

Obviously, the questions and observations you pose could not adequately be answered in an entire book, but we will continue and hopefully clear up some of these matters. I must tell you, that I don't anticipate changing your outlook with one simple article, but maybe give you some hope and hopefully tweak your interest enough to begin reading about illness and creation of the personality that may add some food for thought.

What I write about is not common knowledge, but rest assured, it comes from a source far more knowledgeable than myself. That personality exists in other realms than you and I. I simply pass on what I learn in the hopes that some will intuitively begin to "get a clue". You cannot understand what is said here with the intellect alone, since the information does not originate in this world, but outside of it, so the use of your intuitive senses is of great help.

If you think that this is your first go-around, then you will not understand this answer. You shed lives like a snake sheds its skin, but always retaining the real important stuff, your indelible psychological identity that is the YOU that you identify with. That part of you is eternal and part and parcel of that eternal being is growth, progress and creativity.

Life after life, you build on the progress or lack thereof of your past lives. If you do not understand this, then your present position will always remain an enigma, for no reasoning or logic can explain why one would choose to be born with what you refer to as a "genetic condition".

As an aside, Stephen Hawking, a quadriplegic, despite his physical difficulties, has become the pre-eminent scientist of your times, so he has risen above his challenges and triumphed over physical matter, and rest assured, his next life will not be as difficult. Much good can come out of difficulties, and in fact, in most of these cases, success is sweeter because of the challenges experienced.

I cannot, because of space restraints go into much detail in the following discussion, but will do the best I can.

Now, you create your reality, and so there is no misunderstanding, exactly what I mean is that before you are born, you, as an emissary of your soul, created a plan for your future life, which for reasons known only to you, you decided to incorporate a disability into your future plans.

You DID NOT by accident become the child of your parents as a result of their chance encounter in the back seat of a car at the drive-in theatre. You selected your parents before your birth, and also importantly, they selected you, for mutual reasons that would benefit you both. The invisible inner reality out of which your personality rises is not some sterile, unreal environment, but one of surprising activity, vivid, acute, actual and creative and it's a realm where things such as these matters are settled before the birth of any fetus.

You not only chose your parents, but you chose the general locations where they live, the kind of climate that was suitable, and most importantly, you both, you and your parents, chose a general theme for both of your coming lives. Both you and your future parents chose a theme for the anticipated coming mutual life experience, in this case where the adoption of a genetic pre-birth condition would further your and their development. Sometimes one can learn as much or more from what you might be inclined to consider lacks or failures than from triumphs.

You were aware in advance of the evidence from past lives, that your future parents carried genetic variances that would produce a genetic condition that you have at this time. I say, at this time because even genes are not immune to changes brought about in the creative process, since you create your physical body just as you create your personal environment.

In other words, although unlikely in these cases, genetic structure can be altered by the same process that brings about the emergence of the first cell of your body. Nothing is permanent in the universe. Should your life perspective change substantially; there is no reason that your genetic structure cannot be altered in a very positive way. You could say that you existed before you existed this time around.

You were right in assuming that the genetic weakness was NOT chosen by the incoming child, but by the much more evolved psychological identity present before birth. In other words, the genetic condition was initiated before even the first cell of the child (you) was formed. The child simply accepted the condition upon birth. You could say that the pre-child ordered the deficiency, to further some deeper purpose.

Finally, I want you to understand, that I realize that what I say here may sound unbelievable to you, but think about this. My story, and the story of the true nature of reality is not as simple as "God created the universe and world in six days and then was so out of breath that he had to sit down on a cloud and rest on the seventh", but my story will resonate within the hearts of those who are ready to take a step forward into a new understanding of the true nature of reality.

I wish I could devote more time to answering your questions, because they deserve answers. I can tell you this, even though life seems unfair at times, when examined in the proper perspective, you will find that it's all good. Sometimes it is not easy to ferret out the good from the bad, but once you learn that there are reasons behind everything, you will begin to look, and when you look hard enough, you will find answers.

As with Stephen Hawking, it is common for a personality to select a more relaxed and trouble free future life as a reward after completing a difficult and challenging life experience.

Consciousness is eternal, and you are consciousness, you are not your physical body. Your identity is indelible and secure.

Kid's Songs Help You Learn A Language

A fun way to learn a language is through children's songs. Just like singing the "ABC's" to learn the alphabet, singing these catchy tunes help you learn and memorize things that you may otherwise struggle with. Some nursery songs are pretty silly, but they still teach a lot about expressing yourself. Even if you don't have children to practice with, you can still enjoy these songs yourself!

If you grew up a bilingual household, you may already know some songs. You may find that, when you take a fresh look, with an adult's perspective and the incentive of learning a language, you notice all kinds of grammar, vocabulary, and idioms. Even the simplest song can teach you something new.

For example, when I was a child, my mother sung me children's songs in Spanish. One was about a little duckling (Un Patito) who could sing and dance, but then became sad and sick. My mother changed the original ending from a dead duck to a sick duck, for our sakes.

What changed the happy singing dancing duckling to a sick and dying one? The cause of his change in health had something to do with the sun, "cuando se pon el sol". Now, to convert from Spanish to English... I always thought I knew what "se pon el sol" meant, because my interpretation made so much sense to me. Ahh - the birth of Spanglish!

Children know a lot of things. I knew that "cuando" meant "when". I knew that "el sol" meant "the sun". I knew that "se pon" was a form of the verb "poner". I knew that "poner" means "to put." I knew that ducklings like the rain, because my picture books and advertisements showed ducks happily splashing in puddles, wearing little rain suites.

This made things perfectly clear! The sun was "put" ("se pon") in the sky! Yes, of course - the duckling would sing and dance in the dark rainy cloudy weather, and became sad when the sun was "put" in the sky, meaning when it came out from behind the clouds!

Make sense? Yes, to a child... And, yes, to me as an adult who was never corrected in her childhood translation. Actually "se pon el sol" does not mean the sun is appearing. Quite the contrary; it means the sun is setting!

As I delve into the inner workings of these nursery rhymes in Spanish, I grow to love them even more. Better yet, this creates more special moments with my mother, and gives us both a really good laugh!

Kids's songs are a wonderful resource to learn another language. Your children, grandchildren, and parents will enjoy them with you. You can honor your heritage and pass it on, or expand your cultural depth with a language that is new to you. Doing this is plain old good for the heart.

This news article is brought to you by PERSONAL FINANCE BLOG - where latest news are our top priority.

Easy Ways to Simplify Your Life

Getting Your Life In Order Through Personal Development

Think about what you want most out of your life. This could be your career or maybe where you want to live eventually. Try to imagine exactly what would make you happy and identify things you can do to get there. Nothing will happen overnight, but once you figure out what would make you happy, you will be better equipped to start working towards it.

Make a list of all of your goals that get you moving in the right direction. No matter how small the goals are, write them down. If you want to be more fit, you could make it a goal to take a walk every day. Maybe your main goal is to run every day, so by starting with walking, you are able to build up your stamina. Figure out exactly what you want to do and make sure you are working towards that.

Once you identify your goals and start working on them, don't get discouraged and stop. It may be easy to give up, but you have to be ambitious about your goals. If you start to feel like you cannot reach a goal, ask yourself if you're just giving up or if you really need to rethink that goal. Things take time and work, so never give up on what you want to do. Think of how easy it will be once you get to where you want to be.

Figure out what career would make you happy. Do all the research you can on this career and start planning how you can get yourself into it. You may have to take classes or maybe take a job that you don't want to get experience for the one you do want. If you're serious about getting a career you love, you are probably going to have to work hard for it. In the end, though, you will be happier so it's worth it!

What kind of lifestyle do you want to have in the future? Some people would be happy just being rich, and some people would rather not have to deal with money and material things all the time. Consider this carefully so that you can be happy. Maybe you need to change where you live because you don't like the city or you don't like the country. Whatever the case may be, you should go over this carefully so you can shape your goals accordingly.

By using these personal development skills, you will be a lot more content with things. This will allow you to become more successful in your life, so keep these tips in mind when you're working on your personal development.

The Farmer State of Mind

I just returned after a three day sojourn in a remote village in Coimbatore district in Tamil Nadu, India. For three days, I was without my blackberry and laptop. It was a strange feeling, the first emotion was panic, what will happen if I am not connected. I realised that my uncle who lived here had never used a mobile phone.

My uncle's family had one land line telephone, no television, no washing machine, no fans, no gas, no shower, no western toilet, no dining table, no automobile. What did they use, a bicycle, chimney, firewood, coal, plantain leaves, freshly plucked vegetables, fresh milk from the cow yonder on the backside, thick curd or yoghurt, healthy outdoor living, with lot of menial and physical labour.

I looked at my uncle who is about 60 years old, strong and sturdily built, gentle in nature, affable personality, ever smiling, ready to help others. A life of hardship spent outdoor in the fields, toiling and sweating. Patience is an ornament which he wore very comfortably, peace was his nature, tranquility his possession. While he was predictable, there was a stability.

My consternation at the lack of amenities, connectivity, comforts I was used to, in the first few hours of my arrival were slowly replaced by positive feelings, thanks to the magnificent calmness, the quietude, time stood still, the heartbeat and pulse slowed down. The air was pure, invigorating aroma of flowers, leaves, the gentle flow of the river in the backyard of the house, the green cover all around, chirping of a variety of birds, was music to the ears.

I decided to go with my uncle to the field. After a delicious and sumptuous breakfast, we decided to leave for the day's work. We started walking, my uncle with a dhoti, sickle in hand, bare footed, myself in gum boots, sling bag, sun glasses, jeans, cotton shirt, mineral water bottle etc.,We should have walked about 20 minutes through a thick forest area with dense foliage, my uncle continuously updating me on the various activities, I was sweating profusely and feeling uncomfortable with my gum boots.

We reached the lush green fields, my uncle called out to his agricultural farm hands and they discussed the strategy for the day, after issuing the necessary directions to each and every one, my uncle removed his shirt, hung it on a tree, fixed his dhoti in such a way so that he could get into the field and do the work with them. I was lying on a hammock and looking at the activities. The next three hours saw strenuous menial and hard labour in the fields. Every one of them working furiously under the merciless sun, I under the cool confines of a huge banyan tree sipping coconut water.

Come lunch time, all the farm hands moved towards the tree, after washing their hands and feet in a nearby rivulet, they all settled down to a simple and hearty meal of rice gruel with green chillies. I barely had any appetite for I had not done anything. I then realized that in our corporate life where we step out of the home into an car, work in air-conditioned offices, sit at laptops, meetings, discussions, brainstorming, grab sandwiches, drink endless cups of tea or coffee, on the way home eat some more junk food and finally after being mentally exhausted drop into the bed and sleep.

The three days, taught me the value of hard work, simplicity, humility, tolerance, patience, forbearance, cooperation, acceptance of nature's all pervasiveness, contentment with status-quo, tranquility, peace of mind and an inner joy. I am still trying to retain it, as I am heading for the office in the car...

This news article is brought to you by ASTROLOGY - where latest news are our top priority.

Man Camps Breed Happy Husbands

Do you want to have a happy husband? I have a simple suggestion for women and it does not involve feeding or pleasing your man. Instead you get to send him away to man camp where he will experience his own form of happiness. Men already know the importance of these male enhancing sabbaticals. Fortunately, more and more women are enjoying the fruits of their happy camper husbands. I will share some of the intimate details and I will point out the benefits of attending these testosterone-fuelled camps.

Man camps are good medicine for men. Regular attendance enhances masculine energy, reduces symptoms of stress, facilitates male bonding, and improves wilderness survival skills. Most men have an inherent desire to get back to nature. We can satisfy this need by going on fishing and hunting trips, outdoor adventures, and weekend get-a-ways with the guys. The activities help us improve our athletic ability, exercise our competitive nature, and release our pent up frustrations. The wilderness camps are also great places for personal growth, spiritual awakening and for grounding our egos. The meal plans and the hydration choices at man camps might not seem very healthy, but the laughter and the fun times are very complimentary for men.

Why man camps are good for women too? The obvious benefits for women are a quiet clean house and a break from their husbands. This might not seem very fair, but when we are away, you get to play. My wife usually takes these opportunities to decorate and rearrange our home to her liking. It is a small price to pay and she also earns and deserves her own women weekend get-a-ways. The time away from each other can be good for the relationship too. Since absence makes the heart grow fonder, most men will develop an appreciation for their wives and for the comforts of home.

Men need women to endorse man camps. We need your approval, support and some guilt free passes to attend our man camps. The benefits and the in-cabin training will be more effective, if we can leave our guilt and shame baggage at home. Please send us off with good wishes, refrain from checking up on us and welcome us home with a big "I missed you hug". We would also appreciate minimal interrogation and fewer questions, such as "So what did you guys do this weekend?" The code of our brotherhood is that what we remember at man camp stays at man camp. Our immature behaviour wounds will heal and you will eventually be subjected to most of the man camp stories anyways. I can assure you that there is nothing very appealing to report. Our language is atrocious; our jokes are in bad taste; our activities are sketchy and there are more bodily sounds and smells than you would find at a chili-eating contest!

Guys, before you grab your free ticket to camp, you need to subscribe to the rules of being a good husband. It is important to show your appreciation with good behaviour, gifts of gratitude, and loving gestures before you leave for camp, and especially when you return. Do not take advantage of your man camp passes because a high attendance record is not an honourable feat. Recognize that you have priorities and responsibilities at home and a balanced lifestyle is the ultimate goal. For instance, a romantic weekend get-a-way with your wife, and a midweek golf game with your friends could be a good compromise. Women deserve a loving, caring, and happy husband and man camps do breed happy husbands.

Become the Last, Best Candidate for the Job

Interviewing for a job - one of the top 10 stress inducers. Why?

Fear, insecurity, and desperation often accompany the job search process even for those who are otherwise savvy and self-confident. To complicate the process, the more rejections the job-seeker receives, the worse this becomes. So what's the solution?

The solution lies in perspective.

STEP ONE - Shift your perspective!

When interviewing for a job, it's never about you. This can't be stressed strongly enough. It's about the employer. It's about what the employer needs and what problem the employer is faced with due to the vacancy in the position they're trying to fill. So, as a candidate, you need to shift perspective... stop thinking about yourself and the laundry list of tasks you performed in your last jobs. Stop thinking about being nervous or worried that you might not be good enough (or young enough, or any of the "enoughs"). Instead, before you ever get to the interview, begin your preparation for the process by asking yourself the following 4 questions:

• What made it possible for you to excel in your last job?

• What skills did it take to be able to perform your specific job duties?

• What problems does this particular employer need to solve?

• Based on your unique skills set, life experience, and personality how are you uniquely qualified to solve this particular employer's problem?

While there's much more to this process than what can be discussed in one article, this one change in your approach will have a profound impact on your ability to become the last, best candidate for the job. Preparing in this way will set you apart from other candidates and give you a great deal more control during the interview process.

Once you've shifted perspective and explored your uniqueness from the employer's point of view, the next step is to examine the job and the company.

STEP TWO - Do your homework!

First, find out as much as possible about both the job and the company before you get to the interview. Once you're in the interview, it is critical that you discover what the problem is that the employer needs to solve. Keep in mind that it's never simply about filling a position. By understanding the problem at hand, you can begin to demonstrate how YOU are uniquely suited to solve it. You then become a valuable part of the solution.

STEP THREE - Why do employers hire the people they do?

The next step in this process is figuring out what possible objections the employer may have to hiring you. The biggest objection I saw in my work with older adults in career transition was age. So let's focus on this one particular objection as a way of providing an example of how to prepare for overcoming any objections.

The first question to ask yourself is: Why do employers hire the people they do?

The answer to this ultimate question is so simple, so basic, that everyone misses it... including the employer. We're all human-but when we're interviewing for a job it's easy to forget. As human beings the simple fact is, we want to be surrounded by people we're comfortable with. So the simple answer to the ultimate question is: Employers hire people they like.

But what is it that can cause a person to like someone in the short space of an interview? Well, again, the simple answer is that we like people we're comfortable with and we're comfortable with people we feel we can trust, and we trust people we resonate with, people we relate to because we feel we understand them... and that they understand us.

Therefore, it's never just about whether you have the skills and are capable of doing the job. Of course you have the basic skills necessary to do the job or you wouldn't be applying. So your job as a candidate is to understand the job, the company and the culture well enough to build sufficient rapport so that the employer can "see" you doing the job, so that they "feel" comfortable that you'll be able to adapt and fit in.

And why is this true? Well, it's true because we're human and as such, the bottom line is:

• We all want to work with people we believe we can get along with.

• The employer is concerned about ALL of their employees and therefore wants to be sure any new person coming into the mix will fit in and not disrupt the team's cohesiveness.

• The employer is concerned about safety and whether the new person will behave in a responsible manner and not jeopardize the safety of others or the safety of merchandise or equipment.

• The employer also wants to feel confident that a new hire won't cost them money through carelessness or undesirable workplace activities.

STEP FOUR - Uncover and overcome objections!

Given the rationale behind why employers hire those they do, and staying with our choice to focus on age as an objection, why would an employer care if the next person they hire is over 35 or 45 or 55?

To answer that question, you have to figure out what the fear is behind the objection. What are the fears about older employees? There are typically 3 basic fears:

• MONEY. The employer may fear that an older candidate may want more money than what younger employees are already making.

• FIT. The employer may fear that an older candidate may not be able to fit in with and relate to younger employees.

• TECHNOLOGY. The employer may fear that an older candidate doesn't understand the latest technology being used in this job.

So how do you overcome these objections?

First, MONEY. Truly, money is just another "fit" issue. If an employer is paying current employees $20, then he can't pay you $40 for doing the same job. Chances are, if you've been in the field for more than 10 years you've probably been making maximum for your position. So when you apply for a new job you may have to take a pay cut. However, salary doesn't end there. It's important to look at all factors related to salary including benefits, work schedule, work environment, commute, and the possibility for career growth. Before you write off the job based simply on salary, ask yourself these 6 questions:

• If you take a lower salary, what are you giving up versus what are you getting?

• Are there ways you can you offset a lower income?

• Is it better strategically to be working than not working?

• Can you parlay this job into a better, higher paying one?

• If you sense some flexibility, is there a way you can prove you're worth more than what's being offered?

• If you were to take this job at the lower salary, could you cause it to evolve into something slightly new and different that would be even more valuable to the employer-something for which you could negotiate a higher salary?

Next, let's tackle the question of FIT. Before going into an interview, if you think age might be an objection, you must ask yourself these 3 questions:

• How well do you relate to younger employees?

• What have you learned from working with younger employees?

• What have younger employees learned from working with you?

Remember, every company has a culture that is the result of the mix of all the employees and the management. If you can't fit in, that culture is disrupted. If you harbor resentment toward younger employees for any reason, that resentment will be communicated in your attitudes, verbal communication and body language. No matter how hard you use your intellect to try to create age-friendly responses to interview questions, your true feelings will somehow show. Once again, you must do some soul searching. You must find a place within yourself that can understand the true value of a multi-age environment. In my experience, some tangible benefits of blending ages in the workplace include:

• Blending older workers with younger often results in an improved overall work ethic.

• Blending older and younger workers can even out work flow (slow and steady balances quick and energetic).

• Blending older and younger often results in balance-each picks up something from the other which balances the strengths and weakness of both.

• Age differences can be used effectively to enhance performance, work flow, and efficiency when each capitalizes on their strengths.

• Blending ages causes both to expand their outlook/perspective.

• This ultimately benefits the customer as well as the employer.

Finally, TECHNOLOGY. Let's face it. If you're over 30, you're probably at a disadvantage as far as technology is concerned. But maybe not. Just how important is technology in the specific job you're applying for? If it is very important, you MUST accept and embrace it if you want to continue in the field. No amount of kicking and screaming will change it.

Think about warehouse workers. In the past this was considered strictly a manual labor job. Now, warehouse workers have to know how to use sophisticated, computerized inventory technology. Not only that, but many of the tasks associated with warehouse work have become automated so human workers may have to understand how to stock, pull, load and unload safely and efficiently as well as how to operate complex robotic equipment. Technology is everywhere. So you must do whatever it takes to learn that technology to the best of your ability.

Once you've assessed just how important technology is and have gained an understanding of how it fits into the overall scheme of the company and your job, find out how it complements your unique skills and vice versa.

For example in my current job, I use a computerized process for placing orders for customized merchandise. Even though I was twice the age of one of the other individuals I work with, when we first incorporated this next technology, I learned how to use it more quickly and more effectively.

Why? Well, it certainly wasn't because I am any kind of a computer wiz. It was simply because I understood the order process from a manual perspective. The younger person didn't. The manual procedures I'd been accustomed to taught me how to create a system where nothing falls through the cracks and where everything can be double checked, verified and tracked. So thanks to my unique perspective as an older worker we created a computerized system that did the same. My age and experience became a unique benefit.

So the solution:

• Figure out what your strengths are and how your strengths can enhance the application of the technology you'll be using.

• Understand your unique relationship to the technology in order to overcome the employer's possible perception of your potential inadequacy.

STEP FIVE - Some final words of advice

1. Dispel the employer's fear and you have overcome the employer's objection. It's never really about the objection, it's about the employer's fear behind it.

2. Build trust (which also dispels fear) by allowing the employer to see who you really are. Be yourself, but be your best self, the self that is specifically relevant to this job.

3. Don't use canned phrases and interview jargon. Genuinely listen to what the interviewer is saying. Pay close attention and use the information you are gleaning to determine how you respond, what information to present, and what questions you ask. Never waste time repeating empty answers you've found in some how-to book.

4. Know going into the interview exactly what you want the employer to know about you. Make sure you give them this information in a way they understand and can relate to. It's your responsibility to make sure the interviewer knows what they need to know about you. The interviewer may be good at probing for information or they may not. But it doesn't matter. You have control of what the interviewer learns about you. Never expect the interviewer to pull information from you... because they may not bother.

5. Know why you are uniquely qualified for this particular job. Soul search and spend time figuring out exactly what your value is within the context of this specific job in this specific company. Then practice painting a verbal picture of YOU doing this job, of YOU as the solution.

6. Finally, be observant. Know as much about this company and the job as you can before going in, then enhance this knowledge through careful observation. Talk to the receptionist before your interview while you're waiting to be called in. It never hurts to be nice to the first people you meet, and the receptionist is usually the first one. Observe activity. See what you can pick up about the company's culture, the climate, the energy, the work flow. Then build this into your interview.

If you follow these suggestions, you will set yourself apart from the other candidates. With just these few tips and tools, you can indeed become:

The Last, Best Candidate for the Job!

This news article is brought to you by HOME-BASED-BUSINESS - where latest news are our top priority.

The Only 7 Personal Development Steps You'll Ever Need

Since I started Personal Development around 12 Years ago, I always wanted to answer one burning question: Is there a set of steps that you can advance through in order to grow as a human being? And if yes, what would be the first step?

After several years of intensive work on Personal Development and self-analysis I came to the conclusion that there are essential things to master. I think there is the need of a basic motivation to grow first. There has to be the willingness to get more out of yourself than you are currently showing. Whatever that is, it could be something or someone you want to get, or something to achieve, that drives you to grow.

I personally think there are 7 basic steps to take in order to fulfill your potential. I put those into my own 7 step system and the very first step is:

1. Take Responsibility for Your Life

The very first step in Personal Development is to realize: You are responsible!

You are responsible for everything that happens in your life- and nobody else. This realization is a very good one: When you take full responsibility in your life, you also move to power over your life and your destiny. You take control and in the same way take control over your life away from anybody (or anything) that had it before.

2. Change Your Limiting Beliefs

After you have taken full responsibility there are still things that could work against you and hold you back. Those are the rules, or better beliefs that everybody has inside.

The question is: Are your beliefs supporting your nor not?

Most of our beliefs are formed unconsciously, starting in childhood, and operate unconsciously. That is why the most important step here is to make limiting beliefs conscious. Then we change those by forming new beliefs about the same topic. But this time the beliefs are really empowering and helping us.

3. Ignite Your Burning Desire to Develop a Life Vision

After we have removed the roadblocks we now start to digg deep inside and find what really drives us. What motivates you to really go for something? What is it that you REALLY want?

What is your purpose in life?

This question gets answered by finding those burning desires and then we will work with those to produce a life vision.

4. Set Compelling Personal Goals

From our life vision we now get more specific and more detailed. We will set goals that express exactly what you want. This process is really motivating since those goals are based on your personal vision developed found before.

Setting the right goals helps your mind to focus exactly an those. This makes the process of really doing and chaning things much easier. You also know the exact reason why you want those goals and are looking forward to reaching them.

5. Develop your Mind and Increase Mental Focus

Now we come to getting more ressourceful to actually reach our goals. Therefore we need to sharpen our tools to enjoy what nature has given us to the fullest.

Our mind is the most amazing tool availably on earth, but we need to know how to use it. For instance increasing our ability to use our mental focus is very important. Directing our attention and doing this with intensity will ensurre that we give our best to reach our goals.

6. Develop Your Body and Increase Your Personal Energy

The other amazing tool we have is our body. Improving mind and body together works just perfect for us. Especially when we want all ressources we can have, having enough personal energy is the key.

We can increase our personal energy by 1) Proper Breathing, 2) Proper Eating, 3) Aerobic Exercising, 4) Proper Sleeping and 5) Improving our Mental Energy: that means our thoughts and emotions.

7. Learn to Take Effective Action

When we have laid out our plan and have all the resources, all that really matters is to take action, effective action.

Time-Management is a topic that everyone can benefit from, especially if we want to get ahead and make a difference in our lives: "Where should I spend my time on? What is important?"

Effective action is the final part on our personal development and improving in this area will ensure that we will fulfill our potential.

This news article is brought to you by DOMESTIC-VIOLENCE - where latest news are our top priority.

Using Fragrances

When someone mentions fragrance, we immediately start thinking of a pleasant scent that is nice to smell. Fragrances have been around for a very long time, with primitive perfumery starting out with the burning of gums and resins for incense that was used in spiritual rites in China and Egypt. Fragrance can also be known as aroma and it gets its name from the Greek word "aromata" which describes incense, perfume and spices. Almost everybody uses fragrances everyday, be it in the form of shower gel, soap, perfume or deodorant. The use of fragrances does not only stop at applications to make us smell better, but they can be used to make a room or our homes smell better as well.

All of us shower in the morning so that we are fresh and look cleaner. Soaps and shower gels usually have a scent in them which makes us smell pleasant after a shower. However, this scent cannot last long or throughout the day, therefore many of us apply fragrances such as perfumes and deodorants. Both, deodorants and perfumes give out fragrances however they are applied in a different way. Deodorants are usually body sprays which are applied on the bare body to encourage the feeling of 'freshness'. Perfumes on the other hand are different as they are not applied on the bare body but instead on our clothes. These usually tend to have a longer lasting scent compared to deodorants. However, when we use perfumes of deodorants, we need to select the fragrance that suits us and use it the right way. Firstly we need to take note if the scent is for males or females. Manufacturers produce fragrances which have unique smells for both genders. A female would find the fragrance of a male's perfume attractive, pleasant and vice versa. We should be careful on what fragrance we choose to make sure it is meant for our sex and not the opposite. Also when applying perfumes, spray from a distance as some perfumes have fluid which can leave stains on your clothing if applied directly to it. Applying fragrances can be very advantageous as they can help us establish a good impression on the people we meet.

The use of fragrances is not only limited to making us fragrant, but we can even use them to make our homes smell pleasant. Manufacturers constantly produce different types of products that we can use to make our homes free from stinky smell. Some examples of such products can be room sprays, air-fresheners or aroma candles. A candle night dinner with your spouse at home can be made more romantic by using aroma candles. These come in a variety of fragrances and sizes to make your evening all the more beautiful. Air sprays as the name would suggest are basically like deodorants but they are not applied onto the human body, but instead sprayed around inside the room to make it smell nicer. Air-fresheners come in containers and can be left open to provide a soothing fragrance to the room. Just like how perfumes and deodorants help us create a good image on people we meet, these products that can be used to make our home smell nicer helping us create a good image to people who visit our homes. If our home does not smell good, guest would form a negative impression and might not want to visit again. Therefore proper cleaning and using fragrances is essential.

Fragrances help us in a variety of ways, depending on their application. Besides helping us, the can be very pleasant to the nose.

This news article is brought to you by EVERYTHING ABOUT COFFEE - where latest news are our top priority.

What Is Mindfulness Therapy?

Much learning does not teach understanding.
- Heraclitus

Mindfulness is a state of complete attention to the present moment. Mindfulness is paying attention in a particular way - on purpose, or a kind of non judgmental way that presents a centred awareness in which each thought, feeling, or sensation is acknowledged and accepted as it is.

Development of mindfulness helps us:

- See and feel things in a different way.

- Disengage us from any habitual responses including automatic thoughts and behaviours such as worry, anger, abnormal eating behaviours (binging, purging, starving yourself, etc.)

- Change our deep beliefs.

- Re-establish good values.

- Become more aware of who we are.

Training ourselves to improve our capacity to remain calm and collected while facing fluctuations of life has a long history. Mindfulness was a central feature of Buddhism dating back at least twenty- five centuries. Most other religions and philosophies also base their principals on calmness of the mind, strength of spirit and love and compassion of the heart. So, the elements of mindfulness have been used to address people's sufferings and for teaching purposes for a very long time.

Mindfulness therapy has 4 stages. If the person has managed to go through all 4 stages, the therapy becomes very effective. The stages are: a personal stage, an exposure stage, an interpersonal stage and an empathic stage.

1. The Personal stage - is when the person learns to promote a deep level of awareness and acceptance through mediation and learning. Another way to say this is the person learns to regulate their attention and emotions.

2. The Exposure stage - is learning to decrease the reactivity to external situations through mediation and the mindfulness state.

3. The Interpersonal stage - is learning to prevent the emotional reaction to other's reactivity.

4. The Empathic stage - is learning to feel connected to ourselves and to others in a compassionate way.

Consistency in learning and meditating is the key. It normally takes at least a few weeks of practicing to notice any positive effects. A positive attitude to the treatment improves the outcome of the therapy. People who are negative to the treatment may need extra time to learn more about the therapy and change their attitude to it first before they get great results. Generally, mindfulness therapy does not have any side effects and is tolerated well by most people.

Specialised meditation for eating disorders will help you to reduce the urges to binge, purge, and/or starve yourself. http://meditation-sensation.com

The Goal Setting/Achieving Process

It takes as much energy to set a large goal that will stretch you, as it does to set a very small goal, which does not challenge you at all. When you set worthwhile goals they should feel a little daunting and require a stretch to achieve. An effectively set goal is one that clearly states the goal, why it is important and how you intend to achieve it.

Clearly State Your Goals and vision in Writing

Many people have goals and dreams, but they just seem to spin their wheels, working really hard every day and yet they never seem to achieve any of them. Why do you think that is? I don't think it is because of a lack of a willingness to work hard. I believe it is simply because they do not have a daily success routine or habit set, which will allow them to routinely take the right actions; they need to take every day to succeed. I want to offer you a simple, yet very systematic approach, which will help you to start creating your new success habit set.

By following and applying, note I said applying these simple principles as described below, you will most certainly begin to see a remarkable improvement in the goal specific outcomes, you will start to enjoy. The first and most obvious thing you need to do, is to create a crystal clear vision in writing, of what your life will look like when you achieve your dreams. Your vision is effectively the tool in your success toolkit, which will give you the direction you need to achieve your goals. It is the picture you have in your mind all day, which will inspire you to take those goal specific actions, even when you are not in the mood or other distractions may want to pull you away from taking these crucial actions. The more clear the vision, the more inspired you will feel as you keep moving inexorably towards achieving your goals and dreams.

Just imagine if you got on board a plane and the Captain's voice came over the intercom. "Good morning, this is your Captain speaking, welcome aboard flight 231 or is it 321 or maybe 123, I'm not really sure. I have no idea how much fuel we have on board, it doesn't matter what the weather is like today and I have no idea how long the flight will last, as I have absolutely no idea where we are going". I don't know about you, but I am getting off that plane as quickly as possible. I would not risk my safety, by flying with someone, who has no idea where they are going. Someone, who has no vision at all, yet we are willing to go through life, traveling on the most important journey, we will ever undertake. Namely the journey, which will determine, what we will have, do and become, with someone just like that captain at the helm of our lives.

It is now time to stop acting like that really scary pilot and to stop allowing your future success to depend on the whims of the universe. Until you create a crystal clear picture of what you want in your future and then commit this to writing. Your life and future is like a paper cup blowing in the wind, in a car park. The cup just blows from side to side, with no control at all. Is that how you want your life to continue or are you going to finally wrestle back control right now and give yourself the clarity you need to succeed?

Your life purpose is the reason why you want to achieve what you want. That fire in your belly, which drives you to move in the direction of your vision. I am sure you have invested time to discover yours. When you are working according to your life's purpose and you have a positive motive for action, you will always find the energy to do what is necessary, rather than what is comfortable to achieve your goals. Remember, challenges are inevitable as you travel along the path towards the success you desire. They are often the very catalyst, which will allow you to identify or unlock opportunities, which may have remained hidden, had you not encountered the challenge in the first place.

"You can lose material things, but you can never lose your mastery - what you learn and who you become in the process of achieving your goals, is what the entire goal setting and achieving process is really all about."

When you create a vivid picture in your mind of exactly what you want to achieve in and with your life, you have something to aim for. The clearer the picture that you create in your mind, the easier the journey will be to get you there. This clarity will help you to remain more determined and single minded and so when you are faced with any of the inevitable challenges or barriers, along the way, you will have the inspiration to overcome them and even have the drive to search for the silver lining hidden within all of them.

To illustrate the value of vision or having the ability to see the end with absolute clarity, please read the story of Florence Chadwick: She was the first woman to swim the English Channel in both directions. She decided next to swim the Catalina Channel, a 21-mile stretch of ocean between Catalina Island and the coast of California. She attempted this swim for the first time on July 4, 1952.

There were millions of people watching her attempt on national TV. Because the fog was so dense and she was unable to see shore, her stamina waned and she asked to be pulled out of the frigid water, in spite of her mother's and her trainer's encouragement. On reflection, she discovered that she was less than a mile from the shore when she gave up. She reported later, "Look, I'm not excusing myself, but if I could have seen land I might have made it." She made the swim again two months later, becoming the first woman to swim the Catalina Channel. This story epitomizes the need for vision. Without a crystal clear picture of where you are going, you will not have what it takes to succeed. You too will give up at the first obstacle.

Don't forget to dream really big

First decide who or what you want to, have, do or be. Then set challenging goals, which will, as you achieve each of them, allow you to move in the direction of your vision. Challenge yourself to move beyond your self-imposed comfort zone, allow yourself to challenge the limits your thinking, and dare to see all the possibilities available to you. You have unlimited potential, believe in yourself and all the wonderful possibilities you can bring into your experience..

As I stated in the beginning of this article, achieving goals, is about replacing your current, dream killing, limiting habits, with a success habit set, which will allow you to take those goal specific actions daily, without much conscious thought at all. To move you in the direction of realizing those compelling, challenging and exciting goals, you need to commit to gradually develop a new success habit set, one which promotes goal specific activity, every day. You also need to eliminate and replace those habits and beliefs, which are bogging you down and holding you from living your bliss.

Action Idea: Explore your goals, break them back into projects or bite size chunks, which you can easily tackle and achieve in a week. Break these projects back even further, into individual action lists. Use these action lists, as your input documents to support your daily goal specific actions. The type of habits you may want to develop over time could be to plan your day the night before, or to plan your week in advance, where you would allocate time every day to carry out your goal specific activities. Explore your goals, projects and action lists and then identify new daily routines, which will support you to take the goal specific actions you need to take, every day. Over time use your willpower to convert these into your new success habit set. You are truly magnificent, stop acting like an absentee landlord and create the success you deserve.

http://www.andrewhorton.co.za

Surfing the Cycles of Life - The Tide Rolls In and the Tide Rolls Out

I love the beach! How about you? For me it is wonderful to be in nature, to hear the ocean waves crashing and feel the hot sand under my feet and between my toes. I thrill to the icy water on my skin and the sparkling ocean air. It is rejuvenating on so many levels, both conscious and unconscious, and helps restore balance to my life.

Have you ever noticed how nature parallels the rhythms that move through our lives? The tide comes in, and it goes out, comes in and goes out. This is just like our breath cycle, we breathe in, we breathe out. We hardly give this a thought. However, life is cycling through us at multiple frequencies, from those that are very short, as in breathing, to those that are longer, as in the path from birth to death.

If we go a little deeper into the cycles of our lives we see that both expansion AND contraction are necessary and normal phases of being powerful, of being human.

Let me give you an example. In the past, under the false belief that I should operate like a machine and produce results 24/7, 365 days a year, I struggled desperately to maximize my output and productivity. In frustration one day, I tried to figure out what, exactly, increased my energy and what decreased it. So I created a spreadsheet. I listed out about 15 or 20 different factors that I suspected had an impact on my energy level, things like amount of sleep, types and amount of food, water intake, caffeine intake, exercise, work demands, amount of outdoor exposure including sunlight, the experience of stressful or inspiring events in my life, etc., etc. I had it all on there. Then I set up a 6-month timeline and captured what I did each day and what I experienced in these areas. I then rated my energy level for the day on a scale of 1 to 5. 1 represented super low, basically dragging my ass through the day, and 5 was outstanding and amazing energy, where I effortlessly and magically moved through my day. (Don't you love those days?)

You know what I discovered? No matter what I did, no matter how much demand there was on me, my energy CYCLED. There was a very pronounced weekly cycle, where on a pretty routine seven-day cycle I had two days of very high four or five-level energy, two days of very low, one or two-level energy, and about three days of average or three-level energy. I was blown away to see this cycle running through my life, REGARDLESS of how much caffeine I had, how good my diet was, how much sleep I was getting, or whether I exercised or not! No matter what was going on in my life and what I was doing, my energy levels were cycling in this sinusoidal-like fashion, from high through the middle ground, down to low, then back through middle ground, and up to high again.

Ever since then I've watched this- it is a feature of life itself! It's reflected in the seasons: winter is low-energy season; summer is high-energy; and fall and spring are the transitional, or average-energy months. Energy comes up in the spring months, and falls in the autumn.

You can see these cycles in the dynamic of a day, as well. Energy is at its lowest ebb at night, whereas dawn sees energy rising. At midday energy is the highest, and then at sunset energy is decreasing, on its way back to the low point of the nighttime.

And you can also witness the phenomenon in your breath cycle. Most people think of the breath as only a two-phase process, in and out, but it's actually a four-phase process when you include the two moments of transition between the in and out phases. So, when you've fully exhaled, that is the lowest energy point (equivalent to winter). Then there is the transitional moment when you stop exhaling and begin to inhale, where the energy turns and begins to go up (equivalent to spring). When you've inhaled and your lungs are full that's the moment of peak energy (or summer), and then when you stop inhaling and begin to exhale the energy turns and heads back down (or fall).

My point is: Energy cycles, in the Universe AND in you. It expands and it contracts. And this is NORMAL. To the extent you are aware of this, you can be fully present in both the expansion AND contraction stages, to partner with it.

The problem is we tend to resist the contraction phases. It feels like death to us, and we are afraid of death - we don't like to think of or experience things dying, so we try to be busy ALL THE TIME. However, by doing this we totally miss and disrespect the opportunity that the contraction cycle is: it is from the contraction that expansion can even take place. You cannot have one without the other, just as you cannot breathe in if you don't breathe out.

The key is to be wise and aware of this expansion and contraction; we must recognize it as a normal and natural part of the path and of life itself. Because of this, you can embrace the contraction, knowing expansion is sure to follow. In the darker times of your life you can take comfort in the knowledge that change will follow. The tide goes out, and the tide comes in, the breath goes out and the breath goes in. If you pay attention you'll see this pattern of expansion and contraction, of cycles, in YOUR life too. By consciously witnessing the process you can be more powerful through all phases, resisting nothing and allowing it all.

Try this: Reflect upon the nature of contraction in your life, or those times when the metaphorical tide is going out. Do you recognize and embrace these times in your life? Do you fear them? Do you cling to expansion, resisting the contraction and "trying to make things happen," trying to make the tide come in when it is naturally going out?

Can you improve your ability to "be with" the times of contraction in your life? It is indeed possible. Just like you can be with your exhale, knowing and trusting that the inhale is right behind it. It's a matter of awareness, trust, and allowing. You don't have to make the tides come back in, they will come back in on their own. Once you realize this you can relax! With conscious, trusting and allowing practice, they will come back in your life, as well.

Developing your ability to be strong during the contraction phases of your life is a major key to your mojo!

This news article is brought to you by HOME-BREWING - where latest news are our top priority.

Anything You Want, You Got It

Over the course of my life, I have had some pretty profound moments. One of the most profound things that ever happened to me was being visited in my dreams by a deceased loved one. While I am a firm believer that life is full of signals, messages, and opportunities, it's not always easy to understand their hidden meanings. However, when you take the leap of faith and respond to these messages, watch out because life starts getting really interesting!

I now use this concept, "defining what it is you want," in my coaching practice where I help my clients transform their lives, heal their ailments, and pursue their dreams.

When I was just twenty-one years of age, my boyfriend past away. I was devastated. As you can imagine, I was heartbroken and my life had extremely fallen apart. Years after the incident, my deceased boyfriend visited me in my dreams on a regular basis. However, I was unable to "communicate" with him because in these dreams I was not able to stop crying. I just missed him so much.

Every time he would show up in my dream he tried to talk to me, and finally, he realized "talking" was out of the question. So he began singing to me to help calm me down.

One of the songs he sang to me was: Anything You Want, You Got It by Roy Orbison. Although this was definitely a subliminal message from him; at the time I didn't understand its meaning. I just knew that I felt fetter after he sang the song to me. Years later, I remembered this dream when it dawned on me what the message he was trying to share stood for.

That message being that you can have anything you want. Anything. Everything. Without A Doubt. So I weaved this lesson into everything I did. And with great surprise, I started getting what I wanted out of life.

One of the main things to getting what you want out of life is to know what you want. The second thins is to hire a coach or a mentor to help you stay motivated while holding you accountable to reaching your goals.

I find it very peculiar that as a baby or child, we have no problem kicking and scream to get what it is we want, but as adults we easily become complacent and settle for mediocrity. Why is that?

Once I found a mentor, my life took a drastic turn. It literally turned my life around. A mentor is someone who inspires you, helps you see the bigger picture, and is your biggest cheerleader. If you struggle with staying motivated or have a hard time getting clear about what you want so you can start going after it in a strategic way, find someone with excellent energy to mentor you.

There energy is vital to YOUR success because everything in life is made of energy. So in order to increase your vibration and have the Law of Attraction hard at work for you, taking in the energy of those around you who are authentically your biggest cheerleaders helps you reach your goals faster and with less effort. To watch an idea turn into something life altering is one of the most fascinating parts of life. And to be honest, my life will never be the same.

What Can A Relationship Counselor Do For Your Relationship?

If a relationship is in trouble then seeing a relationship counselor is always an option. But what exactly can a relationship counselor do for your relationship? Many couples shrug off relationship counseling because they don't understand the process or how helpful it can be. Here is a little insight into what this type of counselor might be able to do for your relationship.

Help You Communicate

Communication is essential for a healthy relationship. This isn't news. The problem is that many couples don't know how to communicate effectively. Between one person's mouth and the other person's ears messages become distorted and communication fails. When this happens, the relationship often starts failing along with it. A relationship counselor can teach you how to communicate while identifying exactly what is keeping you from communicating effectively now. In many cases, communication that is open, honest, and fruitful can restore a relationship that looks far gone.

Help You Stop Destructive Patterns

A relationship counselor can help you to identify and stop destructive patterns whether those patterns have to do with the above topic of communication or if they lie somewhere else in your relationship. For example, a sex therapist can help you with issues in your sex life. In more general terms, have you ever noticed that you keep having the same fights or that both partners continue doing other things that hurt the relationship even though these actions make things worse and not better? A good counselor or sex therapist can help you to figure out what the patterns are and stop them before they play out again.

Help You Face The Real Issues

The most important thing that you can learn to do with relationship counseling is to face the real issues. Too often small irritations take center stage when the root of the problem is something much larger. Fights over who cleans more can be symptoms of one partner not feeling supported, feeling responsible for everything, or not trusting their partner to do what it takes to make the relationship work. If you want to get to real issues like these a relationship counselor or a properly trained life coach can help.

Help You With Your Sex Life

Problems with a relationship tend to find their way into the bedroom. A sex therapist is a type of therapist who can help you to work through sexual intimacy issues. These issues can be a big factor in relationship problems and a sex therapist can help you deal with them to achieve a fulfilling sex life.

A relationship counselor can help you to make your relationship work. It can be hard when you're on the inside of a relationship to see what isn't working but a professional counselor or life coach with an outside perspective can work with you to identify problems and fix them. This is no small feat but it is exactly what relationship counselors do.

Is Achieving Corporate Success A Simple Case Of Mind Over Matter?

Mind over Matter is a term used to encourage people to take action and do things they had previously shied away from or they don't want to do. It is commonly used by self-help groups or motivational speakers to encourage people in confronting their worst fears with skills of mind control and enhancement. Mind over matter is a basis of positive thinking mentality, emphasizing on mind power in overcoming the physical power described by quantum mechanics.

Mind over matter is a new way of thinking in the world of corporate management and academics. Studies in technology have been presumed to prove that discovery in quantum mechanics has a relationship with the human mind that the more discoveries are made on quantum technology; the more the mind power humans have to create a better world.

Discoveries in the modern science are proving the skeptics of psychics wrong that, in fact, the mind has an effect on the material world. And therefore, human poses mind over matter, making it a necessary to learn training the mind to think positively. However, before the future discoveries were made, it is true that cooperate success can be achieved by the way of management; making decisions to move forward.

By discovering that the most important assets to a company are the employees, is a case of mind over matter. Therefore, investing in the mind of employees can be a secret to success. This can be done using various mind techniques, e.g. by emphasizing, repetition and working on emotions. In addition, visualizing the process and achievements as an internal power for self-propulsion, perseverance and personal discipline, makes the wish factor into an achievable reality.

The use of mind over matter techniques develops the corporate culture and attitude of "can do", without minding about the circumstances at hand. In the current and future corporate society, competition is and will become more viscous and brutal. Therefore, without a motivated state of mind, or without an emphasis over the mind over matter culture, a company cannot sustain itself.

Corporate success should never be considered in behavioral terms; in mind over matter, employee empowerment ought to be looked at as a culture (or part of culture) of the organization and organizations should emphasize on communication and willing mind to serve.

When individuals want to work for the corporation instead of looking for the job to earn some money for their pockets, they are in fact under influence of mind over matter. Being empowered with an enhanced mind comes with the ability to adapt to a situation, to learn new skills and the power to push the system of production to achieve what seems to be impossible in normal state of mind, especially putting into consideration that competitors may not have this concept into their system.

Achievers in corporate world understand how to enhance the powerful mind of success through mind over matter succession factors that tends to bend to reality. The visualized image provides the mind power for sustainable physical effort within the available time frame for a targeted achievement. Therefore, mind over matter sharpens and enhances one to hone and harness the success power.

This news article is brought to you by ASTHMA - where latest news are our top priority.

Personal Choice - Weight Loss

Simply ejecting your rear from the couch means your hand will spend less time digging into a bag of chocolate chip cookies.

That is the simple but profound finding of a new Northwestern Medicine study, which reports simply changing one bad habit has a domino effect on others. Knock down your sedentary leisure time and you'll reduce junk food and saturated fats because you're no longer glued to the TV and noshing. It's a two-for-one benefit because the behaviors are closely related.

The study also found the most effective way to rehab a delinquent lifestyle requires two key behavior changes: cutting time spent in front of a TV or computer screen and eating more fruits and vegetables.

"Just making two lifestyle changes has a big overall effect and people don't get overwhelmed," said Bonnie Spring, a professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and lead author of the study published in Archives of Internal Medicine.

"Americans have all these unhealthy behaviors that put them at high risk for heart disease and cancer, but it is hard for them and their doctors to know where to begin to change those unhealthy habits," Spring said. "This approach simplifies it."

With this simplified strategy, people are capable of making big lifestyle changes in a short period of time and maintaining them, according to the study.

Spring wanted to figure out the most effective way to spur people to change common bad health habits: eating too much saturated fat and not enough fruits and vegetables, spending too much sedentary leisure time and not getting enough physical activity.

She and colleagues randomly assigned 204 adult patients, ages 21 to 60 years old, with all those unhealthy habits into one of four treatments. The treatments were: increase fruit/vegetable intake and physical activity, decrease fat and sedentary leisure, decrease fat and increase physical activity, and increase fruit/vegetable intake and decrease sedentary leisure.

During the three weeks of treatment, patients entered their daily data into a personal digital assistant and uploaded it to a coach who communicated as needed by telephone or email.

Participants could earn $175 for meeting goals during the three-week treatment phase. But when that phase was completed, patients no longer had to maintain the lifestyle changes in order to be paid. They were simply asked to send data three days a month for six months and received $30 to $80 per month.

"We said we hope you'll continue to keep up these healthy changes, but you no longer have to keep them up to be compensated," Spring said.

The results over the next six months amazed Spring. "We thought they'd do it while we were paying them, but the minute we stopped they'd go back to their bad habits," she said. "But they continued to maintain a large improvement in their health behaviors."

From baseline to the end of treatment to the end of the six-month follow-up, the average servings of fruit/vegetables changed from 1.2 to 5.5 to 2.9; average minutes per day of sedentary leisure went from 219.2 to 89.3 to 125.7 and daily calories from saturated fat from 12 percent to 9.4 percent to 9.9 percent.

About 86 percent of participants said once they made the change, they tried to maintain it. There was something about increasing fruits and vegetables that made them feel like they were capable of any of these changes," Spring said. "It really enhanced their confidence."

"We found people can make very large changes in a very short amount of time and maintain them pretty darn well," Spring said. "It's a lot more feasible than we thought."

This news article is brought to you by MOBILE-CELL-PHONE - where latest news are our top priority.

Do You Ever Talk To Strangers?

What! Talk to strangers? Me? Not a chance. And to talk to someone of the opposite sex? Even less of a chance. In fact, I wouldn't even dream of it.

You're at a party and you see this chap standing on his own. Wouldn't you be tempted to go over to him and strike up a conversation? The two basic reasons why you wouldn't start up a conversation are fear and shyness.

"Suppose they don't like me?"

"I don't know what to say."

There goes the old imagination at work again. Why shouldn't he like you? He's never met you before. But what is this fear people have of approaching others 'cold'? Perhaps they're afraid of saying the wrong thing. But unless they open with a line like; "I've been watching you from the other side of the room, and you've a mouth as big as the Cheddar Gorge," it's unlikely you will say the wrong thing.

Just; "Good evening. I saw you standing on your own, just like me." No-one can take offense at that and the person you've spoken to is probably very pleased that someone's actually spoken to him.

The first thing to do is to smile. Don't approach the poor bloke as though you intend to do him an injury. Try to put a genuine smile on your face first and then approach him. Smiles are infectious. The chances are that if you smile, he'll flash one back. So break the ice with a smile, open the conversation and see where it leads.

When he answers, don't feel so relieved that you start chakkering away like a monkey at him. Conversations are two way streets.

Now, it is true that you never know what you're getting yourself into. He may be a perfectly happy, cheerful man who just wants a good chat about generalities. On the other hand, his wife may just have left him and before you know it, he may start to cry his eyes out.

All right. But at least you've opened the conversation, which is the whole object of the exercise. Assuming he's a perfectly well balanced chap, show an interest in what he's saying. Ask the occasional question about what he does, so that he can see that you're genuinely interested, (even if you aren't!).

Another useful tool is humour, but here you have to tread carefully. There are few things worse that the stand up comedian routine. I knew a bloke like that. He could come out with one joke after another. The six most dreaded words in the English language are; "oh, yes, that reminds me of... " Actually, I knew him well enough to tell him to shut up or I'd wring his neck, but you can't always do that.

Another thing you should avoid at all costs is 'Dutch courage'. Well, you think to yourself, I'll just have a couple or three slugs of Scotch and I'll be able to chat to a mountain gorilla. Now, the trouble is that you may think you're fine.

The poor chap you've chosen to talk to is going to notice in no time that he's in for a drunken ramble and will make good his escape.

This news article is brought to you by HUNTING - where latest news are our top priority.

News Flash - Being Annoyed Is Not Fatal

If you are what you eat, then clearly you've had 2 heaping bowls of annoying today.

Here is the news flash as promised. Feeling annoyed? Are you surrounded by others that annoy you? Finding yourself irritated by the noise and chatter and conversation day in and day out until you roll your eyes heavenward as a desperate plea with the powers that be?

BEING ANNOYED IS NOT FATAL.

There I said it. At what point did we decide as a people that we just could not tolerate the person in front of us at the check-out counter who is asking the clerk a question or worse yet inquiring of the clerk how that new grand baby is? How did we come to a place as a society where because we are annoyed by another's driving that our first and best response is to honk, hit the window button and extend our middle finger? Or, why do we think that 2 sentences in to another's conversation with us we have to stop them and exclaim that certainly we do not want to hear THAT! Here is something I hear people of all ages offer frequently of late..."How annoying is THAT?" Clearly a rhetorical question.

You know what is annoying? The lack of patience and grace we are offering one another. Perhaps the young mother undergoing chemo and radiation finds it annoying that while she is hoping to save herself from an early exit from this earthly plane she finds herself stuck in the bathroom vomiting when she would like to be spending quality time with family. It may be that the bereaved individual that has just lost a child to tragic circumstances finds it more than annoying when discussing their loss the alleged listener references losing their goldfish the year prior.

There is little argument that each and every single blessed day there are people and loved ones and circumstances that present themselves full on in our face that make us want to reach for our hair and yank from the roots. Perhaps since we are all experiencing a high level of these moments we can consider shifting the kind of energy that we expend on our daily and multitudinous annoyances.

The next time you are faced with the crazy and inattentive driver and you feel your middle finger begin to twitch. Take a deep breath and silently bless them. Find yourself listening to your cherubic teen waxing philosophical with endless inserts of the word..."like"? Take two deep breaths and listen with your whole person. Hear what he or she is not saying. Look into their eyes and see them reaching out attempting to make a connection with you. Start asking yourself some key questions the next time your family member has left out the milk for the upteenth time despite their promises to put it away. Will this annoyance take more energy away from my joy quotient? This is not to say in any fashion that there are not times when our truth needs to be spoken and even with some frankness in a constructive manner. It may be that we need to spend time thinking on a scale of 1-10 how annoying a person or situation is in the grand scheme of things. The grand scheme from my perspective has become quite grand and filled with critical decision making for all of us.

Be gentle with yourself so that you may be gentle with others. Even or especially the most annoying among us. Those who are perpetually annoying suffer from something that most of us would not wish on our worst enemy. They know that something is amiss but their lack of self-awareness keeps them from knowing just what that something is and how to remedy it. Their sense of isolation and desperation only makes them, yes, more annoying and unable to make connections. It may even behoove us to consider the remote possibility that we are just that annoying to others.

The question becomes...is the energy I will expend to roll my eyes and clinch my teeth and create the knot in my stomach worth it? Will I feel better in mind, body and spirit if I express my annoyance or will I steel myself for bigger and thorny complications if I use these day to day annoyances as a rehearsal for the truly larger and more difficult matters.

Here's the thing. The disappointments and annoyances we experience on a smaller scale truly are frustrating. They provide for us however a tremendous stage with which to get our chops in shape so to speak. In the divine wisdom of this earthly creation we have been given opportunities again and again to assess what works, what does not work and what works better. This aids us in knowing how to react when it truly heads south on the speed track.

May patience descend upon us when we need it most. May those moments of patience feel so much better in our soul that we utilize it again and again.

And as we do? We all benefit.

This news article is brought to you by PHOTOGRAPHY AS ART - where latest news are our top priority.

How To Enjoy the Present and Get Out of the Past

I once saw a photograph of the 1950's that showed bears in a national park leaning on a car and looking in the window as the sight seers were taking pictures of them with their windows down. The caption under the picture read, "Even bears were nicer back then."

We often hear people longing for the good ole' days. But were the good ole' days really that good? Is the present really all that rotten?

Better Interest Rates Now
In the early 80's interest rates were about 15% or more. The payment for a $100,000 house on a thirty year mortgage would have been $1,680.61 per month. You would have paid $345,449.85 in interest after 30 years. The total amount you would have paid after 30 years would have been $492,699,85.

Today at 4% on a $100,000 dollar house you would pay $581.58 per month. You will pay $67,119.51 in interest after 30 years. The total amount you will pay after 30 years is $209,361.51. Are these really the bad ole' days.

Better Unemployment Rates Now
In 1981 unemployment was above 10% for more than 10 months. Unemployment rose above 10% for only one month recently. The story goes on and on.

Better Cancer Therapy Now
Just a few decades certain cancers were an automatic death sentence, but now they are usually cured through modern medical advancements. If you needed an organ transplant a few years ago you were out of luck. Now there are many lives saved through organ transplants that have become routine procedure.

Better Heart Surgery Now
In many cases certain heart surgeries are outpatient, whereas a few short years ago any heart surgery put you in the hospital for days and sometimes weeks.

Better Cars Now
My dad's 1968 Oldsmobile Delmont 88 died at 125,000 mile mark. We thought that was amazing. Most cars were dead by the 60,000 to 75, 000 mile mark. Now, it is no big deal if a car gets 150,000 to 250,000 miles. Were those really the good ole' days.

The Bible warns us about looking at the past and wishing we were there.

1.The Israelis looked back to Egypt where they had been slaves and wished they were there again. They didn't like the responsibility of freedom.

2.; Lot's wife looked back to the burning cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and longed to go back to a city that had become lawless and violent. A city where her daughters were raped and abused. She became a pillar of salt. Her death led to her husband committing incest with his other daughters in order to produce a family. The Moabties and the Ammonites were the result.

Jesus Warned Us About Glorifying the Past

In Luke 9:62 Jesus said, "No man after putting his hand to the plow, if he keeps looking back, is fit or prepared for ruling in the Kingdom of God". Let's quit looking back and look forward with new vision and rule and reign in Christ.

I'll guarantee you that bears in the 1950's were as deadly as bears today!

This news article is brought to you by PERSONAL FINANCE BLOG - where latest news are our top priority.