Students Of Success

If your child is missing, time is of the essence! Take a deep
breath and try to remember the last place you saw your child. If
your child is missing from home, search the house quickly, check
the closets, basement, and laundry, under beds, where ever else
you think your child may crawl or hide. Check the doors and
windows, do you see any way somebody got in. Yell out their
name. Remember all this must be acted on as fast as possible! I
can’t stress that enough!

If you still cannot find your child, immediately call your
police department!

Be ready to have as much as possible details for the police. Try
not to panic as the police department will need your help .Grab
as much recent photos of your child as possible. They will need
to know vital information of your child. When you call the
police, provide your child’s name, child’s age, height, weight,
and any other unique identifiers such as eyeglasses and braces.
Tell them when you noticed that your child was missing and what
clothing he or she was wearing. Supply them with the photos and
if there is any signs of a break in.

Let them know of any possible reasons your child may be missing.
Where there any friends or strangers in the home before? Are you
going through custody problems? Many missing children are
abducted by family members or known people.

The best thing to do is prepare your kids to help prevent theses
situations. Let them know over and over. Don’t speak to
strangers. If you feel threatened let somebody know as soon as
possible. If you are grabbed, yell out loud for help! No one has
the right to touch, grab or force you to do anything that feels
wrong. Tell them to bite and fight as much as they can. Many
times these simple things will scare of a would be abductor.

Work is a process of growth and a source of happiness.
What kind of worker are you?

Part 1 of 6 parts

Work Versus Slavery

Do you enjoy your work? Are you effective? Are you able to attune yourself to your work environment? Are you able to put your creative self into what you do or do you feel like a slave, who is selling his or her soul for money?

WE CANNOT AVOID WORK

Work is the basic activity of our incarnated lives on this planet Earth. We cannot avoid activity. It is our nature. Even if we are independently wealthy and do not need to earn money, or have retired after many years of hard labor, our physical nature does not allow us to remain idle. We feel the need to do something. Whatever we do, from building a home to drawing a design, from cooking a meal to solving a crossword puzzle, from running a business to taking care of children, from shopping for groceries to solving mathematical equations, from teaching to gardening, it can be done consciously, creatively and joyously or it can be done begrudgingly, mechanically and unhappily.

Any act can be performed as an expression of the creative divine potential within or it can be performed as a mechanical act that must be done because we need the money, because someone is obliging us to do it, or because we are bored and want to be occupied.

Our work can be an opportunity for growth, self-knowledge and emotional, mental and spiritual evolution, or it can be an unconscious repetition of automatic movements while our minds are focused elsewhere or nowhere at all. Work can be an offering of love or it can be something we do just in order to get it done, or because we fear being rejected if we do not do it. It can be also something we do in order to gain attention, affirmation and acceptance from the others. There is a great difference between doing something with love and doing it to gain love from others. Work can also be an opportunity to perfect our abilities or concentration and physical dexterity to create something that nears perfection. It can also be something we do as quickly as possible, giving no attention whatsoever to the quality of what we are doing.

A LOVE OFFERING OR SLAVERY

Work is the means through which the soul expresses its infinite divine potential here on the earth level.

Let us look at some of the traps that we fall into that prevent us from enjoying work to its highest potential. Some of us may fall into one “category” of worker, while others may fall into various categories. Also, the quality of our consciousness and work will depend on various external factors, such as the type of work we are doing, our coworkers, our own mood and our level of energy. Let us look at some of the types of workers and ways of working.

Click here for the rest of the articles in this series.

Robert Elias Najemy is the author of over 600 articles, 400 lecture cassettes on Human Harmony and 20 books; sold over 100,000 copies. His book The Psychology of Happiness is available at Amazon. You can download FREE articles and e-books and get guidance at http://www.HolisticHarmony.com

About the Author

Robert Elias Najemy who is the author of 20 books which have sold over 100,000 copies. He is the founder and has been the director of the Center for Harmonious Living in Athens, Greece for the last 26 years. The center has a membership of 3000 clients and 600 students. He has lectured over 25,000 hours and has worked with around 20,000 persons through personal appointments, classes and seminars. He has produced over 500 cassettes and videocassettes with an abundance of information or human harmony. He is not a psychologist, nor a doctor but rather a chemical engineer who gave up his profession 35 years ago in order to study human nature and all aspects of human health, happiness, harmony and spiritual development. He has a certificate in Counseling from the Counseling & Psychotherapy Central Awarding Body (UK) and certificates as a practitioner of three forms of Energy Psychology; specifically Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), Tapas Acupuncture Techniques (TAT) and Thought Field Therapy (TFT). Robert has developed a six-year self-knowledge seminar which is taught at his school and has also been recorded on 200 acoustic and videocassettes and is thus available in other cities. He has trained more than 250 life coaches, 50 of whom now work with him in Athens, Greece and other affiliated centers around Greece and Cyprus. His site is www.HolisticHarmony.com

Digital photography promises much. Store your photographs on
your computer, print them when you want, email them to friends
and family – share them to your heart’s content. Couldn’t be
easier, could it? So how come that for most of us storing and
sharing our photographs is a bit of a nightmare? The ease of
using a digital camera is its very undoing. It’s easy to take
some shots and then ‘work on them later’. The trouble is that
‘later’ doesn’t happen often enough and we build up a huge
backlog of images that we have to sort and process. That’s where
things start to get untidy. Very soon you won’t know what you’ve
printed or you won’t be able to find the original file of that
cute shot that your wife wants a copy of. So what’s the answer?
As the Greek philosopher Hesiod put it nearly 3,000 years ago,
“It is best to do things systematically and disorder is our
worst enemy.” You need to plan a system for processing your
photographs and be systematic in everything you do You probably
remember that after the thrill of your first digital camera, you
began to realize some of its limitations. Without a computer or
other digital device, it’s hard to share them with granny or the
cousins back home. You realize that you have to have traditional
prints to pass around and share. So the planning system you
adopt must cater for both digital and physical prints – you need
a single system that organizes both and ensures your precious
memories are stored forever. Here’s a six point plan to
establishing your own system. 1. Decide how you want to organise
your photographs Without a system, you’ll just get a list of
meaningless file names. The longer this goes on, the harder it
will be for you to find the photos that you want. You’ve got to
have a system – a way of organising – one that suits you. I
choose to organise my photos by event – but you could do it by
date, by family member or by whatever is meaningful to you.
Under ‘My Pictures’ on my hard drive, I have four sub-folders –
Family, Business, Holidays and ‘The Best’. The first three are
self-explanatory; ‘The Best’ is where I keep images of which I’m
particularly proud. 2. Create mirror images on both your
computer and photo album People love traditional prints so no
matter how proud you may be of your computer skills, to really
share your photos with friends and family, you’ll need physical
prints to pass around. And to get the most from your memories
you should have a single system that runs across both. Once
you’ve decided on your system – use the same categories on both
your computer and your physical photo album. 3. Taking your
photos Snap away happily but don’t carry around useless
photographs on your camera or waste your time downloading them
before deciding to bin them. As soon as you’ve taken photographs
have a quick look at them and dump the ones that don’t look
special. Be ruthless and immediate. 4. Downloading back home The
temptation is to rush and get the exciting photos on the
machine. This is where discipline is needed. You need to have an
uninterrupted session. If you can arrange that easily fine. If
you can’t you should set aside a regular time once a week to do
all your photographic work. There are four tasks: •Download your
photographs onto your hard disk •Edit them, e.g. get rid of red
eye •Give each file a meaningful name with a date – so instead
of ‘P1010012’ use ‘Sarah on the beach 07/03’ •Save them in the
appropriate folder. Now make a back up copy. This is essential –
you don’t want to risk losing your images. I use a ZIP drive for
back-up. 5. Print your photographs Plan what prints you want,
print them and put them into your album immediately. Update your
album index as you do so. 6. Store them and show them (but don’t
ever give them away) Never give your album photographs away. If
someone wants a copy, resist the temptation to hand them your
album copy. Instead, print them a new one or email them a
digital version.

One of the few decisions you’ll make during pregnancy that will,
in fact, last throughout your child’s lifetime is the choice of
your baby’s name. (Unlike, for example, your choice of stroller
or whether to use Lamaze or hypnosis to ease labor pains.) To
choose the best name for your baby, follow these simple tips:

1. Don’t try to please other people.

Everyone from your in-laws to the supermarket checkout lady is
going to have an opinion about what you name your child. But the
only opinions that really matter are yours and your spouse’s.

2. Keep it a secret!

If you tell everyone names you’ve chosen before the baby is
born, they won’t hesitate to criticize your choices. But if you
keep it to yourself and announce the name and the birth at the
same time, everyone will compliment you on a great name choice.

3. Consider how your child will feel about the name as he or she
grows up.

Will it be difficult for the teachers to pronounce in school?
Will she be teased because it sounds funny or rhymes with an
unfortunate word? Does it sound like a very young or very old
name? You want to choose something your child will be
comfortable with at all phases of his life.

4. Check the initials to make sure they aren’t problematic.

One of the moms I surveyed for “The Gallagher Guide to the Baby
Years” told the story about her relative who named his baby,
William Eugene Thompson. A nice name, but the initials (W.E.T)
weren’t ideal for monograms.

5. Decide in advance, or at least have a couple of names under
consideration, by the beginning of the third trimester.

There’s so much to do as your due date gets closer. You don’t
want to be under pressure to choose a name because you went into
labor early and had to come up with something at the hospital.
Check out BabyNames.com (www.babynames.com) for lots of neat
ideas for baby names.

Creativity: Why Bother? 10 Benefits of Expressing Your Creativity
By Cynthia Morris, CPCC

As a child, you may have yearned to play the piano professionally, to act on Broadway, to write a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Perhaps you mentioned your aspirations to someone and were met with laughter or the assurance that there was no money in it. You swallowed your creative dreams and satisfied yourself with listening to music on the radio, to reading books or watching movies. How often have our creative selves been swept to the sidelines, to being the observer? We internalize the belief that we don’t have what it takes to make it big, and of course we don’t because we have hardly tried.
Its time to go for it. There is no proof that you will get rich, famous, or even produce anything worthwhile. Ignoring this urge to create isn’t making it go away. More and more people are heeding the call from within themselves to act upon their creative urges. We sense that there is something behind this creative urge, that expressing ourselves creatively may be the missing piece to a fulfilled life.
Creative expression, whether through mundane means or through art, is worth the effort. I have seen the difference in my clients’ lives when they are expressing themselves. Here is a list of benefits of expressing creativity that you too, can have. Added up, they can amount to a richer life.

1. Expanded sense of time. Countless artists have discussed the experience of timelessness that one encounters in the creative zone. Time is limitless when you are in the creative ‘zone.’ Strangely enough, when you give time to creative pursuits, you gain time. Who couldn’t use the feeling of more time?

2. Freedom. Creativity invites messiness and exploration. Here’s an opportunity to return to that feeling of being a child, to not know, to not be ‘good’, smart, the expert.

3. Enhanced relationships. Many people fear that if they begin living their creativity, then their relationships and other priorities will suffer. They won’t want to drag themselves away from the creative zone. However, when we are actively creating, we feel better about our relationships. We tend to be more generous to others. We have more to give because we have answered our urge to create.

4. Living integrity. When we are actively working on our projects, we honor our innate creativity. We live the belief that creativity does matter. This feels better than wishing we were writing, or talking about writing, but not doing it.

5. Save money. Expressing yourself can control the urge to impulse buy. Do you ever find yourself shopping just for something to do? Expressing yourself creatively can often fill the need to shop for the heck of it. Save money and do something creative instead of buying something you don’t really need or want.

6. Energetic, lighter quality to life. Call it a good mood. Call it a natural high. When we’ve done our creative work, we gain energy for our other responsibilities.

7. Connection with other creative people. When we are creating, we are connected to all of those who have gone before us and those who work now in the challenging but rewarding field of artistic creativity. What a gift in a world where we feel more and more isolated from each other.

8. Faith and confidence in our impulses. When we create, we recognize that our work does matter even if it is not published, displayed or presented to the public. We trust our instincts and gain confidence from expressing them. This confidence carries over into decisions we make in other areas of life.

9. Honoring the source of creative ideas. Where does creative inspiration come from? Some think it is God, or other divine source. We honor the gift of creative inspiration when we listen and act on our ideas, and by doing so, we are connecting to a deeper wisdom than our own.

10. Self-knowledge and discovery. Creativity is the route to authenticity. As we create, we plumb the depths of our being, accessing what we think and believe. You may be surprised at the resources, thoughts and impulses that you discover there.

These ten benefits do add up to more fulfillment and balance in life. I invite you to create a plan to match your creative vision. Give yourself the time and space to be a beginner. Write to me and let me know what benefits you have experienced. Have fun!

Cynthia Morris is the author of Create Your Writer’s Life and a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach. Visit her web site to find out more about a creative life at http://www.originalimpulse.com

People get married for a variety of reasons: •companionship
•love •security •it’s the next logical step after college or
after launching from one’s family of origin •procreation •to
appropriately satisfy sexual desires •it is a holy institution
designed by God •others… There are many other possible
reasons…! The one we want to focus on is “oneness.” We believe
that people get married to experience “oneness” or a “shared
reality” with another human being. When two people get married
they have: •a shared history •a common language •a deep sense of
companionship •a sense of security…among other things. The
idea of “oneness” is rooted in Genesis 2:24 –”the two shall
become one flesh.” The Revel Bible Dictionary (pp. 673-674)
explains this phrase…”the two shall become one flesh” in the
follow way. It suggests “the close bonding of individuals who
love one another as equals and who can relate on every level of
the human personality…[It] implies that husband and wife will
experience the joys and sorrows of this life … together.” We
assert that “oneness” is achieved when each person: •Is
interested in what is going on in the other’s life •Accepts the
other [willingly receives] and intentionally purposes to take
the good with the bad •Tries to understand the other person…to
know them thoroughly. It includes factoring in the effects of
one’s family of origin and the effects of one’s life experiences
prior to marriage •Is committed to learning the other person’s
primary love languages: time, talking, toughing, gifts, or acts
of service •Is interested in the goals, hopes and dreams of the
other person and desires to help them achieve these goals •Is
sensitive to the fears and insecurities of the other person
•Willing participates in (to an appropriate extent) the other
person’s life “Oneness” is not a foreign concept for a believer
in Jesus Christ. We are one with Him when we begin our
“born-again” journey with Him. When we ask Him into our
“hearts”, we become “identified” with Him. This is a type of
“oneness”. God designed the marital relationship to project to
the world the type of relationship we have with Him. When we
fulfill this goal of connecting with our spouses (oneness), we
give the world a tangible picture of what our relationships can
look like (with another person and with God). Remember, we (the
church) are called “the bride of Christ” in the New Testament.
God’s goal is that we experience this “oneness” in marriage.
However, “oneness” is not always acheived. Or once it is
acheived, it is not always maintained. We hope that the
following exercise will be helpful to you. You can consider the
questions yourself or perhaps you could discuss these with your
spouse. Exercise: 1. On a scale of 1-10, how well do you accept
your spouse? What would it take to improve your current level of
acceptance? 2. On a scale of 1-10, how well do you understand
your spouse? Is there one area in which you wish your spouse
were more understanding of you? 3. Pray each day that God will
show you ways to improve your level of acceptance of your
spouse. Purpose to better accept the ways that your spouse is
unique (different from you). [Consider writing down your answers
in a journal. Then, pray and ask God to help you grow in
accepting your spouse. Ask God to give you the “grace” or
“divine enablement” to understand your spouse better. Ask God to
help you see your spouse with His (God’s) eyes and heart. Ask
God to solidify the idea that your way of doing things is not
the only way to do things. You don’t always have to be right or
have the last word. Ask God to give you even more love for your
spouse along with the courage and willingness to express that
love consistently to him/her. Watch and see what the Lord is
able to do in you!] We would love to hear from you about the
exercises. Contact us at info@murphytoerner.com This is a series
which will be continued. If you enjoyed this article and are
interested in more articles by this author and other free
resources please visit our website www.murphytoerner.com.
Counseling & Coaching Available: Call our offices @ 225.753.7773

One of the most important first tasks you have planning your
party is setting the date. Setting the best possible date sounds
easier than it is. Before you make your decision, there are many
events and other important dates to consider. Your party is only
as good as the people you invite, so you need to make sure you
come up with a date that works for most of them.

You have to invite your guest early enough to make sure they
have enough time to prepare. Make sure you invite people at
least three or four weeks prior to the party. If you call
somebody a day before the party, they may not be able to attend
due to other engagements. Also, inviting people to a party is
considered rude. Someone invited the last minute may think, you
invited him or her so late to avoid having him or her at the
party.

You should give your guest enough time, and you should give
yourself enough time too. You need to make sure you have time to
prepare. Because there are so many components to plan a great
party, be sure to give yourself enough time. Before setting the
date for your party, you should consider your friends and family
members’ schedules. Birthdays, graduations, vacations, and other
events may prevent people important to you attend your party.

It is best not to schedule your party on a Holiday, unless your
party is related to the Holiday itself. It makes sense to
schedule a big barbeque party for the 4th of July. But if you
think people you plan to invite to the party will be out of town
on your chosen date, you should reconsider the date of the
party.

The food is an essential part of any party, so carefully
consider it. Try to arrange more than one kind of food, so your
guest will have more than one option. Remember, what you like
may not be equally popular with your guest. It doesn’t hurt to
ask a few of the invited guest to see what kind of food they
like.

Many families will find themselves without medical coverage at
some point in their lives. So, what do you do if you find
yourself in this situation? Here are some thing that you should
consider when purchasing quality, low-cost temporary family
health insurance.

Low-cost temporary family health insurance is available for
those under 65 and who are in generally good health. It also
usually covers dependants under 19, as well. Although these
policies are only good for six months or so, you can reapply for
coverage, as needed. Bear in mind, however, that any illness or
condition that occurred during this temporary coverage will be
treated as a pre-existing condition under the new policy.

Before you apply, however, there are some questions you should
ask the salesman or representative. You need to be certain of
the maximum policy benefit, for example, and you should make
sure of the co-payment schedule. Many low-cost temporary family
health insurance plans are PPO networks, so you need to find out
if you are required to have a primary care physician. You should
also ask the representative how pre-existing conditions will be
treated under the plan. Some companies will not cover
pre-existing diseases or conditions; some will do so, after a
pre-determined period, like twenty-four months.

There are many good low-cost temporary family health insurance
plans available and with a little patience and research, you
will find the policy that is just right for your family.

Planning a wedding of any size or budget can have numerous items
that may be quite costly. In addition to planning for the dress
and cake, a bride will want to spend thought considering the
wedding favors for her guests. These small tokens of
appreciation don’t have to be expensive. Frequently, the most
enjoyable part of planning a wedding, is the selection of the
wedding favor. Preparation for right the token at the least
possible cost adds to the fun, allowing the bride a chance to
tap into creative talents.

The practice of providing gifts to the guests of weddings began
with European aristocrats who would endow guests with a fancy
box called a bonboniere, named for the bonbons that it would
protect. A bonboniere was crafted of crystal, porcelain or gold
and could be encrusted with precious stones. Today these gifts
for the guests, are known as wedding favors and is a tradition
that has continued worldwide since the sixteenth century. A
common belief of many cultures worldwide was, that the wedding
couple was the focus of benevolent spirits who brought good
luck. They believed that the same auspicious luck could be
passed on to anything they touched. Betrothed couples would give
small items to others in the village to share same good luck,
that was expected to last a year.

For more than a thousand years, almonds were a common gift given
to the wedding couple, signifying the good wishes on their new
life together. Brides would choose to pass on those same good
wishes to others by preparing a small gift of the almonds,
beautifully wrapped in elegant fabric. The custom in the Middle
East is for the bride to make a gift of five almonds to
represent fertility, longevity, wealth, health and happiness. In
the thirteenth century the trend of coating almonds in sugar
became popular. Today the candy coated nuts are pastel adorned
treats, known as Jordan almonds and remain a staple of many
wedding celebrations. Jordan almonds provide one of the most
common and inexpensive wedding favors when wrapped by delicate
fabric to form small bundles tied with ribbon.

Wedding favors are typically presented to guests at the
reception table, but can be distributed at the end of an
informal gathering of coffee and cake. Brides have learned be
very creative when it comes to selecting wedding favors that
won’t go over budget, and still honor all of her guests. The
trends may vary each year, but the favors a bride selects are
never out of fashion. Recent favorites have included flower
seeds packaged in transparent, frosted envelopes with a small
sentimental card attached with a ribbon commemorating the event.
Decorative candles tied with a delicate ribbon are another great
item to show sentiment and many can be purchased for about one
dollar. Custom designed bookmarks with personalized sentiments
can be cherished by guests for a lifetime. Today’s desktop
publishing software and quality papers greatly reduce the cost
compared to the costs of using a professional printer.

The art of presenting wedding favors, provides unlimited
possibilities for a couple to express gratitude to guests for
being present at the event. Wedding favors serve a dual purpose
of allowing the bride to express herself emotionally or
creatively and can be chosen to provide décor to the reception
table. The selection of inexpensive favors doesn’t have to
compromise quality or elegance. Simple placecards in small
decorative frames or placecard holders will make a lasting gift
selection. Frames and placecard holders can be made with a
variety of materials from ceramic to stainless steel, for about
a dollar each. Decorative candles, soaps and cookies are easily
found in a variety of shapes from cupids to wedding cakes.
Stylish bottle stoppers and bottle openers are available in a
variety of shapes and crafted in frosted glass or stainless
steel.

If a bride is open minded to a wide range of gift items when
shopping, it’s possible to find excellent prices on bulk
purchases, or closeouts from retailers that specialize in
wedding paraphernalia. Avoid having gifts engraved or
personalized, as that will greatly drive the prices up. If it is
desired to personalize an item, consider custom designed labels
for chocolates, coffee or packages of tea assortments. Although
prices for private labeled chocolate bars can be about $2.00
each, a bride or her friends can design and print unique labels
with a home computer. Candy bars can be picked up at the local
grocery for as little as a quarter each or bought in bulk from a
club store.

The presentation of wedding favors is a time honored tradition
and provides the bridegroom couple with an excellent means to
share feelings with those they care about. Wedding favors
continue to be one element of the wedding, where presentation
and imagination have a greater value than the price of the item.

http://www.livinghealthysite.com

The tips listed below will help you to get back to you ideal
weight after the birth of your child.

1) Remember that the best approach to weight loss combines
healthy eating and regular exercise. It is important you stay
focussed on both these areas.

2) Eat slowly and chew your food well. Put your cutlery down
between bites and don’t pick them up until you have finished
chewing.

3) Instead of putting the food on the table and letting everyone
help themselves, serve the food on the plate. Allocate the
appropriate amount for each food group.

4) If you feel like snacking, try going for a walk instead.
Before you go, have a good drink of water. Hunger is often
disguising thirst.

5) If you have a problem with junk food and can’t resist the
temptation at home, stop the problem at the source. Don’t buy
any junk food! Or at least limit the amount you buy to one item
per week.

6) Eat smaller meals, but more often. A healthy meal will be a
lot more satisfying than a packet of chips or a drink.

7) Drink fresh juices instead of soft drinks. This will cut down
on your sugar intake, and is a far better alternative than the
artificial sweeteners in those diet soft drinks.
Set yourself a weight goal and stick to it. Chart your
progress and stick it on the fridge. It will be a helpful
reminder every time you go in the kitchen.

9) If you do have to go for junk food, try the healthiest
option. For example try to get the burger with the most salad on
it, or get some salads to accompany the meal.

10) Increase your motivation levels, and stay on track. If your
motivation drops, you will find it hard to focus on your goal
weight.