GROCERY SHOPPING FOR YOUR DIET

GROCERY SHOPPING FOR YOUR DIET

The first rule of shopping when you’re trying to lose weight is to shop with a list. This is extremely important, because you don’t want to fall prey to the natural instincts of wanting to grab those cookies that are there on that special display at the end of aisle four. Stick to that list faithfully, too.

Plan before you shop. Of course! If you didn’t plan, how could you have the list, right? You need to decide what your meals are going to be and what ingredients you will need to prepare them. Be sure to include portion sizes when planning your meals.

Don’t just plan for dinners. Remember, you will be eating several smaller meals per day, so include all the meals in your agenda.

When you first start shopping for your weight loss trip, it might be a good idea to take along someone to keep you in check as you stroll the aisles. This needs to be someone who knows your struggles with weight loss and who can support this journey with you.

They need to be your shopping police, so don’t blame them if they take those cookies back out of your cart. Remember, you want their support, so don’t blame them. Give them permission to keep you focused. You may also want to involve them in the planning process as well so they have a better idea of what exactly you are trying to accomplish.

We can’t stress this next point enough: EAT BEFORE YOU GO SHOPPING! It’s a well known fact that if you are hungry when you go to the grocery store, you will be more prone to making impulse purchases that aren’t good for you because it sounds so yummy!

Learn how to read labels. As we’ve said before, you have to avoid products that have ingredients that will be bad for your diet. Look at the fat content, the sugar content, the salt content, etc. Be sure that you are buying weight friendly foods that you will be able to eat and not have to worry about when they’re in your cupboard.

Avoid convenience foods. Even though they are easy to fix and taste pretty good, these types of foods often contain additional calories, fats, and carbohydrates that you just don’t need. If you find yourself drawn to the diet dinners in the frozen food section, be sure to read the ingredients before you buy!

You will always be better off if you prepare your meals yourself. That means plan to cook from scratch. If you think you don’t have the time, think again. We’ll give you some great recipes that you can either make ahead of time or that you can prepare in less than 30 minutes!

When you cook your own meals, you will have complete control over what you put into your food (salt, sugar, etc.) plus they will taste a lot better than convenience foods.

While it may seem painfully obvious, we can’t stress enough – don’t buy foods with empty calories. Those foods include chips, cookies, candy, etc. You don’t need the temptation, and they provide absolutely NO nutritional value for you at all, so avoid them like the plague!

No matter how good you eat, you will have to exercise in order to lose weight.

FORBIDDEN FOODS FOR WEIGHT LOSS

FORBIDDEN FOODS FOR WEIGHT LOSS

We can’t possibly cover all of the foods that are acceptable to eat when you are trying to lose weight. Common sense can tell you that French fries are a no-no and an apple is great.

What we’ve decided to do is concentrate on those foods that you SHOULDN’T eat. Of course, this could be a long list as well, so we’re going to touch on the worst and give you some possible substitutions.

Beverages

Stay away from anything with caffeine in it - don't forget that many sodas have caffeine. Caffeine has the same insulin-stimulating, weight-loss-inhibiting effect as aspartame. Unfortunately, this includes coffee. Stick to decaffeinated sodas, teas, and coffees.
Along the same lines, cut out any beverage that contains aspartame (Nutra Sweet), high fructose corn syrup, or refined sugar. Since you need to drink a lot of water in order to lose weight, try water with a slice of lemon or lime in it. It can be very refreshing and very satisfying!
Alcohol is a no-no in any weight loss plan. It’s OK to have a glass of wine with dinner, just don’t drink the whole bottle. There’s no better way to pack on the pounds than to drink excessive amounts of alcohol – even the ones that claim they have fewer calories. Moderation is the key with alcoholic beverages!

Boxed Pre-Packaged Foods

In general, you should stay away from a lot of these products. If the ingredients are not pronounceable, you should avoid them. In other words, anything with a lot of chemicals on the ingredient list are not going to be good for your diet.
White rice, while very filling, contains starches that can inhibit your weight loss. Stick to brown rice instead.
Pasta mixes are usually also not good because of the starches they contain. Stick to whole grain pastas instead. They taste just as good and are much better for you!
Breads
For the same reasons as pasta and white rice, white breads should also be avoided. Whole grain breads provide you with the carbohydrates you need and are less processed than the white breads. Be sure the bread you choose is made with whole wheat flour instead of just wheat flour. Believe me, it makes a difference.
If you love Mexican food, stick to whole wheat flour tortillas or corn tortillas when you choose your burritos, enchiladas, or soft tacos.
Canned and Jar Foods
Again, anything that is canned or jarred needs to be free of excessive chemicals. If the label contains ingredients with more than four syllables or are hyphenated, it won’t be good for your diet.
Chicken broth can be very fatty, so stay away. So are many soup mixes. The good news is that there are plenty of light or low fat choices out there. These are the ones you should choose.
Commercially-made tomato sauces or tomato based sauces contain ridiculously huge amounts of sugar and salt. A better choice is to make these sauces yourself where you can control what goes into it. We’ll have a recipe later in the book for you to do just that!
Do not eat canned fruit or canned vegetables. If it’s been canned, it’s been cooked thus it loses some of it’s most beneficial nutrients. They can also contain processed or refined sugars, so stick to fresh fruits and veggies instead.
If you have to have a little oil to cook your foods in, choose extra virgin olive oil over the vegetable or corn based oils.
Meats
Choose only lean meats to get your protein intake. It’s commonly known that you should try to stay away from red meats like beef. Of course, if you’re like me and love your steak, choose a lean cut and don’t make the portion any larger than your clenched fist.
Choose fresh fish instead of canned and be sure it’s of the lower fat variety. This includes salmon, tilapia, and cod. Don’t bread your fish either, broil it or grill it to get rid of any residual fat that might remain.
White meat chicken breasts are better than dark meat because the darker meat contains more fat. The same applies to turkey.
Tuna is always a good choice – even if it’s canned. Just be sure to get the tuna canned in water – not oil!

Dairy

Skim milk should be your first choice over whole milk or two percent. Avoid drinking too much milk, however, because it naturally contains some fats that can turn into unnecessary fat on you!
Unfortunately, cheese on a diet is also a big no-no. However, you can find low-fat or fat-free cheese in most grocery stores, so always pick these first. But use it sparingly!
Eggs are all right on your diet, but you’re better off to use only the whites instead of including the yolks. Egg substitutes are a great way to get your egg fix, so look for these in the store as well.
Fat-free sour cream is alright in moderation, but try to substitute with plain yogurt instead.

Vegetables and Fruits

Almost all fresh vegetables are good for you. It’s a generally accepted belief that you can eat all the vegetables you want and still lose weight. That’s pretty much true – as long as they’re prepared the correct way. It’s always best to steam veggies. You can also drizzle them with a little olive oil and bake them in the oven or – even better – roast them on the grill! Yummy!
Be careful of eating too many fruits that contain a lot of natural sugars like oranges and peaches. Because the sugar is naturally there, it’s not horribly bad for you, but you don’t want to overload on sugars because it can be converted to fat.
One big thing you must do when you decide that you want to lose weight is to immediately clean the cupboards and refrigerator getting rid of all the foods that can inhibit your diet. That means get rid of the chips, processed sugar, canned fruits, etc.
Don’t throw them away – give them to a local food bank. Believe me, they’ll be happy to get whatever you have to offer – diet friendly or not!
Once you do that, you get to go shopping! Don’t dread it! Just shop smart!

WHAT TO EAT (Weight Loss)

WHAT TO EAT

If you are trying to lose weight, choose food based on their weight-to-calorie ratio. You want to eat food that weighs a lot but has few calories and avoid food that is light in weight but hefty in calories.
Fruits and vegetables are the big winners in the heavy weight-low calorie department, according to Tufts University. They weigh a lot because of their fiber and water content and yet do not have many calories. For example, one cup of cantaloupe or 'melon' weighs 5.5 ounces but only has 56 calories. A cup of cooked spinach weighs six ounces but only has 42 calories.
Now, compare that to six cups of buttered popcorn that only weighs three ounces and contains 420 calories or, even worse, one ounce of potato chips that has 152 calories (if you ate four ounces, you would be inviting 608 calories to feel at home in your fat cells). That's what I call "small but terrible".
Most snack food doesn't weigh much but sure have a lot of calories. This means you can eat a lot of them without feeling full and without realizing it take in many excess calories that you don't need.
Most cookies weigh ½ ounce and contain 50 calories. Eat six cookies and you only have three ounces of weight but you've racked up 300 calories. 1.5 ounces of a chocolate bar contain 220 calories. A small croissant only weighs two ounces but has 230 calories.
According to the New Zealand University study, food that is light in weight but high in calories is probably the worse kind of food to eat if you are trying to lose weight. It's sort of like 'double jeopardy' - you are still hungry but you have already eaten many calories.
Choose lower-fat choices of the same weight food. There can be a world of difference between the caloric consumption of two people eating the same weight and type of food. How is this possible? Easy, if you consider the way the food is cooked or prepared.
Here are some examples (all of them weigh 3.5 ounces). Boiled potatoes have 62 calories compared to french fried potatoes with 328 calories. Sardines in tomato sauce contain 127 calories while sardines in oil have 372. Tuna flakes in water have 95 calories while tuna flakes in oil have 309. You get the picture.
Avoid the "light weight-high calorie" way of dieting. I know many people who don't want to eat regular sized meals because they think that if their stomach feels heavy, they are eating a lot of calories. Therefore, they think that by eating something light like crackers, they will lose weight.
What they don't realize is that just because a food is light doesn't automatically mean it contains few calories. One could easily eat nine crackers (420 calories) and still not feel full because nine crackers only weigh three ounces. Believe it or not but you could have a satisfying meal of ½ cup steamed rice, a cup of cooked spinach, a small piece of fish, and a cup of cantaloupe for less calories.
This complete meal would weigh a satisfying 18.5 ounces and only "cost" you 378 calories. By making the right food choices, you can cut down on unnecessary calories without starving yourself and feeling deprived.
You should also cut down somewhat on your carbs, but don’t cut them out completely! Because effective weight loss depends on exercise and activity, without some carbs in your diet, you won’t have the energy you’ll need to effectively burn off calories.
What you do need to do is begin with a “baseline diet” that dictates at least half of your calories come from vegetables, fruits, natural starches, and whole grains. The rest of your diet should consist of low-fat proteins like fish, chicken, and lean beef.
You need to balance out your carbs with your protein stay away from those carbs at night. Periodically, you want to take “carb-up” days to get your energy levels up.
When we talk about protein, many people wonder just how much is enough or how much is too much. In general, experts say you should eat 1 gram of protein for every pound of body weight per meal.
That might seem like a ridiculously large amount of protein, but remember, we’re talking about LEAN proteins. Plus, eating protein speeds up your metabolism and accelerates weight loss.
This might be a good time to talk about portion sizes. As a general rule of thumb, you should never eat a serving that is larger than your clenched fist. The good news about this is that you’ll be able to eat enough to get full without overdoing it.
Cravings might be the worst part about weight loss. Let’s say you love chocolate chip cookies like I do. If you’re craving a chocolate chip cookie, denying that craving will only make it stronger.
Instead of not having the cookie, go ahead, just don’t overdo it. Simply have one instead of three. You can indulge in your favorite foods as long as you keep it within reason.
Most experts agree that the traditional three square meals a day shouldn’t be part of a healthy diet. In fact, you should eat more meals every day. Doesn’t that sound like great news?!
The idea here is that you overeat when you are overly hungry. To combat that hunger, you should eat more meals with smaller portions rather than fewer meals with larger portions.
For women, it is recommended you eat five meals a day and for men, you should eat six. Try to make these meals a minimum of 2 hours apart to insure you don’t get too hungry.
The benefits will reveal themselves. By doing this, you are accomplishing the following benefits:
• Faster metabolic rate
• Higher energy
• Less storage of body fat due to the smaller portions
• Reduced hunger and cravings
• Steadier blood sugar and insulin levels
• More calories available for muscle growth
• Better absorption and utilization of the nutrients in your food

But you need to make sure you eat the right kinds of foods.

GETTING STARTED (Weight Loss)

Getting Started

You can lose weight in many ways. Sure you could go the supermodel route and starve yourself, but who wants to do that. There are a few things about dieting and weight loss that most experts agree upon in general.

First, you need to drink a lot of water. Most individuals don’t drink nearly enough water. Colas and coffee don’t count! Yes, you really should drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day - maybe more, depending on your weight.
Water is a natural appetite suppressant. If you drink a full glass of water before beginning your meal, your stomach simply doesn’t hold as much food.

No, you will not gain weight from drinking a lot of water. It’s when you don’t drink enough water throughout the day, your body gets dehydrated. When it does finally get water, it holds onto it and stores it for a future need. That’s when we feel swollen, and bloated with water weight.

However, if you give your body enough water on a regular basis, it releases it naturally. Drinking enough water gives you the benefit of hydration and fullness.

You should always eat a balanced meal. This might be the one thing we learned in elementary school that we really can use in our adult life – the basic food groups.
Proteins and carbohydrates are essential to a healthy meal. Carbohydrates are the main source of energy in our diet, and proteins burn fat. At a bare minimum, each meal should consist of a protein and a carbohydrate.
DO NOT skip meals. One of the worst things we can do, in our attempt to lose weight, is to skip a meal. I’ve seen it countless times: Motivated to lose weight, an individual decides to eat just twice a day. But your metabolism needs the consistency of regular meals. With erratic eating schedules, the body thinks it’s starving. So, everything it takes in – it stores as fat to be used for energy.
Finally, exercise. You just can’t lose weight when you maintain a sedentary lifestyle. People who exercise live longer and feel better. And, they lose weight quicker. But, keep it simple.
Thomas Jefferson said, “The sovereign invigorator of the body is exercise, and of all the exercises walking is the best.”
It’s never too late to get in shape. We’ll give you a whole separate section on exercise, but you don’t have to join a gym and become the next famous body builder. There’s plenty of ways you can get enough exercise to aid in your weight loss efforts.
Of course, there is a simple formula to help calculate weight loss: consume fewer calories than what you burn every day. For example, if you consume 2000 calories per day and you burn 2500 calories per day, you will lose weight.
You might just say "Why don't I just cut down on my calories intake considerably, hence I don't really have to burn many calories to lose weight?" Well that would be starving yourself and is not a good idea at all. This will make you weaker, hungrier and you will eat quite a lot after.
Your body needs food and calories to get energy. You need to eat enough so as not to starve yourself and be able to burn these calories and more after. On the other hand, if you burn out the exact same amount of calories that you take, you will stay the same.
The secret to losing weight without going hungry is to make the right food choices. You need to choose foods that are low in calories but can satisfy your stomach so you don't become hungry.
We found a very interesting study that illustrates how the way we eat affects our weight. It was performed by New Zealand’s University of Auckland in 1999.
The researchers divided male participants into three groups. Each group was put on a diet with different fat percentages (their total daily calories were composed of 60, 40 or 20-percent fat) but no calorie limits. The men were told to eat as much they wanted from the food choices they were allowed.
As expected, the men eating the 20-percent fat diets lost weight because they were consuming fewer calories. Fat contains nine calories per gram compared to four calories per gram for carbohydrates or protein. Therefore, the more fat a food contains the more calories it will have. However, in spite of the lower calorie diet, the men in this group were not at all hungry.
What the researchers discovered was that the men in the low-fat group unconsciously compensated by choosing foods that weighed the same as the men in the higher-fat groups and, therefore, were not hungry.
What this suggests is that the weight of the food you eat may play a more important role than fat or calories in satisfying your hunger. In other words, you may not need to eat high-calorie or high-fat foods to feel full but your stomach has to feel the weight of a certain amount of food.
There are several other studies suggesting that people tend to eat the same weight of food daily, regardless of the fat or calories that the meals contain. It's almost as if your stomach has an internal scale with a pre-determined weight that has to be reached for you to be satisfied and not hungry.
This may explain the rationale behind drinking a glass of water or having a bowl of soup before eating to cut down on your appetite. It may also explain why people can go on a low fat diet and yet gain weight if the majority of their food choices come from starchy food that is highly processed and low in fiber.
You can eat many slices of fluffy white bread before you feel full while eating two slices of whole wheat multi-grain bread already makes you feel like you swallowed the whole loaf. Eating high fiber foods like oatmeal helps you eat fewer calories (seven ounces of oatmeal only has 120 calories) without going hungry.
So how do you choose the right foods?

THE RIGHT MIND SET (Weight Loss)

GETTING INTO THE RIGHT MIND SET

Believe it or not, there is a psychological factor that comes into play when you’re trying to lose weight. We like to compare it to the “rah rah” factor that you sometimes need to succeed in sports.

Look at your weight loss as your own personal sporting event. Just as you need to know the rules of the game as well as the basics of performing that game in sports, you also need the right information in your diet to make it effective.

When you have all the tools you need, you can become an excellent performer in almost anything you try in life. One of these tools is the right frame of mind. The right frame of mind will give you motivation, commitment, and the skills you need to overcome the obstacles that you might face along with temptations and distractions.

Think this sounds a little too “new age” for you? Think again! When you have the right psychology during your weight loss journey, you will make your weight loss fun, easier, more exciting, and be able to develop changes towards a healthier lifestyle that will stay with you forever.

Your mindset controls your behavior, actions, and thoughts. As people grow, they develop habits and associations that govern their life. Most of these habits are controlled by our sub-conscious and we are generally unaware of them. However, your subconscious could also sabotage your efforts – also while you unaware of them. This can be detrimental to your weight loss attempts.

The right mindset entails using various techniques and strategies to control your behavior by monitoring your thoughts and actions. When you obtain this mindset, you will be better equipped to replace the old habits and associations that formed your thinking in the first place with new and more positive habits that will enable you to lost weight and be happier while you do so!

Developing the correct mindset doesn’t occur overnight. It take a little bit of effort, but in the end, it is well worth the time you’ll spend doing so. You will have to regularly monitor your progress and behavior. Sometimes it will be easy – at other times, it won’t. The good news is that there are some easy ways to begin to put yourself into the right mindset.

1. Write your goals down – tell yourself what weight you want to get to. While you’re at it, write down any other personal goals you might have as far as your life in general. Since you’re undertaking something as huge as losing your extra weight, you may as well also focus your efforts on improving other aspects of your life while you have the motivation and drive.

2. Be specific about what those goals are. When you generalize your goals, you are trivializing them. Your goals ARE IMPORTANT. Make them important!

3. Assign yourself a deadline. You want to lose weight. You want to do it by Christmas, or your wedding, or the next class reunion. When you assign a deadline, you give yourself a goal to work for, and like we said, your goals ARE IMPORTANT!

4. Make those goals measurable and achievable. Don’t think TOO big or try to undertake more than what you are capable of. If you need to lose 100 pounds, don’t expect to do it in a few weeks. Give yourself enough time to do so in a healthy manner. You could also try to break the goals down into easier increments. Tell yourself that you will lose 10 pounds over the next month. Then tell yourself the same thing the next month. Eventually, you’ll reach that goal and feel the satisfaction of being lighter than you were before.

5. Focus on those goals everyday. Post them on your refrigerator. Write them in your date book. Put a reminder on the visor of your car. When you focus on your goals, you will keep them in mind all the time and when they are first and foremost in your mind, you will be well on the way toward achieving them.

6. Be committed to those goals – at all costs. There’s a reason why you want to achieve those goals. When you are committed, those goals become the focus of your mind and they will be much easier to realize.

The battle with our metabolism as we age can’t be denied. Our metabolism, which transforms our food into energy, slows down with each passing year. If we don’t adjust our eating habits and our exercise to compensate, we slowly add additional pounds. We may feel betrayed, but the reality is we’re going to have to change some habits in order to maintain our weight.
If you take things one step at a time, there are basic steps that can be adopted. Stop telling yourself, “I just can’t do it.” You can coax yourself into a new habit of healthy eating.

Developing a psychology towards weight loss will help you achieve you goals and realize success. Aim high, push yourself to become the type of person you want to be and live the life that you want and deserve. We are not given the power of dreams without the power and ability to achieve those dreams. It’s time to start – RIGHT NOW!

METABOLISM AND YOUR WEIGHT

METABOLISM AND YOUR WEIGHT

You likely know your metabolism is linked to your weight. But do you know how?
Common belief holds that a slim person's metabolism is high and an overweight person's metabolism is low. But this isn't usually the case. Metabolism alone doesn't determine your weight.
Rather, weight is dependent on the balance of calories consumed versus calories burned. Take in more calories than your body needs, and you gain weight. Take in less and you lose weight. Metabolism, then, is the engine that burns these calories and is the scale that regulates your energy needs.

Stated simply, metabolism is the process by which your body converts food into energy. During this biochemical process, calories — from carbohydrates, fats and proteins — are combined with oxygen to release the energy your body needs to function.
The number of calories your body burns each day is called your total energy expenditure. The following three factors make up your total energy expenditure:
• Basic needs. Even when your body is at rest, it requires energy for the basics, such as fuel for organs, breathing, circulating blood, adjusting hormone levels, plus growing and repairing cells. Calories expended to cover these basic functions are your basal metabolic rate.
Typically, a person's basal metabolic rate is the largest portion of energy use, representing two-thirds to three-quarters of the calories used each day. Energy needs for these basic functions stay fairly consistent and aren't easily changed.
• Food processing. Digesting, absorbing, transporting and storing the food you consume also takes calories. This accounts for about 10 percent of the calories used each day. For the most part, your body's energy requirement to process food stays relatively steady and isn't easily changed.
• Physical activity. Physical activity — such as playing tennis, walking to the store, chasing after the dog and any other movement — accounts for the remainder of calories used. You control the number of calories burned depending on the frequency, duration and intensity of your activities.

It may seem logical to think that significant weight gain or being overweight is related to a low metabolism or possibly even a condition such as under-active thyroid gland (hypothyroidism). In reality, it's very uncommon for excess weight to be related to a low metabolism. And most people who are overweight don't have an underlying condition, such as hypothyroidism. However, a medical evaluation can determine whether a medical condition could be influencing your weight.
Weight gain is more likely due to an energy imbalance — consuming more calories than your body burns. To lose weight, then, you need to create an energy deficit by eating fewer calories, increasing the number of calories you burn through physical activity, or preferably both.

If you and everyone else were physically and functionally identical, it would be easy to determine the standard energy needs. But many factors influence calorie requirements, including body size and composition, age, and sex.
To function properly, a bigger body mass requires more energy (more calories) than does a smaller body mass. Also, muscle burns more calories than fat does. So the more muscle you have in relation to fat, the higher your basal metabolic rate.
As you get older, the amount of muscle tends to decrease and fat accounts for more of your weight. Metabolism also slows naturally with age. Together these changes reduce your calorie needs.
Men usually have less body fat and more muscle than do women of the same age and weight. This is why men generally have a higher basal metabolic rate and burn more calories than women do.

Your ability to change your basal metabolism is limited. However, you can increase daily exercise and activity to build muscle tissue and burn more calories.
Your metabolism influences your energy needs, but it's your food intake and physical activity that ultimately determine your weight.
Losing weight, like any task you undertake, requires that you have dedication and motivation to succeed. This means you need to get your head in the right place.

Moving Closer toward Spiritual Nirvana

Moving Closer toward Spiritual Nirvana

Every journey has an end and each undertaking you get yourself into has a goal to be achieved at the end. As you go through the process of spiritual empowerment, you do not only get yourself to experience freedom and independence but you move close to nirvana as well.

What is Nirvana?

Nirvana is said to come from a Pali word meaning, “blowing out”. Thus, this means that a person experiencing nirvana has blown out greed and hatred and is free from suffering. In Buddhism, Nirvana is said to be a state where a person achieves and experiences perfect peace of his own mind and frees himself from cravings, anger, and other afflictions. He also becomes at peace with the world, gives kindness and consideration to other people, and does not obsess with physical things anymore.

How Is It Achieved?

According to the Pali Canon, nirvana can be achieved in many ways. First, it can be achieved from insight and self-awareness alone or it can be achieved through understanding. Nirvana may also be achieved through the deeds and righteousness that a person has as well as the virtues, understanding, and consciousness. It can also be achieved with some effort and concentration or through the four foundations of mindfulness, which include the body, sensations, mind, and mental contents.

If you summarize all of these things, the path to spiritual empowerment, which ultimately leads to nirvana, is the same as the Threefold Training of Buddha, which included wisdom, mental development, and virtue. A person who is able to lead a life with the right speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, concentration, understanding, and intention is sure to be able to reach the right path to enlightenment. When this happens, the person is not anymore attached to the material world and has found a different kind of happiness and contentment in their lives.

Striking the Balance between the Inner and Outer Aspects of Your Body

Striking the Balance between the Inner and Outer Aspects of Your Body

Being spiritually empowered brings us not only to awareness of ourselves but also of others and our surroundings as well. However, there are times when these concepts could clash, which is a reason why balance must be maintained between the two.

The Inner Aspects of the Body

An enlightened person becomes more fully aware of his own self, his body, his capabilities as well as the limitations and flaws. However, a person who is spiritually empowered is able to accept whatever weaknesses they have, work on it and make it a stepping stone for improvement and not as a hindrance.

The Outer Aspects of the Body

While there are needs in the body that has to be fulfilled, we must also remember the others that we have to think of as well. You may have experienced freedom and independence for yourself but this is useless when you see around you that the people are not having the same experience. This is a time when the principles that you wish to live by begin to clash

Striking a Balance between the Two

Usually, people who have experienced this freedom would also want to impart in others what they too have experienced. It is not enough to be able to feel happiness within one’s self but in the interaction with other people as well. This would ensure that person that he is not only working things for himself but also to his surroundings, thus creating a balance.

In addition, happiness felt within oneself is incomplete if the person finds that his surroundings could not give him the happiness and enlightenment that he had worked so hard to achieve. It is for this reason that these people also try to spread and teach what they know so that a balance between the happiness of the outside and inside aspects of the body is achieved.

Thinking and Growing Rich

Thinking and Growing Rich

The Law of Attraction has been found with many uses, including in the aspect of becoming rich. According to this law, your thoughts have an energy that can attract other circumstances in life. Although this has been dismissed as a part of pseudoscience, there are still many instances in our lives where we believe that the Law of Attraction takes place.

On Becoming Rich
The Law of Attraction says that if a person thinks of a specific goal in mind, feels, and knows as if it is already a truth, then things will start to follow and the universe will seem to conspire to make it a reality.

Many people believe that when they start to do the same in their want to become rich, they also become one. Of course, this event does not happen instantly. When you start to think that you are already rich, or are becoming one, your actions start to modify as well. You unconsciously do things that could actually make you rich and succeed in it which is why so many of us think that the whole world willed for it to become true when the truth is, it was actually more because of our own doings.

On Succeeding in the Endeavor
If you want to succeed, this should also be something you want to keep in mind. A person who believes in success would have self-confidence that could take him places. When a business associate or a client meets up with someone who possesses this quality, they also become confident in making a deal with the person because they can trust that person and they would believe that they could also bring them success.

In its simplest terms, the Law of Attraction works this way. A person who has positive energy is sure to attract positive energy as well and block out the negatives, guaranteeing success.

Understanding the Secret of the Law of Attraction

Understanding the Secret of the Law of Attraction

Did you ever know that spiritual empowerment had something to do with Quantum Physics? You may not believe it but it does. Here is why:-

A Quantum Physics Law

According to experts, the Law of Attraction traces its roots to Quantum Physics. However, many of those in the scientific community believe that this law already belongs to pseudoscience.

The Law of Attraction states that one can use his energy to his own advantage when he follows four principles:-

1) You must have specifics of what you want to achieve.
2) You must ask the world to give it to you.
3) You must think and feel that you have already gotten what you really want to have.
4) You must be prepared for its coming and let go of whatever connections that comes with it.
Thus, the law states that when you think of something as already happening to you, there is a big probability that it will truly happen to you.

How It Is Connected to Spiritual Empowerment

You already know that spiritual empowerment and enrichment is what you want to achieve. When you start to think of it as something that is already in you, you also start to act as if you already have that empowerment. Thus, your actions will help you work out what you need to do as things follow. Later on, you will never notice, that you have already reached what you want to achieve and you let go of the other things that is stopping you from achieving it.

When you are in your journey for spiritual enlightenment, it is important that if you feel and start to act the way an enlightened person should, you would also keep out any negative vibes. Because what you think would attract the energy around you, it is best to keep out negative thoughts from your mind to keep out negative energy as well.

Spirituality and Money – Understanding the Equation

Spirituality and Money – Understanding the Equation

When we try to achieve spiritual empowerment, it can be hard to go against all the temptations in the world. It can be hard to avoid indulging ourselves with what money has to offer. As they say, money makes the world go round and many times, we would forget that there are other forms of happiness in the world that no amount of money can buy. However, this is not the case for spiritual people.

When One is Spiritual

A spiritual person is more aware of himself or herself. The person is more aware of his surroundings and to the sufferings of the people. This is the reason why many of them are not after material richness. These types of people find more happiness and fulfillment in the little joys of life that money is not able to bring. Thus, they are able to have a different view and concept about money, what it can do to our lives and to the people surrounding us as well.

Their Views on Money

The use of money, of course, cannot be avoided. However, a person who has gained spiritual enlightenment only sees money as a means to an end and not as anything else. Those who want to do something to society work hard not for themselves but so that they could provide the needs of the people around them. They give out to charities and help other people in need without expecting to gain anything out of it.

Enlightened people do not chase after money. Instead, they accept it as it comes. Money is still needed to buy essentials but not for the things that could bring happiness. These people believe that they could get what they want out of money but it does not mean that all their happiness relies in it.

Learning from Life and Moving On

Learning from Life and Moving On

When you go through the process of spiritual development, it is not always a guaranteed success at the start. There are many times that a person will fail but it is in getting back up that he gets courage and determination to withstand whatever situation he has to face in the future.

If you are on this journey, it is very important to have the will to achieve your goal – of being independent, free, and empowered as well. It takes a little hard work to achieve this as well as some patience. Even though the path you will be taking will have some bumps ahead, you must bear in mind that everything will end soon enough and if you focus your mind to it, you should not notice that you have already reached your goal.

It is then important that each time you fail and make a mistake; you learn to accept that you also have some limitations in you. You cannot be perfect but you are trying to be the best that you can be. When you make mistakes, which are often inevitable at the start, it is normal to feel sad and a little depressed. However, this failure should not be a reason for you to sulk and even regress and go back to your old ways. Instead, you should use it as a stepping-stone so that you can move on further to your spiritual goal.

When you become successful in this journey, it should feel very pleasant and light. You have reached your goal because of all your hard work and your determination. Courage is also important so that you can bravely face your shortcomings and learn to accept it. Flaws are a part of who a person is and it cannot be avoided that he has one however, it should not be a hindrance as to why he could not move on to his goal.

Being Your Own Spiritual Coach

Being Your Own Spiritual Coach

It is not only enough to seek help from other people by using meditative and alternative therapies on your way to spiritual empowerment. It would help much if you were able to become the personal coach to your own self so that you can criticize easily if you make any mistakes.

Having an enriched and empowered spiritual life would mean that a person is able to accept one’s self, no matter the limitations he has. When you fail to accept that and tend to blame yourself for things because you are a weak person who has too little capabilities, then you should start to tutor yourself into forgetting that part. Keep in mind that you are in the road to spiritual empowerment, if you do not help yourself improve and accept things as they are, nobody else can help you in that aspect.

It is also important that you always remember the mistakes you have done in the past and take action from it instead of regressing and going back the other way. Do not forget that mistakes are what shapes a person and sometimes, they can be inevitable. One can always learn something from a mistake and when he does, he commits never to make the same action again.

However, you must also remember that a person learns and improves. You cannot always say that it is unavoidable to make a mistake because it can be – when it happens repeatedly. Making the same mistakes over again is a sign that you are not doing anything to help yourself improve and move a notch higher in terms of spiritual empowerment.

Become your own coach – you are the only person who can always accompany yourself and check for any mistakes that you might commit. You are also the only person who can bring yourself not ever to commit the same mistake again.

Spiritual Empowerment through Alternate Therapies

Spiritual Empowerment through Alternate Therapies

One can reach spiritual empowerment in many ways. The most common of these methods are through alternative therapies. Below are a few examples:-

Yoga

Yoga uses the mental as well as physical disciplines that originated in India. Most Yoga practitioners today use yoga as a form of exercise. However, this form of meditation may also be used to gain Moksha.

Moksha is the state where a person attains liberation and freedom from all worldly sufferings. It comes from a Sanskrit word that literally means release or to let go. At the end, the person is able to find his own identity called the Supreme Brahman. Doing yoga may also help a person have a stable relationship with himself while experiencing calm and peace.

Reiki

This method originated in Japan and means spiritual power from a Chinese loanword. Reiki originated with Mikao Usui after a 21-day retreat in Mount Kurama. Practitioners of Reiki aim to abide to its principles that include (in a translation):-
 Do not be angry
 Do not worry
 Be grateful
 Work with integrity
 Be kind to others

Reiki also makes use of a universal spiritual energy that could actually have a healing effect. Anyone can also gain of this energy but has to go through a process of attunement done by a Reiki master.

Er Mei Qi Gong

This type of practice believes that a unique form of matter called the Qi can be transmitted to others to provide healing and promote good health as well as help in spiritual empowerment. Some people even believe that they are able to develop their skills in clairvoyance and telepathy.

The choice of alternative therapy, if at all, would really depend upon you and in which practices you are most comfortable of doing. In addition, there are many other therapies that you could undergo aside from the ones listed here.

Enriching the Spirit – 5 Tips

Enriching the Spirit – 5 Tips

How does one make sure that he gets in the right path in becoming spiritually empowered? Here are some ways:-


1) Knowing Oneself

The first step to being able to empower one’s self and, later on, achieve freedom and independence is to know one’ self. It is very important that a person know his capabilities and limitations so that he knows what his role is in the community.


2) Understanding the World Around

Once the person has some idea on the things he may be able to do to the things around him, he would start understanding what is truly surrounding him. It is important that a person knows how the things he could do to his surroundings could also affect them.


3) Prioritizing Things

When a person is able to determine these things in his life early on, it is easier to be able to put priorities in life. For example, self is the foremost thing that needs to be taken care of, without it a person is not able to reach out to his surroundings and could not reach the freedom and independence he would want to achieve.


4) Sharing with Others

A person may be able to gain independence and freedom of his own but if he does not share what he knows to other people, this effort is deemed useless and it would not really make such a big impact. If a person shares what he learns, he is able to get a step closer in making the world better.


5) Continuing to Learn

A person who wants to enrich his spirit is one that does not give up easily, no matter the circumstances and no matter the aspect of life is involved. An empowered person would seek to learn more to make the world an even better place for his self and his surroundings.

What Is Spiritual Empowerment?

What Is Spiritual Empowerment?

A sense of freedom is something that we all want to achieve. Being independent in whatever aspect it may be definitely boosts our confidence and makes us do better in life. We must all be equipped with this certain type of positive energy within us in order to have a major shift in the way we live.

Spiritual Empowerment
Spirituality may be associated with religious things and ceremonies but in this case, it does not necessarily mean that we should be hooked to a religion. Experiencing this state would mean that one’s consciousness is awakened. This enables the person to see the person one really is and become aware of the capabilities and limitations attached to it. This makes the person become happy and contented with the person that he is. Thus, he is able to take care of and understand himself more than he used to. Being spiritually empowered makes a person aware of what makes him happy and makes him more sensitive to what would make other people happy.

Why Is It Important
Our society today has embedded in us stereotypes and perfect models as to how a person should be. This makes most of us disgruntled and embarrassed about our own selves. Some people have even gone to worse conditions, sulked, get into depression, and later on, even get suicidal tendencies.
However, when a person becomes spiritually empowered, he sees himself for who he is and who is not. He becomes aware of his capabilities and thus he knows what actions are to be done. Empowered people know their roles in society and they know what they can do to bring about change in their selves, in others, and in the environment.
If we were just able to empower ourselves spiritually, then freedom, in whatever aspect of life, would just be within our reach.

Improving Your Future

Improving Your Future

Imagine a world where every person was using the Secret to follow their bliss – a world where every person was fulfilling their purpose, reaching out to help others, and allowing the will of God to flow through them to create miracles.

Chances are it would look a lot like heaven. Every person safe. Every person holding everything they need.

You might want a huge house on the hill. Another person might feel abundant, at ease, and happy with a small, quiet, rural cottage. There is no need to fear competition, no need to imagine that you must profit at anyone else’s expense. You must attract the situations that will allow you to profit at everyone’s benefit.

Does the world have to be a dark place, full of wars, full of abuse, full of pain, full of madness? Are we somehow special, just able to ignore our way into good things by focusing on the positive?

No. Until others are ready to move forward it is our responsibility to make our thoughts create positive change. It is our responsibility to take the actions and be receptive to the ideas that are going to make the whole of the world grow.

Bless others! Show gratitude for all of the ways the world has moved forward. Once people believed slavery was perfectly normal. Now, even though there are people who practice slavery illicitly, we all generally understand it is wrong. Even those who engage in slavery understand it to be wrong. That all began with the thoughts of those who believed things should be better.

We all have the ability to move forward in this fashion. We cannot fear the way the world is today. We cannot sit back and hope for some bright future that never quite arrives. We must work together to create heaven on earth now. We have all the tools we need.

Balancing the Inner Self and the Outer Self

Balancing the Inner Self and the Outer Self

One of the most significant applications of the Law of Attraction is to balance our inner and outer selves. Our inner self is our consciousness. It is the way we think and behave. This is where the Law of Attraction begins to take effect. The Law of Attraction starts manifesting itself when we think and that begins in our inner self. Our outer self is characterized by our action. The way we act and implement our thought processes is how our outer self functions.

If we have to make the best utilization of the Law of Attraction into our life, then it is essential that we learn how to create the balance between our inner and outer selves. It is vital that we put into action what we think. What begins as a thought manifestation must get converted into action.

If you were to just think and sit about getting a new house, it isn’t going to happen. Yes, if your thoughts are strong, if your belief is strong, the universe will begin aligning itself toward making things happen. But now, it is you who has to act. If you don’t even lift a finger things aren’t going to happen. Now, you have to put your outer self into action. This is when the positive energies that have been created start taking shape and things begin happening.

The problem with most of us is that we use our inner self to think and believe. We say so often that we want to do a particular thing but only a few of us actually put our outer selves into action mode.

The Law of Attraction will make things happen. But it will restrict itself to aligning things in a particular way. The rest is your call. It will make you confident about doing certain things, and that is what will influence the people around you and things will happen positively for you, but the main thing for that to happen is that you have to take the initiative and act.

The Secret and Your Health

The Secret and Your Health

If your body is raging in pain right now, it may be harder, initially, for you to try to figure out how to apply the Secret to your own Healing. Even committing it to prayer, instead of visualization and mental exercises, might seem insurmountable. But do not fear. You will have success here too. Write it down. Know it for fact. Remember what you were like before your health declined and fixate on it.

Sometimes, we have ill health because we believe we should. We’ve hit a certain age, and our parents developed a health issue at that age, so we develop a health issue at that age.

Sometimes, we have ill health because we’ve been taking actions which treat ourselves badly. Whether you are conscious of it or not, eating an entire box of chocolates reflects some sort of belief about yourself which manifests itself in your waistline and messed up blood sugar. Jumping up on an injured leg reveals some other belief about yourself.

Sometimes, we have ill health because there is some unacknowledged anger, resentment, grief, or thought in our mind which we won’t let out any other way.

It is time to let it all go. Time to release it. Use the Secret to make a declaration of independence from these issues today. Speak life over your body. Declare yourself healed.

Pay attention to your body when your body feels at its best. Pay attention to that which makes your body feel good.

Focus on the actions that will help your body. With a new, renewed focus, eat foods which energize you and nurture you. Love yourself enough to focus on getting the rest your body needs to heal. Let go of the issues inside of you which are expressing themselves as aches and pains. They do not have any power over you anymore.

You have discovered the Secret, and you have a new and better way. Take a deep breath and tell God, tell the Universe, and tell your heart: you are healed!

Applications to Internet Marketing-The Secret

Applications to Internet Marketing

When you set out to make money on the Internet, you are going to play in a very equalized pool. Everybody goes to the same internet. Everybody gets the same Google, the same Facebook, the same Squidoo. Any two people can find the same forums and the same article directories. At any given time there are hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world that can make you a success: potential customers, mentors, and business partners. It is all there. You just have to find it or use it correctly.

Yet 99% of all internet businesses fail. In spite of having little or no start up costs, in spite of having little or no overhead, the businesses do not turn out the sorts of results that people had hoped for, and so they give up. They go on to something else. They decide it doesn’t work. They go out skeptical and they leave certain: certain that only scammers and the very lucky make money from home on the internet.

Yet there are hundreds of thousands of people who are making money on the internet, making good money. They follow high ethical standards. They provide real products of real value. They live the kinds of lives they want to live.

This is why the Secret applies to internet marketing so strongly. If you believe in yourself and what you are doing, you won’t throw in the towel when traffic to your site isn’t what you’d envisioned. You’ll figure out how to make it better. You won’t balk at the sudden writer’s block you get when trying to make a solid forum post to help get your name out there—you’ll learn ways to beat the block. You won’t make a slipshod effort that looks slipshod and feels slipshod and produces few, if any, results. You’ll learn what works and you’ll apply what works. You’ll do what you love and love what you’re doing because that is what you set out to do, and through the Secret you understand that every resource you need to make it happen is in the Universe generally and there on the internet with you in particular. You’ll constantly be thinking hey, I’m as capable as the next guy, if he could pick up the skills so can I. You’ll pick up the skills and you’ll keep right on going.

There is a time delay between each component of the Secret: your thoughts and decisions, then your actions, and then the results of your actions. You might not wake up today with thousands of site visitors. Your efforts today might not produce immediate results. Quit training yourself to the immediate result. Acting like you already have what you want gives you the strength and power you need to keep taking the actions that will get you there. Acting like what you want is always in the future will place your actions in a different place: in a place where they are not getting done and you are reading worthless emails to distract yourself instead.

Wealth Manifestation through the Law of Attraction

Wealth Manifestation through the Law of Attraction

Here are the five things you need to do in order to manifest the wealth that you are expecting through the Law of Attraction.

Believe

The first step is to ingrain the thought of wealth in your subconscious. You have to think staunchly that you will be able to attain the large amount of wealth that you are hoping for.

Visualize

It is very important to actually visualize the wealth. You have to think that the wealth is already in your bank account and now what you will do with it. Begin thinking as if you are planning what to do with the money. You don’t have it already, but that’s not the point. The Law of Attraction tells that you have to be strong in your belief, and visualization is the best way to do that.

Be Grateful

Taking your belief one step forward, you must actually start thanking the universe for granting the wealth to you. Well, it has not already granted you the wealth, but you have no aspersions at all about that happening. You are darned sure that you will get the wealth and so being grateful is the next logical thing.

Listen to Your Heart

Your heart will tell you a lot of things at this point. It will tell you to do particular things. Do not stifle any of these “voices”. Listen to them intently. Act upon them. You have to make sure that you listen to every voice because any of them could be the one voice that opens the doors of opportunity to you.

Continue Your Actions

Never give up, never relent. Remember that stopping is a sign of weakness. You don’t want the universe to understand that your belief is faltering. You want it to know that you will keep up no matter what. Sooner or later, your supreme confidence is going to bring the wealth at your door.

The Secret and Your Money

The Secret and Your Money

The Secret can bring you money, but it is not about money. It is certainly not about empty, proud, cold, wealth that stems out of the greed mindset. This is about fulfilling your purpose, which is expressed in your deepest, most treasured dreams. The dream of your heart is your purpose on earth.

Our society tends to make us jump right to careers when we hear that, but it might not be a career at all. Your passion may be to parent your child. Your passion may be to be the best friend you can possibly be. Your passion may be to give enough that 1,000 new wells get built in parts of the world that currently have none.

None of these things can happen without money.

Money starts companies. Money builds bridges and roads. Money brings the security and freedom a parent needs to focus on parenting. Money brings the resources for philanthropy.

If you fall into the trap of believing that money is evil, then only evil people will have money. Do we really want our beliefs to ensure that only pimps, drug dealers, war mongers, and cheats enjoy abundance while the good people of the world struggle? Of course not! That would be silly.

Yet if money is all that you focus on, money will always elude you. For one thing, we tend to store a lot of mental garbage when it comes to money. We tend to have a lot of fears about money. Fear is always counterproductive.

Bypass money entirely. It’s not important here. It’s necessary, but it’s not all that important to you.

Joseph Campbell said, “If you follow your bliss, the money will follow.” Get settled with the idea that you need money to achieve your dreams and that there’s nothing wrong with that. Then ignore it. Turn your attention to your bliss. That is where the Secret will begin to work for you. That is where your emotions will supercharge your thoughts into the change you need.

Pivoting Your Thought Process

Pivoting Your Thought Process

In order to create the subjective thought process that the Law of Attraction demands of you, it is very important that you create the right frame of reference. You have to be like the person seeing everything in a dream. Your perceived reality is actually the things that are happening in your frame of reference, which is just another name for your consciousness. But, you need to put a finger on this consciousness. You need to anchor it. This aspect – anchoring your conscious mind – is known as pivoting your thought process.

When you begin pivoting your thought process, the primary requirement is to have a fixed point from where you can begin. Usually, this fixed point is your resolve, your intention, your motive, your purpose. For example, if you really need to start a business, your resolution to do that is your pivot. The stronger you resolve to achieve that, the more profound your pivot will be. That is why people who have stronger resolutions are able to achieve better things than people who don’t have a very strong mindset to achieve something.

If you consider your desire as your pivot and see everything from that perspective, everything begins falling into place. You feel as though everything that’s happening is happening as a means of bringing you closer to your desire. In the above instance, if your desire to start a business is your pivot, then you feel as though everything happening in your life is taking you one step closer toward realizing your dreams. This includes the positives as well as negatives. If you suddenly meet someone, you feel that somehow that will be connected with your new business, which isn’t yet started but you have no apprehensions in your mind about it. You also feel that your getting fired from your desk job was something that will take you closer to having your own business.

People who believe in the Law of Attraction staunchly build such pivots in their minds. Then on, their entire life is focused on this pivot. This is what drives them and motivates them into coming closer to their goals.

Mindset and Management

Mindset and Management

Are you feeling overwhelmed? Are you staring at a long list of tasks and new terminology, from SEO to social bookmarking? Is some nagging voice in the back of your head trying to tell you, as you stare at the world wide web, that this is not your Grandfather’s way of making money, so how true could it be?

Well, you’re right about part of it, this isn’t your Grandfather’s way. This is your way, and it’s going to be fantastic!

Every journey, it is said, begins at the first step. Your first step is to work on you. Before you buy hosting, before you load up your web page, before you build your list, you have to know how to get your head in the game and how to keep it there. You’re taking a leap of faith into a vast, wild territory that changes every single day. You’re one drop in a shifting sea. In order to stand out, you need confidence. You need personal development.

You need to apply the Secret.

The Secret is just this: everything begins with a thought. Thoughts lead to actions, which leads to the results of those actions made manifest in your life.

The Orville brothers had a thought about a flying machine. They took the action of sitting down to design their machine and then going out to test it. They manifested the ability for you to go to an airport and be anywhere in the whole world in a matter of hours.

And you thought you were sailing uncharted waters!

Thoughts like, “I can’t do this,” “this won’t work,” “well, I’ll give it a shot, but if it doesn’t work out I guess I’ve got my day job to fall back on,” lead only to two kinds of actions. Inaction or inefficient action.

Either you talk yourself out of starting, or you spin your wheels reading email after email and surfing website after website without ever really getting your feet wet. As a result, your life fails to manifest a working internet business that gives you the freedom you really want.

Compare this to positive, super charged thoughts like: “Nothing’s going to stop me. I have every tool I need. Other people have done this and so can I. I’m totally committed. I won’t hold back. I’ve got a plan.”

Thoughts like this lead to you taking appropriate action. You create that product. You build that list. You stop fretting over the technicalities and the “can’t do” and get creative about the “can do.” You start outsourcing anything you can’t deal with on your own. You keep learning. You polish up your management skills and you keep your mind in the right place—and little by little, your small efforts turn into something much bigger: the manifestation of a new life.

Understanding The Secret

Understanding The Secret

Have you read or watched the Secret (http://www.thesecret.tv/)?

This is the Secret: thoughts create things.

What things make up your life? Are they things you love or things you’d rather change? Do you often feel that you’d be happy “if only?” “If only” you had that job, “if only” you had that amount of money, “if only” you had that perfect body. Or perhaps “someday” wonderful things are coming your way, but they haven’t happened yet.

Once you master the Secret you will never make the mistake of feeling that way again.

That’s right! It’s a mistake!

Your thoughts have been creating the life you’ve had so far. And thoughts can be changed.

Thoughts of success, abundance, happiness, beauty, strength, and health energize us. We begin to resonate with these things. We take positive, fruitful action which feels effortless. We attract people who are willing to open up doors, people who can teach us what we need to know, people with the resources we need.

This is called The Law of Attraction. The Secret is nothing less than the science of how thought interacts with quantum physics to create our experiences. You don’t even have to understand it. You just have to do it.

Try it out today. Start small. Start with something that you won’t talk yourself out of. Do you want a great relationship with your boss? Sit down. Picture what that looks like. Picture it in every intimate detail. What does it feel like? Feel those feelings. Be thankful today that you have such a great relationship with your boss.

Then claim it. Begin acting as a great relationship with your boss is how it is, always has been, and always will be. Pretend if you have to. Smile. Speak with the confidence someone with a great relationship with his boss has.

Watch what happens. Then prepare to be excited.

The Law of Attraction – What It Really Is and What It Is Not

The Law of Attraction – What It Really Is and What It Is Not

It is somewhat amazing to see how much talk there is about the Law of Attraction and how few people actually know about what it is. The Law of Attraction is not a spell that you use and things begin happening that way. It is not that you chant ‘like begets like’ a thousand times a day and see things happening the way you want. If the Law of Attraction were so simple, we would have already witnessed the world as a much better place by now.

People explain the Law of Attraction in various ways. The commonest definition you will find will be something like this:-
“If you strongly believe that something should happen, it will certainly happen.”

A sentence couldn’t be any simpler, but you will immediately realize that this raises more questions than it answers. The question of desires is the most important. Is it only what we desire and think about strongly that will happen? Or will things that we don’t desire also happen if we somehow think strongly about them? Then there is also the question of internal conflict of thoughts. At times, there could be situations where we think equally in both ways. For example, we may think that a job could be ours or not. So how do we apply the Law of Attraction in such a case? Or what do we do when we are thinking strongly about something and someone else is thinking strongly about the exact opposite thing? What will happen in that case?

In order to be able to reply all these questions, it is important to first understand what the Law of Attraction really says.

Notwithstanding the various ways in which the Law of Attraction has been defined, we can break things down in the following four elements:-
 We must know exactly what we want.
 We must begin a thought process for it, and begin vociferously asking the universe to make it happen.
 We must then visualize a situation wherein we already have what we are hankering for, and we must live in that reality.
 At the same time, we must not attach ourselves to what might happen. We must only think about having it. There is no room for apprehension.

In these articles, we are going to expose various aspects of the Law of Attraction and see how we can apply it in one of the most important areas of our lives – attracting money. Can one really become rich by just thinking vividly about it? We need to understand the law better and learn how to implement it in order to get these answers.

Staying Motivated

I've posted an entire ebook on Staying Motivated over at my Reiki Forum in the Articles section. To read it simply click here and you'll go straight to it :)
Hope you like, I bought the rights so you don't have to ;)

Be Well and Prosper,
Al

Reducing Stress to Improve Your Life

Reducing Stress to Improve Your Life

When you are feeling under the whether all the time perhaps it is because you are stressed. Stress alone can cause major psychological and mental problems. In fact, stress can cause self-induced exaggerated problems. Stress causes confusion, since it targets your physical, emotional responses, and psychological aspects while causing you pain. Stress is the leading problem that everyone in the world faces at one time or another.

What causes stress?
Bills cause stress, especially if you do not have cash flow to pay the bills. Jobs will cause stress, since you battle to make sure your duties are correctly handled. Children cause stress. Especially nowadays, since the media, television, etc has polluted and corrupted the minds of our children by offering them nudity, violence, and other harmful actions on air. A bad relationship can cause stress. If you are in a bad relationship, it only affects your mind and physical well-being, causing you stress. There are many reasons a person can feel stressed. The upside is, you have the choice to make stress your best friend or worst enemy.


What are the different kinds of stress?
There are many kinds of stress that can cause you problems like the acute stress this is a short term stress problem normally, which may last shortly or could carry forward. You want to avoid overstressing self. One of the common reasons someone develops acute stress is because they are thinking of how to change things they cannot change. Only change the things you can change and learn to accept. We all deal with everyday challenges. Take each challenge as a learning experience. We all have to pay bills, work, and so on. It's a part of life. We all have to face it. Sometimes we do not have the money to pay bills. Learn to set a budget that relieves you of stress. You may loose your job. Instead of sweating the problem, do something about it.

Children these days are increasing stress for parents. Many teenagers these days are difficult to manage. Today our children are plagued with mental illnesses, far more so than at one time in history. When you feel chronic stress, burned out and do not see hope, it is time to seek help. Your doctor or mental health expert can help you manage stress emerging from difficulty teenagers.

How to reduce stress:
You can reduce stress by managing, planning and setting goals. When you have something to look forward to, it improves your personal life. The first thing you want to consider while planning and setting goals is truth. The truth is what sets you free. Everything you do in life should uphold the truth. If you are not sure, research to learn the truth. You can take many steps to reduce stress.

To improve your life and reduce stress you may want to consider education. If you lack skills, experience or education you will benefit from returning to school.

You want to avoid setting traps for your memory and intelligence, since the emotions play unhealthy games if you allow it. What I mean is you want to avoid telling yourself I cannot do it. Life is too hard. Life is easier if you learn to think positive.

How you can improve, your personal life is up to you. You will need to consult with your inner counselor to learn what you need, what you are lacking and the steps you can take to improve your personal life. If you are unsure, seek feedback. Feedback is the key that leads you to success.

Al's Reiki Site

Hi!
I had hoped to have everything done and dusted by today but...it'll be Wednesday now but that doesn't mean you can't visit Al's Reiki today. The site was down as was the forum for a long while to due to other commitments but is back as of today.
I'll be offering free reiki distance healing twice a week for everyone who joins the Reiki Forum and makes a request. You do need to register to see the healing Board though!
Hope to see you there very soon!

Be Well,
Al

Eat Right to Improve your Personal Life

Eat Right to Improve your Personal Life

How to live healthier

The main thing to a healthier you, is to eat right exercise and visit your family doctor regularly. This is all part of a healthier you and if your healthier you will feel better about your self. One of the biggest problems we have today is that most people do not eat right. While the world is wising up, they still fall short of proper eating habits, since we are rushed by a face paced world.

What do I have to do to eat right?
Eating right is a hard thing to do for some of us and for others it is easier to do. Eating healthy is a big problem these days. For some of us it is hard to buy healthier food due to the fact it cost more to fix meals the right way. There are a lot of people that are just making it in the real word with out having to buy a loaf of bread that cost $2.50 a loaf when they can get a loaf for $.50 so what do they do get the $.50 loaf and knowing that its bad for them but that’s all they can afford. So eating right can be hard for you too. We have options. You can grow your own home garden; bake your own bread for a fraction of the cost and so on.

What are some of the things I can eat?
Some of the things you can eat right are vegetables, dairy products, high-protein dishes and so on. You need a certain amount of fat, carbs, etc, which helps to keep you healthy.
You can get a list from your family doctor or you can go to the library to get information on the basic four food groups. If you cannot afford to eat right then maybe you should not eat as much. In addition, do some excising; excising is always good for you. Exercise will increase your health, even if you cannot afford the four basic groups of nutritious foods. In addition, you have many services available to you, which can offer you food supplies.

How do I learn how to eat right?
If you want to learn how eat right you can read about it in books from the local library or maybe you will want to talk to your doctor. Your doctor might be able to tell you how to go about doing this and the right way for your body. You cannot just jump in and change everything about you overnight. You have to take time to start and to learn. For some of us that have been eating wrong all of our life, this would be hard to do over night. Then again, others may not have any problems with it. You want to consider your position and move forward.

Will I feel better if I eat right?
You will feel a lot better if you eat right. Eating right has a lot to do with how we feel. If we lack nutrients, it can make one feel depressed, ill, etc. Since, we get vitamins from our foods, you may want to include natural regimens of vitamins in your daily schedule also.

The right vitamins we need every day to make us feel good about our self. We get many vitamins from what we eat. Vitamins are what make us feel like a person. So if you eat right and get the right vitamins daily that your body needs to function you will feel a lot better about your self and that will help you to improve your personal life.

25 Phrases Of Wisdom

Thought I'd post some humour for a change ;)

25 Phrases Of Wisdom

1. If you're too open minded, your brains will fall out.

2. Age is a very high price to pay for maturity.

3. Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than going to a garage makes you a mechanic.

4. Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity.

5. If you must choose between two evils, pick the one you've never tried before.

6. My idea of housework is to sweep the room with a glance.

7. Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious.

8. It is easier to get forgiveness than permission.

9. For every action, there is an equal and opposite government program.

10. If you look like your passport picture, you probably need the trip.

11. Bills travel through the mail at twice the speed of checks.

12. A conscience is what hurts when all your other parts feel so good.

13. Eat well, stay fit, die anyway.

14. Men are from earth. Women are from earth. Deal with it.

15. No husband has ever been shot while doing the dishes.

16. A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand.

17. Middle age is when broadness of the mind and narrowness of the waist change places.

18. Opportunities always look bigger going than coming.

19. Junk is something you've kept for years and throw away three weeks before you need it.

20. There is always one more imbecile than you counted on.

21. Experience is a wonderful thing. It enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.

22. By the time you can make ends meet, they move the ends.

23. Thou shalt not weigh more than thy refrigerator.

24. Someone who thinks logically provides a nice contrast to the real world.

25. Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves for they shall never cease to be amused.

Reduce Stress,,,,Be Happy!

Reduce Stress, Be Happy


Anything taken too much is bad for the health. A little stress is actually good, as it could serve to help you function at your best. However, stress that seems a little too much could take a physical, as well as mental, toll to your body. Stress should be managed in order for depression or anxiety to be prevented.

So how should you do it then? The following are tips and advice to help manage stress.

Write it out, schedule it out.

It is best to write down everything that seems to be overwhelming. You will find a things-to-do-list much easier to manage than having errands all crumpled up in your head. Writing down the tasks, and putting a specific schedule and time to do them, helps anyone manage activities one chunk at a time. Crossing out an activity that has already been accomplished is very rewarding and could actually help you feel more relaxed when doing the other tasks at hand.

One at a time works.

Focus and put all your attention specifically on one task at one time. It does not help to feel panicky about the other undone or to-do tasks. Thinking about them only adds unnecessary stress and could even hamper in doing the task you are attempting to accomplish at present.

Relax and take it slow.

At least, try not to expend too much energy on activities that are currently not priorities. This is in order for your energy to be not easily expended on the tasks that are not that important, at least for now.

Delegate, delegate, delegate.

You need not do everything all at once, and you need not do everything on your own. Ask for help, get help, or pay for help. When there is a feeling of being overwhelmed that is cropping up, hire someone to mow the lawn or get a sitter for your children. The feeling of being pressed to finish something on time will somehow be eliminated if tasks are delegated. It takes a load off unnecessary worry and anxiety. Moreover, it is easier checking up on how things are, than worrying yourself sick doing everything on your own, all at once.

Give yourself a reward.

You deserve it. Acknowledging your accomplishments, no matter how big or small, is an effort that is necessary before getting on to the next tasks and activities. It reduces stress and could even make you happier in doing the next task.

Give yourself a break.

You need it to be more productive. A ten to fifteen minute break during your work is necessary. Go visit a café nearby, take a quick brisk walk, or do anything to put your mind off work, at least for a while. This is necessary to refresh and recharge. Believe it or not, you can also stay in your work and sit with your eyes closed as you visualize a peaceful landscape or a relaxing scene. This frees the stress from your muscles and your mind.

Relax and be cool. Doing so makes you healthier, happier, and a lot more productive.

Healthy Eating Healthy Life

Instead of posting an article today I thought I'd give a heads up about a great new blog.
When living a healthy life, the importance of a healthy diet should not be overlooked. Obesity is rife in todays society and causes all manner of ailments from heart attacks to diabetes and if you feel you are overweight you should pop over to my friend June's blog at Ultimate Booster Diet.
June offers diet advice, daily diet tips and also the odd recipe thrown in as well :) and you can also ask for advice via the comments box ;)

Energy Healing

Energy Healing : Pranic, Tantric, and Reiki


You have probably come across exotic-sounding terms such as “chakra”, “prana”, “aura”, and “tantra” in your course of reading books on spirituality, sex, and healing in the New Age literature section of the bookstore. But what’s the real scoop behind these exotic vocabularies?

Are All Energy Healings the Same?

Chakra or energy center is a term used in Pranic healing, an ancient Hindu system of energy healing. “Prana” means life energy. “Aura” is another terminology traced to Pranic healing. Aura is a non-physical body that consists of energy, which exists along with our physical body. The aura that covers our body is said to have seven layers pertaining to the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual aspects of an individual as manifested by energy. Studying the color and thickness of auras give ideas on the state of health of individuals. Six colors are associated with aura and interpreted into six personalities. These colors are all present in an individual but one or two are more pronounced.
Green – ambitious achiever
Blue – spiritual peacemaker
White – unconventional chameleon
Red – activist
Orange – creative communicator
Violet - psychic

Although Tantra is popularly associated with the peculiar practice of sex and spirituality, it is another method of energy healing. It comes from the word “tan” which means to spread or expand. The concept of connectedness is a recurring theme in Tantric writings on sex and spirituality. As a method of healing, spirituality and sex figure prominently. It is presupposed that the union of man and woman can reach spiritual levels during orgasm, which removes the body and mind off collected impurities. These impurities being negative energies can in turn manifest as physical illnesses.

Unlike Pranic and Tantric healings, which have Hindu origins, Reiki originated from Japan. It is relatively younger than Pranic and Tantric healings having been rediscovered in the early 1900’s. Reiki stands for universal energy, an energy brought forth by higher intelligence. Students of Reiki are taught how to tap this energy to heal physical, emotional, and mental illnesses.

Although Pranic, Tantra, and Reiki are all systems of energy healing, they differ in the type of energy tapped for healing: life energy, sexual energy, and universal energy respectively.

The concepts of the connectedness of mind, body, and spirit; the connection of individuals to all living and nonliving things around them and to the universe; and how energy impacts physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being are some of the salient similarities of these three healing methods.

Why Do People Turn to Energy Healing?

Pranic, Tantric, and Reiki are considered alternative methods of healing. In spite of the availability and relative accessibility of modern medicine, how come more and more people are being drawned to them? Here are some possible reasons:

· Energy healing worked where modern medicine failed.

For several reasons both explainable and unexplainable, modern medical treatment failed to heal ailments and conditions in several if not many persons. Research or data may not be able to support this statement. But for the families of the dying as well as for the dying patient, they would take the risk of using alternative methods ranging from herbals and organics, faith healers, witch doctors, and New Age healing techniques just to be get well.

· People perceive modern medicine to be isolating.

Medical treatments are oftentimes focused on the disease and its causative agent, which can make a patient feel isolated and treated like a mere host of the disease. Although recent developments in hospital practice are gradually promoting the holistic treatment of a patient, the perception still persists. Unlike in energy healing, since energy and spirituality are intimately linked, the patient feels that all aspects of his health are being attended to.


· Energy healing is non-obtrusive and natural thus it is safer.

Repeated surgical procedures are physically and emotionally traumatic for most patients. It is but a logical and attractive option to both patient and families to look for less stressful health interventions. Moreover, with the rising popularity of New Age religions, going natural is the way to go.


· Energy healing is a good way of relieving stress.

Meditation is part and parcel of energy healing methods and this is an added come-on for highly stressed people. Moreover, sophisticated equipment is not required thus it becomes all the more convenient for students and future students of energy healing.

The battle between alternative healing and mainstream medicine continues as both present the benefits of their approach. But in the final analysis, what matters is the restoration of good health.

Exercise and Arthritis

Exercise and Arthritis

Your bones hang out in a lot of joints. Knee joints. Hip joints. The joints in your fingers and the joints in your toes.

Wherever bones meet, there is also cartilage, a rubbery, protective layer that ensures your joints bend smoothly and painlessly. But even cartilage cannot do this tremendous job alone. A thin membrane called the “synovium” provides fluid that lubricates the moving parts of the joint. When the cartilage wears out of the synovium becomes inflamed, the result is generally a case of “osteoarthritis” or “rheumatoid arthritis.”

In osteoarthritis, the cartilage can be eroded so much that bone does rub on bone. This type of arthritis develops gradually over a lifetime as a simple result of the wear and tear placed on your joints over the years. Very few people escape some degree of osteoarthritis, though the severity varies a great deal.

As a matter of fact, if you are over the age of 50, you are likely to have at least one joint affected by osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis affects men and women equally and is by far the most common type of arthritis, with almost 16 million Americans in the list.

In rheumatoid arthritis, damage to the synovium is at the source of trouble. Doctors and researchers are not absolutely sure what causes it, but most think that rheumatoid arthritis is a disease in which the immune system actually attacks certain tissues in the body, including those that connect the joints and the synovium.

Rheumatoid arthritis begins with swollen, red, stiff, and painful joints, but it may progress until scar tissue forms in the joint or, in extreme cases, until the bones actually fuse together. Almost 75% of the 2 million people with rheumatoid arthritis in the United States are women. The disease can hit as early as teen years.

Exercising Your Prevention Options

Investing a little time in developing a good weight-bearing low-impact exercise and stretching plan can add up to great results when it comes to staving off arthritis pain. Strong muscles help protect the joints from wear and tear, and the movement keeps joints flexible.

That is why the quest for fitness is at hand, even if you are 50 years and over. However, most Americans over 50 are still right where they always were sitting back and watching others jog by. Most of them contend that that is just for people who have been athletic all their life, or some say exercise is for young people and engaging into exercise will do them more harm than good.

There are still some that insist on excusing their selves in exercise routines because they do not just have time or they have less energy than ever before. These are all lame excuses. Hence, it is time to start to get rid of those pains. Start exercising.

Consequently, preventing arthritis is not an exact science, but physicians have discovered a few ways to lower your risk. Here is how:

1. Do not weight around

The single most important measure anyone can take to prevent osteoarthritis of the knee is to lose weight if they are overweight. Extra weight puts extra stress on your knees. If you are 10 pounds overweight, for example, you put 60 pounds per square inch of extra pressure on your knees every time you take a step. That extra pressure can slowly but surely erode the cartilage in your knees, leading to arthritis.

A study has clearly supported the theory that weight loss weighs in on the side of prevention. In the study, overweight women who lost 11 pounds or more over a 10-year period decreased their risk of developing osteoarthritis of the knee by 50%.

2. Stretch those muscles

Any kind of stretching is good as long as you do not bounce, which can lead to a muscle pull. This is according to some of the professors of clinical medicine in New York City.

Try to hold a slow, steady stretch for 15 to 20 seconds, then relax and repeat. It is best to flex up by stretching before any exercise, especially running and walking. But it is also a good idea to stretch each day. Ask your doctor to teach you stretches that focus on potential arthritis trouble spots, such as the knees or the lower back.

3. Walking is always the best exercise

Take a good long walk at least three times a week or participate in a step-aerobics or low-impact exercise routine maximum results. There is no proof that running is bad for the joints, but remember, it may aggravate an injury if you already have one. Just remember to check with your doctor before starting a new exercise program.

The bottom line is that of all the healthful habits, exercise is the most important. This is because people are designed to be active. Hence, it is really important for people to exercise in order to stay healthy and keep those joints free from wear and tear.

Just keep in mind that the unexercised body, even if free from the symptoms of illness or problems like arthritis, is not at its full potential. Hence, start exercising right now!

Author Unknown