Holistic Spa Wisdom from Cygalle Healing Spa

Author: Beth Shapouri

Just like with food, when it comes to beauty and skincare products, fresh is always best—I mean, no one really wants to deal with synthetic preservatives if they don't have to, right? So that's why I was excited to hear all about the newly opened holistic Cygalle Healing Spa at the Casa de Campo resort in the Dominican Republic, which emphasizes chemical-free luxury with "live products." The translation: Beauty potions that are made from all natural, locally grown ingredients, just moments before they go on your body. Just picture it—during your treatment, you can literally hear your masseuse whipping up your oils and masks in a back room right before she applies them to your body. Talk about luxury....

Of course, not everyone can jaunt down to the D.R. for a weekend at the spa. And it's also the rare women who has the patience to whip up all her own beauty products. But I figured there must be a way for the rest of us to get in on the "live" fun. So I picked the brain of...well the brain behind the spa, Cygalle Dias, for some of the ingredients that makes her spa experience so nourishing. You can simply add them to your own lotions and potions or just be on the lookout for products that contain these nourishers to up your overall wellness benefits. Here are just a few of her favorites:

Coconut oil
She calls coconut oil the "all-time favorite moisturizer," and is a big believer in its soothing properties. And there's a great reason why-studies show that it's an effective and gentle hydrator. In fact, in a 2004 study, it was found to be as safe as mineral oil on the skin and was successful when used as a topical moisturizer for moderate xerosis (a fancy term for dry skin). Plus it contains a fatty acid called monolaurin, a natural antibiotic that helps speed wound healing. And of course, coconut oil smells absolutely amazing.

Ylang Ylang
She uses this spicy-yet-light-smelling oil in her products to help set the right mood for some full-on pampering. Aromatherapists believe that it's a calming scent that enhances mood and sharpens alertness. And it might not be all hocus pocus. One Thai study found that after smelling the oil, participants actually showed a decrease in blood pressure and pulse rate along with an increase in attentiveness. So basically, it clears your mind and makes you bliss out, kind of like inhaling a massage.

Oatmeal
Dias was sure to have an oatmeal cleanser at her spa for sensitive-skin types, since this ingredient is renowned for soothing even the biggest of skin flair-ups. For instance, in a study backed by Johnson & Johnson (the company behind Aveeno's line of oatmeal-based lotions), oats were found to alleviate severe dryness without causing irritation.

Vitamin E
She's a big advocate of this potent antioxidant, slipping it into several of her skin concoctions to leave behind a serious glow. Along with busting free radicals, this vitamin has been touted for its skin restoring and protective properties. A 2005 study showed that it actually prevents inflammatory damage caused by sun exposure, meaning it actually stops aging in its tracks.

Whisky…a Drink Loved by All

Author: Mahesh Fona

Whisky is loved all over the world because of its aromas and flavors. Whisky is a natural product and whisky making is a time-honored craft. For many people drinking whisky with friends is one of life's great pleasures.

Whisky as a drink is about pleasure as well as appreciation. There is no fine line between whiskies designed only for pleasure and whiskies designed only for appreciation. One should drink his whisky any way he wishes to. People drinking whisky for the first time should not take it without mixing water. People accustomed to drinking just beer and wine don't ever encounter pain when they drink their drinks because the alcohol levels of those drinks are below the pain threshold of the tongue. A beginner should start with about half and half, whisky to water. Whisky at its perfect blend will maintain their core flavor characteristics at this strength, and it doesn't hurt your mouth.

Being into a whisky distillery is a memorable experience. These are the places where casks and casks of whisky lay maturing. Whisky distilleries have an intoxicating, heady aroma. Once you smell the wood from the casks and all sorts of fruity compounds evaporating off the whisky into the air, you will definitely like it. I guess it's more a "bouquet" than simply an aroma, because it's so complex, comprised of so many different, complementary aromas.

Whisky Tasting is an art. If you are keen to learn whisky tasting, you need a clean tulip-shaped nosing glass and a jug of bottled still water at room temperature. You should select a suitable glass for nosing and a tulip shaped glass tends to be best. This type of glass will trap the aromas in the bulbous bottom of the glass and release them through the small area at the top of the glass. Whisky is often drunk from a crystal tumbler. This is perfectly acceptable, and is in fact more practical for drinking, however, the tulip shaped glass is better for nosing purposes.

You have to hold the glass up to a neutral background and have a good look at the color. Color can give an indication of age and wood finish of the whisky; however, one can never trust his eyes. Any assumptions made on color must be confirmed on the nose e.g. a dark rich amber colored whisky may have been a new drink; matured in an ex-sherry barrel or it may be an older whisky.

For tasting the whisky through the nose, you have to add a splash of bottled still water to your whisky. The water will reduce the alcohol content, and raise the temperature slightly releasing more of the aromas. Ensure you nose the whisky more than once. You would first smell a rush of alcohol other characteristics will follow quickly. Holding your mouth open slightly when nosing should help you take in more of the whisky's aromas.

About Author:
Whisky circle was created by a small group of whisky aficionados. It started out as a Whisky clubwww.whiskycircle.com. where lovers of single malts got together and made small talk over a malt. For further information about whisky please visit

Roommates: Can or Can’t Live with Them

Author: Bill Hinson

Having differences among roommates can weigh heavily on the minds of roommates, but there are numerous solutions to keeping your living arrangement from becoming a living nightmare.

Probably the number one issue among roommates is the level of cleanliness each prefers. If you are a neat freak, living with someone who doesn’t clean very often, if at all, can become a huge problem. The first instinct of the neat freak would be to clean up after the messy roommate. But this is about the worst that you could do to help the problem. By cleaning up, you are inadvertently telling your roommate that you don’t mind cleaning up after them. A way to help the problem, rather than cover it up would be to discuss your different levels of cleanliness, and maybe agree to have certain cleaning times for the common areas, such as cleaning two or three times a week, versus cleaning every day. Another solution would be to divide the chores. It’s possible that your messy roommate doesn’t like to clean or clean very often because of the numerous tasks involved. By dividing the chores, your messy roommate is more likely to help out if they only have to focus on certain things rather than everything. By solving this problem, your living arrangement will be much more agreeable to you, rather than constantly being frustrated at how much cleaning you do and your roommate doesn’t do.

Another huge factor in roommate disagreements is lack of communication. Communication is vital in roommate relationships, just as it is in any other relationship. Having good communication amongst roommates is a huge plus, especially when it comes preventing any issues that may arise, before they start. For instance, talking about one another’s pet peeves and habits are good ways to avoid irritating each other.

Another factor that can play havoc with roommates getting along is lifestyle. If you are a person who enjoys the quiet, then having a roommate who likes loud music and partying could be a nightmare. But talking over schedules for quiet time can greatly relieve the stress of living with someone who is the opposite of you.

Having a roommate can be a great experience, even if the two of you don’t enjoy all of the same things. There are numerous ways to get around and avoid issues that could potentially ruin your roommate relationship. Just because you and your roommate are polar opposites, doesn’t mean that you can’t cohabitate the same place. By working together and compromising can vastly increase your roommate experience.


About Author:
Zack Fair writes articles for Rental Markets Inc. managing a Roommates Community site Getaroomie.com that serves as a roommate search engine as well as a community for people to find a roommate or room.

Article Source: http://www.ArticleBiz.com

Write Your Vision In Your Subconscious If You Want To See It Made Manifest In Your Life

By: David Hurley

Something that Matt Morris wrote in a recent edition of the Success University newsletter about "goals" and "vision" really struck me the other day.

Here's what he said:

"We all know what a goal is, but vision is a topic of confusion for many. To put it in the simplest of terms, your vision is how you see yourself. You can set goals all day long, but if you cannot truly see yourself achieving them, your goals will never be realized. To accomplish a goal, you must truly expect to achieve it."

The key word is "see".

How many of us fail to achieve goals because we don't give them real substance in the subconscious by visualizing them taking place? I still have pages of old diaries full of "year goals" that were never achieved, year in and year out. They were worthy enough goals, but they lacked any deep vision of success.

The problem with setting your goals without first seeing your vision is that you are failing to appeal to your subconscious mind with pictures that compel. If you do not appeal to your subconscious with a clear picture it is unlikely that your life will change.

As anybody who knows Matt Morris will tell you, he grew up amidst poverty and low expectations. By constantly focusing on how broke he was his circumstances came to dominate his subconscious mind.

Matt writes:

"I had no idea that my vision, which is trained by my subconscious mind, was overriding my efforts to succeed."

The subconscious mind will draw on whatever is to hand. If poverty and failure are the only materials to hand, they will be drawn upon and they will certainly continue to show up in your life.

But you CAN change the vision your subconscious works with. The subconscious level of the mind is influenced by what other people say about you, by your experiences in life and by what YOU think about yourself.

So, here are three things to do if you want to prepare the ground and plant your vision deep in the fertile soil of your mind:

1. Hang around less with people who put you down. Look for one or more mentors to give you guidance and feed your vision. If you cannot find a good mentor, try an online mentoring programme such as Matt Morris's Success University, which is what I have been using.

2. Reinterpret your own history more positively. Turn your past into a source of strength, not weakness and self-defeat.

3. Change the way you speak and think about yourself. This is where positive thinking is important - in the thoughts you think about yourself.

Start to build your vision in thought pictures and impress them upon your subconscious mind as vividly and as often as possible. Again, the support of an organization like Success University will provide you with daily reinforcement and help in this area of personal reorientation.

When your subconscious is impressed with a clear vision it will work towards your goals through flashes of inspiriation, changes in posture, attitude and expectation, which will, in turn lead you to take action or respond to opportunities.

Your vision will lead you through the inevitable failures and false leads that will beset your progress and that would cause you to give up if you had merely set goals and not written your vision in vivid pictures on the tables of your subconsious mind.

Having a vision is ultimately about how you see yourself, and it is that vision that will bring you through whatever tribulations you must face on the path that is set before you.

The surgeon Maxwell Maltz, who wrote Psycho-Cybernetics, a bestselling "self image psychology" bible, discussed the way in which mistakes and wrong turns serve a vital function in the successful achievement of one's "self-image" or vision.

The first thing to understand is that,

"YOU make mistakes, mistakes don't make YOU - anything."

Tiger Woods, a man who has spent much of his life in the company of great mentors, talks about failure like this:

"The most we can ask of ourselves is to give it our best shot, knowing that sometimes we will fail. We are often defined by how we handle that failure."

So your mistakes should not affect your vision, your "great expectations" of achieving your clearly seen goals.

In fact, if you have a clear vision, your mistakes serve an important function which actually contributes to your eventual success, rather like a servo-mechanism in a rocket. Your "mistakes" are like "negative feedback" that tells you that "you need to take corrective action to get back on beam," as Maxwell Maltz explains:

"If negative feedback is working properly, a missile or a torpedo reacts to 'criticism' just enough to correct course, and keeps going forward towards the target. This course will be... a series of zig-zags."

Similarly, our vision provides us with an inbuilt "servo-mechanism" that gets us zig-zagging towards our goal, with the aid of negative feedback.

When Matt Morris discovered that "vision" was the key to achieving "goals" he "forever broke the shackles of poverty" from his life. He went on to found Success University and turn it into the most popular personal development website on the Internet in its first year of business.

You too, can do great things, provided that you write your own vision, make it plain upon on the tables of your subconscious and run with it until you see it made manifest in your life.

About Author :

David Hurley is a British Internet marketer who lives in Japan. He runs Grasp-The-Nettle.com, a website dedicated to spurring on anybody seeking to set up and succeed online. A free "Internet marketing startup" newsletter full of marketing advice, tips, and secrets are available at => http://grasp-the-nettle.com . It comes complete with a series of FREE Internet marketing guides plus over 30 money-saving, influence expanding resources.

Busy Life - Affecting the Depth of Relations

By: David Bishop

Life is full of uncertainty; no one can predict the incidents of someone's life. All palmistry and astronomy is a different science. They are not lies, but very few people have access to right experts in those fields. The thing which matters is stability in relations and state of mental peace for every person.

Today's human Being has become more materialistic than ever. They generally think about self, such kind of thinking is result of exhaustive capitalization of world. People are crazy for money and success in all endeavors of life. They are having very less time for relations, adults are busy in searching new horizons of career, elderly people are worried of doing more and more in the rest of life left with him, youngsters are busy enjoying the independence being provided. In brief, everyone is busy in looking for their own benefits. Relations are now a secondary thing for them, parents are not having time for their kids, and husband is busy in earning money for better life of his wife and kids, resulting less time for family.

This situation is very dangerous, if there will be no affection and charm in relation life will become useless. But very few people are ready to understand this truth, at a point in life they understand what is left behind in life, but till then it’s very late, and impossible to rollback. We can do everything for getting success in life, or earning money, or reaching new milestones in our career, but we cannot do anything to bring the time back.

People has to understand the value of relations, the need for parents, the availability for kids, time for spouse, and some time for themselves too. It’s a universal truth that everyone has been awarded with only 24 hours in a day, and we have to manage everything in these4 24 hours only, so being busy is just an excuse. But yes, career problems and being materialistic can be a real cause, because comfort and style has become a need for people, and they want both of them in life at any cost. For that one has to be materialistic, but in this rat race it’s unfair to forget the essence of life.

Yes, it’s our valued relations which are the essence of life. Be it relation between parents and kids, husband and wife, your friends or just your pets. Start giving proper value and priority to your relational then you will end up with and enriched experience in life.

About Author :

The Life Enrichment Boot Camps and Marriage Seminars are self improvement and intense life changing seminar that is the perfect place to increase self-esteem, value and worth. It can be an enriching experience for everyone. For more information please visit: - http://www.lifeenrichmentbootcamp.com

The Lighter side of life

By: Sharon Cacho

Diet. Nutrition. Health. Exercise. It’s all good. It’s all important. VERY important. It’s also synonymous with "no fun". Part of staying healthy is to have ~to actually create~ a lighter side of life.

It’s been proven. Laughter is the best medicine. Joy reduces stress. A light heart preserves your heart. It’s definitely a part of staying healthy. You think clearer, you breathe easier, you function at a higher level. You sustain more energy.

We need to stay healthy, eat right, and of course, exercise. We also need to have fun. How can you do this? There are several ways. You can exercise with friends. You can eat healthy together as a family. You can create a lighter atmosphere in your own home.

My family is very active. We spend a lot of time at sports events (for the kids). We have stopped eating out at fast food (for the most part~because, again, you have to enjoy life, too!). What we do is in between games, we travel to the next field, plant ourselves under a shade tree, pull out the always handy blanket and have ourselves a picnic. This way, we can monitor what the kids are consuming, and how much (anyone involved in athletics knows that it’s not healthy to eat too much between games). It’s a great family time, very relaxing, AND we have the added benefit of saving money.

One other way to create a fun surrounding is to have a family night! Rent a movie, pop some popcorn, buy some candy. YES! It’s okay to go off that diet once in a while. Studies prove that if you deny yourself, you are more likely to go off of your diet faster. If you treat yourself after a certain goal is reached, you will be happier, more satisfied, and more likely to stay with your regiment, whatever that means for you.

I know of a company that specializes in this. They have created a package of fun, just for you and your family! It contains a delightful assortment of nostalgic candy that goes great with just about any occasion, in or out of your home. It also has the benefit of being inexpensive, and can add to your mental health with that much needed mental break that you have been craving.

Changing Your Life

By: Keith Young

Most people want to change their life for the better. Most people don’t like the job they have or the lifestyle that they want. A lot of people aren’t even in the career they want. Most people don’t have the income they would like to have. Most people are stuck in a rut and don’t know how to get out or change their current life to the one that they truly want. The rut they are stuck in is called life.

People get caught up in life with having to make money to pay bills and support a family. Before we know it 10-15-20 years have gone by and we look back and wonder where the time went and that we are nowhere near where we would like to be in life personally and financially. How did I get into this job when it is something that I really don’t like and never planned on doing with my life. What went wrong? How do I fix it? How can I change careers now when I have bills and a family to support? I can’t take a cut in pay to start something new and changing careers takes time. I have to go back to school and take time away from my family and then we would have to cut back on our lifestyle and we can’t afford to do that. I guess I will just keep plugging along being unhappy but at least I am making good money.

How many of you have said that to yourself. We are really not taught how to plan our life. We are not taught to set goals and if we are how to achieve them. So we find ourselves at this place in life and we are really not happy. It starts to affect our life and the lives of the ones around us. It wears on you subconsciously and we start to feel trapped without even knowing it. We start to say and do things that we don’t like and we don’t know where that is coming from.

Our subconscious controls us more than most people know. Our subconscious does not know reality from unreality. Throughout our lives we train our subconscious to believe certain things about us. We train it for our likes and dislikes and our beliefs about ourselves. This is called our Inner Game.
For example, we might believe that we are not a good salesman. We see someone else as being good but not ourselves as a good salesman. Our subconconscious now believes that we are not a good salesman and will put up roadblocks to support that belief. This is just one example.

We also talk to ourselves constantly. It is a natural thing to do. We get lost in our own thoughts at times. We criticize ourselves or praise ourselves depending on the situation. This is called our self-talk. The more negative self-talk we have with ourselves the more our subconscious will believe this. On the other hand the more positive self-talk we have the more our subconscious will believe that. We need to control our negative self-talk to train our subconscious to get what we want and to train it for the beliefs we want.

Another mistake a lot of people make is they are not focused on what they want. Most people tend to focus on what they don’t want. An example would be I feel like I am coming down with a cold or I hope I don’t get a speeding ticket as I am late. Well, guess what. When we say something like either one of those statements then we are now focusing on what we don’t want and we start to attract those very things we don’t want.

Try saying something like I know I will arrive on time without incident and visualize yourself getting there on time without incident. Even if you feel a cold coming on say to yourself I am healthy and feel great and visualize yourself feeling healthy and going about your daily routine. We attract more of what we are focusing on.

There is a lot more to the Inner Game. For the sake of keeping this article short I just touched on a few of the things we can do to make a change in our life that we want. There are a lot of different techniques that we can use to accomplish the kind of change that we want both personally and financially. I cover a lot of these with my ebook 10 Steps for Changing Your Life-- The Inner Game. You can get a free special report at www.the-inner-game.com and also sign up to get on our list to let you know when the book will be released.

About Author :

Keith draws from his years of experience in different fields and his accountability coach training to help individuals get their life on the path that they want. He continues to study The Inner Game with people such as Lou Tice, Tony Robbins, Mark Victor Hansen and Jack Canfield.

10 ways to start taking control of your own life

By: Lily Woods

There are few ways to get you ahead of others. You need to < href="http://betterselfesteem.info">stay focus and keep motivating yourself in order to avoid depression and boredom out of your life. Even if you are married with kids, work in a not so high rank job, there is potential to go ahead and be happy with your achievements.

1. Take Good Care of Yourself
It's much easier to be positive when you are eating well, exercising, and getting enough rest. Drinking enough water also helps. Stay away from substance like Cigarette and excessive alcohol.

2. Commit to yourself as well as those you love to create powerfully a life you can love. Instead of reacting, commit to creating from your heart and soul, out of love rather than fear. The American Dream will always be there, but a dream will still be a dream without motion. Be amazed as the transformation begins.

3. Be Grateful with what you have
Situations don't seem quite as bad when you are constantly reminding yourself of the things you have in life. Taking just 60 seconds a day to stop and appreciate the good things will make a huge difference. You might no have the biggest house in the neighborhood but you have an understanding wife and two lovely children, therefore, focus on those nice things you have

4. Acknowledge stress is good
Make stress your friend! Based on the body's natural "fight or flight" response, that burst of energy will enhance your performance at the right moment. I've yet to see a top sportsman totally relaxed before a big competition. Use stress wisely to push yourself that little bit harder when it counts most.


4. Look for the Proof Instead of Making Assumptions
A fear of not being liked or accepted sometimes leads us to assume that we know what others are thinking, but our fears are usually not reality. If you have a fear that a friend or family member's bad mood is due to something you did, or that your co-workers are secretly gossiping about you when you turn your back, speak up and ask them. Don't waste time worrying that you did something wrong unless you have proof that there is something to worry about.


5. Detach yourself From Negative Thoughts
Your thoughts can't hold any power over you if you don't judge them. If you notice yourself having a negative thought, detach from it, witness it, and don't follow it. In his book "Change Your Brain, Change Your Life," Dr. Daniel Amen talks about "ANTs" - Automatic Negative Thoughts. Realize that they are nothing more than ANTs and squash them!

6. Practice Touching and Squeezing (Your Friends and Family)
You don't have to be an expert to know the benefits of a good hug. Positive physical contact with friends, loved ones, and even pets, is an instant pick-me-up. One research study on this subject had a waitress touch some of her customers on the arm as she handed them their checks. She received higher tips from these customers than from the ones she didn't touch!

8. Practice socially acceptable heavy breathing
This is something I've learned from a gym instructor: You can trick your body into relaxing by using heavy breathing. Breathe in slowly for a count of 7 then breathe out for a count of 11. Repeat the 7-11 breathing until your heart rate slows down, your sweaty palms dry off and things start to feel more normal.

9. Increase Your Social Activity
By increasing social activity, you decrease loneliness. Surround yourself with healthy, happy people, and their positive energy will affect you in a positive way!

10. Volunteer for an Organization, or Help another Person
Everyone feels good after helping. You can volunteer your time, your money, or your resources. The more positive energy you put out into the world, the more you will receive in return.

Practice these 10 steps until you get familiar and you see significant improvements self-control. You will notice that you do not get impatient and throw tantrums when something goes wrong. Start in small steps and give it a try starting from today.

The Laws of Attraction Will Improve Life

By: Terry Detty

Let us take a moment to consider the actual "Law of Attraction" and the role it plays in human attraction. The Law of Attraction was developed by members of the New Age Movement who were exploring the potential of the human mind over the body's future. The Law of Attraction states that "you get what you think about; your thoughts determine your destiny".

Is this a fact? Can you really make your life into anything that you want it to be just by thinking about it happening? While science has not found a definite link between repetition of a thought, its connection with the subconscious and the role that it plays in a human's success, that has not stopped people from wondering. There are hundreds of programs out there intended to influence the subconscious and, in doing so, affect the way that they conscious mind reacts in an established situation.

The potential for success in this endeavor exists in that the human mind is greatly influenced by its perceptions and will often make a decision based upon its intuition and feelings regarding a certain matter rather than the established surrounding facts. This means that a person who is timid can program a confidence into their subconscious through the use of these methods, thereby allowing them to portray this confidence to the outside world. The people around them will respond in kind, believing their potential for success to be great based upon the attitude that they project.

How does this affect the laws of attraction of the human race? Take a moment to consider which individual is the most likely to gain your attention and interest, the one who sits quietly in the corner and does not seem to have much to say or the one that carries a confident demeanor and is willing to approach you and strike up a rapport? The simple fact of the matter is that confidence is sexy. People are attracted to people who appear to be comfortable with their lives and their place in it. This confidence will lead to attraction; attraction leads to not sitting home watching reruns on a Saturday night!

Is it true that you can influence your destiny through the power of the Law of Attraction? Certainly. That does not necessarily mean that the cosmos are going to align in order to make your every wish come true; however, with the power of positive thought you can change the way that you approach a situation and give yourself an exponentially greater chance to succeed.

About Author :

Terry Detty enjoys reading about the Laws of Attraction to improve his knowledge base. Dealing With & Avoiding Dating Consequence - Choosing The Perfect Mate - The Laws of Attraction and Finances - Gold Diggers

Men Attitudes Defining Lifestyle

By: Jack Kallis

Attitude is the word that guides our life and our way of living. It depends on us how we want to approach towards it. It makes our life either fun to live or full of depressing moments. This is an emotional state that all of us experience.

Attitude means having a neutral, negative or positive outlook towards different things or situations of life. Most of the attitudes can be an effect of what we observe around us. These attitudes may affect our behaviors at a later stage. A positive outlook aids us in dealing with the problems of life. It gives an optimistic perspective to a person and helps him in preventing the negative thoughts coming up in his mind. This will bring out some productive transformation in one’s life and give them a vivid, successful life. This will make you see a better side of life and award them with strength of character and a more developed mind.

One can achieve a positive outlook by looking at the optimistic side of life, creative thinking, looking for a source of inspiration, motivation that will lead you to your goal, always trying for success, not getting disappointed by the hurdles, never let go of confidence and self-esteem in failures, and finding a solution to the problems of life instead of crying over them. This way you will develop your inner self and add more happiness to your life. This will encourage you to desire for more in life and achieve it effortlessly. This way you can explore positive attitude that lies hidden in the negativities of life. It says that failure doesn’t mean that you are not capable of it. It just means that you have not put in the efforts enough to complete that task. Believing in one’s own self is another way that will lead to a positive attitude towards life. Discarding worries is another thing that can help you develop a positive attitude. Involving oneself in things that motivates and inspires him will bestow a life full of happiness and improve your overall personality. It is always advisable to avoid things and comments that de-motivates you, it is also better to stay away from people who do not appreciate you.

Yoga is one of the aspects that can help you achieve positive attitude. There are three approaches by which yoga aids in attaining a positive attitude. These are awareness, attitude and acceptance. Awareness refers to the thinking process. That is we should be aware of what we are thinking and how our mind is working. We should make it a habit to analyze whatever we think. Yoga helps us in changing our perspectives for the good. For example, if you don’t like a person and can’t stand him for a moment then start looking for one positive thing in him. And recall the same quality whenever you confront that person. This will surely change your attitude for that person, though this will happen gradually. Last but not the least, is the acceptance. Awareness, no doubts make us finicky and critical about our own self, but acceptance of what is negative in us and putting in an effort to negate it takes us a step forward in understanding our self thus, leading to self-development. It makes us feel a genuine kindness and respect for ourselves. This way we can see ourselves rising up from the ground level to the spiritual level. Accepting the negativities of life as natural and that difficulty are a part of everyone’s life will give more strength to understand then with a calm mind and deal with them.

About Author :

I am a article and content writer. I have a very good experience in the above mentioned field.

Living A Healthy Lifestyle: The Food of Champions

By: Aunice Reed

Treating your body well will yield you an excellent return for your work. However, treating it like garbage, as if it were disposable, will serve you exactly the way you'd expect---poorly. Achieving significant goals like starting a business, raising children, finishing a degree, switching careers or expanding your business, all require for you to be in the best possible physical condition.

How you handle necessary, everyday stress is one good indicator of your physical health status. Examples of necessary stressors are: bill paying, traffic, car repairs, working, and family illness. These are things which you must deal with simply because you really have no other choice. They are just a part of life. If you find you are often becoming unglued and anxious behind the wheel, experiencing road-rage or losing it with your friends, co-workers, children and other family members, chances are great that you are not taking very good care of yourself.

You put gas in your car, don't you? How about oil and water? Maybe you'll just keep reusing the same oil for 10 more years. For your car to run properly, you must take care of it. You'll want to avoid sudden car maintenance problems because it will slow you down. You'll have to find other ways of getting to work, school and the grocery store. Your children will need to carpool to school, soccer practice and ballet class. If you use your car for business, then you're really in a tight spot. It's the same with you. You must maintain your health or you'll breakdown.

Many people drive cars. Our society relies upon them. However, many of us tend to treat our cars a whole lot better than the way we treat ourselves. We make certain the we take it to the detail shop for one of those "Supreme Super Wash" services. Some of us spend hours on a Saturday morning buffing and waxing our cars to a spit shine. Many spend time, but also lots of money. We buy those sophisticated rims and gps systems, for example. But then, we neglect our own health and well-being.

Does this sound like you?

Being in the best possible physical condition is practically the cornerstone of success. It takes energy to reach goals and change the behaviors which limit us. Providing the framework for handling stress effectively, a sharp and focused mind is an absolute requirement. Exercising and eating nutritiously is only the beginning of realizing goal accomplishment, but it is absolutely necessary.

Call-To-Action: Become more consciously aware of what you consume. Cut down on the junk food and replace it with something nutritious instead. Start getting some kind of movement in at least three times weekly, even if it's just for 15 minutes or so. You can gradually increase duration and intensity a few minutes at a time. Remember it's about consistency, not quantity.

Copyright (c) 2008 Aunice Reed

About Author :

For Further Tips on Living A Healthy Lifestyle, visit: http://www.womensspecialtygroup.typepad.com Aunice Reed is a Professional Success Coach/NLP Master Specialist, specializing in Women's Personal Achievement.

Do you have a vision of your perfect life?

By: Melisa Milonas

Do you have a vision of your perfect life? Could you describe it to someone if you were asked right now? I have caught myself at times unsure of what I want for my life. Unable to describe the perfect life where I have everything I want. This lack of vision has caused me to run around in circles and produce results that were not necessarily what I wanted for my life.

A large part of why I have had a hard time defining my perfect life was that I did not believe I deserved a perfect life. I also found my clients felt this way as well. Like me they could not believe that their perfect life was achievable so they always brushed of thoughts that resembled the perfect life.

Feelings of not deserving and being unworthy are the roots and cause the barrier in believing in the vision of your perfect life. So like me and you have not expected much out of life. I found that this belief did not work for me. I saw that I was not really happy just trying to get by. To only shoot for the mediocre job, partner, and home was not fulfilling and life seemed to feel like a struggle.

I realized that this belief system was not the truth and that I deserved to have a fulfilling life that included everything I needed to be happy. So I started to map out my perfect life and I am going to share with you how you can do it for yourself. There may be a part of you that wants to resist doing this exercise. I too have had the tendency to resist focusing on identifying and creating my perfect life. My resistance came from the fear that I wanted so many things and if I did not get them I may be disappointed.

Your fears and beliefs are all made up. You make them based off your past experiences and then you believe them. If you can make up beliefs that dis-empowers you, then I invite you to make up beliefs that empowers you. Create what excites you and has you loving your life and waking up every day with enthusiasm.

In order for you to be able to focus on creating your perfect life you need to learn how to describe and articulate that life. Identify what excites you and would makes you happy. Distinguish the desires you want versus what your family and culture tell you should want.

In creating the map of your vision think about every aspect of your life health, career, home life, relationships. How do you want to feel in these areas of your life? What would you need to do and be to create those feelings?

For example, if you want to feel happy and free in your career, how could you create this? Maybe having a job that you get to make up your own schedule? Having a career that you get to contribute your ideas. Commit to being proactive by producing results in your work.

You can write your vision of the perfect life as a list or you can make collage. Include things that seem impossible, silly, or that you just don't believe you deserve. You will be surprised by how the universe will respond to your vision when you get clear about what you want even if you're not 100% convinced you will get it.

The next step is to believe that you deserve and can achieve what you want. To get past any feelings of resistance or lack of faith visualize your perfect life. The reason visualizing is important to do is that it makes you feel good and deserving. When you feel good it feels more believable and achievable for you and manifesting becomes much easier. See yourself with your dream partner and feel the wind on your skin as you are seeing yourself living by the beach.

I constantly tell myself "I deserve the best" so that I never settle. You to want to reprogram your old belief system to one that is aligned with your vision of the perfect life. Your old belief system will try to creep back in at times, you want to constantly remind yourself that you deserve the best and you're worthy of the perfect life. Otherwise, you will fall back into feeling cynical and resigned about life.

The last part in creating the vision of your prefect life is to let go of how it should happen. This means trust that what you desire is coming to you without worrying about when or how it will happen. Often times when we manifest what we want it comes in the most unexpected way. If you want things to come a specific way you may in fact block the possibility of your desires showing up in your life.

Let's review each step. First see what beliefs have been blocking you from focusing on creating the perfect life. For every aspect of your life identify what you want and then make a list or collage of your vision. Then, believe that you deserve everything you desire and you can achieve it.

Lastly, let go of being attached to how it will show up in your life and just be committed to living the perfect life.

Do not think of this exercise as a selfish egotistical thing to focus on but rather see this as your duty and contribution to yourself and humanity. Focusing on the vision of your perfect life will bring you happiness. Your happiness affects the lives of others. Remember not to look at your vision with the "if this then pattern" I have written about in the past. You do not have to wait to be happy and fulfilled and you don't need to suffer through life.

You can hold the intention of your perfect life while being grateful right now for everything in your life. In fact where you are now, is where you need to be, in order to get you to where you want to go in your life, so it is all perfect and divine.

Your assignment for this week: Create a list of the vision of your perfect life. Look at each area of your life: Home Career, Finances, Career, Relationships, Spirituality, and Health. List what you want in each area and be descriptive. You may also make a collage of the vision of your perfect life.

Cut out images and pictures that create the feeling and vision of what you want to create in your life. Be playful and get a group of friends together and create your vision with a group. Update your vision as you grow and your desires changes.

Copyright (c) 2008 Melisa Milonas LLC

20 Tips to Live a More Frugal Lifestyle in Today’s Difficult Economy

By: Candy Osborne

Living in the United States today is not without its challenges, financially speaking. In an article dated March 9, 2008 Reuters reported that the average price for gas is $3.20 per gallon and it is intended to rise over the next month.

Equally disturbing, the U.S. Department of Labor reported 63,000 jobs were cut in February 2008 alone.

Words like "recession", "deficit", "stimulus package" and even "economic crisis" have people wondering what the economical condition of this country will be like weeks, months and years down the road.

What can we do as consumers during these troubled economic times?

Essentially, we have to do more with less. On other words, we have to be frugal and smarter with our spending. Living a frugal life is somewhat subjective because people are very set in their lifestyles. So, frugal to one person making $70,000 could be quite different than someone making minimum wage. However, the overall mindset is the same. We need to examine our lifestyles and make meaningful changes which start with determining monthly expenses and setting a budget to adhere to.

After determining your budget, check out these suggestions to help get you started living a more frugal lifestyle:

1.) Buy used items instead of new ones. Use a site like www.UZAP.com which offers free listings to do just this.
2.) Borrow a book from the library instead of buying a new one.
3.) Swap videos with friends for movie nights.
4.) Accept hand-me-downs and likewise, pass them on.
5.) Consider do-it-yourself projects instead of hiring out, such as washing your own car.
6.) Make the next birthday card you give instead of buying one.
7.) Coupons, coupons, coupons! Collect them and use them.
8.) Plan your weekly meals around what is on sale at the grocery store and stick to your plan.
9.) Go to yard sales for cheap finds and to buy items cheaply and re-sell them on sites like UZAP.com.
10.) Purge old things you don’t use/wear anymore and either sell them or donate them. Others will benefit from this and you will too, either financially or by feeling good that you helped someone in need.
11.) Ask yourself if you really need to purchase brand names or if you can accept buying generic labels.
12.) Buy in bulk and save. Freeze bulk foods like meats and veggies that you won’t eat that week.
13.) Eat at home as much as possible. Taking a family of four out for dinner even once a week could cost the same as eating at home for four or more nights. Get the kids involved in planning and preparing the meal to make it more exciting for everyone. Apply this strategy to your job and brown bag it there too.
14.) Schedule a leftover meal night each week.
15.) No one says you have to stop exercising, but do you really need a membership at a fitness center? For what you probably pay in monthly fees, you can buy bands, balance disks or stability balls and work out in your own home.
16.) Plan ahead and do all of your errands in the same area all at once. Especially with the rising gas prices, don’t take two trips to the same place two days in a row if you can avoid it.
17.) Re-consider your modes of transportation. Can you walk the distance to perform an errand? Maybe you can make it part of your exercise routine and knock out an errand and a workout at the same time. What about public transportation? It might be cheaper to commute this way than to drive your own vehicle.
18.) Replace your expensive forms of entertainment with forms that don’t cost a lot of money. How about a game board night with friends, a potluck supper or a play date at the park?
19.) Get involved with your community to network and learn other ways to live on a dime.
20.) Cut back on spending! Watch your monthly budget and stick to it.

I already know what you’re thinking…being frugal takes time! Who has the time for all these things? As mentioned before, it is subjective. The more things you can take on yourself and borrow, trade or buy used, the more money you will keep in your pocket for the rising gas prices and beyond. Consider spending time performing these tasks (making a birthday card, performing a do-it-yourself project, etc.) in the presence of others. Maybe you can kill two birds with one stone and spend quality time with your children/loved ones while performing these things. And you will be teaching them a valuable lesson too.


About Author :

Candy Osborne is a marketing consultant for Internet-based companies and a former journalist. One of her clients, www.UZAP.com is perfect for people trying to be more frugal since users can buy, sell, trade, lease or donate goods and services for free.

Handbags for Women

By: Khursheed Qamar

A purse or handbag is often fashionably designed, and is used to hold items such as wallet, keys, tissues, makeup, a hairbrush, cellular device or personal digital assistant, feminine products, or other items.



Types of Handbags:

Clutch: Small,yet long (rectangular), evening bag without a handle.

Satchel: large bag with small handle that is carried on the arm rather than on the shoulder.

Duffle: A large bag usually used for travel or sports.

Tote: A medium to large bag with two straps.

Messenger bag : A bag with a long strap to be worn across the body.

Sling bag : A bag with a long strap (similar to a messenger bag), yet smaller.

Satchel

A satchel is a bag used by many people to carry books, and other objects in. It has one, sometimes two, large straps that goes over one shoulder and across the body. Many students use them at universities and colleges. Like all bags, satchels are easily customized with patches and various other creative textiles.

Duffle

A duffel bag is a large cylindrical bag made of cloth with the closure at the top, often also referred to as a kit bag

The name comes from Duffel, a town in Belgium where the thick cloth used to make the bag originated. Nowadays a Duffel Bag typically refers to the specific style of bag, though the phrase may also be used to refer to any large generic hold all or a bag made of thick fabric.

It is often used to carry luggage or sports equipment by people who travel in the outdoors. Duffel bags are often used by military personnel. When used by sailors, they are sometimes called sea bags in this capacity.

Tote:

A medium to large bag with two straps. Normally use ladies for Offices, Shopping, etc.

Messenger bag

Messenger bag (also called a courier bag) is a type of sack, usually made out of some kind of cloth (natural or synthetic), that is worn over one shoulder with a strap that winds around the chest resting the bag on the lower back. Messenger bags are often used by bicycle messengers, though they are increasingly becoming an urban fashion icon.

Sling bag

A sling bag is a type of bag that is worn over one shoulder with a strap that winds around the chest resting the bag on the lower back. Although they are similar to a Messenger bag, sling bags are often smaller and are worn in a slightly different way.

www.mb.com.pk

Reference

Wikipedia

Seven Questions for a Reality Check

By: Julie Fuimano

Every so often, it’s important to assess the status of your life. Time moves along and you’re busy doing stuff. By taking the time to reflect on what’s going well – and what’s not – you can turn the steering wheel of your life and head in a different direction. If you don’t stop to assess, you might be lost on the road of life and not realize it!

Here are seven inquiries for pondering the status of your life:

1) The first question to ask yourself is about the direction of your life: Do you know where you are going? Without a destination in mind, any road will take you there. Does your life make sense to you? Are you living your life with meaning, direction, and purpose or are you living by default, billowing in the wind? Many people waste precious time complaining about how unhappy they are or about how life just isn’t how it’s ‘supposed’ to be. But complaining, making excuses, blaming others, or playing a victim won’t change anything. You can learn to take the actions required to get where you want to go. But first, you need to know where you want to go!

2) Your life is like sailing a boat. In the distance is the horizon, your point of reference for your destination. And while keeping your eye on that spot, you are also tending to the boat. Are you tending to your boat? Meaning, are you doing the things you need to do to care for yourself? In what ways might you want to improve your health and fitness? This is not about being a certain weight; it’s about your health. When was the last time you saw your primary care physician? Do you have one? Are you experiencing any physical pain that requires your attention? Are there medical tests you’ve been putting off? Are you addicted to anything? You are the most important person in your life. Without you, what do you have? Besides you, who else hurts when you delay doing what’s best for you? Does that matter to you? Most people say that family is of greatest value. Well, when you don’t take care of yourself, the people who love you the most suffer the consequences.

3) How are your finances? Are you in debt or are you solvent? What part of your finances requires your attention? If you’re in debt, the first thing is to stop digging yourself into more debt. Create a plan of action to get out of debt and make sure you do the inner work necessary to shift your mindset so that you never get into debt again. People often overspend due to low self-esteem or lack of knowledge about money. If all you do is change your circumstances (i.e. get out of debt) but don’t change how you think about money, you are bound to repeat the pattern.

If you are on the road to financial freedom, what other things might you need to tend to? Are you happy with the return on your investment portfolio? Does your Will need updating? Do you have a Durable Power of Attorney and a Living Will? Are you earning as much as possible given your skill set or is it time to investigate alternative job possibilities or ask for a raise? You don’t know unless you investigate. Several clients have explored their worth in the marketplace and have found they are worth much more than their current position is paying. Then they ask for raises or go for new positions. It’s worth your time and effort to check.

4) What kind of emotional baggage are you carrying and what do you need to do to let go of it? We live in a busy society. Having not stopped in months (or years) to experience and acknowledge the reality of your pain, you might not realize just what the pain is costing you in terms of happiness, relationships and connection, and even your physical health. Where is your pain? What things do you need to forgive yourself for? Is there someone in your life who you have yet to forgive or who deserves more trust than you’ve given them? What are you holding onto? Accepting your own humanity is a huge step in lightening your load as you walk the thousand miles of your life. Learning to let go of the pain of your past will make the present much more enjoyable.

5) In what ways are you "shoulding" yourself? You might focus attention on things you "should" do, you think you "have" to do, but you don’t want to do. Somewhere in your thought processes, you harbor the belief that you have no choice about how you "should" spend your time and the things you "should" have. You always have a choice. You may not like the options but there are always choices. You may have unrealistic expectations for how your life should be. The gap between this fantasy and reality causes you pain, suffering, and guilt. You can never achieve unrealistic expectations. Give yourself permission to challenge these beliefs about what life is supposed to be like. What do you think is supposed to be different?

6) Where’s your fear? Fear is an insidious thing. It keeps you stuck in your comfort zone and will keep you from experiencing more success and happiness in your life. If something is not the way you want it to be, examine your fears. Is money or indebtedness an issue for you? You might fear being alone or abandoned. Do you fear failure or success? Do you fear being taken advantage of or being controlled? Anything you fear runs your life. By succumbing to your fear, you give it power over you. It’s time to take control and overcome your fear do you succeed in spite of it.

7) What do you value the most? What is most important to you: Is it money? Surviving? Is it work? Family? Your health? Your life is a reflection of what you value the most. If there is an area that is challenging for you, look at the choices you are making; what you choose to do in any given moment is an expression of your values. Too often, people act unconsciously, without considering what is most important. Knowing what you value will help guide your decisions. Do you stay late at work or attend your daughter’s dance recital? Are you taking a vacation this year with your spouse/family or will you work straight through in order to impress others by how diligent you are? Consider what you might be valuing the next time you yell at your spouse, or lie to a friend, or choose to work late when your family is expecting you. Balance is important and being clear about what you value will help you to live true to your integrity, which helps you sleep well at night.

Whatever frustrates you and keeps you up at night, whatever difficulties you currently have, face them. By asking the tough questions, you shed some light on the issues you need to deal with so you can experience greater happiness. Awareness is very powerful. When you give yourself the gift of awareness, you open yourself up to explore the possibilities of your life and you give yourself the power to make conscious choices for yourself and your life. If you don’t ask the questions, you’ll stay in the dark. A safe place for sure, but a very shallow place to live your life.

About Author :

Named ONE OF THE TOP 100 THOUGHT LEADERS of 2007 in the field of Personal Leadership Development by PERSONAL EXCELLENCE MAGAZINE, Julie Fuimano, MBA, BSN, RN, CSAC is dedicated to helping you break through the barriers to your happiness and success. For additional resources and to sign up for her inspiring e-newsletter, visit www.NurturingYourSuccess.com or email Julie@NurturingYourSuccess.com

Life: At Bat In the Second Inning!

By: Nicholas Tan

At Bat In the Second Inning!

A growing number of us can now expect to live close to or past 100 years, so 50 has become midlife. Today instead of approaching midlife with the obligations of work and family, baby boomers are looking to a second half they pretty much design as they wish. For many of them, the results don’t look much like what their parents and grandparents called retirement.

Whether because of layoffs or because they’re weary of their jobs, many are considering new possibilities for their post-50 years and that includes starting a business of their own. Many of these business endeavors combine their passions and talents into a revenue-producing career. This marriage fits their goals in ways a salaried job rarely could. Some work full-time, but some work part of a day, week, month, or year. Many are pursuing work similar to what they did when employed, while others are staking out entirely new careers.

The obstacles that post-50s face in starting a business are not substantially different from those anyone else faces when becoming self-employed. Without exception, most consider their age as an advantage in communicating credibility to clients and customers.

What a difference from the ageism experienced by so many on the job! No wonder the U.S. Small Business Administration is finding the ages of start-up entrepreneurs is trending older.

I know of a friend who after a 30-year career as a journalist found his work shifting from working on articles to working with administrators. The bureaucratic and political hassles that came with the job of editor of a consumer magazine were no longer what he wanted.

Figuring there was a good chance he’d live to 90 or beyond, he started thinking about what he wanted to do with the next third of his life. Luckily he’d developed a passion for pottery in his 40’s and the more he did it, the more he liked it. So when offered a chance to retire early at 63, he jumped at the chance to turn his hobby into a second career.

His biggest challenge was to find ways to market his work, and he found doing studio sales several times a year worked for him. He and his wife purchased a 20-acre home in Virginia, and remodeled a four-stall barn into a studio workshop and living quarters. Three years later, between the studio sales, galleries that carry his work, annual crafts shows, his Web site and some great publicity his business is growing well.

Best of all he loves what he does and envisions doing it until they carry him out. He sees no reason for not having another 30-year career after his first. More and more "old gray mares" are following the same path. So if you’re nearing or are 50, you are coming up to bat in the second inning of your life. Why not hit it out of the park!

Don't Smoke to Get Career Advancement

By: Pete France

Don’t Smoke For Career Advancement

Everyone knows that a cigarette can be great social leveller.

By that I mean that in a corporation, when the smokers nip outside for a communal cigarette, a Director can talk to a subordinate in a much more familiar way than they would talk to each other in any other business situation.

I am guilty of deliberately doing this myself in order to get in with top management. I remember some time ago I was at my consultancy company’s big get-togethers. It was one of those two day events where we got to drive aqua-buggies around a few fields, shoot bow and arrows around in a forest and generally act like 6 years olds for a day. All in the name of Leadership and Team Building. You know the kind of thing.

The problem was, the Directors and Senior Management themselves didn’t really get stuck into the Outdoor Activities as much as every else. I don’t think it was because they didn’t see the point (we couldn’t either and did it anyway). I think they didn’t really want to let go and make fools of themselves in front of everyone else. I could also see that many of my other colleagues were keen to get to know the Directors too, but couldn’t see a way into their inner circle.

Where am I going with this?

Well, I took the quick route to establishing rapport quickly by having a cigar with some of the directors once the dinner as finished. As I took a massive breath of the cigar, I smiled genially to my new best friends, and ignored the burning in my mouth and protestations deep down in my lungs. I thought I was terribly clever, managing to get on the same table with the directors that smoked and having a good laugh with them.

What’s that? Smoking is the path to greatness? Gives you instant access to the Board of Directors and allows you to forge an instant meteoric rise to the Board? Not quite. I was of course completely fooling myself. Whilst I was convinced that I was reeling in the attentions of the most important people in the company, I should have taken the time to study who was at the other end of the long dining table and what they were doing.

The guys I were smoking cigars with were the ‘old guard’ of the company. All over 55 years old, probably close to retirement, and enjoying giving this young buck (me) some old war stories about hostile takeover bids.

The real deal going down that night was on the same table, but was at the opposite end where the dynamic new Director was explaining his vision to his forward-thinking colleagues. They were, I’m sure, very glad that the old geezers were out of their way in their smoking circle, and not at their end to pour any cold water over some of their bold new proposals.

To cut a long story short, I believed that I could get associated quickly with people using smoking as a prop. I was right, you can. The only problem is that the kind of people you’ll get associated with are probably not the guys you need to associate with, as they’ll probably be on their way down, or on their way out.

Pete owns Quitting Smoking Today helping people learn about quitting smoking

Pre Marriage Questions

By: Kashmira Lad

Are you thinking it’s high time you get married to your steady date? Wait a sec; maybe you are in the wrong lane because such issues need to be handled carefully. Here is a list of pre marriage questions you need to ask yourself and your partner as well before you take the plunge.

"Love is blind - marriage is the eye-opener" - Pauline Thomason

The joy and the excitement that is felt while falling in love are beyond compare to anything else in this world. This is something I am sure everybody would agree with. Have you noticed though, how couples have a tough time getting along after all the initial excitement? This is solely because at times, love is blind; most people tend to overlook many things about their partners. Therefore, problems arise when you realize there are certain things that affect the compatibility of the couple after marriage. Many couples probably face this situation and the intelligent ones know how to overcome such situations and still keep their relationship going strong. If marriage is what you are contemplating, then there are certain things you need to know before you take the plunge. Everybody wants to have a happy marriage and you can certainly do so if you get a few issues cleared before you say ‘I Do’! Have you ever asked yourself certain questions regarding your relationship? Have you ever thought about the depth of the relationship? There are many more things you need to know about the relationship so that you can get all the facts straight. Any couple planning to tie the knot should have a set of pre marriage questions ready so that they can know about issues that will affect their life post marriage. Pre marriage questions are useful for any couple probably going steady or even couples trying to take the decision though the concept of arranged marriage. Though you might find this a strange concept, pre marriage questions can definitely prove to be a boon for those about to tie the knot. Here is a list of pre marriage questions, which can help you, sort out some issues.

Pre Marriage Questions: Get to the bottom of the matter!

What is the main reason behind the decision of getting married?
Funny isn’t it? You are all gung ho about getting married but many couples do not really know the reason behind this very important decision. Are you getting married because you have been seeing each other for too long? Is this because you are very lonely? Do you want to tie the knot because you are thinking this could be the only chance you have for a relationship? Do you think that your age is a factor for this decision? Whatever the reason, none of these should be the actual reasons, marriage is not the solution for problems, look at it in a different light and learn not to link different issues together.

What are your long-term goals as couple?
As a couple, you must ensure you discuss long-term goals together. This will help you to know each other’s thinking and help to know about the compatibility factor. Ensure you discuss the career plans as well as family issues that will help you to assess the situation and take effective decisions accordingly. It will also help to know if you are on the same wavelength about certain issues.

What is your compatibility level as a couple?
How compatible are you as a couple? Do you always adjust for the sake of the relationship or is it the other way round? Couples today need to understand each other completely before saying the words, ‘I Do’. A compromise is always fine in any relationship but it should not happen all the time. Your compatibility is very essential to have a successful and happy marriage.

Have you checked about the responsibilities after marriage?
Love can make you overlook certain issues, which hold a lot of importance after marriage. Marriage would mean a lot of responsibilities and this should be something a couple should be prepared for. A couple therefore needs to talk about it before they plan to get married. These responsibilities would include a lot of things on a daily basis. You would need to decide about the distribution of some of these responsibilities as well.

Do you have a clear-cut idea about the role that is expected from you?
Amongst pre marriage questions, this is also one of the most important ones. Couples before marriage lead a normal life whilst they are going steady with each other. Post marriage, most things may have a different angle to it. What are your expectations from your partner? It is very important you sort out these issues before you decide to marry your partner. Both of you need to specify the kind of role you would be playing post marriage. This would help you to get a clear picture about the same.

What about the customs and traditions?
If the couple hails from different backgrounds, then you would need to keep in mind how both would adjust to each other’s customs and traditions. Things as a steady couple may seem different before marriage and post marriage as well. After marriage, such issues may prove to a hindrance to those who may not have paid much heed to it in advance.

What about the acceptance of families?
If you have the acceptance of families, then you would need to keep in mind about maintaining the relations as well. The couple needs to define what is expected from each other towards both families. Maintaining good relations with both families helps in developing better bonds. It would also mean your children have loving grandparents as well. Try to get to know each other families. This will help you to strengthen your bond as couple as well. If the families approval is a difficult matter, would you be able to take that all important step without their approval? For this, you need to sort out your priorities and know that you would probably have to be very firm about decisions.

I am hoping these pre marriage questions help you sort out issues before you pop the question itself! Here’s wishing you loads of luck in your endeavors!

Secret 15˚ Feng Shui Personal Directions That Influence Your Life

By: P.k. Odle

Gravity affects everyone, even without our awareness. In fact, you’re influenced by other laws of nature from the moment of birth, including the inherent Feng Shui energies present in all buildings and your unique directional relationship to the magnetic forces of Earth. Even without your awareness Feng Shui influences are affecting your finances, health and relationships.

The 5 levels of influence in Classical Feng Shui are…

• General ENVIRONMENTAL Problems… like Electrical Transformers, Clutter & Broken things
• Problems with the Movement of Qi (chi)… including Blocked Qi, a Direct Hit or Loss of Qi
• Inherent Energies… affecting People (Health & Relationship) & Money (Finances & Career)
• Cyclical Energies… Annual & 20 year Construction Cycle LOCKS on People and/or Money
• Personal Directions… your lifetime 45° & 15° Directions according to your gender & date of birth

Beyond the first two visible levels of influence is your building’s unseen energy blueprint, which includes supportive and sabotaging energies. The energy blueprint is influenced by the Visiting Annual Energy, which is why one year can be better or worse in the same building. To neutralize the negative and enhance the positive energies Classical Feng Shui uses the five elements (water fountains, live plants, fire colored, earthen or metal objects) as beautiful accessories that blend with your décor.

Many consultants will tell your Kua or Trigram general 45° gender and birthday derived directions, however barely 5% of consultants are capable of doing the calculation involved to determine your unique set of 15° Feng Shui Personal Directions. As an internationally respected instructor for the American Feng Shui Institute and founder of The Feng Shui Advantage consulting firm… I’ve worked with these secret 15˚ directions for over a decade, teaching thousands of clients how to manage all of their Personal Directions by using their one-of-a-kind Feng Shui Advantage Personal Directions Birth-Chart.

The poetic Chinese names of your 15° Personal Direction confuse most people, so I refer to them as your 'Lifetime Keys', because these magnetic directions are the key to how your life is influenced from the moment you’re born. You’re automatically influenced by the following ‘Lifetime Keys’ directions when your home/office is sitting toward one of your exact directions and/or an opening (door/window) is located in one of these precise directions from the magnetic center of your home/office. A few of these directions have other conditions that trigger them, such as:

• TALENT – Your CREATIVE (right) brain is also supported by sitting/standing with your back pointing toward your specific 15° TALENT direction. One of my clients used his Feng Shui Advantage Personal Directions Birth-Chart to end his writer’s block, by sitting with his back toward his 15˚ Talent direction. He said "Before I knew it I’d written three chapters."
• INTELLECT – Your ANALYTICAL (left) brain is supported by when your back is pointing toward your opposite 15° INTELLECT direction. A client’s 4 children with Attention Deficient Disorder grades all improved by sitting with their backs toward their individual 15˚ Intellect directions. Their mother is saving their Feng Shui Advantage Personal Directions Birth-Chart, so they can locate all of their 15˚ directions anywhere, from their dorm room to their retirement home.
• PROSPEROUS – Brings you PROSPERITY. When a client’s home isn’t good for making money, but sits toward or has a door/window in their Prosperous 15˚ direction… they do better financially than anyone else living in there. However, after they implement the necessary elemental remedies in and around their home… everyone’s financial situation improves.
• CONSUMING – DRAINS your money away through extravagant spending or uncontrollable expenses, even if the building's energy blueprint is good for making money. Having her front door in her ‘Consuming’ direction brought one client to the verge of bankruptcy. By directing everyone to use their side door and installing all the required elemental remedies, soon they’d saved enough to purchase several investment properties.
• Valued FRIENDS – Brings FRIENDS into your life that SUPPORT of your efforts (including business referrals). Luckily, after suffering a sever brain injury, a teacher moved into an apartment sitting in her Valued Friends direction, which assured her assistance when needed. However, once she installed the necessary Feng Shui remedies… both her health and income improved. She even won a large settlement from the accident that caused her brain injury.
• LONELY PILLOW – Keeps you single when your headboard is toward your 15° ‘Lonely Pillow’ direction. Doors/windows within your ‘Lonely Pillow’ direction from the magnetic center of your whole house or bedroom/suite will also keep you sleeping alone. Plus, a mirror or your bed in this 15° portion of your house or bedroom will trigger ‘Lonely Pillow Syndrome,’ which even keeps celebrities like Oprah’s best friend, Gayle King single. Before hiring me… a beautiful lady had gone 7 years without a single date and after moving her bed away from her ‘Lonely Pillow’ direction she had 3 dates in the very first week with the help from Romance Vase.
• ROMANCE Vase – Brings more ROMANTIC partners to choose from. If SINGLE, you’ll needed to place your specific colored vase with its coordinating colored fresh-cut flowers in fresh water within the precise 15° ROMANCE portion of your bedroom. This increases the QUANTITY of partners to choose from. However, you must still choose carefully because nothing can guarantee the quality of a potential partner. I’m always delighted when a client calls to ask "Now that I’m engaged, do I still buy flowers for my Romance Vase?" To which I reply… "No, you’ve made your choice and congratulations."

By now, you know what to expect from a comprehensive Classical Feng Shui analysis of your home/office. When you interview potential consultants… ask if their consultation covers all 5 levels, including a written report with all your 15˚ Personal Directions (including your Robbery and Injury directions not mentioned above) and if they offer Annual Updates. As with any professional, you’ll want to verify their credentials and contact their references before trusting any consultant with the fate of your family or business.

P.K. Odle… Classical Feng Shui consultant, author, speaker, internationally respected instructor for the renowned American Feng Shui Institute has created http://www.PersonalDirectionsSelfMasteryToolbox.net The Feng Shui Advantage’s ‘Lifetime Keys Personal Directions Self-Mastery Toolbox’ to teach you how to manage all of your birthday derived Feng Shui Personal Directions.

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