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- What is Your First Step to Wellness? - by Submitted on Jun 15, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsI just bought a big, hard cover notebook with blank pages and no lines. This is my first step to wellness. This past weekend was a relatively emotional one for me. I had a conversation that was long, long overdue with someone important to me. I am still struggling with whether the conversation ...
Views: 545(1 vote) - Starting the Night Before: What is the Best Way to Start the Day? - by Submitted on Aug 27, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsWhat is the best way to start the day? Start it the evening before. For everything you do the night before, there is one less thing to do in the morning. For example: get your clothes ready the night before. If the clothes are dirty, wrinkled or unwearable, you will find out the night ...
Views: 544(3 votes) - The Big Mistake about Mistakes - by Submitted on Jun 24, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsFreedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes. ~ Mahatma Gandhi I have a very vivid memory of being in the 4th grade, standing at the blackboard with a long division problem in front of me, feeling completely in the ...
Views: 544 - When You Indulge, Indulge - Buy the Most Expensive Chocolate You Can Afford! - by Submitted on Jul 13, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsFrom "Un-edited Q & A Series" Question: Hello, My name is K. C. and I am a journalism student. I am currently writing a piece on holiday chocolate purchases, and have discovered that, despite tight budgets from the economy, chocolate sales have increased this year. I'm wondering if ...
Views: 544 - Witnessing vs. Intervening - by Submitted on Aug 06, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsQuestion: I am trying to understand the balance in being the silence witness to my mind, (in just witnessing all it’s churning thoughts of insecurities etc. and knowing that it is not my true essence), verses taking what an insecurity says to me and working it through. An example is that I ...
Views: 544 - A Support System for Health - by Submitted on Jun 07, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsWhen most people think about losing weight they envision the ugly act of dieting. They imagine all of their favorite foods being taken away from them. No fun! No fair! Most people find that dieting is not sustainable. They can do it for a month or two and lose a few pounds, but after a month ...
Views: 543 - Does Food Have Taste When Eaten without Awareness? - by Submitted on Jul 07, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsA koan is a kind of question used as a training device in the Buddhist tradition, designed to help the aspirant attain a degree of clarity. I'm sure you've come across these zany questions before ("What's the sound of one hand clapping?" or "If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there, ...
Views: 543(1 vote) - Finding Stillness in Parenthood - by Submitted on Jun 07, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsWhy is it so hard to stay put? Sitting still (even with a thousand thoughts zigzagging in my mind like a school of tropical fish) continues to be one the greatest challenges in my life. But now that I’m a parent, it is even harder, and doubly important, to learn how to be still. Before ...
Views: 543(1 vote) - Parenting from the Trenches: When Mommy Misbehaves - by Submitted on Aug 06, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsThere is something about the intersection of peri-menopause and puberty that makes mid-life parenting extra special. On any given day, someone in the family unit is experiencing an explosion of hormones. Some days, it is my eleven-year-old son. Some days, it is forty-seven-year-old me. ...
Views: 543(1 vote) - Resilience: Beating the Swine Flu - by Submitted on May 27, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsBad things happen all the time and bad viruses and toxins exist everywhere. Your body is made up of trillions of cells. There even exist some bad cells in there. The reason these bad cells don’t take over is because your good cells are strong and capable. The same goes for the ability of ...
Views: 543(1 vote) - Stay on the Mission - by Submitted on May 21, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsJust read a superb article on superstar rapper Lil Wayne in Rolling Stone. Rich with insights on excellence and full of inspiration, the piece recorded how he went from virtual unknown to the best rapper on Earth. His success came through the usual suspects: sheer hard work/unparalled ...
Views: 543 - The Joy of Uncertainty (Lessons from My Dog) - by Submitted on Jun 08, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsUncertainty is difficult. But there is also a potential for joy in it. After all, the joy of surprise depends on not knowing. Take a lesson from my German Shepherd dog, Sherpa. When we go to the park she wants to play the Stick Game. What’s the Stick Game? First, I find a good stick to ...
Views: 543 - How To Lessen Your Addiction To Animal Based Foods - by Submitted on Sep 08, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsI'm not the ideal candidate for a cleanse. When not on deadline, (which is practically always), I'm rushing around from one health seminar to the next. Meetings, interviews, causes, trainings, policy sessions, (and the occasional retreat) fill my days. Unless you can do a cleanse on the run, ...
Views: 542 - How to Shake Off a Bad Mood - by Submitted on Jul 28, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsLately, getting stuck in a bad mood is pretty easy. Just tune into the dreary news, or pick up a magazine telling you how bad it’s going to get. Your senses are assaulted with a relentless anxiety-laden negativity based on “objective” reporting of the sorry state of the economy, but also laced ...
Views: 542 - Letting Go of the Need to Know - by Submitted on Aug 31, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsQuestion: Back in December I found myself at the edge of desperation. After months and months of constant prayer I started to wonder if God does exist or if it was just an illusion that we cling to in order to survive. I happened to be at my mother's house at the time to spend a few days ...
Views: 542(2 votes) - Sleep More, Weigh Less - by Submitted on Aug 18, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsLots of weight loss products promise miracles. One in particular that I recall says a magic pill lets you lose weight while you sleep. Now, groundbreaking new studies are revealing that you don’t even need a mystical (and questionable) potion to lose weight while sleeping; what women in ...
Views: 542(1 vote) - Are You Dead Or Just Comfortable? - by Submitted on Jul 09, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsAre you hearing people talk about how uncomfortable they are these days? Kind of makes sense given all the uncomfortable changes accompanying this fine recession we find ourselves in. I attended a conference last week in San Francisco where one of the speakers said something that to some, ...
Views: 541(1 vote) - Least Effort - by Submitted on Aug 09, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsJeff, one of my closest friends, called me yesterday. He was very frustrated. He cannot understand why his team manager does not treat him accordingly to his great efforts. He shared with me the fact that lately, due to atmosphere efficiency, fairing and cutting costs he has decided to act. He ...
Views: 540(1 vote) - Living in the Moment - by Submitted on Aug 03, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsPublished in The Broomfield Enterprise, 10/14/07 Watching our 8-year-old boys run around on the playground, my girlfriend smiled peacefully and sighed, “Wouldn’t you just love to go back in time and have them as babies again—even just for a day?” I wanted to say, “Yes! Absolutely!” because ...
Views: 540(2 votes) - Mama’s Going to Be a Gladiator - by Submitted on Aug 09, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsPublished in The Broomfield Enterprise, 2/10/08 “It would make sense,” my husband said, “if you had ever expressed even once in the last sixteen years that you had a remote dream of becoming a Gladiator.” I had just told him that the casting directors from the television show “American ...
Views: 540(1 vote) - Life is Not the Greatest Treasure - by Submitted on Jul 29, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsI suffer from hypochondria. Whenever I collapse, fall, forget who I am, I start getting scared. I crumble, turn into a little girl and I am afraid. Really, really afraid that I will get sick and die. The fear takes over, terrible fear that makes me almost unable to function, the fear of death. ...
Views: 539 - The True Corporate Responsibility - by Submitted on Jul 22, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsI was reading yet another article lamenting the dearth of corporate regulatory instruments when an insight hit me broadside yesterday. Follow my thought process, if you will. The author—and now, of course, I can’t find whatever it was I was reading—offered corporate responsibility as the ...
Views: 539(1 vote) - The Universe Is As It Is - by Submitted on Aug 11, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsQuestion: If everything is as it should be, what is, is, (Seven Spiritual Laws of Success), was Nazi German SUPPOSED to happen? Are all the horrors of life SUPPOSED to be? I am confused. I cannot reconcile Hitler's Germany as something that was supposed to be because " the universe is as it ...
Views: 538(1 vote) - A Self-Help Kit for Closed Minds - by Submitted on Jun 23, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsPresident Obama is meeting with resistance to some of his biggest and most daring plans for change. He repeats over and over that he is open to suggestions from all sides. When the Republicans balked at his current budget, he asked them to provide one of their own. They didn't, and the reason ...
Views: 537 - Caring For Aging Parents - by Submitted on Aug 11, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsQuestion: Please can you give me your advice----I am very troubled. Last December my mother became very ill with a stroke. It was a huge shock ans she is now in a nursing home after massive organization on my husband and my part. My father is 86 and wants to stay in the old family house . He ...
Views: 537(1 vote) - Get High with Movement and Motion - by Submitted on Sep 06, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsExhilaration, well-being, accomplishment: these aren’t words we often associate with exercise. But if you exercise regularly, and you take the time to tune in to your emotions while you’re in motion and then when you stop, it’s likely you’ll be feeling pretty good. This is because ongoing ...
Views: 537(1 vote) - Falling Asleep, Staying Asleep - by Submitted on Aug 24, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsSleep is one of the most important activities we can do each day. Yet, for many of us, there are times when sleep is elusive, just out of reach, either because we have difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep, tossing and turning or restless. Fortunately, there are simple techniques that we ...
Views: 536(1 vote) - How Do You Get Back Up? A Counterintuitive Approach to Thriving in Challenging Times - by Submitted on Jul 06, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsA while back, I received a distressed email from Ken, a young manager at a high-tech company. Ken and I had never met, but he had read my first two books and had done his best to apply the ideas and practices of Extreme Leadership to the way he'd led his team. To their culture, their work ...
Views: 536 - Murder by Faith? A Tale of Two Worldviews - by Submitted on Aug 24, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsWhat should be done when parents rely on religion instead of medicine to heal sick children? I doubt that any sensible person would sanction withholding medical treatment for a sick child because of his parents' religious beliefs, especially when it's a case of life and death. So far as I ...
Views: 536(1 vote) - A Mother’s Day Gift of Private Time - by Submitted on May 17, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsWhen my son was little, he often had trouble falling asleep – he had night terrors that caused him to be fearful. Often to calm him, I nestled beside him in his bed and rubbed his back until he dosed off. I began to talk him through a guided meditation that I used on myself, and which in time ...
Views: 535(1 vote) - Day of Reckoning in Health Care - by Submitted on Jul 26, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsThe unspoken corollary of the old adage, "If it's not broke, don't fix it.." is: "If it is broke, we better fix it.." Broken and broke. That's how a growing number of people -- including President Obama -- see the current health care system and what it does to ordinary citizens. When ...
Views: 535 - How Do You Digest Your Reality? - by Submitted on Aug 26, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsWe are teaching workshops and traveling a lot at the moment, eating wherever we are and whenever we can. This easily upsets our daily digestive rhythm. Which got us thinking about how we normally digest our world. The digestive process is not just about taking in food, it is also about ...
Views: 535(2 votes) - How to Keep Your Energy Up and Your Optimism High - by Submitted on Jun 21, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsI am always asked how I keep my energy up, how I maintain great energy and how I stay optimistic even though circumstances would appear otherwise. Here are my suggestions: 7 Tips to Keep Your Energy Up! Remember: Mood and energy follow blood sugar so ~ stay away from the sweets. Candy ...
Views: 535 - Listen to Your Symphony: An Exercise for Exploring Your Self at Deeper Levels (LONG) - by Submitted on Aug 27, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsMargaret, I was just reading your blog about self-awareness and communication. Are there some more specific “homework” type things I can do? I need a lot of work. I have been in counseling for awhile and feel stuck. I am hoping to come get a couples reading sometime! I love reading your ...
Views: 535(3 votes) - Relationships and Sustainability - by Submitted on Jun 01, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsThere is an old saying that says: “Make new friends, and keep the old. One is silver, the other is gold.” Life is all about relationships. We have a relationship with the environment, with our work, with our home, and especially with the people in our lives. Earth Month gives us an ...
Views: 535 - Sharing Space and Energy: Cohabitating with Others - by Submitted on Aug 31, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsOur homes are our havens. These places where we come to rest, recharge, and dream in safety and comfort allow us to better face the challenges of the world outside our doors. When sharing a living space with others, an awareness of the thoughts and feelings of everyone involved is essential in ...
Views: 535(3 votes) - The Memory of Money: Three Tips to Using Personal History to Unlock Your Financial Freedom - by Submitted on Aug 23, 2009 from Intent.com Authors#1 Take A Money Snapshot To understand your financial picture today, take a money snapshot of what you witnessed as a child. Do you remember watching how your parents spent money? Did you receive an allowance? If so, how much was it? What did you spend it on? Did your family forego an ...
Views: 535(1 vote) - Body-type Questionnaire - by Submitted on May 27, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsQuestion: I wish to determine my Dosha so that I can eat correctly. I have seen several questionnaires on the internet and do not know exactly how to answer the questions. The reason is because I have been sick for over 15 years and I had a totally different energy level and physical ...
Views: 534 - Fires, and Riots, and Looting--Oh My! - by Submitted on Jul 14, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsI got an email this morning from a deeply spiritual friend of mine wanting to know what I thought. What I think is that his message of prophetic doom raises the singular question of the spiritual life, which is . . . Who is your God? “Compelled by the Holy Spirit,” Rev. Wilkerson ...
Views: 534(1 vote) - How to Want What You Have - by Submitted on Jul 28, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsThe 45-minute drive home last Wednesday night from Leavenworth to Overland Park, Kansas gave me some time to think. I just dropped off my younger son, Andrew, for a five-day personal development seminar, and I welcomed the chance to remember a similar night six years ago. Andrew, I concluded, ...
Views: 534 - The Life Force Diet: Go Bananas with Your Health! - by Submitted on Jun 21, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsThanks to the low-carb craze, bananas have gotten a bad reputation. I've even had clients swear them off only to devour chocolate bars laden with sugar, preservatives, and artificial flavors. Not a good idea. Bananas are nature's fast food: they're pre-packed and ready to eat at a moment's ...
Views: 534 - The Ten Commandments of Modern Dating - by Submitted on Aug 23, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsLast Sunday was Mother’s Day, which reminded me of the Ten Commandments. That’s because there’s only one measly commandment telling you what to do: ‘honor thy father and thy mother.’ The remaining nine are a relentless barrage of ‘thou shalt nots’, telling you what not to do. So if you ...
Views: 534(1 vote) - A Moment of Bliss - by Submitted on Jun 25, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsGood Morning!! Maybe it is the freshness of spring and all of the vivid colours but I feel energized and excited today! My ideas are flowing and I am really happy! I love these moments of pure bliss and joy! There is a perfectly calm breeze, the sun is shining brightly and the ocean is ...
Views: 533 - Is it Morning in the World? - by Submitted on Aug 19, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsThis is a column about optimism and why there's reason to feel it. Over the weekend one of the news shows referred to "morning in America." That was Ronald Reagan's call to optimism thirty years ago. The country was demoralized and just beginning to come out of a long recession. The point of ...
Views: 533(1 vote) - Avoid Slipping into the Negativity of Others— Uplift Them with Your Own Positivity - by Submitted on Aug 19, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsNot long ago I happened to meet a lovely woman who, like me, was selling her house. We started to have a nice chat, and she told me that she was selling the place because she was getting divorced. It was her second marriage, and naturally she was feeling deeply sad about the breakup. She went on ...
Views: 532(2 votes) - Can Parenting Be a Spiritual Path? - by Submitted on Jun 28, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsIn the months after giving birth to my daughter, I often lamented that I didn’t have time for traditional spiritual practice. Between nursing, changing, bathing, laundry, dishes and keeping up with my job, spiritual practice has slipped out of my life. Most days, I wonder how I’ll ever find ...
Views: 532(1 vote) - Lost Everything, Found the Blessings - by Submitted on Jul 22, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsA friend of mine told me recently that she’d “lost everything.” In truth, she hadn’t lost everything. But she had lost more than she ever expected. Her life had changed suddenly and profoundly and would likely change even more in days to come. She told me she felt angry and asked me what she ...
Views: 531 - Sex and Fitness? - by Submitted on Aug 26, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsMany are over-worked, over-stressed and over-eating on a daily basis. These factors lead to tired and generally unhealthy individuals who become too lazy for one of the best activities most teenagers crave - having sex. With these bad food choices and inactivity in our lives, is it any mystery ...
Views: 531(1 vote) - The Quiet in the City - by Submitted on Aug 06, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsI took a walk today with a friend through Cambridge, the city I live in. We've been inundated here lately with snow and freezing weather. Today was milder, sunny, and almost like spring if you squinted and pretended. I saw a sign on a post that someone had strung with silk autumn leaves, like ...
Views: 531(2 votes) - Is Cardio Making Your Butt Bigger? - by Submitted on Sep 01, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsAs a former bodybuilder who went on to own a gym, I have spent more than my share of time around weight machines and the one thing that always amazes me is how people will take a perfectly effective, scientifically designed, thoroughly adequate exercise machine and adapt it thinking “more is ...
Views: 530(3 votes)