The Lure Guide Center

Yes, you read it right, “The DO DO Principle” and
if you don’t do it you may windup in real DO-DO.

Simply, it is what you DO-DO that counts.

Today, what you DO-DO will make a difference
in your life, family, business, employment and everything else.
If you don’t do, nothing happens.

Motivation, inspiration and goal planning
can be so simple to understand.

Simplicity is the teacher and now we use it can teach powerful principles.

Eventhough these principles are not hard to read, learn and conceptualize they are hard to DO-DO for many people.

Many individuals say, “Oh well, life happens”.
NO, DO-DO happens.

What we DO-DO everyday determines how we achieve our greatness. What we Do-Do helps us develop good habits, increase our enthusiasm and motivation.

Setting 90 Day Goals is a habit that creates your
motivation and allows you to be enthusiastic about everything
that you DO-DO each day.

DO-DO what you love and have FUN!

That in turn allows you to take ACTION to DO-DO
your Goal planning.

It is what you DO-DO that propels your life forward to
massive accomplishments everyday, not what you don’t do.

Become a true Do-Do Principle believer that what you talk about
you, DO-DO.

Frank Gasiorowski or as his is known on the internet as “Mr. 90 Day Goals”, has been teaching since 1973 and his current mission is to provide easy and effective ways for individuals to achieve their true potential through, http://www.90DayGoals.com and http://www.TotalSelfMastery.com coaching programs.

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“All that is necessary to break the spell of inertia and frustration is this: Act as if it were impossible to fail. That is the talisman, the formula, the command of right-about-face which turns us from failure towards success.”
-Dorthea Bragg

Picking up from last weeks’ discussion about no longer living in your past, we’ll turn this week to the power of “faking” it.

I must warn you that “faking” it can be a double edged sword. Case in point, the “keep up with the Jones’ syndrome” is a classic case of faking it with a detrimental effect. Trying to look better off than you are can land you in some serious debt!

With that point established, we can now turn to the positive side of faking it. You can quite often turn the tables of fate for yourself by simply denying reality a bit. If you’re feeling down, try forcing yourself to smile. I mean it, really force yourself to hold a smile for several minutes and take note of the fact that it actually does make you feel a bit better.

I didn’t really believe that success was such a mental equation until very recently. I’ve studied goal setting and affirmations along with a ton of other “new age” and inspirational techniques for years, but secretly I always felt like a lot of it was really fluff!

Wow, I was so wrong about that. You see, if you really start paying attention to your internal thoughts, you’ll notice quite rapidly that much of what we think tends to be negative. You’ll be shocked to see how many times you tell yourself you can’t do something or you can’t stand something. You’ll have internal arguments with your spouse, your coworker, your boss. You’ll justify everything you do or don’t do and most of these thoughts are happening completely under your fully conscious radar.

Once you start reigning the thoughts in and controlling what you think more directly you will begin to see rapid changes in your life.

You will think like a successful person before you actually become one. You will think like a happily fulfilled person before you are in the “perfect” relationship. You will think like a millionaire before you actually are a millionaire. It’s funny to me how obvious this has become to me now, and yet how determined I was that it wasn’t for so long.

Start looking at people who have the things in life you want and begin to model them. Try to think like them, act like them, talk like them. As you begin living with a successful mindset the whole world will begin to get just a little brighter!

Rasheed Ali (#1 Adversity Consultant) and Bill White (Syncronicity Expert) have just launched http://www.SleepYourWayToRiches.com — a powerful new success and wealth creation website and http://www.SolutionCoach.com –
a powerful business and success coaching site.

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Dimora delle Calendule is a bed and breakfast in Mantova, located in Via Torquato Tasso, 14 - Cerese di Virgilio

The B&b La Dimora delle calendule is a villa located in Cerese Virgilio, a few steps from Mantova, the famous town of Gonzaga.

We will welcome you in the calm of our large garden where you can spend a pleasant stay in a relaxed and familiar atmosphere.

3 double bedrooms with the possibility of adding a third bed, all with private bath [shower].

Private parking.
Coffee machine available in the hall.
Special offers for companies and for longer stays.
Agreements with typical restaurants and taverns.
On request guided tour and reservations for museums’ tickets.
2 km. from Fashion District Mantova Outlet.
1 km.from Virgilio Ipercoop mall.
500 mt.from the bus stop to the center of Mantua - line 8, 22, 28.
500 mt.From the disco Grand Café.

From Modena-Brenner [A22] exit south of Mantua. Cross the roundabout and follow the signs to Mantua.After about 5 km, once entered into Cerese Virgilio, continue to go until a pedestrian traffic light and then turn right in Via Dante Alighieri.
Approximately half of the road, turn right and continue for about 200 mt. Until you find Via Torquato Tasso: The residence of calendule is at number 14.

If you are interested in a cheap hotel in Mantova, pls visit our catalogue of Hotels all over Italy, where you can find also a wide range of accommodations in Rome and Hotels in Florence, Naples and Venice, from cheap to luxury, togheter with Tours.
All the reservation are secure: in fact, we don’t ask you to give us your credit card information, but in order to complete the reservation, we will redirect you directly on a bank (we currently use Paypal, the eBay company) for the payment

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You wish that you could do something over, take back an action, or exchange an utterance? The bad news is that you can’t - what’s done is done. The good news is that it’s already in the past and this is the first moment of the rest of your life. Since you can’t change the past, what does your future hold? It’s up to you to choose.

As a society we are often stuck in a rut. Not satisfied with our past and our present, but reluctant to step up to the plate and make the future what we desire. Too often this occurs because we don’t realize that we created the path we are on consciously or unconsciously. But nothing is written in stone. Change begins first with a thought, followed by a choice, which becomes an action.

Jenny was very depressed. It seemed that no matter how hard she tried she couldn’t get her business off the ground and her bills were mounting to epic proportions. She knew that if she couldn’t turn things around relatively quickly, that she would soon be facing bankruptcy. Knowing that things were out of hand she asked her best friend to lunch for some advice. Over lunch, Danni listened attentively as Jenny got her up to speed. When Jenny was done, Danni took a deep breath and said, “So, what are you choosing to do about it?” Jenny stopped chewing and thought about how Danni had phrased the question and asked her what she meant. Danni proceeded to explain to Jenny in detail, just how much control she had over her situation. First, she asked Jenny to describe her thoughts about her business and her finances. Jenny told Danni that having her own business had always been a dream of hers, but that she never had enough funds coming in, her client list was pitifully short, and she was rapidly losing hope. Once Danni understood Jenny’s feelings she asked her to describe her ideal situation. As she watched, Jenny’s face became animated, her voice became passionate, and her eyes lit up as she described oodles of serious fun clients, fulfilling projects, and an abundance of funds. When she stopped speaking, Danni asked Jenny to focus on her “success vision”, to choose and embrace it as her reality, to think about it at least three times each day in great deal and to let go of the thoughts that had landed her in her situation. Lastly, Danni suggested that Jenny monitor her progress each day by acknowledging the changes in her circumstances with some form of appreciation. When Jenny did not respond Danni gave her examples of things to appreciate, like a new client, a potential referral, free advertising. Jenny decided that she had nothing to lose, so she decided to give it a try.

About three months later Jenny called Danni and asked her to come over for dinner. When Danni arrived she found a beautiful table set, with a cake that had two words on it - Thank You. Jenny explained that she had spent the past three months showing appreciation for everyone and everything that showed up, but Danni deserved something extra special for helping her turn her life around. Jenny told Danni that her business seemed to take off within two weeks of their conversation. She had new clients, changed her marketing materials, and had even been approved for a loan that she had forgotten that she applied for. Jenny’s business was becoming successful, and she was positive that it was because she stopped playing the martyr and decided to choose to be successful.

Are there things in your life that you would like to release? Or things that you would like to see materialize? Are you ready to make the choice to BE what you want? I’d like you to close your eyes and visualize your dream life. If it’s different from the life you have, then you have a choice to make. Simply, becoming aware of the thoughts that you hold and changing them to appreciation will have a profound affect on your life. Don’t worry about what has already happened, remember, this is the first moment of the rest of your life.

Eva Gregory is the author of The Feel Good Guide to Prosperity.
All rights reserved.

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Pick up any self-help book or attend a corporate meeting, you will probably hear the word goal. Louie Armstrong once said that dreams are goals with endings.

Dreams, goal setting and goal achievement are part of daily life. Everybody has dreams. Everyone sets goals in some fashion. And everyone wants to see many of those dreams successfully realized. If these three statements are true, then why don’t we see more success?

Success is much more about goal achievement than goal setting. How consistently you achieve your goals and how you manage your goals is what will catapult you farther than everyone else.

Unfortunately, there exists a presumption that individuals know how to set, achieve and manage goals whether personally, professionally or organizationally.
This fatal presumption starts early in life and sets people up for unnecessary failure.

So how can someone turn the tide and become a consistent goal achiever? For me, the answer to this question laid within the adoption of an Action Plan For Success. This plan allowed me to explore my dreams and self-assess my life. This self-assessment included mental, physical, social, family, career, financial, ethics and beliefs.

My goals within this Action Plan are prioritized and organized. Each goal has been written using specific proven criteria. For me, each criterion is much like an ingredient in a recipe. When all the ingredients are blended together, a consistent outcome is assured.

Finally my Action Plan for Success includes a mechanism to monitor all current goals and a way to capture all achieved goals. I believe that a goal achievement summary is critical for personal motivation. We all have those gray days when we feel that we haven’t accomplished much. My goal-accomplished sheet accurately displays the results of my past efforts. Also, this helps me to see all of those dreams that have successfully turned into achieved goals.

If you take the time to create an Action Plan for Success or find has such a performance tool (that’s what I did because I don’t believe in reinventing the wheel) and then commit to the necessary actions to turn your dreams into goals with endings, you shall too receive unheard of results.

Copyright 2005(c) Leanne Hoagland-Smith, www.processspecialist.com

This article may be freely published. Permission to publish this article, electronically or in print, as long as the bylines are included, with a live link, and the article is not changed in any way (grammatical corrections accepted).

Leanne Hoagland-Smith, M.S. CEO of ADVANCED SYSTEMS located outside of Chicago, IL, is the Learning and Process Specialist. With over 25 years of business & education experience, she helps her clients to double their performance. Beginning with the belief systems, Leanne brings a unique perspective to training and development that delivers a significant return on investment. She infuses a 25 year old proven goal achievement action plan into her results focused solutions that work within a variety of industries including education, healthcare, manufacturing and professional services. As co-author of M.A.G.I.C.A.L. Potential: 7 Capacities for Living an Amazing Life Beyond Purpose to Achievement due for 2005 release, Leanne speaks nationally to a variety of audiences. Please contact Leanne at 219.759.5601 or visit http://www.processspecialist.com/individuals.htm to read how you double your performance for unheard of results.

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Over the years I have experienced some amazing results with people who have been secure enough to view their leadership or personal capacity through the eyes of corporate vision.

In one situation, the general manager stood down in preference to his assistant taking his role. They changed roles and the result was growth and expansion for the organisation, greater synergy and momentum.

Why?

A person’s visionary capacity will determine the outcome!

Leading people or an organisation without a clear Mental vision, is the last place you should be.

Power games, position seeking, and climbing the corporate ladder can never fulfil the requirements of vision. Leading others (whether it be in your own business or in an organisation) will most likely bring frustration and a slowing down of momentum.

An organisation that has not established its core values and vision will unlikely keep visionaries within it.

Visionaries will likely take less pay, work longer hours and suffer extreme circumstances that none-visionaries would quit over.

Why is that? Because the “buy in” factor, goes way beyond natural circumstances and into the realms of values. Value in a natural sense we put a price on, whereas vision is priceless.

The amazing thing about vision is it is not impoverished. It will reward in the end, way beyond our primal anticipation.

What value would you put on vision?

Ask Martin Luther King junior. or maybe Winston Churchill!

I can guarantee they did not look for a vision, the vision looked for them. It arrested them and consumed their life. They lived within the parameters of their vision and died spent, yet fulfilled by it.

Vision is the awakening of our life’s purpose and the force that compels us to exist!

It moves us from country to country in the search for people of similar spirit. It stands for something rather than falling for anything.

Vision will either empower you, or expose your vulnerabilities.

As for me, I would rather live in pursuit of my life purpose, than exist within the restrictive fences of being Mr average.

Personal Empowerment Is Activated Through Vision!

I had a conversation this week with a visionary. During the conversation I recalled how every organisation I have ever led, has drawn people (in the first two years), so full of vision that the nuts and bolts people pulled their hair out. Why?

Vision inspires and brings momentum. Visionaries love such an environment as it allows for creativity, (an essential component to release vision) but it does not guarantee fulfilment. Vision needs practical, systematic, analytical support players. These analytical individuals however, can often frustrate visionaries, as they need clear lines of communication and boundaries.

Visionaries break boundaries and are often so caught up with new ideas, that communication is “wrongly expected” to be generated (through each individual player) that has partnered into the vision. Buying into the enthusiasm that is generated out of sharing the vision does not transfer automatically to fact based people.

I can hear everyone that has ever been a part of one of my teams shouting a loud “AMEN”!

Vision is powerful, but it must be measurable, definable and most of all achieved through multiple strategies. If you have got great ideas, an enthusiastic mandate and a passion to succeed, you need to heed this one statement!

You will never achieve it without the help of others!

I can tell instinctively those that will succeed in their vision, because they are big enough on the inside to recognise their weaknesses, yet strong enough to manage them. That’s why synergy demands momentum and momentum needs a clear strategy.

Tony Mckeown is director of Coaching 4 life NZ and regularly travels the world speaking and motivating groups and conferences. His passion and personal mission statement in Life is “To bring a message of hope to a people of destiny”. Tony has authored many “How To” manuals along with regular weekly and monthly newsletters.

His services and free motivational downloads are available from his resource site http://www.coaching4life.net.nz

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INTRODUCTION

This article is used for discovering our needs from life, our desires for where we want to be and who we want to become. Remember life is not about finding out who we are but about creating who we want to become, the things we will leave behind with our team, our family and our friends.

FOR EVERYBODY?

You may or may not be suprised to hear that not everyone in this world is always aware of how they fit into their community or what they want to do with themselves. There are many people who have such amazing minds and can accomplish so many things yet they are never sure of what direction in life they would like to take.

From our studies of excellence and successful people we can see that each person who considers themselves to be successful and peaceful within themselves all have this outcome for who they want to be in life. In fact it goes a step further than that because they not only know who or what they want to become but they can describe it to you in explicit detail. They have images and sounds in their minds that accurately show them what they are going towards and with this they build a tenacious resolve deep inside to become this all successful human being. Even before they achieve their successes, on their way down the road to their various goals they experience comfort and total peace of mind as they are getting closer to that dream with every passing minute.

TRUE SUCCESS

Walter Disney is known as a famous cartoonist and for making Disney World and Disneyland. His dream was to become a cartoonist and he made his dream come true. Not only did it come true but DisneyWorld today is one of the most renowned and spectacular cartoon producers ever! That is the product of knowing your outcome. In fact not to long ago at a news conference a reporter asked representatives of DisneyWorld what they thought Walt would have said about Disney World today. Their reply was along the lines of - “What do you mean? He saw it first!”. They realised that it was all made possible because of one mans dream and in that dream he saw exactly what he was going to produce - his very own Disney World.

Another example of this is Bill Gates. From the very beginning Bill always knew his personal outcome. He wanted to come up with some software that would be used to run every computer in the entire world. Some dream! Did he make it come true? Well I think we can safely say yes he did because MS Dos and the Windows operating systems have been implemented on more than 95% of the worlds computers. How amazing is that? He didnt even come up with the software to begin with, he purchased the Dos system from IBM in the early days for little over 35, 000 dollars and now hes the richest man alive. That is some by-product of one teenagers dream.

STRATEGY

However, before we can see our lifes dream come around like our friends Walt Disney and Bill Gates, there is a need to establish what our desired outcome really is. Where do we want to be? Who do we want to become? What is it in life that is really that important to us? We need an answer to these questions to grow in life, its vital to have direction in order to feel fulfilment and real satisfaction in your life.

So lets get to the specifics, how can we know and begin to develop our outcome? In order for us to look at what your personal outcome is for your life and who you want to become you need to think about your desires for life and what you believe is a must have/be or what is a could have/be. To start thinking along these lines, do the following exercise with a pen and paper and see what you can come up with.

1. Remember back to when you were young and when you were just starting to realise that your life is yours and you can direct it any way you like. Remember the times that the adults in your life would ask you what you would like to do when you grow up. What was your answer? At the age of 7 or 8 what did you want to do when you became a grown up? Think about it for a moment and see that small you thinking “Hmmm, what would I like to do?”.

In your minds eye bring that image of what you wanted to do up close and make it bright and colourful, really see what it was that you wanted to do. Take your time, for some this does not come easy. Once you have a large bright image of what you wanted to do in your minds eye, think about what that job or role would have meant about you as a person. For example would it show you to be caring, intelligent, humble or would it show you to love people or that you are explorative and open minded? Take some time to list the things that this job you wanted to do would say about you as a person.

Once you have a list of things written down, think how many other pursuits in life could lead to having the same fundamental characteristics as the job you desired when you were younger. What else could you do to become that person that you always wanted to become? How else can you achieve your lifes desires and goals and to truly feel fulfilled in yourself? To add more juice to the things coming into your mind right now try going through the second step in creating a well defined outcome for your life.

2. Now is the time to really let go and be silly. Use your imagination in this step like you have never used it before. Dont allow beliefs about how the world really works stop you from exploring every avenue of life in this exercise.

What I want you to do now is to imagine that everything you do in your life from now on will be 100% totally successful. Nothing will ever fail for you from this point onwards in your life. Now from this position of power, make a list of as many different things you would like to accomplish. What would you do, would you buy a yatch and sail the world? Would you find a cure to a fatal disease? Would you make it your mission to move towards world peace? Would you burn all your clothes and get a new wardrobe and become a new person, an excelling person who loves his/her life? Write down all the things that you would like to do if everything you did was totally successful. List them all and leave nothing out. Nothing is too silly or mad or impossible for this exercise. What would you do? Think about it. Write it down.

3. So by now you should have two lists and be able to see yourself doing them in your minds eye very vividly and colourful and bright. If not just spend some time looking over the lists and practice seeing yourself already accomplishing the things noted down. Notice how the pictures look in your mind and how that makes you feel.

4. In this step you need to go through your lists and pick out just 5 things that will affect your life for the better. That will move you towards your goal of who you want to become and give you the results you truly deserve. Carefully consider each item and weigh up the time lines before committing to it as a goal for your life. Select just 5 things so that you can give complete time and energy and remain focused on pursuing your lifes outcome.

This four step process will enable us to identify the meaning of who we want to become and give us the images in our minds of what life will be like when we have accomplished them. There are some important factors when establishing our lifes outcome which need to be addressed if we are to remain juiced about it or stay motivated about it through the duration of acquiring the changes and the desired results. These factors can easily be remembered as follows:

i) Stated positively in terms of what we want. The human mind does not comprehend negatives. What do I mean by this? Well for example try not noticing the sensation in your stomach right now, or try not thinking of the colour blue. Its pretty much impossible because you first have to know what it is you are not thinking about the then replace it with something else. The human mind works using positives so dont state goals such as I dont want to smoke anymore. Rather state something like I want to become a healthy vibrant individual with lots of energy and passion for life. Stating it this way and using this to form your images of your desired results will drastically increase your chances of achieving your lifes outcome.

ii) Described in sensory based language. Now that we have stated our outcome in positive language we can now ask “What will I see, hear and feel when I have my outcome?”. Doing this will help us to realise when we have fully realised our desires for our life. Close your eyes briefly and see the pictures of what it will be like when you achieve your desired outcome. Listen carefully to your surroundings as you realise your goal and see how that makes you feel inside. Doing this will setup your nervous system to continually look forward to achieving the goals and drives you towards them until achieved.

iii) Self initiated and self controlled. Although you can control your own mind and emotions you cannot control those of others. So, for example, it would be futile to base outcomes on changing your spouse or parent(s). You must be in control of your desired outcome and only you can know how and when to achieve it.

iv) Appropriately contextualized. We need to build our outcomes for our lives so that it fits into all the appropriate areas of our lives. If we over generalize our outcomes we may find that they are inappropriate in some areas in our lifes. Think about when, where and with who you wish to have this outcome. Do you want it in all places and without limitations?

v) Maintain appropriate secondary gain. All of our present behaviour provides us with some positive values and outcomes. It may not always be obvious but there will always be a positive intention behind the behaviour for example a smoker will get some positive feedback from the experience of a smoke despite its destructiveness on the body. You need to ensure that your outcome would be desirable in your entire ecology or system. For example ask yourself what would you loose if you achieved your goals? Would you loose any personal time for yourself? Would it hinder your relationships with your family? Would you have to give up anything that you feel is important to have your success?

vi) Build the needed resources. To have any desired outcome we need resources. If someone cannot clearly imagine themselves having the outcome it is often an indication that they do not have all the require resources. What do you have now and what do you require to achieve your goals? Have you or anyone else you know ever done this before? Where can you find more information regarding your specific sensory based and well defined outcome?

vii) Ecology check. In order to achieve anything in life you need to ensure that it fits your entire system, your family, your work, your friends. Does it fit who you are or who you want to become? Ask the following questions and think about your answers before committing to the results you desire: What will happen if you get it? What wont happen if you get it? What will happen if you dont get it? What wont happen if you dont get it?

CELEBRATE

By now you should have a well defined, sensory based and ecologically sound outcome for your life. You already knew deep inside what you wanted but perhaps it has never been an appropriate time to think about it like this before. Now you should go and celebrate. Congratulate yourself and start dreaming about how you are going to start your journey to building a new, totally satisfied and truly peaceful you.

If you require any further help, please take the time to look through our other articles as they cover a wide variety of issues and they are free. We just want you to achieve your best and we know you are more then the sum of your parts. We also have personal life coaches for those who are interested in taking their life to the next step.

About The Author

Chris Ulliott is a personal success strategist and master practitioner of Neuro Linguistic Programming. He has many experiences in life that have helped him develop an attitude of total success. Now he wants to share it with his friends. Come to http://www.happiestpeople.com to find out more!

Chris@happiestpeople.com

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Unwanted feelings and thoughts are rich territory to dive beneath the surface for fresh insights that open the heart. Imagine for a moment that you are floating along on the ocean of feelings unwilling to accept that the choppy waves to your left signify anger. If you put on snorkeling gear and dive under them, you will see a whole new world.

Beneath the anger you will most likely find a hurt or a fear. Complete the following sentences with yourself:

• Each time I think of __________I get angry.

• If I feel this anger, I’m afraid that ___________.

• When I feel this anger, I am hurt about __________.

Remember, avoid assigning personal meaning to these feelings. (I’m such a terrible person for feeling and thinking this way.) Just swim around with your snorkel securely in place, investigation the fear and hurt that lies beneath the anger.

Surface briefly and reflect about the role your anger plays. Here are a few possibilities:

• Anger is a shield that protects a part of me that feels afraid or hurt.

• Anger is a red flag alerting me to the presence of fear of hurt.

• Anger is a messenger. A part inside must feel afraid or hurt.

Now take a deep breath and dive again, looking next to the fear or hurt for a judgement it may have spawned, such as the following:

• If people knew I was afraid they would reject me.

• I’m pathetic for being afraid of this.

• Feeling hurt is weak and foolish.

• Because I feel hurt I am unworthy of love.

Chronic reactive angry responses can disrupt relationships, derail important business deals, and cause high blood pressure. Unexpected fear can freeze us in mid-sentence, hold us back from speaking our truth.

The heart - the energetic center of acceptance and loving - shuts down when you adopt black and white thinking. Desperately needing to stay in control of life and make sense of the world, you resort to rejecting what you see as wrong (bad, inappropriate, immoral) and cling to what you see as right (good, appropriate, moral).

When the heart opens, making sense of the world is not as important as being happy, finding lasting peace, feeling healthy and stress free, and getting a good night’s sleep. Restraining from taking a position about the world, other’s behavior, your performance at work allows the heart to thaw out revealing depths of information that quiets fear and loosens the grip of control. You then can live authentically rather than self-righteously.

Questions for Letting Go of Black/White Thinking:

1. If I am judging my husband/wife/boss/ friend do I also judge myself in the same way?

2. Am I condemning my mistakes or lack of perfection because I am afraid of failing or being seen as a failure?

3. Do I judge anger (fear, sadness, caring, loving) as wrong in others because I see it as wrong in myself?

4. Do certain people get on my nerves because I’m afraid their behavior resembles my own?

5. If I want to be happy rather than right in this situation, what do I need to accept and forgive in myself?

Snorkeling can open the mind to what is really going on in your ocean of feelings. But only self-acceptance can uncover these truths and open the heart.

© 2003, Rebecca Skeele, Author, Coach, Counselor

You may publish this article on your website or for personal use as long as the article remains unchanged and the signature file is included. Notification of use is appreciated.

About The Author

New Strategies for Living Well
Rebecca Skeele, MA, MSS
Author, Coach, Speaker
“expand your vision - change your life”
BK: You Can Make It Heaven
(505) 984-1739
http://www.makeitheaven.com
rebecca@makeitheaven.com

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The most critical attribute for realizing our dreams is integrity. In a conversation about dreams, integrity is essential and can be summarized this way: Say what you mean and mean what you say. Honor your word and agreements and you will be living with integrity, where dreams really do come true.

Simple, yes, but not always easy. Vastly overscheduled, often the person it’s most difficult to keep our commitments with, is yourself. As you practice upholding your values, you are given opportunities to show up or to sell out. When you are challenged, do you lose sight of what matters to you? Do you have an internal pulse, a set of conscious principles that you live your life by?

If you are committed to a life of joy and abundance, filled with love, generosity and contribution, integrity is a must. Integrity creates trust and accountability. Surrounded by crowds, you can feel lonely if you’re not true to yourself. Without integrity, you can have great wealth and still feel worthless. And lacking integrity, you won’t trust yourself or have faith in your dreams.

When we leave things unresolved or incomplete, we are out of integrity. You can recognize something as incomplete by how you feel about it. Is the matter settled? Do you worry about it? How is it impacting other areas of your life? When you are complete with something you don’t even think about it. There is no agitation or energy wasted.

It’s up to you to decide if something is incomplete or not, but it’s difficult to focus on future dreams when you are consumed by your past. Incompletions can be notorious and contagious as one leads to another. Buried under burdensome annoyances we can feel lost, afraid or confused. Take Jake for instance. He didn’t pay his taxes for two years. The IRS put a lien on his assets, so he was labelled a bad credit risk. He couldn’t buy a house or rent an apartment. Eventually he lost his credit cards. He was caught in a downward spiral that also undermined his confidence and self esteem.

Linda let her parking tickets pile high and never got around to paying them. She became afraid to drive her car because she might get towed. Concerned about driving to work, she eventually lost her job. A small detail led to a bigger concern, which led to an even worse problem.

Carol had a room in her home that she called the “black hole,” filled with incomplete items. Since she and her husband were trying to sell their house, she knew it was time to tackle that project. She came up with a list of over one hundred “items to do.” They included returning things she had borrowed, writing letters, even mailing back an inexpensive bracelet she had stolen from her local drug store when she was a teenager. It took some time and effort, but with each item she handled, Carol felt lighter and freer. Within a few weeks of completing her list, they easily sold their house. Completion creates freedom.

First Steps

This powerful process of exploring what’s been left unsaid, undone or incomplete in your life is one of the most awesome things you can do to free yourself and have more access to your dreams. If undertaken to the best of your ability, this may be the most profound thing you have ever done.

Look at all these important areas and use this formula as a guide to scrutinize your life. The areas to explore (but are not limited to) include your body, mind, home, work, finance, and people (living and dead).

1. Write down what you feel incomplete about with anyone or anything.

2. List what you need to do to complete it.

3. Complete as many items as possible.

How do you complete something? You may need to write a letter or make a phone call. You may need to forgive someone or just declare “it’s over.” On some items, you might need to create a project plan or you might not even know yet. Just do your best to get rid of anything that is weighing you down.

Removing clutter will give you greater clarity and energy for the things that are important to you. As you complete what you can, feelings of pride, accomplishment, and peace of mind, can motivate you to take on even the tough things. Free to move forward, now you can tap into the flow of life. The more your life is in order, the faster and easier your ability to manifest dreams will become. It’s just that simple.

Marcia Wieder is a best-selling author and speaker who is known as America’s Dream Coach®. She’s known for giving inspiring and moving talks to AT&T, The Gap and American Express. She appeared several times on Oprah and The Today Show. She’s also a syndicated columnist for The San Francisco Chronicle. For more information, to receive a free audio e-book, “Jump Start Your Dream”, or to join her community of Dreamers, visit http://www.dreamcoach.com. Come Experience a Powerful Weekend Designed to Help You Exceed Your Expectations & Achieve Your Dreams, visit http://www.dreamcoach.com/dream_weekend.htm to register for the event.

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According to the Web site Gambling911, revenues for casino and online poker are down thus far in October, primarily due to the bad state of the world economy. The problem may be driven by fears of a recession and job loss or it could be that online poker rooms are having a tougher time this month with processing new signups, the site reports.

Gambling has long been considered a “recession proof” industry. That may still be the case with web-based gambling, but Las Vegas was hit early on in the crisis with a number of casino companies realizing substantial losses. The problem with Vegas could very well have stemmed from the high price of gas. Escalating fuel costs also resulted in airline fare increases as well as reduced flight schedules in and out of Las Vegas.

Some players have taken note of the reduced numbers taking part in poker games at the Borgata in Atlantic City. In Europe, the online gambling arm of brick and mortar businesses was expected to help some of Great Britain’s biggest bookmakers weather the recession that has already cast a dark cloud over that nation.

It will be interesting to see if this trend continues if the world economy remains in a slow state.

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