"Like attracts like?"

Are you familiar with the expression, "Like attracts like"? Recently I had an experience with a friend who was struggling with this idea. He was having difficulty coming to grips with certain emotions he was experiencing. He felt controlled by them and this was creating a lot of tension for him. The more he fought his feelings, the stronger their hold over him seemed to be.

I completely understood his frustration and assured him that his situation was not unusual. I told him that, with a little work, he could overcome this obstacle. I began by introducing him to the so-called "Universal Law of Attraction". According to this law, we attract that which we focus on with the most intensity, and this attraction can create a positive or negative experience depending on its nature. In my friend's case, it meant that when he focused on emotions or feelings that made him uncomfortable, he ended up creating more of those uncomfortable feelings in the process.

Of course, just telling him this wasn't enough. We needed a workable solution. I suggested that he try looking at his unresolved emotions in a different way. Instead of battling his feelings, I asked him to look at them without judgment. I wanted him to focus on the root of his emotional turmoil because, as that point, he would be in a position to make adjustments to his behavior.

My friend took my instructions to heart and began observing his difficult feelings. He told me that life flowed easier when he could refrain from making judgments on his emotions and, as a result, he was soon feeling much better about himself. By just listening to these emotional messages, rather than just getting upset or worried by them, he no longer felt so controlled by them. And, once he could really listen to his feelings, he was able to get a better grip on why those feelings were coming up.

Now, I hope that you will spend some time thinking about the Law of Attraction and the primary focus of your energy. What are you attracting into your life? My hope is that your health, wealth and happiness will provide you with some insights.

Manners & Etiquette

When you think about good manners, some people focus on proper etiquette at the table, but manners are so much more than that. Good manners extend to making eye contact and paying full attention to the person you are speaking to, saying yes, no, please and thank you, avoiding gossip and behaving in a way that puts other people at ease and makes them feel comfortable around you.

I was recently at a gathering where I ran into an old friend who had her two children in town The oldest, a boy, was 7 and the younger daughter was 4. Normally bringing children to a party can be risky, but these two had such excellent manners that one could easily forget that they were youngsters. Both were polite, spoke comfortably with adults and handled themselves appropriately around the buffet.

I commented to my friend about how wonderfully her children were behaving and she thanked me for my compliment, saying that she was very proud of how well her children handled themselves in public. Then she confided that they weren't always quite as well behaved at home, but she expressed great satisfaction about having been able to instill in them a sense of the importance of good manners, as this skill will enable them to function well in any situation as they become adults.

Another good friend of mine works in human resources in a large corporation and says that her company receives many resumes from applicants who can't even be considered for hire due to their poor manners. Some are clueless about good phone etiquette, while others use rude language when addressing the interviewer or speak far too loudly. This lack of basic manners can actually ruin opportunities for potential employees who would otherwise be quite capable.

Fortunately, good manners are something that anyone can learn, so it is very important that we all practice using good manners, especially around those who don't use them. You always have an opportunity to set a good example for others, especially children, by how you handle yourself in public.

We can actually help to make someone's day by using good manners. Maybe it means greeting others with direct eye contact, a smile and a firm handshake, or holding a door open for someone, or hanging up our cell phones when dealing with other people such as cashiers and newsagents. It is all about thoughtfulness in our daily interactions with the people around us.

Good manners reflect tact, diplomacy and consideration for our fellow man. Using good manners is a powerful way to show our respect for others and at the same time feel confident in every situation.

Changes...

Something about the change of the seasons always gets me motivated to straighten and clean my home. I like to begin this project with my closets, because it prompts me to get rid of things I no longer need, while creating new space in the process.

Did you know that sleeping in a room with clutter or overstuffed closets can make you feel restless and disrupt your sleeping patterns? This may sound strange to you, but it shows the negative effect that clutter can have on us. If this is happening to you, it may be a good idea to look at the state of your bedroom as well as its closets. By clearing away the things you no longer need, you give order to your room and create new space in your home, which in the end makes you feel more relaxed and comfortable.

I know that clearing your home of clutter can seem an overwhelming job to take on. Often it's hard to know where to begin. I'm going to share my technique for de-cluttering, which I think helps to sort and clear clutter with relative ease. With a few boxes and a little time and effort, you can be on your way to creating a more orderly, calm, and peaceful space.

First, you will need 3 medium-sized boxes, labeled with the following terms: "donate," "doesn't belong here," and "not ready to let go of yet." You will also need a large trash bag for the stuff that simply needs to be thrown away.

Now, you are almost ready to begin, but first I want to give you some important advice. You'll want to start by going through the items in your closet quickly, deciding how you want to classify each item. In my experience, if you linger over this decision-making, you might not end up getting rid of anything! Here are some questions to help you classify your items: how often do you use it, do you have more than one of the same thing, and if it is clothing, does it still fit? When it comes to memorabilia, only keep those objects that are too important to let go of. If you are not sure about an item, put it in the box marked "not ready to let go of yet."

Once you've finished de-cluttering your closet(s), tackle the clutter in and on your dresser, shelves, and the area under your bed. When you have finished your sorting, you can return the items you've decided to keep to their proper places in an orderly fashion.

Next, put your trash bag(s) in the garbage, your box with items to be donated into your car to be dropped off at your local charity, then take the box with the misplaced items and return them to where they belong. Lastly, set your box with things you "can't let go of yet" aside for a few months, and if after that time you aren't feeling the pull, donate that box, as well.

After you have done this de-cluttering and clearing, you will definitely feel a huge sense of relief. You may even get inspired to do other parts of your home. If that happens, go for it! Your reward will be a home environment that is organized, peaceful, and harmonious.

To be grateful...

How grateful would you say you are? Did you know that your gratitude level can directly affect your wealth and happiness? Now, that may sound strange, especially in light of our current economy. I have told some of my friends whom I felt displayed a need for gratitude to bring about positive change in their lives. And I'm happy to say that those who took my advice to heart have reported a positive shift in their lives and a boost in the things they view as good, including increased wealth.

Even financial experts and abundance speakers agree that gratitude is a vital component for increasing wealth and success. This basic premise of gratitude is to acquire a more positive and receptive state of being. Here is how it works. You begin by being grateful for the smaller and more immediate things like having a place to live, food to eat, and a car to get around, etc. By placing yourself in a positive frame of mind through gratitude, you open yourself to all the good things the universe has to offer.

That is when you can actually begin to attract good things to you, and most of us could certainly benefit from this idea right now. As you become more comfortable with the positive things that basic gratitude brings, you will likely find yourself feeling grateful for even bigger things like being alive, learning hard lessons, your past mistakes, the freedom to make choices in life, and more. This type of gratitude catapults you even further along the path to a successful and happy life. That's because you begin to lose your fear of change or loss and you begin to develop a deep appreciation for the exciting adventure that life truly is.

Once you reach the point where you remain in a constant state of gratitude, you will become a magnet that attracts the positive things to you . . . the things that resonate with who you are and what you desire to do with your life.

So, if you are ready to enjoy more happiness and wealth, I challenge you to take some time every day this week to note those things that you are grateful for, from the smallest little gifts to the bigger ones. And may you attract the most wonderful and beneficial things into your life. Have a great weekend!

Getting some good exercise

I love watching my dog, Sheila take her afternoon stretch! She closes her eyes, stretches her paws straight out in front of her, and pushes her hips up as far as she can. There is no doubt that she enjoys this activity immensely. It seems to be a natural movement for cats and dogs.

We humans are also very taken with stretching! I am sure that most of us have probably experienced that wonderful feeling of having a nice long stretch before getting out of bed in the morning, or stretching our legs after a long drive in a cramped car. Stretching is actually very important to good posture and a strong healthy body.

Stretching is one of the things I have read about practicing Yoga. When you are doing these slow, deliberate postures, you would feel some muscles getting stretched while others are working quite hard. I always wondered how it would feel relaxed after a yoga class. I attribute that to the intense stretching. I have a friend who is a dancer, and she says me that the first half of her rehearsal sessions often focus primarily on stretching to limber up the body and protect it from muscle strain and injuries. Stretching is undoubtedly important to keeping fit.

For those of us who are more physically active, stretching is probably something we do before and/or after exercise. However, you may be surprised to learn that it's good to take time out during the middle of an exercise routine to do some stretching. It helps release tension in the muscles, making your workout more efficient and effective.

For those who are less active or in fragile health or even wheelchair-bound, stretching is extremely important. It helps to increase circulation and improve balance and equilibrium. And stretching under the guidance of a qualified trainer or physical therapist can be a tremendous help to those who are elderly or bed-bound by helping to correct poor posture and hunched shoulders and to alleviate the overstretching of back muscles.

I try to stretch daily in order to maintain good posture. The next time you get out for some exercise, be sure to do some good stretches before, during, and after your workout. My guess is that you'll feel more relaxed overall and will be protecting your body at the same time.

Another year, another birthday...

I certainly don't consider myself "old." To be honest, I am not sure what age qualifies as old today. I think that being old is more connected to a mindset. That said, I am certainly not in my twenties any longer, and my body occasionally reminds me that it is not as flexible as it once was. Getting older is a fact of life. No matter how we much we would like to avoid it, the clock will continue to tick and we will grow older. It's inevitable!

This realization sends some of us racing to the nearest plastic surgeon to nip, tuck, pull, and stretch everything back into something resembling what used to be, while others of us wear our age like a medal of honor. Personally, I hope that I will age gracefully, but I do hope I can keep my mind snappy and youthful.

Fortunately, I've got some positive news about staying young mentally. Apparently our brains don't age the same way our bodies do. In a Harvard study, researchers compared the differences in brain activity between younger and older subjects focusing on the firing between the front and back of the brain in each group. This front and back mechanism is called the "default network" and is activated when we need to use our memory. As you would imagine, the twenty-year- olds had the best responses when it came to this part of the study. The older subjects tended to have a weaker connection in their "default network."

Yet surprisingly, nearly half of the older adults maintained brain activity that was similar to the twenty-year-olds. I was very pleased with this news. Scientists attribute this younger, fit mind in an older body to good old-fashioned exercise, meaning cognitive exercise in this case. And they provided it by putting a group of 75-year-olds through several months of rigorous mind exercise. And after that, the subjects exhibited the memory abilities of people many years, sometimes even decades, younger.

So, in a nutshell, the more you exercise your brain, the better it will work and the longer it will last. According to researchers, when we "workout" our brains through mental exercises, we are actually building cortical tissue that helps our brains last longer. Unlike fat cells, the more brain cells we have, the better. That's because those extra brain cells are like insurance for the mind. If we are able to store up and maintain a good number of brain cells, then this reserve will help us to cope with the natural loss of cells that occurs with age.

Mental exercises that help build brain cells include reading, doing math, and playing games that call for strategy and matching. Your computer is a good source for such material. There are loads of brain boosting workouts available to play online, to load onto your pc, or even to use with a gaming device like Nintendo DS.

You might want to consider adding brain exercises to your daily physical regime. I myself am particularly fond of Sudoku, in addition to my regular physical exercise of brisk walking and yoga. It never hurts to start early when it comes to taking care of yourself. After all, we are born with only one brain and one body. It makes sense to keep them in good shape.

Some tips in "Goal Setting"

Many of my friends complain of feeling powerless to events influencing their life right now. Certainly there are many factors beyond our control that can affect us, such as the economy, our jobs, the value of our savings or retirement plans, our mortgages, etc. So, I have been telling them to regain some sense of control. The first thing you need to do is to work on a vision of how you want your life to be, as well as a clear plan on how to get there. It is surprising how many times I ask friends about the direction they want to go in, only to discover that they are simply wandering along just letting life happen to them, all the while wishing that their dreams would come true.

Why should we sit back, waiting for life to happen as it will, when we have the power to set our own goals and the energy and desire to make our dreams a reality? Setting goals puts you squarely in charge of your own life, and that is a very desirable situation. That is why I have decided to share a few simple tricks I have found helpful in making goal setting even easier and more successful.

1. The physical act of writing a goal on paper helps to anchor it in your mind, so write your goals down every day, and make certain that you keep your goal centered on you and not someone else.

2. Be sure to state your goal in positive terms, as such statements draw positive things your way. For example, "I am always on time" is preferable to "I am never late."

3. Our subconscious only understands present time. So, if you create goals that are set in the future, your subconscious will keep those goals in the future. For this reason, it is best to always write your goals as if they were already happening or had already happened. You will also want to prioritize your goals.

4. State your goals clearly and precisely so that the Universe and your subconscious know exactly what YOU want. Using strong words that evoke emotion and command action helps to call forth the energy needed to move forward.

5. And, most importantly, when you write down your goals, imagine yourself already being, doing, or having the things that you are dreaming about. This will further activate and imprint your goals on your subconscious.

I hope that my tips, will help to make your dreams a reality. It may take some patience, and you may need to readjust your goals to the time, but I feel confident that you can achieve the goals you set for yourself. I just hope that you feel it as well!