I was to go to a friend’s surprise party that day. It was about 1:30 in the afternoon. I was taking a shower when I suddenly felt dizzy, light headed. I could barley stand up. Then I felt this tremendous pressure to my head. It felt like my head was going to explode. Then I got the worst headache of my life. I tried to lay down to see if the headache would go away. It did not go way after about 30 minutes. I knew that something was wrong. Then I started vomiting.

Now I new for sure that something was seriously wrong. I told my Brother to take me to the emergency room. Of course on a Saturday evening, the emergency room was busy. I again vomited while waiting in the emergency room. I was there for 15 hours before I actually saw a doctor. All this time, I had the worst headache of my life that would not go away. I must have put about 6-7 cold packs during the 15 hours and Advil every four hours.

When I finally did see the doctor, they gave me a shot of morphine and that took the pain away instantly. The doctor said that something could still be wrong. They ordered a CT scan of my head to see if there was bleeding.

I did not think much of it, but when the results came in, they told me I had a lot of blood in my head. They would need to do another CT scan but this time they would inject a dye in my IV to see where the blood was coming from.

The result of the second CT scan revealed that I had a brain hemorrhage. I would need brain surgery to repair the brain aneurysm they had discovered. I was in shock. I did not know what was ahead of me.

The doctor told me that what I had was very serious. That 50% of the people that have a brain hemorrhage, do not make it to the hospital. I was very lucky to have made it to that point. He told me that the next 3 weeks would be critical. He said that I would remain in the hospital for at least 3 weeks.

He said they would have to do surgery immediately. He explained the procedure and said it was very delicate. The surgery would last 3 to 4 hours. They would go up the artery from my groin up through my neck to the brain where the aneurysm was. They would put tiny titanium coils on the aneurysm to stop it from bleeding, They were preparing the operating room.

When I entered the operating room they were playing Queen, We Will Rock You. The next song made me nervous. They must have had a CD and the next song was Another One Bites The Dust. The surgery lasted 4 1/2 hours but thankfully everything went good. They also told me that I was not out of the woods yet. I would spend the next 11 days in ICU.

They told me that since I had so much blood around the brain that sometimes after a procedure like this, the vessels just clamp down. This is called Vasospasm. They told me that the next 21 days would be crucial. That was the toughest part. Waiting around to see if I would go into seizure or have a stroke.

For the 2-3 days after the surgery, I had a really bad, pounding headache. Every heart beat would cause a tremendous pain in my head. The doctor had told me that I would get worse before I got better. He was correct because I was wondering if my head was still bleeding because of the pain. Not as bad as the initial headache but close. Not even morphine would take this pain away. After about the 5th day in ICU, I finally started to get better.

I truly believe that someone was looking over me. The odds were tremendously against me. Yet I came through with virtually no side effects. Now I am at almost 100%. There were many prayers from family and friends that helped me get through this. I could not have gotten through this without them.

This whole situation has thought me a lesson on life. I realize what the important things in life are, and it makes you appreciate the little things because it can be taken away from you any moment.

I feel like I was given a second chance at life and I plan on making the most it. I know that I was given a second chance for a reason. I plan on helping as many people as I possibly can.

Sincerely,

German Chale

germanchale.com/ germanchale.com/

Love, that is the one thing that is above the law. Every single thing we do always affects someone else. This past summer my family was at the First Holy Communion of my little nephew. I am not a Catholic although I grew up as one. I have chosen a non-denominational Christian Bible-based church for my worship and fellowship. What if I had decided not to go to my nephew’s First Holy Communion though because I just didn’t want to go to a Catholic church? What if I decided not to go based upon the fact that I don’t agree with all of the doctrine of this church?

I would’ve hurt so many people, especially my little nephew who is my special boy. You see, everything we do in the protection of OUR rights, our self-preservation, our dishonesty, or our convictions, or whatever, affects others. The point wasn’t my convictions or my faith, or anything else, it was about love. Just as Jesus dying on a cross was and is about love.

This past week was such a grueling one and a test of faith in trial. I was left so drained and emptied but that was when God was able to do His work in and through me. It also brought to my attention that it isn’t about me but about Jesus. I struggled in prayer and anguished over so many things. When I relinquished control to God and said, “I can’t do this, I need for you to take over.” He said, “That’s what I’ve been wanting to do all along my child.” No, He didn’t speak out loud to me but to my heart through His Word.

I have been guilty of being careless by wanting to preserve MY way, MY knowledge, MY wants and desires in my business life to get what I wanted. I thought I had to act and do as the world does forgetting that my trust and hope is in the Lord. The key ingredient missing in all my endeavors was faith. I was careless and fell back into my flesh and God is faithful to bring us back to the Main Thing - Jesus.

As Christians we are created to be a blessing to others not a hindrance. We are not to do and think as the world system does. That doesn’t mean I don’t do business in a professional, law-abiding manner or act stupidly but rather, that I seek to serve others first. Rather I seek to be a blessing and let God handle the world’s ways for me. I may appear gullible and/or naive, and maybe to the world’s eyes even careless, but in God’s eyes that is living in the Spirit. Trusting God in full faith that He will direct me and protect me.

When we take matters into our own hands and don’t allow God’s way to direct us, we are not operating in the Spirit but in the flesh. That is disobedience to God and it is careless. While we can rest assured that God will forgive us when we confess our carelessness in sin, we will still suffer the consequences of our actions and decisions.

The Holy Spirit really convicted me in today’s lesson in church. I felt that I had been so concerned with my own interests and business growth and so forth, that I forgot to be a blessing. I forgot about my strength and protection being in the Lord. I stepped out not in faith but in carelessness. I am currently suffering the consequences of those decisions but I am also making right the wrongs no matter how vulnerable I appear to others. No matter how naive it may seem. God wants us to reach out in love and be a blessing to others. To be salt and light. That they may desire that very thing in their own lives.

We cannot bring glory to our King unless we’ve been emptied of ourselves and crucified with Jesus that we may live forever in Him. We need to get out of our way that Jesus might live in us and through us. Our God has chosen to use us to do His will. He didn’t have to but He has chosen to do this out of love. His Agape love. Like Pastor Pete said this morning, “we can’t sow weeds and expect flowers to grow.” We have to understand that this is not our home. Heaven is. Therefore we aren’t to interact the way the world system does but in fact, be so contrary to the world system that unbelievers will take notice. To love when others hate. To bless when others curse. To be kind and considerate when others are rude and abrupt with us.

It’s not about us, so let’s purpose to not be careless but to be the vessel to be used of our Lord to bring others to faith in Christ Jesus. Sowing in the Spirit, not the flesh.

Kim Bloomer is a preventative pet care consultant with 30 years of experience - aspenbloompetcare.com Aspenbloom Pet Care. She publishes several other RSS channels, including aspenbloom-wellpet.com AspenbloomWellPet, natural-pet-care-products.com Pet Products, and kicktheemailhabit.net Kick The Email Habit with her friend Cathy. She and Cathy manage the RSS channel for the quikonnex.com/channel/page/ivwcc Virtual Chamber of Commerce.

Coming soon, pet care classes in audio “All God’s Creatures”.

It is a substantial factor in our decisions.

In our choices.

It will set our life’s quality, our level of living.

It will decide what we do with our time, it will decide for us what will we do for a living, and where.

Isn’t it a bit excessive, letting a piece of paper make decisions for us?
Would you let a restaurant napkin or an A4 paper make so many choices for you?
Where are we?
Where are all the people that allow this to happen?
We were all rebels in childhood; we all dislike getting ordered around all day.
But somehow, we allow money to do that.

For years Tom didn’t go on vacation, despite all his wife’s wishes, he never did.
But one year he couldn’t hold his wife from going to vacation, and decided to allow himself some time off, of course it included a cell phone, palm pilot, laptop, and a list of phone numbers for his secretary and his right hand man in the office, that would be reachable for any question.
From the moment he went on vacation, Tom was hooked to the earplug, trying to give as best answers he could to those on the other side.

Not once a thought went through his head, which this isn’t the best time to travel.
Sometimes that thought slipped through his mouth, but his wife quickly got it out of the conversation.

When they reached the hotel, you could see from the window at the entrance the spectacular view of the island, white sands, azure-blue sea, tropical surroundings, and a few people wearing bathing suits, lying on beach beds under umbrellas.

But Tom was occupied with the heat and stickiness that the humidity left on his body.
During that day, Tom had successfully recharged all his electrical devices, and went through all the e mails he got from the moment he left.

He also got to answering most of the mail, what caused him to reach the dining room shortly before his wife finished her meal.

The moment he sat down with his plate of delicatessens he picked up from the buffet, his wife turned to him and told him she can’t do it anymore, she added assertively that she will not open the door to their room if this situation continued.

He could only return when he was in a romantic and free feeling.
After finishing her words she rose and left the dining room.
Tom was left to finish his meal. Although suddenly it lost its wonderful taste. Despite being a little shocked from his wife’s reply, he knew she was right, but he doesn’t understand, he’s doing all this for her, and the family, and their future.

After several minutes of pondering he understood he couldn’t stay in the dining room, because the staff had begun the cleaning procedure, but he can’t go up to the room, and the laptop is up there with his phone. So all that remained was going out of the hotel and looking for what to do.
He took advantage of the opportunity he had to go on a walk by the coast, something that he refrained from doing since he reach the island, if he would be asked why he refrained from looking at the beautiful view, I don’t think he would have an answer.

While walking and looking at the sea and the small waves breaking ashore, he saw a young boy, around the age of 17 or a bit less, sitting on a turned over bucket, by his side was another bucket, and in his hand a lovely wooden fishing rod, the line stretched, sounds of movement in the water were heard, and there comes a big and formidable fish, the boy carefully unhooks it, and put it in the bucket, and soon after he tilts his body backwards, and throws himself forwards, as if his body was a part of the rod, the bate lands in the water, another minute passes until the sounds reappear, and another fish comes out.

Astonished at the amount of fish accumulated in such a short while, he decides to approach him.

What are you doing?
I’m fishing.
Are you selling them?
No, either I eat them or I throw them back in, no point in a lot of fish if I can’t eat them all, I only need a small amount to fill my belly.
Why don’t you take the bucket of fish, go to the market and sell them?
What would that give me?
You can get money for them, and buy a better, more professional fishhook.
What would that give me?
That way you could fish bigger, more valuable fish.
What would that give me?
That way you could get a better value for the same amount of fish.
What would that give me?
That way you could get a bigger bucket, which could contain a bigger amount of fish.
What would that give me?
You could make a lot of money, and that’ll allow you to get a fishing boat.
What would that give me?
You could sail deeper and catch more and bigger fish, and make more money selling them.
What would that give me?
You could buy several boats with crews, and make a lot of money.
What would that give me?
You could export them abroad, and be a millionaire.
What would that give me?
Then you could sit here on the bucket and fish for fun.
But, that’s what I’m doing right now!

Try stopping your reading for a second, closing your eyes, and remembering the most blissful moment in your life, the same moment where you told yourselves – I wish this will never end.
Try to see who you were then?
What were you doing?
Who was with you?
How did you look like?

After feeling that place open your eyes.

Did money appear there?

Noam Mankowitz (PMCC) is a leading professional Master Certified Coach and Mentor who has experience working with hundreds of individual clients and organizations, world wide. He is the Founder, Head Coach and president of inner-view.org/noam/ Inner-View.Org

the world’s leading professional coaching platform.

Why 5 semesters? Why not 2 or 3?

Yes-it can be done in 2 or 3 semesters, and there have been people who have done it. But five semesters allows you to experience college FULLY and cultivate a social life. I graduated with honors, sustained a long distance relationship, made lots of friends, and established excellent relations with my professors. Why not more than five? Well, because in my experience I enjoyed college to the optimal level as those who spent more that five semesters. After the five semester mark, all the “collegiate” lessons are a repeat. The learning curve, in my opinion, pretty much stabilizes after the fourth semester. The fifth semester is added on for good measure.

Why Rush It?

You don’t have to to rush it. I did it because 1) I could. 2) It was fun. 3) I wanted to move on to even bigger and better things. 4) I love to optimize. 5) I wanted the freedom to travel. 6) It saved me a ton of money. The five semester plan is not for everyone, but for those who do want to, I will show you how.

1) Get Super Organized- On average I took 18 to 21 hours a semester. And it was completely doable. I had a planner in which I recorded every 30 minute segment. This allowed me to keep tabs on how much time I spent on a specific task, and served as a to-do list. Get a planner and write down everything you can conceivably imagine yourself doing during the day. This is probably the simplest step in the whole process.

2) Pick a Major you Love-I started out as a Business major and switched to Communication Studies. Thank God for that. My major in Corporate Communication combined business skills with interpersonal communication skills. The always focusing on the ‘bottom line’ was a real turnoff for me while I briefly explored the business school. I wasted my first semester in classes that were too huge and suffered through Calculus. It just wasn’t for me. If you pick a major you love, you will actually WANT to do the work. Okay, at least you won’t loathe picking up the textbook. I loved every single class that I took in my particular major. I was a sponge, soaking up concepts, because I loved it. It resonated deeply within me, so I had no problem writing a ten page paper on leadership styles. Pick a major you love, or at least one that you think you love, and you will be much happier for it. I had a few people tell me that leaving the prestigious McCombs Business school was a mistake and that so many students were just dying to get in. I am glad I ignored those people and listened to my intuition. I suggest you do the same.

3) Weigh Cost Versus Benefit- The only classes I made B’s in were the ones that I chose to just take the B in. The cost (work required) was just not worth the benefit (making an A). There were many times where I had to skip a class in order to turn in a paper on time or to study for an exam in another class. If you do a quick cost-benefit analysis on whether to attend or not attend a class-you will be just fine. Throughout college, I enjoyed a long distance relationship. He was in Nashville, and I was in Austin. Often, I took off for a few weeks to go visit. How? By following rule number 3. The benefit (relaxation, rejuvenation, and blissful moments with my one and only) were much more important that the cost (a couple of missed classes).

4) Track your Credits like a Hawk-If you don’t keep track of how many credits you have earned, you might as well kiss the five semester plan goodbye. I graduated with 122 credits, and knew exactly what each class was worth in terms of credits. I scheduled meetings with my advisor at the beginning, middle, and end of each semester. I let her know what my goal was, and like most advisors, she was happy to help me meet it.

5) Make the Most of Community College Courses-I took three semesters of Spanish, one semester of Drama (an art credit), two semesters of History,two semesters of Government, and one semester worth of Economics at Community Colleges in Dallas and Austin. This was probably the smartest move. Public universities are wonderful this way because they allow you to transfer credits with much more ease than Private ones. If you do attend a Private school, then check with you department first to see which credits are acceptable. The wonderful thing about taking classes at a community college was that I made a variety of friends. Also, I came across some of the best professors there. My Government professor, Professor Little, was a genius. I loved those classes because they afforded me opportunities I might not have had otherwise.

6) Test out of Classes- I never took an English class in college, with the exception of Creative Writing. I tested out of all the required courses. I didn’t study for these tests. I just took them because it seemed worth my two hours to save a semester if I passed. I did pass. In case you do have reservations to taking a test before preparing, most bookstores now carry study guides for such exams. Also, if you are in high school, try taking all the AP exams you can. Many teachers will even let you take the AP exams in lieu of finals. My teachers did, and I entered college with at least a semester worth of credits under my belt.

7) Develop Genuine Relationships with your Professors-This is much easier to do if you follow tip number two. Many college how-to books will tell you to build such relationships with the intent of making a good grade in the end. This is only true to a certain degree. Most professors will see through a facade in a matter of seconds. DO develop relationships with the intent of making the most of your education. Professors love sharing their knowledge, and will reward your sincere interest with personal attention. At The University of Texas at Austin, a general class was about 150 students or so, but I always managed to make time to get to know each Professor on a personal level. When I graduated, they were all willing to write me recommendation letters of the kindest nature. I still keep in touch with many of them who constantly serve as an inspiration. What does this have to do with finishing college sooner?-Well, most of them will be happy to help you reach your goal by being more understanding when you do skip a class to study for another or to finish a paper. This is not to say that ALL will do that, but my experience has been that the majority will look fondly upon the goal.

Shama Hyder is a an international coach, speaker, and the creator of the phenomenal WOW coaching process. Her purpose and mission in life are to empower others to reach for a divine life. You can visit her at divinereachcoaching.com divinereachcoaching.com and shamahyder.com shamahyder.com

Introduction

People are different - but they are predictably different. Being able to predict how someone will react in a given situation can improve their success, well-being, and hence, value in any environment. In his book “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”, Dr Stephen Covey said: “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.”

In 1926 Dr William Marston, an expert in behavioural understanding and the inventor of the polygraph (lie-detector), devised a system to understand people’s personality styles. In his book “The Emotions of Normal People” he grouped people according to their active or passive tendencies, dependent upon their view of the environment. The main styles identified are:

D - Drive - “My Way” (3% of the population)
I - Influence - “The Fun Way” (12% of the population)
C - Compliance - “The Right Way” (16% of the population)
S - Steadiness - “The Safe Way” (69% of the population)

Of course there aren’t just four styles, as everyone exhibits different levels of each of the four, resulting in an almost infinite number of combinations of the main styles. In fact a profile that showed someone as all one style would be extremely suspect. Your style, for instance, may be a combination of ‘High D’, ‘Medium I’, ‘Fairly C’ and ‘Low S’. No style is inherently ‘Good’ or ‘Bad’. The aim of profiling is to identify and play to people’s strengths, while utilising the self-awareness of possible weaknesses.

The personality profile derived from the combination of the different levels of each style gives an amazingly accurate profile of the subject in:

How they think of themselves;
How others see them;
How they act under stress;
Their communication preference;

Greatest fears;
Greatest motivators.

Knowing your own preferred style, and that of others, can go a long way towards creating an environment in which Dr Covey’s recommendation to “Think Win/Win” can flourish.

Relevance to Goal Setting

The dominant style of the subject tends to influence goal-setting. Each type will set different types of goals - which can have both advantages and pitfalls.

For instance, a ‘High D’, being very determined and driven, will know what they want to achieve, tending to set huge goals with great determination and high expectations. This is great - as they’ll usually be high achievers and very committed. It’s not the end of the world if they don’t achieve all they set out to achieve - they may ‘Shoot for the moon, and just clear the trees’, but that’s still progress. If they’re disappointed they’ll easily bounce back.

Possible pitfalls of this approach are that the High D may take on too much, or, having no concept of failure, may fail to make adequate plans. They may also be so taken up with their own view of the world that they neglect to consider the plans and input of others.

People with a High I style are those who enjoy interacting with others; they’ll enjoy life and be highly optimistic, working on ‘the big picture’. This can lead them to set lots of goals, which may change regularly, but they’ll have set goals that they’ll enjoy working towards and by the law of averages they’re sure to achieve some of them.

However, many High I’s suffer from lack of focus as they’re easily distracted by having a good time. Goal setting that incorporates networking and rewards will have the best chance of success for these outgoing and sociable people.

On the contrary, people with a High S style are more reserved, steady, supportive and preferring the status quo. They will work best with incremental, step-by-step, safe goals - and they’ll tend to have a high success rate. The danger of setting safe goals is that they’ll miss opportunities, by not stretching themselves. It’s interesting that 69% of the population fall into this category.

Finally, those with a High C style are cautious, calculating and competent. They prefer detailed well-planned goals with plenty of data and analysis to support any actions. Because of their detailed plans they’re highly likely to achieve their aims - so long as they don’t spend so long planning and preparing that they never quite get round to the ‘doing’ part. “Paralysis by analysis” is something to avoid.

Tailoring the goal-setting process to a person’s personality profile can be a vital part of achieving success, or supporting someone in their aims.

Have you guessed what your style is? I guessed mine, before completing the questionnaire, and I was completely wrong. But I have to confess that, as I read the report, I could see that I was deceiving myself, and in fact the analysis knew me better than I did. I wanted badly to be a High D - direct, dominant and demanding, instead I was a High C - compliant, contemplative and careful.

At first I was disappointed, but the point of personality profiling is to highlight strengths. The more of the report I read, the more I realised that characteristics I was lukewarm about in myself are actually strengths I can use to move forward in a way that won’t make me feel threatened and I now know (and recognise from the past) the pitfalls I need to avoid.

To learn more about personality profiling and download a free sample report visit the website below.

Joy Healey is a qualified life-coach. For a free eBook giving more information on the benefits and applications of personality profiles visit life-coaching-london.co.uk/personality.html life-coaching-london.co.uk/personality.html

1. Focusing on what you DON’T want

Hands down this is the most common mistake my clients make. Seems obvious, and yet it’s a subtle distinction between thinking about what you want versus what you don’t want. Even the word “want” itself can trip you up, as for some people it has a connotation of “lack” or “being without.”

Be aware of the words you use and the images it creates in your mind.

2. Giving attention to the obstacles

Sometimes it seems as if our brains are hard-wired to automatically recount all the reasons we can’t have what we want. This is where you build your brain muscle to get in the habit of refusing to entertain any “facts” or “truths” as to why your desire won’t appear. (With rare exception, there are no hard and fast rules in this Universe other than the ones you believe in.)

Thinking about reasons you won’t get what you want keeps those obstacles strong and powerful. Let go of any thoughts that stand between you and what it is you want.

3. Noticing you still don’t have it

The determining factors in how quickly you receive what you’re asking for are 1) how much you want it and 2) how easily you’re allowing it (a function of wanting and believing). Any time you note your desire still hasn’t appeared, you’re creating resistance which keeps it from showing up. Again, this is focusing on what you don’t want.

Instead, when you find yourself noticing you still don’t have it, know it’s on its way and will soon be here. Remind yourself you’re a master creator who manifests whatever you choose. It’s just a matter of time!

4. Letting limiting beliefs stand in the way

Limiting beliefs can be tricky because we’re usually not consciously aware of them. If you’re doing everything right and still don’t have what you want, it’s time to look at your limiting beliefs.

It’s easy enough to want financial prosperity or the body of a supermodel, but if deep down you think rich people are what’s wrong with this country or that you inherited “fat genes” from mom’s side of the family, you’re holding beliefs contrary to what you’re manifesting. Those beliefs, if strong enough, will keep you from getting what you want.

Do some soul-searching to get a handle on your core beliefs. Just becoming aware of a false belief is often all it takes for it to dissipate. To speed up the process, you can also reprogram yourself with supportive beliefs.

5. Not believing it’s yours

Many of us live in a perpetual state of “wanting.” The key to manifesting is to believe this thing you want is already yours. Live it, breathe it, and feel it as if you already have it. That puts you in vibrational alignment with your desire, allowing it to appear effortlessly.

6. Ignoring your (inspired) call to action

When you’re properly aligned with what you want, you’ll see evidence of it accumulating and may feel inspired to take certain actions. Listen to your intuition, follow your hunches, and take action that feels good. It’s common for overachievers to make themselves busy in taking steps they believe are required to manifest their desire, but only inspired action is helpful. Frantic activity will introduce resistance and slow down the process.

7. Not feeling good

If you’ve got something that consistently brings you down, whether it’s your job, your health, your spouse, etc., you’re running a vibration that makes it difficult for the Universe to deliver good things. One of the best things you can do to get what you want is start taking steps to deliberately feel good.

You’ll be amazed how things come together when you start eliminating what you’re “tolerating” in life and start feeling better. It doesn’t necessarily mean you need to turn your life upside down (although that works too), but you can also choose to change the way you feel about things.

Above all, remember this is fun! Creating what you want is magical, joyful and a huge trip to boot!

Jeannette Maw is an Attraction Coach and founder of Good Vibe Coaching in Salt Lake City, Utah who helps clients get what they want using the Law of Attraction. She is co-author of “101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Vol. 3″ and “Inspired Attraction,” and speaks regularly on the topic of deliberate creation.

Free tips and strategies to begin using the Law of Attraction to make your wish list come true are yours by signing up for her fluff-free “Get What You Want” bi-monthly ezine at goodvibecoach.com goodvibecoach.com Real world manifesting is the topic of her blog at loaplayground.blogspot.com loaplayground.blogspot.com .

So today we are talking about the word “redeemed.” It is used a lot in the bible and in hymns and in all of Christianity. But what does it really mean? How can we apply this idea to the benefit of our lives today?

redeem

1. To recover ownership of by paying a specified sum.
2. To pay off (a promissory note, for example).
3. To turn in (coupons, for example) and receive something in exchange.
4. To fulfill (a pledge, for example).
5. To convert into cash: redeem stocks.
6. To set free; rescue or ransom.
7. To extricate from an undesirable state.
8. To make up for: The low price of the clothes dryer redeems its lack of special features.
9. To restore the honor, worth, or reputation of: You botched the last job but can redeem yourself on this one.

redemption
n.
10. The act of redeeming or the condition of having been redeemed.
11. Recovery of something pawned or mortgaged.
12. The payment of an obligation, as a government’s payment of the value of its bonds.
13. Deliverance upon payment of ransom; rescue.
14. Repayment of the principal amount of a debt or security at or before maturity
15. Purchasing back something previously sold

I am sure you are all now humming the song by Fanny Crosby - “Redeemed how I love to proclaim it!”

Romans 3:23

for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God;

24 being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus;

God’s original plan for man was that man would be the physical expression of God in a physical world. This original intention is presented in the story of Adam and Eve. They lived in an ideal situation where their every need and desire was provided for instantly without any effort on their part. Everything they wanted was manifest immediately for them. They walked with God and talked with God and expressed themselves in their own unique manner.

But then every thing changed. You all know the story – the serpent and Eve get the blame, but it was their own choices that made the deference.

They decided to allow their egos to grow to a point where they decided that not all of God’s creation was good. The “ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” They decided they knew better than God did what was good and what was bad. So sin was then born into the world.

The result of the sin or rather the definition of sin is a separation from God. The Hebrew word that we translate as SIN is an archery term meaning to miss the target. In other words, by separating ourselves from God and trusting in our own egos and resources, we miss the target that God planned for us.

This is how the whole drama of human life has unfolded.

When Jesus sacrificed his life so that he could raise himself from the dead, he set about a process of creating a new species of humans.

Before Jesus, it seems it was very difficult for people to return to direct communication with God. Or at least very few people did it. They seamed to have a poor understanding or the meaning behind their religious practice mostly due to the ego driven way that is was taught to them.

The concept of sacrifice is difficult for us to understand today and was probably misunderstood by many of those who practiced it then.

For example, I would have a hard time taking a litter of puppies or kittens, examining each one to find the one that was most perfect and then slitting its throat and burning the body. Why would a loving God demand such a thing? It is almost too horrible to think about.

That is because we think in terms of our limitations and our separation from God. By sacrificing the most perfect of a group, God was causing them to think about his unlimited abundance. And to make them realize that there should be no attachment to physical things – even animals or people. If we are truly living in harmony with God’s spirit, then we will see that nothing really matters. Through God we can create any thing we need or desire. We were created to be creators in the image of God.

But since the time Adam and Eve left the garden, man has looked for ways to create things from his own efforts. We have lost sight of our original mission in life.

Jesus’ resurrection made it possible to change all that. He gave us a way to Get our Title back from Title Max or Cherokee Financial. Redeemed!

By having the spirit of Jesus living in us we have a method that allows us to once again communicate with God’s Holy spirit and feel the peace of being connected to God and all of creation. We can never again experience lack because God owns all that is.

Jesus’ resurrection has redeemed us from the curse of separation that was brought about by Adam and Eves choices in the garden.

We are like coupon being exchanged for something of value. Without Jesus’ redemption, we are just reasonable facsimiles of what God wants us to be. Once the spirit of Jesus is within us, we have the ability to once again be all that God want us to be. To be what we were created to be.

Through Jesus, we are fulfilled, set free and rescued form our state of separation form God. We are extricated from an undesirable state. Our honor is restored. We reclaim our worth or reputation as a child of God.

We were loaned out to our egos and separation from God, but Jesus paid off the mortgage and redeemed us back to our original state.

So what does this mean to our daily lives?

It means we no longer have to worry about anything. As a child of God we have the ability to create any life we choose. As long as we continue to place our faith in God and not in our own limited power, all things are possible.

When you feel fear or pain, you are feeling separation from God. Remember that Jesus has redeemed you from that separation and you may choose to feel connected to God’s power any time you want to.

If you feel unimportant, just remember that God made you for a special reason. Through Jesus’ redemption you can feel important because you are.

If you feel lonely, remember that through Jesus you are connected to all that is. You can talk to God any time because he is always with you.

Anytime you feel something that you would rather not feel, just replace it with the feeling of redeemed.

Mike Strawbridge is the Owner of Straw Solutions Performance consulting. mikestrawbridge.com mikestrawbridge.com

He enjoys applying spiritual concepts to every day life in such areas as making money and playing with Jeeps or his dog.

For more inspirational articles and some generally useful information about Life the universe and everything - at least about Jeeps or dogs see mikestrawbridge.com/articles.shtml mikestrawbridge.com/articles.shtml

Losers let life happen to them because emotionally, it is an easy way out. Winners make life happen for them because emotionally it might not pay off straight away but they know it will always pay off in the long run. Losing is an Emotional Habit and so is winning. Life then is the ultimate emotional experience.

Losers engage in pleasurable activities with no particular result in mind; instant gratification is their goal. Winners choose activities that will give them long term, positive results; delayed gratification, giving them the last and longest laugh.

Emotional Habits are formed through continuous, electrical impulse messages to our mind, which the sensory nerves carry from our hearing, touch, vision taste and smell to the data processing area of our brain over our lifetime, sometimes causing de-stabilising zzzzts to take place in our body’s electrical (Energy) system.

The brain then makes a decision based on this information and immediately sends the working order through the motor nerves to the appropriate parts of the body demanding action. It should therefore come as no surprise that after the body responds to the same emotional and identical stimuli time after time, after 25 to 30 times an emotional habit is formed.

And here is the most interesting part. After a while, because of this continuous repetition, the message from the censoring nerve learns to jump over to the conditioning motor nerve without a conscious decision by the brain. Think about it. Only 25 to 30 repeats for an Emotional Habit to be formed and it becomes like a software program installed in the hard drive of your computer, your brain , your sub-conscious mind.

You don’t think about it anymore. You just run the program

The SAS/SBS and SEAL training is a journey in which Emotional Habits are either taught or over layered with new ones. You don’t think about whether or not you should follow your instructor’s directions, you just do it. In the beginning, most of us would resist listening and learning effectively and taking directions from our instructors. We would not openly rebel (we were not stupid) but our resistance showed up as we went through the (E) motions of the training activities. Some of us would over dramatize our pains and aches just trying to drag butt, and the instructors would have us do the activity or exercise over and over again. Repetition, repetition, repetition.

Very quickly though, we would learn that to drag butt would only aggravate our learning curve, so the smart and dedicated ones amongst us developed the Emotional Habits by always adhering to the rules whenever possible; by always putting out to the max, by being with our buddy wherever we went, by always running, never walking, by always being prepared, trying to keep our dry diving suits patched up, our thick woollen under suits dry for the never ending AWKWARD exercises as they called these, often midnight or early morning drills and by keeping our diving equipment and fire arms in A1 condition.

These AKWARD drills required us to find our way in the dark to our diving platforms or pontoons; silently dress in our woollen under suits and dry rubber diving suits in record time, and be ready for a 10 km flipper swim or a 2 hour closed circuit oxygen compass dive or a diving exercise on the Jackstay line on the bottom of the harbour in pitch dark and ice cold water.

Failure of one individual to develop these emotional habits would bring unwanted attention to the group and therefore immediately affected all of us on an emotional/mental as well as on a physical level.
Eventually that individual would be weeded out by the instructors and sent packing.

These habits developed into Emotional Habits over time. Compelling research now identifies Emotional Habits or Emotional Intelligence (El), rather than IQ, as responsible for 90% of our success both professionally and personally. Self-awareness, empathy, the ability to control our emotions, to LISTEN, to recognise the good in a bad situation and to work with others, are just some of the behaviours that successful individuals and organisations recognise and apply.

These key attributes have been definitively linked to the success and survival of individuals and to many organisations executives, managers and employees, including successful SAS/SBS and SEAL graduates.

SAS/SBS and SEAL Training courses are a war of attrition and a contest of luck and commitment. And as luck is the residue of design, only over time and with much repetition, adversity and pain did we finally learn to LISTEN to our Instructors as though we had an antennae implanted between our ears.

We quickly learned the meaning of discipline. In other words, we were becoming highly trainable volunteers because of the deliberate overlaying of new “Emotional Habits” over the old ones, making us obey at the slightest command and direction.

When we allow unhealthy habits to be our guiding council in life, we give up control of our actions and find ourselves at the mercy of that blind giant in the subconscious level of our minds who calls all the shots without any concern for our wellbeing. We lose our Personal Power! However when we begin to deal with the attitudes and actions that emotionally bind us, we give ourselves permission to take control and build new Emotional Habit patterns that help us perform to our ultimate performance potential.

Short bursts of one, and two or three minute Energy Psychology mind-body exercise techniques should be part of everyone’s daily battle, game plan or discipline. They are an effective way to help you instantly deal with self sabotaging thoughts and subsequent behaviours based on our own emotional interpretations of experiences gathered over a life time and help you overlay negative emotional habits with positive ones.

However, there is a critical difference between knowing something and learning how to make it a part of our every day battle, game plan or discipline. Just like in the SBS/SEAL training courses the secret is repetition, repetition, repetition.

Repetition creates an emotional habit; emotional habits become convictions and convictions control your actions and ultimately decide whether or not you will achieve your full performance potential in life.

Very few of us ever do. It’s your call.

© 2006. Johan Tonsbeek 58. Learn and apply my short burst mind body techniques for overcoming self sabotage and my unique, university tested exercise program for weight loss, improved balance and coordination. Get my Special Forces traits, Emotional Freedom E-book. Visit boomeranggym.com boomeranggym.com

Certain words and word combinations carry with them varying
levels of meaning for each of us.

For instance, you may sense any number of reactions to one
or more of these statements:

“Strike three.”

“Boston wins!”

“Speeding ticket.”

“It’s a girl!”

“Yes, I will marry you.”

“Filing system.” (For me, these words qualify as an
oxymoron!)

Words articulate legislative action, cast vision, begin and
end territorial disputes, express our final wishes, create
pleasure and cause pain.

Words — and combinations of words — can change lives.
Take these three for instance:

Observe.

Learn.

Share.

Think of these words as representing a three-fold skill set
to assist us in cultivating the style of life we yearn to
live…

A growing, maturing, meaningful style of living that
generates enthusiasm and challenges us to keep moving in the
right direction.

One simple, but not simplistic, pattern for continuing our
own self development plan will most likely include:

1. Developing the art of meaningful *observation.*

2. *Learning* from the insights we gain.

3. Selectively *sharing* our insights with others.

With the themes of observation, learning, and sharing
forming the backdrop for your thoughts, take a mental review
of the following seven vital areas for the purpose of
capturing the prominent lessons of your life:

*Work

*Recreation

*Spirituality

*Education

*Finances

*Marriage

*Family

Now set your heart on helping yourself or someone else
continue the journey of living a life of excellence by:

1. Applying one of your life lessons to your current set of circumstances.

2. Sharing your lesson with one or more individuals.

Take Sherry, my wife, as an example.

In twenty minutes I will watch a group of young adults from
a small college in the Northeastern section of the United
States prepare to share the joy of reading with several
classes of elementary age children in the Bronx.

Tomorrow this small band of “Let’s make a difference!”
people will arrive in New York, unpack their paraphernalia,
get dressed in fun costumes, and creatively “read” stories
from a variety of children’s books to a gathering of school
kids.

How did this happen anyway?

I’ll tell you how.

My wife looked at her life, took stock of what she learned
(not only concerning how to teach reading but the joy of
being a positive influence in the world), set up a training
exercise for sharing her life lessons with future teachers,
and designed a trip to the Bronx.

In short, Sherry applied her heart to what she learned from
life.

Honestly I can’t think of one person I admire…

A friend,

An author,

Or a speaker,

Who did not experience this simple process in one form or
another as he or she strived to excel in the art of living.

You possess a great deal of potential, my friend.

Observe.

Learn.

Share.

And make a difference!

Yours for a day filled with beautiful moments in time,

Lee

© Lee Wise All rights reserved. You may freely distribute
this article. The copyright and this resource box must be
included. abeautifulmomentintime.blogspot.com/ abeautifulmomentintime.blogspot.com/

Avoid pain/create pleasure. For A Beautiful Moment In Time
go here –> motivation-for-daily-living.net motivation-for-daily-living.net

While it’s true that we live in a rapidly changing world, it’s important to recognize that the daily changes we witness are changes in form only. The real substance of our universe, and thus of life itself, is comprised of universal principles. These universal principles, also known as axioms, truths, or natural laws, form the infrastructure for the stage of life on which each of us performs.

When the weather changes dramatically, as it has in the past several years, the universal principles (euphemistically referred to as “science”) that cause such radical changes remain firmly in place. Likewise, the economy may change, but, no matter how much mischievous politicians try to manipulate it, the free-market principles that underlie the workings of the economy do not change one iota.

Morally superior political-action groups can create fictions such as “hate crimes” — and even pressure weak-kneed politicians into making such fictions illegal — but human nature is such that people go right on hating anyway. It’s axiomatic that a human being’s thoughts cannot be forcibly repressed.

Technology changes on a daily basis before our very eyes. However our vanity blinds us to the reality that all we are really doing is rearranging atoms. Video games and iPods aside, the laws of molecular structure are the same today as they were in prehistoric times.

This is not just an academic discussion I’m engaging in here. On the contrary, it has everything to do with how you lead your life on a day-to-day basis. Any civilized religion has built into it, at least through implication, the sanctity of universal principles. (As always, my statement is meant to include the religion of atheism.)

Universal principles are omniscient and omnipotent. Whether they are omnibenevolent is subject to debate and beyond the scope of this article. My focus here is on the importance of living your life in harmony with universal principles as the only possible way to retain your sanity in an increasingly insane world

Everyone — with the possible exception of Howard Dean, Dan Rather, and Homer Simpson — is familiar with George Santayana’s famous words, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Even a casual student of history is painfully aware that, notwithstanding how far mankind has advanced technologically, we continue to make the same mistakes today that our ancestors have made throughout history.

Sadly, when idealistic lads and lasses bid farewell to their clueless profs at Princeton, Harvard, and Yale, they have learned almost nothing about the lessons of history. Worse, the pudding heads who were in charge of teaching them have likely perverted the lessons of history to ensure that these future leaders of our society will make the same mistakes as their predecessors.

The great Thomas Sowell explained it even better than Santayana when he said, “Everything is new if you are ignorant of history. That is why ideas that have failed repeatedly in centuries past reappear again, under the banner of ‘change,’ to dazzle people and sweep them off their feet.”

Which in turn is why the words of Will Durant are so painfully accurate: “It may be true … that ‘you can’t fool all the people all the time,’ but you can fool enough of them to rule a large country.” To appreciate just how true Durant’s words are, I suggest you go back and reread the fictional tale about two warring tribes on a faraway island on pages 54 and 55 of my most recent book, Action! Nothing Happens Until Something Moves.

How does all this relate to you and your ability to lead a full and meaningful life? To provide for your family? To achieve your most cherished goals?

Simply that if you guide your actions in accordance with what you see and hear around you — particularly on television, and most particularly on newscasts — you’re likely to spend your life in a state of waking dreams. Harry Browne, one of my earliest teachers through his insightful writings, summed up the solution more than 30 years ago in the title of his heretical book How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World.

I don’t agree with everything Harry says in his book (and, perhaps presumptuously, suspect that he no longer does, either), but its basic message is still as sound as the U.S. dollar was in days of yore when it was backed by gold. The message is that you, as an individual gifted with a human brain, can do a whole lot to lead a prosperous, happy life even as your lemming neighbors insist on following evil, ignorant, and/or confused politicians and “good cause” advocates over the Cuckoo Cliffs.

I recall an acquaintance of mine in the early eighties, after reading some of my dire prognoses for the future of Western civilization, saying to me, “What’s the point in trying to make money or striving to achieve if there is no hope for Western civilization?” He felt nothing but despair as a result of the plethora of so-called doom-and-gloom books that were on the market at the time.

From Harry Browne’s How You Can Profit from the Coming Devaluation to Doug Casey’s Crisis Investing to Gary North’s newsletter Remnant Review, the truth was pretty ugly. But the average person simply did not want to believe that the collapse of Western civilization was as imminent as so many “extremists” were predicting.

And they were right. Western civilization did not collapse. It simply faded away through a phenomenon known as “gradualism.” An accelerating gradualism, to be sure, but gradualism nonetheless.

So, those who are awaiting the collapse of Western civilization will have a long wait, because the truth of the matter is that they’ve already missed its demise. Western civilization, as we once knew it, no longer exists. It faded away as Americans were watching “Monday Night Football,” guzzling Bud Light, and stuffing themselves with Big Macs.

They simply ignored the whole event, because to comprehend it would have required accepting truth. And most people hate truth, especially when it threatens to interfere with their daily fix of instant gratification.

Of course, the disappearance of Western civilization was easy to ignore, because it was a quiet revolution. It was, in fact, a moral revolution. And it was the success of that moral revolution that was the real cause of the disappearance of Western civilization.

However, the financial ruin of the U.S. does not equate to the end of time. On the contrary, sober-minded individuals can profit even during bad economic periods. Still, I don’t make flat-out predictions about coming events, because there are far too many intricacies to know precisely what the future holds.

There are five factors that make it impossible to predict the future, and it is these five factors that allow politicians and their sign-pumping cheerleaders to carry on long after the inevitable results of their actions should have already come to pass. Three of these factors have always existed: government guns, government printing presses, and the ignorance of the masses.

The fourth and fifth, however, are relatively new. They are modern technology and virtually unlimited borrowing. So long as a guy can spend more than his already artificially inflated income can buy, he can live in a nice house, drive a new car, and surround himself with electronic gadgets that are the equivalent of Aldous Huxley’s somas in his classic novel Brave New World.

Technology is the politician’s ace in the hole, because, as the late Bennett Cerf, one-time president of Random House Inc., once purportedly said to Nathaniel Brandon, “You have to throw the masses a piece of red meat once in a while or they’ll kill you.” (Let’s call that a paraphrase, because I don’t have quick access to the book — My Years with Ayn Rand — from whence the quote came, but I am confident that my words are pretty close.)

To be sure, the masses do want red meat. Marie Antoinette suggested cake, and discovered that her joke wasn’t appreciated. A lack of red meat also prompted the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. And the masses aren’t averse to rising up against anyone or anything else that threatens to keep them from their red meat.

Of course, red meat now comes in the form of electronic toys — mostly from China, Japan, and India. Keep the electronic toys coming, keep the borrowing channels open, and who knows how long the inevitable can be postponed?

So, you should neither try to predict the future nor let the madness of the crowd discourage you. Instead, relentlessly focus on the infrastructure of life —universal principles — and take actions accordingly. This is the secret to finding freedom — and happiness — in an unfree world, because universal principles will never fail to support you over the long term.

Old Charlie Dickens was right on target clear back in 1859 when he said, in the very first (and very long) sentence of his classic work A Tale of Two Cities:

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way — in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”

In other words, it was pretty much like any other time.

The same can be said of today. As I pointed out in Action!, crises come and go, but only one time in history is the world going to come to an end — and you won’t be around to remember it. That said, make it a point to spend most of your time on those things over which you have the most control, and, to the extent possible, don’t allow the madness of the crowd to distract you.

Sign up for Robert Ringer’s FREE wisdom-filled e-letter, A Voice of Sanity in an Insane World. Visit robertringer.com robertringer.com. Ringer is the author of three #1 bestsellers, including two books listed by The New York Times among the 15 bestselling motivational books of all time.

Copyright © 2006 by Robert J. Ringer. Reprinted by permission of the author.