Where Did God Come From?

If you believe in certain religions, like Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and even Buddhism, there's a good chance that you believe in some sort of God like being or cosmic force, especially the one that created our world that we live in today.

Where did God come from? What are we doing here? And where are we going, after we die. Some of these questions, are hard to answer and scientifically difficult to prove. There is very little evidence to prove, where God actually came from, what are we suppose to be doing here and where we are going to go, after we die.

If nobody knows where God came from, why are there so many religions, that believe in a God? Think about it for a moment, the Christian God, was the creator of the universe, and the creator of everything. Where's the proof? Why do people continue to study the Bible, and believe in a God, that they can't really even put their hands on?

If God is truly real, why wouldn't we have ever seen him? It doesn't make a lot of sense, to believe in imaginary beings, or invisible entities and pray to a God that we might not ever see or touch. It might not make a lot of sense, but if you ask serious religious followers, of these religions a question like, can you prove that there actually is a God, there's a good chance that these religious believers will reply, with a simple yes.

They have no proof, no evidence, and almost base their entire beliefs on faith, instead of facts. Rarely do they seek any evidence or even read their religious text, with a goal to understand what they're reading. Most of these people take everything that they learn, lock it away in their head, and never ask any serious questions about their religious beliefs, like these.

If there is a God, why wouldn't he show himself? If there is a God, why wouldn't he prove that he does exist, so that others wouldn't have to doubt his existence? Something to think about, on the days that you're not going to your place of worship.

Who's God Is More Powerful

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If your interested in a different point of view READ THESE ARTICLES - Great Articles For Christians

Greg Vanden Berge is a published author and a inspiration to millions of people. He has been involved in religious research for almost 30 years, and his influence in the Christian community is growing. The Holy Bible, is the core to Christian beliefs and most Christians don't even question it. Was the Bible actually written by men?

His newest book," Did God Actually Say That?" Was written specifically for Christians who are interested in gaining additional knowledge about the Bible.

Manipulating Bible Verses - Thou Shall Not Murder

If you're a Christian, you've probably heard of this Bible verse. Thou shall not murder. If you've heard of it, you probably know that it's one of the 10 Commandments or one of the original laws from Moses. However, most people don't know about its application to Christianity.

If I was to tell my children, not to lie and always tell the truth but I was a liar, would this be considered a good example for my children? If my children seen me lying and then I told them not to lie, would they consider that a lie? Does this example make sense to you?

As the parent, I'm the example. As the children, they are my disciples or followers. By lying to my children, I am showing them that it is okay to lie or stretch the truth or even manipulate the English language for my personal benefit.

How much different is this example from the example of the way some Christians use the Holy Bible? "Thou shall not murder," to me translates into," you should not kill." That's pretty simple and easy to understand, wouldn't you agree.

I could easily manipulate this Bible verse into, thou shall not murder, only applying it, to killing someone without a reason or you can kill someone in the name of God. You can change the meaning of anything if you really want to.

The point I would like to make here, is that the truth always comes out in the end, once the lying and the manipulation becomes visible. Do you have the ability to tell who's lying and twisting the Bible scriptures for their benefit or personal gain?

Bible verses that are clearly written, shouldn't have any hidden messages. "Thou shall not murder," is easy to interpret, once you understand what all four of these words mean and this task can easily be accomplished with a dictionary.

Thou - refers to you, the person being addressed or written to.

Shall - it will happen in the future or is intended to happen.

Not - is often used to express refusal, denial or the negation of the statement, just made.

Murder - the crime of killing another person deliberately and not in self-defense.

With the definition of these four words sitting right in front of us, you could still interpret this Bible verse in the few different ways. I'm going to take a stab at it and interpret it as I see it.

"You should not kill another person deliberately or outside of self-defense."

This means that I am not allowed to kill anyone, in the name of God, during war, or for any other reason except for defending myself.

When it says," Thou shall not murder," how does this apply to animals or anyone who is involved in a death sentence. Judges, lawyers, prison guards and other individuals who are directly involved in the murder of someone else.

How many other Bible verses have been manipulated for the benefit of Christianity?

God Said What

You are free to copy this article to your site as long as you include the following resource information with an active link to my site:

Greg Vanden Berge is a published author and a inspiration to millions of people. He has been involved in religious research for almost 30 years, and his influence in the Christian community is growing. The Holy Bible, is the core to Christian beliefs and most Christians don't even question it. Was the Bible actually written by men?

His newest book," Did God Actually Say That?" Was written specifically for Christians who are interested in gaining additional knowledge about the Bible. This book provides Christians with advanced biblical knowledge, answer some tough questions and should be read by every faithful follower of Christ.

Click here if you're interested in Basic Christianity.

Imagine Jesus' Children Reporting Directly to God

Now what if, Jesus actually had a son, and his son followed the Old Testament rule of being fruitful and multiply. Each one of Jesus' kids had at least 10 kids and by now there's thousands of his descendants all over the world and these guys are watching everything that's going on around them and reporting everything directly to God.

Imagine this, every one of his kids have down syndrome, are handicapped, blind, deaf, homeless, homosexuals and the worst of all, atheists. They have been strategically positioned all over the world to gather information on how, Christians actually treat other people.

Every time that a homeless person has asked you for spare change and you haven't given them anything, this would count as one black mark against you, on the great chalkboard at Judgment Day.

Every sign you held up, rejecting gay marriage or abortion, would count as five black marks. Each one of these people or any other person, who you had intentionally hurt their feelings, would be 15 black marks.

Every time that you lied to another Christian, this would be 50 black marks. If a Christian lied to a nonbeliever, especially when trying to convince them that the Bible is the written Word of God, this would be 150 black marks.

Jesus' children would be reporting directly to him on a daily basis, through the use of the Internet, God's Internet that is. Every Christian who thought they were doing the Lord's work, could actually be in grave danger.

You only get a thousand black marks and if you're 150 black mark short of entering heaven, you will have plenty of time, as you burn in eternal lake of fire, forever. Think about it, the next time that you lie to someone, refuse generosity, or try to convince someone that the Bible is actually the written word of God.

You are free to copy this article to your site as long as you include the following resource information with an active link to my site:
Greg Vanden Berge is a published author, internet marketing expert, motivational inspiration to millions of people all over the world and is sharing some of his wisdom with experts in the fields of writing,marketing, and personal development. Check out one of his recommended books, You Can Have It All

Greg is currently working on a self help library filled with great subjects on a wide array of topics, like religion, self help and spiritual changes in the world. His views on religious freedom are slowly changing the way people think about institutional religion.

Thanks for reading my articles

The Burning Desire to Succeed

You wish with your eyes but want with your heart. Desire is fulfilled with the heart.

It is the constant longing for achievement, the little voice inside that encourages you to fulfill your dreams.

It takes strength and intensity, backed with powerful, positive emotions and faith to accomplish your goals.

A passion so deep that it drives you to achieve your objectives no matter what obstacles you must overcome in order to succeed.

You will get what you want if you have a burning, intense passion to accomplish your goals and you take action to make your dreams a reality.

Everyone has the ability to get what they want. It is natural for the forces around you to give you what you want when you ask for it. Therefore, it is important to think positively about what you desire to achieve.

Anthony Robbins, World Renowned Expert on Motivational Thinking, said it best...

'By repeating an affirmation over and over again, it becomes embedded in the subconscious mind, and eventually becomes your reality. That is why you need to be careful what you think and believe, because that is exactly what you will get!'

Positive thoughts bring positive results.

As you look for ways to accomplish your dream, look to accept what experiences come your way and be grateful for them. Accept them with thanks and gratitude, and focus on having more of what you desire.

Isn't it interesting how happy people always seem to get what they want? I believe it is because they use what 'God' has given them, are truly thankful for it, and strive for more of it.

If you are unhappy about everything in your life then your experiences will be unhappy. Your negative attitude shouts, 'Forget it! Who needs this?'

Not the attitude that will make your dream a reality.

Have you ever heard someone say, 'Man, a black cloud follows me everywhere I go. If something bad is going to happen it'll happen to me'? And sure enough, that person continually pulls along with them that little black cloud. Surrounding themselves with all the wrong forces and creating a life of misery.

I prefer this positive definition of desire, 'The natural longing that is excited by the enjoyment or the thought of any good, and impels to action or effort its continuance or possession; an eager wish to obtain or enjoy.'

GO FOR YOUR DREAM with the intense hunger and passion to achieve success!

Many famous people have survived serious illness through their intense will to live and enjoy every moment of living. Adversity can be overcome through the power of a strong, intense desire.

Even those whose destiny is not life, they survive every moment with a burning passion to live.

What a positive way to overcome the obstacles by replacing negative thinking with positive thinking; enjoying and living your life to the fullest every day.

You can conquer anything you want when the desire to achieve it is filled with passion, a hunger so deep that nothing can stop you from accomplishing your dream. Take the time to write down your goals, visualize your success, and never wane from accomplishing your objective. The passion in your soul that never sleeps will open your mind to achieve what you believe in.

Failure is not an option... merely steps toward your achievement! You can, and will, achieve your dream successfully.

Want to learn more about the positive personal power techniques that will help YOU achieve your goals? Claim your FREE copy of The Habits of Achievement today and watch your passion to achieve your dreams power up to succeed.

The Truth About Jealousy

This article will not take up too much of your time, but will be very helpful in your daily life. What you are going to read is important in regards to the very controlling and confusing issue that so many women are challenged with every day, for some every single minute of their day. In this particular part of the jealousy series, you will learn what jealousy feels like and just how serious and captivating an emotion it can be. The next article will talk more about dealing with jealousy and how one can actually get control of it.

In the next few minutes you will learn what and how a woman feels when she is stuck in this very real and controlling jealous emotion.

It has been proven that many women are not even able to identify this confusion of thoughts that they are suffering from. A very big part of healing and winning these battles of jealousy is in identifying your enemy. In this situation the enemy is the jealous emotion that results from a much deeper issue that may or may not be obvious to its victim. You will hear more about that in a bit.

Through research and in speaking with many women every day through the womensselfesteem.com, jealousy seems to be a very big issue that has them in such a downward spiral that they cannot find a way to get hold of it.

One of the main causes for this negative emotion, "jealousy" stems from a time in a persons life when an emotional wound is created, which severely attacks their safe world or in other words their feelings of inner securities. These insecurities will seriously affect a woman's self-esteem, which will in turn result in feelings of low self-worth, lack of a self-respect, and mistrust. These emotional wounds can be caused from several types of abuse or trauma such as, physical, psychological or an over-restrictive/dominated childhood. If a child is sexually abused, then that child's security is threatened through the fact that she trusted the abuser and almost always grows up feeling that they were at fault for the abuse. This also rings true in an adult life, especially if the victim truly trusts and sees her abuser as almost," God" like. When a child is psychologically abused, they usually live a life of demeaning name calling or belittling, again this does happen to adults in a trusting relationship. The over-restrictive or dominating upbringing begins at an early childhood and then follows through into adulthood. Each and every one of these abuses that you have just have just heard about are definite cuts that eventually turn into deep emotional wounds.

These wounds will send a person into a prison, a prison of fear and weakness that they will carry throughout their lives if they do not learn to identify them and deal with them and strengthen their inner self. So many women search for answers to solve this scrambled up problem that they can feel inside of themselves, always coming up with a 0. They tend to look outside of themselves and that is the mistake that they are making. So many jealousy issues come from within.

The human brain is set up of two minds, which allows two ways of thinking, one being positive and one being negative. Unfortunately if a person is somehow mistreated or loses a trust as you have heard about earlier through my thoughts, at any time in their lives, it tends to weaken their ability to maintain a balance between the two. This is when they will fall prey to certain triggers that will ignite the fuse that leads to jealousy. You may be wondering what triggers are, they can be anything from a memory of your past, a smell, a persons laughter, a picture, another women, a feeling of being left alone, or even a look from a partner. There are many different types of triggers that will set off negative emotions. In this series of articles you will learn about relationship triggers and how they set off your jealous emotions.

Negative relationship triggers are definite causes, which happen when a relationship fails due to mistrust issues caused by infidelities or pornography addictions by a present or past partner, and are left unresolved, which unfortunately will follow them into every relationship, if she does not stop and take hold of her issues.

Jealousy is not just a word that can be ignored or excused. It is a word to be feared because it is fear that creates this negative feeling. Have you ever noticed how jealousy changes your relationship from happy to devastate in just seconds? It will feel like something that you would not wish on your worst enemy.

The negative emotions that are hidden behind this word jealousy will tear your trust apart letter by letter, and rearrange it until it spells deception, betrayal, even hate. Theses words will turn you into a paranoid living creature, hiding from reality. Reality is truly jealousy's enemy. It avoids its enemy as quickly as it replaces the positive thoughts that you once had in its place. It is strong enough to take control of your mind and direct it into thinking that someone you dearly trust and love has turned into another being, a being that is cheating on you, lusting for another, watching pornography behind your back, lying to you when you ask a direct question, twisting everything you say so that you come out looking like you are delirious and they will laugh at you when you cry out for help. It will tear your guts apart until you feel like you are going to vomit and it will make your head swirl with uncertainty. Jealousy can speed up your breathing quicker than a exercise machine, which in turn will send your heart racing into turmoil. It is a total body trauma. It can make your body break out into a sweat so fast that it will make rain look slow. If you have ever had even one minute of these threatening feelings, you know exactly what I am trying to explain here.

This negative emotion will make your mind fear abandonment, ones biggest fear in a relationship are to be replaced or abandoned. This fear alone is a very strong trigger of jealousy. This fear will imprison you and force you to suffocate or guard what's yours, until that person can no longer be a victim to your jealousy. It will drive you to feel a deep need to control another's thoughts and actions. To allow jealousy in your mind to the point of this kind of control, is to fall victim to an," attachment prison" or an addiction. In this attachment prison you are the weaker element of the partnership or relationship, your need to feel attached will ruin your sense of security and your self-esteem. A very good example of an attachment prison is when you fear with all of your senses to let your partner out of your site, not even to go to the corner store or to work for fear he may see someone that you would deem as a total threat.

Jealousy is like a drug. Once it gets into your veins, you are no longer coherent or independent in your thinking. You have now just become a dependent thinker, dependent on jealousy and its power. To have such a need is also equivalent to an addict needing a drug. Your addiction is your jealousy, your high is the adrenalin that your body creates through its fears, only this is not positive adrenalin; it is a pure negative adrenalin rush. The only antidote to combat this addiction is through positive steps that will strengthen your ability to take back your control and find a freedom from that attachment prison.

Jealousy will not rest until through you, it has created a frustrating and unbearable environment that puts you in the position in your relationship as your own worst enemy. In effect you become the attacker that you have been trying to run from. You are now jealousy! You are the cause of this turmoil that is being thrown to your outside world; an outside world that cannot possibly feel your pain; nor can they help you escape it. But they will look down on you in their confusion. You are all alone in this prison. You are the only one that can feel this pain, the only one that feels this need to control and hide from the world. You will find yourself being driven by negative thoughts every turn you make.

Have you ever been on a negative thought rollercoaster? If you ever have, you will understand what I mean when I say negative thoughts; negative thoughts that will not let you think rationally. If anything, they will work very hard at confusing your positive thinking. You will spend countless hours talking to yourself trying to get out of insecure feelings and you will end up right back feeling the same negative control that jealousy has over you.

Jealousy will rob you of sleep hour after hour. When your mind cannot sleep, it becomes weak and that is exactly what strengthens the negative thoughts that will feed jealousy and keep it controlling you. These thoughts will turn over in your head until they are locked into a place of negative non realities. This is when you begin to believe in things which seem surreal. An example of this non reality is, let's say, you're walking past your partner as he is watching television. A commercial is on. There is a young scantily dressed woman on the commercial. Your immediate reaction is fear. You fear that at that very minute he is lusting her or worse, wishing you were her. As I said non- real negative thoughts = jealousy.

This negative emotion is extremely careful to not allow your self-esteem to strengthen. It will turn your thoughts into a comparison mode instantly when it feels threatened. When it can put your mind into doubt of it's worth, it has total control. It will continue to control and force thoughts of being undeserving, not worthy, unintelligent, boring, self-less, non-appealing, even just plain ugly. It is a true negative powerful and destructive emotion that will not only control your thoughts but will also alter your desire to love. It will make you hide in safe, loveless corners and never allow another person into your heart. To allow a person into your heart would mean that you would be putting yourself at risk of falling victim to jealousy and all the horror that it creates and feeds on. So, you at this stage begin to set up protective walls, separating you from ever being hurt, but also putting a wedge in between you and your partner. Your choice, if you choose to stay in negative thinking, is to live a life alone.

When you have allowed it to weaken your thoughts to the point of delusional thinking, your mind will only see what will feed this negative emotion. All of your rational characteristics will be taken over by irrational thoughts and reactions. Everything that you thought you could control is now uncontrollable. Nothing is what it seems, while this jealousy emotion has you imprisoned behind its bars of negative and low self-worth thoughts.

I truly believe that being controlled by jealousy is similar to being in captivity. Your mind will get so conformed to that space that you're allowing, that you will learn to depend on it. You will feel safe only in that space. All of your knowledge of what's outside of that captive space has been hidden away into a very dark deep place in your mind. It is all you feel that you can control, not even realizing how little control you do have; again equivalent to an addiction.

What captivity and jealousy have in common is that once you allow your mind to be controlled or captivated by the overpowering emotion: jealousy, your mind will react as it would in a captive situation. Both jealousy and captivity hold your mind and reshape it to conform to its negative demands. A person in captivity eventually starts to depend on the person that's holding them captive. You start to depend on the feelings that you're getting from being captive by your jealous emotion. Jealousy becomes you, and you become jealousy. Together the duo team that you have allowed to control your thoughts will now destroy anything that is real. You will now live together in an unreal negative world of deception.

You will live and breathe the feelings of fear, worry and deception. You will not rest one single minute. Your mind will constantly be filled with disorder and accusations and," what ifs". At this point your ability to trust and feel secure with your partner will no longer be available to your mind, to your negative mind that is; the negative mind that you have allowed to take place of your once positive mind. Your innate desire to protect you and your reason for being are now at risk in your mind. You need to control everything and everything about your partner, right down to his every move. You need to take ownership in order to feel safe. With this control, then and only then can you feel safe from jealousy? Again the," attachment prison" takes over. This prison created by jealousy to keep you in its power and control. You're first breathing thoughts are livelihood and your future are based on attachment and acceptance. To lose that would be like dying a very slow death. Under the control of jealousy and its attachment prison you will fight to survive at any cost. You will be on guard even in your sleep, to notice even the simplest sign of abandonment or loss. Hence, the sleepless nights, haunted by the enemy: jealousy, captivated by the attachment prison again.

This is what you already know of jealousy. It is not fun. It is not a happy place. It is however very destructive and it will destroy your life if you continue to allow it to control your thoughts. As I mentioned earlier in this article, your mind has two sides, one being negative and one being positive. You have the ability to choose.

I have brought this part of the jealousy series to you because of how important it is to identify with the truth of jealousy. It is as real as you are sitting there listening to this. There is a way out and a way to free your mind of this prison of negative thoughts. Through my next article on "The Truth of Jealousy", you will learn steps and strategies that will help to strengthen your mind so that you may win the battle of negative thinking.

dorothyl@womensselfesteem.com

Is It a Bad Economy or Bad Feng Shui?

Recently, I spoke with a woman who said she and her husband were having a tough time financially. She thought maybe it was just the economy, but she wondered if a Feng Shui consultation might give the energies in their home a financial "boost." She mentioned the idea to her husband. His reply? "Honey, let's do this after our finances have improved!"

The problem is that there is every indication that their finances will not improve - even if the economy starts to soar. In fact, the situation the woman described seemed directly tied to negative energies in the home rather than to external economic factors. Without changing the Feng Shui in that environment, I can absolutely predict that they will have ongoing cash flow problems.

How can I say that? Because there are several tell-tale signs that negative energies are at work. Let's take a look:

1. You start to experience client cancellations or work falling through. Yes, the economy may cause people to hold onto their money, but be sensitive to a situation that seems to worsen no matter what you do. For example, watch for patterns such as clients who make appointments or are ready to sign contracts, but then they call and cancel. A Classical Feng Shui expert can run mathematical computations to see if conflicting energies are indeed at work. If that's the case, Feng Shui can also be used to re-balance those energies.

Feng Shui is so powerful at keeping cash flow positive that I have many clients - CEOs, life coaches, real estate developers, attorneys and investment bankers -- who consider my monthly Feng Shui consultations part of strategic business operations to help them avoid cancellations. In fact, as a practitioner of authentic Feng Shui I can not only see current negative energies, I can mathematically predict exactly when and where new business problems can arise and help my clients be proactive in keeping these problems from ever developing.

I just mention this as a caution to you in choosing a Feng Shui practitioner, because you do not want to base your business decisions (and financial future) on a Feng Shui hobbyist - only a classically trained expert in authentic Feng Shui can apply the complex ancient formulas to determine where the problem is and how to defuse it.

2. You've recently moved into a new home. Now, you find that relationships have become strained or you're hit with a flood of difficulties - you're experiencing financial setbacks, health issues, car accidents, legal hassles. If this "change in luck" happens shortly after moving in, the downturn in the economy probably isn't even at work here. Instead, it's a sign that the Feng Shui is out of balance. This can happen because every home has its own horoscope that shapes its energy patterns. If this conflicts with your own horoscope, you'll quickly experience difficulties.

A Feng Shui consultation can alert you to simple adjustments that will bring your home into better harmony with your own energy so it supports you instead of being "at war" with you. At the same time Feng Shui can eliminate negative energies, it can help stimulate positive energies, creating a dramatic change in the way you experience your home -- and life!

3. You're stuck in life. Things are just not moving. It might seem like you're working hard and doing everything right but that nothing is happening for you. If this has come on over the course of a year, that's a signal that the annual shift that occurs in energy patterns is creating a negative pattern in your environment. If you want to see changes in your life, you have to make changes in your environment. Again, a professional Feng Shui consultation can not only identify these "stuck" energies, but can show you exactly how to manipulate these unseen forces so it's easy to jump start your life.

4. You have a specific problem that just doesn't get solved. Whatever issue you face in your life will be reflected in your home. There are areas in the home that can promote -- or prevent -- problems ranging from breast cancer to legal hassles. If you can't seem to find a soul mate or you're worried about a son's academic performance or a daughter's risk-taking behavior, a Feng Shui expert can usually identify the trouble spot in the home that is triggering the energies that in turn trigger problems. I especially love to use my Feng Shui skills to solve problems for my clients. It's so rewarding to what I call a little energetic intervention and see what are often immediate and dramatic "breakthroughs" - from suddenly being able to conceive a child, to bringing health issues or negative behaviors to an end.

5. You're remodeling your home. Before you remodel, you really should invest in a Feng Shui inspection. Here's why: every home holds both good and bad energy. The minute you begin remodeling, you begin changing the energetic balance. If you unwittingly expand an area of negative energy, you could soon find yourself experiencing an onset of overwhelming misfortune, conflict, anxiety, loss - even disease. Often, for example, couples invest in a master bedroom addition only to find that once they start sleeping in the new room, their relationship or health begins to break down. A Feng Shui and Vaastu assessment early in the remodeling process helps you avoid sinking considerable money into a renovation that will put your house at war with you. Instead, you'll know specific choices to avoid as well as choices - like the direction of a door or the position of a kitchen or bedroom - that can support you with a life- and luck-enhancing environment. Again, let me stress that this is not merely about serene lines and clear energy flow: it is about complex mathematical formulas that pinpoint energetic confluences and conflicts that can exist now -- and months down the road.

Done correctly, Feng Shui is almost unbelievably powerful and can lead to results nothing short of miraculous. In fact, in today's crazy economic climate, who can afford to have a home or office environment that's working against them? But remember, only traditional, authentic Classical Feng Shui can deliver such results. Perhaps that's why I'm hearing from so many clients who are investing in Feng Shui consultations to get help preventing economic woes from costing them not only their financial well-being, but the well-being of their relationships and health as well. It can truly make all the difference.

(c) 2008 Rupal Mehta Turner

Feng Shui and Vaastu Expert Rupal Mehta Turner publishes "The Prosperity Report," a biweekly ezine that reveals Feng Shui and Vaastu secrets for a thriving business and personal life. If you're ready to improve your finances, health and relationships by using the forces in your environment, get your FREE tips now at http://www.ClassicalFengshui.com

Feng Shui and the Use of Crystals

This article discusses the way crystals can be used in a Feng Shui practice. Often, a Feng Shui purist will either gloss over this information or entirely ignore the benefits of crystals when lecturing or working with clients. I strongly believe in the use of crystals and, if used properly, feel they greatly improve the flow of Qi (energy) of most environments.

First, I would like to take a look at some of the various crystals that I and some other Feng Shui practitioners like to use when attempting to refine the basic elements of Feng Shui and produce faster and more accurate results. I will categorize the crystals into groups according to the specific situations in which they are most commonly used with respect to the art of Feng Shui.

Feng Shui Healing

Amethyst crystals are the best type of crystals to use for physical healing. When looking for an Amethyst try to find one that has especially large geodes and points. When the Qi infuses with the color violet it makes it easier for the user to more deeply resonate with the needs of their soul.

Rose Quartz crystals are great for healing emotional or heartfelt matters. Choosing Rose Quartz points will attract Qi and raise the user's consciousness in a manner that will permit them to be more in touch with their feelings.

These two healing crystals work well together for creating overall Feng Shui wellness. Simply put both crystals in a room where you spend a lot of time and you will begin to experience a transformation process occur within yourself.

Feng Shui Money and General Wealth

Citrine crystals are the best type of crystal to use for attracting money; however, the crystal's popularity has made it an increasingly rare find. When shopping, be careful that you are purchasing real Citrine, as much of the available product is heated and color dyed. I am told by some of my associates in the crystal mining business that the scarcity of Citrine is due largely to the vast amount of product being purchased by people living in China. The Chinese often bury Citrine pieces with their beloved ones, who have recently passed away, in order to assist them with wealth when they cross over. I have not validated this claim, but am only passing on information given to me by vendors in the crystal industry.

Jade, especially green, is another popular money crystal. Jade is not really a crystal but a semi-precious stone. When a Jade piece is combined with a Citrine crystal, the two stones powerfully promote a Feng Shui attraction towards greater Feng Shui money and Feng Shui wealth.

Feng Shui Negativity Deactivators

These crystals take away negative energy, negative thought forms and negative thought patterns in individuals. Black Obsidian and Black Tourmaline are the best negativity deactivators and are best utilized in the following ways.

You can put a piece of Black Tourmaline or Black Obsidian in a pull pouch and tie the pouch under the center of your bed. This assists with alleviating disturbing dreams and thought forms.

You can also wear the crystals as Feng Shui jewelry. The crystals can be worn separately or together, and will dispel negative emotions and thought forms from within the wearer, as well as, protect you from the same issues coming from people around you.

We should not underestimate the power of crystals because they come from deep within the earth. We must always keep in mind that the practice of Feng Shui is a powerful observation of nature. Isn't it interesting that wind and water are the symbols of Feng Shui?

Namaste,

San Dan Yi

San Dan Yi is a Feng Shui specialist. For the past ten years, he has worked with clients on a one-to-one basis, addressing each individual's needs by applying the principles of Feng Shui. Whether interfacing with architects or designers in commercial and residential projects, it is San Dan Yi's great passion to help each client realize his/her life goals through the art of Feng Shui. He is also a regular contributor and advisor to: http://www.carshui.com

How to Take Care of Yourself Too!

First thing I have to say is that everything anyone has ever said about grandparenting, is true! You really get to do all the fun things you did with your kids as they discovered the world around them, only it's in a never ending state of "now". Otherwise known as timelessness. All the challenges of being a parent, are so joyously absent in being a grandparent. It's just pure Joy.

As a retired nurse (after thirty plus years) I have to say that some of my greatest lessons in life have been learned since becoming a grandmother. I've learned that spending time with my little grandbaby is like making time stand still. I've learned that when I'm being "silly grammy" in whatever way that I can, just so I can see and hear her little belly-laugh, ... that it's so infectious, I laugh just as hard .... and that makes her laugh even harder! Watching her discover something for the first time, or finally mastering something she's been working so hard to learn, is truly an event! An event worthy of a "standing ovation" every time. :) It's such a privilege to be involved in your grandchildren's lives. And so good for grandchildren to have their grandparents close by.

Yes, It's our time and our love that is everything to our grandkids, but I also want to be here with them on this planet, in the very best health and shape I can be. In the end, I want to have been a good example of how to caretake a body, mind, and spirit, at any age! Now there is where a little extra income will come in handy. So I'm getting an education on how to go about taking good care of me financially too!

I'm a senior and I don't mind saying, that I don't always learn things as quickly as I used to, so it was very important to me that it should be a program showing me exactly what to do and where, "step by step".

If you feel the same as I do, then go to: http://DirectionsToMoney.com and get educated too! The time couldn't be better, to bring in an extra income with minimal expenditure of time on your part, because time is very precious for us grandparents!

Sincerely,

"Grammy G"

What is Your GQ? - Grandparent Quotient

No matter when we senior citizens finally achieve being a grandparent, there are some tests to help identify our capability and capacity for being a good one. My experience is certainly limited in the role and I have never taken courses in retirement to boost my GQ. Basic intuition and sensitivity contribute about as much to ability and smarts as most anything else.

First, a grandparent is not a replacement for the parent. Of course, this assumes all are available to fulfill their roles and to understand the limits of each. If circumstances have created a situation in which the roles are different, that has to be worked out accordingly.

Complexities introduced before and continuing in the 21^st century contribute to keeping abreast of inter family dynamics. It ain't what it used to be, if it ever were that way.

If there still is a "nuclear" family, the dynamics aren't necessarily simplified. Families who have meals together at home, without interference by television, etc., is an increasingly unusual phenomenon. Perhaps one of the roles grandparents can fulfill is offering an occasional get together around the table for a meal. Assuming this won't be a forced occasion, but one which can contribute to frivolity and good times, such an opportunity can create fond memories.

Finding something in common with grandchildren, such as activities you enjoy together, (no matter their age) remains a challenge. It is, however, a challenge worth pursuing. Genuine companionship between generations offers a wealth of recollections worthy of posterity.

Adolescence offers its own challenges. When grandparents find ways to contend with that hurdle, then a true, lifelong affection will surely be shared. I think we are there with our grandchildren, although times together are predictably less frequent.

Finding gifts that respect the grandchild and are age appropriate will also offer memories, for the item will likely be one that the grandchild chooses to keep.

Communicating with some frequency becomes more and more a challenge. However, with email, text messaging, cell phones, etc. available some contact can be established and maintained. It is an easy exercise to overlook, but one that needs nurture for the benefit of both parties.

Identifying and reserving some special alone times is also important and necessary. Before long, graduation and off to college, distance and demands will consume more and more of what had been time a grandparent could claim. Try to hang on to some of what soon will be absorbed by the claims of normal growing up and going away.

Check out your GQ once in a while with other senior citizens learn from them, both what to do and what not to do. Thank your grandchildren for the wonderful contributions they make to your life. Let them know often, with genuine sincerity, how special they are.

Article provided by Dr. Jerry D. Elrod. For information on retirement, Baby Boomers and everything related to Seniors, please visit my blog at http://seniorcitizenjournal.blogspot.com

Italian Culinary Schools

Culinary being one of the most growing industry of recent times, attracts a number of young enthusiasts to join the rank of increasing number of cooks, chefs and hotel management professionals. The culinary sector proffers with a wide range of job opportunities in various countries for men and women alike.

Italian food is one of the most delicious cuisines in the world, which includes classic Tuscan dishes and Italian Mediterranean cuisines imitated all over the world. Italian cuisine is extremely varied with culinary influences from Arab, Greek, Roman, and Norman civilizations. The charm of real Italian foods is olive oil, cheese and balsamic vinegar makers and wine. It is typically famous for its coffee topped with whipped cream and sprinkled with cinnamon.

Many of the culinary institutes in the United States provide specializations in Italian cooking. The students can opt for special courses, which concentrate specifically on all kinds of Italian delicacies. Since, the Italian culinary is influenced by so many other civilizations which resided in it, the students are taught all the mixed food innovations which resulted due to the external influences. The traditional Italian cooking style differs greatly from the new age methods. There are separate courses for both the old as well as the new cooking methods. They can also opt for a dual course, which offers training on both the contemporary as well as the long-standing techniques.

Some of the famous Italian culinary schools are Antica Cucina Genovese, Apicius, Arte Culinaria, CookinItaly, Divina Cucina, Mami Camilla, Peggy Markel's Culinary Adventures, Rhode School of Cuisine, Sorrento Cooking School, Toscana Mia, Chef Paolo Monti's Italian Cooking School, Alberta Umbria Perugia, Peccati di Gola, and Amelia Sicily, just to name a few.

Students interested in applying for admission to Italian cuisine schools can log on to the website portals to search related information regarding the admission procedure, eligibility criteria, and course fees. Aspirants are advised to be careful while carrying out their search and adhere to the guidelines of each institute. The candidates can even fill out the application forms online and hence, register from home.

Culinary Schools provides detailed information on Culinary Schools, Top Culinary Schools, Online Culinary Schools, Culinary School Scholarships and more. Culinary Schools is affiliated with Culinary Arts Colleges.

Creating Optimal Health

In order to create optimal health one must choose optimal healthy foods. Makes sense right? A side note: I didn't know for the first thirty (30) years of my life. So, what are optimal healthy foods?

Optimal healthy foods from my thirty (30) study of macrobiotics are plant foods that have sustained the continued evolution of animals for over 3.2 billion years culminating in grain. As one of the lines in my limerick says, "Use your brain eat grain."

Order and structure over billions of years, selecting and eating biologically correct foods have given modern man (an animal) a fantastic, wonderful body and mind. We have to understand this in order to comprehend just what foods are necessary for the continued survival of this beautiful creature we call man and/or woman. The answer is quite simple. GRAIN. Currently grain is the primary food of mankind on this planet and is the food for re-structuring our body and mind. Of course, I'm assuming here that most of us (myself include) have lost our way and cannot understand how our bodies and mind have gone off the track with processed foods, especially white sugar and white flour and white creamy foods like ice cream and dairy and cheese. I'm so grateful for Michio Kushi for bringing this teaching to the United States.

In my way of thinking from the evolution of plant and animals I have discovered that eating everyday a recapitulation of the 3.2 billion year evolution of plants is the food for optimal health. It's the food mother nature has provided for us. It is very orderly and well structured as one can obviously see in the farmer's fields: grain, vegetables, beans, seeds and nuts, giving humanity endless sources of food! Contrast that to any man made manufactured or processed food and see chaos and ill-defined structure. Think a twink: lifeless, soft and mushy.

It is well worth repeating: You will achieve optimal health when you learn how to select or choose the foods you need for optimal health. To find out more go to any macrobiotic book, lecture, cooking class or dinner. And one more thing.....HAVE FUN...enjoy the trip to optimal health.

David Snieckus
99 Crescent Street
Newton, MA 02466
617-964-2951
http://www.davidsnieckus.com

Thriving in a Feng Shui Kitchen

Kitchens represent the health and wellness of a family. It's where you are nourished through the food prepared there and through the nurturing of family connections. According to Feng Shui, an ancient Chinese philosophy of creating balance to improve wellbeing, the kitchen also represents a family's prosperity. The Chinese relate the nourishing power of the stove to the ability of family members to earn money. So, it's not far off to say that it's probably the most important room in a house.

Maximize the Energy Flow
Since kitchens have predominantly angular lines (from cabinetry to appliances) bringing in softer shapes and textures help to create balance. A round kitchen table creates more harmonious family interactions and allows the ch'i (or energy) to flow more freely throughout the room. Curtains, area rugs, and other fabric also add softness to the space.

Avoid Rushing and Stagnant Ch'i
Rushing ch'i occurs when the kitchen door and back door are aligned. If possible, move furniture or a large object, such as a plant, to force the ch'i to flow around the room. Stagnant ch'i - even more detrimental to a kitchen - occurs in dark corners and areas with dirt, piles of clutter, and stale odors. Fix these areas to keep the energy flowing in your family.

Maintain Cleanliness
For obvious reasons, it is important to keep your kitchen clean. Leftover food, crumbs and dirty dishes attract bugs, while spills can create a physical hazard. However, on a symbolic level, the dirt is attracting poor health and finances. So keeping your kitchen clean has a greater impact than you would think.

Incorporate the Color Green
Plants bring the message of vitality and life to a kitchen. Also consider incorporating the color green, as green - representing Wood energy - complements the Fire and Water elements, which are present in a kitchen.

Whatever you can do to improve the Feng Shui of your kitchen, the more your family will benefit in all areas of life.

http://www.luminous-spaces.com

Maureen K. Calamia is founder of Luminous Spaces, a Feng Shui consulting firm based in Saint James, New York. From simple recommendations, to renovation and building projects, Maureen works with her clients to create spaces that promote physical and psychological health. Incorporating nature into the built environment, Maureen provides guidance on the use of layout, the five Chinese elements, objects, colors, materials, shapes and textures. Through the ancient principles of Feng Shui, Maureen restores balance and harmony. How an environment feels is just as important as how it looks.
Maureen offers a unique perspective in her work. By balancing her twenty years in a traditional corporate marketing career with her passion for studying Eastern philosophies and esoteric thought, Maureen has integrated her ideology into a thriving business. As a certified Feng Shui consultant, writer and a speaker at workshops and business meetings, Maureen works with corporations, non-profit organizations, small businesses and individuals who want their buildings to emanate positive energy for its clients, employees and inhabitants. Maureen teaches lectures and workshops on Feng Shui all over Long Island, including the New York College of Health Professions. She is a regular guest speaker at SUNY at Old Westbury, Long Island, NY. She authors a monthly Feng Shui column in Canvas LI Magazine (http://www.canvasli.com) and suite101.com. Maureen continues her study of Feng Shui, Space Clearing, eco-friendly products and systems, and related topics.

The Bible's Power Over One Child

I mentioned Sean in another one of my articles, the story of a young foster boy that we were taking care of. Sean's father was my ex-wife's uncle, and they were going through some tough times for a while and their three children ended up as wards of the state. We eventually ended up taking the oldest child because he was the hardest one to place and another home. His brother and sister ended up with a family that wanted to adopt them and eventually Sean went to live with them and I believe all three of them were adopted by this family. I don't know this for a fact though.

Sean was a emotionally damaged child. His parents would punish him with some strange and bizarre punishments. They weren't really physical punishments but seemed to leave the emotional scars on him and I often think about where he is and what he is doing.

We watched him for about a year and I learned quite a bit from this young man. He was in the third grade but was still at the first grade level for reading and math. I would spend a couple of hours each night during the week helping him with his schoolwork, I seem to have created some sort of allusion that I would be able to bring him up to the third grade level within a short period of time. Wrong. He must've had learning disabilities and of course I don't think I was that good teacher.

Sean was easy going, polite and extremely obedient. He would do anything to avoid getting in trouble and often blamed others for his mistakes. His punishments must have been more than he could bear before he arrived at our home. I think you're getting the picture about what kind of a child Sean was.

One day I found myself in a dilemma with Sean, I couldn't get him to tell me the truth, even though I knew he was lying. I forget what the problem was but I remember a hollow look in his face. It was almost like he wasn't really there. It was almost like he was just doing time, sitting on the bed, listening to me asking the same question over and over again, "Sean are you lying", but he wasn't even paying attention.

I normally would not punish my children for accidents, and never tolerated lying. I was trying to explain to him that he wasn't going to get in trouble, I just wanted to know the truth. He wasn't budging at all and stuck to his story. I remembered that his mother and father were Catholics and feared the church, almost as much as they loved it.

That's what I came up with my evil plan. I don't know where I come up with these ideas, but every once in a while one pops up in my head and I run with it.

I told Sean that I was going to bring the Holy Bible in, and if he could swear on the Bible that he was telling the truth, I would accept that and this would be the end of our conversation. I couldn't believe my eyes, as he started crying and screaming, frantically and excitedly as a yelled out, I did it, I did it, don't bring the Bible in, I won't do it again.

I couldn't believe that was all it took to get information from him. I have always been a pretty good interrogator and found myself gathering information from those people easily, but this was amazing. His fear of the Holy Bible got me thinking about how powerful this book actually is to some people. I remember when I looked upon this book, pretty much the same as Sean did.

It's just a book, like any other book. It's not made at a holy factory or a secret monastery in the Swiss Alps somewhere, it's made from paper and ink and can be damaged and destroyed like other books. I would be surprised if I threw the Bible into the fire, that it wouldn't burn. I would be even more surprised, if I seen three men standing in the fire, wait a minute that's another story in the Bible.

Is it possible for this book to actually control the lives of people. It seemed to control Sean, I wonder if I, could have actually been driving a nail home that his parents started. Could I have added to his belief, that the Bible is a book from God the creator of everything.

Greg Vanden Berge is a published author, internet marketing expert, motivational inspiration to millions of people all over the world and is sharing some of his wisdom with experts in the fields of writing,marketing, and personal development.

Greg is currently working on a video library filled with great movies on a wide array of topics, like religion, self help and spiritual changes in the world. His views on religious freedom are slowly changing the way people think about institutional religion. Simple Words Create Powerful Beliefs.

Personal Development

Turn the Tables on Stress

Is stress consuming you; why should you allow this? Stress puts tremendous stress on the body, sounds like a doubling up on words doesn't it? Well, that is what stress does to your body. It causes issue with your respiratory system, your cardio-vascular system, your central nervous system and it tends to use up all the vitamins stored up in your body as well.

The long-term health risks of stress are very serious, but not all stress is bad. That's right you heard it, not all stress is bad, in fact, some is actually very good for you; exercise stress for instance. Maybe you need to read up on all the information about stress that you can. This way you can better understand it and modify your behavior in order make stress work for you.

Okay then, let me recommend a very good book for you on stress. Personally, I have always enjoyed a fair amount of stress, it is a motivator and an enabler for me, and although I never realized all the strategies to turn the table on stress, I see that was indeed, using some of these techniques, but I just had not realized all the names of these techniques. Oh, the book I want to recommend to you? Yes, well the name of the book is:

"Making Stress Work for You; Ten Proven Principles," by Lloyd J. Ogilivie; World Books, Waco, TX, 1994.

This book will tell you the secrets to managing success and stress and how to use the Fear and anger in your favor for a good cause. It will explain the stress that we do not let out and hold inside and the difference between it and the stress we put on our bodies during competition and exercise. If you've ever thought that the stress was causing burn out, think again there are techniques and strategies for that as well.

You need to learn how to work hard, play hard and how to really relax as the author explains. And for those Biblical scholars out there, the book has a whole chapter in the back that will help you understand the stress from a religious a standpoint. Please go out and buy this book and put on your bookshelf to help you alleviate stress.

"Lance Winslow" - Lance Winslow's Bio. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/.

Inerrancy of the Bible - Are There Mistakes in the Bible

What does the word inerrancy main? Inerrancy would refer to text that is accurate and totally free of any errors or without any mistakes. Does this sound like any book that you have ever read or have knowledge of. Maybe there is a one sentence book that could fall into this category.

Most books however and even this article has mistakes. If I made a decision to base my life, my entire life and that of my children and grandchildren, I would want to make sure that it was accurate as possible.

Is the Bible, 100%, 90%, or even 50% accurate. Are these stories that were written by people many years ago and the lessons have been helpful but now need to be rewritten.

Does the Bible actually contain the will of God? Some scholars believe that certain sections of the Bible meet this criteria while others do not. How can these people judge if they are not God and how can we believe in this stuff is not true.

If the Bible was inspired by God but written by men, this could actually mean that God had complete control over writing the Bible or does this mean that the man wrote the Bible with gods inspiration. I'm inspired by God daily and often write about it, but don't seem to have enough followers to make it into the biblical Hall of Fame. I'm writing with inspired beliefs right now.

If there are errors in the Bible, how extensive or how many errors are there actually. There are actual stories that can be documented as historical facts. This doesn't mean the rest of the Bible is factual, nor does it mean it is historically inaccurate.

The Bible has some errors in it and some facts that we can prove but leaves us with the question, is this a book from the Creator of the universe or a book written by men, to make us believe, it was written by God and if so why are we still believe being in it. Why do some people read this book and other religious text daily? What motivates them to read holy Scripture regularly but doesn't seem to allow them enough time to find out if they are reading accurate information.

The biggest problem I have with the inerrancy of the Bible is the fact that most people tend to ignore certain truths and cling to their childhood beliefs about religion. If this is not the way or the truth, I would want to start looking for it, instead of following someone else's dreams or religious doctrine.

Greg Vanden Berge is a published author, internet marketing expert, motivational inspiration to millions of people all over the world and is sharing some of his wisdom with experts in the fields of writing,marketing, and personal development.

Greg is currently working on a video library filled with great movies on a wide array of topics, like religion, self help and spiritual changes in the world. His views on religious freedom are slowly changing the way people think about institutional religion. Religious Education And Fear

Greg Vanden Berge Quotes

The Secret to Successful Use of Affirmations

Affirmations to attract prosperity, "Good Things" and to alter self-limiting thoughts are suggested by many teachers, books and resources that have to do with self-help, positive thinking, success, abundance and the like. They do have a place in attraction and for creating an atmosphere of positive thinking. However, they can be overused or used improperly. Not that this is going to hurt anything. . .but if you are going to use them, you may as well find out how to use them the most effectively. So here's the secret:

Work with only 2-3 affirmations at a time.

Too many daily affirmations that range from self-esteem, to financial goals/statements, success, prosperity, positive thinking, allowance and deservedness are not focused tightly enough to generate the kind of results you're probably looking for. You could recite this kind of list for years before it really starts to take hold in the subconscious and for you to really believe it on a conscious, sub-conscious and emotional level.

When you work with only 2-3 affirmations at a time, your focus and intent on the

desired results is more finely tuned and less scattered. Reciting a list of 20 affirmations is like putting 20 more things on your mind for it to try to problem solve. You may as well add, "I affirm to balance the checkbook," and "I allow myself to take out the trash."

This creates a psychological pressure to perform, as it is another "To Do" list in your conscious mind...and the sub-conscious mind will resist it. Both the conscious and sub-conscious mind would rather play and you're giving them more work with a long list of affirmations to process.

Working with just a few affirmations at a time, (and preferably, grouped within the same category), the conscious mind can easily process the thoughts and pass them through to the subconscious. The conscious mind is not overwhelmed and the subconscious mind is not over-stimulated.

This approach creates a more fertile and acceptable landscape for the affirmation to take hold in the sub-conscious mind, not unlike planting real seeds: sure, you can throw out a big handful of them and some will take hold. Most seeds, however, will be scorched by the sun, washed away by the rain or blown away by the wind. The ones that do manage to take hold have to struggle to grow because they were not planted properly in the first place.

A "big handful" of affirmations will struggle to grow. Two or three affirmations planted at a time, carefully and intent-fully, will flourish through attention and focus.

Maggie Ross works undercover as a suburban soccer mom who drives a late model foreign car and attends PTA meetings. Her "cover" is so well manufactured that no one suspects she spent several years under the tutelage of Vedic shamans, Wayne Dyer's personal guru and a little sweet Mambo who taught her the secrets of The Secret (long before it became popular) as well as other really cool esoteric knowledge about manifestation. She shares this knowledge in her enlightening articles and on http://prosperityhereandnow.com hidden from friends and family who do not suspect her secret life. They all just think she's really lucky ;)

Attic Odors and Strange Smells

If you've ever opened up your attic access hole, only to find one of the worst odors you have ever smelled in your whole life, I've been there too. What causes these horrible smells and what can you do about them?

Let's start with the cause of these smells, moisture, dirt, mold, mildew, dead animals, animals that make their home in your attic and the biggest problem of all is normally poor ventilation.

Poor ventilation is the biggest problem with musty smells in the attic. These smells are often caused from moisture accumulating in the building materials over time. If there is enough moisture in the attic, the wood will start to rot but this wouldn't be a normal situation, unless there was a roof or water leak.

Roof leaks can cause a constant supply of water to one part of the attic. This constant supply of water will eventually rot the wood and damage the ceiling. Water leaks from pipes can provide a steady supply of water and the situation can attracts termites and mold. Not a good thing.

One of the worst possible smells or odors in your attic would be a dead animal. Don't under estimate the size of some of these animals, they have found dead raccoons, cats, snakes, large birds, squirrels, rats and mice in some attics. These animals usually enter through damaged access holes or vent blocks, roof vents, large gaps, holes and even fireplace chimneys.

Once these animals die, their bodies start to decompose and produce one horrible odor. Once the body is completely decomposed, the smell usually goes away if the attic is ventilated properly. These smells can seep into the homes living area, often creating a room that no one wants to enter.

Home peststhat make their home in your attics, often create smells from urinating and defecating in the areas around their nest. Large birds like owls can become a problem over time.

Now that we've figured out some of the causes for attic odors and strange smells, what can we do to prevent this from happening and if it's already happened, how can we get rid of the smell.

Greg Vanden Berge is working on the internet to promote the education for creating simple to follow guides and home building books to help professional building contractors as well as the weekend warriors. He has just finished a Home Buyers Guide to take some of the frustration out of home shopping.

If your having problems in your attic, find out more at pest control books and home building ideas.

Greg Vanden Berge Quotes

The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz - Book Review

As I sat in the chair in at a self-help seminar titled, "What Would You do if You Knew You Could Not Fail," I listened to the speaker, Chris Cobb, refer to the book that influenced him most, "The Magic of Thinking Big." Chris was a top real estate broker out of Chicago who had apparently used these tools in his rise to the top of his agency.

When I returned home, I set out on a quest to find the book. Interestingly enough, I was walking down the street when I had the urge to go into a thrift store. As I wondered around looking casually, I noticed books on the back wall and headed in that direction. As I approached, the words practically jumped off the book, "The Magic of Thinking Big." There it was waiting for me to grab it.

Once I started reading, I could not put it down. It was like the author, the late David J. Schwartz, World Renowned Authority on Motivation, had written it just for me. His inspirational stories and motivational suggestions are enough to get the most extreme of couch-potatoes to take action.

Some of the topics discussed are:

- Learning the secret that lies in your attitude
- Making your mind produce positive results
- Getting a clear vision on where you want to go in life
- Accomplishing your goals with an outlined plan

If you are interested in learning how to achieve positive results in your life, then you will definitely want to read this book. Please let me know how what you think of it - I would be interested in hearing.

Think Big!

Rita Blair
rita@tellthesecret.com
http://www.tellthesecret.com
http://www.tellthesecret.ws

Dangers Using Wood Stair Cleats - New Stair Construction

I would imagine most people don't even know what it wood stair cleat is, in construction we have so many words that describe the same thing. A stair cleat is another word for a thread bracket. In other words it's the part of the stairway that connects the stair stringer to the stair step. These have been used for years and over time, most of them will develop the same problem.

Most wood stair cleats loosened up and create a safety hazard. If the stairs are located outside in extreme weather conditions, for example, if it rains or snows a lot, extremely humid humid weather, or extremely hot and dry temperatures, your staircase might not last that long, if it is or isn't maintained properly. It's not a bad idea to use steel or concrete for stairways in these climates.

If you're ever walking up a set of stairs with wood cleats and the stair steps feel a little loose or wiggly, make sure you examined the stair cleats for safety. It's not uncommon for someone to be walking up or down a set of wood stairs and having the stair step or tread giveaway because the wood cleats has loosened.

If the wood stair cleats are nailed to the stair stringer, the nails can loosen up, causing it to become loose, as you walk up and down the stairs applying pressure to the stair cleat, this will create movement in between the stair step and the stair stringer. This could cause the cleat to crack, break and separate the connection between the stair step in the stair stringer.

I would suggest using metal brackets instead of wood cleats. The metal brackets will not crack or disintegrate like some wood cleats. Stair building brackets of course can loosen up and should be maintained regularly.

If you decide to use wood stair cleats, I would suggest using screws instead of nails and drilling holes in the wood stair cleats, most of the time this will prevent cracking the cleat. Try to use a thicker material for the stair cleat, for example using a 2 x 4 with lag screws and washers would be better than using a 1 x 4 with nails.

If you're walking up a set of stairs and a stair step feels loose, contact the owner of the property and let them know, they have a problem with their staircase.

Greg Vanden Berge is working on the internet to promote the education for creating simple to follow guides and home building books to help professional building contractors as well as the weekend warriors. He is currently working on more stair building books and adding useful content to help solve problems created by the lack of construction knowledge in the building industry.

Should The Bible Be Edited

Reduce Workplace Stress

So you want to reduce workplace stress, increase your job satisfaction, achieve greater productivity and, maybe, get promoted. These are great goals and something that we should all be proud to support. But what if none of this is working for you? What are the answers and how do you relieve the stress and get the sort of job you want?

If you are going to go to work, you should be happy. You will spend a lot of time at work, 2000 work hours per year for 40 years - 80,000 hours altogether. You do not want to join the 20 million American adults who have some form of mental disorder annually (includes depression, anxiety, phobias etc). you DO NOT want to be one of the 18.1 million adults who experience either dysthymia (mild, chronic depression) or a major depressive disorder. So what are some of the secrets for being happy and effective at work?

My number one solution is to know yourself. Being self-aware, understanding your skill set, knowing where you are good and where you are not so good all help you to fit in to the workplace culture and expectations. I have talked before about person-environment fit and I firmly believe that if people have a poor fit that they will be unhappy. Being unhappy for 40 hours a week leads to some nasty consequences - not only mood disorders but alcoholism, thrill seeking (perhaps through affairs, adrenaline charged outdoor activities), and de-stabilized relationships.

So coming to grips with yourself in the workplace in a realistic and not negative way is a very important part of how we deal with work or workplace stress. A half an hour ago I declared to my wife, after returning from work at the end of a long week, that while I am good at large scale conceptualization, creating research cultures, building strategic visions etc, when it gets down to supervising administrative staff to make sure that they have attended to all the necessary details and minutiae of my work place - I am definitely not very good. So I have to find a way to work around this so my colleagues and my supervisors do not suffer from my big picture view of the world.

I enjoy the research from Harvard and the work of people like Daniel Goleman. I am very supportive of the research that suggests that self-awareness and emotional intelligence are two of the major performance characteristics that predict successful outcomes. I generally look at five performance factors in an organization: productivity (not easy to measure in some organizations); punctuality (and time on task); absenteeism (sickies etc); presenteeism (at work but doing virtually nothing); and staff turnover. All of these variables impact job output and job satisfaction.

People, especially leaders and managers who are low on self-awareness and emotional intelligence will not be successful in their workplace. They will add to work stress, not reduce it. The productivity of their organizational units will be lower. They will have higher absenteeism, presenteeism, turnover, and lower productivity. Those who work but do not supervise who are unaware and emotionally dull create upward problems just as effectively as managers create downwards problems.

What does it mean if one has a high or very high emotional intelligence (EI)? I will draw upon some material from an earlier article as it sums up nicely why self-awareness and emotional intelligence is important. If you have high levels of EI, you probably have a fairly positive self-esteem, you are probably very happy, you probably maintain good relationships and understand people quite well, you manage life's stressful events and challenges well and you are probably handling virtually all aspects of your life very comfortably.

So you want to improve your lot in organizational life? Start with yourself. Reduce your stress, lower the stress levels of your partners, and minimize workplace stress for your colleagues by sitting down and doing an audit of your personal and inter-personal style. Ask a good but frank and honest friend to give you advice. And, to reduce the stress issues that seem to surround you, work on a personal improvement plan as outlined by your friend.

Dr Jeff, a psychologist, writes about stress. In this article he provides additional insights into the concept of self-awareness and emotional intelligence in terms of their effect on workplace stress. People need to learn how to manage stress and they need help to relieve stress. Dr Bailey integrates sound research with extensive clinical knowledge from his therapy with his patients. He works hard to make his articles practical and helpful but all of his articles are based on sound research evidence. To find out more about how he helps people with stress relief and to learn effective ways to manage and reduce stress, visit his website http://www.drjeffbailey.com/free_stress_book.html to get a free book that will introduce you to effective stress management.

Putting God on Trial

I was listening to something interesting the other day when someone mentioned putting God on trial for some of the atrocities in the world. If God is the creator of the universe and all that is, or all that ever will be, how can we put him on trial, he's our creator. We can't put our spiritual master on trial can we, he'll just escape anyway if we convict him, won't he. He's got to be smart enough to break out a prison.

As a child I often thought about God and why he would allow such suffering throughout the world. It never made sense to me when I was child and it still doesn't make sense to me today. Why would the creator, want us to suffer, with even the littlest of problems. Other religions have explained it as if God was teaching us a lesson and that's why we have hardships in our lives.

Do you think God ever went through these hardships? Did God have problems finding a job or gathering some food? Does God even eat? Okay now I'm getting off the topic here,(I wonder what God does eat)... if children do something wrong, most of the time their parents will discipline or correct them. If adults to things wrong, the government will discipline and reprimand them. Sometimes these punishments can be severe. It depends on the crimes committed.

If man has to be put on trial for committing crimes like murder, genocide, and general atrocities towards mankind, should God also be put on trial or is he above man because he's God. I can't imagine the creator of the universe ever being put on trial for man's crimes against humanity or other men, but it seems like someone who is all powerful and all knowing could help his children out of this little mess that we're in today.

Couldn't God help us like we help our children. We as parents might not have all the answers, but we do not claim to have them. We are not all powerful and all knowing, like we would assume God to be. When is God going to help us solve some of our major world problems, like genocide and starvation.

Putting God on trial might not solve all of our problems today but it would be nice to have some help with our problems. If he created us to please him, do we have to go on trial one day, for all the things we did or ignored while we were alive. Something to think about isn't it.

Greg Vanden Berge is a published author, internet marketing expert, motivational inspiration to millions of people all over the world and is sharing some of his wisdom with experts in the fields of writing,marketing and personal development. Check This Out What Happened to the Wise Men's Gifts

Greg is currently working on a video library filled with great movies on a wide array of topics, like religion, self help and spiritual changes in the world.

Nothing Will Be Impossible

Feng Shui and Symbols - What You Have in Your House Says a Lot About You

What does a broken statue of a rooster have to do with Feng Shui? Feng Shui teaches us that everything in our house is a reflection of what is in our mind. Symbolically speaking, your house and the things in it reflects your thoughts, feelings, and spirit.

So let's get back to that rooster. One of my clients had recently separated from her husband. I noticed that a statue of a large bird was directly facing her bed, so it was probably the first thing she saw when getting up in the morning. Upon closer examination, I noticed two things; first, one of the legs had previously been broken and was wrapped in what appeared to be a cast. Second, I realized that it was not a chicken; it was a rooster. Unfortunately, the coxcomb on the top of the head had broken off, probably in the same fall that broke the leg of the statue.

I examined this unfortunate art piece for a moment and then said to my client, "Do you realize that the first thing you see in the morning is a broken cock?"

After I picked her up from the floor (she was laughing so much she just collapsed), she gasped out, "You have no idea of how perfect that observation is." Not wanting to really know much more, I suggested we send out the broken rooster for repair. We then talked about what she really wanted to see first thing in the morning; it was her flute and music and a picture of her daughter.

Another client was having a hard time keeping relationships with men going. Visiting her apartment was like seeing a shrine to her daughter. Everywhere was a mother/daughter photograph. It felt like she was already in a relationship and there was no room for any other one to grow.

Everything that you choose to surround yourself with has symbolic meaning and reflects something about your life. Whether intentional or not, all those objects, pictures, photographs, and pieces of furniture resonate with information about you. Take a look around at your house. What is the first thing you see when you enter your home? When you get up in the morning? When you sit down to eat? Do those objects support you in living your best life? Observe what you have around you and then experiment. See how you feel swapping out the images that surround you for other ones that are a better reflection of who you are and where you want to go. I've seen this simple action do amazing things to improve people's lives.

Interested in learning more about Feng Shui and ways to improve the energy in your home or office? Get great tips and motivating messages by subscribing to the Empty Your Nest newsletter at http://www.emptyyournest.com

Planning Your Bathroom Remodel Budget - Home Improvement Ideas

As a bathroom remodeling contractor, I get calls from people, that have no idea what they want or how much anything is going to cost. Here's some simple tips that can be very helpful when planning a bathroom remodel budget.

Bathroom Remodeling Investment

In 2008, the average mid-range bathroom cost around $16,000 and you could recoup around $12,000 of your original investment upon the sale of your home. According to a popular remodeling magazine, larger bathrooms using expensive fixtures, tile, bathtubs, woodworking, toilets and showers had an average of $52,000. Upon the sale of a home, you could recoup around $36,000 of your original investment.

Finding out How Much Things Cost

My first suggestion, would be to visit your local home improvement center, lumber yard or plumbing supply warehouse. Larger stores like Home Depot and Lowe's, seemed to provide you with value pricing but don't have a large selection. While doing some research on the Internet I noticed that some of their pricing is outrageously, outrageous. Some plumbing supply warehouses can provide value but beware others won't.

Create a List of Bathroom Remodeling Parts

You can get a good idea of your bathroom remodel costs for your budget by making a list of bathroom parts with pricing and then adding them up for a grand total. If you're a total bathroom remodel budget is $15,000 and you have a $6,000 bathtub with $4000 worth of tile, you could have a budget problem.

Figuring out the Labor

You will have to contact a contractor to get an actual cost for the labor. Sometimes you can double the cost of your bathroom remodeling parts to get a rough idea. If you have a list or a couple of lists and a few pictures of some sample bathrooms, this will make the contractor's job easier and often they can give you a labor price within a few days.

Give Yourself a Cushion

I would suggest leaving yourself a small financial cushion for any additional remodeling items. For example, you could see a different toilet, or instead of painting the walls, you now choose to wallpaper, you could incur additional expenses that you haven't planned for. If you know exactly what you want and stick to the original bathroom remodeling plan, you shouldn't need the cushion.

Financial problems often transfer into construction problems, so spend some time figuring out, how much money you want to spend on the bathroom remodel and try not to go overboard on the budget. I hate to see homeowners struggling with home improvement loan payments. Try to create a bathroom remodeling budget that is realistic and will not create a financial burden upon you or your family.

Greg Vanden Berge is working on the internet to promote the education for creating simple to follow guides and home building books to help professional building contractors as well as the weekend warriors. He has just finished a home buyers guide to take some of the frustration out of home shopping.

If your looking for some more bathroom remodeling or home building ideas.

Meditating On Religious Scriptur

How to Carry Out Your Self-Help Affiliate Training Without the Stress

It's not entirely easy to get effective affiliate training on your own. Like any other business, it's true that a huge chunk of affiliate marketing depends on luck. However, jumping into the shark lagoon of online entrepreneurs without ample knowledge about the industry will also cause you to fall apart. Here are ways to help you familiarize yourself with the industry without spending a penny.

Join public forums about affiliate marketing

Believe it or not, getting basic affiliate training can be as easy as signing up on forums. This is, of course, provided that you're good at conversations. There are online communities that offer to pass on valuable nuggets of information to starting affiliates. You need to use your head, though, because some of these tips need to be taken with a grain of salt. This means that you can't simply take free advice and tips from strangers without testing them out first. After gathering enough basic data, you can either choose to experiment by using your own choice of affiliate marketing tools. Most people prefer to surf the internet, though, and gather reviews instead. In other words, you can choose to get your affiliate marketing training on your own, for free, but you need to make a lot of effort doing so.

Be involved in one affiliate marketing strategy at a time

Unless you have money to spare, it's highly risky to test out a dozen affiliate marketing tools at the same time. This will also make "learning about the industry" a bit harder simply because you're distracted. Stick to one strategy at a time, and try to work your way through it. It's bound to be tough, because all businesses are tough when you start out. Give your strategy at least six months to progress before totally giving up on it.

Zack Lim is an internet affiliate marketer who owns http://www.MyAffiliateMarketingOnline.com/FreeEcourse He has helped hundreds of people to start their own affiliate marketing business.

He has recently developed a free e-course showing you a step by step process for starting your own affiliate marketing business easier. To learn how to start your own affiliate marketing business without wasting your time and money, visit http://www.MyAffiliateMarketingOnline.com/FreeEcourse

Inerrancy of the Bible - Are There Mistakes in the Bible

What does the word inerrancy main? Inerrancy would refer to text that is accurate and totally free of any errors or without any mistakes. Does this sound like any book that you have ever read or have knowledge of. Maybe there is a one sentence book that could fall into this category.

Most books however and even this article has mistakes. If I made a decision to base my life, my entire life and that of my children and grandchildren, I would want to make sure that it was accurate as possible.

Is the Bible, 100%, 90%, or even 50% accurate. Are these stories that were written by people many years ago and the lessons have been helpful but now need to be rewritten.

Does the Bible actually contain the will of God? Some scholars believe that certain sections of the Bible meet this criteria while others do not. How can these people judge if they are not God and how can we believe in this stuff is not true.

If the Bible was inspired by God but written by men, this could actually mean that God had complete control over writing the Bible or does this mean that the man wrote the Bible with gods inspiration. I'm inspired by God daily and often write about it, but don't seem to have enough followers to make it into the biblical Hall of Fame. I'm writing with inspired beliefs right now.

If there are errors in the Bible, how extensive or how many errors are there actually. There are actual stories that can be documented as historical facts. This doesn't mean the rest of the Bible is factual, nor does it mean it is historically inaccurate.

The Bible has some errors in it and some facts that we can prove but leaves us with the question, is this a book from the Creator of the universe or a book written by men, to make us believe, it was written by God and if so why are we still believe being in it. Why do some people read this book and other religious text daily? What motivates them to read holy Scripture regularly but doesn't seem to allow them enough time to find out if they are reading accurate information.

The biggest problem I have with the inerrancy of the Bible is the fact that most people tend to ignore certain truths and cling to their childhood beliefs about religion. If this is not the way or the truth, I would want to start looking for it, instead of following someone else's dreams or religious doctrine.

Greg Vanden Berge is a published author, internet marketing expert, motivational inspiration to millions of people all over the world and is sharing some of his wisdom with experts in the fields of writing,marketing, and personal development.

Greg is currently working on a video library filled with great movies on a wide array of topics, like religion, self help and spiritual changes in the world. His views on religious freedom are slowly changing the way people think about institutional religion. Religious Education And Fear

Ask And You Might Receive Or Ask

Motivation - Your Key To Success

Motivation is just about the most important element for success in any work at home business. If you don't posses this key element with your business or your websites, then it's very unlikely that you will succeed.

Granted, it is difficult to stay motivated at all times...and we all go through low valleys with our home businesses. But it's through these valleys that we grow and learn from our mistakes.

How do you stay motivated and focused?

There are a number of things that you can do to accomplish this...

Marketing Ideas:

When promoting your business or website, always try and conjure up fresh marketing techniques/methods. If something hasn't been working for you, then move onto something new. The ideas are literally endless with marketing. And the most important thing...there are tons of free promotion out there for the taking. Remember, you don't have to pay for advertising in order for it to be effective. It could be...networking on message forums, exchanging links with other business owners/webmasters, article marketing, getting listed in directories, ezine ads, signature advertising, and others. But, that's a whole other article topic there. The idea is to always strive for fresh marketing ideas. Now, we can't neglect the tried and true "word of mouth." Quite effective, give it a try!

Purchase New Products For Your Business:

Now, we all know that in order for you to be a success with your business, you have to know your products and have a passion for them. You have to love the products you are selling! The better you know your products and love them, the more likely it will be that you will keep getting the sales. What better reason to purchase some of your favorite, featured, new products that are in stock? Show them off! If it's makeup, jewelry, or what have you...take them with you wherever you go. Show the new products off to your friends and family. Be enthusiastic about your products!

The same goes with a website. If you are not a home business representative for a company, but own a website...tweak your website to your liking. Make it something you love and can be proud of! If you love your website, then you will love showing it off and promoting it. If you find yourself getting bored with it or it has become outdated, change it...update it! Whether it be content, color, theme, whatever. Tweak it until you really love it. It's also a good idea to make your website as appealing as you can for your target audience.

Change Your Atmosphere:

Now this one may sound silly to some...but this has worked for me. If you have a particular room for an office, move the furniture around if feasible...If it is a very small room, then you won't have many options as to moving things around. But you can change colors or themes for your office. What colors or themes make you feel most creative? What colors or themes make you feel happy? What colors or themes make you feel most productive? It's something to think about. Purchase a new day/month/year planner. Perhaps a new calendar or a new writing notebook.

Exercise...Take A Break:

Exercise is great for both the mind and body! It's also a great way to clear the mind when you feel overworked or stressed out. When you find yourself not in motivation mode and are lacking in that much needed gusto...take a brisk walk to clear the mind. You may be surprised at what happens. Most of the time when I take a break from my time online, whether it be a walk, lunchbreak, or just watching some TV...I come back refreshed, and even sometimes, with some new ideas.

Stay In Contact With Your Customers:

Always stay in touch with your customers. Call them up. Check to see if they are satisfied with the products they purchased. Are they enjoying the products? Offer some friendly advice. This could also lead into an additional sale for you...and that always creates more motivation! Try and get to know your customers and even establish a new friendship.

Network With Other Business Owners Or Webmasters:

If you haven't already, join some home business or work at home message forums and get to know and network with others. Use your signature on these forums. This will not only get your business out there, but you will also find useful information on most of them. Make sure you always read the rules of the forum first though. Ask questions, offer advice on things you are knowledgeable about. Make friends and have fun.

Music:

If you're a music lover, have some soft music playing while you are working. This isn't for everyone though. Some people prefer not to have music playing and want it quiet. It's all in what you like or prefer. And for some people, music can give that much needed extra push in getting started with the work day. Try it sometime. You might be pleasantly surprised.

The idea here is to do everything you can to remain focused, motivated, and even challenged for being the best you can be at moving forward with your business. Do some research and look up more motivation articles and tips. Motivation is the key to success.

Wishing everyone an abundance of both!

Article written by: Tammy Embrich

Tammy is an Internet Marketer and is the Owner of: http://www.onestopwebemployment.com

And Owner of: http://www.real-wah-jobs.com

Tammy's two WAH websites focus on free telecommute job leads and more.

Home Improvement Tip - Fixing a Squeaky Floor

Question: I have a floor that every single time I step on it I get the most annoying sound. I don't know what it does to me or why it bothers me so much. My kitchen floor squeaks and actually moves up and down if you are standing on it. The whole floor moves. How do I stop it from moving and squeaking. Help Me Greg!

Answer: It sounds like you have a broken floor joist. You are going to have to go under your house. If you have a basement this will be a little easier to fix. It is my guess that you don't have a basement or you would have seen the broken floor joist by now.

Have someone stand on the floor in the spot that squeaks and have them move up and down while you are under the house. Don't have them jump up and down while you are under the house. This could cause more damage to the structural framing of the floor. Once you are in the right position under the floor you can have them start moving slowly. What you are looking for is one of the floor joist that are moving.

If you see one of them moving. Look to see where the damage is. Is it a split, crack, wood rot or a big knot in the wood that has loosened up and fell out. Once you find the damaged floor joist you can now think about repairing it.

If you don't see any floor joist moving. Have the person on top start moving a little bit more and you can even have them jump on it a few times until you see something out of place. If you still don't see any broken floor joist. Start looking at the sub-floor, this will be plywood of some form, 1 x 6 or 2 x 6 materials.

What you are looking for is movement of any kind. Is there a separation or movement between the sub-floor and the floor joist. If you still can't find the problem maybe it is time to call in a professional.

The main thing you are going to be looking for is movement of any kind.

Most squeaky floors are caused from the sub-floor rubbing up and down on a nail. If you have carpeting and you have a squeaky floor you can do your best to locate a floor joist and screw right through your carpeting into the floor joist.

For more help on fixing squeaky floors visit http://gregvan.com/wood_repair.htm

Thanks for the great question. I hope it helps.

Greg Vanden Berge has been in the home building and remodeling business for over 30 years. With this knowledge he has created a few websites that provide useful information for home owners as well as contractors. His main goal is to educate professionals in the home related businesses, dealing with problems that can easily be avoided with just a little bit of information.

His website http://gregvan.com provides all kinds of answers to remodeling and new house building issues that could create major damage as well as possible damage to your pocket book.

Visit us now for Home Improvement Tips

Are Christians Really Interested