Constant affirmation without accountability is a sure-fire way to cripple a child. In other words, belief in yourself without responsibility leads to a sense of entitlement.

Raise your hand if you’ve ever been rejected for anything, anytime, anywhere. We all have. How would you like to have a nice little four-letter word for the next time you’re rejected? It’s: NEXT. Next sale, next job, next date, next whatever.

Beware of people who use their own emotional pain as a tool to manipulate others instead of as a motivation to change themselves.

Parents of teens need to watch out for NMK Syndrome: Not My Kid, as in “my kid couldn’t have done ___” (fill in the blank). Well, yes,

Successful companies have innovation in their blood. The single most important element in an innovative company is the creativity of their people. Creative thinkers don’t win by conforming to a given set of rules. Rather they reinvent the game by asking the 20 challenging questions and following 20 breakthrough strategies.

20 Challenging Questions to Ask:

1. What if….?
2. What do you think about….?
3. What’s the next step?
4. What can we do better?
5. How can we streamline?
6. What should we modify?
7. What should we replace?
8. What should we add?
9. What should we eliminate?
10. Can we make any new assumptions?
11. What will make it work?
12. What other ideas do you have?
13. What issues should we explore?
14. What patterns can you

Choosing effective acne treatments from amongst the plethora of products available today can be a daunting task, and while many skincare specialists advocate the use of gentle products, it can be difficult to find a natural facial cleanser that will effectively cleanse your skin, while attacking the causes of your acne. This is why many people are choosing to make their own natural face cleaner from products in their own kitchen. And these can make effective acne treatments.

It can be difficult to make sense of the complicated sounding ingredients listed on the side of manufactured products, but many of the active properties of these cleansers are introduced by the addition of some of nature’s simplest

“It’s a free country,” they say. “Celebrate our independence,” I hear.

Well, I’m all for having a party, but it strikes me that you don’t have to be an American to appreciate freedom, and doing what I’m told isn’t the best way to exercise independence.

So, let’s expand that notion of freedom just a bit, and look at how we can become more aware of the fireworks that are lighting up our minds.

What sets off your mental fireworks? What ignites your personal bottle rockets?

Perhaps it’s a simple pet peeve, like small handbag dogs, or Jello salad, or people who talk on their cell phones too loudly. Maybe you go ballistic when you hear a certain song. We

Think about what you’re doing each day and ask yourself -
“Is what I’m doing now getting me to where I want to get
to?”
If the answer is “No” then do something different. Get out
of your comfort zone and change your habits.

An instructor was watching me use a piece of equipment in
the gym the other day. “Let me show you a different way to
do it” says he. As you’ll guess, the “different” way was a
lot harder, somewhat more painful, however a lot more likely
to produce results.

The human body will always find an easy way to do things and
so does our brain; however as we all know - “no pain - no
gain.” So if you want

Try Not To Force Things Too Much

Often, when meditating, we try too hard to force a certain state of mind that we think we should have. We try hard to suppress thoughts, for example. This is just another thought, of course, and another obstacle to the peaceful state we are hoping for.

So how do you make things happen that can’t be forced? The question itself shows the need for another perspective. Some things can’t be forced to happen, and all struggles to do so only take you farther away. There are times when all you can do is prepare and wait.

The Dinner Invitation

Imagine a wonderful evening with new friends. You prepared dinner, bought a good

I was tempted to choose “harmony” for this installment of my alphabet. However, a brief moment of reflection convinced me instead to favor this Navaho term which, while encompassing and often explained as harmony, delivers so much more than that when you plumb the true depth of its meaning.

Hozho cannot be adequately translated into a single English word. It is the essence of the Navaho way of being, a sense of elemental rightness that is core to their way of living - a way of being that we could do worse than to strive for in our own lives. Hozho is a word of depth and layers, meaning at once harmony and beauty, truth

Q: “My career, though very very stressful, is one that I thoroughly enjoy and do not want to change. Because I’m under so much stress, my counselor has recommended that I eliminate all stress from my life. This doesn’t seem to make sense to me, especially since I like what I do so much. Should I quit my job, or is there something else I can do?”

I think your counselor is wrong. I’m sure they mean well, they just don’t understand some key distinctions about stress.

The reason for that rather bold statement is that unless you are in imminent danger of a heart attack, stroke or some other equally severe catastrophe, there is no reason

Vinyasa is a Sanskrit word, which refers to breath and movement. For example each Yoga posture is matched by one breath. This is what you do when you perform Sun or Moon salutations, and these are also a form of Vinyasa Yoga.

So, any sequences of postures that are synchronized, with your breath are classified as Vinyasa. There are many forms of Vinyasa and even the gentle ones are vigorous. The postures are not held in a fixed position for long and classes flow with rhythm, similar to music.

The energy used in flowing from one movement, to the next, continues throughout a typical Vinyasa Yoga class. This type of Yoga class will challenge aerobic endurance, enhance

Looking for more natural ways to help with the symptoms of menopause? Many herbal remedies can relieve and even eliminate the common symptoms of these conditions.

During menopause, women often experience uncomfortable symptoms. Hot flashes, night sweats, mood swings, irregular, changes in bleeding and loss of sexual desire are some of the most common. Recently, studies have shown that hormone replacement therapy is not as safe as originally believed, so many women are looking to natural remedies with a great deal of success.

Black cohosh has been used for centuries to help women with menopausal symptoms, and is most effective in treating hot flashes. It seems to have some ability to mimic estrogen in the body, relieving