Sioux Indian Story

Even the red Indians knew we were all connected to everything and everyone else in the universe...

"My grandfather took me to the fish pond on the farm when I was about seven, and he told me to throw a stone into the water. He told me to watch the circles created by the stone. Then he asked me to think of myself as that stone person.

"You may create lots of splashes in your life but the waves that come from those splashes will disturb the peace of all your fellow creatures," he said.

"Remember that you are responsible for what you put in your circle and that circle will also touch many other circles. You will need to live in a way that allows the good that comes from your circle to send the peace of that goodness to others. The splash that comes from anger or jealousy will send those feelings to other circles. You are responsible for both."

That was the first time I realized each person creates the inner peace or discord that flows out into the world. We cannot create world peace if we are riddled with inner conflict, hatred, doubt, or anger. We radiate the feelings and thoughts that we hold inside, whether we speak them or not. Whatever is splashing around inside of us is spilling out into the world, creating beauty or discord with all other circles of life.

Author Unknown

Make yours a great day today.

Your deficit source makes a difference

I've maintained for a long time that the simplest fact about weight gain and loss is that if you consume more calories than you expend they can be stored as fat. To reduce fat you have to have a slight calorie deficit.

There has been ongoing debate about whether it makes any difference where your deficit comes from. I think it DOES make a difference. Although you can cut body fat with any calorie deficit, I believe it is better to burn the fat off with increased activity than to starve it off by decreasing calories drastically with very low calorie diets.

Unfortunately burning more by exercising has never been a very popular idea for most people. It takes hard work and a time commitment necessary to increase your level of
exercise. But it does have other benefits besides weight management.

I guess in the end you've got to decide how important your overall health and longevity is, and how your current health and fitness impinges on your lifestyle.

Whatever you decide is your choice and you pay the price accordingly.

Slow progress

Do you ever get frustrated because things are moving too slowly in your life? Sometimes I do. Naturally I tap those feelings away with EFT so that frustration doesn’t turn into negativity and anger.

My wife reminds me that building a foundation for success doesn’t happen overnight. All my work is a process of learning and laying foundations. Buildings need foundations that remain strong, even in times of failure or crisis. Farmers lay foundations for a good crop by preparation of the soil. Paint won’t stay on a wall too well if the surface is not prepared properly.

Foundations. This takes time!

You need to remind yourself that "failing" is only failure if you quit; otherwise it's a learning opportunity. If your life seems to be moving ahead in slow motion despite all your efforts don't worry. Stay focused on your goal. Concentrate on building your solid foundation for success and regard your back steps as tests of your resolve and learning experiences.

As an old Chinese proverb says:

Be not afraid of going slowly; be afraid only of standing still.

Weight loss is a 3 pronged fork

Have you ever used a fork with only two prongs? It's not so easy to get much into your mouth with each forkload. Losing weight requires a three-pronged fork. By this I mean there are three angles from which the weight loss game must be played. Few people use all three.

Is it any wonder the world is full of overweight people struggling to shed the fat?
Everyone knows that there's the diet angle and the exercise angle (though again, few people get these right even though they try). The angle most people miss is the mental one.

This involves much more than just writing goals and thinking positively. It includes the emotions. Your emotions drive everything you do. The behaviours you engage in depend on how you feel. The choices and decisions you make are influenced by how you feel. What you perceive and the interpretation of the world around you is coloured by your emotions.

The best way to address these emotional influences so they don't work against you is to use EFT.

Find out more here.

Up with the stars

I like getting up early. This morning my wife couldn't sleep so she got up before me and remarked "The stars are still out."

My reply was, "You know what they say... Get up with the stars and you become one."

Now I don't think 'they' say that at all because I've never heard that saying before, but I thought it was pretty good. So I'm claiming it. Maybe one day we'll see it among those lists of well known quotes.

"Get up with the stars and you become one." – Alwyn Beikoff

By this I mean, having the strength of character to do things you may not feel like doing, but if you do do them, you will be advancing closer to your dreams.

It could be getting up early. Most people like to enjoy a lie in for a little while after they wake up. But if you do get up early you can get a bit extra done. Just think, one extra hour a day gives you over 15 days worth of time. So there's a tip on how to get an extra two weeks out of the year!

But getting up with the stars could also mean doing anything that will progress you in life, even though you don't feel like doing it at the time. It's what successful people do. They do the things unsuccessful people don't want to do.

I reckon you could be a star too. Maybe you already are one. You can always shine brighter though.

Do it anyway

I just didn't feel like exercising this morning. So I tapped those feelings and soon realised exercising was like climbing a mountain.

I could miss this workout without any great detriment. After all, there's no noticeable change after one workout is there?

But... if I don't take this one step up my mountain I'm one step less close to the top. So? Big deal. But what happens the more I do this?

Reaching my goal gets more and more delayed. If I stop altogether, there is one thing I can guarantee... I'll never make it to the top.

So whatever your goal, whatever is required to achieve it... Even if you don't feel like it...

DO IT ANYWAY!

Change is opportunity

My training partner went away grape picking for two weeks. Now this could have been a good excuse to have a break from working out myself. Sometimes a total layoff is a good idea in fact, but I don't like to make those times any more than a week at a time every couple of months.

It could also be a good opportunity to give my body something different for a little while. That's how I prefered to see his absence. So I did a one muscle group a day blitz for the next two weeks. My wife stepped in to help me keep up the intensity and I appreciated that because it's too easy to stop too soon during a set of exercises when by yourself.

So next time there's a change to your routine avoid looking for the excuses you can find in it. Instead look for the opportunities in it... No not the opportunities to slack off or take a break! Opportunities to improve yourself in some way. Good on ya.

Go bananas

You may have heard the song I like bananas because they have no bones. I like them because they taste good (especially Lady Fingers). They are also a good source of potassium, as are dried fruits, potatoes, oranges, dried beans and peas.

Potassium is important for the body. Without it you may feel fatigue, joint pain, depression, nervousness and insomnia. It is the 3rd most plentiful mineral in the body, exceeded only by calcium and phosphorus. 98% of it is stored in your muscle cells.

They are good on sandwiches and make great fritters. So “Go bananas” today.

The Fern and the Bamboo

Normally I send out the messages to inspire my people but today I was thrilled to receive this message from my friend Debbie.

One day I decided to quit... I quit my job, my relationship, my spirituality......... I wanted to quit my life. I went to the woods to have one last talk with God.

"God", I said, "Can you give me one good reason not to quit?" His answer surprised me...

"Look around", he said. "Do you see the fern and the bamboo?"

"Yes", I replied.

"When I planted the fern and the bamboo seeds, I took very good care of them. I gave them light. I gave them water. The fern quickly grew from the earth. Its brilliant green covered the floor. Yet nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo. In the second year the Fern grew more vibrant and plentiful. And again, nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo".

He said, "In the third year, there was still nothing from the bamboo seed. But I would not quit. In the fourth year, again, there was nothing from the bamboo seed. I would not quit."

He said, "Then in the fifth year a tiny sprout emerged from the earth. Compared to the fern it was seemingly small and insignificant. But just 6 months later the bamboo rose to over 100 feet tall. It had spent the five years growing roots. Those roots made it strong and gave it what it needed to survive. I would not give any of my creations a challenge it could not handle."

He said to me, "Did you know, my child, that all this time you have been struggling, you have actually been growing roots. I would not quit on the bamboo. I will never quit on you. Don't compare yourself to others."

He said, "The bamboo had a different purpose than the fern, yet, they both make the forest beautiful."

Never regret a day in your life. Good days give you happiness. Bad days give you experiences. Both are essential to life. Keep going.

I won't quit on you either.

A free CD for you

I don't know about you, but lately everyone I talk to seems to have back pain. Well, a good friend of mine, Jesse Cannone, is an expert at helping people get rid of their back pain and he recently sent me an audio CD called "7 Back Pain Mistakes" and I have to tell you, it was very eye opening...

I have made some of these mistakes over the years and didn't even know then that I'd been setting myself up for a bad back!

Anyway, I found this CD so informative that I asked Jesse if I could give this away to my readers and subscribers... he said yes but they only have a few hundred left. So if you suffer from back pain or sciatica, I'd really recommend you grab a copy and listen to it right away.

You can get your F R E E copy here.

Tap into your belief system

One of the biggest drawbacks on our own progress in life and the success we desire is our very own belief system. If what you're asking for doesn't match your belief system then you'll NEVER get what you want.

It may not be easy to change but there is one tool that really is extremely powerful in creating the change within us that we need if we are to even come close to getting our desires...

And that is...

The incredibly easy to learn and use techniques for true emotional freedom. If you want a free 79 page manual click here. If you want to dive right in and get some videos to help you learn go here.

And for all of you who are already using tapping to change your life, keep it up. You will get there.

Global Warming Petition

This Thursday, the environment ministers from the G8, the world's biggest contributors to climate change, will be meeting in Germany. The outcome of this meeting is crucial to world's response to global warming. If you'd like to sign a petition for action on global warming go here now.

Inconvenient Truth

Have you seen it yet?

I'm talking about the movie that Al Gore, former vice president and almost president of the US, made. It's about global warming and everyone needs to watch it.

I'm always on about looking after our body (and our mind) and even though this is an environmental movie documentary, it's pertinent. In a way our planet is the body we live on just as our body is home to millions of microscopic organisms. If we die, eventually their world is doomed. Same with us and this planet.

Get hold of it and see it now.

Taking Stock

I can't take credit for penning these words but I do read them often:

If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you're luckier than over one million people who won't survive the week.

If you've never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of hunger you're ahead of 500 million people around the world.

If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death, you're more blessed than almost three billion people in the world.

If you have food in your fridge, clothes on your back, a roof over your head and a place to sleep, then you're richer than 75% of the world.

If you've got some money in the bank, some in your wallet, and some spare change lying around, you're among the top 8% of the world’s wealthy.

And if you can read or hear this, you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world who cannot read anything at all and have no access to the technology you do.

Dead Resolutions

Well it's hard to believe that nearly one quarter of the year is gone. How are you going with those resolutions you made. For most people they're probably long dead.

Think back to the beginning of the year and the reasons you made them. If they are still alive don't let them go. If not, maybe they are worth resurrecting. You can do it.

Women Pumping Iron

Our society associates weight training with oversized muscles, which in truth is extremely difficult for most people to achieve.

Yet this is a major reason women are hesitant to take up a weight lifting program.

To build big muscles the right hormones (testosterone) are necessary. Women's testosterone levels are much lower than men's, so in most cases, they are not capable of building large muscles.

Women actually tend to lose inches when they strength train because muscle takes up less room than fat. So strength training gives physical benefits such as increased metabolism, decreased risk of osteoporosis, increased strength and will help you slim down as well.

Research shows that women, in fact, are more likely to tone up from strength training rather than bulk up by adding up to 30% more lean muscle and end up looking thinner, feeling stronger and being firmer.

The problem most women have isn't building too much muscle, but not building enough. This sets them up for increased risk of osteoporosis later in life as bone density reduces from about age 40 onwards. This can be prevented however by weight training as it increases bone density.

Muscle mass tends to naturally reduce as one ages an becomes less active, which has an adverse affect on metabolism and can result in weight gain. If you want more info read here. So it's not just a good idea to do weight training, it's essential. Make a decision on how important this is to you and start today.

Add weights to lose weight

My heart goes out to really obese people when it comes to exercise. Their size and mobility make it extra difficult to do most exercise. They’ve got a lot of weight to just move around and the poor old heart and lungs have a hard time coping with normal activity.

Still, the harsh reality is that you can’t use this as an excuse. Do that and you’ll get fatter still.

You’ve got to get that metabolism stoked up and one great strategy to do that is to engage in some exercise. Now because of the obesity, cardio work may be limited but you can and should still do things (like water aerobics for instance) which improve your cardio-vascular fitness.

You won’t be raising your metabolism with high intensity interval exercise for a while (which is excellent for raising metabolism), so the best exercise you can do to raise it is weight bearing exercise. Be sensible, start light and gradually increase the intensity.

Some great people I know in my weight support group start with food cans and shopping bags. Build up from that. It'll do you good. I know you can so go for it.

Your priorities

It's all too easy to find excuses to not exercise. We let 'legitimate' reasons like: having little children, too busy with work, too old, the weather's not suitable, haven't got the right gear and so on, get in the way of healthy physical activity. You can find a thousand reasons to start later on.

Well the other day I was impressed when I saw a young mum running along pushing one of those 3 wheeler prams with a baby in it and beside her were two little girls on their scooters. She was getting her exercise regardless, and she was being a great role model for the kids too.

Whatever the excuse, there's always a way around it. It all depends on your priorities doesn't it?

Change your dressing

Did you know that olive oil contains healthy mono-unsaturated fat and is a key ingredient in the diet of Mediterranean people who, despite all the olive oil they eat, have a very low incidence of heart disease?

Studies have shown that women get most of their dietary fat from dairy products, margarine, mayonnaise, and salad dressing.

If you substitute bottled salad dressings with olive oil or a low fat alternative like balsamic vinegar you will be making one small change in lifestyle that can result in big changes to your life.

Combine this with other healthy actions such as exercise and eating smaller more frequent meals and you have a powerful combination for a healthier you.

Where's your focus, Pain or Goal

When pain strikes it is especially important to keep your focus on where you want to be. Pain, disappointment (such as when you've gained weight instead of losing it) and upsets are great excuses to indulge in a snack or food binge we could better do without.

We do it to soothe our hurt and comfort ourselves. It's very easy to justify the behaviour when we are doing it to medicate our pain, physical or emotional. But you know the right thing to do.

Just focusing on the pain makes it feel stronger. Get your mind off the pain and onto your goal. Keep it there. Be determined. You can do it. I know you can and so do you. Good on you.

For inspiration... Just Be

Here is a poem I found in my files. I'm not sure where I got it from so my apologies for not being able to credit the author or source.

Be strong enough to face the world each day.
Be weak enough to know you cannot do everything alone,

Be generous to those who need you help,
Be frugal with what you need yourself,
Be wise enough to know that you do not know everything,

Be foolish enough to believe in miracles,
Be willing to share your joys,
Be willing to share your sorrows with others,
Be a leader when you see a path others have missed,

Be a follower when you are shrouded in the midst of uncertainty,
Be the first to congratulate an opponent who succeeds,
Be the last to criticize a colleague who fails,

Be sure where your next step will fall, so that you will not stumble,
Be sure of your final destination, in case you
are going the wrong way,

Be loving to those who love you,
Be loving to those who do not love you, and they may change,

Above all, be yourself!

Mind power spelling

I've spent twenty years as as a teacher and have always found our brain and mind so fascinating. I've always felt people made way too big a deal about spelling. I've always been a pretty good speller so maybe that's why I can read the passage below so easily. I'd be very interested to see if "poor" spellers can read it as well...

Olny srmat poelpe can raed tihs. I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid... aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm.
Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? Yaeh and now I ralely wodner wtheehr slpeling is ipmorantt!

Emotional atmosphere

Attitudes are contagious. Is yours worth catching?

Your attitude creates an emotional atmosphere around you. Other people unconsciously detect it.People with positive attitudes are nearly always natural leaders and motivators. People gravitate towards them, just as they avoid individuals who continually mope or complain.

What is your attitude like? Is it one that others would want to emulate in their own lives? Instead of jumping to throw in a negative comment, try to think of something good to say instead. You don’t have to hold in your feelings, but remember that no one likes being around a pessimist. Pessimists dampen the atmosphere wherever they go and drag down anyone in their presence. Positive people do their best to avoid them.

Do everything you can to become one of the optimists so people will want to be around you. It will do wonders for your own self esteem. Yes you will come across those who still want to pull you down to their level. But if they don’t want to be uplifted by your positive atmosphere leave them be.

Attitudes are contagious so fill your environment with happiness, enthusiasm, and optimism!

Even lettuce can go to fat

Many people get way too hung up on how much fat is in food, or how healthy a choice it is.

Calories are calories and it doesn't matter where they come from. Even lettuce can be stored as fat.

The simple fact about weight gain is, if there are extra calories being consumed over and above what you need for the next couple of hours, guess where they're going.

Yep, you guessed it... body fat!

This isn't to say that the quality of what you eat isn't important because it is. It just doesn't have that much of an affect when it comes to fat loss. By all means make healthy choices whenever possible, but don't think that if you eat some chips they're guaranteed to be stored as fat. It depends on the quantity eaten and your activity level.

Your choice.

It's always good to be reminded that we always have choice in how we respond to what happens. Check out this powerpoint presentation. The_Wise_Old_Man.pps

Slow and steady

Sometimes I start to feel impatient because things aren't coming together as quickly as I'd like. Then my good wife (I don't actually have any others, bad or otherwise) reminds me that laying the foundations does take time and that sometimes the Universe has a different timeframe than me.

So her words help me regroup and keep plodding away. (See even your partner can be like a great coach - I keep saying everyone needs a coach!)

Slow and steady may not be very inspiring. It's not as sexy as sharp turns and speed. But it may be just the thing to keep you from running out of fuel, and still moving you forward. It did help the Tortoise win the race against the hare.

Abraham Lincoln, the U.S. President once said: "I am a slow walker, but I never walk backwards."

So the most important thing is to keep moving forward, no matter how slowly. Sometimes slowness can be frustrating. You might become impatient; you might get discouraged with a setback. But a setback doesn't have to set you back. It could be a learning opportunity.

So stay focused on your direction rather than your speed. Be patient, focus on a little bit at a time, and soon enough, you'll be further along than you ever thought. Besides, it's a good bet that by always looking forward, you'll rarely look back in regret.

Proper Breathing

A critical building block of good health is proper breathing. Breathing slowly and deeply gets rid of carbon dioxide waste and invigorates your blood cells with plenty of clean, fresh oxygen for your brain and muscles.

Experts believe that proper breathing helps your body eliminate toxins 15 times faster than poor, shallow breathing. Not only are you healthier, but you’re able to perform better mentally and physically and you’re less stressed and more relaxed.

So become conscious of how you breathe and make an effort to improve it.