Taun17

There are not many things of import in this world that you are able to directly control. Quite possibly the most important aspect of your life you will ever be able to control is the orientation of your mind and your thought process. I have learned that no matter how bad a situation is, it could always be much worse. During my time in the Navy I served on board a submarine. I don't want to bore you with the technical details, but suffice it to say it was not always a party underway. I learned during that time away from my family and civilization that it was a choice to be sad or upset about being out to sea. I thought that if I can't change being under water for months at a time, I can at least change my attitude about it. Keep in mind that I was never overjoyed to be out to sea; however, I realized that moping around and being sad about my situation was not doing me any favors. I knew that I could be underway and miserable, or I could be underway with a good attitude. After I ...

The palace of persistence is a special place in your psyche that believes quitting is beneath your dignity. It is an attitude that spans the ages, in fact, all of your life time. It is who you are. There is another trait that is embraced in this special place, that of discernment. Those who don't believe in quitting are discerning about committing. They gather facts and carefully consider them, and they should. They are making a concrete commitment to persevere to the win. To be truly discerning means that you make certain your desire to commit ensures that no one will be harmed by your actions, that the goal is worthy of the pursuit and that the win is meaningful. It has to matter more to you than any obstacles you may face. Once you have carefully examined these few facts the commitment is effortless. You believe in the goal and are engaged in the pursuit of it. Then you enter the palace of persistence. Your commitment demands a pursuit of running to win with never a thought of s...

Hearken your heart- Do what brings you peace- Rejoice in knowing that your planet and mine will support us as long as it feels respected and supported. Folks, as you and me know there is a happy, heart-pounding, holiday coming up February 14. Are you ready? February 14 is the day we publicly declare and decree our love and affection for others by the gifting of flowers, diamonds, chocolates or sweets that most people appreciate receiving openly. So where am I going on this tangent, well, I first want to reflect on the heart of everything. As I began, this article, I penned that earth/heart are connected, not just by using all of the same letters to spell each word respectively. These two different words using the same letters, though arranged differently are not as distinct as one would first perceive. Though you can make the connection of their importance to you, me and everybody else that is alive. Keep your mind focused on keeping yourself and others happy, safe and content with hea...

So much of our time is spent fixing problems: problems at work, issues with our loved ones, concerns with our health, our weight, our finances. You name it, 90% of our waking hours (and so many of our sleeping ones as well) are spent in having yet another problem brought to our attention, with its clamoring need; "Fix me, Fix me!" But what if, just for this Valentine's Day, you shifted your attention to "What's right with" - well, everything? What's right with your work, your loved ones, your body, your finances? And on and on. There is nothing more loving than aiming a healthy dose of "what's right" at all those in your life. Think about it. When was the last time you looked at your spouse/significant other with "what's right" on your mind? Oh sure, you love them, and that's great, but in the ordinary course of life, how often do you deliberately dwell on what's right with them? What's wonderful about them, what t...

The moments of happiness we enjoy take us by surprise. We tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have. In fact, there is only one way to happiness. That is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will. Happiness isn't about what we have, or who we are, or where we are, or what we are doing that makes us happy or unhappy. It is what we think about. It is the art of never holding in our mind the memory of any unpleasant thing that has passed. We can attain this when we cease worrying about the things which are beyond the power of our will. Happy people plan actions than plan results. Success is not the key to happiness but the other way around because happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. The reason people find it so hard to be happy is that they always doubt the fact that the present and the futu...

Did you know that you can easily combat clutter through the use of ordinary household items? Indeed, you can make use of some of the usually household items in creative and unexpected ways. Different Household Items You Can Use For Organizing Your Things Jewelry Boxes - These little boxes are indeed very sturdy. Instead of throwing them out, you can clip them together so you can come up with tidy divided storage for pencils, pens, plastic flatware, and lipstick. Glass Jars - You can attach glass jars underneath a table or perhaps a shelf. This trick actually works in the garage, the craft room, or the basement. All you have to do it to nail or glue the lids underside of a surface close to where you store your tools and twist the jars into place. Tissue Boxes - You can easily dispense plastic grocery bags by stuffing them into an old tissue box that you can store under the sink. If you need one, you just have to pull it. To achieve a slimmer solution, you can opt for a cardboard pape...

When being exposed to new experiences, thoughts help to determine success or failure, ease or difficulty, pursuit or abandonment of accepting or rejecting involvement. These are common thoughts regarding abilities to accomplish tasks. Investing in positive thinking carries the load and opens opportunities for success. A common encouragement heard since childhood was: "Where there is a will, there is a way." Committed faith and energy opens a personalized version of this saying: "When there is a way, I will achieve it." Positive thinking is the fuel needed to negate quitting when the going gets tough - remember the movie "Rudy;" a real life story of a young man who wanted to play football for Notre Dame. Rudy truly exemplified committed faith and energy. Watching athletes perform, it's easy to say they are so talented; or they were gifted with talent. In reality, these athletes developed their talents through hard work and lots of practice. They were de...

The majority of people are unaware that they are sometimes controlled by internal beliefs and thought patterns that were long-ago established as an effective way to live one's life. However, in current day circumstances they sabotage achieving goals. The fact is, all of us possess self-sabotaging elements that can manifest at any time and in a variety of ways. This not-so-silent enemy within usually remains in stealth mode despite its repeated pattern of interference with our own self-declared desires. However, I hasten to add that long before you were fully aware of life's vicissitudes, you were indoctrinated and conditioned to belief and act in certain ways. Self-destructive patterns are best described as "Behavior that creates problems and interferes with long-standing goals.' The most common self-sabotaging behaviors are procrastination, self-medication with illegal drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, comfort eating-resulting in weight gain, self-injury and lack of self-co...

Can I ask that you please take a few minutes to read and really think about what you are about to read. What I am going to share with you is one of the most profound lessons I have learnt. I am talking truly powerful lessons or at least one of them. So, without wasting too much of your time, let's begin... THE CONTROL MYTH We, as humans in general, have an almost compulsive need to have control. We attempt to control everything. If we had our way, we would control how and when the sun rises or sets, how rain falls, you get my drift. To be certain, the fact that we cannot control some of these things drives us up the wall. But the irony here is that we actually do not have as much control as we think. When you think about it, a lot of what we think is under our control is actually not. I know that's a bit sobering, isn't it? For example: When driving your car, do you feel that it's under your control? If you answered "No", I would be seriously concerned. So, yo...

Are you seeking the ultimate divine connection? Do you wish for a love that transcends the ordinary? Rumi a great teacher of love once said "If the beloved is everywhere, the lover is a veil. But when living itself becomes the friend, lovers disappear." How do we learn to love life and embody the fullness of our soul's love on a day to day basis? For me, the more I learn to detach from the internal drama that comes and goes in life, instead seeking inner peace no matter what, the more effective I am at unconditionally loving myself which in turn helps me to love life. Learning to let go of the yearning for love, and to love myself, accepting the terms that life brings, opens the door to a greater form of love that is felt as divine union. This experience of oneness is often transitory and almost always profound. To become a friend to life, means learning to love the parts of ourselves that we find unacceptable. Many of us have had plenty of years of therapy, workshops, me...

Creating a successful life out of any creative field is absolutely nuts. That's why we love it so much. Unfortunately, there are just as many failures in this field of endeavour, or perhaps even more, than in any other. No matter how successful a creative is, the struggle is endless. It's called life. This shouldn't be a deterrent though. In this day and age there is no such thing as a 'secure' job, regardless of the industry. So if you're going to try and achieve things in this life why not do it creating the things you love? Be Clear On What You Want Decide right now what success actually means to you. That's the goal that you're aiming for. I cannot count the number of times I have helped people get on the right path once that was made absolutely 100% clear. You need a clearly defined goal - although the path and direction will ebb, flow and waver as you more clearly define the nitty-gritty once you get started. Get a 'normal' job These days t...

Pyramid solitaire is a fun solitaire game that's quite different to normal solitaire- in most solitaire games you build up cards onto a foundation, but in Pyramid solitaire you remove cards! Cards can only be removed when they add up to 13. With it's easily recognisable layout (shaped like a pyramid), and requiring a combination of luck and skill, it's a popular solitaire game played by many. The basic rules are... You win if you can remove ALL cards from play Cards are removed in pairs, when they add up to 13 You can deal from the talon at any time You get 2 redeals of the talon Only a maximum of 2 cards are visible from the talon at any time You can only use cards that are completely uncovered( If a card is in the pyramid but covered by another card, you cannot select it) For example, if a part of the pyramid looks like this... ... K... ... Q.7... ..2.4.7.. .5.8.K.J. Initially you won't be able to pair the Jack with the two (because the two is covered by the five and ...

There are thousands of "my ex did me wrong" stories out there, but this one is different. This one ends with God's grace and direction. Please join me in my first attempt at telling this story in text. I'll skip over our relationship and why it didn't work out. I'll even spare you the details of the aftermath, disagreements and court battles. This story begins in July of 2014, when our daughter was halfway through her 4th year of life. Her precious and fragile 4th year. She was on an overnight visit with her dad and his girlfriend over the summer and everything seemed to be going fine. I am a mother and always have anxieties while my children are out of my care, but things seemed to be going OK. Until... I woke up early one morning to NINE missed calls from the local POLICE! Thoughts immediately started racing through my head. I was wondering if my sister and her husband were OK. Was it my mom or dad? Please tell me no one got in a car accident! For some reaso...

Bewilderment is active thought, searching and seeking fundamental answers to life's challenges. Answers are starting blocks, firming up the push to establish wisdom. Finding reality is a process that involves facts, beliefs, and myths. These raise awareness, and once examined and sorted serve to foster understanding. Together, awareness and understanding create a pathway of measurable experiences, leading to wisdom. Managing the journey reduces the bewilderment. Wise choices consisting of clear, active thoughts bring about productivity and success. Every day is a new day, bringing forth new life experiences. Routines may begin to fill waking hours, some becoming boring and lackluster. These elements are prone to create conditions that block or retard development. Self-defeating thoughts create negative behaviors and encourage unwise decision-making. Understanding that conditions are factors (like the weather) one has little to no control over. A condition cannot be changed or wishe...

Today, I felt the urge of writing further about "The True Meaning of Giving" responding to some of the queries that I've received about the general definition people have about "giving". I'd like to shed light on the essence of giving in my view and point out that it's rather a much broader concept than many of us has confined it. I'd also like to clarify few misconceptions about "giving", from the feedback that I've received. Perhaps, the first two things that generally come to our minds when we hear the word "giving" is either charity i.e. giving money or volunteering i.e. giving time and in spite of both areas being widely accepted forms of giving in the society, I say both are still relatively a portion of a big pie called "giving". It's also worth discussing here the bigger impact created by the form of "giving" we choose to be part of. Although being a very noble way to contribute to or relieve ou...

"It's always been my intention that one day you'd inherit the earth, have dominion over all things, and thoroughly "kick butt." How does today sound? Think of it, The Universe" Your positive thoughts will become positive things, which also includes positive action plan with belief that you do deserve it all. You can think all you want, even if all your thoughts are primarily positive, but if you do not believe that you deserve these great things to happen, you will even things out, hence, nothing will happen and you will confirm your belief of neutrality. The Universe is a mathematical equation that deserve to be handle using equilibrium on both side of the scale. If you think positive, believe positive. You can't allow contradicting thoughts entering your mind which when belief is not in sync with your thoughts, nothing really good will happen. Positive thoughts in itself are very powerful, but they are not the ONLY parameters needed to live a productiv...

If you'd rather stay in bed when your alarm goes off and you have little or no motivation to get up, the first thing to realise is how common this feeling actually is. You are not on your own. Everyone goes through periods in their life where they feel like this. You may feel like you are lost, unsure of what to do next and embarrassed because you feel like you are falling behind. Here are my 3 steps to getting your motivation back and waking up happy. 1. Be honest - It's OK to feel like this. You don't need to ignore how you feel or lie about it. It's better to speak up and talk about how you are feeling. Don't keep it bottled up. You don't need to tell everyone, but acknowledge how you are feeling and be honest with yourself and those closest to you. 2. Make a date with someone - It's so tempting at a time like this to hide away. To cancel plans or not make any new plans. You may not feel like meeting up with people at all, you will probably prefer to av...

Sir James Jeans has written a book titled 'The Mysterious Universe' in 1930. In this wonderful book he has described the mysteries of the universe and wondered that the total number of stars in the universe is probably something like the total number of grains of sand on all the sea-shores of the world. In the last chapter he just declared that the stream of knowledge is heading towards a non-mechanical reality; the universe begins to look more like a great thought than like a great machine. He also in his concluding remarks said that at least we are conjecture to-day, and yet who knows how many more times the stream of knowledge may turn on itself? He is right. The stream of knowledge turned many times in the last eighty-six years and the last turn makes us to wonder as to what is the limit of wonder regarding the universe. A paper published on October 13, 2016 in the Astrophysical Journal gives the astonishing figure regarding galaxies leave alone stars! It says there are at ...

David Flood and Aggie Hurst's story of redemption is a picture of unending grace that has captured hearts for decades. In the early 1900's David and Svea Flood entered the mission field in Africa. Another missionary couple joined them. After little success at reaching the people around them, the other missionary couple gave up and returned home. The only contact the Flood's had was with a little boy who sold fruit. Svea Flood gave birth on the mission field to a daughter, but died from malaria shortly thereafter. It was then that David gave up as well, gave up the mission field, gave up his faith, and gave up his newborn daughter. Feeling abandoned by God, he left the baby at the mission station and returned to his home, broken hearted. The people that adopted her named her Aggie. For as long as Aggie Hurst had been alive, her father David Flood had remained on the other side of the ocean, ignoring her attempts at reconciliation. Years later she found out he was deathly ill...

Promote what brings you feelings of peace by simple, spontaneous and/or more joyful events. Share what you know others would appreciate receiving from you. Know that everybody wins if you share more of your positive feeling's with them. Oftentimes, too often if you were to ask me, we forget that what we do today affects the children and relatives that we leave behind. With so much happening in today's modern, global, always plugged-into technology, society, we tend to forget to model good character traits to our children. No, this is not going to be one of those types of articles; so please, keep reading... It requires a lot less commute time, resources or energy, these days, affording the simple pleasure of easily connecting to familiar people and places. In the ease of being social and interactive with friends and family, we get lost somewhere in how we delegate time to spend in their company, really engaging them. Since it is so easy to connect, we should connect with the so...

Do you keep your phone on the nightstand? For decades, there's been a phone on my nightstand, and these days, that phone offers data. You know, access to NEWS. Well, this morning - early - I awakened from a memory. I was sixteen, standing in an elevator, and I'd held the door for a man running through an underground parking lot. (Not something I would recommend in today's world... but... ) I recognized the man as he got closer, greeted him, and he stepped into the elevator. Between B level and 5th Floor, he said nothing, but gave me a kiss that curled my toenails and made me shimmer for the next two weeks. I stepped out on the 5th floor, but he invited me to the 7th. I didn't go. I had bigger plans for my life, and the opportunity he offered wasn't in my plans. 41 years later, he's the co-host on the morning news show that my phone is set to pick up. And the topic of the morning is The World's 8 Wealthiest Men. So, I'm listening in, mesmerized by that fa...

A light bulb moment! The one that we always use to refer to that great, million dollar idea. It seems like it came out of nowhere. Just a flash of inspiration and it's like it was all there. In detail. Sure, you had been thinking about this for some time, most recently with a little more intensity. Then boom! There it was, like the blueprint was magically handed to you, just waiting for you to make it. Let's say you actually put action to the idea and make it. Then rush to get a patent to protect your brainchild. Then comes the shocking surprise, that someone has already filed a patent. How could this be? The surprise is almost too much to bear. What is the explanation? Scientific studies, in one instance from MIT, would claim that brainwaves are too weak to travel far, and could never compete with radio waves for example. Another article* dealing with the "ether" and "speed of thought" offers sufficient material for consideration to the contrary. Many studi...