Faith is basic building block

Marie Callas says that Faith is a basic building block between human. With faith, there is trust. Without the ingredients of faith and trust, there is no way our societies can function. Don't you think so?

Just imagine you are driving our national car on North South highway, you have good faith that the car will bring you safely and reliably to your destination, and that your life wouldn't be endangered. Similarly, your have faith that the lift that brings to the top stories of Petronas Tower won't fail you. This is faith in the technical expertise of the engineers who made the lifts.

Among humans, i have faith and trust that my subordinate will carry out the tasks they have been assigned to on time and on the spot. Likewise, you have faith that your wife or hubby will be faithful to you, if not, the state of harmony will be disrupted.

For religious people, faith is even more important role in their lives. People pray to God for protection, wisdom, and abundance. They know God will be there for them, at all times. So when difficult times hit them, they have faith that God will bail them out. They have great faith that prayers will be answered eventually.

Life can seem just as bleak and dark as an ocean on a stormy night but by relying on Faith to carry us through, we also know that the morning will be a brand new day that should be joyful and bright. Every rainfall can be a cleansing experience in more ways than one, and many people find great solace from the morning dew on grass just outside their front door.

5 Strange Lucky Charms

As I haven't been feeling lucky lately, and my usual "Pave my own Destiny" line was on a leave of absence, I checked up some of the "luck rituals" and "lucky charms" that could perhaps change my luck a bit for the day.

Turns out there are so many lucky charms out there on the net, with the simplest of purposes (to bring you luck), to the looniest. Some of them we already know; while some are just out of this world.

Here are a few:

Indescribable Key Chain The picture says its all. If you're feeling unlucky in the copulation department, then this trinket is for you. The site where I saw this says it was probably from the 70s because of the physical features of both the man & women, reminiscent of the trends during that year.

Money Tree With the price of oil going haywire these days, perhaps I shall purchase my own money tree although I think gamblers need these more than me (or maybe my mom who is a bingo enthusiast). Whatever your reason maybe, the money tree will bring you luck in the financial department. Popular with the gambling folks

Swastik Pyramid Yantra As it says on the site, it should not be confused with the Nazi Swastika, but it gets points for interesting for me. The Vedic Swastik is the symbol of Ganpathi, the lord of good fortune. Again another "general" use lucky charm that you might like to purchase. They don't come cheap these lucky charms!

Omamori Charm from Japan Suspiciously looks like a tea bag to me! It's a charm for protection from various elements (ghosts and other vicious back stabbers beware). It also helps a bit in gambling (what is with these general purpose lucky charms!?). Looks nice with its traditional print, and an added bonus! If you keep it in your car and backpack, you'll have a more auspicious or luckier chance with the women. Doesn't hurt to try! If you're a fan of Japanese Culture, this is for you.

Raccoon Penis Bones From the name itself, you'd know what this is lucky charm is for. Jerry Hall once said that "growing up in Texas, boys gave raccoon penis bones to girls they liked as a form of love token or simple love spell". In 2004, it became popular among women who were sold to this love amulet to get their luck with men started. In fact, a group of women capitalized on this and started selling raccoon penis bones in the form of earrings (hmm that sounds... not so sexy.) Also in 2004, Third Eye Blind Frontman caught Vanessa Carlton's eye when he gave her a dried raccoon's penis necklace and his book "Sarah". Literally worked like a charm!

Lucky Charm from WOW I just had to feature this! These are just some of what I've been reading over at the forums:

"Can also be used for the superstitious. It could help improve the drop rate of your desired item! Make sure you collect 7 if you're even more superstitious."

"Rogue with these charms seemed to attract paladin drops. Amazing."

"Be sure not to stop farming them when you get 13." Spooky.

I've always believed in making my own luck, paving my own road, but sometimes I just like to hold on to something tangible - and I guess these lucky charms - although no, I won't really be using that raccoon penis bone - will work just fine. Whether you're superstitious or not, a bit of luck, salt over your shoulder and a short prayer will probably do your day a bit of good.

About the Author

Andy Biggins knows that life isn't a box of chocolates but he loves it as sweetly as if it were! Travelling and Gadgets rule his world, and if you want to know more about his thoughts on just about those 2 topics, swing by his site The Big Life

Brain drain of desires

A few months ago I did an exercise where I wrote down every desire that came into my head. Regardless of whether I thought the desire was good or bad, sensible or silly, I wrote it down, without judgment. It was a good brain clearing exercise i must say. After doing that, I felt released.

Next, I was come up with a plan, identify projects, apply time management, find motivation, list goals, work towards milestones.

Instead, strangely, I find myself empty of desire. I do what I want each day. Little has anything to do with the desires I listed. People call me up and offer me work, and I'll say "yes" or "no" depending on whether it's sensible work for me to do. I enjoy watching the sunlight falling upon the brick buildings. I talk to people, and I have a great curiosity. They may insult me, or praise me, or be resistant, or be upset. None of these affect me, I'm just become more curious, I become more fascinated.

What's interesting is that without the noise and clutter in my mind, I can hear more subtle signals. I can hear the small voice in my mind that suggests perhaps what I should be doing is helping people through the singularity, and take it seriously.

Being conscious

How does the physical state of being consciousness feel for you?

When I am in what I call a conscious state of mind It feels as if I am physically different.

Mentally I am more lucid and clear minded, physically I am more relaxed. I feel peaceful and I always have a sense of the awareness that perceives, that stillness.

When I am in this state my intentions seem to become real so much more easily. Positive little things will cross my mind and then appear in reality.

Meditation and understanding the ego and how it drains your energy has been my biggest progress towards this state.

After reading A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle was the first time I experienced it (I observed my egoic thoughts all day and eventually they went quiet). It is totally different to my "natural" state which consists of up-and-down energy, a cloudy mind and thoughts that are all over the place.

Luckily I am experiencing this more and more so I would love to know if anyone relates to this or has other experiences.

What do you find makes you conscious?

Definition of "deep" taken from urbandictionary.com:

“1. Difficult to understand.”
“2. Very intense, profound, or intriguing."

Opposite of "deep" is "shallow". Often I heard ppl saying, "Oh, you are so shallow!" What does it mean exactly?

I think the word shallow could be looked at metaphorically in the sense that it indicates a person who is not connected with his deeper true self and therefore clings to whatever he thinks is the best way of acting.

If you don´t recognize yourself as an intrinsic part of life and see your connectedness to other people and life in general you will base your perception of self-identity from your education/friends/work/social status and so on. Then you will be always seeking fulfillment outside of yourself and become easily "brainwashed by the media" or your social roles. The more you are identified with your roles and not your true self the more shallow you become.

I think that in a sense we are all shallow in some way but we recognize it more in others than in ourselves. The cure and the best way to cultivate depth of personality and character is then to listen to your inner self, your heart, your soul, your buddha-nature (whatever you choose to call it) because then your action will be based on wisdom and compassion, spreading love, joy and peace to the world around you.

There may be people who at present are seemingly incapable of being deep. To some it comes naturally, but in many it seems to have been sought out and eliminated during their upbringing which is generally intent on making everyone as similar as possible, at least outwardly.

"Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved."

Helen Keller

My tips to maintaining good energy levels

Here's what I usually do:

1. Get up at a fixed time every morning. Usually your body will oversleep by default, and that can make you more tired. Sleeping in will not boost your energy. I set my alarm clock at 6:30 every morning, even during weekends or public holidays. I love to feel the morning coldness and transquility, and those early birds chirping for food., a side effect of getting up early every day even on weekends is that you have to sleep less and feel more rested.



2. Exercise. Give yourself half an hour each day for some exercises, like jogging, walking or ball games. I understand by the time we beat the traffic jam to reach home, it is already 7 or 8 pm. How to workout in this case? So my tip is to do it during weekends, while on weekdays, try to walk as much as you can.I guarantee you after a few weeks of constant exercise, your energy level will improve and you won't feel that tired.

3. Eat healthily. I know food here tastes great. Try to reduce oil and fried food.

4. Don't stay up late. If you sleep through the alarm clock or subconsiously turn it off in your sleep you're not getting enough sleep. Turn it up louder if this happens. I find if I stay up past 1 am I usually can't get out of bed very easily the next morning. So I make it a point to sleep by 11pm or latest 12.

5. Stop thinking that you hate feeling a lack of energy. Do not think you are tired..Stop saying you are tired.

Yes, I planning to go jogging now...its a hot day, so i got to drink more water first!

An great life experience....

I think its basic common sense. Getting a partner can be seen (rather cynically) as marketing yourself. Once they are hooked, then sell them your bad points. Or why not work on your bad points so that they don't affect things? Nobody is perfect, don't expect yourself to be.

I agree with you that honesty is a virtue, but that doesn't necessarily mean you should share absolutely everything the first time you meet someone.

Relationships really are an awesome way to grow and experience life and I absolutely agree with this statement. Wait till you're in a relationship then you'll begin to discover more likeness in the other person, especially the negative ones, then we'll do an introspection and realise that there are just so much we need to change in order to be a better person, for ourselves and for the ones we love.

Our partners can be the best mirrors in our lives!

How to solve any problem

Contrary to popular beliefs, we are not our mind, our body, and our egos.

Also, we are not the circumstances of our lives, nor a creation of the world of matter.

Who we are is so fabulous that it is kept secret; it's a secret that societies shun; it's a secret that we shun; it's a secret that the enlightened teachers throughout history have tried to disclose, only to be murdered or have their words misquoted and their ideas misconstrued.

The secret is that we are miraculous beings with magical powers.

Behind the masks of ego, mind, and body, rests our soul, our primal consciousness. This consciousness is not separate from pure consciousness, but rather an expression of it, the way a drop of water is an expression of the great ocean.

When we have a problem, a pressing, critical, urgent, life-threatening problem, how do we try and solve it?

We think and feel intensely, we take action, and we rush to others whom we perceive as more powerful than ourselves to solve it.

Usually, the problem persists, is aggravated, or is poorly solved.

Yet despite this almost complete failure of results, we continue to use this strategy. The result is the chaotic world that you see around you. Everyone is trying to force solutions. Oppression, grief, and travail are part of the history of this world.

The secret has been out in the open for centuries. Massive religious institutions have been built around it. Yet no-one sees the secret for what it is-an answer to all our problems.

Huge tracts are written about the secret. The result is that the secret is now obscured by a thousand rationales and commentaries, distortions and dangerous lies.

If the secret is that we are miraculous beings with magical powers, how do we open the gates to unleash this power?

We contact the secret through stillness. "Be still and know that I am God." is how the Bible puts it.

In stillness and in silence, call it meditation or contemplation, our urgent emotions evaporate, our mind becomes quiet, and our insistent egos give up trying to find an answer. At this point, when the mind is silent, the body is still, and the ego is resigned, then, and only then, do we unleash the force of our Beingness to solve each and every problem.

Author Resource:- Saleem Rana got his masters in psychotherapy. His articles on the internet have inspired over ten thousand people from around the world. Discover how to create a remarkable life.

The Power Of Your Words

Since ancient times it has been known that your word is a cause set in motion. In fact, the universe itself is claimed to have emanated from a single primordial sound. In the science of yoga, it is believed that certain Sanskrit words, known as mantras, can bring about magical results, thus you can secure abundance with a certain mantra, peace with another, and so on.

On a more practical level, your word still remains highly potent.

With your words, you can wound someone, sending them into spirals of defeat, and with your words you can heal someone, raising them up from a dismal place to soaring hope and motivation. In fact, the entire field of self-improvement is the transmission of words that will assist others to get a firm perspective and move forward with their lives, fulfilling their dreams and desires.

On a personal level, too, your words affect you. What you say to yourself about anyone or anything affects you, too. If you speak well of someone or something, you bring more of that harmony into your life. And if you speak ill of someone or something, you bring more of that frustration and anger and conflict into your life.

Psychological literature often speaks of numerous cases where a parent's words, spoken casually, can affect the destiny of a child. And the most potent words that a parent can use to affect a child are those spoken at the time of dying...since these are the last words, and the moment is so highly-charged and the awareness so acute, these words become an imperative that the child now feels obligated to never disown.

Words are further charged with the emotion behind them. The stronger the emotion, the more highly charged the words. Many a love affair has fallen by the wayside because of emotionally charged words, which are later regretted.

Despite all this, people use words with the utmost casualness. People wreck their own lives and that of others through the careless use of words. They also accept the words of others as a given truth, when, in fact, all comments by others are merely opinion.

Words are causes set in motion, they are reality-creators.

The most marvelous aspect of words is how they can bend time. The brilliantly crafted words of Shakespeare or the eloquence of Martin Luther King still shape our lives. Words are so sacred that whole buildings are used to archive them and make them available for consumption.

A person can rise from poverty to wealth, from sickness to health, and from loneliness to loving companionship simply through exposing themselves to the most beneficial stream of words.

Words not only steal hearts, but shape reality as well. The earth can be a better place because of your choice of words. You can fill lives with the miracles of your words. You can be an agent for positive change and bring out the best in yourself and others simply by how you use words. Words are psychic shape-shifters...use them wisely.

Author Resource:- Saleem Rana is a psychotherapist in Denver, Colorado. If you would like to find out more ways to make your dreams come true, you can access his F.R.E.E. book here:http://theempoweredsoul.com/enter.html

Creating Hunger to Motivate

In order to successfully motivate someone—or, to get her/him to internalize the motivation—you have to create a deep hunger or thirst. It has been said that you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. That’s true, but let it be known that you can give that horse salt, thereby creating such a thirst that the horse must have water. As a master motivator, you are giving salt to your prospects. That is, you are striving to create such a thirst in your prospects that they can’t wait to act.

On your persuasive journey, you will find that people tend to get motivated for the short term, that they lose steam and that they then fall back into the rut they were trying to pull themselves out of in the first place. As a persuader and motivator, you have to understand what pulls people away from action into inaction. What causes them to lose excitement, vision and energy? When you notice that your prospects are losing their motivation, these are the common reasons why they are doing so:

• They have not yet found their passion. – They are going through life using desperation as a motivator, or they haven’t yet found anything that really inspires them.

• They have a poor attitude. – They are run down with a negative attitude. Their expectations and beliefs are not congruent with their goals.

• Their intent is diminishing. – They have previously been on the right track but they’ve now lost their drive. They have forgotten the real reasons why they were motivated in the first place.

• They are indifferent. – They just don’t care anymore. They have lost the ability to express concern or to make a difference in their own life or in the lives of others.

• They have become creatures of habit. – They have not replaced their previous bad habits and have fallen back into old ones.

• They lack persistence. – They have given up too easily and have gotten stalled at the first obstacle.

• They have no sense of urgency. – They have set no timeframe for achievement. The pain of not changing doesn’t hurt badly enough that they’ve got to act now.

• They have succumbed to peer pressure. – The people around them are more motivating than you are. They have not found the support they need to resist against the peers whose esteem they value.

• They lack vision. – They have sacrificed long-term success for short-term pleasure.

• They lack knowledge. – They don’t know how to make the necessary changes in their lives or they are not doing so correctly.

• They lack confidence. – Confidence comes only after action, knowledge and success have been achieved.

• They have no game plan. – They are overwhelmed or waiting for everything to fall into order. They have no action plan.

• They simply don’t want to do it. – They don’t want to pay the price. Their goal is only a dream and nothing more. They are using external desperation as their motivator, or they are living their lives the way others want them to.

All Things Are Possible, Even For A Nobody

It takes a long time to become an overnight success. Because we rarely see the preparation and sacrifice that people go through, it can be easy to think that success just happens. Top athletes know that in order to win, they must continually hone their skills. They have to develop the mental and physical stamina needed in order to endure the hours of training and overcome the discouragement and challenges they’ll face along the way. It’s no different in any pursuit we might choose.

At times we might assume that success is a matter of luck. We might say, "He was just in the right place at the right time." Looking at the Old Testament story of David and Goliath in 1 Samuel 17, we could think it was like that for David. Personally, I’m not sure there’s anything "right" about the place or timing when you’re facing a giant who wants to kill you. But for us, just like it was for David, it’s not just about being in the right place at the right time; we also have to be the right person in that place and time.

When we first meet David, Samuel the prophet has been sent to David’s hometown of Bethlehem and to David’s father Jesse. God told Samuel that he was to anoint one of Jesse’s sons as the next king of Israel. Because he was worried that King Saul would kill him, Samuel pretended to be in town for a sacrifice and told Jesse that he and all his sons were invited to join him.

When Samuel met Jesse’s sons, he saw the oldest son and said to himself, "Surely, the Lord’s anointed is before Him!" (1 Sam. 16:6). But God spoke to Samuel and told him, "Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart" (1 Sam. 16:7).

And so it went for all seven of Jesse’s sons who were at the sacrifice. Samuel was a little confused when God didn’t choose any of them, so he asked Jesse if he had any other sons. Then Jesse said something like, "Oh yeah...I do have one more, the youngest. But he’s out taking care of the sheep."

I find it interesting that David wasn’t with his brothers at the sacrifice. Did they forget to tell David about the invitation? Was he such a good shepherd that his father didn’t feel comfortable leaving the sheep with anyone else? Did David get the invitation but ask to be excused because he was too busy with the herd? Or was it because he was the youngest and least important of Jesse’s sons? We really don’t know.

When David finally joined them, we find out that he was just a young man who probably wasn’t old enough, and definitely wasn’t big and strong enough, to even be in the army, let alone to command it. He certainly wasn’t the person anyone would have chosen to be king. He didn’t have the knowledge or experience and he definitely didn’t know the right people. And as the youngest in his family, he didn’t have the position, money, or influence to do much of anything. Basically, David was a nobody.

Like David, each one of us starts out as a nobody. We have no fame, no fortune, and as far as other people can tell, no future. But no matter what other people may think, we know that our lives can be different. We have to realize, as David did, that it doesn’t matter where we start, as long as we get started.

For David it seemed like a single event, his victory over Goliath was what changed his life. But like the athlete who prepares in solitude, David had actually been preparing for a long time. He had faithfully used the circumstances that God brought into his life, he had taken advantage of every opportunity to hone his skills and learn to trust God all while working as a lowly shepherd taking care of his father’s sheep.

There may be times when we look at our current circumstances and think that there isn’t much we can do. We assume that the things we want and that God wants for our lives are just too hard to achieve where we are right now. We feel that the right opportunity won’t come our way because we lack all the "important" stuff like knowledge, skills, connections, influence and money. But one thing that we learn from David’s life is that those aren’t the most important things, because with God, all things are possible.

There is no magic to wealth

Continuing from yesterday's post about money "fate". Marie Callas states something like there is no magic that will give us the riches we desire. So in order to realistically improve our money situation we must first learn about making money from someone who’s done it. After all it is only logical that we go to school in order to learn a profession, why wouldn’t we do the same to learn how to make money.

There are plenty of ways to help you become wealthy - be it starting your own business or learning how to invest. All of these wealth generating methods have a steep learning curve and aren’t easy to master. As a matter a fact you will probably fail the first three or four times. However with perseverance you will be successful. The only way you can really fail at it, is if you will stop trying.

Next step should in my opinion be combined with previous. Money management will be a key to your long term success. Have you heard of lottery winners who after winning millions, go broke within a few years? The only reason that happens is lack of money management knowledge. So in order for you to be able to keep your new found fortune, you must learn how to manage you money.

These tips might seem very common sense to you, and they are. The important thing is that they work. There are countless examples of people going from rags to riches. Every single one of those people followed some version of a plan I described above.

How we view money decide our wealth

Have you noticed that people seem to be broke for generations? Grandparents bring up their children to have certain out look on money, and they in tern pass on the same ideas to their children and so on and so forth. The same seems to be happening with people who do extremely well with money. They stay wealthy for generations. Why is that? What is that factor that keeps us poor or wealthy? Can we influence or change it?

I believe that the answer is yes. Not only we can change our money fate, but we can also change it for our children and their children.

Imagine a following situation. You grow up poor, but something changes and in the midst of your life and you become very wealthy. Knowing your past, you treat that money with great respect and teach your children to do the same. That legacy stays with your family for generations.

The question remains - what do we have to change in order for us to change our money "fate"?

One of the biggest things we are going to have to change about our selves is how we view money. If our attitude about money is negative (i.e. we look at it as a "necessary evil", something that is against our nature but a must if we want to survive in this life) what do you think are chances of you being fantastically wealthy? This kind of attitude will give us exactly what we deserve - we will be able to survive on a bare minimum all our life.

As a matter a fact how you view money will in large dictate you financial situation, giving you a sort of a blueprint your life follows, financially speaking. For example an attitude of lack (a constant financial shortcoming) will effectively keep you struggling for as long as you think of it as a reality. In fact it is a self fulfilling prophecy. Because you think that money is a struggle, it de-motivates you not to try to bring your self to find ways to improve your situation. So the first step is to change your attitude about finances - learn to respect and honour money.

I will talk more about it in my next post. Tired now after doing my research on this topic :)

About Life Succecss

Life Success is obviously important.

People are too busy rushing around looking for 'the answers' to life success from others that they never even stop long enough to look up at the wall.

Others look up and see the wall but decide against climbing it, perhaps out of being 'politically correct', or 'respectful' to the designers of the trap, or perhaps because of the short burst of intense effort necessary to scale the wall of life success, or perhaps because they don't want to get their clothes in a mess.

So they look back down, sigh, resign to the quiet desperation of 'looking for the exit', and start running again, faster, and faster, thinking that speed or struggle will help them succeed.

They bump into others, asking the others for the answer, but never stopping to consider within themselves for long enough, never taking the time or giving them self the self-trust or space to put the puzzle of success together.

Life Success… where is it? What is it? Where does it come from?

Constriction, exhaustion, almost a strangulation, diminishing their energy - they begin to walk, they recover their breath, feel more at ease and control in this moment, strolling along, sometimes even with a smile, watching the others running around who are looking for the exit out of this trap.

Some accept that there is no escape, no exit, and they become cynical and negative of the people who are still running, they say 'slow down or you might fall and get hurt, there is no rush, we all end up the same way anyway, nothing is important except enjoying the moment, why be concerned, why try, just stick to what you know".

Some then resign so much that they sit down on the comfortable bench. They somehow fool themselves into thinking they are on top of things, but their gaze is hazy, only straight ahead, they have lost their way not just outside in the maze, but inside in their mind and spirit as well.

Ice-cream vendors are at hand, manned by bright smiles, covering sinister clown masks, that morph into creatures of evil at certain angles of light, but you can never be quiet sure, until..

You arrive into this opening with the bench and you suddenly stop, aware of a strange new feeling that washes over you making you at once aware of Two Worlds. It was a flash of color and a distant sound that caught your attention, look out for it. As you catch your breath back somehow things are different, in you, you are different. You sit down besides this other person, and you can feel the person begin to frown as you turn to the person very slowly and frown in the same way too, as they also turn in the same way to you.

You catch eye to eye and a rippling shiver begins an uncontrollable journey up your spine from the base of your back towards your head and washes over your slightly contorted face muscles.

In the next moment, that other person is no longer of consideration and you understand the pattern of the maze. You look upwards, skywards, and your mind is thinking differently now.

You see the wall that you would have used to run along, but now you look above it. You stand. You draw in a deep breath. You feel a renewed vigor, passion, and self-assurance.

You are going to figure out how to get over that wall, that hurdle, and you are going to begin now.

Life Success.

"I can".