Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Meditation for Spiritual Healing


You were born with the ability to transform the landscape of your life.

You have the ability to benefit from the challenges you are living and to advance even further toward the fulfillment of your desires because of them. With practice, your problems can become no more than springboards into greater satisfaction in your life.

Spiritual healing creates results that would seem impossible through other methods. The list of possibilities is longer than I can fit in this small article. Here is a sample:

* Instantaneous relief from chronic pain.
* Financial recovery after difficult times.
* Finding a soul mate after years of loneliness.
* Harmony and respect in a previously conflicted relationship.
* Feeling at home in one's world after a sense of alienation.
* Feeling appreciated and valued after feeling judged and ignored.

These and more benefits can be yours, and you don't need to buy anything nor seek the help of any other human being.

Methods

There are many methods for accessing spiritual healing. Within all spiritual traditions you will find esoteric teachings that can unlock this mystery for you. The meditation I describe below is simply one of many possibilities along the journey of self-healing. I offer it to you here in the spirit of love and service.

This is a very simple technique for the purpose of our brief encounter as you read this article. Simplicity is often the most potent ingredient in a healing formula, so please don't dismiss the power of this technique because of its brevity or because I offer it here for free. I expect you to get results when you follow these instructions, and you can share this method with your loved ones who are suffering in any way.

Love-Light Meditation

1. Sit Upright

To those who currently may feel weak, ill, or disabled and must lie down, that is okay. Otherwise, please sit upright for best results.

2. Invite the Divine Presence

Invite the Divine Presence (in whatever way is natural to you and your culture, religion, or tradition) to assist you in your healing.

3. Love-Light

Imagine a beam of light running through your spine. Let that light be made of love. See that light extending infinitely above and below you. Allow it to align you with the center of the earth and the expanse of heaven. Feel yourself nurtured and taken care of by this love-light.

4. Focused Light

Imagine a campfire or a sun in your belly made of this same light.

5. Expanded Light

Let the light expand to include your whole body.

6. Love-Light Replaces the Problem

Since a problem cannot live in the space of this love-light, imagine anything that you perceive as a problem pouring out of you. In your imagination you may see it come out of you through your breath or your pores or in any other imagined way. It may look like smoke being pressed out by the light. You may see it as a stream of viruses pouring out of an infected area leaving that area clean and pure. It may take the appearance of snakes or worms squirming away from the light. Do not get interested in the form it takes. Let it go completely and keep the love-light steady and glowing throughout the length of your body with a concentration at your navel. Feel the soothing and comforting nature of this light. Feel your entire body-mind-energy field refreshed, cleaned, beautified, and purified.

7. Appreciation

When your session feels complete (a few minutes should be sufficient), give thanks to the Divine Source of this goodness and visualize a joyful outcome on this subject. Trust that your healing is underway.

Now, in your everyday life, begin to shift more of your attention to your joyful harmonious expressiveness (jhe) than to your problem. Speak less of your problem and more of the good that is coming your way. Feel it. Know it. Trust it.

Watch for solutions as they come to you through the attractive force of your love-light. They may come as inspired thoughts or as offerings from others. Acknowledge and appreciate any manifestations -- even if they are small at first -- of the fulfillment of your desire. Do not be bothered by how long it takes. With this simple daily practice, you begin your spiritual healing and you advance your spiritual journey.

Work Wisely: Work Less Hours, Make More Money


The following are some tips to assist you as you strive to increase your earnings while working fewer hours:

1) Think of effective hours of work rather than number of hours of work.
You may believe that you are the only one who can do everything that you do, but keep track of your activities. You will be surprised when you realize how you distribute -- or waste -- your time.

2) Set up clear priorities.
Make sure that you achieve what is high on your list and that you discard the actions that have been on your list but haven't been done in months or years. It's time to let go. If you claim that everything is an emergency, you will fall in the trap of responding to fires all the time rather than creating ways to increase your earnings.

3) Have a plan.
Most people don't have a plan, and many who do leave it in the drawer without checking their progress. By having a plan, you can constantly follow your progress and decide whether you are achieving your desired goals and earnings. Without a plan, you will end up busy and exhausted and will continue to have more busyness and exhaustion. If you have never created a plan, this is a great time to start.

4) Cut down your working hours from 16 to 12 or from 12 to 10.
What would you do if you were forced to work less hours and be more efficient with your time? Unfortunately, many feel pressured to do this after they have become too sick to work many hours or when life circumstances have impacted upon their ability to work. By creating a sense of urgency and efficiency, you can force yourself to become more focused, more effective, and more productive.

5) Find effective ways to relax: Eat, exercise, sleep, and relax.
If you are an executive or entrepreneur and you are leading under pressure, you will need to find and integrate times to eat, exercise, sleep, and relax in your busy schedule. Avoid too much caffeine during the day and the negative cycle of daily caffeine and alcohol or hypnotics at night. It is not a matter of whether someone who is overworked will exhaust his or her energy; it's a matter of time: When will they burn out? Learn relaxation techniques including guided imagery or meditation. Listen to music or find a hobby. In addition to these strategies, exercising is a must for busy corporate warriors and business owners. Repetitive exercises tend to be the best to help de-stress. Others prefer Yoga and Tai Chi. Nothing beats sleeping well at night.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Marry the Right Person in the First Place


Did you ever wonder why some people find the perfect person to marry, do so, and enjoy a love affair that lasts a lifetime? On the other hand, some marry a person that is wrong for them now, wrong for them tomorrow, and wrong for them for a lifetime? What's the difference? Why do some succeed at love and marriage where others fail?

One of our mentors, Don Clifton, the former CEO of the world renowned Gallup Organization (rest his soul), often reminded us of the power of "pervasive personality characteristics." Don defined "pervasive" as "a recurring pattern of thought and behavior." In other words, these are the personality characteristics that a human being develops within the first two decades of life that, for the most part, defines who they are for a lifetime. Don believed that you are what you are by the time you become an adult. Changing who and what you are becomes nearly impossible after that.

So what is the lesson in all this? Simple really. The people you meet in life are, by the time they reach adulthood, pretty much what they are. They won't change much, if at all. The hard truth is, they can't change who they really are, even if they wanted to. Oh, sure, people as adults can make you believe from time to time that they are something different than what they really are, but in the end, they are, well, they are what they are. Make no mistake about that.

When it comes to love and marriage, there is a truism that trumps all truisms. It goes like this -- pay close and careful attention to the words, deeds, and actions of the person you think you are falling in love with. And in the end, pay most of your attention to their actions, first and foremost! The truth is that a person's actions speak so much louder than their words. Never lose sight of this truism for to do so is put your heart, your health, and your happiness at peril.


One of the questions we are most often asked as we travel the world discussing our work and conducting our marriage interviews is this: "What are the secrets of a successful marriage?" Our immediate answer is always the same -- marry the right person!

On the surface this may seem like a flippant answer to such a serious question, but it isn't really. If people who think they are falling in love with someone would pay more attention to their actions and not the words, they wouldn't miss the telltale signs.

Here's how it works. You think you love a guy. He tells you all of the right things. But over time you begin to notice that his actions belie his words. He tells you he respects you but dismisses your opinions. He waxes on about how he puts you on a pedestal but never opens the door for you when he gets to it first. He tells you how he wants the relationship between the two of you a shared relationship, and then he makes all the decisions. You get the idea. We could go on.

The point is this -- if you fail to notice and question the actions of the one you purport to love in the early stages of your relationship, then you are deluding yourself into thinking he/she will change later on. They rarely do. And so often, those that ignore the signs and the warnings end up getting married, only to discover later on that the person they married is not who they thought he/she was.

So, back to the earlier question -- the best secret to a successful marriage is marrying the right person in the first place! Taking the time to carefully observe the actions of another person over a period of time tells you a lot more about them than their words ever could. All too often we hear one or both people in a marriage lament to us that if they had only paid attention to the telltale signs, they would not have married the person they married. Many of these relationships end in divorce.

We don't mean to suggest that it is always easy to tell if the one you think you love is one you can have a successful marriage with. We do, however, believe strongly that paying close and careful attention to the one you are thinking about marrying in the early stages of your relationship can save a lot of failed marriages from happening in the first place. This is the ultimate key to a successful marriage.

If you consciously and rationally believe that the words, deeds, and actions of the one you are thinking of marrying all jive and are consistent, then your marriage has half a chance at being successful.

In the end, a marriage built on this foundation has a reasonable chance of success. And while we often say that a successful marriage is an accumulation of the simple things, and that a good marriage is simple to understand, we always remind people that you have to do the simple things each and every day of your lives together to make it work.


Making a marriage a success requires hard work. If you base your marriage on a lie -- you ignored the actions you were observing in the person you were falling in love with -- then all of the simple things required to make a marriage work will more than likely not be enough to carry the day.

Pervasive characteristics in people are very real. They define who they are, and they almost never change. As we always say, keep your eyes wide open when you are falling in love. You won't regret it later.

One final reminder -- never enter a marriage thinking you can ignore the behaviors now and change them later. Too many have fallen prey to this notion. It rarely ever works.

Simple things matter in love and marriage. Love well!

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Heart Failure


Heart failure occurs when the heart is unable to adequately fill with blood, or is unable to adequately pump enough blood to meet the body's needs. Many types of heart conditions can lead to heart failure, including coronary artery disease, heart valve disease, high blood presssure, congenital heart disease, or cardiac viral infections. Patients with heart failure often suffer from shortness of breath, fatigue, and have difficulty exercising. Their life expectancy is often significantly reduced.
Fortunately, a lot of progress is being made in reducing symptoms and increasing survival of patients with heart failure. But, unfortunately, studies show that many doctors fail to offer adequate treatment to their patients with heart failure. Thus, patients with heart failure need to make special efforts to educate themselves about their disease and the available treatments, and to be especially vigilant in monitoring new breakthroughs in therapy.

Here you will find many of the resources necessary to make sure you're getting the care you need.


How the Heart Works
This article describes how the heart works - how the heart's chambers and valves control the flow of blood through the heart, and how the normal pumping action of the heart supplies the body's needs for oxygen and nutrients.


Types of Heart Failure
There are three general varieties of heart failure - dilated cardiomyopathy (cardiomyopathy is heart muscle disease), hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and diastolic heart failure.

Dilated cardiomyopathy is the most common variety of heart failure. It occurs when the ventricles (the large pumping chambers of the heart) become weakened, flaccid and dilated. As a result, the pumping action of the ventricle becomes weak, the amount of blood pumped with each heart beat drops, and the body's organs may not receive their full quotient of blood. Dilated cardiomyopathy is the end result of many types of heart disease, especially coronary artery disease and valvular heart disease. You can read all about dilated cardiomyopathy and heart failure here.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is usually a genetic condition, and often runs in families. It is characterized by a thickening of the heart muscle, resulting in "stiff" ventricles. The stiffness impairs the filling of the heart with blood, and can lead to episodes of extreme shortness of breath in some patients, especially during exercise. The thickening of the heart muscle also can cause an obstruction in the left ventricle similar to that seen with aortic stenosis. And some patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy have an increased risk of sudden death. You can read all about hypertrophic cardiomyopathy here.

Diastolic heart failure is similar to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in that it is caused by a "stiffening" of the heart muscle, leading to impaired filling of the heart with blood. But unlike hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, diastolic heart failure is often not accompanied by thickening of the heart muscle, and is not thought to be a genetic disorder. It tends to occur in older individuals, often in women, and often in people with high blood pressure. It is characterized by relatively sudden episodes of severe shortness of breath, which is caused by too much fluid in the lungs (a condition called pulmonary edema). You can read all about diastolic heart. failure here.

Cigars 101 - How to Select, Smoke and Enjoy Hand Rolled Cigars


If you're ready to join the ranks of cigar smokers, here is how to get started. The first step is selecting the right cigars to "practice" with. You should start by choosing several different single cigars at your local tobacconist. Do not buy a box of cigars until you have sampled a few singles, first. Don't be afraid to ask the owner or manager for advice.
Choose Mild Cigars
Mild cigars are recommended for beginners, since the more full-flavored cigars would most likely taste too strong (or just plain bad) to a new smoker. Mild cigars are also the least expensive, so you won't have to worry about ruining an expensive cigar by lighting it incorrectly, or by cutting too much off the closed end.
Inspect the Cigar
Once you have determined which type of cigar(s) to purchase, then gently squeeze the cigar to determine if there are any hard or soft spots. You don't want to take a chance on buying a cigar with a bad draw, or worse yet, one that is plugged and not smokeable. Tip: Reputable tobacconists will usually replace a plugged cigar. Also, inspect the wrapper for cracks or discolorations.

If you do not yet own a humidor, do not buy more cigars than you can smoke within a couple of days, and make sure to leave them in their cellophane packaging (if applicable) until you're ready to smoke. Never leave an unprotected cigar exposed to the elements, as it will quickly dry out. You can temporarily store cigars in a Tupperware or similar container.

Now that your cigar is all fired up, it’s time to smoke and enjoy it. Continue to puff and rotate about every 30 to 60 seconds. Do NOT inhale the smoke, just taste it in your mouth and blow it out. If you smoke a cigar too fast, it will burn hot and ruin the flavor. If you smoke too slow, it will go out and you will have to keep relighting. Since most hand rolled cigars are made with long filler, you will not have to flick the ashes until they are at least ½ to one inch long, depending on the cigar (and any wind conditions, if you are outdoors). You can smoke a cigar as far down as you wish, depending on the taste.
Drinks to Accompany a Cigar Are Important
Other than the taste and draw of the cigar itself, the drink chosen to accompany a cigar is the second most important factor that will affect your enjoyment of the smoking experience. If comparing different cigars, always make sure to have the same drink. Many drinks are compatible with mild cigars, but as you move up to medium and full flavored cigars, it is important to choose a drink that will not be overpowered by the flavor of the cigar. Coffee drinks, port, scotch, brandy, and most drinks made with Kahlua can accompany any cigar.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

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Tuesday, December 9, 2008

PICKING YOUR NOSE what you should know...


let’s talk about all you dudes out there picking your noses. One day last week I slowly rolled up to a stoplight at a busy intersection and much to my surprise it was busier than I could have ever hoped.

I saw a dude getting busy on his nose, digging for something. Maybe he lost his keys or accidentally snorted his cell phone. Whatever it was, he was intent on finding it and when he finally did, not only was it not pretty, but it definitely got studied. It was like he was checking to see if it had a name or a date stamp on it, like a “best if removed by 11/7/09″ sticker was there ready for reading. After he looked it over for about a minute my light turned green, as did his finger with that monster booger on it. I am still wondering what he did with that monster after he looked it over.

Why… you ask, did I wonder what he did with it? Because us men, as much as I hate to admit it, start stuff like this with out being fully prepared for the consequences. Do you want some examples? Well, here they are anyway:

-picking your nose with nothing to wipe your grossness on
-consuming great quantities of mexican food before heading out on a road trip
-drinking 2 cups of coffee when one will do just fine, then going to that 2 hour meeting where you proceed to pee 3 times that hour.
-looking before you sit in a local port-o-potty or stall

It just another thing that we do without thinking that we will have an issue finishing. Like our lives aren’t complicated enough, right? I bet you could think of some other things we men do that are just, well… unprepared for.

So is this about picking your nose or about wondering what to do when you find something you didn’t know you were searching for? You be the judge! But please note the life lesson here, if you are searching for something make sure you want to find it. Or you will be just another dude at a stop light with green on his finger.