ARTICLE ABOUT SELF IMPROVEMENT

This is a time of year when many people take stock of all that they are grateful for -- or at least when we should do so. But this should also be a time when we take stock of all those people who contributed to those gifts -- especially the intangible ones. Those gifts such as our self-esteem or confidence, our love of sports or music, and our spine. What person or group do you owe the greatest debt? Was there a special person or group that really helped you become the person you are today?

Was there someone who helped you believe in yourself and your ability? Was there someone who taught you to appreciate life in a new way? Was there just someone who was there so you could count on them no matter what?

Most of us have been fortunate to have not just one person but a whole team of teachers, coaches, and mentors who helped us grow and reach our potential. We should remember to thank those people again and again as we live the lives they helped us shape. Even more important we need to repay that debt -- not to those individuals but to society. How is your debt? Have you paid it yet or are you still pretending it doesn't exist?

We often hear the expression as it relates to criminals. It is sometimes used as a euphemism for incarceration. The truth is though that we all owe a debt to society. Not because we have done some harm to the community but instead because we have benefited from someone else doing good.

I am a Presbyterian and our expression of the Lord's Prayer includes the phrase "And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors". Obviously no matter how good we are and how exemplary our lives we can never repay our debt to God or his son so that part of the meaning is rather clear. I also think this means that we should do good for goodness sake rather than any potential benefit we may reap from the act.

I also think there is another level of meaning and this comes back to the central idea of our debt to society. I think when it comes down to acts of kindness there cannot be a one-to-one relationship. Obviously in many cases when a person is in need of help they may never be in a position to return that help in kind. But it isn't really what we want or need when we offer help or kindness in any case.

Whenever I do something charitable, helpful, or kind, I tend to view the act as contributing to a vast fund of kindness. Many times in my life I have profited from this fund and very likely I will continue to profit from it.

One of the reasons I like this concept is that I do think of it as a sort of fund or bank. The value grows exponentially rather than incrementally just as money would do if similarly invested. We should all be grateful for this because the truth is that we usually don't pay our debt to society.

Most of us will write the occasional check, buy a ticket for some raffle, and/or spend a few hours working here and there on some pet project. There are a few who will go much further than this and spend a large portion of their time, energy, and/or money for the greater good but they are far too few.

Often whenever we face pressure on our time or finances then it is our philanthropic activities that are the first to be sacrificed. I have been all too guilty of this myself. I wonder what would happen if we reversed this and instead put helping others first rather than last?

My challenge to you this week is simply to find a way to add to our goodness fund. Borrow from the concept of "Pay It Forward". When someone offers you a helping hand then be sure to pass the favor along at the first opportunity. Don't pick and choose. Don't balance your checkbook first. Don't take the easy path. Do what is right. You will know it when you see it.

The following article about beliefs is just an expression of my thoughts. It is certainly not definitive.

In my opinion, we live our life on the basis of beliefs. We, literally live in a huge belief system. So seamlessly integrated (into our world) are some beliefs that most people assume that they are natural and accepted them without questioning.

The very act of reading this article is belief-based, because the very construct that is formed in your head now is conceptual & of the thinking mind. Perhaps, what really is does not just exist as concepts, but also exists in the NOW as experience. Although one is able to describe or conceptualize a truth, the conceptualization is itself a thought.

Beliefs can be very powerful, especially when the majority of the population buys into it. Sometime a certain belief when set in motion, causes catalytic reactions, triggering the formation of yet other beliefs. Gradually, layers upon layers of beliefs mire directness and truth. So thickly laden with beliefs and far removed from the original spontaneity that life becomes unnecessarily complex and ritualized.

Major beliefs operating in our world are:

Identification of self with physical body.
When in actual fact, we are much more than that. This belief can be very difficult to un-ravel. And it takes many series of self-discovery to realize our true nature. The entire scope of this belief is beyond what can be expressed within this article. So I will leave it as that.

War.
War is borne out of beliefs that justify aggression to others that is participated by large groups. War itself is a belief, because nature and animals do not engage in it. Only humans do it, because it was conceived in the human mind, and it isn't natural or essential to human conditions. Military is an offshoot borne from War




Money buys happiness.
A belief that most thought of as true is that money gives one happiness. Happiness does not need money to fulfill, one merely made oneself believe so! The concept of Money set in motion the belief in status, status breeds competition, competition breeds the rat race, rat race cause one to slog a life time working and eventually few remembered the original purpose of life was for joy and fulfillment.

Status.
A person's worth that is dictated by factors such as financial abundance and rank. This one creates much suffering in very hierarchical societies. This one is closely related to 'money buys happiness.'

Perfectionism.
It is a most prevalent belief in our civilization. Everywhere in this world of ours, perfectionism is regarded as good while imperfection is bad. Everybody wants everybody else to be perfect. Is Perfection really an absolute value? I think not.
In my opinion, it is relative and is borne of human conception. Perfection is an idea. Things are the way they are. Perfection and imperfection are attached values.

Country.
The concept of country is just a belief in the ownership of land. Essentially, humans did not create land therefore nobody owns it. Patriotism is an offshoot belief borne from 'country'. When there are no countries and no wars, there are no needs for Patriotism.

Well, I think I have rambled enough. Thank you for reading.

Do you walk in the house after a long day at work and just sigh at your cluttered house? Have you planned to organize one morning but do not know where to start or are just not in the mood? Are you caught in a vicious cycle: as soon as you organize one room another one has turned to chaos? Maybe you just need to prioritize, find motivation, and ask for help. Easier said than done J?

Prioritize As with most goals in life, you want to strive for progress and improvement, not perfection. Most of us do not have time to achieve perfection in everything we do and still live a happy, fulfilling life. When you set goals, make them achievable, attainable. When you make that progress, create a visual way to track it or remind yourself of all you have accomplished (i.e. stickers on a chart, a check list, a flower/penny/or other item to represent each task you have completed). Since we will never have more than 24 hours in a day, we may have to say "no" to some activities and tasks. As you list each goal, task, or activity, ask yourself if it is necessary, if it supports my ultimate goals, or if any other activity or person will be negatively affected if it does not happen. You may see your list shrink before your very eyes J. If you are not sure how to narrow your list, search the internet, ask a friend, or consult a professional organizer (we help with both the tangible and intangible).

Motivate Do you start the day with the best of intentions to declutter the "bathroom" only to loose your drive because it is "just not worth it"? What is worth it to you? What do you value? Why? These questions may not seem to have much to do with organizing, but they can be the key to your motivation. How much time do you spend on activities that relate to your values (i.e. spending time with family, exercising, eating healthy, etc.)? Most of us would probably answer "not enough". Then why would you ever spend time on an activity not related to you values, such as organizing? The answer: organizing allows you to focus more on your values. Organizing means less time searching for the other shoe, fewer arguments over who last used the scissors and did not put them back, less time cleaning around the clutter . . . With less time wasted, you have more time to be with family, exercise, eat healthy, and pursue those life goals that really matter. The next time you wonder why you would ever make time to organize, remember that organizing can be a means to an end. If you find a task that seems pointless, ask yourself how that task can bring you closer to what means to the most to you. It is amazing how a change in attitude and knowing what is "in it for me" can motivate.





Ask For Help Even if most of your chores and daily tasks are "value added", they are not always fun and often too much for one person. Solution: spread the responsibility among the whole household. What is boring to one person may be fun for another. One person's weak spot may be another person's strength. Some people have time in the morning to help everyone get ready for the day, and others have more time at night to help everyone get ready for bed. When you do ask for help, just remember to be specific or be prepared for "not exactly what you expected". Letting others pick what they want and find their own way, within reason, may even make them more willing and productive.

If you are not sure how to prioritize, want some ideas to motivate, or are ready to ask for help, contact Organized For You! For your free consultation, questions, comments, speaking and training needs, tips, or gift certificates please contact Jessica at organizedforyou@mchsi.com or 319-504-6689. Let me help you make every day like "a day at the beach".

Homeschooling is an alternative form of education that is fast growing. There are approximately two million people in the country today that undergo homeschooling. It completely fills up the role of institutional learning. In homeschooling, both parents and their children determine the extent of their learning.

Everybody can avail of homeschooling. All fifty states legally approve the practice of homeschooling. What differs from state to state are the laws governing the homeschooling program. Homeschooling can be very convenient for single parents who run a home business. They can have their kids to help them as well. Children of disabled parents can be tapped to take on a medical profession or one that involves social services.

Homeschooling should not be confused with home study or other forms of home-based education. In the latter, the parents and children do not have a say on the content of the curriculum. Examples of these are independent school programs. Home study is usually offered to those kids who for some valid reason could not attend school, say injury.

There is not much requirement for one to administer homeschooling. Some states do not even require a highschool diploma from the parents. There is however, one state which requires some training program for homeschooling before allowing a person to conduct it at home.

Homeschooling is preferred over institutional learning for various reasons. Some find the school curriculum questionable. Some parents think that schools cannot provide enough training to optimize the skills and talents of their children. Some are simply concerned with the issues regarding the safety and security within their local schools. Some children just do not fit in school so parents resort to homeschooling for their kids.<




Not much is needed to enable one to administer homeschooling. Even simple household stuff or even pets can be used to demonstrate scientific concepts. One can also borrow tools from friends and neighbors. Books at home can also be great learning materials. If they are not sufficient, the bookstore and the public library are the best sources of knowledge as well as the internet.

If still clueless about the concept, there are many organizations, websites and publications which can help enlighten about homeschooling and offer great help along the process. The library is also one of the best resources for wealth of knowledge as well as the local museums.

Homeschooling can be a very rewarding experience for the family. It provides for more precious time for bonding. It is not necessary for parents to be geniuses to become homeschooling teachers. All they need to have is resourcefulness to find ways to answer their children's questions.

Yes you will receive a basic interpretation of Astrology on this 'MLC' (mid life crisis) article as well as the psychological fraternities opinions.
The higher acceptance we need to grasp is the maturity to surrender our restlessness, this confusion, this state of 'is this all there is?' It seems in our resistance we are actually further denying our next exciting chapter we have a chance at recapturing, BOB D.(Boulevard Of Broken Dreams).


Our dreams and previous desires with maturity, experience and hopefully wisdom and discernment can once again be ours using the challenges of the 'MLC' (38-45 years of age) positive lessons than the opposite and painfully chosen 'uncomfortable yet comfortable' challenges.


Astronomically our slower moving planets Pluto, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn and now Chiron (pronounced Ky-ron and known as the Wounded Healer) a planet asteroid, still un-decided by science.

It is believed the manifestations of the energy of these slower moving planets affect the consciousness of not only the individual but the whole of earth as one, as they progress in their journey and affect us and each other as a WHOLE. A ONE.


At the age of 38-45 some major aspects (astrology jargon - meaning energy forces affecting an individuals map of birth where the slower moving planets mentioned were situated). In other words some major opportunities and challenges are presented having an effect of a certain forced maturity through areas of life that may have not been authenticated as yet. As these planets affect your birth map you can't deny the effects even until it is felt years later.






That's where it gets uncomfortable. Up till now some of us having been living a life that was illusionary in a sense, it was taught by our environment of all its many programmed aspects. Now we have the chance to really have an extra hand from these planets as slow and painful as some of us may feel through, our resistance to our inner truth, potential and purpose on this planet.


Psychology will tell you this age group 'MLC' is painful and prescribe anxiety and depression medication as they rightly understand it. (It can help to relieve some of the pressure and confusion). When a person has lived a life as 'almost another person' the shock and post natal stress is real. These people are asking themselves "who am I if I'm not who I thought I was and what am I going to do about it". "Where do I find the real me?" In abusive marriages one must ask "how they got there." 'MLC' is a powerful stage in our lives to chart a future course into the eventual aspect CHIRON (Known as the Wounded Healer) will offer you wholelistic healing at 50 and a future, planned on the desires of the authentic individual.


Yes mistakes may have been made along the way, addictions wired into our subconscious now have the opportunity to be understood and relearned, thus, rewiring our reactive brain channels that we have been operating in to no avail or help for us or any of our brothers and sisters.

Authentic choices can be made!

'WE ARE ALL ONE'

A subscriber recently wrote to me:
A friend of mine is on a fixed income and has maxed out his credit cards (nearing $10,000). He has started a new business, but currently has no customers or prospects.


He is affirming that he is already successful and debt-free. What is the best way for him? Should he write checks to pay his bills as they arrive, even though the money may not be in his account at the moment? Wouldn't these concrete actions demonstrate his faith?
My Answer:
Faith is a wonderful thing - and very necessary. There are, however, approaches that may look like faith but lead us in risky directions.

Please tell your friend that he needs to pay close attention to "real" actions and concentrate on learning to provide a service to other people that they want. (Note the emphasis is on what "they" want.)

Paying bills with rubber checks isn't an act of faith. It's desperate gambling. I know from hard experience that it's nearly impossible to get the right mindset for real faith or confidence when you're circling the drain.

Your friend needs to get his feet firmly under himself with real money -- even if he has to go tend bar or wash dishes for the extra income for a bit. Honest, it's no disgrace (unless he stays there).

Remember that all faith needs feet. If you're in an airplane on its way down in a power dive, you put on your parachute first. And THEN you do affirmations.

The old biblical phrase "faith without works is dead" means just that - belief needs to be connected organically with action. Productive action. If it's not, then it's not true belief, it's only an attempt to con yourself and the gods.

Too many people hope that they can do affirmations or pray or ASSERT, and this will save them from having to make a decision and take action. But that's not the way it works. Action and affirmations must be bonded together as a single unit and support each other like two legs. Neither faith nor action can stand alone.<





So you might want to tell your friend that positive thinking is good (and absolutely necessary), but positive action is also an essential ingredient.

Simply put, he'll never pray himself up a hill.

When he's willing to take action, with all the stops out, his faith will bring the lucky breaks, the synchronicities, and the chance meetings with just the right people at the right times to help move him forward. But it's the action that anchors all that potentiality into reality. ACTION.

Otherwise, it's all vapor.

"Willing to take action with all the stops out" ... some folks call that enthusiasm, others call it commitment. But it sure boosts the octane.

It's often hard to get people to see that taking a detour on the way to their goals is not a "wrong turn." It's just another way of getting where they're going. Whatever it takes.

Just remember that you don't have to give up on your dreams and goals when some little thing comes along (or not so little). The goal is what's important, not every little step it takes to get there (as long as we remember to TAKE the steps).

I'd guess that the old gremlin of impatience has killed more dreams than any other single influence. It's so common to think, "If I'm not getting there RIGHT NOW, then that's it; I'll never make it."

It might help to think of your vision of your future as a very penetrating stare. It penetrates anything that may seem to block your path. As long as you keep seeing what's in your future, you won't become stalled by the stuff that crops up in front of you today.

This may all sound trite, but it's true, every bit of it. And I learned it all the absolutely hardest way. I lived through it over and over and over and...

But eventually, even a super-dense guy like me can learn, proving that anybody on earth can do it.

oday




Your future is important. It is so important that you need to work on it, today. While they say that the only thing constant about life is change, prepare yourself for this and you have it made. The most important tool you will need on this endeavor is a good education. A constant zest for lifelong learning will help you stay ahead in the present and continuously for the future.

To take the first step toward this, it is important to choose the right vocational school. Not just any vocational school will do. Make sure that you choose to invest your time, effort and future in an accredited vocational school.

Vocation schools are a dime a dozen. Before choosing and enrolling at a vocational school, make sure that the vocational school is accredited with the right organizations. Also, you may find yourself applying for a job that will require from their applicants a degree or at least a certification that you are currently or will enroll at an accredited vocational school.

Don't waste your time, energy and money on second rate vocational schools. Make a vocational school's proper accreditation a main criteria in choosing a vocational school for you. The whole purpose of enrolling and learning at a vocational school is to be enabled and ready to be a productive part of society through the school's skill teaching processes. There is no point in going through this whole process if you are not assured of ready employment afterward.




To avoid this and prevent this from happening, take a look and take note of the accredited vocational schools of prospective employers. It will also be helpful to take closer look at the accreditation of vocational schools you may be interested in attending. To help you get a jumpstart for your search in the right direction of accredited vocational schools, check out the links below.

Arizona Community

Are you in the Arizona area, in search of an accredited vocational school? Then http://www.arizonacommunity.net is the best place to start your search. Log on to this helpful portal to find accredited vocational schools in your area. They have an extensive listing of helpful information to get you one step closer to finding an accredited vocational school.

Vocational School Directory

The name of this site says it all. Find anything and everything about vocational schools through http://www.vocationalschooldirectory.com Their extensive listing will afford you various possibilities for accredited vocational schools you can choose from.

HOPE can open your mind up to considering a wide range of possibilities. Consider how people feel when they have been given the diagnosis of something such as cancer. A friend of mine had this type of devastating news some years ago. She died a number of years later whilst in her early forties. For the purposes of this article, I will refer to her as Anne.
I remember how I felt when I first went to visit Anne at home after she had got the news. I felt sad, angry, disappointed, and anxious. I could not imagine how I would have managed to cope with what I saw as overwhelming and ultimately out of my CONTROL, had I been in her position.


I am aware that what I saw was only snapshots of how she was coping, and that family may have been presented at times with a very different picture .Anne put me at my ease. One of the first comments she made was that she saw this as an OPPORTUNITY for her to take a look at how she was living her life and make CHANGES.


Anne took PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY for finding out as much as she could about her cancer and treatment options and implications of particular choices. She knew at that stage what would be acceptable to her and knew at what time she would resist fighting things further.-A very personal decision. She had thought about how her job fitted in with her PERSONAL VALUES and how it affected her stress levels and family life and had spoken with her husband about what changes could be made here and on what timescale. Methods of cooking, nutritional value of food, cooking styles and best types of pots to use. Anne said that she had been given a chance to do things differently and there was therefore a POSITIVE aspect to her diagnosis
She continued to have a PURPOSE. That was to live as long as possible, with as much quality as she could and to OPTIMISE the length of time she could be around for her children. She continued to have GOALS and therefore it was necessary to PLAN ahead to increase chances of ACHIEVEMENT.


HOPE motivated her to keep on living for as long as possible.Anne experienced an increased value from what she had in life and for what most of us take for granted on a daily basis. Small things became more significant to her. At the same time, she had down spells when small things caused distress which she would normally have been able to shrug off. She gained more from all of her close relationships and made the most of each day. Simple things gave her pleasure.<




When she had "blown up" because of a course of steroids, it felt right for her not to see friends as she didn't want to be seen like this. This was the correct decision at that time for her and she was strong enough to ASSERT herself and see it as her right to say "no, I don't want to see anyone just now." She was true to herself.
With HOPE comes a POSITIVE attitude.


OPTIMISM makes people more likely to SUCCEED.
OPTIMISM makes you feel that you are in CONTROL.
OPTIMISM boosts the IMMUNE system.
OPTIMISTS tend to be more structured.
OPTIMISTS stick to regimes, programmes more frequently so therefore act upon advice of eg doctors.
When things go wrong, OPTIMISTS are less likely to give up.
OPTIMISTS look for the lessons to be learnt from situations.
OPTIMISTS are more RESILIENT and PERSISTANT.
OPTIMISTS see CHALLENGES as opposed to problems.
OPTIMISTS surround themselves with other people, reduce personal stress and boost their immune systems.
OPTIMISTS put themselves in a better position to get good social support, encouragement and feedback. They are also more likely to become aware at an earlier stage if things are going wrong.
OPTIMISTIC people settle for REALISTIC OPTIONS and strive for what they want to achieve.


REMEMBER, OPTIMISTS need to not just feel OPTIMISTIC, but also take RESPONSIBILITY for applying this to their lives, in terms of THOUGHTS, ATTITUDES, and ACTION!


HUMOUR can help to diffuse situations. Anne used this strategy a lot to cope with her hair loss when on chemotherapy and when a psychologist at the hospital had been foolish enough to ask her if she was concerned about her sexuality and her relationship with her husband following major surgery. Her recounting of this still makes me laugh now! (Unfortunately it is not something I could consider putting down on paper.)


HUMOUR makes you LAUGH and helps to get things into perspective.
HUMOUR can be HEALING.
HUMOUR is more likely to get you SUPPORT from others than moaning.
Try LAUGHING and being anxious at the same time, IT'S IMPOSSIBLE!
HUMOUR encourages people to want to be around you.


Try and look for the AMUSING aspects in situations.
MUSIC, LIGHT HEARTED reading, COMEDY can all help to raise your spirits.
LEARN to LET SOME THINGS GO!

Does your mind sometimes feel like a television station you can't quite tune in? You know there's an interesting program on - or several, but everything is mixed with static. What if you could "tune in" at will, have clear thinking whenever you want it? Try some of the following.

Ten Clear Thinking Techniques And Tips

1. Take a walk. Science will eventually prove this to be a great way to improve the quality of your thinking, but don't wait for the proof. Aren't there enough other reasons to take a walk anyhow?

2. Stay away from sugar. If you want to understand what brain fog is, eat a sugary donut on an empty stomach, then do math problems twenty minutes later. What you will experience, along with the "sugar blues," is brain fog. At least lay off sugar and simple carbohydrates when you need to think clearly.

3. Organized space means clear thinking. It's rare that a person can actually work better in clutter. Organised working space means you won't have the thought "where is that..." distracting your mind.

4. Get better sleep. Sleep requirements vary, but the minimum for most is somewhere around five hours. Some suffer if they sleep less than eight hours. The research, however, indicates that after a certain minimum quantity, the quality of sleep is more important to normal brain function.

5. Try meditating. No time? Just close your eyes, relax, and watch your breath for a while. Accept that your mind will wander, but continually return your attention to your breath. Five minutes of this, and afterwards you'll feel a boost in your brainpower.





6. Resolve your "mind irritations." Watch your busy brain. Maybe a call you need to make has been bothering you, just below consciousness. Find these stressors, and do something to let them go. For example, make that call, or put it on a list, and your mind will let go of it for now. Just seeing a problem and saying, "There's nothing I can do about this until Friday," will often stop unconscious worrying.

7. Don't drink alcohol. At least don't drink too much. While moderate amounts can be conducive to creative thinking, all the evidence says that it is bad for the long-term health of your brain.

8. Make decisions quickly. Nothing gets in the way of clear thinking like a dozen decisions hanging around unmade. If nothing else, decide when you'll make the decision.

9. Get some fresh air. Go outside and breath deeply through your nose. You'll get a good dose of oxtgen to your brain, and the change of surroundings can help clear your mind.

10. Satisfy your physical needs. Clear thinking is easier if you aren't too hungry, thirsty, or hot.

You can think more clearly starting today. There are certainly more than ten ways, but you really only need to make a few of them a habit to have a more powerful brain. Why not try one or two right now?

I've had the pleasure and honor to meet some of the world's greatest leaders and leadership gurus, from Sir Richard Branson, General Tommy Franks, and Captain Mike Abrashoff to Dr. Warren Bennis, Dr. Henry Mintzberg, and Tom Peters.

I recently had the opportunity to meet with Bill George, former chairman and chief executive of Medtronic, Inc., the world's leading medical technology company, and author of the best-selling book, Authentic Leadership: Rediscovering the Secrets to Creating Lasting Value.

Bill George speaks boldly against the "shareholders are king" philosophy that has created many of the problems facing businesses today. With corporate accounting scandals rampant and CEOs being handsomely rewarded even while their companies are rushing headlong to failure, George believes that leaders must reexamine their values and principles and refocus their companies on the things that create true sustainable value: satisfied customers serviced through valued employees.

In the pursuit of shareholder – not customer – value, CEOs have been driven to pursue quick riches – almost always at the expense of long-term growth and customer service. Worse, this misguided pursuit of shareholder profits has led some – as evident in Enron, WorldCom, Adelphia, and others – to create the illusion of profitability and growth.

Where's the leadership? In many cases, the leadership is as vaporous as the long-term profits.

Bill George calls on all of us to demonstrate authentic leadership, to return to the core values of sound business. He argues that taking good care of employees and customers will result in a higher stock price than focusing on shareholder value. And his arguments are persuasive. During his tenure as CEO at Medtronic, revenues grew from $750 million in 1989 to $5 billion in 2001. The company's market capitalization rose from around $1 billion to more than $60 billion – a 37.5% growth rate compounded annually.<





Bill George has faced many of the same pressures all leaders face: the CEO cult of personality, the 24/7 workday, the passionate pursuit of earnings, the excesses of ego, and the breach of trust by far too many corporate leaders in the 1990s. In his book, Mr. George draws from his rich experiences – as well as from those of leaders he admires and disdains – to illustrate his five dimensions of authentic leaders:

• Understanding why you want to lead
• Practicing solid values
• Leading with a heart
• Establishing connected relationships
• Showing self-discipline

Terence R. Traut is the president of Entelechy, Inc., a company that helps organizations unlock the potential of their people through customized training programs in the areas of sales, management, customer service, and training. Terence can be reached at 603-424-1237 or ttraut@unlockit.com. Check out Entelechy's website at www.unlockit.com.

It's a talent that everyone has, yet they think they don't. The power of innovation. If you've ever marvelled at somebody's creative prowess, guess what, you can create and innovate too. It just takes time. Everyone is born creative. The box of crayons in kindergarten were not limited to those who possessed potential; because the truth is, everybody has potential.

You know how long it took to learn to ride a bike or drive or to never commit the same mistake again? It's the same with innovation. It takes a bit of practice and a lot of time before this mind function comes easily when called. This article will teach you a few tips on how to bring innovation into your life.

Don't listen to what other people say. Follow the beat of your own drum. Allowing for the input of other people will only bring cacophony to the music you are trying to make. If you have an original idea, don't waste your time and effort trying to make people understand. They won't. And the help you will probably get comes in the form of negative feedback. If all those geniuses listened to their peers, we would probably still be living in the middle ages.

Spend time on it. I cannot stress that enough, although, please do not mistake this tip to tell you to quit your day job entirely. Do not. This involves some tricky time management but with a little discipline you'll be able to squeeze both in.

Exercise. Take a walk. Run a mile or two. Send all those endorphins coursing through your veins. Exercising certainly clears and relaxes your mind and allows for anything to pop up.

Record your dreams. Aren't some of them just the craziest things that your conscious mind would never have thought of? If you've had these dreams before, and I'm sure have, this only shows you the untapped innovative power you have lying within. So jot down those notes. Those dreams may just create an innovative spark in you.

Find your own style. You can always tell a Van Gogh from a Matisse. You'll know Hemingway wrote something by the choice of words on the paper. So it is the same with you. People will appreciate your innovation more because it is uniquely yours and that no one else would have thought of what you were thinking. That will let people see how valuable an asset you are. <





Don't hide behind nifty gadgets or tools. You don't need the most expensive set of paints to produce a masterpiece. The same way with writing. You don't need some expensive fountain pen and really smooth paper for a bestseller. In fact, J.K. Rowling wrote the first book of the Harry Potter Series on bits of tissue. So what if you've got an expensive SLR camera if you're a crappy photographer? Who cares if you've got a blinging laptop if you can't write at all? The artist actually reduces the number of tools he has as he gets better at his craft: he knows what works and what doesn't.

Nothing will work without passion. What wakes you up in the mornings? What keeps the flame burning? What is the one thing that you'll die if you don't do? Sometimes people with talent are overtaken by the people who want it more. Think the hare and the tortoise. Ellen Degeneres once said that if you're not doing something that you want to do, then you don't really want to do it. And that's true. Sometimes you just want something so bad you become a virtual unstoppable. And that is passion. Passion will keep you going.

Don't worry about inspiration. You can't force it; inspiration hits when you least expect it to, for those unpredictable yet inevitable moments you should prepare. An idea could strike you on the subway, yet alas, you poor unfortunate soul; you have no sheet of paper to scribble down a thought that could change the world. Avoid these disasters. Have a pen and paper within your arm's reach at all times.

I hope this article has helped you bring more innovation into your life. Keep in mind that you're doing these things for your own satisfaction and not anybody else's. But soon enough they will notice, and everything should snowball from there.

More self-improvement related info can be found from internet's most complete resource at http://www.selfimprovement.thegreat.info

Letter: "I don't know why I'm writing this - it's so unlike me to actually feel 'hopeless.' I am a single mom raising two teenaged boys. After my youngest was assaulted on the way to school last year, I quit a decent job in television to start my own marketing/p.r. business out of my home. I had two clients that, at the time, which enabled me to make more than I had working for the tv station. And then in March, one of the clients and I parted ways. We had very different expectations. Ultimately, we each had contrasting views over what my role would be. That cut my income in half.

I have attracted one new client - but at a third of what my former client paid. And now, I'm in debt (deeply). And now, I'm in debt (deeply), my account is overdrawn because my other significant client "got behind" and didn't put in my automatic payment into my account until yesterday - and it takes 24-72 hours for it to show up (they had told me it was going to be put in last Thursday)! My ex's child support is late and I don't even have enough money to pay for groceries until the money shows up. I'm terrified that checks will bounce and I'll be left with nothing.

I can't sleep. My stomach is in knots. I almost feel as if my kids would be better off with their dad. He's very well off and could afford to give them everything I can't.

I don't know how to get out of this poverty mentality. I don't know why I have such feelings of lack when it comes to my finances. Tomorrow I have a meeting with a potential client and I can't even focus on putting together a presentation for him. It's as if I already know that he won't want to work with me, let alone PAY me. I get so up for things, I have such great expectations and then everything falls flat.

In ALL other areas of my life, I'm doing well. My kids are terrific - good hearts, straight-A students, excellent athletes. I don't have weight issues.
I don't have problems with my relationships with the opposite sex. It's just that MONEY seems to be slipping out of my grasp.

Quite honestly, I do believe that money buys a fair amount of happiness. At least for me, knowing what I've gone through these past years, it would buy some peace of mind. And that's what I want. Freedom and peace of mind. To go where I want. To do what I want. To FEEL how I want to feel.

Can you help me get out of this negative spiral?"
A Reader

Rebecca's reply:

"Dear Reader,

Thanks so much for writing. And I hope you are feeling better. YEP. I've been there a few times. I can remember days when all I could do was walk around the house saying, 'I just want to feel good' over and over. Eventually, I did start to feel better. Now, feeling good is my dominant feeling.

Actually, you are an excellent 'attractor'--look at what you are telling your self about money and then notice how you are attracting more of the same.

If I were coaching you, I would ask you to take a piece of paper, and draw a big letter T on it. Then label the left column "I don't want" and the right hand column, '"I do want".

First make a list of everything you don't want. Just use the letter you sent to me and write down stuff like:

I don't want clients paying me late.
I don't want cheap clients who can't afford to pay what I'm worth.
I don't want child support payments to be late.
Get all the negatives OUT of yourself and onto paper.

Then go through each item, and ask your self, "If I don't want this, what do I want?" and write down what you DO want in the right hand column.

When you've written a 'Do Want' for each item on the left, FOLD THE PAPER down the middle so you are looking at the 'Do Want' list. Keep that list in front of you at all times. Start to imagine what it would feel like having clients who JOYFULLY pay for your services. How wonderful it is when the Child Support checks arrive a day early! Work at keeping your FOCUS on what you DO WANT. If you start to think or talk about something on the 'Don't Want' side, just say, "I've dealt with that, AND what I DO want is…"

The T-tool is the BEST Law of Attraction Tool for getting clarity! And once you have clarity, what you want IS on its way to you.

Basic mindfulness exercises put you in a state of awareness where distractions are let go, and your mind power is able to function more effectively. They help you think more clearly and concentrate better. They are also easy exercises to do.

More Mind Power in Minutes

A basic mindfulness exercise starts with sitting down, relaxing and breathing deeply through your nose. Close your eyes and be aware of your breath going in and out. After a minute, move your attention to your body, one part at a time, noting sensations of cold, hot, tight, sore and anything else you identify. In a few minutes, start listening to sounds in the room, without thinking about them. Just listen.

When it feels right, open your eyes and look around as if you are seeing for the first time. Rest your eyes on an object for half a minute, examining it without talking about it in your mind. Then move to another object, and another, while still maintaining an awareness of your body, your breathing, and any sounds. Stay in this state of mindfulness until you are ready to get up.

Being aware of your body, breath and immediate enviroment, puts you more fully "in the moment." Your mind is in a very receptive state, with fewer mental distractions that prevent clear thinking. Doing a mindfulness exercise before important mental tasks will give you greater mind power, specifically more focus and concentration.

An Even Easier Mindfulness Trick

Try this one today: When you feel stressed, stop, and carefully watch yourself to identify what's bothering you. Maybe you're expecting something bad to happen, or an argument is going on just below the surface of your consciousness, or you're worried about something, or in pain in some way. Make a note of everything you find.

Then deal with these mind-irritants. Make a phone call that's on your mind, take an aspirin, apologise to whomever you were fighting with. Write things on tomorrow's list, to get them off your mind. If there's nothing you can do right now, tell yourself that. Do this exercise, and you'll feel less stressed, and more able to concentrate on the tasks at hand. You'll have more mind power today.

Teaching a child the fundamentals of reading involves helping them learn the sounds each of the letters make and then joining those sounds together to form words. It's amazing watching and listening to a child as they string sounds together and make a word. They are thrilled and excited at their accomplishment and for the parent or teacher guiding them, it's a wonderful moment.

Children use this skill to learn new words as they begin to grow. Over time they are able to recognize words and instead of sounding the letters out individually they recall the entire word from memory. As the child grows and reads more and more they are able to read at a faster rate because they recognize many of the words.

One of the principles of speed reading is very much the same. The speed reader picks out the words in the text that they are reading that are essentially keywords. They are the words that stand out and hook the reader. By focusing on these words they are able to get a good grasp of the information and can do that without reading the material word for word. Having the ability to do this would obviously speed up anyone's reading time substantially.

Another approach that some people who are adept at speed reading use is they very quickly scan the book or document they will be reading and pick out important words and phrases that give them a general idea of the information. After doing this, they read the material through briskly, absorbing more. This approach gives them an overview of the information during the first quick scan and then the second read through gives the speed reader a complete picture.





By approaching their reading in this way they are able to grasp the most pertinent information and when they are done speed reading it, they will have a good understanding of the context. This approach works well and it is used by many people who are able to speed read. It can also work for people who have to retain a substantial amount of information in a short amount of time. They may not consider themselves speed readers but they are, in the sense that whenever you scan a newspaper article or a magazine looking for specific information you are picking out certain phrases. You may not read the entire text of the piece, but you certainly have absorbed the major points of it and have a better than average understanding of it.

Everyone can gain useful information by quickly scanning text before thoroughly reading the material. Although it's a technique that aids in speed reading, it can help the average person retain more information as well. Your mind focuses in on the key phrases during the first go through and as you read through a second time you pick up and absorb even more information.

Although not everyone has the desire to learn how to speed read, there are small tips we can take from those who do, that can help in our everyday reading adventures.

With the exception of Nietzsche, no other madman has contributed so much to human sanity as has Louis Althusser. He is mentioned twice in the Encyclopaedia Britannica as someone's teacher. There could be no greater lapse: for two important decades (the 60s and the 70s), Althusser was at the eye of all the important cultural storms. He fathered quite a few of them.

This newly-found obscurity forces me to summarize his work before suggesting a few (minor) modifications to it.

(1) Society consists of practices: economic, political and ideological.

Althusser defines a practice as:

"Any process of transformation of a determinate product, affected
by a determinate human labour, using determinate means (of production)"

The economic practice (the historically specific mode of production) transforms raw materials to finished products using human labour and other means of production, all organized within defined webs of inter-relations. The political practice does the same with social relations as the raw materials. Finally, ideology is the transformation of the way that a subject relates to his real life conditions of existence.

This is a rejection of the mechanistic worldview (replete with bases and superstructures). It is a rejection of the Marxist theorization of ideology. It is a rejection of the Hegelian fascist "social totality". It is a dynamic, revealing, modern day model.

In it, the very existence and reproduction of the social base (not merely its expression) is dependent upon the social superstructure. The superstructure is "relatively autonomous" and ideology has a central part in it - see entry about Marx and Engels and entry concerning Hegel.

The economic structure is determinant but another structure could be dominant, depending on the historical conjuncture. Determination (now called over-determination - see Note) specifies the form of economic production upon which the dominant practice depends. Put otherwise: the economic is determinant not because the practices of the social formation (political and ideological) are the social formation's expressive epiphenomena - but because it determines WHICH of them is dominant.

(2) People relate to the conditions of existence through the practice of ideology. Contradictions are smoothed over and (real) problems are offered false (though seemingly true) solutions. Thus, ideology has a realistic dimension - and a dimension of representations (myths, concepts, ideas, images). There is (harsh, conflicting) reality - and the way that we represent it both to ourselves and to others.

(3) To achieve the above, ideology must not be seen to err or, worse, remain speechless. It, therefore, confronts and poses (to itself) only answerable questions. This way, it remains confined to a fabulous, legendary, contradiction-free domain. It ignores other questions altogether.

(4) Althusser introduced the concept of "The Problematic":

"The objective internal reference ... the system of questions
commanding the answers given"

It determines which problems, questions and answers are part of the game - and which should be blacklisted and never as much as mentioned. It is a structure of theory (ideology), a framework and the repertoire of discourses which - ultimately - yield a text or a practice. All the rest is excluded.

It, therefore, becomes clear that what is omitted is of no less importance than what is included in a text. The problematic of a text relates to its historical context ("moment") by incorporating both: inclusions as well as omissions, presences as much as absences. The problematic of the text fosters the generation of answers to posed questions - and of defective answers to excluded questions.

(5) The task of "scientific" (e.g., Marxist) discourse, of Althusserian critical practice is to deconstruct the problematic, to read through ideology and evidence the real conditions of existence. This is a "symptomatic reading" of TWO TEXTS:

"It divulges the undivulged event in the text that it reads and, in the
same movement, relates to it a different text, present, as a necessary
absence, in the first ... (Marx's reading of Adam Smith) presupposes
the existence of two texts and the measurement of the first against
the second. But what distinguishes this new reading from the old,
is the fact that in the new one, the second text is articulated with the
lapses in the first text ... (Marx measures) the problematic contained
in the paradox of an answer which does not correspond to any questions posed."

Althusser is contrasting the manifest text with a latent text which is the result of the lapses, distortions, silences and absences in the manifest text. The latent text is the "diary of the struggle" of the unposed question to be posed and answered.

(6) Ideology is a practice with lived and material dimensions. It has costumes, rituals, behaviour patterns, ways of thinking. The State employs Ideological Apparatuses (ISAs) to reproduce ideology through practices and productions: (organized) religion, the education system, the family, (organized) politics, the media, the industries of culture.

"All ideology has the function (which defines it) of 'constructing'
concrete individuals as subjects"

Subjects to what? The answer: to the material practices of the ideology. This (the creation of subjects) is done by the acts of "hailing" or "interpellation". These are acts of attracting attention (hailing) , forcing the individuals to generate meaning (interpretation) and making them participate in the practice.

These theoretical tools were widely used to analyze the Advertising and the film industries.

The ideology of consumption (which is, undeniably, the most material of all practices) uses advertising to transform individuals to subjects (=to consumers). It uses advertising to interpellate them. The advertisements attract attention, force people to introduce meaning to them and, as a result, to consume. The most famous example is the use of "People like you (buy this or do that)" in ads. The reader / viewer is interpellated both as an individual ("you") and as a member of a group ("people like..."). He occupies the empty (imaginary) space of the "you" in the ad. This is ideological "misrecognition". First, many others misrecognize themselves as that "you" (an impossibility in the real world). Secondly, the misrecognized "you" exists only in the ad because it was created by it, it has no real world correlate.

The reader or viewer of the ad is transformed into the subject of (and subject to) the material practice of the ideology (consumption, in this case).

Althusser was a Marxist. The dominant mode of production in his days (and even more so today) was capitalism. His implied criticism of the material dimensions of ideological practices should be taken with more than a grain of salt. Interpellated by the ideology of Marxism himself, he generalized on his personal experience and described ideologies as infallible, omnipotent, ever successful. Ideologies, to him, were impeccably functioning machines which can always be relied upon to reproduce subjects with all the habits and thought patterns required by the dominant mode of production.

And this is where Althusser fails, trapped by dogmatism and more than a touch of paranoia. He neglects to treat two all-important questions (his problematic may have not allowed it):




(a) What do ideologies look for? Why do they engage in their practice? What is the ultimate goal?

(b) What happens in a pluralistic environment rich in competing ideologies?

Althusser stipulates the existence of two texts, manifest and hidden. The latter co-exists with the former, very much as a black figure defines its white background. The background is also a figure and it is only arbitrarily - the result of historical conditioning - that we bestow a preferred status upon the one. The latent text can be extracted from the manifest one by listening to the absences, the lapses and the silences in the manifest text.

But: what dictates the laws of extraction? how do we know that the latent text thus exposed is THE right one? Surely, there must exist a procedure of comparison, authentication and verification of the latent text?

A comparison of the resulting latent text to the manifest text from which it was extracted would be futile because it would be recursive. This is not even a process of iteration. It is teutological. There must exist a THIRD, "master-text", a privileged text, historically invariant, reliable, unequivocal (indifferent to interpretation-frameworks), universally accessible, atemporal and non-spatial. This third text is COMPLETE in the sense that it includes both the manifest and the latent. Actually, it should include all the possible texts (a LIBRARY function). The historical moment will determine which of them will be manifest and which latent, according to the needs of the mode of production and the various practices. Not all these texts will be conscious and accessible to the individual but such a text would embody and dictate the rules of comparison between the manifest text and ITSELF (the Third Text) , being the COMPLETE text.

Only through a comparison between a partial text and a complete text can the deficiencies of the partial text be exposed. A comparison between partial texts will yield no certain results and a comparison between the text and itself (as Althusser suggests) is absolutely meaningless.

This Third Text is the human psyche. We constantly compare texts that we read to this Third Text, a copy of which we all carry with us. We are unaware of most of the texts incorporated in this master text of ours. When faced with a manifest text which is new to us, we first "download" the "rules of comparison (engagement)". We sift through the manifest text. We compare it to our COMPLETE master text and see which parts are missing. These constitute the latent text. The manifest text serves as a trigger which brings to our consciousness appropriate and relevant portions of the Third Text. It also generates the latent text in us.

If this sounds familiar it is because this pattern of confronting (the manifest text), comparing (with our master text) and storing the results (the latent text and the manifest text are brought to consciousness) - is used by mother nature itself. The DNA is such a "Master Text, Third Text". It includes all the genetic-biological texts some manifest, some latent. Only stimuli in its environment (=a manifest text) can provoke it to generate its own (hitherto latent) "text". The same would apply to computer applications.

The Third Text, therefore, has an invariant nature (it includes all possible texts) - and, yet, is changeable by interacting with manifest texts. This contradiction is only apparent. The Third Text does not change - only different parts of it are brought to our awareness as a result of the interaction with the manifest text. We can also safely say that one does not need to be an Althusserian critic or engage in "scientific" discourse to deconstruct the problematic. Every reader of text immediately and always deconstructs it. The very act of reading involves comparison with the Third Text which inevitably leads to the generation of a latent text.

And this precisely is why some interpellations fail. The subject deconstructs every message even if he is not trained in critical practice. He is interpellated or fails to be interpellated depending on what latent message was generated through the comparison with the Third Text. And because the Third Text includes ALL possible texts, the subject is given to numerous competing interpellations offered by many ideologies, mostly at odds with each other. The subject is in an environment of COMPETING INTERPELLATIONS (especially in this day and age of information glut). The failure of one interpellation - normally means the success of another (whose interpellation is based on the latent text generated in the comparison process or on a manifest text of its own, or on a latent text generated by another text).

There are competing ideologies even in the most severe of authoritarian regimes. Sometimes, IASs within the same social formation offer competing ideologies: the political Party, the Church, the Family, the Army, the Media, the Civilian Regime, the Bureaucracy. To assume that interpellations are offered to the potential subjects successively (and not in parallel) defies experience (though it does simplify the thought-system).

Clarifying the HOW, though, does not shed light on the WHY.

Advertising leads to the interpellation of the subject to effect the material practice of consumption. Put more simply: there is money involved. Other ideologies - propagated through organized religions, for instance - lead to prayer. Could this be the material practice that they are looking for? No way. Money, prayer, the very ability to interpellate - they are all representations of power over other human beings. The business concern, the church, the political party, the family, the media, the culture industries - are all looking for the same thing: influence, power, might. Absurdly, interpellation is used to secure one paramount thing: the ability to interpellate. Behind every material practice stands a psychological practice (very much as the Third Text - the psyche - stands behind every text, latent or manifest).

The media could be different: money, spiritual prowess, physical brutality, subtle messages. But everyone (even individuals in their private life) is looking to hail and interpellate others and thus manipulate them to succumb to their material practices. A short sighted view would say that the businessman interpellates in order to make money. But the important question is: what ever for? What drives ideologies to establish material practices and to interpellate people to participate in them and become subjects? The will to power. the wish to be able to interpellate. It is this cyclical nature of Althusser's teachings (ideologies interpellate in order to be able to interpellate) and his dogmatic approach (ideologies never fail) which doomed his otherwise brilliant observations to oblivion.

Note

In Althusser's writings the Marxist determination remains as Over-determination. This is a structured articulation of a number of contradictions and determinations (between the practices). This is very reminiscent of Freud's Dream Theory and of the concept of Superposition in Quantum Mechanics.

Detroit Schools Partner for Engineering Success




The Detroit Schools has partnered with local universities to get students thinking about careers in science and engineering. Students at different levels of the Detroit Public Schools are being targeted in a statewide effort to get more women and minorities enrolled in engineering programs. One program that makes this its mission is the Detroit Area Pre College Engineering Program (DAPCEP).

The Detroit Area Pre College Engineering Program

DAPCEP works with area students in three main ways. It partners with local public school teachers to design a curriculum that encourages creative thinking in the sciences. To fulfill this goal, DAPCEP sponsors science fairs, field trips, and university seminars for students and teachers.

DAPCEP also runs a Saturday program in conjunction with local universities and corporations to provide enrichments activities for students in grades 4 – 12. These activities focus on different aspects of math, computer science, engineering, physics, chemistry, and communication skills.

In addition to its programs during the school year, DAPCEP brings local public school students into universities for summer programs. Some of the summer programs are residential, with students living on campus for a few weeks and getting a real taste for the college life. Other programs provide transportation to and from campus.

University Partnerships
DAPCEP's list of university partners is certainly impressive.
• University of Detroit Mercy
• Michigan State University
• University of Michigan Ann Arbor
• Wayne State University
• Lawrence Technical University
• Oakland University
• University of Michigan Dearborn
• Michigan Technological University

The Little Engineer Program

In addition to their very successful middle school and high school programs, DAPCEP also has something for smaller learners. Its Little Engineer Program is for students in grades K – 3. These Saturday classes for both children and their parents focus on teaching and learning math, science, pre-engineering, and reading.




How to Join DAPCEP

The selection process for DAPCEP can be daunting for parents anxious to give this opportunity to their children. DAPCEP holds an open house each fall for prospective students and parents. Students must maintain a 2.0 Grade Point Average in all their school subjects. Other factors, such as attendance, and taking certain academic subjects in the regular school curriculum, such as physics, chemistry, and higher level math, also play a role in student selection. For many programs, students also need letters of recommendation from their math and science teachers.

Summer Course Offerings

DAPCEP's university partnerships are providing a range of summer courses of Detroit area students. Here are some highlights:

• Watershed Investigators (University of Detroit Mercy)
Students will investigate local water quality in a series of real – world experiments.
• How Math Rocks Our World (Tabernacle)
Students will see how their math and science skills compare with other students around the world, in particular China and India.
• Wireless Integrated Microsystems (Michigan State University)
Hands – on activities and presentations from nine different engineering majors offered at the university.
• Engineering Intensive Workshop ( Michigan Technological University)
Students choose two areas of study, ranging from Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Aided Engineering, Computer Programming, Material Engineering, Chemical Engineering and others.

All of the DAPCEP programs emphasize the Detroit Area Public School District's commitment to ensuring that students have the opportunity to explore many challenging areas and gain further insights into the college experience.


in K12 Education

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Self Esteem

When you're learning about something new, it's easy to feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of relevant information available. This informative article should help you focus on the central points.

So how do you stay calm, composed and maintain self esteem in a tough environment? Here are some tips you may to consider as a starter guide to self improvement.

Imagine yourself as a Dart Board. Everything and everyone else around you may become Dart Pins, at one point or another. These dart pins will destroy your self esteem and pull you down in ways you won't even remember. Don't let them destroy you, or get the best of you. So which dart pins should you avoid?

Dart Pin #1 : Negative Work Environment
Beware of "dog eat dog" theory where everyone else is fighting just to get ahead. This is where non-appreciative people usually thrive. No one will appreciate your contributions even if you miss lunch and dinner, and stay up late. Most of the time you get to work too much without getting help from people concerned. Stay out of this, it will ruin your self esteem. Competition is at stake anywhere. Be healthy enough to compete, but in a healthy competition that is.

Dart Pin #2: Other People's Behavior
Bulldozers, brown nosers, gossipmongers, whiners, backstabbers, snipers, people walking wounded, controllers, naggers, complainers, exploders, patronizers, sluffers… all these kinds of people will pose bad vibes for your self esteem, as well as to your self improvement scheme.

Dart Pin #3: Changing Environment
You can't be a green bug on a brown field. Changes challenge our paradigms. It tests our flexibility, adaptability and alters the way we think. Changes will make life difficult for awhile, it may cause stress but it will help us find ways to improve our selves. Change will be there forever, we must be susceptible to it.

Truthfully, the only difference between you and Self esteem experts is time. If you'll invest a little more time in reading, you'll be that much nearer to expert status when it comes to Self esteem.

Dart Pin #4: Past Experience
It's okay to cry and say "ouch!" when we experience pain. But don't let pain transform itself into fear. It might grab you by the tail and swing you around. Treat each failure and mistake as a lesson.

Dart Pin #5: Negative World View
Look at what you're looking at. Don't wrap yourself up with all the negativities of the world. In building self esteem, we must learn how to make the best out of worst situations





Dart Pin #6: Determination Theory
The way you are and your behavioral traits is said to be a mixed end product of your inherited traits (genetics), your upbringing (psychic), and your environmental surroundings such as your spouse, the company, the economy or your circle of friends. You have your own identity. If your father is a failure, it doesn't mean you have to be a failure too. Learn from other people's experience, so you'll never have to encounter the same mistakes.

Sometimes, you may want to wonder if some people are born leaders or positive thinkers. NO. Being positive, and staying positive is a choice. Building self esteem and drawing lines for self improvement is a choice, not a rule or a talent. God wouldn't come down from heaven and tell you – "George, you may now have the permission to build self esteem and improve your self."

In life, its hard to stay tough specially when things and people around you keep pulling you down. When we get to the battle field, we should choose the right luggage to bring and armors to use, and pick those that are bullet proof. Life's options give us arrays of more options. Along the battle, we will get hit and bruised. And wearing a bullet proof armor ideally means 'self change'. The kind of change which comes from within. Voluntarily. Armor or Self Change changes 3 things: our attitude, our behavior and our way of thinking.

Building self esteem will eventually lead to self improvement if we start to become responsible for who we are, what we have and what we do. Its like a flame that should gradually spread like a brush fire from inside and out. When we develop self esteem, we take control of our mission, values and discipline. Self esteem brings about self improvement, true assessment, and determination. So how do you start putting up the building blocks of self esteem? Be positive. Be contented and happy. Be appreciative. Never miss an opportunity to compliment. A positive way of living will help you build self esteem, your starter guide to self improvement.

There's a lot to understand about Self esteem. We were able to provide you with some of the facts above, but there is still plenty more to write about in subsequent articles.

Personality assessment is perhaps more an art form than a science. In an attempt to render it as objective and standardized as possible, generations of clinicians came up with psychological tests and structured interviews. These are administered under similar conditions and use identical stimuli to elicit information from respondents. Thus, any disparity in the responses of the subjects can and is attributed to the idiosyncrasies of their personalities.
Moreover, most tests restrict the repertory of permitted of answers. "True" or "false" are the only allowed reactions to the questions in the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory II (MMPI-II), for instance. Scoring or keying the results is also an automatic process wherein all "true" responses get one or more points on one or more scales and all "false" responses get none.
This limits the involvement of the diagnostician to the interpretation of the test results (the scale scores). Admittedly, interpretation is arguably more important than data gathering. Thus, inevitably biased human input cannot and is not avoided in the process of personality assessment and evaluation. But its pernicious effect is somewhat reined in by the systematic and impartial nature of the underlying instruments (tests).

Still, rather than rely on one questionnaire and its interpretation, most practitioners administer to the same subject a battery of tests and structured interviews. These often vary in important aspects: their response formats, stimuli, procedures of administration, and scoring methodology. Moreover, in order to establish a test's reliability, many diagnosticians administer it repeatedly over time to the same client. If the interpreted results are more or less the same, the test is said to be reliable.

The outcomes of various tests must fit in with each other. Put together, they must provide a consistent and coherent picture. If one test yields readings that are constantly at odds with the conclusions of other questionnaires or interviews, it may not be valid. In other words, it may not be measuring what it claims to be measuring.




Thus, a test quantifying one's grandiosity must conform to the scores of tests which measure reluctance to admit failings or propensity to present a socially desirable and inflated facade ("False Self"). If a grandiosity test is positively related to irrelevant, conceptually independent traits, such as intelligence or depression, it does not render it valid.

Most tests are either objective or projective. The psychologist George Kelly offered this tongue-in-cheek definition of both in a 1958 article titled "Man's construction of his alternatives" (included in the book "The Assessment of Human Motives", edited by G.Lindzey):

"When the subject is asked to guess what the examiner is thinking, we call it an objective test; when the examiner tries to guess what the subject is thinking, we call it a projective device."

The scoring of objective tests is computerized (no human input). Examples of such standardized instruments include the MMPI-II, the California Psychological Inventory (CPI), and the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory II. Of course, a human finally gleans the meaning of the data gathered by these questionnaires. Interpretation ultimately depends on the knowledge, training, experience, skills, and natural gifts of the therapist or diagnostician.

Projective tests are far less structured and thus a lot more ambiguous. As L. K.Frank observed in a 1939 article titled "Projective methods for the study of personality":

"(The patient's responses to such tests are projections of his) way of seeing life, his meanings, signficances, patterns, and especially his feelings."

In projective tests, the responses are not constrained and scoring is done exclusively by humans and involves judgment (and, thus, a modicum of bias). Clinicians rarely agree on the same interpretation and often use competing methods of scoring, yielding disparate results. The diagnostician's personality comes into prominent play. The best known of these "tests" is the Rorschach set of inkblots.

Why do we need structure? Why does the desire for the cubicle life consume us all? What is it about money and the white picket fence that dismantles our dreams, destroys our imagination and devalues the sense of adventure in people?

From the time we enter kindergarten until the time we exit college we are poked and prodded and led in the direction of the average; of the middle-class. Athletic dreams are squashed at an early age save the very few exceptional talents, artistic pursuits deemed unnecessary unless you are the second-coming of Picasso or Shakespeare, traveling and seeing this incredible world first hand is to be put off in favor of your "education" and "real life".

There is such an immense aversion to failing that in an attempt to shelter our children from the pain of it, we, as a society, encourage them to be average, conservative, and just like everyone else. It's as if we believe by setting our goals low enough we can all achieve perfection but perfection is not interesting. Being faulty is. Symmetry is not as exciting as asymmetry and straight is not as fun as winding.

Where's the adventure in going to school, studying all the time to get your meaningless to anyone, but yourself, "A" average, getting a job, making a good salary, raising two kids with your wife and dying after your retirement in Florida?




My uncle spent eleven years traveling through Europe and Africa before coming home after getting sick in India - that man has stories to tell. What does Joe in accounting have? Tabloid headlines.

People end up living their lives vicariously rather than accomplishing their goals by themselves. The worst example of this is sports parents pushing their kids, for their own personal glory, to the point of hating the sport they're playing. Sure your kid may be a champ at fifteen, but when he's a nervous wreck who can't hold a steady job or find a girlfriend who can tolerate his constant bouts of depression we'll see how proud you are of your accomplishments then.

What good is an imagination if you don't believe in it or dreams, if you don't attempt to follow them? And what's so scary about failing anyway? I do it all the time and it always makes me more interesting and more intelligent. Sure, it's uncomfortable sometimes: awkward situations, apologies for mistakes, but so what? No one can go through life without being uncomfortable ever, so why make such a fuss about it. I say develop some ideals, see the world, turn off your TV, turn on your mind and live life.

And if you get all-in with bad cards have the guts to ante up again and play another hand cause who knows this time it might be rockets.

Despite what you might think most people have issues with their confidence and would like to be more assertive and care-free. In this article I write about how I gained more confidence and overcome some of the fears and phobias in my life.

Growing up I felt very sorry for myself as I had many things which affected my confidence and made life a struggle. I had a severe stuttering problem, was quite short for a male at five foot four, I had a bald patch on my head and was also quite fat. I would appreciate if you stop laughing at this point, I have had that all my life.

I was most desperate to overcome the stutter and aged twenty-two decided to try to achieve fluency. As well as looking into the physical aspects of speech such as breathing, I also studied the mental as I realised I needed to change the way I thought and my approach to life. I was someone who constantly worried about everything, I even had grey hair by the age of twenty-one.

I read many books on the subjects of confidence, self esteem and positive thinking. In one of these books, I read a chapter which explained about the fact that we all have issues in life and things about our person that we would like to change. That was certainly me, so I continued to read. There are many things in life that we are not happy with, some we can change, some we can not. The things we are unable to change, we have to learn to live with and to accept and the things we can change, we have to change however hard that might be.

I thought about this and because hair will never grow on the bald patch and the fact that I will never grow taller, these were two aspects of my life that I realised I would have to accept.

The speech problem and weight were areas I could change. To lose the excess weight and to overcome the stutter were not easy and took a long time. This though has changed my life to such a degree, where as a career I now help other people to achieve fluency.

Stephen Hill has a number of websites including:

http://www.stammering-stuttering.co.uk
http://www.impotence-male.co.uk
http://www.attention-deficit-disorder.co.uk

Despite what you might think most people have issues with their confidence and would like to be more assertive and care-free. In this article I write about how I gained more confidence and overcome some of the fears and phobias in my life.

Growing up I felt very sorry for myself as I had many things which affected my confidence and made life a struggle. I had a severe stuttering problem, was quite short for a male at five foot four, I had a bald patch on my head and was also quite fat. I would appreciate if you stop laughing at this point, I have had that all my life.

I was most desperate to overcome the stutter and aged twenty-two decided to try to achieve fluency. As well as looking into the physical aspects of speech such as breathing, I also studied the mental as I realised I needed to change the way I thought and my approach to life. I was someone who constantly worried about everything, I even had grey hair by the age of twenty-one.

I read many books on the subjects of confidence, self esteem and positive thinking. In one of these books, I read a chapter which explained about the fact that we all have issues in life and things about our person that we would like to change. That was certainly me, so I continued to read. There are many things in life that we are not happy with, some we can change, some we can not. The things we are unable to change, we have to learn to live with and to accept and the things we can change, we have to change however hard that might be.

I thought about this and because hair will never grow on the bald patch and the fact that I will never grow taller, these were two aspects of my life that I realised I would have to accept.

The speech problem and weight were areas I could change. To lose the excess weight and to overcome the stutter were not easy and took a long time. This though has changed my life to such a degree, where as a career I now help other people to achieve fluency.

Many people try to hold a raging fire within themselves, but it restlessly and relentlessly gnaws at their core. Some have tried to cover it up with alcohol, numb it with drugs, hide it with shopping, kids, work, or religion, or fuel it with sex. The Baby Boomers looked for eternal youth and to change the world. They thought they would never grow up, but they did. They thought they would change the world and they did.

The previous generation looked for the American Dream. Some found it. Many did not. The present generation seems to be seeking success. Yet, the gap between the "haves" and the "have nots" widens. Each generation and each individual, in turn, searches for something, but it often slips from their grasp.
The fire carries both energy and discomfort. The key is to use the discomfort as a motivator and the energy as fuel.

Redfield in the "Celestine Prophecy" talks of the need for a historical perspective. The first man or woman met his/her physical needs. Then he or she explored and conquered the world and put it to their collective service. Now we seek something and we don't seem to know what it is.

When we are connected to our roots and our souls, passion rises quickly and pushes us the next level of life or learning or love. It does not have to be love of a mate. It could be creative passion, fueling what we do for ourselves, work, community, or family. Anything where the totality of who you are is absorbed in the doing, requires passion. To loose it, is soul death, or at least deep sleep. It will cry to be heard when it sleeps.

I've sometimes been afraid of my passion. It seems so fierce at times. I guess I fear it will consume me and nothing else will matter. I know that can happen. I've had a small taste of it when I work for hours into the night, so absorbed by my work that I forget time, sleeping, and eating. But, I also know that I must have time in my life to live the every day life of doing the mundane things that must be done. Balance is probably still the key, but you must not loose your passion all together. Your life will be too dry and dull without it.

Remember your first love? Nothing else mattered. You felt as if you would walk to the ends of the earth for that love. Remember that? While that first passionate, all consuming love does not last, it gives us a taste of a force within ourselves that carries tremendous energy. Look for your passion and it will find you.

The largest collection of matter on leadership.

leadership is a word we come across quite regularly on radios, television and newspaper. We have now also made it accessible in article markets.

If you are planning to build a wonderful career, maybe you should first go through some preliminary training. Nowadays, there are very successful leadership programs being developed. Leadership programs will help you to acquire some very necessary skills. Leadership programs will give you the needed power to achieve the best both in your career as well as in your personal life. Leadership programs will be the management-training program you are looking for. As well as good professional training, they will help you gain self-confidence and self-respect, things that are very helpful in your private life. These programs are undoubtedly a very effective way to gain the assurances that you will need to be ready for a prosperous career and life.

Writing an article on leadership was our foremost priority while thinking of a topic to write on. This is because leadership are interesting parts of our lives, and are needed by us.

We have included some fresh and interesting information on leadership. In this way, you are updated on the developments of leadership.

I know from experience that a leadership program can easily improve and perfect a person because I have been teaching leadership courses for years. If you go to a leadership program with the right attitude, confident that you desire success, you will become a perfectly changed person. Naturally, there are people who challenge the necessity of the leadership programs. The success of the leadership programs depends usually on the way they are taught. As people who teach leadership programs are different, as different are the profits you can take from leadership programs. From young people to older, all of them make the best use of any type of leadership programs. You can choose between practically different leadership programs, although almost all of them have some fundamental elements in common.





As the information we produce in our writing on leadership may be utilized by the reader for informative purposes, it is very important that the information we provide be true. We have indeed maintained this.

One of the key components of all leadership programs is that they are aiming to build up abilities to work in a team. Some leadership programs even acquire this building of team-working abilities as the center of the whole leadership program. As an example, I will tell you that I have heard about leadership programs which center on the fulfilling of physical tasks as lifting every member of the group over a wall.

Of course, the point of this is not to gain muscle mass but to learn how to work as a team. This part of the leadership programs will teach you how to seek each member’s strengths and weaknesses. Leadership programs will teach you how to leave behind the egotism you have and to put all your strengths into the group work. This is probably the most important lesson that the future leader will learn from the leadership program.

We do not mean to show some implication that leadership have to rule the world or something like that. We only mean to let you know the actual meaning of leadership!

The second fundamental component of leadership programs is that leadership programs usually tend to emphasize on self-confidence and self-esteem. A leader should be first of all self-confident. A leadership program has to teach you how to be convinced that everything you say is important. The leaders have not become leaders because they are more capable, or more intelligent than other people are. Surprisingly, it may turn out exactly the opposite thing. The leaders have become leaders because they more confidence than the other people to contend that what they say is important.

We hope that with this article, we have covered more than just a fragment of the ava

Stress is the "wear and tear" our bodies experience as we adjust to our continually changing environment; it has physical and emotional effects on us and can create positive or negative feelings. As a positive influence, stress can help compel us to action; it can result in a new awareness and an exciting new perspective. As a negative influence, it can result in feelings of distrust, rejection, anger, and depression, which in turn can lead to health problems such as headaches, upset stomach, rashes, insomnia, ulcers, high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke.

Negative Effects of Stress

In prehistoric times, the physical changes in response to stress were an essential adaptation for meeting natural threats. Even in the modern world, the stress response can be an asset for raising levels of performance during critical events such as a sports activity, an important meeting, or in situations of actual danger or crisis. If stress becomes persistent and low-level, however, all parts of the body's stress apparatus (the brain, heart, lungs, vessels, and muscles) become chronically over- or under-activated. This may produce physical or psychologic damage over time. Acute stress can also be harmful in certain situations.

Stress-related conditions that are most likely to produce negative physical effects include:

1. An accumulation of persistent stressful situations, particularly those that a person cannot easily control (for example, high-pressured work plus an unhappy relationship).

2. Persistent stress following a severe acute response to a traumatic event (such as an automobile accident).

3. An inefficient or insufficient relaxation response.

4. Acute stress in people with serious illness, such as heart disease.

Relieving Stress with a Stress Ball!
Stress balls are wonderful for relieving tension and pent up frustration. Many people will find that when they are going through a period of stress they feel the need to do something with their hands.

For example some people play with the loose change in their pockets while others make patterns and shapes with their fingers or tap them rhythmically on the tabletop.

Stress balls are a cheap alternative to the incessant hand movements that some people find annoying. They can be squeezed over and over again until you feel your nerves calming down because most are made from materials that regain their original shape when they are not being squeezed.

So what are you waiting for? We urge you to find out more about how Stress Balls can benefit you today!

Photographs are clearer when they are in focus. When they are out of focus, they are blurry, indistinct. How many times have you been disappointed by the result when the focus was off? Faces or objects are blurred, maybe even unrecognizable. Toss that one away a poor quality picture that does not meet the ideal you had in mind when you took it. Scratch it up to experience. Maybe blame it on the camera.

The quality of the reality pictures that show up in your life are also largely due to proper focus.

In the first place, the ideal must be clearly held in mind. The result you desire to out-picture or manifest in your life must first be clearly and distinctly created in your imagination. It must be 'in focus'; that is, the components must be defined, clearly seen, envisioned.

In the second place, as you go about the 'doing' necessary to effectuate the picture, you must remain focused on your goal and not allow yourself to get distracted by what is going on around you.

Simple really, but it always amazes me how unfocused people are. Ask someone to describe their heart's desire and 90% of the time, you cannot get a clear description from them. It is blurry and indistinct. Generalities but no specifics. Or a description of the picture by what's not in it.

"I want health, wealth and happiness"

"So what does health mean to you?"

"Well, you know, to not be sick."

"So what does wealth mean to you?"

"Well, you know, to not be lacking."

"So what does happiness mean to you?"

"To not be sad, dissatisfied."

"I want peace."

"What's that?"

"Well, you know no more war."

Not this, not that; defining the picture, the ideal by what is not in it, instead of what is in it. The trouble with focusing on 'no more war' is that you are still focusing on war. The trouble with focusing on not being unwell is that you are still focusing on un-wellness, not wellness. The focus is on lack and limitation and not on abundance and potentiality. <





As Mark Twain once said, "I can teach anybody how to get what they want out of life. The problem is that I can't find anybody who can tell me what they want."

All most people seem to know is what they do NOT want. Focus your attentions and intentions on those ideals that you want, desire, long for, lust after. Make that focus clear and distinct.

You get the picture you have focused on. "Prosperity is the abundance of all things held ideal in mind and dear in heart." How clear and exact are your ideals? How much desire, longing, passion is attached to them? How focused is the image in your mind? How focused is your desire to have that ideal be out-pictured in your life?

The complex thing about life is that it is wonderfully full of distractions. Here you are, focused on some purpose or goal and then this incredibly intrusive thing occurs.

Perhaps, you are in medical school, totally focused on becoming a doctor. Then this great guy shows up, beds you and before you know it, you are at home practicing motherhood instead of medicine and taking your child to the pediatrician you could have been had you not allowed yourself to be distracted, to lose focus.

Or perhaps, you are busy going about the business of creating a business and some seemingly major obstacle presents itself, so you change your mind, change your plan, change your focus to the next great business idea and the next one after that.

Life is full of distractions making it easy to lose focus. Winners stay focused. Sometimes they are so focused that you cannot even get their attention.

Funny how that is.

How does Serena win Wimbledon? Focus.

How does Lance win the Tour de France? Focus.

How does Tiger win so many tournaments? Focus.

Do you want to win the game of life? Get focused. Stay focused.

If you've recently graduated from school and are at a crossroads in the start of your career Teaching English in Japan might be worth looking into. Believe it or not the English language learning industry is a multi-billion dollar one that employs over 65,000 ESL teachers.

What's Needed to Teach

In order to get a job teaching English in Japan, you'll need to be a college graduate from any field – (sorry but 2 year degrees won't cut it.) You pretty much also need to speak English at native level fluency. There are some that do find teaching jobs in Japan even though English is not their first language but this is more an exception to the rule.

You'll also need a working visa in order to work legally in the country. Most employers will take care of this for you. Working visas are good for one year with extensions being from 1 to 3 years for U.S. citizens.

Another very helpful trait is an interest in Japanese culture. When you fly 10,000 miles east things get pretty different pretty fast. So having a desire to experience Japanese culture is helpful. Not from the standpoint of getting a job but from the standpoint of enjoying the experience. Those who don't have a natural curiosity or desire to experience Japanese culture usually don't last that long.

What Isn't Required

Contrary to what many believe a TESL or TEFL certificate is not required in order to teach. Although it does help getting higher paying jobs. The majority of the large recruiters, the ones that have recruitment centers all over the world, don't require TESL certification.

Also because these large recruiters pay the minimum wage of 250,000 yen per month (roughly $2100 U.S.) they also don't require much teaching experience. In fact the bulk of this industry runs on recent grads.

General Information About Teaching English in Japan

Let's start with money. You should expect a wage of at least 250.000 yen per month. This is a entry level salary for those with little or no experience. However be warned this won't go that far in large cities like Tokyo or Osaka. You should expect a bit more to compensate for the cost of living factor in these large cities.




Large English schools like Nova, Aeon, Geos, Berlitz & ECC will also offer 2 weeks paid vacation and most national holiday off. Schools differ on which national holidays they observe but the norm is 8 to 10 per year.

Expect to work close to 40 hours per week. Each school is different but you can expect roughly 22 to 29 actual teaching hours per week with the rest being office hours. A typical teacher will work 5 days per week with Sunday and another weekday off. Teachers with seniority may get Saturdays and Sundays off. Typical office hours are filled by grading student work, taking class notes, preparing future lessons or just chatting with students. Most schools also will provide you with health insurance or subsidize it.

Larger chain schools, mentioned above, usually have a fixed curriculum. This means you'll be using their in house texts, tapes and other support materials for teaching. For those who don't have a lot of teaching experience it's a helpful in reducing stress (there already is quite a bit in adjusting to the culture and learning the language etc.) Those who need to express their creativity in the lesson will probably find it stifling.

Students who will be assigned to your class will probably be of all ages. Literally from 5 to 6 year olds up to 75 and 76 year olds. Some schools deal specifically with children or adults but because of the competitiveness of this industry, most schools cater to all ages. Student wise, you can expect a healthy dose of children and young professionals like office ladies and salary men as they're called to make up the bulk of who you teach.

Most of your large chain schools will provide you with some type of accommodations. This is a very big help as it's difficult to find accommodations on your own without the help of a Japanese national. Not to mention being very expensive. Although the type provided will vary expect things to be on the small side.

Teaching English in Japan surely is an experience best taken with an open mind. For those with an interest in Japanese culture it surely can be one of the most enjoyable and lucrative ways to experience Japan.