Fate - How It Changes Our Plans

All of us are working towards some goals. All of us have some plans for our life. We plan for our future, our children, our career and retirement. We are always planning and trying to implement our plans. While doing all this, we forget to count fate, and that can give us a shock if we are not ready for it. When one makes plans, one should always leave the results to fate. Otherwise the shocks can be disastrous for our equanimity. Let us see how.

Some people don't believe in fate. How do these people justify few occurrences? For example, why some kids get cancer at a very early age? Why, a person who takes care of his/her health in all the possible ways, is suddenly diagnosed with impossible sounding diseases? Why does one person survive in an accident while the other person traveling with him/her dies on the spot? Why some people instinctively leave some place, a night before a natural calamity? We hear of so many such miraculous survivals and cruel deaths, that the role of fate becomes impossible to deny.

A journalist who goes out only to fulfil his/her duty gets kidnapped in a foreign country and is killed mercilessly. Why? Few others make all the plans to go to the same place, but change their plans on the way! Which power makes us act in ways that either help us survive in a disaster or pull us towards one? It is fate. Isn't it?

What should we do if life is such? We surely cannot stop planning about our future? We surely cannot sit at one place and let fate play its own game. And after thinking about the games fate plays, one cannot plan and be absolutely certain that things will turn out precisely as planned. What is the best way to live life?

Let us plan. Let us apply all our might to bring the plans to fructification. Let us fight against all the obstacles and try to reach the goals. Let us do whatever we can to achieve what we desire. Let us leave the results to God. To dream of results and be sure that they will be fulfilled as per our plans may give us a bigger shock, if that does not happen.

Overcoming Touch Deprivation

From the time you were a newborn how well you thrived depended in large part by how much you were lovingly touched.

I was born two months premature in Trinidad in 1965. I was only 4 pounds and had to be in an incubator for my first few weeks of life. The doctors told my mom not to get attached to me because I only had a ten percent chance of surviving. My mother didn’t believe them.

And touched and loved me and willed me to live. And live I did. I grew into being a 6’3”, 200 pound man in almost perfect health. Such is the power of love, such is the power of touch.

We tend to get touched less and less as we get older, although our primal need for touch never diminishes. Touch deprivation is a significant form of sensory deprivation. Most of us wouldn’t dream of going weeks or months without opening our eyes, or keeping our ears plugged, yet many of my patients tell me that they haven’t been massaged or held for weeks or months.

Our world is becoming too formal, too stiff, too emotionally cold.

For the sake of your physical, emotionally, mental and spiritual health, give your self more permission to touch and be touched. You can never overdose on loving touch.

Don’t limit touch to sex. Don’t limit touch to just your partner and family. Reach out and touch more people.

Close your eyes sometimes and experience your world through touch.

Your skin is your biggest organ- use it. Get more skin to skin contact.

Everyone can heal and be healed through touch.

Be a great healer and lover by experiencing the miracle of touch as often as you can.

Christopher Scipio
Homeopath/Herbalist
Holistic Viral Specialist

What is Mensa?

Mensa was founded in 1946, in England. The Mensa Society was formed specifically for intelligent individuals. The aim of Mensa was to create a non-political society free from all forms of racial or religious distinctions, that focussed on exceptional intelligence. All are welcomed into Mensa regardless of background, religion, socioeconomic condition, race, or age.

In fact, on February 14, 2005 the Mensa confirmed that a three-year-old boy had become the youngest current member of Mensa. Toddler Mikhail Ali of Bramley, Leeds in the UK has an IQ of 137 a level of intelligence which puts him in the top 2% of the population for his age. A mensa spokeswoman confirmed Mikhail was its current youngest member and said the organization only has 30 members under the age of 10. Mikhail was three years and six weeks old when he joined Mensa. The organization's youngest member ever was two years and 10 months old when he joined in the mid 1990's. These records are a meaningful only from a public-relations standpoint however, since IQ changes very little with age. That is, people who are smart in adulthood were just as smart as children and vice versa, regardless of whether or not they join Mensa.


The name Mensa comes from the Latin word for table and indicates a group of equals sharing ideas, like a roundtable discussion.

Mensa's stated purpose is to identify and encourage human intelligence for the benefit of humanity; to foster research in nature, characteristic and uses of intelligence; and to promote stimulating social and intellectual opportunities for society members.

Famous mensa currently include Isaac Asimov, and Gena Davis. Mensa sets a measured intelligence level in the upper two percent of the population. This is its only requirement for membership. Statistically, about six million people in the United States alone qualify for Mensa, of whom 50,000 have actually joined. Worldwide, about 120 million people qualify for mensa of whom 100,000 have joined.

Need A Boost In The Self Improvement Area?

Choosing the right personal development program is going to change your life. If you are ready to take a step in the right direction and make a positive change then you need to start looking into some good self improvement courses. Actually, there are several proven strategies that can be used to help us be successful in our efforts to improve an aspect of our lifestyle.

You can learn everything that you need to know about being all that you can be with a good personal development program. This will teach you how to be a mature and whole person. It is amazing how many of us do not know how to function at our ultimate potential level. We are not taught in school how to really get by in life well. We all deserve to be happy and only a personal development program is going to teach us how to do it.

These kinds of programs will help you to maximize your potential at work and at home. If you are not where you want to be in your career, no matter what that career may be, you need to start progressing. It is common to feel stuck in a rut but you don’t have to be. You can do more with your life all you need is a little push and that is what a personal development program will give you.

Your home life can run smoothly and happily if you know how to keep things on track. Everyone has problems and we could all use a little help dealing with them. If you are not the best person when it comes to your temper, or if you have jealousy issues then a good personal development program can make all of the difference. Life does not have to be hard, it really doesn’t so be open to new concepts and ideas and watch your life change for the better.

The Fear Of Criticism

So many times in life we would like to try something new. Like a new sport, different style haircut, changing clothing or loosing weight. But are afraid to try because of the criticism we might receive from others because of our change. Over time we have been brainwashed into believing other people's opinions and think they hold more weight then our own feelings. We don not want to be judged. If you want to break old habits you must not be controlled by outside people. You must have inner control.

This is your life!

There is nothing wrong with a little criticism. You just have to be able to decipher between the truths. Listen for it. Ask yourself if there is any truth to what someone is saying. Do they know what they are talking about? If you feel they are after careful consideration then use their feedback to improve. If your intuition tells you they are full of it then disregard it! Be true to your self and only accept opinions that hold truths!

Don't be afraid to have criticisms of your self. But make sure they are your own opinions and not someone else’s. If you don not like something about yourself then change it. Always look to improve.

Sometimes our own criticisms are tainted. This goes back to being brainwashed. Others have fed us information over the years that might have be tainted and have altered our thoughts over the years. Since we were not trying to decipher between the truth, our thoughts have turned into a messy desk where you can not find the paper you want. It is time to clean up the mess of criticism and restructure. This is the only way you will be able to change you habits and better your life.

How to Survive Being Overwhelmed

1) Know Your Purpose.

Know your vision, your goals, and your plans because these help you set priorities. Each day, identify the task you must accomplish and make that your top priority. Also, set aside time to invest in your future, working on important things that you will need later. If you have yet to write out your priorities, then take time to do this. It could be the most important hour that you spend in your life.

2) Say No.

Be fiercely protective of your time. Make sure each new commitment adds value for you. Do what is necessary and then stop. Rather than ask yourself "What can I do?" ask "What can I not do?" Avoid low value tasks, new projects, and distractions. Then tell people about your decisions. Huge amounts of effort are wasted by people trying to complete tasks that someone else decided to ignore.

3) Schedule Life.

Even if you ride an accelerating treadmill you can step off once in a while. Leave work at 5:00 p.m. on Friday. Take Saturday or Sunday off. Give yourself a two minute break when you close your eyes, rub your neck, or meditate. Set a date with family members for a meal or an activity (hint: put this date on your calendar as if it were an important business appointment, because it is).

4) Protect Yourself.

When you’re tired, your efficiency falters. Thus, eat healthy foods. Get enough sleep. Avoid toxic habits. Exercise (use the stairs, do crunches or push ups in your office, take a five minute yoga break). If possible, schedule exercise as if it were a business appointment.

5) Be Efficient.

Spend time only with people who add value to your life. Buy only from companies that provide adequate support. Hold effective meetings. Decline invitations to meetings without an agenda (I guarantee these will accomplish nothing). Avoid conflicts; they always cost time to repair. Keep your cool; anger always costs you more than what it achieves. Take a moment to plan before starting a task.

Learn To Type- Just Do It!

So who wants to learn to type? You! Here's a fun article to give you some incentive to give it a try. Touch typing software doesn't bite. ouch!! my computer does though - it's jealous... So you're thinking... hmmmm touch typing software, what's in it for me? How long does it take to learn to type?

Typing Software - Learn To Type

Typing software helps people that want to learn to type fast as they read. You will learn to touch type without looking down at your keyboard. This improves your writing as you focus what you have to say and type fast to get the job done quick. It' takes about ten hours or so to learn how to type 70 words per minute. Once you learn to type fast , you'll wonder "Why did it take me so long to learn to type?

Email Headaches? - Learn To Type

Does all that email drive you nuts? Me too! So learn to type fast and plow the email. Also, you can say more in chat rooms once you want to learn to type fast. Meet more people, join more discussion groups. Personally, I thought I would near learn to type and look at me now! At that's before the invention of typing software to teach you how to type.

Find a Better Job - Learn To Type

Once you learn to type fast, you'll be able to find a better job. People that learn to type are better qualified to handle certain jobs because they took the time to learn to type. You can too. It's easy and fun to learn to type with the online software programs and fun games.

Typing Software Download - Learn To Type

OK, so you ready to learn to type. How does it work? You visit a typing software site and download the touch typing software, It's easy to install and you can get started in minutes. The interactive typing software has fun games and exercises to help you learn to type. Just by downloading the typing tutor software, you’ll feel like you just passed your first typing test, - and you will pass other typing tests too!

Get away from it all

Haven't you ever had time you wanted to get away from it all? In March/April 1978, www.motherearthnews.com published a story about a couple who bought McLeod's Island — a 90-acre island off the coast of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada.

They have a few animals, spend very little on groceries, and are pretty well sustained by the island itself. Although it does present them with some challenges:

"The sea, you know, is not called "restless" for nothing. A glass-smooth bay (as we've learned so well!) can churn-sometimes seemingly in seconds-into a windswept chaos of currents and combers. We've also seen that same bay (the one in which our island is located) thaw and then completely refreeze in just hours on a single December day.

Winters up here can be especially variable. Continual spring-like thaws throughout 1976's cold season, for instance, kept our bay filled with slushy ice that was too thick to push a boat through ... but too dangerous for even a fox to walk on. We were marooned for three full months, from the first of January until the end of March. Last winter's record cold snap, on the other hand, filled the bay so solidly with pack ice that we could hike back and forth to the mainland for our mail and toboggan loads of supplies any time we wanted."

For some of us, we find the Internet gives us the freedom to be able to work and live almost any place we want to. These people didn't have that luxury. I use the past tense as I can't find any current information about them. Who knows? Maybe the tide swept the out to sea.

Life is full of sacrifices. Some are just more dear than others. Still, I don't think buying an island is in my future.

You can read the whole article here.
http://www.motherearthnews.com/library/1978_March_April/We_Homesteaded_an_Island

I Love Teleclasses!

Teleclasses are fun! You join a group of friendly folks interested in the same topic as you. Experts, teachers, or the conference call leaders help you with fresh ideas to look at your topic in a new light. Plus, the other callers give you tips on how they accomplished goals like yours.

Also, many participants exchange email addresses and help each other progress towards the final product, whether that is writing a book, developing a website, or even remodeling their personal home. I have made long-term buddies through teleclasses that I took a couple of years ago. It's been fun to watch my friends' progress and see their books and web pages unfold!

Besides making new friends and gaining valuable information, teleclasses save you time, money, and effort.

• You don't have to travel.
• You save money on expenses. Teleclasses often cost less than seminars.
• Teleclasses are so easy! All you need to do is listen, if that's what you want. You don't need to get dressed up and arrange child care. However, you should keep the children entertained so they let you learn in peace.

Now, from a teacher's point of view, I still don't have to travel, get dressed if I don't feel like it, or grade papers! Teleclass participants behave. They don't talk to the student sitting next to them or ask to go to the restroom. Plus, they don't give excuses for not doing homework assignments.

From either the participant's or leader's perspective, teleclasses help you gain knowledge, achieve your goals, and have fun while learning and sharing something new, the easy way.

Copyright © 2005 Jeanette J. Fisher. All Rights Reserved.

Remember Long Lists

I want to explain a technique that is used to remember long lists. It is especially useful if you have to remember the list in a particular order.

Let's say that you are going shopping and need to remember 5 items. This can be used with 50 items as well.

The items are:

Pasta
Oranges
Detergent
Bread
Butter

You will take the items you need to remember and add them to a place you know.

Here is what I would do:

I would take an area of my house. Let's say, my laundry room. I already know what is in there so I don't need to remember anything about the room. I would then combine each item in my mind with a part of my laundry room.

I would picture pasta growing on the door to the room. Then in my mind I open the door to find the Dryer bouncing around because Oranges are going crazy inside. The Boiler sneezes and suds of Detergent come out if it's mouth. Next to the Boiler is the Washing Machine. Bread is rising and the Washing Machine is going to explode. Next to the Washing Machine is the Sink. It is spitting out Butter from the faucet and the whole room is getting filled with Butter...

This is a technique the Romans used to remember large amounts of information. You can use every room of your house and place an item in many sections of the room. Also, you can use your neighborhood and streets, etc.. There is no limit to the information you can store with this technique.

You are not likely to forget the rooms of your house, or your neighborhood. Use what you know and place anything that you want to remember with this in your memory.

Your Thinking style - Test It

Thinking it is said is one of the toughest things to do. Many of us say that they will think about something and then revert. You must have heard this many times. Do these people really think? What do they do? Do they look at the problem in total perspective, think about different actions that could be taken and find out the consequences and then find out the best option? No, not many of us do that.

Most of us do sloppy thinking. We don't strain our mind, but find out a convenient answer that does not need much thinking and present that as their conclusion. We come across many issues in our life. Dating, studying, taking a career, selecting a job, look for a home, and so on. Do we think about every option and weigh it or find out cursory details and decide?

You must have read lot of history and geography. How many times did you think about the times described, about the people, the kind of lives they led and their knowledge? not many of us do that. Every news that we come across has something to think about. But we don't. Why none of us thinks about why all of us want to know so much about how celebrities live and their love and career? What does that information give us except some entertainment for few minutes? But we don't think. We don't think about how to use our time effectively.

Do we think about what our political leaders say? Do we think about why we are looking for a date? Do we think about why our relationship is breaking? We pretend to think. But we don't normally carry out any analysis. Sloppy thinking leads us nowhere. It produces bad results. To think means - to try and understand every aspect of the given problem, its past and what the future may entail.

What kind of thinker are you? Why not find out with some fun quizzes about your personality. They will surely make you think.

Stuttering Disability

There are many types of disablity. I am somebody who believes that to have a stutter is a form of disability.

I think most people would probably say no, however I disagree. People who stutter have to struggle their way through life at times. I am somebody who had a stutter for eighteen years. I am going to now explain one of the situations that I found difficult and how my mind or what I would call my demons would be saying to me.

This is when trying to meet and approach people of the opposite sex. Lets say I am in a bar and I see a woman/girl who catches my eye. I think to myself, who don't you go and talk to her and make a move etc? My demons are always talking to me, and are basically saying "She won't want to know you.

You have a stutter and when you start talking she will hear it. Do you really think she will want to date somebody who has a stutter? Even if she is interested, you then have to possibly meet her friends and family.

How will they find you and treat you, when they realise you have a stutter?" These demons would make me think twice and more often than not I would not even bother going over and talking to the person. I would therefore let the demons win.

This is one example of thousands where the stutter handicaps your ability to live a normal life. This is why I believe stuttering is a disability.

Having a stutter affects your confidence in and gaining employment. People who stutter can find it hard attending an interview, having to speak under pressure to people they do not know.

Social occasions such as weddings or a party can fill people who stutter with dread. Not only finding conversation difficult but also ordering food and drinks.

Stephen Hill

The Gift Of ADD: Gremlin Or Ipod

Through out the online ADD Community there is some what of an on going debate about whether ADD is a gift. ADD expert Edward Hallowell describes ADD as a gift that needs to be unwrapped. I like to think of ADD more like one of those gifts that I have unwrapped but just have no idea what to do with. It's also like one of those gifts that I didn’t ask for but somebody just felt the need to give to me.

ADD reminds me of the movie Gremlins. If I remember correctly Gizmo was a cute fun little guy but had to be cared for by following very specific directions. If those directions were not followed to the “T” all hell broke loose. I supposed the same could be said about a person with ADD. With proper care and feeding people with ADD can thrive. With out proper care and feeding the life of those with ADD can resemble the movie Gremlins.

Maybe ADD really is a gift that we didn’t ask for but have no choice but to keep. Maybe all we need is somebody who actually knows what to do with it and can teach us how to use it. Just think about a gift like an Ipod, if somebody didn’t know what it was or how to use, it would just seem like a weird piece of metal. However once somebody explains what it’s for and all of the uses it becomes so much more.

I’m not saying that ADD is really truly like a Gremlin or an iPod but there are some similarities to both of them. I guess depending on what each person does to manage his or her own ADD, he or she can compare it to another type of gift too.

Stuttering Treatment, Stammering Treatment

There are many different treatments for people who stutter/stammer. In this article I will describe some of the experiences and types of stuttering or stammering therapy people experiment with.

One of the first places people go to when seeking help for a speech impediment is speech therapy. I myself started attending speech therapy at the age of five and I continued at different times to attend until the age of eighteen. Now I am sure some people have some very positive experiences and results from this type of therapy, however I was not one of these people. From what I remember the main advice I was given was to slow down my speech and to take a deep breath before starting to speak. When I observed fluent people speaking, I rarely heard them take a deep breath.

Another area people try is hynotherapy. This was something I really wanted to try for myself at the age of around nineteen. Unfortunately each session cost nearly as much as my weekly wage at that point of my life. I never managed to experience this form of stammering therapy.

I now believe that stuttering is a physcological as well as a physical problem. As hynotherapy only really deals with the physcological issues I am now not sure if it could have offered me the complete answer.

The other treatments people who have a stutter try are speech courses. These courses are either on a group basis or on a one to one basis. With each of these courses, the person who attends the course is required to practice the techniques to make them a natural part of their speech.

Confidence courses are another form of treatment for stuttering. In my opinion these are of value, however do not cover the physical aspects of how to eradicate a stutter.

Quiz- Do You Pamper Yourself Or Beat Yourself If You Make A Mistake?

What do you do with yourself if you make a mistake? Quiz yourself and find out. You may be even knowing the answer if you are on either extreme. But most of us do not know the answer because we are unaware of our subtle behavior. All right, let me ask you. Suppose you are doing house cleaning and you drop a costly vase
costing thousands of dollars? What would you do with yourself? Beat yourself mentally for being a fool, or say -everybody makes a mistake. What is done cannot be undone. I will take care next time. Let me not beat myself about this. Let me give my mind some peace now? Your reaction to some situations decides your personality and your success. Let me tell you how. Let us quiz first about your attitude.


Quiz your self-esteem - what kind of self-esteem do you have? Do you consider yourself as just an average or somebody destined to do big? Do you value yourself or degrade? Do you focus on your strengths or the weaknesses? Your self-esteem decided s your behavior at critical times. If you have high self-esteem, criticism will not be able to hurt you much; otherwise any body that decides to criticize you will make your life hell. Please quiz yourself about your self-esteem and raise it as much as you can.

Quiz your self-love - do you love yourself or not? Suppose you love a person very dearly and he/she makes a mistake. You will not only forgive that person but also pamper to remove the hurt. Do you do that with yourself? Or do you beat yourself whenever you make mistakes? Self-love is a very important quality. I am not talking about obsession, but healthy self-love. Quiz yourself about your self-love. Next time, when you make a blunder, pause and watch your immediate feelings. Are they of pampering or beating? Please pamper yourself. If you do not pamper yourself, why would the world do?

Quiz - Are You Reliable?

We all value those friends who are reliable. It also applies to family members. We do not respect anybody who is not reliable. He/she has lost our trust. In every relationship, trust is of primary importance. If you cannot rely on me, what use am I as a friend? What about you? Are you reliable? Can your friends and family members trust you? Why not quiz yourself and find out?

What do we understand by being reliable? That means that if I give a word, I will keep that. I will not break the promise and give excuses to defend myself. To be reliable is a great asset, because then others can depend on us. That increases our respect and our esteem. Does any body respect those who are not reliable?

How to become reliable? The first step towards becoming reliable is not to promise what we cannot do. We sometimes make promises because we don't want the other person to feel bad. But after we break the promise, we not only lose his/her trust but can also be responsible for damaging their interests. You need some quick funds for a short time and I promise you that I shall give you tomorrow. I fail. In the meantime, you had finalized an order thinking that I would give the funds. What shall happen to your order? You would lose your credibility. Rather if I had told you that I would not be able to do it, initially you might feel bad, but your interests will not be hurt.

The first requirement is not to promise what I we cannot deliver. The second step is to deliver what ever we promise under all circumstances. Once we establish our reliability, every body will realize that when we say no, that means no and when we say yes, that will be done. Quiz yourself about these and find out how reliable you are.

Quiz- What Is Your Strength?

All of us have pluses and minuses. All of us have strengths and weaknesses. For some of us, our job may be our weakness, for some others it may be our friendship. For few others, it is their children or partner. In this manner we all have a weakness for which we will try utmost. Similarly we have strengths. Let us focus on strengths.

Quiz your strengths - You strength may be in any area. You may be a very good analyst. You can analyze every situation clearly and find the causes, and effects. Or you may be very good at looking at the Macro picture of any problem. You can look at the problem as a whole and think about it. Your strength may be a very good mathematical brain. Your strength may be great understanding of arts. Your strength may be in predicting the future trends. What are your strengths? I had given few illustrative examples to tell you about what I meant. Please think about your strengths. Let me tell you how that can help you succeed quickly in life.

Quiz about how to get best out of them - We know of persons who are employed as office assistants, but are also very good at making say - paintings. Most of us never ask that person, why he/she does not leave the job and work as a professional painter? This is one example. Many of us are employed in jobs that are not our strengths at all. We make our strengths as our hobby. Why not change it totally and make the hobby as a moneymaking profession?

Are you also caught in such a situation? Please find out your strength and try to understand if you are using it in your job. If not, please change the job, or drop it al together and do something by which you can make use of your true strength.

Handicapped Can change our attitude.

Unhappy people -

Unhappiness is part of life for many of us. For some of us, it seems that difficulties are way of life. To get happiness in this world looks impossible at times? How to improve the quality of our life and get happiness?

Handicapped People -

Let us compare our lives with many of our friends who are handicapped.
What about the blind persons of the world? Imagine their life for a moment.
They see no colors, no shapes, no faces, no sunrises, no sunsets, no steps, and no clouds. They see nothing but darkness. What a life it must be? Can you imagine the pain?

What about people without hearing? No music, no words, no sounds of laughter. People without hands? Can not type on a computer like we do everyday. Can not lift anything. Can not wash themselves. Can not defend themselves.

How handicapped can help us?

Thinking about the handicapped people of the world will make us more aware of our assets. This will make us count more of our blessings and less of our difficulties. Rather than thinking about our own problems at all the times, if we try to do something that can improve lives of handicapped people that may inspire us to achieve more. That can improve our self esteem. That can make us thank God for all the blessings. Let the handicapped inspire us to live a richer life. Let us not feel depressed by thinking of what we don't have, but get inspired by thinking of all that we have! Let us change our attitude.

Fear Of Public Speaking

Social Phobia is an irrational anxiety brought forth by exposure to certain social situations, leading to avoidance behaviour.

Specific Phobia is a persistent and irrational fear in response to some specific stimulus, which commonly results in avoidance of/withdrawal from that stimulus. It could be triggered by an insect or animal (zoophobia), by a situation like being trapped in an enclosed space (claustrophobia) or it could be a fear of disease (pathophobia).

Though it feels real, the fear of public speaking or Glossophobia is what psychologists call "social construction". This means that it is not a natural phenomenon, but the result of something society has created. We expect it to cause fear and therefore, it causes fear.

Unfortunately it is this "fear of the fear" which causes the problem to perpetuate, creating a vicious cycle.

It is possible for a sufferer to change their attitude to public speaking and thus reduce their fear. If you can figure out exactly what it is about public speaking that scares you, then you can begin to see what you might be able to do about it. This analysis will help you to change your feelings.

For example, if you regard the thought that people might laugh at you to be an important factor in your fear, you should ask yourself when they have laughed at you before. If they only laughed when you wanted them to, then your fear is unreal. Such reflection can make a positive change in your attitude to public speaking.

Knowledge Is Not Power

Whoever first said that knowledge is power was probably selling encyclopedias. Knowledge is a tool, like money and influence. Tools are only powerful if they are used effectively. How, then, do you make a headful of knowledge into a powerful tool?

1. By seeing clearly what can be done.

2. By seeing clearly your own limitations.

3. By acting on what you know.

Wise Action, Not Knowledge, Is Power

Investors often learn so much that they think they can consistently predict the course of the stock market. In reality, there are probably fewer than ten old investors that have never lost money. Wise investors know that the best they can do is get the odds in their favor, so they'll have more wins than losses. You have to see the limitations of knowledge.

I can read about how to sing, and even get advice from a voice coach, but I can't sing well. I'm not saying that I could never sing well, only that right now I cannot. If I'm not willing to do what is necessary, then I would be wise to look for a non-singing way to make money. You have to see our own limitations.

The most important part of making knowledge into power, is to act. You can study political philosophy and every aspect of the political process for a decade, and still have no power. Power is in the effective application of what you know.

Imagine an inventor with a hundred ideas on paper. He has a head full of knowledge, and a creative imagination, but nothing to show for it. Now imagine a simple man with one new invention, who understands the limits of innovation without marketing, and sees his own limitations in that area. He seeks out the people that can help, and makes a million. Now that's power.

Quiz Yourself- What Rules You - Heart Or A Head?

Human beings are emotional animals. At the same time we analyze and think with our head. In any given situation, heart or head does not always guide our response. It may be both heart and head that determine our response. For example, you may find one of your co-workers making major blunders. You will not complain about him/her to senior management without considering the emotional break down that may be suffered by him/her if the senior management sacks them. Your heart will add its compassion to your logic and you will decide accordingly.

All of us don't react similarly in a given situation. Some of us are emotional animals while some of us are prominently analytical thinkers. When you read biographies of some of the greatest historical figure, you will find that they had a good mix of both heart and head, except few brutal ones who only thought with head and had no heart.

What is your mix? Are you more of heart or head? Please quiz yourself about this. Are you driven by cold logic or your heart makes you act in most of the situations? Please find that out. Observe your responses in different situations and think about your response. You will find out if your heart directed you more or your head? Sometimes, those who are heart directed need to act with their head or they may get cheated with false sob stories. Similarly those who are head guided need to have more heart in their decisions otherwise they will never enjoy their life and they will always be guided by brutal logic. Quiz yourself about your natural tendency and bring a fine balance in life.

Quiz - Do You Get Anxiety Attacks?

Anxiety is very common. Fear, worry, anxiety, unease are all very common feelings. Anxiety attacks are not very common, but many of us suffer from anxiety attacks. Are you one of them? Let us find out.

What are anxiety attacks? An immediate onset of great amount of anxiety suddenly is an anxiety attack. Most of the anxiety attacks have physical symptoms. Let me give you an example. Say you have to deliver lecture tomorrow in front of an audience of thousand people. You will get anxious about that and remain so all through the night. But when you reach the podium, you may get the anxiety attack despite all the preparation. Most of us get such attacks. The situation may be different for all of us. There rare cases where people get anxiety attacks if they have to talk to someone of opposite sex.

Why do we get anxiety attacks? The causes of such attacks are mainly rooted in our ancestry. Our ancestors were taught by nature to save themselves by running away from any danger if they could not fight it. We have inherited those genes. Though we do not face fierce animals in jungles, we face situations that make us equally scary and we want to runaway, but unlike our ancestors we cannot run away in social situations.

The other reasons may include some incidents of childhood, that are carried to the adulthood or other psychological reasons that are better diagnosed by a medical professional. If anxiety attacks are damaging your social and work life, get treated. In case of normal attacks that you feel you can manage yourself deep breathing may help.

Nurturing Creative Children: Dr. YKK Quotes

"Creativity is more of a dull glow than a divine spark - the more fanning it receives, the brighter it will burn. "

—James Adams

"More often than not, children are unevenly gifted, often being especially gifted in one area. It's not uncommon to find them quite gifted in one area, but average or learning disabled in another. "

—Ellen Winner

“Avoid compulsion and let early education be a manner of amusement. Young children learn by games; compulsory education cannot remain in the soul. ”

—Plato

“ I have never let my schooling interfere with my education. ”


—Mark Twain

“As parents, we must refrain from showing favoritism, and from comparing our children with others. Above all, we must refrain from pushing them to become something that their unique personal makeup may never allow them to be. ”

—Johann Christoph Arnold

“Alas, how much is in our education and in our social institutions to prepare us and our children for insanity.”

—Goethe

“The home is the principle learning environment for the child and parents are the primary educators.”

—Thomas Armstrong

" But when it comes to children, parental involvement is a must. This is because children often won't know they have an interest in something until after their parents bring it to their attention. "

—John Andersen

Test Your Impatience

Patience is said to be a great virtue. How many of us are patient? For example, you need immediate medical attention and you reach your Doctor after calling him/her up. You find that you will have to wait for one hour. What would be your reaction/ would you take a magazine and begin reading or walk around impatiently?

All of us lose our patience at some point of time in our life. Some of us do it very quickly. For others it needs something big to disturb otherwise they are patient all the times. What is your patience? Have you thought about it? Certain ties in life, we can do nothing, but we still act impatiently. That does not help at all. It may hurt us.

What if you are stuck in a traffic jam? You want to reach for a meeting, but the traffic refuses to move because of some mishap ahead. Will acting impatiently help? No. it would be better to get cool and listen to some music or make notes of your work or plan of other things. Take this time as a gift and use it positively. This depends on us.

Success comes easily to those who understand their emotions and don’t let the emotions overwhelm them always. One who is always driven by emotions meets failures from time to time. We have to apply our mind and analyze every situation. We have to react after that. We have been given the ability to react by nature. Touch any hot object and you will get away immediately. That is natural. But reacting immediately in every situation can be bad for our career and home life. Patience plays a very important role in that.

Have a Present Moment!

It was the 10th day of rain, and I walked into the pool locker room feeling a little soggy around the edges. I asked my pool friend, Laurie, how she was and she said, "Bright and cheery. It's a wonderful day and I'm going to accomplish a lot of good things." Laurie, who is recovering from hip surgery and on most days can be seen walking around the locker room with great care, wiggled her cane at me from under the shower.

I went for a walk that afternoon - in the rain - and enjoyed myself immensely. Later, in my car, I put on a Motown CD and moved with the rhythm. Nothing like Motown to pep you up.

It seems just when I need it, some reminder to be cheerful comes along. Like a breath of fresh air, it reminds me to notice what is good. I'm lucky and I know it, with many gifts to be grateful for - a healthy body, a solid roof over my head, good friends, and a family I love and enjoy being around.

We all have bad days and unpleasant feelings. Maybe you are having one now. It's okay. Just like the rain, this, too, shall pass. Watch, notice, breathe. Instead of resisting, honor whatever feeling you happen to be having at the moment. I sincerely hope it's a pleasant one. But if not, all the more reason to breathe it into your center and experience it fully. It will change.

Be on the look out today for reminders to be grateful, cheerful, and fully alive in this moment. It's the only one you've got.

Wealth - Test Your Attitude

Wealth, money, mansions, jewelry, yatch, personal airplane, parties, celebrations, holidays and all that money can buy. Money brings so much comfort and beauty to life, that it has become one of the most important factor in today's world. Money is a great motivator. Without money nothing works. No food, no shelter and no clothes. Without money it is difficult to have friends. Family disowns you quickly if you have no money. If you have money , a lot of it, you will get as many friends as you wish. One great advantage of money is philanthropy.

Let us find out more about money and your attitude about it. Few of us hate people with great wealth. They call them different names and truly speaking, they envy them. Does envy and calling names help? No. That is negative. Positive is to appreciate the qualities that could help them big money. Right attitude is to learn how to earn big money. The method of earning money and how to attract more of it. What to do that brings wealth to me, should be the question and not that I don't want more money than I need to live. If you don't want, at least earn it and then donate it. Nothing stops you doing that.

Money is one of the most important factors of life. With money, one can feel independent. Fulfill many wishes and live comfortably. One can also give comfort to many others with money.

Stuttering Stories

Having a stutter can have a dramatic effect on somebodys confidence.

I have met many people who stutter, I myself had a stutter for eighteen years and I now run stutter courses to help people to achieve fluency.

One of my clients once told me about a situation he was involved in. He and his friends went to a bar one Saturday afternoon to have a few drinks. After a couple of pints he went up to the bar to order himself a drink. Unfortunately he found it hard to order the drink and started to stutter. The bar man accused him of being drunk and refused to serve him. He tried to explain that he was not drunk but had a stutter but the bar man said "That's what they all say"

He returned to his friends who asked him where his drink was. He told them what had happened, this itself was very embarressing.

His friends were very good and one of them told him that he would go to the bar in ten minutes and buy him a drink. He duly did this however the barman later saw the person who has a stutter drinking the drink and kicked the whole group out of the bar.

This is a typical situation people who have a stutter find themselves in.

Another client was stopped by the police in his car. The police asked him some questions. He was very nervous and started to stutter. The police presumed he had been drinking and tested his breath for alcohol.

Test Your Anxiety Response

Worries and anxieties are part of our life. The difference between us is our response to any event. The cause may be common, but the response may vary widely. Some anxiety and worry is good. Otherwise we cannot save ourselves. Fear is one of our defense mechanisms. It is fear of death that stops us walking on a highway. Fear, worry and anxiety are related. Let us examine and quiz ourselves about our anxiety response. Too much anxiety can stop us from working. How to quiz ourselves about our anxiety response? Let us find out.

We are said to feel anxiety when we are apprehensive about future and fear what may happen. All of us experience lot of anxiety when we are to go for a surgery. Such events create maximum anxiety. Should every situation make us feel anxious? The answer is no. Are you an anxious person? Do you experience more anxiety then your friends in the same situation? If yes, it is time that you rethink about yourself.

Quiz yourself about anxiety. For example, you may to get up early than usual and reach for a very important appointment or work. Few of us will have no anxiety about that, but some of us will not be able to fall asleep because of anxiety. They are worried that they may not get up early and not reach in time. This anxiety causes more damage than benefiting us. Such common anxiety must be eliminated. Quiz yourself about different situations and compare your anxiety response with others. If you are responding with higher level of anxiety, reduce it with conscious effort.

If I were a bird

What if I were a bird? I would need no tickets to fly. Just fly whenever I want. I would save a lot on air tickets! Jokes apart, what does a bird see from the sky? What does it feel? What opinions does it form and how does it look at human beings?

Let us first talk about birds. Have we ever thought that a small bird that comes out of the egg, flies without any help from any aircraft companies? It needs no design and no development of latest alloys or other light-weight materials to fly. It flies itself without any help from mankind. It can swoop down or rise fast, sit or simply glide in the air. It does all this effortlessly without any chance of failure!

Now, let me become a bird and start my daily journey. I will not reveal about the part of the world I live in. What is the first thing I see? I watch the sun rising in the east. What a glorious sight is this! Sun, the great star, because of whom, we are all alive. As the day begins, I watch people moving around in the streets. I fly higher in the sky. Figures start looking very small on the ground. These people who look so small from the height, think that they own the world. When I watch their expressions of worry and anxiety, I wonder. I want them to come with me and watch themselves from the height. As they
will rise higher, they will realize that they are small, very small. And they will stop worrying.

How can you think of yourself as insignificant in the universe and still worry so much? This is the only cure for the worried people. Don't think that the world will come down if you don't worry about your problems. Carry on and let the problems not bother you so much that you stop living.

What beautifuls thought of a bird!

Self Improvement- Role Of Quizzes

Self improvement is everyone's goal. All of us want to know about weaknesses and strengths. The awareness about our personality, character, thinking style, emotional reactions, can help us improve ourselves. Once we begin converting our weaknesses into strengths, we are better equipped to reach higher goals in life.

The question is - how to find the weaknesses? Many times, we realize our weaknesses ourselves. Sometimes, our friends and
family members tell us about them. In the same way, quizzes about our personality can help us find our strengths and weaknesses.

Science has developed many tests and quizzes to find about personality traits. But none of these tests and quizzes can be precise. Every theory gets demolished after few years and gets replaced by a new theory. So are the quizzes based on any particular system of any help? Questions are the answers. Human mind has developed over the years by asking questions. Was the sun revolving around the earth or the earth was revolving around the sun? Why things fall when dropped? Why does wind blow? Why do we have day and nights? Why do we get angry? Why do we have emotions? There are so many questions that have hammered us over centuries and with questions, the answers have emerged. The answer is found out only if you ask questions. Let us look at this in terms of quizzing.

In tests and quizzes, we are asked many questions, and given options to mark our answers. The questions may not be perfectly drafted, nor are the answers are given after a great thought. No one can evaluate a person by quizzes and tests. It can only give an indication of probability. But it helps raise questions in the mind of the quiz taker. When he/she comes across a question, the mind thinks about that. That development of thinking process is the biggest advantage of quizzing and testing. Quizzes and tests by themselves may not give any perfect answer. But they can make a person think.