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Ten Minutes of Gratitude for Planet Earth

2008-04-04T17:41:00.001+10:00

by Karen Talavera
It has been well documented that expressing gratitude is essential to happiness. In several recent books published about happiness, such as Sonja Lyubomirsky's "The How of Happiness" and countless Oprah shows, we have been shown time and time again that giving thanks not only moves people from thinking about what they are lacking to a state of appreciation for what they have. It also just feels good.

Mainstream movies like The Secret drive the point home further by explaining that our thoughts actually generate energy waves which travel outward to initiate the process of manifesting what we think into reality; positive into positive, negative into negative. We really do create our own reality, whether we want to believe it or not.

So I've been thinking. Earth Day 2008 is April 22. Wouldn't it be great if we could use gratitude to help create a better Earth and make ourselves happier in the process? To heal the catastrophic environmental destruction we've inflicted in merely a century? We know by now we humans have poisoned, pillaged, and harmed much of the planet. There can be little argument that damage has been done. But we've also been told it's not too late.

Let's help undo the damage. Let's show the Earth, a living planetary organism, how grateful we are for all it gives us. Let's see what happens when we do the opposite of what we usually do with the Earth ' take it for granted ' and instead express our gratitude at large.

Here is what I propose: While there are thousands if not tens of thousands of Earth Day events planned worldwide (see http://ww2.earthday.net/~earthday/node/80), the one I am launching will not only be the easiest to participate in, but perhaps the most universal. It's called "10 Minutes of Gratitude for Planet Earth". This is what you do:

On Earth Day April 22, 2008 at 12:00 noon in any time zone, sit quietly and for ten minutes focus your attention on all the places, experiences, and moments of Earthly nature you have ever enjoyed, and be grateful for them.

Yep, that's it. You don't have to go anywhere, donate to a cause, or volunteer your time. Okay, I understand it sounds too easy. That's mostly because we've been conditioned to believe anything effective is difficult or complicated. Yet usually the best things in life are not just free, they're exquisitely simple. Nonetheless, for those wishing additional information, here is how I see this working as well as some useful guidelines:

1. Sit in a quiet space in which you will not be interrupted by people, electronics, or anything else.

2. Ideally, sit outside facing nature. Look at your garden, a pond, lake, ocean, mountain or park. If you're city-bound, find a tree or plant and focus on it. Even look at the sky, clouds or sun. The point is to keep the Earth's natural beauty and not a man-made creation in your vista.

Your Perfect Workout

2008-03-18T19:36:00.000+10:00

by Debi Silber, MS, RD, WHC

What does your perfect workout mean? Is it a stroll in the park, taking a class, a rigorous hour of tennis, or using the stairmaster during your favorite TV show? Maybe it means focusing on your breath in a yoga class, stretching your muscles with pilates or running to your favorite songs. While any of these workouts benefit your body, mind and soul, many moms don't exercise at all. In fact, the only exercise their getting is when they exercise their right...not to exercise.

If this sounds like you, it's time to find your perfect workout. But what if you haven't worked out in weeks, months, even years? What matters is that you find something that you can enjoy. What also matters is that you begin at a level that's only slightly more challenging than what you feel you can do. This way, you don't scare yourself off from beginning and sticking with a new routine. It's also a great way to build confidence in yourself. By setting a goal that's reasonable, then achieving that goal, you gain the confidence to keep trying. It's an empowering feeling to take back the reins and know that your fitness, health and priorities are up to you.

Now like many moms, let's say you haven't exercised in an embarrassingly long time. You're never ending to-do list got the best of you and the only way you could get everything done was by cutting your own self care right off your list. So unfortunately, your exercise was one of the first things to go. This may have worked for a while but at some point, you began to feel sluggish, lethargic and unfit. Maybe you noticed that your clothes weren't fitting as well as they used to. You may have realized that while you used to sprint up the steps, now you're huffing and puffing as you near the top. Whatever caused you to see that you need exercise in your life doesn't matter, as long as you use that information to get going. So, where do you begin?

Keeping Your Teen Safe Online

2007-12-20T00:16:00.000+10:00

by Mike Batta

If you want to try to control how your child is surfing the net, refer to the list of Controls listed at the end of this article. But first,it is important to understand that these types of software only solve part of the problem of online predators. Good parenting is the first control a child needs in his life. Software such as we will discuss help, of course, but they will not completely eliminate risks to your children. You have to be a part of and aware of his life by keeping an eye out for certain signs.

Be concerned if your child quickly minimizes the screen or switches the browser if you enter his room. Be concerned if you see a message such as "POS" when you are in the room. Get to know the IM language so you can see what is going on. "POS", by the way, means "parent over shoulder".

-Be concerned if your child receives phone calls from people you don't know.
-Be concerned if your child has new clothing; perhaps a predator is giving him gifts.
-Be concerned if your child suddenly does not want to attend school, or does not want to go online. He may be being bullied.

If you do think there is a problem, the first thing you need to do is report it. YOu can contact the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children hotline. They are experienced in analyzing these types of problems and alerting the right parties. You should also notify your internet services provider;they are responsible for reporting any suspected cases of child pornography.

Detaching from Unhealthy Connections

2007-11-07T22:05:00.000+10:00

by Helene Rothschild

Are you feeling obligated to anyone? Do you feel responsible for other peoples' pain or survival? Would you like to be free of emotional ties that are draining you?

Cutting emotional cords has been a major practice in my counseling office. I discovered that many of my clients' were attached to others in an unhealthy way. Once the symbolic umbilical cords were cut, they reported feeling free, relieved, and lighter. The men and women had no idea that they were corded in this fear-based, energetic way.

For example, Joseph, a fifty-year-old engineer, loved his mother and felt very sad for her situation. She had been in a very dependent marriage, and cried often when her husband passed away. The loyal son felt he had to live close to her in order to ease her pain.

However, his dear mother was very controlling, critical of his wife, and wanted more of Joseph than he could possibly give her. No matter what he did, it was never enough. Joseph felt bad, and his relationship with his mother put a strain on his marriage.

When his wife, Katy, had enough and decided to leave the area, Joseph panicked and had the courage to leave with her. She felt the only solution was to live in another state.

Their marriage improved, but there were still some relationship problems. I said to them,

How To Choose The Right Article Title For Your Article Topic

2007-09-26T08:31:00.000+10:00

by Brett Michael

In addition to explaining the importance of using the right article title for your article topic, we'd like to share with you a bit about the history on article writing.

These areas include the importance of using keywords in your article, and the power of article writing and distribution as a cost-effective online marketing strategy.

There are few things to consider when choosing an article title for your article topic. Do they match? Do other article authors overuse the article title? (Notice we didn't say used. We said overuse). It is okay to have the same article title for your article topic as someone else.

The same use of an article title for your article topic is not legally binding. But, you should consider a fairly unique article title for your article topic so your article stands alone as much as possible.

You will also reduce the risk of getting mixed in with the many articles on the Internet using variations on the same article title for similar article topics. Having a unique article title for your article topic will also be useful in tracking where your article is on the Internet.

The 5 Biggest Myths About Meditation

2007-06-23T18:19:00.000+10:00

by Mary Rosendale

1. It’s relaxing.

This is a dangerous myth because people expect meditation to be like slipping into a hot tub. When they experience discomfort they think it’s not working or they’re not doing it right and they give up. In fact, it’s often not relaxing, at least not initially. In the beginning meditation is like exercise; if it doesn’t hurt you’re not doing it right. This puts off a lot of people right from the start. They’ve taken the odd Yoga class where you lie on the floor, close your eyes and let your poor body rest. Everybody loves this. You’ve been moving for an hour, your limbs are stretched every which way and you relish the opportunity to let gravity take your muscles and let them drop. Conventional sitting meditation may become like this over time but it probably won’t be right off the bat. When you sit down and face a wall or close your eyes and there’s nothing between you and the timer but your incessantly jabbering monkey mind it’s anything but relaxing. Horrifying and sobering are two more appropriate words that come to mind. Relaxing it ain’t.

2. You need time to meditate.

You don’t need time to set aside time to meditate. You can meditate for 5 minutes, 2 minutes, in your car, walking or chopping onions. It isn’t a specialized activity which you have to do in a room with specialized equipment. Cut out 15 minutes of TV time and there’s your meditation block.

Article Cloning for fun and profit

2007-05-15T18:27:00.000+10:00

by Jan Michaels

Ok ... The title is a bit misleading as there is no fun or profit involved in article cloning, but I got your attention! Article cloning, which is also called article spinning, or article rewriting, is the process of taking an original article and changing it so that it seems like a new article.

This process is not really a bad thing if done by the original author or a public domain article rewritten manually, but can become a mess when done using an article cloning program. There are several article cloning programs available, and they all pretty much do the same things .. turn a good article into a bad one.

What does an Article Cloner do?

Most cloners have options to replace certain words with similar word that may (or may not) mean the same thing, add blocks of text at the beginning, middle and end of existing articles and move blocks of text around.

Using the word replacement option, a line of text from the original articles is changed from this

"The Caption will display directly above your table. Kind of like a title! Your site visitors with normal browsers won't see the summary unless they view your pages source code",

To this

"The Caption will display directly major your table. Kind of like a title! Your station visitors with general browsers won't see the concise unless they purview your pages alpha code".

Not pretty is it? Now, lets consider that you have replaced words with the article cloner, and added new sentences top, middle and bottom in the same style as the changed sentence above. I'll tell you what will happen. Anybody reading that article will form an instant opinion (probably not a good one) of the author and article publishing site owner and most likely hit the back button on their browser faster than the land speed record!

The article cloning people may point out that the replacement word list for the particular software used wasn't as good as theirs. I say, it doesn't matter which version of cloning software you use, it's not gonna work for you. Heres why. Nearly all words have many different meanings and can mean different things in a different context. Computers just aren't smart enough to know which meaning of the word or context the author is using it in. Because of this, your article becomes mostly non-sense.

After cloning the article you are left with two choices. Submit it as it is (not a good idea if you really WANT traffic at your website), or go thru the article and fix everything. Neither is a good idea if you consider that by cloning, then fixing the article, you've wasted more time than if you had simply written a new article!

Peace from Within

2007-03-01T19:11:00.000+10:00

by William Frank Diedrich

The world we observe and participate in is a reflection of the thoughts we hold. This is our world. The helping, the hurting, the peacemaking, the war making, the blaming and the blessing are all reflections of us. The key to creating a more peaceful world lies in creating a more peaceful you.

I teach peace. I teach it by asking people to move beyond blaming. In my books, articles, classes, speaking and consulting I teach about the possibilities that lie within us. My life also teaches. Some days I teach blaming and conflict. I am not proud of those days, but there is this part of me that wants to blame, to be a victim, to be right, and to tell others what they need to do. This part of me doesn't teach peace. I see the violence, the hatred, the blaming and the attacking in the world and I know that these events reflect who I am being.

Some days my thoughts and emotions are like a speeding train with no brakes. That's how it is for others who are caught up in war and conflict. They are speeding toward destruction and my criticism serves only to perpetuate it. When I criticize myself for not being peaceful, I add to my turmoil. When I am outraged against someone else's behavior I am, in effect, supporting that behavior.

YO HO HO HOOO!! I Gonna Make The Santa Clause So Happy With These Brownies

2006-12-13T09:11:00.000+10:00

by Jonathan Teng

Hehehe! Take a look at what I'm going to prepare for the Santa Clause this year... :o)

He will be soooo happy when he'll taste one of my brownies that he'll leave all your gifts at my place alone... hehehe... :o)

FROSTED CHRISTMAS BROWNIE

Serving Size: 12

Ingredients for Brownie:

~ 1-1/2 Cups Sugar
~ 1-1/2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
~ 1/2 Cup Cocoa
~ 1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
~ 1/4 Teaspoon Salt
~ 3 Large Eggs
~ 3/4 Cup All-Purpose Flour
~ 3/4 Cup Margarine -- Melted
~ 6 Each Red M&MS Plain Chocolate Candy
~ Green Tube of Frosting (Piping Jel)

Ingredients for Butter Cream Frosting:

~ 3 Tablespoons Margarine or Butter -- Softened
~ 2 Cups Powdered Sugar -- Sifted
~ 3 Tablespoons More or Less Milk
~ 1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Here are the instructions:

For the cake:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line up 12-inch pizza pan with aluminum foil. Stir together margarine, sugar and vanilla in medium bowl. Add the 3 large eggs. Beat well with spoon.

Mix baking powder, flour, cocoa and salt. Slowly add to egg mixture, stirring until well combined Spread butter in prepared pan. Bake around 22 minutes or until you see the top springs back when touched lightly in center. Cool in pan on wire rack.

Trim off the edges that may have gone over the side of the pan. If desired, remove brownie from pan. Unwrap foil, or serve in pan. Spread frosting over top. Sketch holly leaves on frosted brownie and put red candies in proper place so that they look like holly berries.

For frosting:

Beat margarine in a small bowl. Slowly add powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla. Beat until it becomes consistent.

CHRISTMAS CREAM CAKE

Serving Size: 10

Ingredients for Cake:

~ 1 Cup Buttermilk
~ 1 Cup Coconut
~ 1 Cup Shortening
~ 1 Cup Walnuts; chopped
~ 1 Stick butter or marg (1/2 c)
~ 1 Tablespoon Vanilla
~ 1 Teaspoon Baking powder
~ 1 Teaspoon Baking soda
~ 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
~ 2 cups Flour
~ 2 Cups Sugar
~ 5 Eggs; separated

Ingredients for Icing:

~ 1 Box confectioners' sugar
~ 1 Cup Maraschino cherries
~ 1 Packet (8 oz) cream cheese; soften
~ 1/2 Cup Butter or margarine; soften

Instructions for the Cake:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut waxed paper to fit the bottom of three 9-inch cake pans. Grease lightly and flour the paper. Beat the egg whites well until they form peaks in a small bowl and then it set aside.

Cream together the butter and the shortening then the sugar, egg yolks and vanilla in a larger bowl. Add the baking powder, salt, buttermil flour and baking soda. Beat until well mixed.

Add the nuts and coconut and then stir thoroughly. Carefully fold in the beaten egg whites. Spread butter into the prepared pans. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 25 minutes.

Before removing the pans let cool in pan for 10 minutes. Cool thoroughly before making the icing.

Instructions for the Cream:

The fist things that you should do is to drain, rinse and chop the maraschino cherries. Set them aside. Combine the cream cheese, confectioners' sugar, and butter. Cream together thoroughly until smooth. Add cherries, mix well and use to frost the cake.

And I hear The Santa say: "YO! HO! HO! HOOOOO!!! MERRRYYYYY CHRISTMAS!!!"

Are You a Victim or a Conqueror?

2006-09-01T05:24:00.000+10:00

By: Ann Stewart

“We are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” (Rom. 8:37 That’s a powerful declaration! Let me ask you again: are you the victim of circumstances beyond your control? Do you blame others – maybe even God – for your fate? Or can you laugh despite all the turmoil inside?

The Lord reminded me of a young girl from Ethiopia whom I saw interviewed on Oprah a few months ago. Maybe you did, too. She was filmed by a Canadian television correspondent during the Ethiopian famine a number of years ago as she lay dying. She, a child of about 3 years, was a mere bag of bones, slumped limply in her mother's arms. The doctor in the refugee camp told the reporter that she would be dead by nightfall. But... she miraculously survived against all odds, was sponsored to study abroad, and got to tell her amazing story to millions thanks to the press and Oprah. She was then studying to become a nurse as she wanted to help her people and be a witness for God.

Yes, she publicly gave God the glory for her miraculous healing and everything that followed. She was glowing, happy, seemingly well adjusted and self assured. That story made me sit up and exclaim: Wow, could I be as serene and full of praise to God if I had been in her shoes?

Unsung Heroes

2006-08-28T02:03:00.000+10:00

By: Jenipher Young-Hall

My heart is filled with admiration for three women whose courage and dedication have helped to change the lives of cleft palate children and young students.

They live in Nepal, one of the world’s most beautiful countries. It has been called a “Tiny Mountain Kingdom” and is filled with raw natural beauty. Nepal’s crown jewel, Mt. Everest, lies among the highest peaks of the Himalayas stretching the length of the country. Despite Nepal’s ancient temples, and breathtaking vistas it is undergoing a brutal civil war in which an estimated thirteen thousand have been killed in the last nine years. The group that has suffered most are villagers outside Kathmandu. The capital is Kathmandu and is very different from the rural areas. It is a city that was noted in a new publication “The City Book” as being the fourteenth top city in the world. But when one leaves the borders of Kathmandu it is a very primitive world, much as it was eighty years ago.

I first met Lela when I went to Nepal as a Peace Corps volunteer in 1996. She was from a local village. Sweet and very shy, she tended to erupt in fits of giggles whenever the spotlight focused on her. She had an equivalent of a third grade education, like many of her peers. Seventy-two of the women in Nepal are illiterate. Lela and another woman took the first group of children in need of cleft palate surgery and their guardians to the hospital. It took the small group of twelve people seventeen hours in an old bus over tiny mountain roads to arrive at the hospital. One father carried his three-year old daughter for three days to meet the bus to begin the journey with the others. Another child came with her grandmother who wore a pair of plastic flip flops on her feet.

Fun Email Quiz

2006-08-20T19:07:00.000+10:00

By: Kelly J. Watkins, MBA

Are you creating a positive, professional impression when you email your co-workers and customers? Or, is Miss Manners shrieking in horror every time you hit the send button? Are you being efficient and effective when you send messages, or are you wasting time? To find out, take this fun quiz. (Sign up for a f.r.e.e mini-workshop on email etiquette at http://www.KeepCustomers.com/EmailWorkshop.htm)

1. The tone of a professional email message should be:
a. Conversational.
b. Formal.
c. Casual – like the tone you use with friends.
d. “Yo, dude! Whassup?”

Answer: A. You may be as casual as you like with friends, breaking all the grammar and punctuation rules you want. But, that isn’t true for communicating with clients and colleagues. Business correspondence should be professional. In email, professional translates into conversational – not too casual and not too formal.

2. One method to achieve a conversational tone is to:
a. Use slang terms and jargon.
b. Use contractions.
c. Use acronyms.
d. Stand up and yell across the office. See if you can start “the wave.”

Answer:

Why Writing Articles Works Like a Traffic Magnet

2006-08-16T09:15:00.000+10:00

by Kurt Naulaerts

Article Marketing is hot. Every single day webmasters and program owners write and submit thousands of articles on any subject you can think of. The reason for this is that an article is content. And content is king. Before you start to think that this is another SEO technique that may or may not work depending on the current algorithms of the search engines, think about it.

EVERYTHING on the internet is CONTENT.

The internet is a veritable treasure trove of information. Good, bad, valuable or not, the internet is all about providing information to people. That is why smart internet marketers know that people want information from their websites, not just SEO enriched pages of advertising.

History of Chocolate

2006-08-15T00:12:00.000+10:00

By: Jane Roseen

"A journey through the history of chocolate reveals that this mysterious food has woven its story throughout multiple cultures and continents impacting civilizations culturally, socially, economically and spiritually. A study of the history of chocolate begins by going back in time to the realm of the Maya Indians and the Olmec Civilizations of Central America.The word cacao was found in the Olmec vocabulary nearly 3,000 years ago. The hot, humid, but shady climate of the tropical rain forests of this region was perfect for growing cacao plants. The Maya felt the cacao tree was owned by the gods and the pods were offered as a gift from the gods to man. The cacao pod became the symbol of fertility and life in the Mayan culture.Later, in the 18th century, a Swedish botanist named Linnaeus, called the cacao tree theobroma cacao, which means "drink of the gods". It was the Mayan people that did indeed make a drink from the cacao pods. This drink was considered a "royal" brew enjoyed by the noblemen and kings and was often used in sacred rituals. Hot chili peppers were added to flavor it or maize was often added to change its texture."