Thursday, November 20, 2008
Gratitude is the missing link.
Keep a gratitude journal, and everyday write down 5 things you are grateful for before you go to bed. The laws of attraction tell us what we focus on expands. Really feel the feelings associated with the gratitude. When you combine gratitude thought, writing it, saying it out loud, "I am so amazingly grateful for.."and add the strong feelings, this is manifestation at its best.
Being Spiritully Aware of What We Eat...
I was listening to (you guessed it) Oprah Soul Series and Kathy Franklin (vegan) was on about spiritual awareness when eating. After studying natural health, i think meat is pretty horrible for you.(besides for protein which can be found from many other sources,) and when you add animal cruelty inot the mix, i hadn't become a vegetarian yet, but i def cut out alot of meat out of my diet. I eliminated ground beef, and rarely eat read meat. I'm leaning into it.
Today something Kathy said really struck me, "Everything carries energy, so when there is bad energy going on when animals are slaughtered, or farm workers are mistreated, that energy is carried along with our food, and thats what we are putting into our body." Something to think about, and be aware of, when we eat. If you concentrate on eat bite as a spiritually aware being, you will be surprised in how your diet changes.
Today something Kathy said really struck me, "Everything carries energy, so when there is bad energy going on when animals are slaughtered, or farm workers are mistreated, that energy is carried along with our food, and thats what we are putting into our body." Something to think about, and be aware of, when we eat. If you concentrate on eat bite as a spiritually aware being, you will be surprised in how your diet changes.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Great blog i stole on not letting our thoughts control us..
I heard this on Oprah Soul Series, I thought it was great...so when i saw someone had written a blog on it, i thought i would share...
***********************************
As I watched the entire "A New Earth Webinar" with Oprah and EckhartTolle, I often thought of the similarities between Tolle and Byron Katie.They were both clinically depressed before their parallel awakeningswhich changed both of them forever.
For most of us, if we are fortunate enough to have a spiritual experience,the effects may last several hours or several days at which time the effects recede and we return to normal everyday consciousness.
For both Eckhart and Katie, the effects of their awakening seemed to stay with them. Katie told Oprah, for instance, that she has never had a bad or depressed day, or even a moment of sadness in twenty-two years.
Tolle said the same thing in Oprah's webinar.
Katie explains that to the extent that any of us believe our thoughts, we suffer accordingly.
When we learn to question our thoughts, we experience immediate release and freedom.
She calls this level of questioning, "The Work."
If I love myself and love my experience and everyone in my life, thesethoughts work for me, and do not need to be changed or questioned.
Katie said that love is the highest standard of a balanced mind.
But thoughts like, "He doesn't love me," or "I should lose weight,"or "I am a bad person," or "You are a bad person," are thoughts that whenheld up to the light of Inquiry, simply lose their strength and meaning.
**These are the four questions that Byron Katie uses for her process of Inquiry,to each thought that brings suffering:
1) Is it true?
2) Can I absolutely know without doubt that it is true?
3) How do I react when I think that thought?
4) Who would I be without the thought?**
Then the thought is turned around.
Katie said that defense is the first act of war. When we ask these questionsof our thoughts, a shift occurs, a liberation.
No longer am I concentrating on what other people think, what they are doing, or saying.
In other words, according to Katie, I am focused on minding my own business,not anyone else's business, not even God's business. Figuring out what is right for me is a full time job. Minding my own business takes tremendousfocus and concentrate.
Katie said she did not suffer at the time of her mother's death. She dropped her schedule and stayed by her mother's side. As she was dying, Katie looked into her mother's eyes and saw her leave this plane of existence. She did notfeel sad, she felt only love. She was fully present for her mother in thoselast moments, and she said she felt very grateful for the experience.
Oprah went through a mini-session with Byron Katie.
Oprah said she has always struggled with her weight. She had gotten her weightdown to where she was comfortable, was exercising and maintaining her weight.
Then she was diagnosed with a thyroid condition and her doctor told her she may as well get used to always being heavy.
Oprah said she believed the doctor, stopped working out, and in retrospect, realized she gave her power over to the doctor when he said those words, "Youwill always be heavy," instead of defining what it is she wanted for herself andher body.
So Oprah's thought for Inquiry was: "I am sick and tired of always strugglingwith my weight."
Is this true? Yes.
Can you absolutely know without doubt that this is true? After some thought she said, Well not absolutely.
How do you react when you think the thought, "I am sick and tired of always struggling with my weight?"
Oprah said she was frustrated, always thinking about what she is going to eat, whether she should or shouldn't drink alcohol at a party, feeling obsessed aboutfood.
She says she wants to be a size 10, not size 14.
Is it true that your body is too large? Yes.
Can you absolutely know that it is too large? No can't be absolutely surebecause it is large (and that is the reality).
What happens when you believe the thought, "My body is too large?" Oprah said shefelt frustration as she compared her body to other bodies, just was frustratedand is sick of it.
How do you react when you believe the thought "My body is too large?" I eat more and am at war with myself.
Who would you be without the thought, "My body is too large?" I go to my closet and put on comfortable cloths that fit and go about my day. I'll eat when I eat. Only one person can be
Oprah right here, right now.
Apply this Inquiry to every stressful thought, on paper, to achieve real freedom.Sit with these questions in a state of contemplation. As soon as you argue with it youmiss the beauty of the process.
The inner war that arises from resisting what is- is fought on paper, going thoughtfully and honestly through the four questions and the turn around.
My body is too large? What is the turn around?
My body is perfect just the size it is. It serves me. It is not who I really am,the changeless "I," the soul. But I love it exactly as it is.
Another difficult thing for most people is learning to say "No." When people in Oprah's family ask her for money, she may give it to them but doesn't really want to.Katie said there are two parts to saying "no."
I care about you. I see that you may be in trouble. And I have to say, "no."
No one can take advantage of you without your permission. You must take responsibility for your life. You must decide who you want to please: Please yourself and mind your own business.
There is a difference between a prisoner screaming in his cell and the Buddhist monkwho, when placed behind the bars of incarceration says, "Thank you."
Our birth right is freedom. Love is the new paradigm.
Self-realization, if lived, is "The Work."
Kate Loving Shenk
***********************************
As I watched the entire "A New Earth Webinar" with Oprah and EckhartTolle, I often thought of the similarities between Tolle and Byron Katie.They were both clinically depressed before their parallel awakeningswhich changed both of them forever.
For most of us, if we are fortunate enough to have a spiritual experience,the effects may last several hours or several days at which time the effects recede and we return to normal everyday consciousness.
For both Eckhart and Katie, the effects of their awakening seemed to stay with them. Katie told Oprah, for instance, that she has never had a bad or depressed day, or even a moment of sadness in twenty-two years.
Tolle said the same thing in Oprah's webinar.
Katie explains that to the extent that any of us believe our thoughts, we suffer accordingly.
When we learn to question our thoughts, we experience immediate release and freedom.
She calls this level of questioning, "The Work."
If I love myself and love my experience and everyone in my life, thesethoughts work for me, and do not need to be changed or questioned.
Katie said that love is the highest standard of a balanced mind.
But thoughts like, "He doesn't love me," or "I should lose weight,"or "I am a bad person," or "You are a bad person," are thoughts that whenheld up to the light of Inquiry, simply lose their strength and meaning.
**These are the four questions that Byron Katie uses for her process of Inquiry,to each thought that brings suffering:
1) Is it true?
2) Can I absolutely know without doubt that it is true?
3) How do I react when I think that thought?
4) Who would I be without the thought?**
Then the thought is turned around.
Katie said that defense is the first act of war. When we ask these questionsof our thoughts, a shift occurs, a liberation.
No longer am I concentrating on what other people think, what they are doing, or saying.
In other words, according to Katie, I am focused on minding my own business,not anyone else's business, not even God's business. Figuring out what is right for me is a full time job. Minding my own business takes tremendousfocus and concentrate.
Katie said she did not suffer at the time of her mother's death. She dropped her schedule and stayed by her mother's side. As she was dying, Katie looked into her mother's eyes and saw her leave this plane of existence. She did notfeel sad, she felt only love. She was fully present for her mother in thoselast moments, and she said she felt very grateful for the experience.
Oprah went through a mini-session with Byron Katie.
Oprah said she has always struggled with her weight. She had gotten her weightdown to where she was comfortable, was exercising and maintaining her weight.
Then she was diagnosed with a thyroid condition and her doctor told her she may as well get used to always being heavy.
Oprah said she believed the doctor, stopped working out, and in retrospect, realized she gave her power over to the doctor when he said those words, "Youwill always be heavy," instead of defining what it is she wanted for herself andher body.
So Oprah's thought for Inquiry was: "I am sick and tired of always strugglingwith my weight."
Is this true? Yes.
Can you absolutely know without doubt that this is true? After some thought she said, Well not absolutely.
How do you react when you think the thought, "I am sick and tired of always struggling with my weight?"
Oprah said she was frustrated, always thinking about what she is going to eat, whether she should or shouldn't drink alcohol at a party, feeling obsessed aboutfood.
She says she wants to be a size 10, not size 14.
Is it true that your body is too large? Yes.
Can you absolutely know that it is too large? No can't be absolutely surebecause it is large (and that is the reality).
What happens when you believe the thought, "My body is too large?" Oprah said shefelt frustration as she compared her body to other bodies, just was frustratedand is sick of it.
How do you react when you believe the thought "My body is too large?" I eat more and am at war with myself.
Who would you be without the thought, "My body is too large?" I go to my closet and put on comfortable cloths that fit and go about my day. I'll eat when I eat. Only one person can be
Oprah right here, right now.
Apply this Inquiry to every stressful thought, on paper, to achieve real freedom.Sit with these questions in a state of contemplation. As soon as you argue with it youmiss the beauty of the process.
The inner war that arises from resisting what is- is fought on paper, going thoughtfully and honestly through the four questions and the turn around.
My body is too large? What is the turn around?
My body is perfect just the size it is. It serves me. It is not who I really am,the changeless "I," the soul. But I love it exactly as it is.
Another difficult thing for most people is learning to say "No." When people in Oprah's family ask her for money, she may give it to them but doesn't really want to.Katie said there are two parts to saying "no."
I care about you. I see that you may be in trouble. And I have to say, "no."
No one can take advantage of you without your permission. You must take responsibility for your life. You must decide who you want to please: Please yourself and mind your own business.
There is a difference between a prisoner screaming in his cell and the Buddhist monkwho, when placed behind the bars of incarceration says, "Thank you."
Our birth right is freedom. Love is the new paradigm.
Self-realization, if lived, is "The Work."
Kate Loving Shenk
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Stop making life so hard...
From the Oprah Soul Series...
A man was told by God to go down to the river with a row boat and oars to figure out his life. So he went down to the river and started rowing upstream as hard as he could, determined to make it....Then God came down and said, when its right, its easy, turn the boat around, so you are going downstream, that will be alot easier, and why are you trying so hard?, drop the oars, the curent will carry you, go with the flow....
A man was told by God to go down to the river with a row boat and oars to figure out his life. So he went down to the river and started rowing upstream as hard as he could, determined to make it....Then God came down and said, when its right, its easy, turn the boat around, so you are going downstream, that will be alot easier, and why are you trying so hard?, drop the oars, the curent will carry you, go with the flow....
The best way to give...
Advice taken from the Oprah Soul Series...
If you want to really give to the world, figure what makes you come alive, who is your true self? your genuine soul? your highest self? then be that, do that, then you will automatically contribute, and you will automatically make money. We are taught give, give, give, but no one wants someone to stand at the front of the peace core unhappy. Give to your soul, and then you will automatically give to others..
If you want to really give to the world, figure what makes you come alive, who is your true self? your genuine soul? your highest self? then be that, do that, then you will automatically contribute, and you will automatically make money. We are taught give, give, give, but no one wants someone to stand at the front of the peace core unhappy. Give to your soul, and then you will automatically give to others..
How your own energy, effects the world's energy...
From the Oprah Soul Series. You are responsible for the energy you bring others, they are responsible for the energy they bring you.
We operate on a light spectrum, the more we talk about these spiritual truths, the more we practice them, focus on them, the more light that shines out into the world, and we truly shift the spectrum of light energy of the world, by what we practice in our own world. You have more power then you think you do. Take it as a responsibility, a truth, a calling...
We operate on a light spectrum, the more we talk about these spiritual truths, the more we practice them, focus on them, the more light that shines out into the world, and we truly shift the spectrum of light energy of the world, by what we practice in our own world. You have more power then you think you do. Take it as a responsibility, a truth, a calling...
The Power of Visualizations!
Yesterday i had the opportunity to experience a beautiful "Life Purpose" Visualization. It was Moving! and Emotional! I figured out what i have to offer the world, my life purpose, and whats important to me, and not to waste time doing anything else. Always important messages. Don't miss yours... Coaching and Visualizations continue to blow my mind! I just want to tell the world how powerful and important this is....
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Will Smith Advice on Oprah...
Will smith just turned 40, and hes seems to be pretty wise lately. He stated on Oprah, "im not gonna do anything else in life, unless it contributes to mankind, and makes me happy, im not wasting time, every moment counts."
he also explains that "everyone thinks that we are born, then we live, then we die, in a straight line," and he explains "it more like a circle: we are born, we live, we die, then it loops around in a circle, and we are reborn. as in once something dies, like when we lose someone, or something major dies or ends in our life, we have to be aware, and look out for the rebirth," because thats the circle of life my friends...and that rebirth is what makes life beautiful.
props to will smith today...
he also explains that "everyone thinks that we are born, then we live, then we die, in a straight line," and he explains "it more like a circle: we are born, we live, we die, then it loops around in a circle, and we are reborn. as in once something dies, like when we lose someone, or something major dies or ends in our life, we have to be aware, and look out for the rebirth," because thats the circle of life my friends...and that rebirth is what makes life beautiful.
props to will smith today...
Monday, October 20, 2008
Life Coaching-A Mood Changer!
So im talking to my friend earlier, and i unconsciously start talking about what i don't have, what i do wrong. Then i am reminded by the amazing "Coach for Life" community, as we listened to each others calls, life coaching is such an amazing mood-changer! What you focus on expands! If you focus on lack, thats what you'll get more of, lack. If you focus on what you do have, thats what you'll get more of. Focus on what you are doing right, not what you are doing wrong. "The way we view ourselves, is how others view us."
Life Coach Andrea Quinn gave me some reminders. We are the leaders we've been waiting for! It might be your office, but its my room! Look im just looking for my people, if your not them, no worries, i got my people!
Life Coach Andrea Quinn gave me some reminders. We are the leaders we've been waiting for! It might be your office, but its my room! Look im just looking for my people, if your not them, no worries, i got my people!
Friday, September 26, 2008
You can't go wrong with Jack Canfield Advice!!!!
When Success is Slow, What Can You Do? by Jack Canfield
Pop Quiz: Can success be sped up? Is there an antidote to slow outcomes despite arduous planning and actions taken? What is the secret for seeing huge results right now?!
I get versions of these questions frequently from people who feel frustrated at sluggish progress in their success journey - despite all the know-how and principles they rigorously employ.
But first, let's get one thing straight...
When we admire someone else's success, or even our own, we often focus on the end result and not so much on the effort, time, discipline, and setbacks that it took them to get there.
This can often cultivate unrealistic expectations and frustrations, especially the idea that overnight success can happen through careful strategy and execution of sound advice.
Truth be told, success typically follows a series of little events and achievements that include a few disappointments along the way, which challenges everything about you to the core--your stamina, courage, integrity, and even your willingness to keep going.
If you focus on what's not working, guess what: You're likely coming from a place of aggravation as your mind wraps around all that is wrong. You may even have negative thoughts like "I'm not good enough," "It will never work," or "Something must be wrong with me."
What this does mentally is engender more of these counter-productive feelings. And given what we know about the Law of Attraction, you attract what you are feeling. Negative experiences, people, and results will beget more negative experience, people, and results. There's not much success in that.
The key, then, is to focus on what IS working.
To do so, I recommend two simple practices: journaling and meditation.
Maintaining a journal (I call it an Evidence Log, Results Journal, or Gratitude Journal) is a great way to steer your attention to the positive and it helps to continually renew your vision for yourself. Start each day with reflections on what you are grateful for in your life (list them out!) and end each day with notes on what went right (again, write them down), however small.
Meditation can be a powerful tool for arriving at solutions to problems and shifting your attitude so you can attract success sooner rather than later.
The magic of meditation is its ability to essentially shut down the outer layer of your judgmental, highly-critical brain and allow your unconscious mind to take over. This is where you enter a deeper state of inner peace and joy, tapping into a higher level of creativity that will help usher in the results you want.
Through the practice of meditation you will begin to become even more aware of your subtle intuitive impulses, insights, ideas, emotions and inspirations.
Don't know how to meditate? Lots of books and materials are available to guide you this practice. It's easier than you think.
Okay, let's say you're doing ALL these things, but you still aren't happy with your results...
Then, I'll ask you: Are you taking real ACTION? You may be taking the actions you are used to taking. But therein lies the problem: if you keep doing what you've already done then you'll keep getting what you've always gotten. It's a matter of practicing some new behaviors. Shake things up a bit and see if you can take new actions or modify existing ones.
Remember the Rule of 5. Every day do five specific things that take you toward your goal. Change up the five actions regularly and be open to feedback so you know when you're off course.
Lastly, I want to remind you about patience.
It's natural to underestimate how long a certain goal can take, especially a profound one. When I set a goal to become a millionaire, the year was 1983. How long did it take? Eleven years. It took time for Chicken Soup for the Soul to hit the bestseller lists. You could say our tenure on the New York Times list was more than a decade in the making. That's a lot of patience for someone who initially wanted overnight success.
So, yes, patience is a virtue. But keep at it, and in time, you'll be only one week, or one day away from your ultimate success.
Remember... be grateful, reflect on what IS working and continue to take ACTION!
2008 Jack Canfield
*************************************************************************
for more tips on meditation, listen to my "meditation" podcast~taraSunday, September 14, 2008
The "High Frutose Corn Syrup Is ok" commercials are false!
NOW thew FDA is taking $$$$, the government is so screwed up..
Recently, the Corn Refiners Association announced that they are launching a $30 million advertising campaign that is aimed at convincing consumers that HFCS is a natural compound, fundamentally the same as honey. Of course, unlike honey, HFCS is the product of a complex, chemical-intensive refining process that takes place in an industrial setting, but why quibble?
Bottom line is high frutose corn syrup is still bad, the corn belt is losing money, so they put out this false commerical. I'm all for americans keeping their jobs, but not when it gives us diabetes...
The Murky World of High-Fructose Corn Syrup By Linda Joyce Forristal, CCP, MTA
Think of sugar and you think of sugar cane or beets. Extraction of sugar from sugar cane spurred the colonization of the New World. Extraction of sugar from beets was developed during the time of Napoleon so that the French could have sugar in spite of the English trading blockade.Nobody thinks of sugar when they see a field of corn. Most of us would be surprised to learn that the larger percentage of sweeteners used in processed food comes from corn, not sugar cane or beets.The process for making the sweetener high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) out of corn was developed in the 1970s. Use of HFCS grew rapidly, from less than three million short tons in 1980 to almost 8 million short tons in 1995. During the late 1990s, use of sugar actually declined as it was eclipsed by HFCS. Today Americans consume more HFCS than sugar.
High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is produced by processing corn starch to yield glucose, and then processing the glucose to produce a high percentage of fructose. It all sounds rather simple--white cornstarch is turned into crystal clear syrup. However, the process is actually very complicated. Three different enzymes are needed to break down cornstarch, which is composed of chains of glucose molecules of almost infinite length, into the simple sugars glucose and fructose.
First, cornstarch is treated with alpha-amylase to produce shorter chains of sugars called polysaccharides. Alpha-amylase is industrially produced by a bacterium, usually Bacillus sp. It is purified and then shipped to HFCS manufacturers.Next, an enzyme called glucoamylase breaks the sugar chains down even further to yield the simple sugar glucose. Unlike alpha-amylase, glucoamylase is produced by Aspergillus, a fungus, in a fermentation vat where one would likely see little balls of Aspergillus floating on the top.
The third enzyme, glucose-isomerase, is very expensive. It converts glucose to a mixture of about 42 percent fructose and 50-52 percent glucose with some other sugars mixed in. While alpha-amylase and glucoamylase are added directly to the slurry, pricey glucose-isomerase is packed into columns and the sugar mixture is then passed over it. Inexpensive alpha-amylase and glucoamylase are used only once, glucose-isomerase is reused until it loses most of its activity.There are two more steps involved. First is a liquid chromatography step that takes the mixture to 90 percent fructose.
Finally, this is back-blended with the original mixture to yield a final concentration of about 55 percent fructose--what the industry calls high fructose corn syrup.HFCS has the exact same sweetness and taste as an equal amount of sucrose from cane or beet sugar but it is obviously much more complicated to make, involving vats of murky fermenting liquid, fungus and chemical tweaking, all of which take place in one of 16 chemical plants located in the Corn Belt. Yet in spite of all the special enzymes required, HFCS is actually cheaper than sugar. It is also very easy to transport--it's just piped into tanker trucks. This translates into lower costs and higher profits for food producers.
The development of the HFCS process came at an opportune time for corn growers. Refinements of the partial hydrogenation process had made it possible to get better shortenings and margarines out of soybeans than corn. HFCS took up the slack as demand for corn oil margarine declined. Lysine, an amino acid, can be produced from the corn residue after the glucose is removed. This is the modus operandi of the food conglomerates--break down commodities into their basic components and then put them back together again as processed food.
Today HFCS is used to sweeten jams, condiments like ketchup, and soft drinks. It is also a favorite ingredient in many so-called health foods. Four companies control 85 percent of the $2.6 billion business--Archer Daniels Midland, Cargill, Staley Manufacturing Co. and CPC International. In the mid-1990s, ADM was the object of an FBI probe into price fixing of three products--HFCS, citric acid and lysine--and consumers got a glimpse of the murky world of corporate manipulation.
There's a couple of other murky things that consumers should know about HFCS. According to a food technology expert, two of the enzymes used, alpha-amylase and glucose-isomerase, are genetically modified to make them more stable. Enzymes are actually very large proteins and through genetic modification specific amino acids in the enzymes are changed or replaced so the enzyme's "backbone" won't break down or unfold. This allows the industry to get the enzymes to higher temperatures before they become unstable.
Consumers trying to avoid genetically modified foods should avoid HFCS. It is almost certainly made from genetically modified corn and then it is processed with genetically modified enzymes. I've seen some estimates claiming that virtually everything--almost 80 percent--of what we eat today has been genetically modified at some point. Since the use of HFCS is so prevalent in processed foods, those figures may be right.
But there's another reason to avoid HFCS. Consumers may think that because it contains fructose--which they associate with fruit, which is a natural food--that it is healthier than sugar.
A team of investigators at the USDA, led by Dr. Meira Field, has discovered that this just ain't so.Sucrose is composed of glucose and fructose. When sugar is given to rats in high amounts, the rats develop multiple health problems, especially when the rats were deficient in certain nutrients, such as copper. The researchers wanted to know whether it was the fructose or the glucose moiety that was causing the problems. So they repeated their studies with two groups of rats, one given high amounts of glucose and one given high amounts of fructose. The glucose group was unaffected but the fructose group had disastrous results. The male rats did not reach adulthood. They had anemia, high cholesterol and heart hypertrophy--that means that their hearts enlarged until they exploded. They also had delayed testicular development. Dr. Field explains that fructose in combination with copper deficiency in the growing animal interferes with collagen production. (Copper deficiency, by the way, is widespread in America.) In a nutshell, the little bodies of the rats just fell apart. The females were not so affected, but they were unable to produce live young."
The medical profession thinks fructose is better for diabetics than sugar," says Dr. Field, "but every cell in the body can metabolize glucose. However, all fructose must be metabolized in the liver. The livers of the rats on the high fructose diet looked like the livers of alcoholics, plugged with fat and cirrhotic."HFCS contains more fructose than sugar and this fructose is more immediately available because it is not bound up in sucrose. Since the effects of fructose are most severe in the growing organism, we need to think carefully about what kind of sweeteners we give to our children.
Interestingly, although HFCS is used in many products aimed at children, it is not used in baby formula, even though it would probably save the manufactueres a few pennies for each can.Do the formula makers know something they aren't telling us? Pretty murky!
*********
I have a 2 part podcast on nutrition, click on "tune-in" on my main page http://www.believelifecoaching.com/
Recently, the Corn Refiners Association announced that they are launching a $30 million advertising campaign that is aimed at convincing consumers that HFCS is a natural compound, fundamentally the same as honey. Of course, unlike honey, HFCS is the product of a complex, chemical-intensive refining process that takes place in an industrial setting, but why quibble?
Bottom line is high frutose corn syrup is still bad, the corn belt is losing money, so they put out this false commerical. I'm all for americans keeping their jobs, but not when it gives us diabetes...
The Murky World of High-Fructose Corn Syrup By Linda Joyce Forristal, CCP, MTA
Think of sugar and you think of sugar cane or beets. Extraction of sugar from sugar cane spurred the colonization of the New World. Extraction of sugar from beets was developed during the time of Napoleon so that the French could have sugar in spite of the English trading blockade.Nobody thinks of sugar when they see a field of corn. Most of us would be surprised to learn that the larger percentage of sweeteners used in processed food comes from corn, not sugar cane or beets.The process for making the sweetener high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) out of corn was developed in the 1970s. Use of HFCS grew rapidly, from less than three million short tons in 1980 to almost 8 million short tons in 1995. During the late 1990s, use of sugar actually declined as it was eclipsed by HFCS. Today Americans consume more HFCS than sugar.
High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is produced by processing corn starch to yield glucose, and then processing the glucose to produce a high percentage of fructose. It all sounds rather simple--white cornstarch is turned into crystal clear syrup. However, the process is actually very complicated. Three different enzymes are needed to break down cornstarch, which is composed of chains of glucose molecules of almost infinite length, into the simple sugars glucose and fructose.
First, cornstarch is treated with alpha-amylase to produce shorter chains of sugars called polysaccharides. Alpha-amylase is industrially produced by a bacterium, usually Bacillus sp. It is purified and then shipped to HFCS manufacturers.Next, an enzyme called glucoamylase breaks the sugar chains down even further to yield the simple sugar glucose. Unlike alpha-amylase, glucoamylase is produced by Aspergillus, a fungus, in a fermentation vat where one would likely see little balls of Aspergillus floating on the top.
The third enzyme, glucose-isomerase, is very expensive. It converts glucose to a mixture of about 42 percent fructose and 50-52 percent glucose with some other sugars mixed in. While alpha-amylase and glucoamylase are added directly to the slurry, pricey glucose-isomerase is packed into columns and the sugar mixture is then passed over it. Inexpensive alpha-amylase and glucoamylase are used only once, glucose-isomerase is reused until it loses most of its activity.There are two more steps involved. First is a liquid chromatography step that takes the mixture to 90 percent fructose.
Finally, this is back-blended with the original mixture to yield a final concentration of about 55 percent fructose--what the industry calls high fructose corn syrup.HFCS has the exact same sweetness and taste as an equal amount of sucrose from cane or beet sugar but it is obviously much more complicated to make, involving vats of murky fermenting liquid, fungus and chemical tweaking, all of which take place in one of 16 chemical plants located in the Corn Belt. Yet in spite of all the special enzymes required, HFCS is actually cheaper than sugar. It is also very easy to transport--it's just piped into tanker trucks. This translates into lower costs and higher profits for food producers.
The development of the HFCS process came at an opportune time for corn growers. Refinements of the partial hydrogenation process had made it possible to get better shortenings and margarines out of soybeans than corn. HFCS took up the slack as demand for corn oil margarine declined. Lysine, an amino acid, can be produced from the corn residue after the glucose is removed. This is the modus operandi of the food conglomerates--break down commodities into their basic components and then put them back together again as processed food.
Today HFCS is used to sweeten jams, condiments like ketchup, and soft drinks. It is also a favorite ingredient in many so-called health foods. Four companies control 85 percent of the $2.6 billion business--Archer Daniels Midland, Cargill, Staley Manufacturing Co. and CPC International. In the mid-1990s, ADM was the object of an FBI probe into price fixing of three products--HFCS, citric acid and lysine--and consumers got a glimpse of the murky world of corporate manipulation.
There's a couple of other murky things that consumers should know about HFCS. According to a food technology expert, two of the enzymes used, alpha-amylase and glucose-isomerase, are genetically modified to make them more stable. Enzymes are actually very large proteins and through genetic modification specific amino acids in the enzymes are changed or replaced so the enzyme's "backbone" won't break down or unfold. This allows the industry to get the enzymes to higher temperatures before they become unstable.
Consumers trying to avoid genetically modified foods should avoid HFCS. It is almost certainly made from genetically modified corn and then it is processed with genetically modified enzymes. I've seen some estimates claiming that virtually everything--almost 80 percent--of what we eat today has been genetically modified at some point. Since the use of HFCS is so prevalent in processed foods, those figures may be right.
But there's another reason to avoid HFCS. Consumers may think that because it contains fructose--which they associate with fruit, which is a natural food--that it is healthier than sugar.
A team of investigators at the USDA, led by Dr. Meira Field, has discovered that this just ain't so.Sucrose is composed of glucose and fructose. When sugar is given to rats in high amounts, the rats develop multiple health problems, especially when the rats were deficient in certain nutrients, such as copper. The researchers wanted to know whether it was the fructose or the glucose moiety that was causing the problems. So they repeated their studies with two groups of rats, one given high amounts of glucose and one given high amounts of fructose. The glucose group was unaffected but the fructose group had disastrous results. The male rats did not reach adulthood. They had anemia, high cholesterol and heart hypertrophy--that means that their hearts enlarged until they exploded. They also had delayed testicular development. Dr. Field explains that fructose in combination with copper deficiency in the growing animal interferes with collagen production. (Copper deficiency, by the way, is widespread in America.) In a nutshell, the little bodies of the rats just fell apart. The females were not so affected, but they were unable to produce live young."
The medical profession thinks fructose is better for diabetics than sugar," says Dr. Field, "but every cell in the body can metabolize glucose. However, all fructose must be metabolized in the liver. The livers of the rats on the high fructose diet looked like the livers of alcoholics, plugged with fat and cirrhotic."HFCS contains more fructose than sugar and this fructose is more immediately available because it is not bound up in sucrose. Since the effects of fructose are most severe in the growing organism, we need to think carefully about what kind of sweeteners we give to our children.
Interestingly, although HFCS is used in many products aimed at children, it is not used in baby formula, even though it would probably save the manufactueres a few pennies for each can.Do the formula makers know something they aren't telling us? Pretty murky!
*********
I have a 2 part podcast on nutrition, click on "tune-in" on my main page http://www.believelifecoaching.com/
Thursday, August 21, 2008
My experience with coaching..and being coached....
I had an experience in coaching, ( i have to be broad because of ethics,) where i helped someone realize what was underneath what they thought was the "problem," they came to the coaching session with. I reminded them of their values, and what was important to them, and they realized the real "problem" wasn't lining up, and they needed to eliminate the "problem" out of their life. This "problem" is what was holding them back from living their best life, and they didn't realize it until the coaching session! Would they have realized without coaching? Maybe, but when? 20 years too late? This is huge! Coaching is huge!
Having an amazing coach myself, Shari, has changed my life. From life-changing career decisions, to the small steps along the way, the support, the feedback, the structure! I'm not going to lie, there were times when i went into my sessions, thinking i didn't need to talk about anything. Without fail, there has never been a session, where when it was over, i wasn't enlightened, changed my negative thoughts/outlook/mood to positive, so glad i did it, and forever changed for the better. The action plans have really sky-rocketed my life. Just taking the time, and holding the space for me every week, being listened too, having someone on my side, has been awesome!
One of the action plans, involved bringing "awareness" to my life on a more regular basis, so i would have better impulse control, and continue to break patterns. As a sufferer of Impulsive ADHD, this coaching session will affect my life for the better for the long term.
Fresh perspective! When i felt stuck on a certain something, my coach asked me a question, that changed the way i viewed the whole situation, and i've since been able to move on with my life, and know with 100% certainty, that things are working out exactly the way the are supposed to, and the reasons why things hadn't worked out. This clarity has lifted a weight off my shoulders, my feet are no longer stuck, as i soar into the next phase of my life.
Having an amazing coach myself, Shari, has changed my life. From life-changing career decisions, to the small steps along the way, the support, the feedback, the structure! I'm not going to lie, there were times when i went into my sessions, thinking i didn't need to talk about anything. Without fail, there has never been a session, where when it was over, i wasn't enlightened, changed my negative thoughts/outlook/mood to positive, so glad i did it, and forever changed for the better. The action plans have really sky-rocketed my life. Just taking the time, and holding the space for me every week, being listened too, having someone on my side, has been awesome!
One of the action plans, involved bringing "awareness" to my life on a more regular basis, so i would have better impulse control, and continue to break patterns. As a sufferer of Impulsive ADHD, this coaching session will affect my life for the better for the long term.
Fresh perspective! When i felt stuck on a certain something, my coach asked me a question, that changed the way i viewed the whole situation, and i've since been able to move on with my life, and know with 100% certainty, that things are working out exactly the way the are supposed to, and the reasons why things hadn't worked out. This clarity has lifted a weight off my shoulders, my feet are no longer stuck, as i soar into the next phase of my life.
What do people think of me? What determines the way i view others and the world?.
Going off the "you spot it, you got it" blog. Where i mentioned the qualities we like and dislike in others, are really mirrors of ourselves, a quote:
Others can't see us for who we are. Others can only see us for who THEY believe THEY are!
We can't see others for who they are. We can only see others for whom WE believe OURSELVES to be!-Marcia Collins(Coach For Life)
So the way i see the world, is really a reflection of me. Feel connected yet?
Others can't see us for who we are. Others can only see us for who THEY believe THEY are!
We can't see others for who they are. We can only see others for whom WE believe OURSELVES to be!-Marcia Collins(Coach For Life)
So the way i see the world, is really a reflection of me. Feel connected yet?
Thursday, August 14, 2008
the book Eat.Pray.Love: on "Soulmates.."
…A true soul mate is a mirror, the person who shows you everything that’s holding you back, the person who brings you to your own attention so you can change your life. A true soul mate is probably the most important person you’ll ever meet, because they tear down your walls and smack you awake. But to live with a soul mate forever. Nah. Too painful.
Soul mates, they come into your life just to reveal another layer of yourself to you, and then they leave. And thank God for it.
Soul mates, they come into your life just to reveal another layer of yourself to you, and then they leave. And thank God for it.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Where's your focus this week? Focus on the Positive!
What you focus on expands, concentrate on what you do "right" this week, not what you do wrong. Concentrate on the "good" in a person, and the "good" in a situation, instead of the bad.
"We can only see the vibration we look for"
repeat these affirmations this week:
"only good will come out of this experience"
"i believe the world is plotting to do me good today, i can't wait to see what it is, and then look for the opportunities, and the miracles."
"If it is in the highest interest of everyone involved, may this work out."
"We can only see the vibration we look for"
repeat these affirmations this week:
"only good will come out of this experience"
"i believe the world is plotting to do me good today, i can't wait to see what it is, and then look for the opportunities, and the miracles."
"If it is in the highest interest of everyone involved, may this work out."
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Essencing: Look Beyond Form
Advice i gave my friend, who has a broken heart. Dagger!
There's a tool in life coaching called "essencing," if you look at the essence of what this form (person in this case) brought to you, rather then the actual form (person,) you will begin to see what you were really looking for, then you can look for when you already experience this "essence" in your current life, or where you could experience it. (remember you spot it, you already got it.) so when you find it, and you are aware that you are experiencing this "essence," and you feel it, think about it, and express gratitude for it, then, you can manifest more of it into your life. the (form) this will come in, is up to the universe. but the "essence" is whats important.
example: i really want that car (form.) what essence will it bring to my life?, you say: confidence, i'll look cool. ok well in my current life i already experience confidence when i______________, so the next time i ___________, i will notice, feel it, think about it, be grateful for it. appreciating that moment, will manifest more "confidence" into my life, which is REALLY what i was looking for. look beyond the form for answers.
There's a tool in life coaching called "essencing," if you look at the essence of what this form (person in this case) brought to you, rather then the actual form (person,) you will begin to see what you were really looking for, then you can look for when you already experience this "essence" in your current life, or where you could experience it. (remember you spot it, you already got it.) so when you find it, and you are aware that you are experiencing this "essence," and you feel it, think about it, and express gratitude for it, then, you can manifest more of it into your life. the (form) this will come in, is up to the universe. but the "essence" is whats important.
example: i really want that car (form.) what essence will it bring to my life?, you say: confidence, i'll look cool. ok well in my current life i already experience confidence when i______________, so the next time i ___________, i will notice, feel it, think about it, be grateful for it. appreciating that moment, will manifest more "confidence" into my life, which is REALLY what i was looking for. look beyond the form for answers.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Use your body compass...
The body compass speaks through your physical body. So as you think of incredibly positive experiences in your life, you pay attention to how your body feels when you are having this experience. Then, you do the same for incredibly negative experiences. Now you have a compass for current/future decisions, big and small.~Martha Beck (life coach, author, contributer to O Magazine)
Use your compass this week.
Use your compass this week.
Canfield Advice..
this weeks tip:
"you are the average of the 5 people you hang out with most." think about it this week. think about the different areas of life.., and what the average of those areas are for you and the 5 people you hang out with the most.
"you are the average of the 5 people you hang out with most." think about it this week. think about the different areas of life.., and what the average of those areas are for you and the 5 people you hang out with the most.
You Spot It, You Got It!
Today's Realization (a re-visit):by Tara
"You spot it, you got it"
When you are attracted to someone, they mirror qualities you have, that may be buried for some reason. So when you lose someone, don't think of it as a loss, celebrate those mirrored qualities in yourself. My thought:I've always been one to need more then just good looks, don't get me wrong looks are nice, :) but the guy for me, has to have someone to say, intelligence, wit, depth, etc. So if you are just attracted to someone for their looks, how deep is your soul?
"You spot it, you got it"
When you are attracted to someone, they mirror qualities you have, that may be buried for some reason. So when you lose someone, don't think of it as a loss, celebrate those mirrored qualities in yourself. My thought:I've always been one to need more then just good looks, don't get me wrong looks are nice, :) but the guy for me, has to have someone to say, intelligence, wit, depth, etc. So if you are just attracted to someone for their looks, how deep is your soul?
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Never Give Up! Jack Canfield
Never Give Up!The Power of Determination by Jack Canfield
In a previous issue of success strategies, I talked about the importance of taking action toward your goals, dreams and desires. But one of the most important qualities you will need to develop in order to continue taking action is persistence.
You must be persistent in your disciplines and habits; perseverant in the face of adversity, hardship and challenge; and determined to achieve your dreams, no matter what.
There will be many times when you will want to quit, give up, and go back to doing something else, but the one quality that will guarantee your success is the willingness to stick with it, to see it through to the end -- to refuse to settle for anything less than your dream.
The longer you hang in there, the greater the chance that something will happen in your favor. No matter how hard it seems, the longer you persist, the more likely your success will be.
Adversity and Discouragement Is InevitableNo matter how well you plan and how well you execute your plan, you are bound to meet with disappointments, adversity and failure along the way to your ultimate triumph. Sometimes, you'll encounter what seem like overwhelming odds. And sometimes, the Universe will test your commitment to the goal you're pursuing.
The going may be hard, and may require you to refuse to give up while you learn new lessons, develop new parts of yourself, and make difficult decisions.
And, adversity is what gives you the opportunity to develop your inner resources of character and courage. Adversity is a great teacher. It will test you and make you stronger. But you have to hang in there and not give up!
More than 4000 years ago in China, Confucius wrote: "Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall."
How to Deal with Obstacles Whenever you confront an obstacle or run into a roadblock, you need to stop and brainstorm three ways to get around it, over it, or through it. For every obstacle, come up with three different strategies for handling the potential obstacle. There are any number of ways that till work, but you will only find them if you spend time looking for them.
Always be solution-oriented in your thinking. Persevere until you find a way that works.
Visualize and Affirm Your Desired Outcomes
Visualize and Affirm Your Desired Outcomes: A Step-by-Step Guide
You have within you an awesome power that most of us have never been taught to use. Elite athletes use it. The super rich use it. And peak performers in all fields are now starting to use it.
That power is called visualization. The daily practice of visualizing your dreams as already complete can rapidly accelerate your achievement of those dreams. Visualization of your goals and desires accomplishes four very important things.
1. It activates your creative subconscious which will start generating creative ideas to achieve your goal.
2. It programs your brain to more readily perceive and recognize the resources you will need to achieve your dreams.
3. It activates the law of attraction, thereby drawing into your life the people, resources, and circumstances you will need to achieve your goals.
4. It builds your internal motivation to take the necessary actions to achieve your dreams.
Visualization is really quite simple. You sit in a comfortable position, close your eyes and imagine — in as vivid detail as you can — what you would be looking at if the dream you have were already realized. Imagine being inside of yourself, looking out through your eyes at the ideal result.
Mental Rehearsal
Athletes call this visualization process "mental rehearsal," and they have been using it since the 1960s when we learned about it from the Russians. All you have to do is set aside a few minutes a day. The best times are when you first wake up, after meditation or prayer, and right before you go to bed. These are the times you are most relaxed. Go through the following three steps:
1. Imagine sitting in a movie theater, the lights dim, and then the movie starts. It is a movie of you doing perfectly whatever it is that you want to do better. See as much detail as you can create, including your clothing, the expression on your face, small body movements, the environment and any other people that might be around. Add in any sounds you would be hearing — traffic, music, other people talking, cheering. And finally, recreate in your body any feelings you think you would be experiencing as you engage in this activity.
2. Get out of your chair, walk up to the screen, open a door in the screen and enter into the movie. Now experience the whole thing again from inside of yourself, looking out through your eyes. This is called an "embodied image" rather than a "distant image." It will deepen the impact of the experience. Again, see everything in vivid detail, hear the sounds you would hear, and feel the feelings you would feel.
3. Finally, walk back out of the screen that is still showing the picture of you performing perfectly, return to your seat in the theater, reach out and grab the screen and shrink it down to the size of a cracker. Then, bring this miniature screen up to your mouth, chew it up and swallow it. Imagine that each tiny piece — just like a hologram — contains the full picture of you performing well. Imagine all these little screens traveling down into your stomach and out through the bloodstream into every cell of your body. Then imagine that every cell of your body is lit up with a movie of you performing perfectly. It's like one of those appliance store windows where 50 televisions are all tuned to the same channel.
When you have finished this process — it should take less than five minutes — you can open your eyes and go about your business. If you make this part of your daily routine, you will be amazed at how much improvement you will see in your life.
Create Goal Pictures
Another powerful technique is to create a photograph or picture of yourself with your goal, as if it were already completed. If one of your goals is to own a new car, take your camera down to your local auto dealer and have a picture taken of yourself sitting behind the wheel of your dream car. If your goal is to visit Paris, find a picture or poster of the Eiffel Tower and cut out a picture of yourself and place it into the picture. With today's technology, you could probably make an even more convincing image using your computer.
Create a Visual Picture and an Affirmation for Each Goal
We recommend that you find or create a picture of every aspect of your dream life. Create a picture or a visual representation for every goal you have — financial, career, recreation, new skills and abilities, things you want to purchase, and so on.
When we were writing the very first Chicken Soup for the Soul® book, we took a copy of the New York Times best seller list, scanned it into our computer, and using the same font as the newspaper, typed Chicken Soup for the Soul into the number one position in the "Paperback Advice, How-To and Miscellaneous" category. We printed several copies and hung them up around the office. Less than two years later, our book was the number one book in that category and stayed there for over a year!
Index Cards
We practice a similar discipline every day. We each have a list of about 30-40 goals we are currently working on. We write each goal on a 3x5 index card and keep those cards near our bed and take them with us when we travel. Each morning and each night we go through the stack of cards, one at a time, read the card, close our eyes, see the completion of that goal in its perfect desired state for about 15 seconds, open our eyes and repeat the process with the next card.
Use Affirmations to Support Your Visualization
An affirmation is a statement that evokes not only a picture, but the experience of already having what you want. Here's an example of an affirmation:
I am happily vacationing 2 months out of the year in a tropical paradise, and working just four days a week owning my own business.
Repeating an affirmation several times a day keeps you focused on your goal, strengthens your motivation, and programs your subconscious by sending an order to your crew to do whatever it takes to make that goal happen.
Expect Results
Through writing down your goals, using the power of visualization and repeating your affirmations, you can achieve amazing results. Visualization and affirmations allow you to change your beliefs, assumptions, and opinions about the most important person in your life — YOU! They allow you to harness the 18 billion brain cells in your brain and get them all working in a singular and purposeful direction.
Your subconscious will become engaged in a process that transforms you forever. The process is invisible and doesn't take a long time. It just happens over time, as long as you put in the time to visualize and affirm, surround yourself with positive people, read uplifting books and listen to audio programs that flood your mind with positive, life-affirming messages.
Repeat your affirmations every morning and night for a month and they will become an automatic part of your thinking — they will become woven into the very fabric of your being.
In a previous issue of success strategies, I talked about the importance of taking action toward your goals, dreams and desires. But one of the most important qualities you will need to develop in order to continue taking action is persistence.
You must be persistent in your disciplines and habits; perseverant in the face of adversity, hardship and challenge; and determined to achieve your dreams, no matter what.
There will be many times when you will want to quit, give up, and go back to doing something else, but the one quality that will guarantee your success is the willingness to stick with it, to see it through to the end -- to refuse to settle for anything less than your dream.
The longer you hang in there, the greater the chance that something will happen in your favor. No matter how hard it seems, the longer you persist, the more likely your success will be.
Adversity and Discouragement Is InevitableNo matter how well you plan and how well you execute your plan, you are bound to meet with disappointments, adversity and failure along the way to your ultimate triumph. Sometimes, you'll encounter what seem like overwhelming odds. And sometimes, the Universe will test your commitment to the goal you're pursuing.
The going may be hard, and may require you to refuse to give up while you learn new lessons, develop new parts of yourself, and make difficult decisions.
And, adversity is what gives you the opportunity to develop your inner resources of character and courage. Adversity is a great teacher. It will test you and make you stronger. But you have to hang in there and not give up!
More than 4000 years ago in China, Confucius wrote: "Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall."
How to Deal with Obstacles Whenever you confront an obstacle or run into a roadblock, you need to stop and brainstorm three ways to get around it, over it, or through it. For every obstacle, come up with three different strategies for handling the potential obstacle. There are any number of ways that till work, but you will only find them if you spend time looking for them.
Always be solution-oriented in your thinking. Persevere until you find a way that works.
Visualize and Affirm Your Desired Outcomes
Visualize and Affirm Your Desired Outcomes: A Step-by-Step Guide
You have within you an awesome power that most of us have never been taught to use. Elite athletes use it. The super rich use it. And peak performers in all fields are now starting to use it.
That power is called visualization. The daily practice of visualizing your dreams as already complete can rapidly accelerate your achievement of those dreams. Visualization of your goals and desires accomplishes four very important things.
1. It activates your creative subconscious which will start generating creative ideas to achieve your goal.
2. It programs your brain to more readily perceive and recognize the resources you will need to achieve your dreams.
3. It activates the law of attraction, thereby drawing into your life the people, resources, and circumstances you will need to achieve your goals.
4. It builds your internal motivation to take the necessary actions to achieve your dreams.
Visualization is really quite simple. You sit in a comfortable position, close your eyes and imagine — in as vivid detail as you can — what you would be looking at if the dream you have were already realized. Imagine being inside of yourself, looking out through your eyes at the ideal result.
Mental Rehearsal
Athletes call this visualization process "mental rehearsal," and they have been using it since the 1960s when we learned about it from the Russians. All you have to do is set aside a few minutes a day. The best times are when you first wake up, after meditation or prayer, and right before you go to bed. These are the times you are most relaxed. Go through the following three steps:
1. Imagine sitting in a movie theater, the lights dim, and then the movie starts. It is a movie of you doing perfectly whatever it is that you want to do better. See as much detail as you can create, including your clothing, the expression on your face, small body movements, the environment and any other people that might be around. Add in any sounds you would be hearing — traffic, music, other people talking, cheering. And finally, recreate in your body any feelings you think you would be experiencing as you engage in this activity.
2. Get out of your chair, walk up to the screen, open a door in the screen and enter into the movie. Now experience the whole thing again from inside of yourself, looking out through your eyes. This is called an "embodied image" rather than a "distant image." It will deepen the impact of the experience. Again, see everything in vivid detail, hear the sounds you would hear, and feel the feelings you would feel.
3. Finally, walk back out of the screen that is still showing the picture of you performing perfectly, return to your seat in the theater, reach out and grab the screen and shrink it down to the size of a cracker. Then, bring this miniature screen up to your mouth, chew it up and swallow it. Imagine that each tiny piece — just like a hologram — contains the full picture of you performing well. Imagine all these little screens traveling down into your stomach and out through the bloodstream into every cell of your body. Then imagine that every cell of your body is lit up with a movie of you performing perfectly. It's like one of those appliance store windows where 50 televisions are all tuned to the same channel.
When you have finished this process — it should take less than five minutes — you can open your eyes and go about your business. If you make this part of your daily routine, you will be amazed at how much improvement you will see in your life.
Create Goal Pictures
Another powerful technique is to create a photograph or picture of yourself with your goal, as if it were already completed. If one of your goals is to own a new car, take your camera down to your local auto dealer and have a picture taken of yourself sitting behind the wheel of your dream car. If your goal is to visit Paris, find a picture or poster of the Eiffel Tower and cut out a picture of yourself and place it into the picture. With today's technology, you could probably make an even more convincing image using your computer.
Create a Visual Picture and an Affirmation for Each Goal
We recommend that you find or create a picture of every aspect of your dream life. Create a picture or a visual representation for every goal you have — financial, career, recreation, new skills and abilities, things you want to purchase, and so on.
When we were writing the very first Chicken Soup for the Soul® book, we took a copy of the New York Times best seller list, scanned it into our computer, and using the same font as the newspaper, typed Chicken Soup for the Soul into the number one position in the "Paperback Advice, How-To and Miscellaneous" category. We printed several copies and hung them up around the office. Less than two years later, our book was the number one book in that category and stayed there for over a year!
Index Cards
We practice a similar discipline every day. We each have a list of about 30-40 goals we are currently working on. We write each goal on a 3x5 index card and keep those cards near our bed and take them with us when we travel. Each morning and each night we go through the stack of cards, one at a time, read the card, close our eyes, see the completion of that goal in its perfect desired state for about 15 seconds, open our eyes and repeat the process with the next card.
Use Affirmations to Support Your Visualization
An affirmation is a statement that evokes not only a picture, but the experience of already having what you want. Here's an example of an affirmation:
I am happily vacationing 2 months out of the year in a tropical paradise, and working just four days a week owning my own business.
Repeating an affirmation several times a day keeps you focused on your goal, strengthens your motivation, and programs your subconscious by sending an order to your crew to do whatever it takes to make that goal happen.
Expect Results
Through writing down your goals, using the power of visualization and repeating your affirmations, you can achieve amazing results. Visualization and affirmations allow you to change your beliefs, assumptions, and opinions about the most important person in your life — YOU! They allow you to harness the 18 billion brain cells in your brain and get them all working in a singular and purposeful direction.
Your subconscious will become engaged in a process that transforms you forever. The process is invisible and doesn't take a long time. It just happens over time, as long as you put in the time to visualize and affirm, surround yourself with positive people, read uplifting books and listen to audio programs that flood your mind with positive, life-affirming messages.
Repeat your affirmations every morning and night for a month and they will become an automatic part of your thinking — they will become woven into the very fabric of your being.
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