Self Improvement Information

What comes to mind when you hear the word change? Are you fearful? Excited? Does you blood run cold or do you hear yourself saying, “I like things just the way they are.”? Is “change”, the other dirty word?

Most of us find change hard. Not necessarily because we do not want to change but because it is sailing into the unknown. Who knows what is going to be around the next bend in the road? We are most likely to rail against changes that are going to have an adverse effect on our lives.

It’s easy to see why someone would be upset if they lost their job. It is one of those unexpected changes in life, just something that changes without our control. One thing we didn’t see coming, one that we were not prepared for. It is natural to be resistant, be angry, or every scared as you travel into the mysterious future without the security that was once there.

Most people continue on, find a new job and most times find out that the change turned out to be a good one. Maybe they found an even better job, maybe they found a job that allows them be with their family more, or they decided to go back to school. Sometimes its easier to change when you are pushed into a corner.

So, if what seems like a negative change can turn out to be a positive, then why is it that people fight making positive changes in their lives, as well? Why do we not change things that we do not like in our lives? What makes us procrastinate the changes that could make our lives better? What do we fear?

Often times it is the fact that we fear failure, even though it is not consciously known. What if we fail to make our dreams a reality? What happens to that dream then? Is that what you fear? The lost of a dream? Trying and failing?

It is natural in human nature to think the worst. Failure would mean the death of a dream. But, what if you tried and succeed?

It is possible, isn’t it? People do it everyday, they accomplish their goals, and they reach their dreams. They choose to push pass the fear of failure, the fear of loosing a dream, and bring into reality what was only a vision in their mind.

So, how do we push past the fear, the doubt, and the anxiety of changing our lives for the better, while expecting the worst? What makes us take that leap of faith? Usually, it is a realization that, “its just not working anymore”. Whether it, is a career, a relationship, or even something within themselves. It is evident that there needs to be a change, in order to fulfill the yearning to find what is missing in their lives. That is what motivates people to get through the fear of moving forward instead of just towing the status quo.

Break it down in steps. Just saying, “I want a better job.” is a daunting goal, unless you break down it down into the steps that will lead you there. Utilize the tools or skills that are going to move your towards that big goal at the end. If you goal is to get a better job, then determine what you need to do it. Would having your degree help put you in that better job? What about improving your skills? By breaking your goals down into steps, it will increase your changes to achieve because you are laying down the foundation on which your goal or dreams can be built on. Without a good foundation your aspirations might not have the support then need to grow and flourish.

Being determined, willing, and committed to change. Change is not an easy course of action. It is the process of breaking old habits and replacing them with better routines that will lead you towards what you want to accomplish. You did not create those old habits over night, it has been months or years of “practice”, of them becoming routine to you. Change is not going to happen overnight, it too will take practice.

If for example you are trying to change the habit of always looking at the negative, then you will have to actually practice flipping that immediate habit of negative thinking or perception into a positive way of thinking. It takes work, it takes time, and it takes persistence. You will have to remind yourself of what the benefits of maintaining a positive perception will give you.

Stay motivated by reminding yourself what accomplishing each step is going to mean to you. Will you be happier? More confident? What will that lead you to? With more confident will you be able to be more successful? Will it be a stepping stone to something bigger and better? Will it make changing your life easier?

Get the support that you need. Most people let pride stand in their way of asking for help. There has always been and always will be people in our life that shows us examples of over coming adversity, that help us find our personal strength. Surround yourself with people that have accomplished what you are trying to do. Seek out people that uses the skills that you want to develop. Be around people that tend to bring out the best in you. Spend time with people that will not give up on you and will tell you all the reasons that you should not give up on yourself or your dreams.

Above all, you have to believe in yourself. Find the strength you need within yourself. Empower yourself to follow that path to life improvement through change. Take it one step at a time. We only need the courage to over come that fear and to take those steps that will lead to a better future. Tap into your strength. Believe in yourself and in your power to overcome obstacles. Believe that you can design the life you want and get to your heart’s desire at the end of the path called change.

Tonya Ramsey is a life coach and owner of lifebydesignsite.com Life By Design and provides life coaching for working mothers. She believes in helping mothers realize their worth and works with them to overcome obstacles so they can accomplish their goals. Coach Tonya is also a proud member of digitalmomteam.com/tgr The Digital Mom Team a team of mothers working together to be able to provide their families with income while staying home with their children. To contact Coach Tonya about life coaching or about the business opportunity from The Digital Mom Team, send an e-mail to mailto:CoachTonya@lifebydesignsite.com CoachTonya@lifebydesignsite.com

Allergies are basically immune reactions to certain phenomena. This is a very common affliction though the intensity varies from the casually tolerable to the violently intolerable. It is estimated that close to 50 million people in the United States are suffering from some kind of allergy. This problem is the 6th biggest cause behind most chronic diseases in the country and every year more than $18 billion are spent by the health care system to combat it. Allergies panic attacks are closely related because allergies often increase anxiety in people when they suspect the presence of allergic substances or circumstances. Some of the milder symptoms of allergy include itchiness, watering eyes, sore throat, and sneezing. Slightly more aggravated symptoms include headache and high temperatures. Allergies panic attacks must not be confused with regular panic attacks because in this case the primary cause of panic attacks is known.

Hyposensitization is one of the treatments for allergies panic attacks. This procedure is aimed more at curing the allergy and the panic attacks are cured automatically. People who are susceptible to specific allergens are injected with gradually increasing doses of that allergen. This allows their immune system to build up a milder role towards the allergen. When the allergen enters the system the immune system tries to combat it by mistake and the unwanted increase in the activity of the immune cells of the body results in the symptoms of allergy. Allergies panic attacks treatments expose the immune system to the allergen in small but increasing quantities so that the immune system eventually realizes that there is no harm coming to the body through the allergen. Eventually, the allergens do not mobilize the immune system and the patient is cured of allergies panic attacks. The allergen causing allergies panic attacks is taken either through injection or sublingually.

Allergies panic attacks happen more frequently in patients who have hay fever. This is a recent discovery and it reinforces the older medical belief that people with allergies are more susceptible to panic attacks than others. However, the precise relation between allergies, a physical condition, and panic attacks, a psychological event, is not yet known.

Hay fever is, by far, the biggest documented culprit demonstrating a strong connection of allergies panic attacks. Many studies have been conducted across various age groups as well as backgrounds and every study has reinforced that allergies panic attacks affected people with hay fever much higher than any other physical problem. Through these studies of allergies panic attacks it is now estimated that people who have hay fever run twice the risk of suffering from panic attacks than people who do not have that particular problem. In fact, it has also been noted that anxiety disorders and other psychological problems, like depression, are also closely linked with allergies panic attacks.

Though medical science has yet to firmly establish the connection between these conditions it is known that certain symptoms of one problem serve as triggers for the other condition. For example, difficulty in breathing due to allergy can readily trigger a panic attack through fear of being choked. There are also environmental and lifestyle options that make a difference to this whole matter.

Yap Kee Chong writes on various tips and techniques to stop panic attacks. If you like to claim an exclusive FREE report on how to eliminate your panic attacks in 2 simple ways and discover a secret natural cure for your panic attacks symptoms, drop by now at secretinfosite.com/top1/stoppanicattack secretinfosite.com/top1/stoppanicattack

Earl Nightingale’s Strangest Secret is probably one of the most significant personal development works of the decade and the truths contained in this program really is life transforming. The Strangest Secret answers so many unanswered questions and the transforming truth of this strange secret contains the answer to many people’s lives of desperation, striving and ‘bad’ circumstances.

Earl Nightingale’s Strangest Secret is simply this: You become what you think about. Your thoughts are your ultimate power in life and every person’s life is governed by this ultimate law. We live in an exact universe. That which we generally refer to as ‘chance’ or ‘luck’ or ‘fate’ is nothing but a natural law exerting itself. The law of thought and of mind is the law that governs your entire being.

Although this transforming truth has been revealed many times over, the majority of people never believed it. When you study the ancient religious documents, there is one universal truth that is reflected in virtually ALL of them and it is this: we become what we think about. Even if you study the work and the writings of all the great avatars who ever lived – Michelangelo, Beethoven, Einstein, Lao Tzu, Edison – they all tapped into this ultimate law which is Earl Nightingale’s Strangest Secret.

To the rational thinking human being, caught up in the daily grind, this law might sound incredibly strange and almost unbelievable – maybe even a little bit silly, but when you start to trace your circumstances back to your dominating thoughts, you will see just how accurate this law actually is. In his wonderful book As A Man Thinketh, James Allen wrote that ‘a man’s circumstances does not make him, but that it reveals him’ and that by virtue of your thoughts you will make or unmake your entire life.

The challenge that most people face is that they offer their thoughts in response to their circumstances. According to the law of thought, you will only attract into your life what you think about and consequently you end up attracting more of what you already have. Your current circumstances are only a reflection of your past thoughts. If you keep your thoughts on what you already have, you will only continue to produce more of that.

Your thoughts are powerful on many different levels. On the most esoteric level you are nothing but a thought and even on a deep psychological level your thoughts make up your entire character. Your thoughts are also that which you act upon and what you think about is what you will move towards – you simply cannot help but to. Just try not to think of a pink elephant after I’ve mentioned the words ‘pink elephant’!

Thought is everything and Earl Nightingale’s strangest secret, regardless of how strange it might be, really does reflect one of the great secrets and one of the great laws of the universe. People are anxious to improve their circumstances, but they are unwilling to improve themselves. I am here to remind you that whatever you want to manifest in your life, it all starts with a thought. That which you keep your thoughts on must come into being according to this great and ultimate law of the universe.

One of the ways you can start to use this great law is to simply start paying attention to your thoughts. You don’t have to monitor your every thought, but start paying attention to ‘where’ you spend your emotional time. Dedicating time to deliberately offering your thoughts to what you want most in your life will start to activate the creative process and as you focus your attention on what you do want, you will start to change your habitual thinking.

Earl Nightingale’s strangest secret is out, and you have the choice to either use it deliberately in your life and to get what you want or to ignore it and get whatever shows up. Getting whatever shows up is usually nothing but a result of your rampant and habitual thoughts - which is almost always the result of ‘what is’. To change yourself and your life from ‘what is’ to what you truly want for yourself, it all starts with your thoughts and this great law never fails.

Article by Deon Du Plessis. To learn more about earl nightingale’s strangest secret, visit selfimprovement-gym.com” target=”_blank selfimprovement-gym.com for more info on this life transforming audio program and for some practical advice on using this secret in your life.

How many times have you heard someone say the words, “It happened all of a sudden?” In my career as a manager, executive, consultant, psychologist and even a two-year stint as a human resource manager I can’t begin to count the number of times people have complained that something happened “all of a sudden.” Do things really happen suddenly, or do they usually begin slowly over time, gathering momentum. For example, consider performance problems with employees—do they begin “all of a sudden” or do they usually start gradually as small disturbances and gain seriousness and complexity over time? If you’ve been a manager for even a few months I’m sure you’ll agree that few problems actually happen “all of a sudden.” Most escalate over time gaining not only complexity, but also seriousness.

So why then do so many managers claim that performance problems happen “all of sudden?” In my experience it happens because of three reasons. The first is that some managers are literally unaware of their employees’ problems. Perhaps they have distanced themselves too much from their employees to be aware of what is going on, or they have turned a “blind-eye” to what is really going on in the work place. In any event, a manager must be close enough to his or her employees to know what is going on. Without that closeness, there is little chance of preventing small problems from festering into large ones.

The second reason is managers who believe that problems can fix themselves if they left alone. This is called problem self-resolution. Now think about it, how many times in the day-to-day managing of people can you turn your back on a problem and expect it to go a way? Granted, in some rare situations some problems may fix themselves, but in most situations what happens to the problem? Doesn’t it begin to grow? Doesn’t it get more complex? Doesn’t it begin to involve more people and more processes? The truth is that problem self-resolution is a cancer that can be the downfall of a manager. It’s necessary and important to delegate the appropriate tools and responsibilities to your employees. You cannot sit back and merely hope that the problem will somehow magically fix itself. That rarely ever happens in business today.

The third reason is managers whose temperament is non-confrontational, thus they are fearful of having conflict with employees. So as a result they tend to avoid situations where they need to discuss performance problems with employees. These situations avoided over time can cause minor problems to grow into major problems. Confronting a small issue with an employee is much easier and far more effective than procrastinating then having to confront that same employee with a large issue at a later time. Part of being a manager is having the courage to confront issues when it’s timely, necessary and appropriate.

So what does this mean? And how does this relate to you? It’s far easier to deal with and resolve small problems than it is big problems. Small problems typically involve a few people and one or two processes. Large problems involve many people and a lot of processes. Many times a small problem can be resolved in a few minutes through performance coaching, but a big problem can be so complex that it can literally take weeks, months and even years to resolve. Then, consider of the cost of resolution. Waiting, for whatever reason, can be very expensive.

From my experience with retails stores, I’ve observed how front-end bag expense can begin as a small problem as baggers and checkers fail to pay close attention to the number of bags used for each order. If items per bag decrease over a four-month period from an average of 6.5 items per bag to 5.5 items per bag, the front-end manager has a small problem. But if he or she ignores the problem for any of the three reasons described above the problem could grow to a larger problem in succeeding months. If the problem did grow to an average of 4.5 items per bag, then the front-end manager would have a substantially larger problem to solve, which would take a longer time to fix.

If the front-end manager was monitoring items per bag on a regular basis and were aware of the decline from 6.5 to 6.0, then he or she could begin an intervention to identify the causes of the performance problem and solve it early, rather than waiting until the problem was much larger. Waiting several months while even more people form bad habits would make the solution much more difficult as compared to jumping in early and resolving the problem while it was in its infancy. Stated in another way: early can be simple, quick and cheap; later is often complex, difficult and expensive.

It’s been my experience that, “There ain’t no such thing as all of a sudden.” Very few performance problems begin as large problems. Most begin as manageable issues solved by simple performance coaching. I liked the statement so much that I’ve quoted it many times in the years since that class. The statement is right: “There ain’t no such thing as all of a sudden.” In management, problems tend to begin as small manageable issues. Then, if left alone, and unsolved they grow into major problems that drive managers nuts. As managers it’s our responsibility to identify those problems while they are small and in their infancy and then deal with them quickly and decisively. That’s what makes good
managers great.

mailto:vleadership@earthlink.net Dr. Richard L. Williams is a business consultant specializing in cmoe.com/performance-coaching.htm performance coaching, quality improvement, team development, and leadership development. Be sure to check out our cmoe.com website or reach us at 888-262-2499.

It was a couple of weeks after Christmas, and I was standing by my mailbox in the vestibule of the apartment building where I lived in Lexington, Kentucky, holding a letter I had just received. The handwriting was not familiar and neither was the return address, although it was postmarked Seattle, Washington, the same place where Hannah Paulson used to live.

Many years ago when I was a little girl growing up on our dairy farm in west central Wisconsin, the Paulsons had lived next door to us. The two farms were the only residences located on our mile-long stretch of isolated country road, and during the summer, I journeyed down the hill a couple of times a week to visit Hannah. With her hair arranged in waves swept back from her forehead and kindly blue eyes twinkling from behind wire-rimmed spectacles, she wore cotton shirtwaist dresses in the summer and a blue-and-white or pink-and-white checkered apron.

Going to see Hannah was the highlight of my summer vacations. There was just something about Mrs. Paulson that drew me to her like the bees that were drawn to the wild roses growing around her big, old-fashioned farmhouse. I never considered that it might be rather unusual for me to enjoy visiting our elderly neighbor, even though there were no other neighbors with children for me to play with, and no other children in my family (my brother is twenty-one years older than me and my sister is nineteen years older).

During the summer, Hannah and I would cut and arrange flowers because Mrs. Paulson loved to have flowers in her house. At other times I would find her working on a project, like cleaning out the old chicken coop, or painting the barn, or weeding her garden. No matter what Hannah was doing, she always let me “help.”

On days when it was too hot to be outside, we sat in Mrs. Paulson’s kitchen and ate homemade oatmeal cookies. Hannah would ask me about the books I was reading (I loved to read), and she would tell me about the books she had liked to read when she was a little girl.

Hannah and her husband, Bill, had lived in Seattle before they bought the farm next to ours. The farm had belonged to a relative of theirs, and they had wanted to live in the country again. At one time, they had owned a farm in South Dakota. Hannah had been a kindergarten teacher when they lived in Washington, although she was retired by the time they were our neighbors. As the Paulsons grew older and the farm became too much for them to take care of, they decided to move back to the west coast and settled in Oregon. And yet, as I contemplated the letter I had just received at my apartment in Lexington, I still couldn’t figure out who would be writing to me from Seattle. Especially since I knew it wasn’t Hannah.

I took the letter upstairs to the apartment to read it. I sat down at the kitchen table, and inside the envelope was a single sheet of note paper covered with elegant, spidery handwriting. I glanced at the name on the bottom but didn’t recognize it, then I went back to the top and began to read —

“Thank you for all of your kind words to my sister, Hannah Paulson. I don’t know who you are, but you must have had a special, wonderful relationship with her. Unfortunately, Hannah died the day before your letter arrived…”

I sat there for a few moments, stunned.

Hannah was dead? And she hadn’t read my letter?

You see, for some inexplicable reason, a few weeks before Christmas I was overcome by the strongest feeling that I ought to write to our former neighbor and thank her for being so kind to me when I was a little girl. Although — the longer I considered the idea — the more ridiculous it seemed to write to someone I hadn’t seen in about fifteen years just to say thank you for being nice to me when I was a kid. So, I kept telling myself I didn’t have to do it right now — that I could always do it “tomorrow.”

I knew my mother still occasionally exchanged letters with Hannah, and when I finally concluded the nagging feeling was not going to go away, I called my mother in Wisconsin, got Hannah’s address, wrote a letter and sent it in a Christmas card. After I mailed the envelope, I felt a certain sense of satisfaction, as if I had finally paid off an old debt.

Except that now Hannah was dead. And she hadn’t read my letter.

As soon as the shock wore off a little bit, I called my mother. And when I told her that Hannah had died, we both began to cry.

“All those years when I could have written, but I didn’t,” I said in a choked voice. “And now she’ll never know—”

I heard Mom heave a deep sigh. “Oh, sweetheart, of course Hannah knew. Besides, she enjoyed your visits as much as you enjoyed going to see her.”

Nothing my mother said made me feel any better. If only I had written a week earlier. Or even just a day…

Twenty years later, I still can’t help wishing that Hannah had been able to read my letter. She was one of the best friends I’ve ever had, but I never told her what her kindness meant to a lonely little girl who had no one to play with.

Then again, maybe that was Hannah’s greatest gift to me. Through my procrastination in writing one simple letter, I learned that I should never put off until tomorrow telling my dearest friends and loved ones how I feel about them. No one knows, after all, when there might not be any more tomorrows.

******************

About The Author

LeAnn R. Ralph is the author of the book: Christmas In Dairyland (True Stories From a Wisconsin Farm). Share the view from Rural Route 2 and celebrate Christmas during a simpler time. Click here to read sample chapters and other Rural Route 2 stories — ruralroute2.com” target=”_new ruralroute2.com

mailto:bigpines@ruralroute2.com bigpines@ruralroute2.com

Have you ever heard the expression, “Money isn’t everything?” I’m sure you have.

Many times people who use that expression seem to be indicating that money isn’t really the most important thing in life. They say, “There are plenty of other things that are much more important than money.” And, looking at it from that point of view, they are right! Love, happiness, good health, a good marriage and a decent place to live are all more important than money.

There have been a number of very wealthy people who have said that they would have gladly traded their net worth for health. All the money that they had could not bring them the health that they desperately needed. So in that case, yes, money isn’t everything.

Sad and lonely people on many occasions over the years have expressed that they would have given up all their riches for love and happiness. Their bank account could not bring them love, happiness and joy. So, once again, from that perspective, money isn’t everything.

Although the above examples demonstrate an honest and innocent expression of the phrase, “Money isn’t everything,” more often than not, the expression seems to come up when people have a slanted view towards money, wealth and prosperity.

Some people’s whole goal in life is to see how much money they can obtain. Perhaps you’ve seen the bumper sticker that reads, “Whoever gets the most wins.” Yes, there are people who are obsessed with making as much money as they can simply for the sake of accumulating as much as they can. That’s their whole purpose in life.

Some people think that money is evil. However, money in and of itself is amoral. It is neither good nor bad. Money is simply a means of exchange. People think that money is evil because they hear others misquote the Bible in saying that “money is the root of all evil.” Actually, it says that, “the love of money is the root of all evil.” Those two statements are very different!

Loving money means you can never get enough of it. But having money and acquiring money does not necessarily mean that you love it. Money is not the most important thing there is in life, but, when you think about it honestly, what would your life be without any money? And that’s the point.

People who have a slanted view about money are limiting themselves. They get talked into a “let’s just get by” mentality. Because they think that money is evil, they then assume that all they need is just enough to get by, and that is exactly what they receive in their lives.

We can’t eat money. There’s no nutritional value in the paper and ink, and can you imagine what a roll of quarters would do to your digestive system!

We can’t wear money to keep warm. It would take an awful lot of dollar bills to make a jacket, wouldn’t it?

We can’t build a house out of money. Doing that, we would end up with some pretty flimsy floors and doors!

Now all that may sound silly, but think about it. We do need money in our culture so that we can buy the things that we need. We simply exchange money for the things we need to live our lives.

An increase in our money is simply an increase to our lives. We can buy better quality foods, which will in turn contribute to healthier bodies.

We can buy better quality clothes that will last longer and, in the long run, we will actually spend less money for our clothing.

We can afford the kind of housing that contributes to peaceful surroundings that keep us from distractions.

We can have the means to continue to educate ourselves.

We can take the time off that we that we need for relaxation or a change.

And, an increase in our money will afford us the opportunity to give more to help others. An increase in your money is not wrong! It is not evil! Those who misquote the Bible, saying, “Money is the root of all evil,” ought to read a little more carefully. If they did, they would find many, many promises from the Creator concerning prosperity. The Bible is full of His promises to you of prosperity, because God really does want you to prosper.

Money isn’t everything, but in our day and time, and in our culture, we certainly do need money!

Michael A. Verdicchio is a husband, father, minister, author, and broadcaster. He has been the voice on numerous productions over the years. Michael has a free newsletter called, THE PEP LETTER, at

The old proverb that says, "One man’s meat is another’s poison" is hard to refute. We are all different, with our own unique value systems, telling us what is important and what isn’t. So before trying to achieve a good Work / Life Balance it’s probably a good idea to know what it looks like to YOU. While the term itself seems self-explanatory there can be no ‘one-size-fits-all’ formula.

Autonomy & ‘Busyness’

Most of us like to think of ourselves as autonomous, making our own decisions and running our own lives independently. But sometimes we let outside influences determine our priorities. While this may be acceptable occasionally, if it happens too often we can find ourselves like the mouse in a wheel, pouring enormous energy into activities that give us little in the way of lasting satisfaction. Life can seem like a jungle where we spend our time hacking our way through the undergrowth. "But what’s wrong with being busy?" I hear you ask, "After all, life is tough and you have to keep battling." No argument from me there, except to offer one comment. When you are spending so much time and effort clearing a path through the jungle, how often do you shinny up a tree to make sure you are heading in the right direction?

Where are you going?

So perhaps the first step in determining a healthy Work / Life Balance is to find out where you want to get to. And in which direction do you need to travel? And how will you know when you have arrived? In other words, what does success mean to YOU? For many people the prime indicator of success is a loaded bank account, with all the trimmings. But interestingly enough, when I researched the term to see how the rich and famous defined success, I was surprised to find that money per se was rarely a factor. A much more common thread was the concept of learning. Connecting with, and helping others, was also a common theme. But back to the $64,000 question; what does success look like to you? Here’s a little concept that may help you decide.

The Time-Purse

We arrive on the planet with a Time-Purse. This Time-Purse contains a number of years, months, weeks and days. Fortunately, (or not, according to your point of view), we don’t know how big this Time-Purse is, nor how much it contains. Now compare that with your money purse. How often do you throw your cash around unwisely? We all know that money doesn’t grow on trees, and most of us are careful about what we spend. We don’t buy things without doing some mental exercise, even if only to persuade ourselves that we really do need a new gizmo. But what about our time? How careful are we with that? How much of that do we fritter away unnecessarily? Or do we look back on New Years Eve wondering where the last 52 weeks went, feeling we are no better off than the previous year? And even though we start each year with the very best of intentions, how come our New Years resolutions last about a week and a half?

Perhaps success is merely the ability to spend our time on the things that are important to us. The difficulty many people seem to have is in not knowing what these things are. When I ask clients the question, "What do you really want?" they invariably stumble around for a while before coming up with things like a new car, a bigger house and so on. I then continue with, "What else? … Yes, OK, and what else?" After some more gentle coaxing they eventually go to a level deeper within themselves and typically come up with less obvious comments. Things like, "Well I suppose if I had the money I would open a haven for battered wives" or perhaps "Well I’ve always loved animals, I wouldn’t mind having a place where I could agist horses and a few cattle perhaps."

The common plight seems to be, "Well, sure I’d rather be doing something else." When I shake my head and look at that objectively, what it seems to translate to is, "I really HAVE TO spend my time like this so that I can maintain my lifestyle of doing the things that I don’t like."

If any of the above applies to you, you may get some benefit from carrying out a little Time Management exercise that I have assembled.

You can find it at

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And more about me at:

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The best and quickest way to improve your life is simple: just think more positively.

You’ve probably heard this many times before. And you’re probably thinking, “That’s a great idea, but in the real world it’s much easier said than done.”

It’s true; like a lot of things in life, becoming a “positive” person is an idea that is simple but not necessarily easy. The goal of this brief article is to give you a few simple and practical techniques that will help you make positive thinking an automatic and permanent part of your life.

Positive Thinking is Critically Important

Your thought patterns have a huge influence over every aspect of your life. Your thoughts determine your personality, the quality of your relationships, your financial success, your physical health, and much more.

You probably have an idea of the power of your thoughts. The fact that you’re reading this indicates you know it’s important. But if you’re like most people, you still grossly underestimate the powerful physiological effects your thoughts can have.

For example, by simply thinking of biting into a juicy, yellow lemon you can make your mouth water. That’s just a small example of how a thought can create chemical changes in the body.

The fact is that your thoughts greatly influence much more important things than saliva production. Science has shown that positive thoughts increase your white blood cell count which helps you fight infection and disease. In a study recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers at the University of Wisconsin proved that people who practice positive thinking are better equipped to fight disease.

In the study, a team of neuroscientists used electroencephalography to measure brain activity and then gave all the subjects flu shots. What they found is that positive thinking individuals had a significantly stronger immune response than those who exhibited more a negative thought patterns. The bottom line: positive thinking can make you not only happier but healthier as well.

How Do You Become a Positive Thinker?

If you currently have habitual negative thought patterns – and most everyone does – you can learn to eliminate them and replace them with positive thought habits. But it won’t happen on its own. You have to make a conscious decision to make a change. Once you do that – and with the help of a few simple techniques – it’s actually pretty easy to become totally positive.

Here are a few simple techniques you can start using right now:

Smile and Let the Tail Wag the Dog

Being happy can make you smile. But does it also work the other way? Can smiling make you happy?

Researchers at the University of California at San Francisco have discovered that mimicking the facial expressions associated with such emotions as happiness, sadness, and anger can trigger some of the same physical changes produced by actually feeling these emotions. By measuring an array of biometrics – such as heart rate, body temperature, and the electrical resistance of the skin – they demonstrated that simply smiling made the body “happy.” Apparently moving facial muscles sends signals to the autonomic nervous system, which controls certain muscle and gland activity. This, in turn, spurs the physical reactions. So, smile and you’ll be happy!

Create a Triggering Mechanism for Yourself

Now try your own smiling experiment. Put a big smile on your face right now. You may have to force it at first but do it anyway and see what happens. It’s okay if you feel silly. Let the silliness make you smile even more.

As you smile, think of anytime in the past when you felt very happy, joyful and positive. We’ve all had experiences in our lives when we have felt very positive. Let yourself replay some of those positive moments right now. Let yourself relive feelings of being positive and confident. Continue to smile. Release all cares and concerns and with a big smile on your face, feel yourself becoming more and more positive and carefree.

As your positive feelings continue to build, press the thumb and middle finger of either hand together gently but firmly, and say to yourself “I am positive!” Again, while you’re feeling very positive, press your thumb and middle finger together and say “I am positive!”

You have just programmed yourself with a mechanism that you can use to trigger these same positive thoughts and feeling anytime you choose. Practice this frequently and soon you’ll notice that you can have a positive attitude in any situation merely by pressing your thumb and middle finger together and saying “I am positive!”

Choose Your Words Carefully

What you say and the words you choose are very important to maintaining a positive perspective and eliciting positive outcomes.

For example, consider the word “don’t”. If you call out to a child “Don’t slam the door!” what’s the next sound we usually hear? Bam!! That’s right, the door slamming. It’s as if the child didn’t hear the “don’t.” Only the positive part of the statement got through: “Slam the door!” However, if you say “Close the door softly,” the child will be much more likely to comply.

Another dangerous word is “can’t.” People often say I can’t lose weight, or I can’t quit smoking, or I can’t remember names. The more they say that, the more it becomes reality. From now on, let the use of that word be like a red light flashing as a warning that this is negative programming that can create false limitations. Don’t let this word rob you of your true potential.

Eject Negative Self-Talk

More important than the words you say to others are the words you say to yourself. We all have an inner voice that reflects our subconscious thinking. Unfortunately, a lot of our self-talk is negative. For example: “I’ll never be able to do it”, or “I’ll never understand it”, or “I’m not smart enough”, or “If something can go wrong, it will”.

To eliminate negative self-talk you must first become aware of it. What are the things that you say to yourself that limit your potential? The moment you become aware of the negativity eject it! You can eject it just as easily as you can eject a tape from a tape deck.

To make that ejection more vivid, you can press your index finger against your thumb, or against a table or a dashboard, as if you’re pressing a button, and at the same time emphatically say “EJECT!” Then immediately replace the negative with a positive such as “I can!” Over time, repeating this simple physical action will go a long way to helping you become totally positive.

Train Your Brain through Meditation

Research has shown that meditation increases activity in the left prefrontal cortex; the same area of the brain that scientists associate with positive thinking. And people who meditate regularly are typically found to be more positive and healthier than the population in general. So learn how to meditate – and practice it often. You’ll train your brain to use its positive thinking centers more readily and quickly become a more positive person.

Remind Yourself of What’s Important

A friend of ours who is a salesman and who’s away from his home and family more than he’d like to be, told us about a tape he put together that never fails to lift his spirits. The tape consists of a series of messages from the most important people in his life: his wife, his father, his kids, and his closest friend. On his tape, each of these people says, in his or her own words, how important this man is to them. They say what they like, admire, and respect about him. They say how much they appreciate him, love him, and miss him when he’s away. He says that after a tough sales call, or anytime he needs a lift, he plays that tape and instantly he feels very fortunate, very happy, and has greater sense of self-worth. It puts everything back in its proper perspective, and gives him renewed strength and a very positive attitude. Perhaps you could benefit from creating a similar tape of your own.

Wash Away Negativity with a Powerful Visualization

Another technique for feeling totally positive is called the funnel of energy. It’s a simple visualization exercise that can take less than a minute, but it makes you feel great.

Here’s how you do it. Imagine there’s a funnel of positive energy flowing in through the top of your head. This positive energy comes from the purist, highest, most divine source of energy in the universe. It makes you feel more alive, stronger, more aware and alert. The moment it enters your body you sense its positive, loving, healing effect. You feel it cleansing you of negativity. Washing away any past negative programming you have experienced.

It’s dissolving all the old fears, the old inhibitions, the old limitations. Feel this positive, loving, healing energy washing away all negative thoughts, images and feelings. Feel it releasing your inner strength. The energy continues to flow in, through your shoulders, arms and hands, your chest, your back, abdomen, hips, legs and feet, reaching every part of your body dissolving all negativity. It’s converting your entire body to healthful positive energy. Imagine all the negativity flowing out of your hands and feet leaving your body filled with only the purest positive energy. If feels so good to free yourself from negativity, it feels so good to be totally positive.

Practice this visualization any time you’d like. Allow the visualization to last as long as you need to feel revived and purged of all negativity. It’s great any time you need a lift.

Welcome Life’s Obstacles – Adversity is Opportunity

Life throws each of us a lot of curves. No one goes through life without problems, or without running into obstacles. And some of these problems or obstacles can be huge. But what’s really important is how we face these obstacles. If we think negatively, we can be overwhelmed, give up or become ineffective in dealing with them. But there is a much better way to handle them. We can choose to look for something positive in the situation. We can choose to consider it a blessing in disguise – even if we have no idea what that blessing might be.

We can look for an advantage or opportunity in any situation. As Richard Bach points out in his book Illusions, “There is no such thing as a problem without a gift in its hands.” And the Chinese word for crisis is written with two characters. One of them means opportunity.

Many of our students have become so positive that when an unexpected problem arises they automatically say “Oh good!” They then immediately start looking for the opportunity presented by the situation. And they inevitably find it. This can work for you, too.

Learning to deal successfully with obstacles can help you live a more fulfilling life. As Booker T. Washington said, “Success is to be measured not so much by the positions that we have reached in life, as by the obstacles which we have overcome while trying to succeed.”

Don’t Worry – Be Happy

In order to be totally positive, we need to know how to deal with worry. Every thought we have affects us physically as well as mentally, and worry can be very harmful. Dr. Charles Mayo said; “Worry affects circulation, the heart, the glands, the whole nervous system, and profoundly affects the health.”

Think about the process you go through when you worry. In your mind you picture a negative end result. It takes no effort or willpower; you just dwell on it. And in a short time this negative end result appears very real to you and you generate the same emotions that you’d experience if it really happened. You experience the same fear, anxiety, or discouragement. Consequently, you end up feeling bad right now for something that is merely a thought in your mind.

At the same time you are setting up patterns in your mind for future negative experiences. The more you worry, the more you train your mind to expect bad things. Even if your “problem” never manifests itself, the worry takes its toll through immediate discomfort and the harmful effects of excessive stress.

It’s said that worry is interest paid in advance on a debt you may never owe. And Mark Twain put it this way; “I’ve had a lot of troubles in my day – most of which never happened.” So, most worry is useless. You’re better off ejecting it.

But you can take the same process you use to worry, change just one thing, and it can help you immensely. Instead of imagining a negative end result, imagine a positive one! This, too, takes very little effort or willpower. Just dwell on that positive end result and in no time at all you’ll be generating the emotions that are associated with that experience. You’ll feel great immediately as a result of something that is merely a thought in your mind. You’ll feel joy, happiness, and self-confidence. Plus, you’ll be setting up patterns in your mind for future positive experiences.

So make the worry process work for you rather than against you. Get into the habit of expecting good things.

Start Today

There are many other things you can do to become more positive, but this handful of ideas is a great start. Begin today and you’ll soon realize what a tremendous impact they’ll have on your life.

Bob and Jeff Griswold are the Founder and President, respectively, of Effective Learning Systems, Inc., the leading creator of audio CDs and tapes for personal development and self-improvement. With over 100 titles available, their programs are among the bestselling self-improvement audio programs in national bookstores - including Barnes & Noble and Borders. Bob’s book, How to Attract Money, has been printed in 7 languages and he has personally taught over 50,000 people techniques for relaxation, memory, stress management, goal achievement and self-esteem through seminars for corporations, government agencies, and the general public. You can find Effective Learning Systems online at efflearn.com/101 efflearn.com/101 or by phone at (800) 966-5683.

One of the key models for goal achievement is that of cause and effect. This model says that your goal is an effect to be achieved, and your task is to identify and then create the cause that will produce the desired effect, thereby achieving your goal.

Sounds simple enough, right?

However, the main problem with this model is that nearly everyone seriously misunderstands it. And that misunderstanding comes from not knowing what a “cause” really is.

You might assume that the cause of an effect would be a series of physical and mental actions leading up to that effect. Action-reaction. If your goal is to make dinner, then you might think the cause would be the series of preparation steps.

To an outside observer, that certainly appears to be the case. The scientific method would suggest that this is how things work, based on a purely objective observation.

However, within your own consciousness, you know that the series of action steps is not the real cause. The actions are themselves an effect, aren’t they?

What’s the real cause? The real cause is the decision you made to create that effect in the first place. That’s the moment you said to yourself, “Let it be” or “make it so.” At some point you decided to make dinner. That decision may have been subconscious, but it was a still a decision. Without that decision the dinner would never manifest. That decision ultimately caused the whole series of actions and finally the manifestation of your dinner.

Where does that decision arise from? It might arise from your subconscious, or in the case of conscious decisions, it arises from your consciousness. Ultimately your consciousness is the greater power, as it can override subconscious choices once it becomes aware of them.

Missing this very simple distinction has contributed to quite a number of failed goals.

If you want to achieve a goal you’ve set, the most crucial part is to DECIDE to manifest it. It doesn’t matter if you feel it’s outside your control to do so. It doesn’t matter if you can’t yet see how you’ll get from A to B. Most of those resources will come online AFTER you’ve made the decision, not before.

If you don’t understand this simple step, then you will waste a lot of time. Step 1 is to decide. Not to ruminate or to ponder or to ask around and see whether or not you can do it. If you want to start your own business, then decide to make it so. If you want to be married and have a family, then decide to attract a mate. If you want to change careers, then decide to do so.

It blows my mind that people think that something else has to come before the decision. People waste months trying to figure out, “Is this goal possible?” And this makes a lot of sense to do so if you’re at a certain level of consciousness. But all you’re really doing is creating delay, and you’ll simply manifest evidence to suggest that the goal is both possible and not possible. You think doubt in your head, you find doubt in the world.

Time and again I’ve seen evidence that not only people, but the universe itself, can sense a lack of commitment to a goal. Have you ever heard someone tell you about a goal of theirs, and you can just sense how wishy-washy and uncertain they are about it? They say things like, “Well, I’m going to try this and see how it goes. Hopefully it will work out OK.” Is that evidence that a clear decision has been made? Not remotely. Are you going to help this person? Probably not — who wants to waste their time on someone who isn’t committed?

But what happens when you sense total certainty in the other person? Will you help them if they ask for it? You’re far more likely to help a committed person because you can tell they’re eventually going to succeed anyway, and you want to be part of that success. You even feel more energized and motivated yourself to contribute to the success of people who are very clearly committed to a goal that resonates with you and which is genuinely for the greatest good of all.

Don’t you think this process works the same way within your own mind? If your consciousness is divided against itself, do you think it will commit all its internal resources to your goal? Will your subconscious give you all the energy and creativity it possibly could, or will it hold back? Think of your subconscious mind as a multi-tasking computer processor. What percentage of resources will it devote to a task that you’ve told it to execute with the words, “Run this for a little bit and see if it works, but quickly dump it if it seems too difficult?” Now what if you gave that CPU a process labeled, “Run this now?”

The universe itself works on the same principle. Think of it as the superconscious mind. When you’ve made a clear, committed decision, it will open the universal floodgates, bringing you all the resources you need, sometimes in seemingly mysterious or impossible ways.

Whenever you want to set a new goal for yourself, start by setting it. Take the time to become clear about what you want, but then just declare it.

Say to the universe, “Here is the goal. Make it so.”

Do not ask the universe for what you want. Declare it. Don’t ask. This is very similar to prayer, but you are not praying FOR what you want. You are praying WHAT you want. You are simply saying, “Here it is. Make it so.” It is like planting a seed in the ground. You do not say to the ground, “Here is the seed. Please, can you make it grow?” You simply plant the seed, and it will grow as a natural consequence of your planting and tending to it. It is the same with your intentions. Simply plant them. There’s no need to beg.

Intend that your goal manifest in such a manner that is for the greatest good of all. This is very important, as intentions that are created out of fear or a sense of lack will backfire. You may get what you want, but it will yield a bitter aftertaste. Or you may get the exact opposite of what you want. But intentions that are genuinely made for your own good and the greatest good of all will tend to manifest in a positive way.

After I declare my intention, I wait for the resources and synchronicities to arrive. Usually they begin to manifest in 24-48 hours, sometimes sooner. Sometimes these synchronicities appear to be the result of subconscious action. I just happen to notice things that may have been there all along, but now I see them in a new light, and they become resources for me that I never noticed until after I declared my intention. But many times it’s nearly impossible to explain such synchronicities as the result of my own subconscious action, even if I step back and try to look at them purely objectively. Sometimes they come in such unusual avalanches that I can only explain them as the result of superconscious action. On some level the universe itself is aware of my intention and is doing its part to help manifest it. I also find that the more inviting I am of these synchronicities, the more easily they flow. Right now I typically experience about 10 per week on average, and I think that’s because I have many different intentions in the process of manifesting, so there’s a constant flow of resources coming to me.

The mental and physical planning and action steps come later. That’s how I organize the resources that have arrived. Once enough resources have come to me, I can begin to see how they all fit together to achieve the goal. But if the path seems too complicated or difficult and I don’t like what I see, I put out some new intentions to make it the way I want it to be. I declare, “Let it be simpler.” I again wait for the synchronicities to arrive, and a simpler approach becomes clear. Usually for an approach to be simpler, it means I have to get past some personal block within me. I have to grow on some level in order to be able to take advantage of a simpler solution. Or perhaps I have to learn a new skill first. So while it might be simpler, it might also be harder on a personal level. For example, by putting out the intention to do more to help people, I had to develop my communication skills. That makes the goal easier to achieve, but it’s more work up front.

It took me a number of years to be able to trust this approach before I could begin to use it as my default manner of goal achievement. I have to be open to achieving goals in unusual ways sometimes. I get what I intend, but not always what I expect. So when the synchronicities begin dropping me clues, I do not always understand how they’ll be part of the path to the goal. But invariably there’s an intelligence at work, and if I trust it, it will work just fine. Usually it will bring me new information first, so I can raise my own awareness and knowledge to the level required to achieve the goal.

For example, if I you declare your goal to become wealthier, within a few days you might see all sorts of synchronicities related to spirituality. They may seem to have nothing to do with wealth whatsoever. So you figure it’s just a coincidence, and the approach isn’t working. But the approach is sound, and it is working. Most likely it’s a signal that the path to wealth first requires you to improve your consciousness. This is especially true if your intention was for the highest good of all. If you become wealthy before your energy and consciousness have reached a certain level, then greater material wealth may only feed your problems — your goal cannot yet manifest for the greatest good of all. But if you first learn to use your energy and consciousness positively, then the greater resources that wealth provides you will be a positive manifestation instead of a negative one.

In truth this is a simple and direct process. But our minds are so cluttered with the flotsam and jetsam of social conditioning that we have a hard time thinking on this level. We get so attached to seeing our goals manifest a certain way because that’s how they manifest in TV shows or in movies. Or maybe that’s how our parents or friends did it. But this attachment to a particular “how” blocks us from allowing our goals to manifest far more easily. If we could loosen up a bit on the “how” and just learn to allow the manifestation to occur in its own perfect way, goal achievement would be far easier.

So often I see people sabotage their own goals because they do not understand the power of intention. Realize that EVERY thought is truly an intention. Every thought. So most people manifest a cluttered mish-mash of conflict in their lives because their thoughts are in conflict. They simultaneously set a goal and then unset it. “I want to start my own business.” “I wonder if it will work.” “I wonder if I’ll succeed.” “Maybe this won’t work.” “Maybe John is right, and this is a mistake.” “No, I’m pretty sure it will work just fine.”

If you are trying to achieve goals on the level of action-reaction, meaning that you’re purely focused on the action steps, while at the higher level of intention-manifestation, you’re putting out conflicting thoughts, then you’re sabotaging yourself. If you go on a diet and exercise like crazy, while all the while thinking, “I’m fat. This is hopeless. This is taking too long,” then your higher level intentions will override your actions, and negative or incongruent results will follow.

If you want to achieve a goal, you must clear out all the “hopefully” and “maybe” and “can’t” nonsense from your consciousness. You cannot allow yourself the luxury of a negative thought, and that is an intention to manifest what you don’t want. This takes practice of course, but it is the essential art of learning to use your consciousness to create what you want. When you are congruent in your thoughts, your goal will manifest with ease. But when you are incongruent in your thoughts, you will manifest conflict and obstacles. As within, so without.

Why is it you’re able to do this? Because you have that power. Not believing in yourself simply means you’re using your own power against yourself. You’re like a god saying, “Let me be powerless,” and you don’t even realize it. If you think/intend weakness, you manifest weakness. If you project your power outside yourself and onto the external world, you lose your power.

You don’t need anyone’s permission to do this. It is a natural human ability. But it takes practice to develop your consciousness to the level where you can apply it and especially to learn to trust it.

What happens if you decide to manifest a really, really big goal, one that seems physically impossible? The process will still work. It’s just that there will be a lot more steps, and you may be lead through various synchronicities for years before you’ve reached the point where your ultimate goal can manifest. It might take longer than your human lifetime if the goal is so big. But you will certainly make progress if you use this approach.

So what is your goal? Say it out loud right now, and let it be for the greatest good of all. Then say to the universe, “Make it so.” Wait for the synchronicities and unusual coincidences to arrive. Follow them where they want to lead you, even if it seems strange at first. Allow your goal to manifest.

Copyright © Steve Pavlina

Steve Pavlina
Personal Development for Smart People
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Steve is intensely growth-oriented. He trained in martial arts, ran the L.A. Marathon, and graduated from college in three semesters with two degrees. He can juggle, count cards at blackjack, and make damn good guacamole. Steve is also a polyphasic sleeper, sleeping just 2-3 hours per day and only 20 minutes at a time. So chances are good that he’s awake right now.

People have always believed in the power of your name to shape your destiny. But can it really? And can knowledge of the hidden power of a name help parents pick a ‘better’ name for their baby?

Several philosophies embody strong beliefs about the significance, and power, behind your name. There is the ‘psychological’ camp, the ‘mystical’ camp, the ‘religious/spiritual’ camp, and the ’sound’ camp. All four overlap, but there are real differences.

The psychological approach maintains that your name influences how people perceive you, and this affects how they treat you. In turn, this affects your self-image and self-esteem, from early childhood onward. In its simplest form, a child with an ‘unusual’ name, such as Archibald, may be continuously teased in school, and this will hurt Archibald’s self-image and development. By contrast, an ‘Andrew’ or a ‘Christopher,’ both very popular names, are empowering, because other people unconsciously respond to them with a certain level of respect.

Psychological research shows that boys with unusual first names tend to display more emotional disturbances than boys with more traditional names. But, as researchers point out, it is important not to overstate this phenomenon. Are the boys in question more troubled because of their names, or because of the parents, and family background, which gave them strange names in the first place? But certainly, there are many instances where ‘desirable’ names are shown to lead to greater success.

In the mystical realm, there are several ancient belief systems which hold that your name has innate power and meaning, and that by knowing this meaning, you can harness the power in your life.

Numerology is the systematic study of numbers and their interrelationships. Since ancient times, many cultures have developed complex symbolic number systems. Numerologists assign meanings and significance to each number. Through numerology, according to its adherents, you can gain a deep understanding of the symbolic meaning of your name, and harness this understanding in your daily life.

The Kabbalah, the ancient mystical philosophy of the Jewish religion, is based on the Tree of Life and the interrelationship among all things. These interrelationships include numerical values from the Tree of Life, and can be combined with the mystical meanings of letters in the alphabet. A Kabbalistic analysis of a person’s name provides deep insights into their personality and character. Your name, according to this philosophy, is a key to understanding yourself.

The ancient European system of ‘runes’ also assigns special meanings to each symbol. Using the runic ‘alphabet,’ also known as the ‘Futhark,’ you can convert your name into a group of runic symbols, which in turn, paint a full picture of your personality and attributes.

Turning to more traditional faith-based beliefs, many religions and cultures place enormous importance on given names, and, often, on the naming ceremony. Ashkenazic Jews believe that the name represents a person’s soul, and hence can influence an entire life. Because of this, Ashkenazic Jews refuse to name a baby after a living relative, for fear that the two souls would have to share a name, thereby shortening the life of the older relative.

In the Book of Proverbs, 22:1, it says that ‘a good name is to be chosen rather than great riches.’ What does this mean? Many biblical names have both literal and spiritual meanings, and for many parents, a biblical baby name is believed to bestow spiritual gifts on a baby. The biblical name Ariel literally means ‘Lion of God’ in Hebrew, and its spiritual meaning is ‘Powerful Leader.’ Religious parents who name a child this way are hoping the child will grow up to be a strong leader in society.

One fascinating school of thought holds that the very sound of a name, repeated endlessly through the centuries, helps determine what that name ‘means.’ In his book ‘The Secret Universe of Names,’ Roy Feinson argues that the sound of a name itself evokes a particular emotional response in those who hear it. Furthermore, Feinson claims, the act of speaking contorts the facial muscles in certain ways, in turn affecting the emotional response of the listener. Feinson tracks various paramaters showing how certain names, and name sounds, can affect our lives in many ways.

Finally, there is the ‘harmonic vibration’ school, espoused by Pierre Le Rouzic in his book ‘The Secret Meaning of Names’. Le Rouzic argues that names contain hidden vibrations, which are an embedded aspect of a person’s character. The vibrations begin before birth, as the child within the mother’s womb ’speaks’ to the mother. For this reason, Le Rouzic says, it is mothers who best understand the nature of the child they are bearing, and it is mothers who should take the lead in naming the child. The vibrations of a name are also connected to specific colors, animals, plants, and so forth. All come together to form ‘character’ types that can accurately describe a child’s future personality and character.

Can you be sure that your baby’s name will affect his or her entire life? Probably not. But prospective parents may want to give some credence to the various schools of thought about the significance of names. All of these belief systems are based on ancient, time-tested philosophies. Even if you don’t subscribe fully to any one system, there is much to learn, and think about, in all of them. For parents who make up new names in order to be different – they may want to think twice about what they are doing. If your name is truly part of your destiny, then naming your baby is a serious responsibility.

Neil Street is co-publisher of babynamesgarden.com Baby Names Garden, a baby naming website, where he has written more extensively on the interplay of babynamesgarden.com/nameasdestiny.aspx names and destiny. He is also the editor of the Celebrity Baby Names Blog, and writes frequently on baby names.