Monthly Archives: March 2023

Writing and Working with Intention

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As a writer, do you think of yourself as spontaneous, tapping into the ever-present flow at a moment’s notice? It’s a pretty image, but how often do you find yourself blocked or stuck when you try to create something from nothing? Let me share with you a shovel that can dig you out of this hole-the shovel of intention.

Writing and working with intention does not have to mean knowing exactly what you want. What intention does require is just one or more of the following:

  • knowing how you would like to affect those who come into contact with your art/writing
  • knowing what effect you’d like your work to have in the world
  • knowing what qualities you’d like to work with

In this framework, your goals can be as focused or broad as you like. You can be very explicit (I want to write a description of the view of bay and maple trees from my bedroom window). You can provide a broad focus to your goals (I want to create a piece of writing that conveys my hopefulness that we can reclaim the sanctity of nature and become good stewards of the environment). Or you can give a very broad brush (I want to write something that gives people a sense of joy and playfulness, and that makes them laugh).

If you’re starting a new project and are unsure what you want to create, you might just think about the qualities you want to bring into your work. Do you want to be playful? Passionate? Irreverent? Wild? Provocative? Joyful? Soulful? I encourage my clients and students to invite these qualities (out loud) into their creative session. Often as we begin to invite such qualities they show up in our process, as well as the product.

When I first began collaborating with Peaco Todd on the anger book we eventually wrote with Jane Middelton-Moz (Good and Mad: Transform Anger Using Mind, Body, Soul and Humor), Peaco and I hit a few bumps in the road. Working on an anger book, perhaps we should not have been surprised when anger showed up in our collaboration.

In the process of improving communication between the two of us and developing a process for working together, we stumbled upon the idea of inviting certain qualities into the process and the book itself. We invoked qualities of healing, transformation and playfulness. Not only did the book take on a playful quality, but we found ourselves laughing and having fun as we worked. Dolphins showed up in our dreams. I bought a rose quartz dolphin to place by my computer. Peaco gave me a dolphin necklace.

Because of the intentional way we worked, our collaboration and friendship deepened in a lasting way. In addition, I’m convinced that this lively dolphin energy made it possible to write with lightness on a heavy subject, to have fun doing it and to inject some fun for our readers as they explore and transform their anger. What qualities would you like to invite into your work? Try something new for you-juiciness, serenity, sassiness, sexiness-make a list and have fun with it.

Exercise:

Ask yourself these questions:

  1. What would I like my audience to experience as they read this piece? For example, perhaps you want people to feel empowered so that they are emboldened to take action.
  2. What effect do I want this project to have on the community and what qualities might support such results? For example, if you want the work to contribute to a spirit of tolerance in your community, perhaps tolerance and peace are qualities you can invoke.
  3. What qualities would make this project fun to work on, would enliven it and make it inspiring? In the example above, perhaps invoking humor would make it fun and help you reach your objectives.

Invoke those qualities from your answer to questions two and three. Invite Spirit or your Muse to support you in your intention and clearly state what you would like your project to accomplish. You may want to write an intention or mission statement for each project you work on. Read the statement aloud whenever you work on it. In this way, you reinforce your mission and goals and strengthen your ability to create something of profound effect.

Creativity Coach Gregory Huff tells me that he often invites qualities by putting on music to create the mood he wants to be in for the art he is creating. Other times he relies on the weather to set tone. I sometimes draw with pastels and place the drawing above my computer to invoke a quality. Other times, I place a rock or object nearby, my rose quartz dolphin being an example of both. Perhaps you can think of other ways to invite your chosen qualities.

When your work is viewed, read or experienced, notice what people say to you about your art or writing and how it affects them. Does their feedback often support the qualities you invoked when creating? Many people have told us that they were surprised to have such fun working with Good and Mad. Little did they know the dolphins were at work on that.

You may wish to keep notes about how the process of intention and inviting specific qualities affects your work. And, by all means, drop me a line and let me know how it works for you. I’d love to hear your stories of writing with intention.

HO Scale Model Trains is an Amazing Hobby That Brings the Family Together

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Model trains are fun for both young and old–men and women. The hobby bridges the generation gap and can be a great way to bring the family together! Model trains are not only for kids: Adults are very much a part of this world. Consider joining a local model-train club. Model trains are a very interactive hobby, where users can create elaborate model railroad layouts. Users develop numerous hobby skills associated with modeling trains including building structure kits and modeling scenery.

Model trains are an amazing hobby and one that many people find very exciting. Imagine having an exact replica of the Orient Express or the Trans-Siberian Express running around a model landscape you hand built in your basement. Model trains are some of the most enduring toys of all. They are so enduring that even adults love them.

Standard and narrow gauge model trains are available in a number of scales. European scales include OO gauge which has the same track gauge as HO gauge but is a larger scale. Model trains are offered in a wide variety of sizes, styles and colors. These models often feature sophisticated electronic components that make them elegant and realistic in operation. Model trains are sold in standard scales, from the tiny Z scale to large G scale. HO scale model trains are just some of the most popular out there on the market and these sizes tend to be more readily available than others.
Model railroads are usually built to a letter scale, such as HO, where 3.5mm on the model represents 1 foot on the prototype. Model railroads are not built overnight. In fact, no model railroad is ever finished. Model railroads are more then just the trains, tracks and power supplies. They provide the enthusiast a way to study and recreate entire worlds and towns in miniature.

Model train layouts are always constructed, operated, and maintained by people, of course. Their movements and access to the layout are as important, if not more so, than the arrangement of the trackwork. Model railroads are a very electrically noisy environment so that special care must be taken in isolating grounds between the controller and the rest of the layout. Model railroads are among the almost $4 billion worth of toys and models made each year in the U.S.

New concepts and the techniques to control model railroads are constantly being developed as the technology of the hobby allows. In the past decade, the development of computer controller model engines has increased the ability to operate trains like a real railroad. Model railroads are great for sparking interest in where do commodities come from and where do they go? Westward expansion in the US was fueled by the expansion of railroads across America. Model railroads are enjoying a surge of interest and activity from professional designers and artists. Model railroading is a lifetime hobby of enjoyment and fun.

For operating in a realistic fashion like the real railroad, it is often done on very large layouts. These layouts are too large for the typical home and are built by clubs. They have many scale miles of track and can operate long freight trains realistically. Also, they provide a variety of train traffic like the real railroads making operating them more fun. Check with your local hobby shop and you will find the name and location of a club near you.

How To Find The Right Physical Therapy Schools For You

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Many people each year go into the wonderful field of physical therapy where the enjoy a wonderful career that is enriching and well paying. However, before they get that far along, they will have to decide whether this field is right for them and also go to one of the physical therapy schools. Here, we have put together a list of tips to help make sure you this field is right for you and also what you can do to ensure you are in the best school based on your interests.

1. Make sure you love physical therapy.

One of the first things that any prospective student will want to do is make sure that this field is right for them. One of the easiest ways to do this is to volunteer at a physical therapy facility in your area. This can help give you an invaluable look into the real life of those who are physical therapists. However, it can also help you decide what specific area you want to work in. This is why we recommend you volunteer at several different types kinds of physical therapy facilities. This information can be used to help you decide on which school will be the best choice for you.

2. Make sure the school is accredited.

When doing your research on the different physical therapy schools, make sure that they are all accredited. If they are not, it is not worth your time considering them. There are plenty of schools out there that are accredited so be sure you are picking from the right ones from the very start.

3. Find out where the graduates are working.

This is important because want to make sure that at least some of its graduates are practicing in the areas that you want work in. This can be found out by contacting the school and asking where their graduates practice. Also, you can often find this information on the school’s website where they highlight where their graduates are going. If a school’s graduates are not practicing in the areas you want, you should not consider that school. An alternative to getting the answers to this research is to interview those physical therapists that are working in the areas that you want to work in and ask what school they went. This can give you some direct information on what school and skills may be needed to get the job you want.

By keeping these different tips in mind, you should be well on your way to the best one of the different physical therapy schools for you. Good luck on your journey and career.

Fast Ways to Learn Greek

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Greek is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, languages in the world. Other languages might have existed long enough to be considered old. However, Greek has not changed much after all these centuries. It still possesses much of the vocabulary as well as the grammatical rules of ancient Greek civilization. If one has heard about the much-used phrase about the ‘glory that was Greece’, he can also correctly assume that the language itself is rich. In fact, because of its early civilization’s great influence on the modern world, many Greek terms are the origin of English words. Roughly, 12% of the English vocabulary is of Greek origin.

If that is the case, then it is never too hard too learn Greek. Anyone who speaks English, whether as a primary or as a second language, should have encountered many words with Greek origin. That would already mean cutting a certain amount of time spent on learning the language. However, learning the vocabulary is not enough unless one only wants to impress others with his capacity for memory. What is important is that one is able to grasp the use of the common phrases and sentences in Greek just as a true-blooded Greek or Cypriot himself says it. Through that way, a learner in Greek would learn the language not as a foreigner would but as a toddler Athens native.

While reading books on the language can help, actually listening to it being said is even better in hastening the language learning experience. One can just purchase an audio book on the Greek and spend time listening to it. Setting aside only the free time may be enough but if one is seriously considering learning it in record time, then allotting more than an hour a day for the audio book may spell the difference. Of course, he must also follow the audio book’s instructions. He must enunciate every word or phrase that he taught. For better results, he can try teaching others what he just learned so that it would really sink in.

To avoid the possibility of losing interest in the learning process, the learner himself must make it enjoyable. Greek is language of an ancient but very opulent culture. One cannot possibly miss out the history and culture side of the language while he is learning it. Therefore, when encountering every Greek term or phrase, it would be helpful if he looks at its cultural or historical significance and basis. That would be like feeding healthy materials to feed your appetite for the language. With the learning fun and fast, one will discover that not everything that is strange may sound Greek.

NCLEX Review: Techniques That Will Help Deal With The Habit of Procrastination

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Find yourself stalking people on Facebook when you should be studying your NCLEX material instead? Rather do chores than pick up a book and go through it? Know that D-day is coming but just can’t seem to get yourself to focus? Let me put this in a straightforward way, you are having a serious “disease” lots of test takers get inflicted with: procrastination!

If you want to achieve success in the NCLEX exam, then you definitely need a serious bout of intervention.

Get Rid of This Destructive Habit Called Procrastination Right Now!

Just get yourself thinking… what good is it going to bring to postpone your NCLEX review? Whether it is your inability to calculate and gauge your study time or an irrational fear of failure, you are getting comfortable with procrastination which is like a virus that will only screw up your chance to get a good NCLEX exam score. Do you want to be left behind when the people who are working harder than you taste the sweet nectar of success? Don’t let procrastination be the cause of your failure!

When you really stick by the techniques and tips that are laid out here, you will definitely be able to deal with your procrastinating ways, paving your way to an excellent NCLEX score!

• Get a Tutor. An official tutor or an accomplished NCLEX exam guide will put your sidetracked preparation back on the right path during these last crucial moments before the exam. He/she will come in to tutor at a specific time, and so by that time you will need to be prepared with the work he/she has assigned you. This will push you to study as per schedule.

• Is affordability a concern? Feel like getting a tutor will burn a hole in your pocket? Pitch in with your friends who are taking the exam too and split the bill. This way, you get to prevent yourself from going broke and you still get the personal attention you need from a tutor.

• Optimize the use of the time you have by using it to review your NCLEX material. Learn to multi-task and put a little bit of studying into everything you do. For example, if you are going somewhere that has a long travel time, record one topic of your review. Afterward, play it on your portable media player and listen to the recording during the trip. This way you will still be studying and not just wasting time.

• Reschedule your study hours. If you think you need a serious NCLEX review session, set aside time for it. Take an extra hour to warm up for the review session. After all, it is your time, and you decide how you are going to use it. Just remember not to get distracted from the task at hand! Discipline is very important.

• Lastly, touch base with certified nurses. They will be able to provide you with some guidance and advice on the proper study techniques for the NCLEX.

Remember, you are the master of your habits and not the other way around. Nip procrastination in the bud and you will be on your way to become a nurse!

Homeschooling is an Alternative Method to Deliver Quality Education

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You are what you are today because of how you were brought up in your family, the type of environment that you are living and most especially from the education that you learned in school. Academic education is very important especially that it teaches us all about life. With the different subjects offered, you are able to learn a lot of things from varied aspects. The type of education that you have determines how you deal with other people, what job you will have someday and how you will face your life in general.

Before you plan to choose a school for yourself or for your children, you cannot deny that you are more of the quality and the cost. Practically, if you cannot afford a private school, you would definitely opt for the public schools in your own locality. Looking for the school that you need is just like looking for stun guns. You check for the producer, the features and the cost of the product. Since, education is very important, you make sure that the school administration and the school has the necessary features which are cost-effective and delivers quality education.

However, when you are not satisfied with your local public schools, you can always prefer for homeschooling. There are a lot of families today that selects homeschooling than letting children go to campuses for a lot of reasons. Safety, budget, type of subjects offered and quality are few of the reasons why people decide to let their children study at home. Though it may not involve interaction to a lot of children, it is still as effective as letting your children go to school if you will follow the correct curriculum and you have the important resources available.

One advantage of homeschooling is that you can create your own curriculum based on the capacity of your child and based on the subjects that you wish your child to learn. If there is no subject in the public school that includes lesson about your religion, then you can include it in your own curriculum at home. You can really monitor the progress of your child and the pace of his or her learning capacity. Aside from that, it is cheaper because your references can be located from a lot of resources.

There are a lot of resources for your homeschooling curriculum. You can borrow books from the library in your own community or you can ask for books already used by some schools in your locality. Moreover, you can buy your own books in your local store. It is also very easy to look for resources through the internet, just as easy as how you buy stun gun online. You just place your topic on the search engine and there you have it. Different topics will come to you as a list. In addition, video tapes and audio training can be a good source of education. You can make use of your own television for educational purposes.

Homeschooling is also an alternative method to deliver quality education aside from that in schools and colleges. But it must be done in the right way with the up to date curriculum used.

Forex Trading Course Reviews – Which One Will Teach You the Most and is the Best Value For the Money

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There are literally hundreds of currency courses offered online today to the private individual wanting to learn Forex trading. Our firm offers Forex trading course reviews of what we consider the top training programs available today, taking many factors into consideration, such as cost, type of course, profit potential after completion of the class as well as the quality and presentation of the teaching and learning materials provided as part of the curriculum.

There are basically two distinctive categories of classes you can enroll in. One is a comprehensive program that will teach you ever thing from the most vital essentials to the most elevated and highly developed investing and trading systems. The other type instructs you on one specific facet of the market and how to take advantage of this tactic and exploit it for profits.

Each of these diverse educational methods has there positives and negatives. The positives of the all-inclusive programs is that they provided you all the necessary knowledge to have a long term career as a processional currency trader and investor. The negatives are they really like taking an extensive college course that requires a great deal of studying and reviewing of the subject matter on your part. My personal favorite of these programs are called Fap Winner and Straight Forex.

The positives for the specific classes are for the most part they are simple to learn, easy to trade with and you are able to quickly start making money in the markets with them. The negatives are easy to see, they only teach you one way to make money in the markets and not multiple forms of income producing techniques that are instructed in the all-encompassing classes. The courses I prefer in the specialized group are called Trading Forex Made E Z and Hector Trader.

The Forex trading course reviews provided to you above will ensure if you enroll in one of these programs you will be receiving a quality education and good value for your money. You certainly can check out there websites and decide for yourself, which is always a good idea, since it is free and takes very little effort on your part.

How to Get Thousands in College Scholarship Money

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Getting a college scholarship sounds extremely hard. However, you might be amazed at the reasons and amounts of money that businesses, religious organizations, charities, governments and other institutions are giving away in scholarships. While it used to be next to impossible to score any free money for school, it is now possible to save thousands of dollars by simply filling out a few pieces of paper and applications online.

The first step in getting thousands in college scholarship money is finding the scholarship. I listed many of the organizations that give away scholarships above. However, there may be more depending on your community. Try looking at your school’s counseling office to see if any more are available. Oftentimes local businesses will try to give away money to seem better to the community. Take their money and use it towards your education!

The second step in finding that money for college is filling out the FASFA. This is the federal student aid form. Just by filling out this form you can qualify for federal grants, have your information forwarded to states, be able to take advantage of work study and much more. Another great thing about FASFA is that you can forward it to your college and see what type of aid they can give you as well. Getting a college scholarship is not hard at all. College scholarship money is still flowing freely even though the economy is not going so great. Just keep applying and watching how much money you can get.

Coaching Soccer – The Coach Parent Relationship

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One of the most difficult areas of coaching a youth soccer team is having successful relationships with the parent group.

These tips should allow for optimal success by setting expectations, hearing and addressing concerns, and allowing for positive relationships throughout the entire season.

Once your team is selected, prior to the first practice, have 2 meetings. Have a meeting with your players whereby you can discuss your expectations, allow players to ask anything of you, and also it provides a great opportunity for the players to meet and interact with each other.

The second meeting should be with only the parents group. The players could go outside with the assistant coach and play a game, or if held at a house they could all watch a movie are some ideas.

The parent meeting is very similar to the player meeting, and is the most important first step in having a successful coach/parent relationship. This shows your organized, well prepared, and have clear goals in mind.

Set clear expectations.

Simple as that. Lay out what YOU expect of THEM. Some suggestion areas to discuss at the meeting would be:

– Explain your coaching style. Everyone has their own style of coaching, so if you explain how you like to coach for success, parents have the understanding of how you coach.

– Explain your goals and objectives. By understanding what success looks like to you, parents will better understand what you are looking for, and what areas of success you are focussing on.

– I ask that you do not coach your child from the sideline. Cheer and encourage as much as possible, but please allow me to provide the coaching. I may have a plan in place for the team, and having sometimes 30+ extra coaches on the sideline can create confusion for the players.

– If you have concerns about your child or the team, please talk to me before, or after the next practice. I ask this so we can think through and have time to digest any concern. It allows for me to review the game, and you to review and think through your concern so we can discuss properly.

– Playtime, you must clarify your plan for playtime. If it is equal, inform and stick to it. If not, be upfront and honest and answer any and all concerns to address parental concerns.

– Allow them to ask you anything, and answer as thoroughly and clearly as possible. This allows for them to get to know who you are and how you will address specific areas of concern.

Using these tips should give you a great first step in having a positive relationship with your soccer team parent group.

By setting expectations early, of how you want the team to perform, and how you want the parents to handle certain situations, should greatly reduce the amount of “angry parents” during a season. Typically, in my experience, when a parent gets angry it is usually over an area whereby an expectation has not been set by the coach.

Hopefully you have found these tips useful, and good luck coaching your teams!

Careers Over 40 – What I Want Now That I’m Grown Up

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You are in your forties or fifties, and are looking at yourself as a working person, and find you’re still asking yourself ‘what do I want to be when I grow up?’ Although this can feel frightening, looked at properly it is a huge opportunity.

Very few of us know what we want to do (professionally) as children. Most of us have varied interests as we grow up, often study a subject at college we are fairly good at, and then are faced with the question: what now?

Many of us then take on a job that serves as a stop-gap until we discover what it is we want to do. An easy option is to head for a profession like law and accounting – there is always a need for these skills. Sometimes it might be a less high powered but the motivation for doing it may be similar.

Over the years we move jobs and suddenly find, in our mid forties or fifties, that the question ‘what do I want to be when I grow up?’ has not been satisfactorily answered. And now you are grown up.

At this age, the question is more frightening than it was when you were younger. You have dependents and responsibilities, and a growing panic, or despair that you really should know what you want to do.

Here’s another way of looking at this situation. For all but the rare few who have known since childhood what they want to do, our work lives are not ‘a career’ as such, but rather an extended experiment, carried out by us in the real world. We test various ways of earning a living. We work in various capacities in different places.

By the time you are in your forties, you have accumulated a mass of invaluable data about yourself as a professional. By looking back over your work life, you can discover what works for you, and what doesn’t. Where your strengths are. What sort of institutions and fields you enjoy working in. Having discovered that, you can now target exactly the place to work in which, finally, to construct an enjoyable, and highly successful ‘career’.