STOP AIDS

Chance is always powerful. Let your hook be always cast; in the pool where you least expect it, there will be a fish. - Ovid

Turbulence is life force. It is opportunity. Let's love turbulence and use it for change. - Ramsay Clark

Her name is Holly, and she is what appears to be a typical 17-year-old. I first met Holly at a music recital. Children as young as six years old each took the stage and played at least one solo apiece. The audience was a gathering of family and friends of the children who had been taking music lessons. Obviously, this was a friendly crowd for any child who performed.

When Holly took the stage, we could see a tattoo peeking out from under the sleeve of her t-shirt. She sat herself upon the piano bench and proceeded to "blow the hair back" of every audience member. What this young girl accomplished at the piano was astounding. Needless to say, she didn't miss a single note, and her fingers were flying across the ivories.

After the recital, as we gathered in the church hall for snacks, Holly and her mother sat at our table.

"That was pretty impressive," I said to her.

"Thank you," was her shy reply.

It was then I could see the bottom of the tattoo peeking out from under her sleeve. This time I was close enough to read what it said: "Ludwig Von Beethoven."

"I think this is the first time I've ever seen someone sporting a Beethoven tattoo," I smiled at Holly.

With that said, Holly pulled up the sleeve to show the rest of the tattoo -- a full picture of Beethoven's bust with his name inscribed below. The tattoo went up to her shoulder and halfway down her bicep. All told, it was about six inches tall and four inches wide. And it was magnificent work -- incredibly detailed.

"That's my commitment," Holly said with a smile.

Turns out Holly, at 17, has been playing for only two-and-a-half years. However, she said she practices about three to four hours a day. Her mother, who also played piano as a child, is very proud of her daughter's commitment to the piano, even though it seems Holly has a hard time finding enough time in the day to practice -- as she also helps out the family financially. In addition to contributing to household finances for the family, she is still in school, plus she helps her music teacher out with lessons and other ways in exchange for extra lessons for herself.

Holly's commitment to being the best she can be on the piano is evident. Her heart is in it, and her commitment to her music is unwavering in spite of her financial situation. There are no excuses for not being her very best.

Attitude Adjustment: What are you prepared to do to be the best on the job you can be? Are you letting reasons, excuses, and justifiers stand in the way of your personal performance? Really, it doesn't take a lot of time to read a chapter in a book that can improve your performance. If you would one day like to move up into a promotion, are you preparing yourself now by reading everything you can on leadership, management, or communications? Why is it that once we have a job, we think we can stop learning? The world is an ever-changing place. Think about the technological advancements that have been made over the past five years. Are you in front of the curve or lagging behind it? If you're not constantly self-improving, in this day and age, you are falling behind. And trust me when I say this, the people who will be rewarded with perks, bonuses, and promotions in the future are the same people who are self-schooling and self-improving today. So what can you learn today that improves your potential rewards tomorrow? Remember, no excuses.

Success does not consist in never making mistakes but in never making the same one a second time. - George Bernard Shaw, 1856-1950, Irish Playwright

However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results. - Winston Churchill, 1874-1965, English Politician and Author

The soul without imagination is what an observatory would be without a telescope. - Henry Ward Beecher, 1813-1887, American Preacher/Orator/Writer

What is Your Life Purpose?

Are you on the right path? Are you making the right decisions?

Studies show that one of the things people most want to know is their purpose in life.

As a nation we are busier than ever, but most are missing a deep, abiding satisfaction with their life. Their relationships and jobs lack meaning and their lives lack direction and Guidance.

When you're on the right path, it's easy to know it. But when you're not living a guided existence, how do you get back on the right path?

First, realize that everyone has a life purpose.

Second, ask yourself - how authentic am I in my life?

Everyone's life purpose is deeply interwoven with the identity of their authentic self. Your authentic self is the deepest part of you, the part of you you can't change, the place within where your true, God-given gifts reside.

If you live a life where you seek to know your true, authentic self, then this part of you will begin to emerge naturally. You'll find that your life experiences unfold like a bloom, each of them filled with Guidance and meaning.

If you force yourself to live a life of social approval, as opposed to an authentic life, you'll find that life is an empty experience with one hard knock after another. You’ll feel as though you're always trying to hide something. And you’ll feel that no one ever really knows you.

Make a commitment to living an authentic life (and no, this doesn't mean being honest to a fault such as telling your best friend that she really does look fat in that dress) and your purpose will become more clear, and your life more fulfilling.

To some people the idea of an authentic life may seem scary, especially if their true selves are not welcome in the mainstream or if a friend or loved one doesn't approve.

But try to look at it this way...our authentic self is the part of us that God or the Source created. It's the reason why you're here - to learn to share and express that true self with love and acceptance. This is where your God-given gifts and abilities originate. It's impossible for that to be a negative. That which comes from the Source is always good and rooted in love. Regardless of how society sees it.

Yesterday a client came in for a reading and to discuss the state of her marriage. As she started talking I immediately had a vision about their relationship. Rather than functioning as marriage partners, they looked like two separate worlds to me, relating to one another as business partners more so than friends or lovers.

When I mentioned this to Lisa she revealed that they no longer had a sexual relationship and that the only reason she was still involved with him at all was the financial security their alliance offered.

Both had had affairs, she with other men and he with other men as well.

Lisa told me that she was terrified to leave her husband though, for fear that he would not be able to handle life on his own. Though they hadn’t discussed it, she knew he was desperate to keep his identity hidden and their marriage allowed him to maintain a lifestyle that his family as well as the neighbors would approve of.

Everyone has to determine for themselves when it’s right to openly live their true identity, that’s a deeply personal decision. In this particular situation though, I could see how her husband was secretly hoping for the opportunity to live his authentic life. He just couldn’t find a way to take the first steps on his own.

Knowing that both were really ready to move ahead I encouraged Lisa to talk openly with her husband. When last I heard from her, they were beginning to happily plan their futures without one another.

We often waste an enormous amount of time worrying what people will think, how they’ll judge us and what catastrophes we’ll cause because we can’t be who our loved ones want us to be. Most of the time, though, these fearsome potential futures never occur.

As a psychic child growing up in a religious family in the South, I went through my own mental and emotional gymnastics worrying about all of these things.

Ultimately I realized that my family and I wouldn’t have chosen to incarnate together if we didn’t share some common lessons. As I mastered my own life lessons, I knew I was helping to light the way for those I loved as well. Even if it wasn’t evident to them at the time.

What we can’t foresee when we’re battling the demons within, is how many lives we’ll touch and heal as the result of living an authentic life.

When you live an authentic life without fear and self-judgment, you open the door to magic in your life. Your life purpose becomes brilliantly evident, and living that purpose brings unimaginable gifts of healing, happiness and inspiration to yourself as well as those around you.

It's impossible to find your purpose without being authentic, so set the course for your Authentic Life, watch for the signs that will guide you along the way and enjoy the ride.

Finding Your Life Purpose by Empowering Your Authentic Self
by Melissa Van Rossum

There has always been an interest in the power of the mind and, specifically, the effect of its polarity. My goal in writing this article is to offer an explanation without any attachment to spirituality or religion as my understanding doesn't require that you subscribe to any particular system of beliefs.

I think it's important to clarify that I don't believe positive thinking removes all obligation of taking action simply because the action step (no matter how seemingly insignificant the action may seem) is the step that solidifies the thought. In other words, your thoughts can also be called intentions and our actions/decisions/choices can be called beliefs in action.

Lets outline the steps involved in solving any problem or coming up with a desired event. Unconscious steps will be lettered and conscious steps numbered.


"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." Winston Churchill


a. "See" Possible Outcomes - It is important to note that this step is often overlooked. This is where a negative mind will filter out goals that current beliefs deem impossible and the goal is ruled out before getting to step 1. Therefore, the ultimate outcome is never even attempted.

1. Choose Outcome - According to the results in step a, the goal is selected.

b. Creative Inspiration - It is possible, before the rational/logical mind takes the reins, to allow yourself the luxury of inspired action. Instead of trying to figure out how according to what the logical mind is capable of focusing on you simply act on any impulses or inspiration that pops into your head. The negative mind will either be too focused on "the problem" to notice this step or just outright ignore it.

2. Plan - Implementing or ignoring anything from step b, the small details that require completion first and overall process are defined.

c. Visualize - Yes we do. Even if it only takes a fraction of a second. We "see" it or we don't. We believe it or we don't. This is where the negative mind, more often than not, has already chosen failure. That's right, before we even take the action step our mind has sabotaged our plans.

3. Action - Despite the feelings that arose in step c, the majority of the time we proceed to the action step. It sounds crazy but we do it all the time. We complete the process whether we believe it will work or not.

d. Confirmation - This is where we confirm our beliefs, limitations, and attitude. The negative mind says, "See I told you we were screwed!" and the positive minds says, "I knew it would work! It was even easier than I expected!"

4. Review - We followed the plan, did it work?

"The positive thinker sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible. Unknown

Ok so what's the catch? Will you always succeed if you're positive and always fail if you're negative? No. It depends entirely on the limitations and beliefs specific to each scenario. The difference is the positive mind has more freedom, more opportunities and most importantly - more fun. The negative mind keeps building walls of limitations and failure until it can't even see the way out.

The good news is that we have a choice. The bad news is that we have habits. In an effort to spare us from having to consciously control every aspect of our lives our unconscious mind provides us with an autopilot. The autopilot gets you to and from work, brushes your teeth in the same order, gets you dressed, and unfortunately - keeps you positive or negative.

If you desire a change in mental polarity you must realize that you must make a conscious effort to switch habits. Be gentle with your mind, it was only doing what it was made to do. Your awareness of your thoughts will grow with your efforts to focus on them and change them and, eventually, your autopilot will be positive.

Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work. - Aristotle

Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight. - Benjamin Franklin

I'm disturbed! And, you might want to know why?

It's simply because of the present state of education in my country. Although, the value of education is still intact, and the teachers are doing their best, but it’s quite unfortunate that young people are becoming less interested in learning! In some States, these students receive the benefit of free education, free textbooks etc. yet, they aren’t making good use of this opportunity! Instead they get carried away by peer pressures, crimes, wrong use of technology etc.

A recent result released by the West African Examination Council attest to this deteriorating state, wherein 83% of students who sat for the exam failed woefully. It’s really saddening. And, I still don't know why students aren't interested in studying anymore! They go to school, yes! Spend hours everyday in school yes! And yet at the end of the semester, they don’t get good grades! It’s pretty saddening. Yesterday, I was opportune to discuss with a School counselor about this issue and from her statements, she said, it is a big challenge that most schools are faced with now! And that she just couldn’t understand why a lot of them act disinterestedly in learning/reading.

Some of my questions to her were:
1 What are the factors responsible for this?
2 Is there a way out of this? How do we help them?
3 How do we help the students back to a reading culture?
I love her responses to these questions, but time wouldn’t permit me to write them all out. But from your opinion, what do you see to this great challenge? Or aren’t you faced with these challenges?

I’d appreciate your responses.

Thanks for sharing. . . . .

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Breakthrough Your Bothers: What to Do When Bothers Come Knocking at Your Door By Larry Crane, the Official Guide To Abundance


How much can you be bothered? Does the news bother you? Does all this economic turmoil bother you? Does the neighbor bother you? Do politicians bother you?

To the extent you can be bothered, to that extent you are agitated, nervous and anxious.

Agitation, nervousness, anxiety and a whole range of related feelings are such a part of life you might assume they're normal. You might assume they are part of life. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Feeling bothered is not natural to you.

Feeling bothered is not natural to you even though it's such a part of you it seems natural. Feelings that bother you are a foreign invader to your peaceful self.

What's interesting is how you handle being bothered. A car alarm goes off, a dog won't stop barking, you get a parking ticket, someone looks at you cross-eyed and you get bothered, annoyed, irritated. How do you handle those bothered feelings? Usually you get mad, furious, frustrated and more and more agitated.

You answer negative with more negative. If someone asked you if you like getting bothered by something or someone you would probably say, "No, I don't like getting bothered." Yet you react to a bother, which you see as negative, with more negative, getting yourself annoyed, irritated, angry.

You pile more negative on the negative, thinking somehow that helps you.

How does it help you? It doesn't. It makes you more irritated, more negative. That's how people live their life. Then they go to the pharmacist to take something for it. The world is shooting itself in the foot and wondering why their foot hurts.

Are you ready for something different? Are you ready for a different kind of life? Are you ready for a life where you can never be bothered? It is possible. But you do have to do something different.

First you have to see that the bother, the thing that bugs you is not the cause of you being bothered. The cause of your bother is YOU. Whatever happens out there can't bother you unless you decide to be bothered. It's not the thing. It's your reaction to the thing. Reacting is negative and adds up to more negative for you.

What's the solution? Make a decision. When bother comes knocking at your door don't open the door and let it in. Let bother do whatever it does but you decide to not participate. Stay on the sidelines and watch the madness. You don't have to join in.

You can only be bothered if you decide to be. Whatever happens, whatever someone does or says, it's not a bother to you unless you decide to let it bother you, unless you shake hands with it and join in.

Remember, if you decide to let something bother you, you are hurting you. You're not hurting whatever bothers you by getting bothered by it. Being bothered, nervous, anxious, upset, annoyed and frustrated does not help you. It does not make you more healthy, more wealthy or more loving. It makes you the opposite.

What's the answer? When bother comes your way ignore it. Ignore it. Try it. Notice when you ignore it, it ignores you. Meaning when you ignore something that bothers you it no longer comes your way. Try it and find out.

Breakthrough Your Bothers: What to Do When Bothers Come Knocking at Your Door
By Larry Crane, the Official Guide To Abundance. http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles.html

The real leader has no need to lead -- he is content to point the way. - Henry Miller, 1891-1980, American Writer

The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched; they must be felt with the heart. - Helen Keller, 1880-1968, American Blind/Deaf Author and Lecturer

There is no comparison between that which is lost by not succeeding and that which is lost by not trying. - Francis Bacon, 1561-1626, English Philosopher/Essayist/Statesman

You may be deceived if you trust too much, but you will live in torment if you do not trust enough. - Frank Crane

Truth is the only safe ground to stand on. - Elizabeth Cady Stanton


Nice Day!!

It takes strength to be firm,
It takes courage to be gentle.

It takes strength to conquer,
It takes courage to surrender.

It takes strength to be certain,
It takes courage to have doubt.

It takes strength to fit in,
It takes courage to stand out.

It takes strength to feel a friend’s pain,
It takes courage to feel your own pain.

It takes strength to endure abuse,
It takes courage to stop it.

It takes strength to stand alone,
It takes courage to lean on another.

It takes strength to love,
It takes courage to be loved.

It takes strength to survive,
It takes courage to live.

By Tosin (http://faithfulsnetwork.com/index.php?action=pm;sa=send;f=inbox;pmsg=54;quote;u=1)

One of the great things about the movies is that the hero always manages to lift up from life’s troubles. While the rest of us mere mortals would curl up in a dark corner, the hero commits fully to the journey ahead and finds a way to restore the world’s balance.

If we look closely at the making of a hero, we notice that initially the hero is reluctant to take on the challenge because of personal fears or insecurities. For a short time, the hero faces doubt and perhaps even a momentary meltdown. The hero may panic or break down in a fit of despair or passing hopelessness.

But that’s just in the short-term. Overall, the hero doesn’t check out for the rest of the movie until the bad things go away. The hero doesn’t give up and run to the nearest fast food restaurant to escape from life in a double cheeseburger and fries. And the hero doesn’t permanently give up and drown in a bottle of whiskey.

Our hero eventually takes a deep breath, accepts the situation, and steps up to the challenge. A transformation occurs as the character faces a situation that demands some kind of change. Our hero is able to let go of a particular mindset, and propel into action to overcome adversity.

That’s why we love movies. We identify with the vulnerability of the character as he initially shy’s away from an overwhelming challenge. Then our hearts surge with excitement as we watch the character dig deep within to discover loyalty and commitment to the cause. We feel positive emotional energy as we watch the hero face the challenge with integrity, determination, and persistence. Movie heroes show us that it is possible to be vulnerable yet courageous. It is possible to face our problems while maintaining faith and commitment throughout the journey.

Life Is An Action Movie
Luckily, most of us will not ever face the extreme situations portrayed in movies. Life is generally much more ordinary and routine. However, we all experience challenges, misfortune, and hardship that demand we grow beyond our current abilities. These changes require that we step beyond our comfort circles and explore new avenues of self-expression.

Are you the confident hero of your own life, leading yourself compassionately and decisively – not only when things are smooth, but especially when the going gets tough?

Look closely at your self-leadership personality as you face the challenges and goals most important to you. How do you solve problems? How do you respond to pressure? How do you interact with yourself when facing difficulty? What motivates you to stay focused to achieve your goal to great success?

To become a confident heroic leader of your own life, follow this empowering checklist:

1) Identify and accept your fear or challenge. Dedicate yourself to achieving a successful outcome, no matter what monsters you may face along the way.

2) Identify the mindset or qualities you wish you had – courage, persistence, optimism, faith, belief in yourself, resourcefulness, inspiration, etc.

3) See the challenge as a situation providing many, many opportunities to develop more of the qualities you wish to posses.

4) Appoint yourself in charge of making decisions related to your goal, cause, or overall desired outcome.

5) Use your imagination to identify the single next step you can take to face your fear or challenge.

6) Take action to move you forward into a positive outcome – but do so in a manner that allows your courage, love of self, or faith to expand.

There’s a hero that is always with you, when you are in joy, in pain, or in fear. That hero is your spirit of hope, imagination, and persistence – and that hero lies within you. Follow the tips above and release your hidden inner hero!

We must use time as a tool, not as a crutch. - John F. Kennedy

Be entirely tolerant or not at all; follow the good path or the evil one. To stand at the crossroads requires more strength than you possess. - Heinrich Heine