All Oprah has to do is mention something and it is an immediate hit. That's what she did recently when she devoted an entire show to "The Secret" http://www.thesecret.tv; the best-selling book about the law of attraction. Oprah said it was the secret of life! Feel a little skeptical about finding the secret to life in a book on a TV show? Well, I did. I read a lot of positive thinking books in the '70s when such notions were very popular. I've lived a lot of life since then...here's what I've discovered about the secret of life and positive thinking....
It is all in your mind! Duh!!! "The Secret" and many other positive-thinking books do a good job of decribing how good things can be if you just think about it. There is a lot of truth to that, but there is more that these books don't divulge. Let me share with you what they don't spell out...what I've learned from experience...
1. If you want things to change, you have to do things differently. Let me say that again...If you want things to change you have to do things differently. If you repeatedly make the same mistakes over and over again, how do you expect things to change? Step 1 is to seriously commit to yourself that you are willing to change.
2. How you think is how you act. Before you set out to create your perfect life...consider the type of thinker you are. You don't do anything without thinking about it first. It is imperitive to know what kind of thinker you are.
Let me explain...the creative thinker is the easiest type of thinker to understand. This person makes connections between two seemingly unrelated items and brings them together. The creative thinker is not necessarily a linear thinker, but rather a person who sees all kinds of possibilities in one set of circumstances. The creative person is someone who likes to work with their hands and isn't afraid to get them dirty.
Then there is the linear thinker...the analytical thinker. This person follows the rules. Usually, sees one way to do things and that is the accepted way. The linear thinker read directions and follows them. This person calculates more than creates.
Before doing anything, determine what kind of thinker you are. Remember, how you think is how you will act. Being consciously aware of this will help you in crafting your perfect life because it helps you identify the steps you will take to make change.
I believe many people fail at diets, not because they don't want to loose weight, but because they are suddenly proclaiming they are "dieting" then try to strictly follow someone else's version of "diet." Whatever it is you want to accomplish...loose weight, save money, get out of debt, quit smoking...you are not going to have much success if you just wake up one day and proclaim, "I'm going to get out of debt today!" and then try to follow someone's else's advice.
Spend some time thinking about how you think--how do you approach problems and opportunities. If you are searching for "the perfect life," that means there are problems you want to go away. Few people think about problems in a positive light. Problems create dread. Debt is a dread. Excess weight is a dread. Smoking is a dread. If you are approaching an idea with dread you will never do it successfully. When determining the type of thinker you are, think about a success you have had--a dinner party, a great gift you gave, a new found short-cut. It doesn't have to be something huge. Think through a positive event/happening and how you came to that result. What did you do? How did you get there? Anaylizing positive steps to recent successes will help you see what you do right and how your thought process got you there.
3. Give your brain ammunition. Once you have made a personal commitment that you are going to change and you have thought about how you approach/think about problems and successes, you have to give your brain ammunition. A lot of the tips about positive thinking, the laws of attraction, advise you to think positively about your life. "Gee, I would if I didn't have all these problems!" Rather than just thinking positively--see positively. Great athletes use visualization and everyone can use this tool. See yourself where you want to be...skinnier, living with less debt, life as a non-smoker. I don't mean just think about it. I mean sit down, close your eyes, and see yourself in your mind as you will be once you accomplish your goal. What does it look like? What are you doing? How are others relating to you? What else has changed as a result of you accomplishing this goal? Really spend time "seeing" and analyzing the situation. In doing so, you are starting to give your brain ammunition to help you accomplish your goal. But, that's just the beginning.....
In my next blog, I will go into greater detail about more "brain ammunition," and how you can further prepare yourself to achieve "the perfect life." I've learned from experience, it's not a secret, but there are good tips to follow. I'll share mine with you.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Sunday, February 25, 2007
A Week That Was
The middle of February is usually a slow, dull winter week, but not this February. Just consider what happened last week...the week of February 18.2006...
The Anna Nichol Smith trial to decide custody of body occupied the airwaves and many American's minds...the judge cried on the bench with lawyers crawling out of the woodwork to disparage him.
Britney Spears checks in and out of rehab three times...shaves her head and is replaced as the number one searchable item on Google by the American Idol cadidate, Antonella Barba. (What is the attraction?)
Congress is voting to defeat the President over the Iraq war. Is this why Americans wanted a Democratic congress?
Hilary Clinton and Obama went head to head is a war of words. Political war is starting already!
Greta Van Sustern of Foxnews fame offered the best coverage of the Anna Nichol trial. Judge Pirro always adds a bit of color. By the way, did Judge Pirro get a face lift?
Saturday Night Live opened with a skit of Wolf Blitzer talking about the war with a crawl below him screaming for Anna!Anna!Anna! It was pretty funny.
Howard K. Stern had the boat he and Anna bought sailed to the Bahamas. No one has reported on this. Think Howard will sail away?
Tmz.com broke every major story on the Anna saga. Where did they come from? Never heard of Tmz before this week. Tmz is outpacind Drudge.com.
Lent started this week with Ash Wednesday. Considering all of the above, we all have a lot to be sorry about.
The Anna Nichol Smith trial to decide custody of body occupied the airwaves and many American's minds...the judge cried on the bench with lawyers crawling out of the woodwork to disparage him.
Britney Spears checks in and out of rehab three times...shaves her head and is replaced as the number one searchable item on Google by the American Idol cadidate, Antonella Barba. (What is the attraction?)
Congress is voting to defeat the President over the Iraq war. Is this why Americans wanted a Democratic congress?
Hilary Clinton and Obama went head to head is a war of words. Political war is starting already!
Greta Van Sustern of Foxnews fame offered the best coverage of the Anna Nichol trial. Judge Pirro always adds a bit of color. By the way, did Judge Pirro get a face lift?
Saturday Night Live opened with a skit of Wolf Blitzer talking about the war with a crawl below him screaming for Anna!Anna!Anna! It was pretty funny.
Howard K. Stern had the boat he and Anna bought sailed to the Bahamas. No one has reported on this. Think Howard will sail away?
Tmz.com broke every major story on the Anna saga. Where did they come from? Never heard of Tmz before this week. Tmz is outpacind Drudge.com.
Lent started this week with Ash Wednesday. Considering all of the above, we all have a lot to be sorry about.
Monday, September 25, 2006
Who's The Best?
Now it's official...Fall is here. Cloudy, damp days, wet chill, and soggy leaves, shift the appetite from short ribs to soup; not the can kind, but homemade. Who better to give recipes for the best? Foodnetwork.
Browsing the site, I find myself pulled to recipes from Paula Dean and Ina Garten. (I like Bobby Flay, but his ingredients are sometimes a mystery.) What makes these two woman so appealing, or I should ask, what makes their recipes so appetizing? Simplicity! Readily available ingredients, minimal effort, great taste...The three things I look for in a good recipe. But, does that make them the best? Who is the best on Foodnetwork?
Emeril is the flagship for the food channel, though others like Rachel Ray and Bobby Flay have turned their talents and their names into brands. Does marketability define the best? Repeated messaging certainly sways us in their favor, but "packaging" isn't a suitable criteria for evaluation. It takes more than a pretty dress to make a girl attractive. It takes soul.
Emeril calls it "food of love." What transforms good food into great food is heart; never listed as an ingredient, but integrally important. Paula Dean is the handsdown favorite for immersing her food with heart and soul. Everything about her: her history, her restaurant, her sons...Show us how she pours everything she has into what she does. Less effervescent, but just as devoted is Ina Garten. She brings us into her home, shares the love she has for her husband, her appreciation of friendship, and stirs up perfect fair of food and fondness. She makes us want to cook for others. Both women-- Paula and Ina--convince us we can do the same. Their devotion makes us believe in ourselves; helps us believe we can do it, too.
It doesn't matter what we make--soup or short ribs--what we add of ourselves is what matters. If we put our heart and soul into what we do, we'll be the best. And all those in our lives, like Paula's sons and Ina's friends, will benefit. We may not get the acclaim offered by a television network, but those in our homes will appreciate it, especially on cloudy, damp days.
Conclusion: I made cream of cauliflower soup and my granddaughter said it was, "Yummy, yum in my tummy, tum!" (hand motions included.)
Browsing the site, I find myself pulled to recipes from Paula Dean and Ina Garten. (I like Bobby Flay, but his ingredients are sometimes a mystery.) What makes these two woman so appealing, or I should ask, what makes their recipes so appetizing? Simplicity! Readily available ingredients, minimal effort, great taste...The three things I look for in a good recipe. But, does that make them the best? Who is the best on Foodnetwork?
Emeril is the flagship for the food channel, though others like Rachel Ray and Bobby Flay have turned their talents and their names into brands. Does marketability define the best? Repeated messaging certainly sways us in their favor, but "packaging" isn't a suitable criteria for evaluation. It takes more than a pretty dress to make a girl attractive. It takes soul.
Emeril calls it "food of love." What transforms good food into great food is heart; never listed as an ingredient, but integrally important. Paula Dean is the handsdown favorite for immersing her food with heart and soul. Everything about her: her history, her restaurant, her sons...Show us how she pours everything she has into what she does. Less effervescent, but just as devoted is Ina Garten. She brings us into her home, shares the love she has for her husband, her appreciation of friendship, and stirs up perfect fair of food and fondness. She makes us want to cook for others. Both women-- Paula and Ina--convince us we can do the same. Their devotion makes us believe in ourselves; helps us believe we can do it, too.
It doesn't matter what we make--soup or short ribs--what we add of ourselves is what matters. If we put our heart and soul into what we do, we'll be the best. And all those in our lives, like Paula's sons and Ina's friends, will benefit. We may not get the acclaim offered by a television network, but those in our homes will appreciate it, especially on cloudy, damp days.
Conclusion: I made cream of cauliflower soup and my granddaughter said it was, "Yummy, yum in my tummy, tum!" (hand motions included.)
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Net Neutrality and the Pope
The recent reactions to the Pope's speech to German professors and the Senate's debate on Net Neutrality illuminate today's fragile state of free speech.
There is a fundamental assumption made by citizens of free democracies: we are allowed freedom of speech at any time in any application. Limiting access to information by any means--federal regulation or fear--thwarts the fundamental basis of free societies.
Is it a far stretch to compare senate legislation to extremists' activity? Maybe, but both actions work to limit what we say, what we read, in essence, what we believe.
Fundamentalists believe critisim of their faith is prohibited, even in intellectual dialog. The Pope's comments were not critisism, but an invitation to acedemia to debate the contrary existence of peace and violence as believed by some in the Islamic faith. History shows us that many religious premises have been clarified or even abandoned through analysis and debate of opposing views by philosophers, acedemia and followers. Debate is integral to practice. Without debate, organized religion is stagnent, bordering on dictitorial. Fundamentalists demonstrate, "It's our way, or the highway!" Through violent means, they demand belief as they perceive it. Interpretation is prohibited. Opponents of net neutrality support the same premise, only with different methods and motivations.
Opponents of net neutrality don't threaten with fear, but with fees. Their plan provides that we be given access only to information provided by the highest bidder. Tiering usage and fees to content providers limits free access to information on the internet as we know it today. In its simpliest form, regulation impacting control of content diminishes competition, comparison and ultimately trust. Accurate interpretation of data will be impossible. We will no longer be able to judge if the information provided is neutral or complete, knowing we are limited only to content provided by those with the deepest pockets. "It's their way, or the highway." Their means are less violent, but just as threatening.
It is easy to reject extremists' overt dictitorial stance and methods; to determine that they are over-reacting to a comment taken out of context. We know the context. Yet, how are we to make similar conclusions in the future if access to information is limited; if the context of information is skewed by those who pay the highest price for access? Not only will access to information be dimished, so will intellectual debate. We will be relegated to the imposed views of the few, not exposed to the varying views of many.
Unlike the terroists, legislators are not working to limit our freedom to debate, but like the terrorists, their actions limit our capability. Limiting access to information, either through fear or fees, threatens the fundamental principle of democracy: free speech.
This is a grossly, over-simplified discussion of both issues. It's purpose, however, is not to define the issues, but to expose the common threat to free speech. It is obvious extremists are making an illigitimate claim. It is less obvious to discern the actions of our legilators who are working to limit access to information through legitimate channels. "Democracy depends on freedom of speech. Freedom of connection, with any application, to any party, is the fundamental social basis of the Internet, and, now, the society based on it."
There is a fundamental assumption made by citizens of free democracies: we are allowed freedom of speech at any time in any application. Limiting access to information by any means--federal regulation or fear--thwarts the fundamental basis of free societies.
Is it a far stretch to compare senate legislation to extremists' activity? Maybe, but both actions work to limit what we say, what we read, in essence, what we believe.
Fundamentalists believe critisim of their faith is prohibited, even in intellectual dialog. The Pope's comments were not critisism, but an invitation to acedemia to debate the contrary existence of peace and violence as believed by some in the Islamic faith. History shows us that many religious premises have been clarified or even abandoned through analysis and debate of opposing views by philosophers, acedemia and followers. Debate is integral to practice. Without debate, organized religion is stagnent, bordering on dictitorial. Fundamentalists demonstrate, "It's our way, or the highway!" Through violent means, they demand belief as they perceive it. Interpretation is prohibited. Opponents of net neutrality support the same premise, only with different methods and motivations.
Opponents of net neutrality don't threaten with fear, but with fees. Their plan provides that we be given access only to information provided by the highest bidder. Tiering usage and fees to content providers limits free access to information on the internet as we know it today. In its simpliest form, regulation impacting control of content diminishes competition, comparison and ultimately trust. Accurate interpretation of data will be impossible. We will no longer be able to judge if the information provided is neutral or complete, knowing we are limited only to content provided by those with the deepest pockets. "It's their way, or the highway." Their means are less violent, but just as threatening.
It is easy to reject extremists' overt dictitorial stance and methods; to determine that they are over-reacting to a comment taken out of context. We know the context. Yet, how are we to make similar conclusions in the future if access to information is limited; if the context of information is skewed by those who pay the highest price for access? Not only will access to information be dimished, so will intellectual debate. We will be relegated to the imposed views of the few, not exposed to the varying views of many.
Unlike the terroists, legislators are not working to limit our freedom to debate, but like the terrorists, their actions limit our capability. Limiting access to information, either through fear or fees, threatens the fundamental principle of democracy: free speech.
This is a grossly, over-simplified discussion of both issues. It's purpose, however, is not to define the issues, but to expose the common threat to free speech. It is obvious extremists are making an illigitimate claim. It is less obvious to discern the actions of our legilators who are working to limit access to information through legitimate channels. "Democracy depends on freedom of speech. Freedom of connection, with any application, to any party, is the fundamental social basis of the Internet, and, now, the society based on it."
Monday, September 18, 2006
Fall Focuses Us on Love
Temperatures have gone from 100 degrees to 65 degrees in a matter of days. The winds in the heartland, they are a changing. The season, like so much of life, is changing.
One thing we know for sure is that nothing stays the same. The restlessness of life continually surprises us with new challenges. In just a few days I've learned of death, birth, job changes, health issues, divorce, and an unparalleled act of kindness toward a family member...All news coming to me as I sit at my computer. One doesn't even have to leave the sanctity of home to be immersed in all that life has to offer. Seasons change, as do lives, whether we're ready for it or not.
As with all change, there is the good with the bad. Beautiful fall colors are followed by piles of fallen, brown leaves; nature's way of telling us there is good and bad in everything. We must learn not to focus too fanatically on either. "This too shall pass..." A simple adage defining all of life's moments. What always remains are memories.
Fall is the time of year when we begin focusing on holidays, traditions, memories of special moments in the past. The most memorable are those infused with love. Love is the adhesive that adheres our greatest moments to memory. Love is the common thread through all change--the celebration of birth, the sorrow of death, the anticipation of a new job or the gratitude of generosity. Paramount to change is love. When we are confounded with life's changes, we need only to love more. Love is what pulls us through. It's what comforts us. It is what sustains us. Fall is a time when we focus more on love.
Love of family, love of friends, love of comfort foods, of football, apple picking, sweater-weather...Fall gives us the bounty of life we love. We conclude the great season with a holiday of Thanksgiving; of being grateful for all we have.
Temperatures fall, seasons change...Life continues its forward motion. Good or bad life changes. We cannot stop change, but we can love more. We can transform all life offers into loving memories. Fall helps us focus more on love. We need to remember that.
One thing we know for sure is that nothing stays the same. The restlessness of life continually surprises us with new challenges. In just a few days I've learned of death, birth, job changes, health issues, divorce, and an unparalleled act of kindness toward a family member...All news coming to me as I sit at my computer. One doesn't even have to leave the sanctity of home to be immersed in all that life has to offer. Seasons change, as do lives, whether we're ready for it or not.
As with all change, there is the good with the bad. Beautiful fall colors are followed by piles of fallen, brown leaves; nature's way of telling us there is good and bad in everything. We must learn not to focus too fanatically on either. "This too shall pass..." A simple adage defining all of life's moments. What always remains are memories.
Fall is the time of year when we begin focusing on holidays, traditions, memories of special moments in the past. The most memorable are those infused with love. Love is the adhesive that adheres our greatest moments to memory. Love is the common thread through all change--the celebration of birth, the sorrow of death, the anticipation of a new job or the gratitude of generosity. Paramount to change is love. When we are confounded with life's changes, we need only to love more. Love is what pulls us through. It's what comforts us. It is what sustains us. Fall is a time when we focus more on love.
Love of family, love of friends, love of comfort foods, of football, apple picking, sweater-weather...Fall gives us the bounty of life we love. We conclude the great season with a holiday of Thanksgiving; of being grateful for all we have.
Temperatures fall, seasons change...Life continues its forward motion. Good or bad life changes. We cannot stop change, but we can love more. We can transform all life offers into loving memories. Fall helps us focus more on love. We need to remember that.
Monday, July 10, 2006
Blogging, a new venture for me, means you have to enter posts...It has been almost a month since my last post. A lot has happened. Nothing earth-shattering, but full days of ordinary life.
We did take our granddaughter to the zoo for the first time. St. Louis has one of the best zoos in the world. The weather was perfect, not too crowded...it was a perfect day.
July 4 was a major celebration. My family has its own fireworks display--major pyrotechnics. This year the police came just as we were finishing. The nice man let us shoot off our finale. It was his birthday so we wrapped a piece of cake, gave him a bottle of water and sang happy birthday to him...so appropriate for July 4.
Out-of-town family in this week so have been busy cleaning, cooking and planning activities. Hasn't left much time for collage work...I miss it. This collage was done (after the kitchen floor was washed). I think I was seeking peace, calm. It came through in this zen-like design.
Many more ideas are swishing for collages around in my mind, but they will have to wait til company is gone. No time for art while sightseeing. Half of summer is gone and it seems like it just started. I think I'm more productive when the weather is cooler and activity slows.
Enjoy summer. Be at peace.
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Never Know what you will find
Garage sales on Wednesday were not too fruitful--at least concerning purchases. What I did gain was a better understanding of my friend's previous marriage and how difficult life was for her. You learn a lot about a person driving from one garage sale to another.
This morning, my friend was still on my mind. I created this collage today as a reflection of her past, and unfortunately, many women's present. My quote for this piece is, "Marriages that evolve from loving unions to cages of isolation. Vows shattered into meaningless words"
Those who have healthy, loving marriages are so blessed. Divorce is too common and in some ways too easy. Abusive relationships should be abandoned. No one deserves to live like that. Preserving the sanctity of marriage can be one of the most fulfilling, enriching experiences of life. It is so sad so many go bad.
I promise, my next post will be much less gloomy!
Have a great day.
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