Students Of Success

Trees and shrubs can have many different forms, for example many conifers are conical, pyramidal, or powerfully vertical. Some are prostrate and spreading. To some degree these are scented and everyone is familiar with the scent of pine, but it is only if you rub or brush against the tree, which can be a prickly experience! Weeping trees have a very attractive romantic form and scented varieties include weeping Cercidiphyllum (Katsura Tree) Pendulum, which is quite spectacular. It has thrilling color in the fall and is scented like caramel. Also the weeping Silver Lime is an attractive choice for scented gardening. A shrub that looks like a small tree is Buddleja Alternifolia, and it has lovely flowers with the scent of honey in early summer.

Trees can affect the character of a garden and all gardens, however small, should have at least one. They make such a strong outline against the background and the sky. A number of conifers have scented needles, such as juniper and cypresses. Some of them have slender columnar forms which are used in gardening to create a formal or contemporary feel. The more spreading, horizontal conifers like Cedar of Lebanon, (scented of blackcurrant in summer weather), Blue Atlas Cedar or Scots Pine, create a less formal look for a gardening design, but still have a distinct aura of grandeur about them.

Primarily we tend to choose trees and shrubs as gardening subjects because they fit architecturally into a given space. Scent is often the last criterion we would use to select a large feature such as this. Trees and shrubs are such significant gardening features that eventual size and the shade cast may be of more importance than scent. Shade is desirable to some degree, but if trees and shrubs are so big and planted on the southern side of a garden they may cast everything into gloom! Scented blossoms may be considered a bonus in gardening terms once the other considerations have been met.

For low, formal hedging you really can’t beat the neatness of Box. It is not as fast growing as privet. If your idea of gardening is about clipped topiary, Box is ideal for designs such as Box Balls or Pyramids on the simpler level up to Elephant, Peacock and Teddy Bear shapes for the more experienced topiarist. Low box hedging can bring a formal look to your gardening, even if other areas are less so: it can bring the garden “into line” so to speak, by creating straight lines of dense green. Of course you can make a curved hedge from it too. One of its less attractive features is its smell, but that is a matter of personal taste. For me it smells too strongly of cat’s urine! I experience this pungent odour every time I walk by it, but many people learn to live with or even love it simply by associating it with happy summer days pottering around gardening. If you really can’t handle the smell then consider using Lonicera Nitida instead. This shrubby honeysuckle has sweet, fruity cream-colored flowers.

Trees and shrubs can of course be used to make a windbreak screen. In order to create the still, sheltered micro climate in which other scented plants can thrive, this may be essential, depending on the situation of your plot. Trees and shrubs can make better windbreaks than walls, as they don’t offer the wind a “full stop” barrier which the wind can then leap over and cause problems due to eddying on the other side. If your region is reasonably mild for gardening, Eucalyptus can grow very fast to create an instant hedge or tree in a selected spot. They have beautifully minty-scented foliage, flowers with the scent of honey, and are fast growers. They can be hard pruned if you don’t mind a modicum of gardening, especially if you don’t want them to grow so big and if you want to keep the prettier, juvenile blue leaves coming back year on year.

A number of gardening writers seem to ignore trees and shrubs when they write about scented gardening; perhaps small and pretty annuals spring to mind or of course roses. In fact a huge amount of scent can be generated from gardening with trees and shrubs. Trees and shrubs can give such a variety of powerful scents that it is a shame that most of us don’t have the space to use more of them in our gardens. The architectural effect of trees and shrubs is undeniable.

Dianne Davies is a keen gardener who likes to share her knowledge. She runs her own half acre garden in Norfolk as well as websites which include - http://www.gardening-world.com and http://www.gardening-notebook.blogspot.com

Why is it that very few traders succeed in the Forex trading environment while the grand majority of traders fail to achieve success? Although there is no hard answer to this question, there are a few things that will put you one step ahead and will definitely put the odds in your favor.

The main purpose of this article is to guide you through some important aspects of Forex trading. But in a different way, instead of telling you what to do or the best way to do it, it will tell you what to avoid. Sometimes it is better to identify the main drawbacks on a discipline and then isolate them so we have the best results at a certain level of development.

The search for the Holy Grail
Many traders spend years and years trying to find the Holy Grail of trading. That magic indicator or set of indicators, only known by a few traders, that will make them rich in a short period of time.
Fact: Well, there is no magic indicator, nor a set of indicators that will make anyone rich in a short period of time. The main reason of this is because market changes, every single moment is unique. Every Forex trading system will fail from time to time. Our work here is to find a Forex trading system that fits our personality as traders, otherwise the trader will find it hard to follow it.

Looking for Easy Money
Unfortunately most traders are attracted to the Forex market for this reason. Mainly because of the publicity showing or rather trying to show how easy is to trade and make money in the Forex market.
Fact: Yes, it is very easy to trade, anyone can do it. It is as hard as one click. But the second part of it isn’t that easy. Making money or achieving consistent profitable results is hard. It requires lots of education, patience, discipline, commitment, and this list could go to infinite. In a few words, it is possible to have consistent profitable results, but definitely it is not easy.

Looking for Excitement
Some other traders are attracted to the Forex market or any other financial market because they think it is exciting to be a trader.
Fact: Yes, it is very exciting to trade the Forex market. But if this is the main reason you are still trading the Forex market, sooner or later you will discover the most expensive adventure you have ever known. Do some thinking on it.

Not Using Money Management.
Most traders forget about this important aspect of trading. They think they shouldn’t be using money management until they achieve consistent profitable results. They totally forget about the risk side of trading.
Fact: Money management allows your profits to increase geometrically, but also limits your risk on every single trade. Money management tells you how much to risk on each trade. Using money management is a must if you want to achieve your trading goals. By using money management you make sure you are going to be able to trade tomorrow, the next week, month and the following years.

Not Being Psychology Tuned
This is one of the most underestimated subjects when it comes to trading. One of the main principles of financial markets is that the price of each instrument is based on the perception of each individual participant “the crowd.” In other words the price of each instrument is determined by the fear, greed, ego and hope of all traders.
Fact: Being aware of all psychological issues that affect the decisions made by traders will definitely put the odds in your favor.

Lack of Education
Education is the base of knowledge on every discipline. As lawyers and doctors require several years of college until they get their degree, Forex traders also require long years of study. It is better to have someone experienced to guide you through your trading, since some information could take you in the wrong path.
Fact: The market teaches us invaluable lessons on every single trade made. The process of education for a Forex trader could take for ever. That’s right, we never stop learning. We should be humble about the markets and our knowledge; otherwise the market will prove us wrong.

These are some of the most important barriers every trader faces when trying to trade successfully.

Trading successfully the Forex markets is no easy task, it requires a lot of hard work to do it right, but with the right education, you will put yourself closer to your trading goals.

Raul Lopez is a full time Forex trader and founder of www.straightforex.com a high quality Forex training and Forex trading course provider.

Copyright 2006 Bill Naugle

To maximize your website traffic through the search engines you
need to focus on the Big3!

What or who are the Big3? They are Google. MSN and Yahoo search.
This article will take you through these three search engines
and what you can expect from them in terms of achieving results
both in a short term, as well as a long term basis.

As a search engine, Google still continues to dominate, with
Yahoo and MSN the next two choices for people utilizing the
search market. While in general Google is a clear leader as
first preference for internet users when trying to find
something of interest on the internet, this is not necessarily
in all categories. In some categories you will find the website
traffic coming from MSN and Yahoo search is considerably more
than Google.

So it is important when optimizing your website to target not
just Google but all of the Big3 (Google, MSN, and Yahoo).

Some of our websites have achieved top 10 rankings and first
place positions for main keywords in MSN whereas Google can take
up to 3 times as long by comparison.

While the Googlebot will pick up a new website quickly, usually
only a business name will achieve high ranking quickly, not your
main keywords. Often new websites listed in Google’s search
results will not achieve high rankings for many months, and for
very competitive key words six months plus. In saying that
Google loves unique content; so for websites that are not in
such a competitive market and providing something new and
different, top 10 rankings can be achieved within a month or two.

Due to the amount of time it takes to achieve these ranking it
is important that your website is always monitored and keywords
are tracked on a regular basis to ensure you are keeping ahead
of your competitors. Continual optimization of your website may
be necessary to ensure that not only do you achieve top rankings
in the first place, but that you maintain them.

Note: Using a professional search engine marketing company like
Quantum Web Solutions will benefit you considerably towards
achieving these rankings. We also know various techniques that
help drive traffic to your website much sooner.

The BIG3

Google Search : For those that monitor their website statistics
(which is highly recommended if you want to ensure your website
is doing well) you will notice that the Google spider can visit
your website within as soon as a day of your website being
launched for the first time. However, unless your website
provides something new or unique, at this current time* it is
highly unlikely you will achieve high rankings for anything
other than your business name in a short period of time.

It is also possible there may be keywords that attain higher
rankings, but if they are competitive keywords in a competitive
market then this will be very unlikely. If you are offering a
service or product that is new and/or unique, then you will
certainly have more opportunity to achieve these high rankings
as Google loves new content.

For very competitive markets you can look at up to six months
plus to see your keywords bringing in the desired search engine
traffic you are looking for. In these instances if you need to
bring in traffic quickly, we suggest setting up a pay-per-click
campaign. There are also other sources that can help bring in
traffic to your site sooner than this, which we are able to
provide as part of our services.

For new and/or unique website offerings, Google will give high
rankings faster for a couple of reasons:

1. It is the opportunity to provide something new to the WWW.

2. There is less competition so there are not as many search
results to compete against; therefore if your website is
properly optimized achieving high rankings will be much easier
and faster.

MSN Search : MSN is generally much faster in not only picking up
a new website and listing it, but also if your website is
properly optimized it is possible to achieve high rankings in
the MSN search results in less than a month, even in markets
that are relatively competitive. This is by no means guaranteed,
but I have seen this happen on many occasions.

So while generally MSN search will not always bring you the same
volume of traffic that Google search will; it does have the
advantage over Google that in the short term it will drive more
visitors to your website. Yahoo Search : While Yahoo Search can
bring a steady flow of traffic into your website; the challenge
lies in being listed in the first place with them. I have seen
websites picked up by the yahoo spider and listed within a
month, but these are rare occasions. Normally it can take at
least three months if not more for Yahoo to visit your website
in the first place, no matter what techniques are used. Once
Yahoo search picks a website up however, it does not take very
long for a website to achieve good rankings and to start driving
traffic to a website.

There are many different search engines out there, but many of
them feed their results directly from one of the Big3. By
focusing most of your search engine marketing efforts around
these three, you are highly likely to see website traffic coming
in from other search engines.

For anyone that is new to search engine marketing, the process
of achieving high listings for your business may seem daunting.
However with the right approach and focus it won’t be long
before you see string results coming not just from the Big3
search engines, but many other sources on the web.

- As the Search Engine market is constantly evolving, so too are
the way search engines list websites in their results.
Websiterankingtop.com

A debt consolidation loan is taken out when the borrower finds it difficult to meet his debt obligations. This happens when the borrower has taken out too many loans or he has taken out loans at very high rates of interest. Credit cards charge very high rates of interest. Unpaid credit card bills lead to severe debt problem. This situation may even lead to default or bankruptcy. Both default and bankruptcy hampers the borrower’s chances of getting a fresh loan. Even if he manages to obtain a loan, he is charged a very high rate of interest.

Debt consolidation can help you reduce your debt burden. You can consolidate your debt by taking out a low rate loan and using it to repay your existing high rate loans and unpaid credit card bills. A low rate of interest also reduces the amount of your monthly payments. Moreover, repaying your loan to a single lender makes it easy for you to manage your debt.

However, this is just a theoretical aspect of debt consolidation. In practice, you may not be able to take advantage of debt consolidation. The rate of interest of the debt consolidation should be low enough to help you reduce your interest burden. Moreover, you must also take into consideration the early repayment penalty on your existing loan. Otherwise, it will nullify the advantage of replacing it with a low rate consolidation loan. To get a low rate debt consolidation loan, you should shop around and compare the interest rates offered by various lenders.

There are several organizations available to help you consolidate your debt. One of them is the Citizens Advice Bureau. The organization has several experts who can help you reduce your debt burden. PayPlan is another organization that can help you consolidate your debt. The company negotiates with lenders and asks them to consider reducing the interest rates.

Prevention is better than cure. Once you become debt free, try not to fall into the debt trap again. Do not get tempted to buy things on credit. Take out a loan only when there is an urgent need for it. Whenever you take out a loan, make sure that you are in a position to repay the loan.

The author is a business writer specializing in finance and credit products and has written authoritative articles on the finance industry. He has done his masters in Business Administration and is currently assisting Shakespeare Finance as a finance specialist.

For more information visit our site http://www.debt-consolidation-park.co.uk

Getting married is a big step. It is the day that girls dream of as the most momentous event of their lives. Preparations fall on the bride to ensure that this becomes a special day.

A perfect wedding – every bride’s dream come true. For many girls, kissing with a backdrop of a beautiful sunset is the best, or a horse-drawn carriage stopping at a castle, or maybe even an exotic ceremony made special by a native tradition. However the wedding may be, some may require that very special venue, albeit overseas.

Weddings held within the community are not easy as it is, but why sell yourself short on this momentous occasion? Why not go for a special destination? The ambiance and the romanticism of the affair will make it a wedding to remember and that should be worth it. Besides, “destination weddings” could end up costing less by making it more intimate with just the couple, immediate family members and a few close friends.

So what do you do? Where do you start?

Start with yourself. What kind of wedding do you want? Do you want to be married in a castle, at the beach, at a hilltop, in a world-famous cathedral or in a renowned garden? Once you’ve decided on the kind of venue you want, you can choose the best country where you can find these venues.

The oldest cathedrals in the world are found in Europe. The basic element of cathedral weddings is the strict adherence to traditional Christian precepts – minimum age requirement, parental guidance, certificates of baptism of the bride and the groom, a white gown for the bride and a ceremony that should include a liturgy. Aside from these, other aspects – grand choir, lengthy entourage, and flambouyant church decors – are all optional.

For gardens, beaches, hilltops, castles and other venues, the list of requirements vary depending on the country.

The first thing to do is to get as much information about weddings in the venue. This can be done online. Websites and brochures will normally have a list of what is required. If the place is a national treasure, your local embassy would have this too.

There will also be paperwork to do and you’ll need to take care of legal matters. Gather all the papers you will need – birth certificates, passports, proofs of identity, etc. Make copies of everything.

You have to make sure of the requirements for the validity of the wedding ceremony in the country of your choice. Coordinate with your own consulate in that country for guidelines. Also, determine if the country requires a minimum residency period for people who get married there, and keep that in mind when making the preparations.

As for your list of guests, you will have to be firm about this. Many people will want the chance to travel, so choose well.

Once you’ve decided what you want, you can begin to shop for a wedding coordinator in that country to do all the work for you. Or you can opt to coordinate yourself and enjoy the thrills of getting into the details. Either way, you are just beginning the exciting journey to being married.

Good luck!

Tom Takihi is the proud owner of the Discovery Network. For more information on this topic, please visit the dedicated portal: www.DiscoverWeddings.info

There seems to be a lot of confusion between logos and business identities. As
a small business owner it’s important that you identify what your logo
or business identity is supposed to do for you, and what result you intend on
getting from having it designed. Below are two lists that compare side
by side what you can expect from a logo and from a business identity.
This all comes down faith and belief in yourself and your company. Business owners
that invest in a business identity know they have a good business model
and want to invest in their future success. Conversely, logo-purchasing
business owners aren’t confident or self-assured that they’ll be in business all
that long. Business identity clients see their money going towards an
investment; logo clients see their project as a risk and an expense.

One last note, logo-purchasing clients who do survive past two years typically end up investing more time and money redoing their business image (and that includes discarding all of the old collateral materials that feature the old logo).

My advice: if you have confidence in your ability to sustain and grow your business,
and you intend on being around more than 2 years - make the investment. I
promise you that you’ll be glad you did. If you aren’t sure about how
things are going to turn out, consider holding off on a business image until you
see it as an investment rather than an expense.

A logo:
1. Quick fix solution so you have something to put on your business card.

2. Logos are pumped out with no thought to the company; it’s ideal target market, nice or competitive landscape. In fact, a designer can create a logo without ever having met the client.

3. A typeface, icon and color scheme chosen at random, or just what looked cool that day

4. A symbol that at worst looks like clip art, at best it’s passable

5. The logo won’t make you feel much different about your company at all. In fact you may find yourself making excuses like, “I am having that redone”, “That’s just something I threw together”, or “I am going to have that redesigned next month”.

6. Logos can actually make you more apprehensive about networking, promoting and selling your business since you are not comfortable or confident in your business image. Having a logo, particularly a poor one, adds anxiety to people.

7. Logos add confusion and worry when it comes to reproducing them. Not having standard PMS colors and not the right file formats for professional printers can cost a huge amount of time and stress. Your logo may work on a t-shirt or banner, but then again it may not.

8. Logos separate you from the competition in your mind.

9. Better hope you don’t have any questions or concerns, there is no support.

A Business Identity:
1. Designed to be placed on every marketing and collateral material for as long as you own your business.

2. Based on in-depth questions, and gathering a fair amount of research. Business identities are based on research rather than guesswork.

3, A true reflection of your personality, the message you want to send to clients and your vision.

4. A symbol of yourself that you are proud to share with your family, customers and competitors

5. Makes you feel confident about your business. The business identity will make you feel like you are able to compete with bigger and more established companies.

6. It’s been proven time and time again that business owners that have invested in a Business Identity over a logo will lose their apprehension about promoting their business and sell it more effectively and aggressively. This turns into additional clients and revenue.

7. Business identities give you peace of mind knowing that you will have the right file format for every situation. You never have to worry if you have the right format. You’ll also get consistent results every time with Pantone colors assigned to every color in your Business Identity.

8. Business identities separate you from the competition in your client’s mind.

9. Don’t worry; if you have a question or concern, support is always available for you.

If you’re looking for a logo, well we might not be the right fit, but I know Kinko’s can do one for you in about the same time it would take to have a pizza delivered.

About Jeremy:
I help small businesses build more confidence and credibility into their business brand. Through marketing and design initiatives; I help you feel better about your company. Making you feel good about your business gives you more confidence and less anxiety when you are networking, promoting or selling your business. If your business needs the reliability and talent of an in-house marketing and design department but doesn’t want additional employees, salaries and benefits, give me a call at 480.391.0704 - I have a new approach for you.

If you are looking for more free insight and inspiration, you’ll want to get in on the “Can-Do Confidence Builder”. Emailed weekly, the Confidence Builder provides you with essential marketing and design insights that help you get the most out of your investment and help you to stay one step ahead of the competition. Email me at comments@candographics.com and asked to be added to our list or visit http://www.candographics.com

Many household products can function well in areas quite different from their initial intended uses. Here are a few examples:

Icy Steps?
If you live in an area that freezes during the winter, here’s a tip for keeping your front steps from getting icy. Just take a bowl of hot water, add a few drops of Dawn dishwashing liquid to it. Once you’ve poured that mixture over the steps, they won’t freeze again. (Of course, this trick may work with other dishwashing liquids, as well. You’ll need to do some experimenting to find that out for yourself.)

Is your roof growing?
Sprinkling powdered laundry detergent on your roof can kill moss, but it won’t kill other things, even when the next rain leeches it down the downspout during the next summer shower. If you happen to see bubbling at the bottom of your downspouts, don’t panic. It’s just the detergent being washed off the roof, and it’s generally harmless to the environment.

Budding Artists?
If your children have decided to use the bedroom walls to create their latest crayon masterpieces, you’ll get excellent results by dipping a damp rag into baking soda and then using that mixture to scrub it off. It won’t be easy, but you can do it–assuming you’re willing to work at it–and it’s cheaper than repainting the room.

Along those same lines, if your kids should use appliances or kitchen countertops as canvases for artwork instead of their bedroom walls, and their medium of choice is permanent marker, you’ll find that dipping a paper towel in rubbing alcohol will take it off. Like the walls, this mixture needs to be combined with a liberal dose of elbow grease.

Sticky Price Tags?
Another commercial product that’s found in most people’s homes, WD-40, can serve double duty as a cleaner, as well. It can be used it to remove the pesky glue that’s so hard to get off when you peel labels or price tags off of plastic items. Just spray it on and rub it back off. It works like a charm, without harming the plastic itself.

Streaky Windows?
Here’s a tip for washing windows: if you’re washing both the inside and outside, try using vertical strokes for one side of the window and horizontal ones for the other. That way, you’ll instantly be able to tell which side a streak is one. Instead of expensive window cleaners, you can use vinegar for outside windows. Using old sheets of newspaper also can minimize streaking. When you decide to tackle the window washing chore, do it on a cloudy day. You’ll experience less streaking and less frustration, because the windows won’t dry as quickly when the sun isn’t blazing down.

Copyright © 2006 Jeanette J. Fisher

Achieve that interior designer’s high-end look for less. Jeanette Joy Fisher teaches five ways to makeover your home for happiness. Free interior design info: www.designpsych.com

San Jose, Costa Rica – May 2, 2006 – WagerWeb.com, one of the Internet’s largest sports betting sites, posted odds today for the trial outcomes of the Duke Lacrosse team players Collin Finnerty and Reade Sleigmann. Earlier this month, Wagerweb.com was the first to post odds on the number of DNA matches that investigators would make in the case. Though no matches were made, the prosecution still indicted two players and now bettors will have the chance to predict outcomes for their trials.

“Our customers have called and e-mailed us, requesting these odds be available to them during the trials. They are very interested in the outcome for these cases,” says Dave Johnson, CEO of WagerWeb.com. He continues, “Our customers like to bet on what they see and hear on television, and this case has no shortage of media attention and hype.”

Finnerty and Sleigmann are accused of first-degree rape, first-degree sex offense and first-degree kidnapping. The odds ask bettors if either of the men will be convicted of one, two or all three counts as well as the option to pick not-guilty on all three counts or a mistrial. Payouts for each player are as follows:

Guilty on all 3 counts …..+100 (Risk $100 to win $100)

Guilty on 2 counts …..+200 (Risk $100 to win $200)

Guilty on 1 count …..+300 (Risk $100 to win $300)

Not Guilty on all 3 counts …..-200 (Risk $200 to win $100)

Mistrial …..+800 (Risk $100 to win $800)

Note: All bets have action when trial commences. If for any reason this does not go to trial all bets are deemed no action.

WagerWeb.com, founded in 1997, is a privately held, offshore online gaming company, fully licensed and located in San Jose, Costa Rica. With almost 10 years of experience, innovation and gaming technology, Wagerweb.com features a sportsbook, a racebook and casino and has accepted more than 50,000,000 wagers since the company’s launch.

There are many joys to being a new parent. Most new parents will agree, however, that one of the less then pleasant aspects of having a newborn is in dealing with the baby’s sleep habits.

A newborn baby will, of course, want to sleep a lot, which is completely natural. The difficult thing, though, is that the child needs to learn to sleep on his or her own.

Until your newborn learns to go to sleep on his own, you will spend many sleepless nights tending to him when he wakes in the night.

Good baby sleep tips involve developing a routine with your newborn at a young age, which helps ease the transition into more adult sleep habits.

It can be tempting, when dealing with a newborn, to succumb to the habit of allowing the baby to dictate his or her own sleeping habits entirely.

As much as is reasonable, you should try to avoid this, and instead try and establish a routine in which your baby sleeping habits begin to mimic those of the rest of the household.

Developing a routine for your baby’s sleep should follow two different tracts: first, you should be putting your baby to sleep in the same fashion each and every night.

A typical routine would involve a feeding and changing, combined with some time for play. You should put your child to sleep at a point where he is tired, but still aware of what’s going on.

In this way, you establish the precedent that he falls asleep on his own, without you holding him or being in the room. This is crucial to ensuring better sleep habits for him down the road.

The second thing is to try and mold your baby’s sleep habits.

For example, you should discourage extensive napping throughout the day, as that increases the chance that the baby will be unable to sleep throughout the night.

In a similar fashion, if he sleeps in too late during the morning hours, you should rouse him.

No parent wants to interfere with their baby’s sleeping habits too extensively, and it is natural to want to avoid having to wake your baby up when he is sleeping, or to prevent him from napping when he wishes to do so.

There are, however, subtler methods with which to direct your child’s sleep patterns. For example, when your baby naps, you should make sure that he does so in a brightly lit room - this ensures that he won’t nap for long periods of time, which will affect his nighttime sleep.

There tendency amongst parents to make their baby as comfortable as possible when napping, which is, of course, entirely natural.

But keep in mind that when you draw the curtains or turn out the light when your baby is napping, you are creating an environment where he is likely to nap for a long time, which isn’t really helpful.

In general, you should think of an overall plan to develop sleeping routines for your baby that are in sync with those of the rest of the household.

If you do this, you will find that not only your baby, but you yourself, will be getting a good night’s rest.

Drikus Botha is wellknown for his articles and e-courses.

You can subscribe to one of his free baby sleep tips e-courses right here

“…Slowly, slowly the wound to the soul begins to make itself felt, like a bruise, which only slowly deepens its terrible ache, till it fills all the psyche. And when we think we have recovered and forgotten, it is then that the terrible after-effects have to be encountered at their worst.”—D.H. Lawrence (Lady Chatterly’s Lover, 1928)

The eloquence of early twentieth century writers notwithstanding, today’s prose would probably lead to a quick internet link: PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder, twenty-first century terminology for delayed reaction to everything from school shootings to rape. My job as a Foreign Service officer had me working at our embassy in Saigon during the Vietnam War. After trying to survive for two years on the inside of war, PTSD and cancer manifested later on in my life, (1) from the emotionally shattering effects of the war itself, and (2) from a poisonous substance I thought little of at the time.

Since there is no history of breast cancer in my family, the logical conclusion was that my excessive exposure to Agent Orange or dioxin, the toxic defoliant used extensively in Vietnam was the culprit. FYI many returning GI’s suffered from cancer-related illnesses due to exposure to dioxin (see: www.ejnet.org/dioxin).

Because of strict curfews following the Tet Offensive, government civilians like me spent considerable time on the rooftops of our hotels. I had a front row seat to beautiful downtown Saigon and to American aircraft swooping and looping in the distance, spraying Agent Orange around the perimeter of the city. The herbicide dioxin was meant to kill the dense brush where the Viet Cong concealed themselves to fire their mortars at us. What we didn’t know was that the misty substance could kill us too.

I vividly remember the day I was first diagnosed with breast cancer by one of the most prominent specialists in Washington, D.C. Specifically, I remember his insensitive response to my initial reaction, the arrogant manner in which he bragged about how many mastectomies he’d performed in the past, and how quickly and easily he could “lop off” a part of my body that defined my womanhood. Scared, panicky and in tears, I fled his office and into the arms of a friend who recommended a physician more concerned with the well being of his patients than with his own god-like reputation.

Prior to the breast cancer detection I had also been experiencing severe migraine headaches and anxiety attacks. Like the D.H. Lawrence quote in my opening paragraph, emotional scars are deep and can be long lasting and destructive if we are acquiescent. Doctors had me on Valium for the anxiety; nothing helped the headaches. Then I discovered a meditative spiritual path that taught me about living in the present and looking within for the peace that does not exist anywhere else. I’ve learned that the past is past and there is nothing we can do to change it, the future is now and now is all there is while we are on this earth. I no longer need Valium and the headaches have lessened in frequency.

For the thousands of women who will be threatened with breast cancer, or any other physical or mental illness, here is my wish: For you to not panic, to be treated by the right healer for you and your temperament. Get opinions from different physicians, and when possible, contact other women who have had similar illnesses. The Reach to Recovery program (see internet) is a marvelous before and after source of information and therapy for breast cancer patients. Get spiritual guidance. Be grateful for all the good in your life. I am a survivor and you can be too.

Susan Scharfman
http://www.susanscharfman.com