Having a Purpose in Life Enhances Your Mind and Body Health.

“The purpose of life is a life of purpose.”

~Robert Byrne

“Life is like a coin.  You can spend it any way you wish, but you only spend it once.”

~Lillian Dickson

You come into this life not knowing what you are here for. Giving time, you settle on something to do. Sometimes, it takes you forever to find your purpose in life. So far as you find it, it doesn’t matter how long it took you and what position in life you occupy. After all who is competing with you? We all come with different agenda and missions.


Some people find their niche quickly. Others take a lifetime. At the end of the day we all find something to keep us busy enough to contribute to the tapestry we’re all weaving to make this world a better place to live.


It therefore doesn’t matter what position you occupy in this world. You should attend to your work with the seriousness the job demands so you can help make this place you call home a better place than you met it. After all you have only one chance to contribute to this world. Or do we have more chances?

“I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it's not the answer.”

 ~Jim Carrey

“Why torture yourself when life'll do it for you?”

~Author Unknown

Going With the Flow is a Healthy Prescription For Your Mind and Body Health

"When you find peace within yourself, you become the kind of person who can live at peace with others."

Peace Pilgrim Quotes.

"Some people confuse acceptance with apathy, but
there's all the difference in the world. Apathy fails to
distinguish between what can and what cannot be helped;
acceptance makes that distinction. Apathy paralyzes the
will-to-action, acceptance frees it by relieving it of impossible
burdens."

Arthur Gordon quotes.

The unpredictability of life can drive fear into our hearts. Most of what happens to us are not planned. However, when all is well with us and the sea is calm, we let down our guard and get exposed to the elements that prey on us. All of a sudden our boat that was cruising along on the calm sea is tossed around by the tempestuous sea.This can  instill fear in us to such an extent that we may abandon our journey or change course.

Therein lies the importance of preparing ourselves to such an extent that when we confront the storms in our lives, we have the will and the skills to face the storms so we don't get battered to such an extent that we abandon our dreams. When we prepare before the ordeal strikes, we have the resilience and the capacity to be able to face the problem with all the inner strength and God given power we can muster. We however become better when we are able to conquer the ordeal. For, each ordeal conquered prepares us for the next one. This is the journey we have all embarked on so we have to accept it with all its foibles.

"You learn more form ten days of agony than from ten years of content."

Sally Jessy Raphael quotes

"Each and everyone is the architect of his misfortunes or fortunes."

William Shakespeare

"Life is a series of experiences, each one of which makes us bigger, even though sometimes it is hard to realize that."

Henry Ford quotes

The bamboo that bends is stronger than the oak that resists.
Chinese proverb

“It is said an eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent a sentence, to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate in all times and situations. They presented him with the words, 'And this, too, shall pass away.' How much it expresses! How chastening in the hour of pride! How consoling in the depths of affliction!”
       Abraham Lincoln

"In the last decade or so, science has discovered a tremendous amount about the role emotions play in our lives. Researchers have found that even more than IQ, your emotional awareness and abilities to handle feelings will determine your success and happiness in all walks of life, including family relationships."

John Gottman, PhD

The ups and downs of life test our energies and will to live. We struggle everyday to do the "right thing." Yet, that does not give us immunity from adversities. Just like the changes of seasons, we cannot appreciate summer if we have not experienced winter and vice versa. Both seasons have their purpose in our lives. We just have to learn to adapt to them. Thus, if you bring someone from  Africa to Iowa during the winter, he may not enjoy his stay in the US. Because you have removed him from his comfortable environment to the cold environment without any proper clothing, shoes and change in mental attitude.

Just as life is full of dichotomies like right and left, good and bad, so do you go through the same changes in your lives. One day you are perfecly well and the next day you're sick. One day you're rich and another day you're poor. These are are some of the changing scenes of life that we all have to come to terms with.

To be able to handle these changes in your life, you have to develop resilience. 

Resilience is the process of adapting your behavior, attitudes and thoughts in the face of problems to be able to solve the problems. Learning to be resilient will go a long way to help you face life's adversities so you can realize your dreams and be all you can be. 

          

"The greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall."

Confucius

"Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Watch your words, for they become actions.
Watch your actions, for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become character.
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny."

Author unknown

Resilience Is An Elixor For Your Mind And Body Health.

The bamboo that bends is stronger than the oak that resists.
Chinese proverb

“It is said an eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent a sentence, to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate in all times and situations. They presented him with the words, 'And this, too, shall pass away.' How much it expresses! How chastening in the hour of pride! How consoling in the depths of affliction!”
       Abraham Lincoln

"In the last decade or so, science has discovered a tremendous amount about the role emotions play in our lives. Researchers have found that even more than IQ, your emotional awareness and abilities to handle feelings will determine your success and happiness in all walks of life, including family relationships."

John Gottman, PhD

The ups and downs of life test our energies and will to live. We struggle everyday to do the "right thing." Yet, that does not give us immunity from adversities. Just like the changes of seasons, we cannot appreciate summer if we have not experienced winter and vice versa. Both seasons have their purpose in our lives. We just have to learn to adapt to them. Thus, if you bring someone from  Africa to Iowa during the winter, he may not enjoy his stay in the US. Because you have removed him from his comfortable environment to the cold environment without any proper clothing, shoes and change in mental attitude.

Just as life is full of dichotomies like right and left, good and bad, so do you go through the same changes in your lives. One day you are perfecly well and the next day you're sick. One day you're rich and another day you're poor. These are are some of the changing scenes of life that we all have to come to terms with.

 

To be able to handle these changing scenes of your life, you have to develop resilience. Resilience is the process of adapting your behavior, attitudes and thoughts in the face of problems to be able to solve the problems.Learning to be resilient will go a long way to help you face life's adversities so you can realize your dreams and be all you can be. 

            

"The greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall."

Confucius

"Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Watch your words, for they become actions.
Watch your actions, for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become character.
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny."

Author unknown

Create Your Own Happiness For Your Mind And Body Health

"Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.”

Herman Cain quotes

"The reason people find it so hard to be happy is that they always see the past better than it was, the present worse than it is,

and the future less resolved than it will be”

Marcel Pagnol quotes

We spend our life  trying to be successful so we can be happy. We acquire wealth and are still  not happy. Many of you have seen many wealthy people who are not happy. Likewise, we have seen poor people who are happy, because they  have learnt the secrets of being happy. You create your own happiness. It comes from within you. Nothing outside you can give you as much happiness as what comes from inside you. Therefore, these are some of the principles you have to abide bye if you want to be happy:

• Regard every day as a clean slate you can paint anything on. The possibilities are limitless. Hence each day, with this attitude, you have the aptitude and capability to create your own life as you want it. Happiness comes when you see the fruits of your labor.   You become the farmer who takes the virgin land, clears the weeds, ploughs the soil, fertilizes and seeds it. Imagine the glee in your eyes as you see the fruits of your handiwork blossom in front of your eyes.        
• You cannot live in the future if you want to be happy. The future with its uncertainties give you the creeps. The magic for living a healthy happy life is to live one day at a time. Even a day is too long. One moment at a time is better. Because, if you are able to provide for this moment, the next moment will take care of itself. However if you let your moments slip away empty, you come to the end of the day with nothing to show for it. Many such empty moments let go, can impact your happiness negatively.
• Make it a choice to be happy everyday.  This way, you can look at the brighter side of things as you're going to be challenged everyday. When you're prepared to face your world, everything comes to your aid to help you go through the day to give you a smile at the end of your day. This is a recipe for your mind and body health.

"The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts: therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature."

Marcus Aurelius

Cultivate Inner Peace To Nurture Your Mind And Body Health.

"We stumble and fall constantly even when we are most enlightened. But when we are in true spiritual darkness, we do not even know that we have fallen."
-- Thomas Merton

"The world is not to be put in order; the world is order, incarnate. It is for us to harmonize with this order."
-- Henry Miller

“Without peace of mind, life is just a shadow of its possibilities.”
-- Jean Borysenko

There are moments when you feel you’re not yourself. Your mind is in turmoil. This feeling robs you of your innate ability to be all you can. The storms in your mind rob you of your creativity, zest and passion for living. Without these qualities, you are a shadow of yourself.

You have the power and the ability to be the master or mistress of yourself. However you need serenity to be able to master yourself and your destiny. Therein lies the importance of maintaining your body’s software, the mind, in top notch shape. It’s like maintaining your computer regularly to rid it of malwares and viruses. These are some of the practices that can help.

· Devote sometime to be still and know yourself.

· Cultivate productive relationships as they serve as buffers in times of need.

· Read widely. By so doing you come to realize that you are weaving the same tapestry as your next door neighbor. In other words you're in this together.

· Volunteer and give of yourself. Selfless acts wipe the tears from the face of a suffering neighbor. When this happens you forget your own tears.

“If there is light in the soul, there will be beauty in the person. If there is beauty in the person, there will be harmony in the house. If there is harmony in the house, there will be order in the nation. If there is order in the nation, there will be peace in the world.”
-- Chinese Proverb

"As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world -- that is the myth of the 'atomic age' -- as in being able to remake ourselves."
-- Mohandas Gandhi

Hard Times Require Nurturing Your Mind And Body Health.

"Problems are not stop signs, they are guidelines."

Robert Schuller

"The greater the difficulty, the more glory in surmounting it. Skillful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempests."

Epictetus

These are hard times for many people all over the world because of the global economic woes. The world is one big tapestry on which you are painting. A spilled paint in one corner affects the work of other painters. This means other people are experiencing whatever you're going through.

Therein lies the power of breaking your day into moments at a time. For each moment has solutions for the next moment. This technique helps you tap into the power of now. Practicing to live one moment at a time will not come easy. However, like everything else, practice brings perfection, for, a moment's problem surmounted provides ammunition for the next moment. This is a winning recipe for your mind and body health.

"Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved."

Helen Keller

"A pearl is a beautiful thing that is produced by an injured life. It is the tear [that results] from the injury of the oyster. The treasure of our being in this world is also produced by an injured life. If we had not been wounded, if we had not been injured, then we will not produce the pearl."

Stephan Hoeller

Meditation Is Good For Your Mind And Body Health

“Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless - like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup, you put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, you put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”

Meditation as an adjuct to selfcare is attracting attention. Practictioners of this ancient contemplative practice report of many benefits. Please, read on...

My First Movie Screenplay

“Take the first step, and your mind will mobilize all its forces to your aid. But the first essential is that you begin. Once the battle is startled, all that is within and without you will come to your assistance.”
Robert Collier

Since medical school I have taken many writing classes to help me to write. My house is full of books form Amazon.com and other bookstores on how to write. I have taken writing classes on line from Gotham in New York and from other sources. I have written poems and a short story. However nothing really appealed to me more than writing for the big screen.

The journey started last August when I bought a lot of screenplay books and started reading. I started writing my first screenplay about 2 months ago. I decided to write a 30 minutes screenplay. I bought "The Final Draft" to help me write. However, I did not like it because I could only load it on one computer. I accidentally stumbled on Celtx , a free movie writing software on line. It was God sent. It worked seamlessly and I could write anywhere provided I had access to a computer and the Internet.

I have finished my second draft. I am still working on polishing it. The setting is in Ghana and hence I am looking for producers in Ghana or Nigeria to take a look at my maiden script to see whether it cuts the muster. I am really excited. I am planning the outline for my second screenplay. Wish me luck.

Recruit Your Spirituality For Your Mind and Body Health.

It's only logical that mental health proffessionals will recruit their patients' interest in spirituality to help them heal. It looks like the profession has come round to this realization. Please, read on... 

Spirituality Is Good For Your Mind And Body Health

Spiritual energy brings compassion into the real world. With compassion, we see benevolently our own human condition and the condition of our fellow
beings. We drop prejudice. We withhold judgment.

~ Christina Baldwin

Awareness of the sacred in life is what holds our world together, and the lack of awareness of the sacred is what is tearing it apart.

~ Joan Chittister

Since time immemorial, human beings have been enchanted by the sacred. Most people believe that there is a greater force in this world that resides everywhere. We see its manifestation all around us. All we need to do is to open our eyes and have an open mind. An open mind appreciates that a world that everything works in unison for the good of mankind must have an architect behind it. You may call the architect by any name you like.

The Time Magazine recently presented many interesting ideas on these issues. Please, read on...


Reference: Time Magazine

Recruit The Changing Scenes Of Life For Your Mind and Body Health.

It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.

Charles Darwin

The important thing is this: To be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become.

Charles Dubois

Change is the norm in the world. The child you bring into the world was once dependent on you. Give the child the right environment, and like a well tended flower, the child blossoms and transforms herself into something new. Without the appropriate environment the child wont achieve her inborn potential to be something better than what she was born with.

Change is what makes everything happens but we dread change. We get so comfortable with the status quo that change becomes an orphan. Yet, to live a meaningful life is to change constantly for the better. Life without change is a toxin for the mind and body health. The following are some of the suggested things you can do to change your life:

• Live one moment at a time. If you don't, the anxiety of the next moment is enough to cripple you, thus preventing you from being your best.
• Learn from the seasons. Nothing is permanent. Change is the language of nature. Each change in the seasons has its purpose.
  
• Adopt an attitude of lifelong learning, for todays' fad is tomorrow's relic. This way you would be equipped with the winning skills to be able to cope with tomorrow.

"Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world."

Harriet Tubman

"For nothing is fixed, forever and forever and forever, it is not fixed; the earth is always shifting, the light is always changing, the sea does not cease to grind down rock. Generations do not cease to be born, and we are responsible to them because we are the only witnesses they have. The sea rises, the light fails, lovers cling to each other, and children cling to us. The moment we cease to hold each other, the sea engulfs us and the light goes out."

James Baldwin

"Listen to the Exhortation of the Dawn!
Look to this Day!
For it is Life, the very Life of Life.
In its brief course lie all the
Verities and Realities of your Existence.
The Bliss of Growth,
The Glory of Action,
The Splendor of Beauty;
For Yesterday is but a Dream,
And To-morrow is only a Vision;
But To-day well lived makes
Every Yesterday a Dream of Happiness,
And every Tomorrow a Vision of Hope.
Look well therefore to this Day!
Such is the Salutation of the Dawn!"

Kalidasa

For Your Mind And Body Health, Practise Forgiveness

Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.”

Mark Twain

"When a deep injury is done us, we never recover until we forgive”

Allan Paton

We achieve inner health only through forgiveness - the forgiveness not only of others but also of ourselves”

Joshua Loth Liebman

As humans we hurt each other. It's natural, since sometimes we hurt people without knowing they are hurt. On the other hand we may intentionally hurt people just to retaliate for something they have done to us. Just hurting someone to retaliate never gives you peace of mind. When you annoint your neighbor with perfume, you also smell good.

Learning to forgive is not easy, so is holding on to grudges. I will rather let go of grudges so I can have a peaceful life than hold on to grudges and have a misearable life. The choice is yours. Live at peace with yourself and your neighbor, knowing well that you may hurt your neighbor who may forgive you. So may your neghbor hurt you and expect your forgiveness.

To live a healthy happy life is to try to shake off any shackles that constrain you such as grudges and hatred. For, the person you are angry with may not even know that you have such feelings towards him. To live is to unlock those shacles that may prevent you to be all you can be. This is a healthy and a winning recipe for your mind and body health.

“I can forgive, but I cannot forget, is only another way of saying, I will not forgive. Forgiveness ought to be like a cancelled note - torn in two, and burned up, so that it never can be shown against one.”

Henry Ward Beecher

Start Something New To Energize Your Mind And Body Health.

"Living in my own world

Didn't understand

That anything can happen

When you take a chance

I never believed in

What I couldn't see

I never opened my heart

To all the possibilities

I know that something has changed

Never felt this way..."

High School Lyric



"What we receive by reaching our destiny is not nearly as important as what we
become by stretching towards it."

Author Unknown

It took me 3 years after signing on Google's Blogger before I had the courage to start blogging. I gave various excuses such as my writing will not be good enough, not enough time and not enough material to write on. One day in October 2006, I took the first step and wrote my first post. The going has not been easy, however the writing has become easier and I enjoy doing it. The research before the writing and the writing itself give me the high and motivation to continue doing it.

As we begin a new year, I am challenging you to come out of your shell and tackle any projects you've been dreaming of. That is what living is all about. To fulfill our dreams and contribute our part to the world. This way, we will leave the world a little better than we met it. This act in itself will empower you to make you hope for tomorrow. As the saying goes, "Today's seeds are tomorrow's flowers." If you don't do anything today to buoy you up tomorrow, your boat will not float. There would be no waves to help your boat to the shore.

The feeling of being an important part of mankind cannot harm you. That feeling is an elixir to your mind and body health. Feelings matter. For these feelings produce the chemicals that make or unmake you. Hence, as we enter this new year, dare to start the new project you've been dreaming about all these months. Starting is half the battle won.

"Challenges make you discover things about yourself that you never really
knew. They're what make the instrument stretch--what makes you go beyond the
norm."

Cicely Tyson

"The principle of "stretching" is involved. Stretching is going beyond one's
normal, comfortable limits and taking into account the big picture. To see the
situation in a larger context motivates behavior change that benefits the
relationship rather than the self. What is good for the relationship benefits
the individuals involved. Stretching means to transcend the ego in the service
of something greater. Making that initial move can be extremely difficult."

Elinor Stanton.

Consider Your Impotence In The Face Of Adversity As A Source For Your Mind And Body Health.

"If we never go through any valleys how will we know when we've reached a mountain top? How will we know if the mountain is even any good if all our lives we stay up on the mountains and never experience any valleys?I know we'd all like to avoid those "valleys" at all costs, But the most growth for anything happens during adversity."

Kim Broom

"If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant;

if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome."

Ann Bradstreet

We live our lives expecting everything to go the way we want it. When we don't win the prize, our world comes to an end. We stop enjoying life and withdraw from society and into ourselves. We forget about the many times we achieved our goals. We forget that just being alive and healthy is worth more that any amount of possessions we may have.

We never escape from our childlike reaction to our disappointments. Yet we know that when our children ask us for something, we sometimes don't give in to their demands. Needless to say, they feel sad when they cannot get the toy or the object they have falling in love with.

As children and adults, these occasions have their purpose in our lives. They teach us that nobody gets everything she wants. It is the ability to live with this realization that we appreciate the power of patience, hard work and the concept that "today's seeds would produce tomorrow's flowers". This faith forms part of the basis of the world's great spiritual lessons. The ability to have faith in the process. The faith makes us live moment by moment. Because, the previous moment's efforts produce the next moment's comforts.

If you become so paralyzed in the present moment and lose its opportunities, the future would be more unkind to you. As grownups some of us carry this childlike trait that destroys us.We grow up forgetting those lessons. We forget to slow down and take one moment at a time. The trust in the moment is so powerful that if practiced regularly, it can transform your life beyond belief. It means live each moment in meditation and savor its opportunities, for this moment lost is your future lost.

"There are as many nights as days, and the one is just as long as the other in the year's course. Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word 'happy'
would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness."

Carl Jung.

"When we long for life without difficulties, remind us that oaks grow
strong in contrary winds and diamonds are made under pressure."

Peter Marshall

Red Wine Fights Alzheimer's Disease, A Panacea For Your Mind And Body Health.

"Fermented beverages have been preferred over water

throughout the ages: they are safer, provide psychotropic effects, and are

nutritious. Some have even said alcohol was the primary agent for the

development of Western civilization, since more healthy individuals (even if inebriated much of the time) lived longer and had greater reproductive success."

Dr. Patrick McGovern, et al. in The Origins
& Ancient History of Wine


"Bacchus we thank who gave us wine
Which warms the blood within our veins;
That nectar is itself divine.
"The man who drinks not, yet attains
By godly grace to human rank
Would be an angel if he drank."
Pierre Motin
French drinking song

"Knowledge enormous makes a God of me.
Names, deeds, gray legends, dire events, rebellions,
Majesties, sovran voices, agonies,
Creations and destroyings, all at once
Pour into the wide hollows of my brain,
And deify me, as if some blithe wine
Or bright elixir peerless I had drunk,
And so become immortal."
John Keats 1795 - 1821
Poems [1820], Hyperion: A Fragment, bk. III, l. 11

Though I don't drink, an article that appeared in the on-line Science Daily makes me want to drink wine. The French eat food with high cholesterol and saturated fats. Yet studies show they have low death rate from heart disease because of the consumption of the red wine.

An article that appeared in the Nov. 21 2008 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, written by Alzheimer's researchers at UCLA and Mt Sinai School of Medicine showed that chemicals called polyphenols in wine block the formation of toxic chemicals, plaques, that can destroy brain cells. The polyphenols can also reduce the bad effects of the existing plaques in the brain, thus prevent the plaques from causing Alzheimer's disease. Please, read on...

"Wine is the most healthful and most hygienic of beverages."
Louis Pasteur

"Wine is the drink of the gods, milk the drink of babies, tea the drink
of women, and water the drink of beasts."
John Stuart Blackie

Learn The Secrets To A Longer Life For Your Mind And Body Health

"Three passions have governed my life:

The longings for love, the search for knowledge,
And unbearable pity for the suffering of humankind.

Love brings ecstasy and relieves loneliness.
In the union of love I have seen
In a mystic miniature the prefiguring vision
Of the heavens that saints and poets have imagined.

With equal passion I have sought knowledge.
I have wished to understand the hearts of people.
I have wished to know why the stars shine.

Love and knowledge led upwards to the heavens,
But always pity brought me back to earth;
Cries of pain reverberated in my heart
Of children in famine, of victims tortured
And of old people left helpless.
I long to alleviate the evil, but I cannot,
And I too suffer.

This has been my life; I found it worth living."

Bertrand Russell

We all strive for long life. The thought of sickness and death strikes terror in our hearts. We spend our days to do things that may bring us happiness and keep us healthy. In spite of that some people who live exemplary lives die early. Some of the reasons for early death may be genetic and high risk activities such as lack of exercise, gluttonous living and failure to control stress.

A new study by Drs. Howard Friedman and Margaret Kern of the University of California at the Riverside found that people who were less conscientious were 50 percent more likely to die at any given age, on average, than those of the same age who were more conscientious. Other findings that improve longevity include Increased socioeconomic status and intelligence. However, the findings in the above study far exceeded the effects of higher socioeconomic status and intelligence which are also associated with increased longevity. The following were the characteristics of the conscientious people who tended to live longest:

• Hard-working.
• Resourceful.
• Confident.
• Ambitious.
• Traits of responsibility.
• Reliability.
• Respectful people in the community who contribute time and energy to their community.
  
• People who co-operate with their colleagues and neighbors.

The study asserts that people with the above traits live lives that are more stable and less stressful. Less stressful is the operative word. With less stress, you're free to be all you can be. The self esteem, that goes with your achievements and successes, gives you the courage to even be more successful. The added benefit of peace of mind is a boon to your mind and body health.


Reference: New Scientist

Consider Setbacks As Vaccine For Your Mind And Body Health.

"In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins - not through strength but by perseverance."

- H. Jackson Brown


"Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another."

- Walter Elliott

You cannot go through life without having disappointments and setbacks. Your success and happiness in life depend on how you sail through these vicissitudes and idiosyncrasies in your life. People who succeed in life have some of the following characteristics:

• They view setbacks as a challenge, a game to beat, an opportunity, or a way to learn something new, rather than barriers in the way of their goals.
  


• They view negative events in their life as less stressful and remain motivated.
  


• They move forward from difficult situations sooner.
  


• They learn form their mistake.
  


• They are more flexible with their plans in life.

When the going gets tough, regroup and go back to the drawing board. Talk to people who have succeeded in the the field you are working and get some help. The new knowledge and determination can goad you on to accomplish your project. Your motto should always be "never despair."

"Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish."
John Quincy Adams


"Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence.

Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent.

Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.

Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.

Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.

The slogan 'press on' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race."

President Calvin Coolidge

Following Your Dreams Is A Recipe For Your Mind And Body Health

"If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours."

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
Roosevelt, Eleanor.

Every invention we see around us was once someone's dream. The inventors did not only dream. They acted on their dreams. Sometimes they failed many times before they persisted and achieved their dreams. How many times have we not walked away from our dreams because of some of the following reasons:

• Lack of self confidence.
• Lack of knowledge of how to achieve your dreams
• Listening to your friends and family members who may speak negatively about your dreams
• Lack of will power.

The ability to stick with your dreams is what makes for success or failure. However it is not easy to build castles as it takes lots of planning, preparation, long sleepless nights and resources to bring the project to fruition. However, a farmer cannot sow seeds without preparing the land and adapt it to what he wants to grow. Hence nobody builds castles without preparations and resources. People who have achieved what they set out to do have some of these characteristics:

• They are open minded and have the thirst to learn new things.
• They are team players because they do not think they have all the answers. They surround themselves with smart people and are ready to listen and learn from them.
• They are not afraid to fail. After all what would be the worst scenario if they fail? They would move on to their next project.
• They have self confidence and the courage to stick with a project till it is completed.
• They have an inner compass that drives them to succeed.

Hence if you have any dreams to build castles, get off your procrastination citadel and start laying the "foundation" for them. For, if you don't you may one day find the castles in your neighbors backyard.

You see things; and you say "Why?" But I dream things that never were; and I say "Why not?"
George Bernard Shaw.

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.
Henry David Thoreau.

Knowing Yourself Is An Elixir For Your Mind And Body Health.

"He who know others is learned. He who knows himself is wise."

Lao Tsu



"There's a lot of fear connected with the inner journey because it penetrates our illusions. Taking the inner journey will lead you into some very shadowy places. You're going to learn things about yourself that you'll wish you didn't know. There are monsters in there monsters you can't control but trying to keep them hidden will only give them greater power."

Parker Palmer

Though you live with yourself, how many times have you taken a break from your busy schedule to know your inner self? You know all about your neighbor or your friends, yet you don't have time to know yourself. I have a friend, Jane, who has mastered the art of knowing herself. She knows when there is imbalance in her inner self. When this happens, she develops non specific symptoms such as shoulder, back and neck pains. These non specific symptoms affect her sleep pattern making her tired during the day.

Many of you have similar symptoms when you're confronted with stressful situations. Unlike my friend who will not run to her physician for a quick fix, many people will run to their physicians for the magic pill to solve their psychosomatic problems. In the busy office, when the physician has only a limited time to deal with your symptoms, he prescribes a quick fix to help you cope. The only problem is that most of the time the medicine does not work. You then move to the next doctor looking for something else to help you cope.

Physicians are important in your life. However you cannot ignore self care that consists of exercising, balanced nutrition, rightful thinking and spirituality. The ability to know yourself will let you know when you're under stress or overwhelmed. You will then be able to cope. Many of my patients are aware of this, yet they want a quick fix by demanding medications.

Your emotions control your feelings and thoughts. These feelings and thoughts produce their own chemicals. Happy feelings will produce happy chemicals and negative feelings can also produce chemicals such as adrenaline and steroids that tear your body apart and make you sick. Once you are in touch with your feelings, you can recognize when something is bothering you. The essence of managing your emotions is to change your circumstances. If you can't, alter your attitudes towards what is bothering you. Understand that there are certain things we can change and others we cannot change. The trick is to determine the difference between what you can change and what you cannot.

The ability to manage your needs and wants will go a long way to keep you at peace with yourself. You become the pilot of your fate and happiness rather than becoming a puppet in the hands of fate. This ability is within us.The secret is to find time to cultivate this innate ability which most of us have lost.

"We do not grow absolutely, chronologically. We grow sometimes in one dimension, and not in another, unevenly. We grow partially. We are relative. We are mature in one realm, childish in another."

Anna Nin


"It's no good running a pig farm badly for thirty years while saying, "Really I was meant to be a ballet dancer." By that time, pigs will be your style."


Quentin Crisp