Archive for February, 2006

Stained Glass Windows

Tuesday, February 28th, 2006

Elizabeth Kubler Ross once said, “People are like stained glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun comes out, but when the darkness sets in, their beauty is revealed only if there is light on from within.”

How is your life? Are you happy and full of joy? Is there darkness, sadness, or gloom? What prevents you from shining from the inside?

If you would like to sparkle and feel better, take some to feed your body and your mind. Ask yourself these questions.

Do I get enough rest?

Am I free from worry?

Am I eating well?

Do I know how to have fun?

Do I like myself?

Am I free from getting headaches too frequently?

Am I comfortable being around people?

Am I relaxded most of the time?

If you answered “no” to several of these, relax. This is just a way for you to get in touch with yourself and to explore strategies for self-improvement. Here are some suggestions to help you experience some joy and better self-esteem.

Go out to eat at a new restaurant. Treat yourself.

Call someone you care about but have not spoken to for some time.

Write a gratitude list.

Do some volunteer work or help another.

Write some poetry.

Listen to soothing music.

Avoid excessive caffeine and smoking.

Journal about your life and feelings.

Connect with your Higher Power. If you do not have one you can always pray, “I don’t know if you are out there, but if you are, I could use some help.” It’s amazing what can happen!

And remember, Rome was not built in a day. Windows take time to accumulate grime and cloudiness. So clean carefully and thoroughly and begin to sparkle from within.

Copyright 2005
Karlynn Baker

Author : Karlynn Baker
Site : ezinearticles.com

Happiness Fleeting

Tuesday, February 28th, 2006

“You cannot capture happiness no matter how hard you may chase after it. Happiness is something that follows you.”
The words of the old sage echoed in the young man’s heart, sounding a constant beat like the song that plays over and over without reprieve.
“What does that mean?” he asked himself. “Time to walk,” he continued, trapped in his own inner dialogue.

He thought about how many ways he tried to find lasting joy—from the cheap thrills to the bigger emotional investments that still left him bankrupt, at square one, with no more to show than a few scars and wrinkles and perhaps a tiny glimpse of what to avoid—far from any solution, more like a the-pain-will-stop-when-you-stop-smacking-yourself-with-the-baseball-bat approach that moved nothing forward.

At least it didn’t move back.

Or did it?

“The pursuit of pain avoidance will never lead to happiness,” he mused inside his aching head, an ache that scratched his soul, dug deep into his bowels to trouble and torment him, turned his stomach green, a sickly, hungover nausea that clung like ivy smothering a chimney. “I’ve gotta’ figure this out,” he demanded, “I wanna’ be happy.”

He kept one foot in front of the other, as if the forward march would somehow will the understanding to step forth and make itself known.
No such luck—though he vowed to keep on.

His slow gait opened space for introspection—plod, seek, plod, seek.
The mental wheels spun, though he wrestled with a vague notion that only in stillness would answers emerge or materialize.

“I can’t capture happiness but I yearn for it. I try to do the right things yet it eludes me, like pushing a string. When do the right things add up? When is enough enough? How do I reel it in? Or can I?”
His legs carried him while his mind churned.

“I know I can’t look outside myself but how do I look within? How does looking help anyway? What do I do with what I see?”

He tripped over a protruding stone and found himself falling, a gash on the knee, a burn on the palm of his hand.

He sat for a long while, watching the wounds leak, a queer smirk across his lips.

“What’s that about?” he pondered.

Despite his stuff, he felt a smile creep upward from his chin.
It spread into a grin, like the sun rising between two mountain tops, filling the space with pale light that gains strength with each passing moment, a space that floods with pinks and reds and causes the valley between the crests to stream awakening to all below.

He suddenly knew, as we all know, in that profound and knowing place, that the rock that sent him tumbling spoke a universal truth.

Only he could pry open the creaking, groaning door that hid his darkest secrets as well as his enlightenment and build a pathway for happiness to alight and embrace him.

He licked the blood from his wrist and tasted himself, glanced down at his torn jeans, the naked flesh speckled with bits of gravel, glanced up and discovered an emerald green tree line, a blue sky, a stray cloud, a soaring hawk and a glowing eye that stared back at him and gave him, for a hushed moment, a tiny piece of happiness.

That’s A View From The Ridge…

Please subscribe to A View From The Ridge, Ridgely’s inspirational column that goes out around the world, at http://www.aviewfromtheridge.com

Ridgely would also love to hear from you personally by email at ridge@aviewfromtheridge.com.

Author : Ridgely Goldsborough
Site : ezinearticles.com

Frankie The French Fry Hatches A Plan

Tuesday, February 28th, 2006

Frankie saddled up to the bar at the We-Stuff-Em-All Diner, official headquarters of Fat For A New America. He turned to his most portly friend, Bubba the Burger, and launched a tirade.
“If we don’t do something now, we could lose all our progress, twenty-five years of expanding and accumulating straight down the drain–if you catch my flow.”
“Did you call the others?” Bubba asked.
“Yeah. Sophie and Bunnie are on the way. I told them we needed an emergency meeting.”
“What about Mickey?” Bubba continued.
“Holy preservatives, I forgot him. Let me borrow your cell.”
Bubba passed him the phone.

Sophie The Soft Drink and Bunnie The Bun waddled through the front door, followed by Mickey The Malt a few minutes later. The group moved to the corner booth, brainstorm central for all Fat For A New America founders.
“We face a potential shrinkage crisis,” Frankie began. “We need to bind together and map out a new strategy.”
“For the love of lard, Frankie, give us a break,” Sophie started. “We’ve already captured over two thirds of the entire population, half of them with over 30 pounds each of good ol’, genuine American-made blubber. We’re killin’ `em out there.”
“You don’t get it, Sophie,” Frankie argued adamantly. “Even though we’ve trapped the overwhelming majority, not a single one of `em wants us to stick around—so to speak. If we give them any kind of opening, we’re history.”
“Not only that,” Bubba added, “our enemies the vegetables don’t care. They’re quite happy to be consumed and eliminated without leaving anything behind—no future, no legacy, nothing to show at all.”
“I never understood that mentality,” Mickey piped in. “No vision whatsoever—way too small-minded, if you see what I mean.”
“Yeah, very thin thinking,” Bunnie chimed.

“For flab’s sake, enough chatter,” ordered Frankie. “Time to glob together. We need to neutralize the threats once and for all. Sophie, you’ve been dealing with enemy number two, fruit. What’s your report?”
“Good news on all fronts,” Sophie responded. “Operation Can `Em or Juice `Em is processing at full speed. We took out most of Poppa Pear and trapped him in chemicals inside a can, turned Abe Apple into either sauce or sugar-laden drinks and created a whole line of fake juices that confuse almost everybody into believing that they’re getting real fruit when actually the whole bottle has less than 10%. The rest is all water, sugar and colorings—perfect for fat conversion.”
“Well lumberin’ love handles, that’s excellent.” Frankie wiped the grease from his brow. “As we grow that operation, we’ll control the fruit market—get rid of those who act too fresh. Bubba, you have a another proposal…”
“Yeah. It’s called Salt, Sweeten & Stimulate—a movement that we have total control over.” Bubba gazed around the table. “All of us play a corpulent role.”

Bubba chortled at his best pal. “Frankie, you first. Can you add more salt to your ingredients?”
“Sure, Bubba. No problem.”
“More salt will cause more bloating since it can only stay in humans in saline. More bloating, more weight, less exercise, more need for stimulants, you get the drift—which leads me to you Sophie. Can you bump up your caffeine content?”
“Whatever the cause calls for, Bubba.”
Bubba gloated chubbily. “More stimulants, higher highs, quicker crashes, more cravings for sugar. That’s where you come in, Mickey. Can you double your sweetness?”
“For sure, my bulbous brother.”
Bubba’s lips dripped with oil. “More sugar, more fat storage, more spikes and less energy for anything that could dissolve us in any way.”
Bubba drooled with gluttony. ”Bunnie, you’re last—the hostess with the mostest—the one that holds us all together. I want you to do it all—more salt to your deliciously nutritionless processed flour; a sugar glazing to the top of each bun; more sugar in the mix; and chemicals that will bind and bind and bind.”
Bubba laughed so hard he almost lost his mustard.
“If we work together, we’ll form more tires than Goodyear,” Bubba gleefully declared. “Our place in history forever anchored to their mid-rifts.”

“Outstanding,” Frankie praised. “Truly gelatinous. But we still have to deal with enemy number one—those vile vegetables.”
“We’re making some progress, Frankie,” Bunnie chirped. “We got ketchup classified as a vegetable in the school system and packed it full of both sugar and salt—addict `em while they’re young and defenseless.”
“It’s not the sauces I’m worried about,” Frankie espoused. “We’ve crammed most of them with salt or sugar or both. The greenies pose our biggest challenge, Artie Artichoke, Gretta Green Bean and our archrival, Sallie Salad. If they gain any momentum, they might get into a zone. Remember, they produce slow-burning fuel and disappear without a trace—a total waste! If humans get hip, we’ll go the way of the glacier—melt city!”
Frankie mopped more grease from his tubby cheeks.
“As much as we all hate salads, we need more sugar and salt on those veggies—drown their virtues in creaminess, sweetness and glutomates. We need an ally on the inside. I say we call Deirdre—Deirdre The Dressing Queen. I know that’s extreme, so let’s take a vote.”

One by one, the Fat For A New America founders thrust their pudgy hands into the center of the council and gave the thumbs up. In one voice, they began to chant, faster and faster to the final, oversized crescendo:
“Fat, fat, fat, fat, fat, fat, fat, fat, fat, fat, fat, fat, fat, MOOOOOOOOOOOOOORE fat, fat!!!”
“Meeting adjourned,” ordered Frankie. “A waist is a terrible thing to mind—let’s eat.”
TO BE CONTINUED…

Author Ridgely Goldsborough co-founded The YoungSlim Lifestyle, an integrated approach to weight-management and anti-aging that can be reviewed in streaming video at http://www.youngslim.com. Ridgely can be emailed directly at ridgely@youngslim.com.

Author : Ridgely Goldsborough
Site : ezinearticles.com

Stick With the Winners

Tuesday, February 28th, 2006

Here is an interesting quotation from Stephen Walsh.

“We’re building up and tearing down, in everything we do. Are you on the construction gang or the wrecking crew?

Think about this statement and how it applies to you. Some have a difficult time in their lives as they have self defeating behaviors that continue to keep themselves stuck. As children, if we were raised in unhealthy families, we often learned ways of coping that worked while we were children. Eventually these coping strategies lose their power and affect as adults. Then, we often find ourselves in a state of crisis.

Are you helping or hindering yourself?

Imagine yourself with a beautiful bouquet of balloons walking into a room filled with many people. You want to share these balloons with others. Do you walk into a room filled with people holding hatpin’s? Or, do you walk into the room filled with smiling and friendly people?

Think about it! Sometimes professional help is needed to wade through the problems and crisis areas. There are many qualified counselors out there in every state. So take a chance.

Author : Karlynn Baker
Site : ezinearticles.com

6 Power Foods For Your Heart

Tuesday, February 28th, 2006

Heart disease remains the number one cause of death in the United States for both men and women. Traditionally, a low fat diet has been the prescription for heart health which causes many people to shrink away. Not anymore! The good news is there are many things you can add to your diet that can greatly improve your risk factors of heart disease. Here are 6 power foods you can start adding to your diet to keep you heart healthy!

Nuts- Although nuts aren’t exactly low in calories or fat, they contain high levels of unsaturated fats that are known to lower “bad” LDL cholesterol levels in the blood and reduce the risk of heart disease. Studies have shown eating about one ounce of nuts every day will reduce the risk of heart disease in the long run by 30% according to Frank Hu, MD, PhD, associate professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Soy- Soy has also been shown to lower cholesterol levels. Using soy on a weekly basis is a great step towards protecting your heart. If you are not a tofu fan, try soy milk or yogurt, garden burgers, edamme (soy beans), or soy sausage patties. There are all kinds of ways to include soy in your diet!

Hot Cocoa- Yes you read right! Cocoa contains high levels of flavonoids which are a class of phytochemicals known to help prevent heart disease. Researchers have found that hot cocoa has more disease-fighting antioxidants than tea or red wine and the heat may help propel them into the bloodstream. Hot cocoa is also much lower in saturated fats than other chocolate sources such as candy bars.

Beans and Lentils- including kidney beans, peas, black beans, etc. —are high in both soluble fiber and folic acid to help lower cholesterol and decrease homocysteine levels (high homocysteine levels are associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease).

Broccoli- A powerful antioxidant found in broccoli and broccoli sprouts may help protect the heart from high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke. A new study shows the compound, called glucoraphanin, helped improve heart health, fight inflammation, and boost natural defense systems against oxidative stress.

Grape juice- The flavonoids in grape juice, like that in wine, have been shown to prevent the oxidation of so-called bad cholesterol (LDLs, or low-density lipoproteins) that leads to formation of plaque in artery walls. Grape juice can also lower the risk of developing the blood clots that lead to heart attacks.

Start adding these foods today and begin your journey to better heart health.

© Meri Raffetto, 2004

About the Author

Owner of Real Living Nutrition Services, Meri Raffetto is a Registered Dietitian and a recognized professional in the area of nutrition and wellness. She has developed two online weight management programs, The Mini Diet Makeover and The Ultimate Diet Makeover, which focus on a healthy, non-diet approach to weight loss. For more information or to sign up for our free newsletter, visit http://www.reallivingnutrition.com.

Author : Meri Raffetto
Site : ezinearticles.com

Temporary Internet Files – the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Tuesday, February 28th, 2006

A little bit of time invested into learning about internet security can go a long way in preventing mishaps on your computer. Temporary internet files are not something we should be afraid of, but we should certainly be careful in how much we trust them and how we deal with them.

Temporary internet files are image, text, and formatting files that are stored on your hard drive by the websites that you visit. They are placed there by the websites without your having to do anything. The files are stored on your computer the first time you visit the site so that the next time you go to that webpage you only have to load new information or files that have changed since the last time you visited – files that have not changed are loaded from the temporary internet files folder at a much faster speed than over the internet.

This seems like an incredibly appealing option, especially to those of us still working at home on dial-up connections (my teenage brother-in-law insists I’m “old school” because I don’t have DSL – I think he may be right). Storing the temporary internet files on the hard drive significantly cuts down the amount of time it takes to completely load and view a website.

There are a few question areas, however, that need to be considered in any discussion about temporary internet files. First, and arguably the most trivial of the concerns, is that you may miss out on all of the updated information the website has to offer. If your browser loads the files from your temporary internet files folder rather than the updated material from the website, you may miss out on an updated football score, or you may get a different image than the one others are viewing. The system is designed so that things like that don’t happen, but the possibility is out there.

Second, storing huge numbers of files can bog down your computer, slowing down its ability to do even the simplest of tasks, such as word processing (a deadly one-two combination if you’re working with dial-up!). Fortunately, you can control the number or size of the files that are being stored on your hard drive. Typically under the Tools>Options menu of your browser you’ll be able to set the amount of your hard drive you’re willing to dedicate to temporary internet files. You may want to set this high or low, depending on your browsing habits and need for speed.

Third, the temporary internet files folder may contain files that contain viruses, inappropriate images or text, and files that could leak personal information to websites. This is obviously a huge concern any time you allow someone virtually unregulated access to your hard drive. Images from an inappropriate website you accidentally stumbled across (it has happened to all of us) may be stored on your hard drive. Corrupted files may be placed there by an unfamiliar website you only visited once. Cookies and other files may potentially spawn popups that cover your screen in a matter of seconds.

Before you grab your pitch fork and storm the beast’s castle, let me mention a few things you can do to bring a little control to your temporary internet files folder without destroying it completely.

I already mentioned limiting the amount of your hard drive dedicated to holding files from visited websites. This is the best option for those who may be less concerned about corrupted or inappropriate files being stored and more concerned about the ability of their Jurassic-era computer to perform at a decent speed. Some versions of the popular browsers won’t allow you to completely eliminate storing files, but you can limit the resources to 1% of your hard drive or a small number of megabytes.

Some opt to regularly clean out their temporary internet files folder – obviously this will eliminate malignant files and free up some space for your computer; but it will also eliminate files you may want. A quick note about the files that begin with “Cookie:” – cleaning out the folder will not actually delete the cookies. The cookie files in the temporary internet files folder are simple files that point the browser to the actual cookie in the “Cookies” folder on your hard drive. If you are interested in truly purging your system of internet files, you’ll need to clean out that folder as well.

In my view, the most judicious option is to utilize available software to manage the content of your temporary internet files. Some files you want because they make your life easier. Some files you don’t want because it bogs down your computer and makes your grandmother blush. Software is available that scans your computer and finds all the internet files (including cookies). The software makes recommendations as to whether the file in question is good, bad, or ugly – all you have to do is decide to keep or trash it, then click the appropriate button.

Temporary internet files can make our internet browsing time a quick and convenient experience. Unfortunately, they may also pose a risk to the security of our hard drives. With a little hands-on management we can keep ourselves, our loved ones, and our computers happy, safe, and protected.


Nick Smith is a client account specialist with 10x Marketing – More Visitors. More Buyers. More Revenue. For great software that helps manage temporary internet files, check out ContentWatch, Inc.

Author : Nick Smith
Site : ezinearticles.com

The Asian Tsunami Opened Waves of Love

Tuesday, February 28th, 2006

When something terrible as the biggest tsunami happens to so many people so suddenly, one of two reactions occurs: Either you feel the world is a terrible place where the innocent suffer and disaster awaits around the corner—or you realize that this entire world show is designed to teach us love.

While we can’t even begin to fathom the meaning of the recent tsunami, it was a massive wakeup call for the entire planet.

The Tsunami waves also created waves within us to open up our hearts and respond as best we knew. We expressed it as best we could through prayers, through our pocketbook, and through sharing our deep concern. What it did for us was teach us love.

We realized that we’re all in this experience called life together and that when anyone suffers everyone feels the echo. We share a common humanity.

Other disasters have happened very recently—the constant slaughter of human beings for idealism, religion, and nationalism—but we lost touch with our compassion, our minds blinded by judgment, fear, and prejudice.

But with the asian tsunami, we had to face our humanity and its fickle nature without any buffers. The tsunami images shook our habitual self-absorption and our innate narcissism.

Still judgment happened. People decided to blame God or nature. People decided that it happened elsewhere and that little could be done about it. Others became absorbed in tsunami facts.

Nevertheless, hearts opened, money, rescue attempts, and prayers suddenly escalated. And for a brief moment, we began to feel like a single humanity; across the globe, we became one race, one country, and one people.

Our illusory boundaries melted as we gazed at video clips of tsunamis.

All of us can relate in one way to disaster, and when we saw it happen on such a large scale, it opened up our hearts.

When we learned to love, we learned to give, and when we learned to do what God would do if he were a human being, we learned who and what we are.

In the end, it’s all about love.

In loving, we become truly ourselves. We discover a power for good we never knew existed. And we discover that we are one consciousness existing in many bodies.

Tsunami aid is also aid to our closed hearts.

Resource Box

Copyright 2005 Saleem Rana. Please feel free to pass this
article on to your friends, or use it in your ezine or
newsletter. It’s a shareware article.

Author : Saleem Rana
Site : ezinearticles.com

Round Pen: The Great Equalizer

Tuesday, February 28th, 2006

Although many horsemen and trainers extol the virtues of the round pen, many horse owners still overlook just how powerful such a pen can be in developing or maintaining a relationship with a horse. This is a shame because it is truly what I call the Great Equalizer in a horse-human relationship. Perhaps that bears some clarification…

I’ve found many horse owners to be concerned about their physical strength as opposed to that of their horse. They fear they simply cannot firmly establish themselves as the alpha, or leader, of the relationship because the horse is so much stronger. Thus when their horse displays poor ground manners or commits an inappropriate action they are more prone to ignore it and hope it doesn’t develop into worse behaviors. After all, what choice do they have? The horse is just too strong.

The reality is that, except for the youngest of foals, a horse will always possess more raw strength than a human. Any attempts to overpower a horse with sheer strength are doomed to fail. Techniques such as raising your voice towards or slapping a misbehaving horse do not rely on strength – they are psychological. The horse does not want the conflict to escalate as it is uncertain exactly what your capabilities are, therefore it submits.

Of course there are exceptions, and truth be told such techniques are best used on already-trained horses or in situations where you cannot properly establish your authority due to lack of time or proper surroundings. The best way to instill respect and discipline into a naughty horse is by incorporating the Great Equalizer: the round pen.

Whereas many people view a round pen as a means for exercise (and it is true that it’s a great exercise tool), the true power behind the round pen is its ability to establish dominance in a completely non-forceful method. In the round pen, physical strength means very little. It is a quick and easy (as opposed to other methods) technique to make your alpha status known.

Allow me to share an example that will better illustrate why a round pen will serve you better than strength.

I once owned a willful young colt raised by a first-time mother, so unfortunately the mare wasn’t all that familiar with the need to discipline her colt. In fact although the colt was really quite a nice horse, he was unruly and tended to do whatever he wanted from day one. An experienced mare would not have permitted such antics, and had she “laid down the law” better from the first day the colt would likely have been a little less rambunctious.

Soon it came time to provide halter and lead training to this young upstart, and true to his form he made sure the task was trying. Although more than willing to walk with you, he felt there was little need to do so in an orderly fashion. If he “accidentally” bumped into you, or strayed so far from your side that you had to cling to the lead line with an iron grip, so be it. Snapping or jerking the lead line didn’t impress him much.

Even worse, as a colt develops into a mature stallion they often can become very “nippy.” This one was no different at first. Just as he did with his mother, he would sneak tiny bites and nips when you weren’t watching, and although there wasn’t mean intent behind them let’s face it – they hurt!

Anytime a horse strikes at you (and a nip should be considered a strike) it’s important that you retaliate with conviction so they think twice about doing so again. But when I would give this colt a fairly light slap he would almost smirk to himself and try to nip me again! Was he being mean-spirited? No! This colt grew up with no significant discipline from his mother and no fear of humans – we imprinted him from birth and thus he trusted us. Since he did not fear me, he thought I was engaging in some horseplay as any other colt would do.

A slap, as harsh as it sounds to us, is not always about force. It generally does not cause a horse much pain, but rather it is intended as a shock technique for a horse that already recognizes you as an alpha. Since this colt saw me as a playmate and equal, he possessed no fear of my slaps – my choice was to either escalate the physical force (which is generally not my first choice) or establish my dominance in a gentle way via the round pen.

Once I established that slaps or verbal growls would not have any effect on this colt, anytime he would nip at me or try my patience with his rebellious ways we would march straight to the round pen or enclosed paddock. While this colt found the notion amusing for the first five minutes or so, eventually the round pen will drain the “oats” from nearly any horse and he was no different.

With consistent round pen work, this colt soon learned that I wasn’t a simple playmate – I was his leader. Although we could still enjoy each other’s company, it had to be on terms that were agreeable to the both of us (no more black and blues!). Due to consistent round pen work, the leading, nipping and general disrespect issues became a thing of the past.

I hope my example of this young colt showed the folly of depending upon physical force to achieve your goals – “outgunning” a horse is not easy, practical or desirable. Never accept poor behavior and do not feel your authority is measured solely by your raw strength; both are mistakes that are all too commonly committed by horse owners. Instead consider the use of a round pen (or in a pinch you can use a longe line) and find out how easy training and discipline can be when using the Great Equalizer.

Author : Jeffrey Rolo
Site : ezinearticles.com

Second Letter to My Daughter

Tuesday, February 28th, 2006

Dear Camille,

As I thumb through the photographs that I carry with me always in my briefcase, it’s hard to fathom that the short haired, smiling baby holding a crawfish and wiggling its claws has turned into the beautiful goldilocks girl that demands the stage and wants so much to sing.

I feel like such a cliché—all those veteran parents telling us how quickly you would grow up, how it would be over before we know it, how we had best pay attention before it all ended.

They were right.

I can’t believe you turned three.

I can’t believe the seasons change so fast, the questions change so fast, though the answers seem so much alike.

I sit on airplanes and think of you often, what kind of stewardship do we offer, who truly teaches who, the empty feeling that hovers around me like a morning mist when we spend too much time apart.

I ponder the choices, the justifications, the selfishness that allows laziness to creep in, the myriad moments of ire that warrant only tenderness, the loss of control over small matters of tedium, the fragile balance between patience, guidance and the human condition that reveals its shadowy self in petty outbursts, orders and even shouting matches—the release valve that leaves ashes of hurt with little resolve.

What is my job?

Outside of protection from physical harm, I bob on this sea of life like a tiny cork in a hurricane, reaching within, seeking, trying to embrace and express, wondering how I might ever qualify to tell you or anyone how to live.

In the end, the old adage that the more we know the more we realize we don’t know takes hold, anchors me to a journey of discovery and serves as a reminder that my conundrum evaporates if I focus on love, my role to baste you in it, wrap you up in a love cloud and cover you with a love blanket, that you may grow in love and let the other lessons flow to you and through you at your own pace.

This I can do, shrug off the coat of inadequacy and give you another hug, another kiss, another kind word, another minute when minutes run short, another chance, another smile, another deep breath to choke down the critic or the tyrant or the fictional pundit that so quickly jumps to judgment and wants to intervene.

No, father doesn’t know best.

Father struggles to understand.

Father wrestles with his most important job.

Father tries so hard to heed his own counsel, to listen—both to the words and the unspoken, the undercurrents, the needs, the emotions that rage, then play, then rage, then rest, then come back to rage again.

Father cares—though the jumbled blend of empowerment, co-dependency, heart, guilt, duty, honor, passion and profound, profound affection sometimes do more to confuse than enlighten.

I guess we all tread the path, rain or shine, winter and summer, paved flat and mountainous, rocky trails.

Father loves.

Father loves you, with all my might, a job I relish.

As long as the ticker ticks, it will always tick for you.

Dada

That’s A View From The Ridge…

Ridgely invites you to subscribe to A View From The Ridge, an inspirational column that goes out around the world each week. Please visit http://www.aviewfromtheridge.com to subscribe and email Ridgely personally at ridge@aviewfromtheridge.com.

Author : Ridgely Goldsborough
Site : ezinearticles.com

There’s A Diet For You, When You’re Really Diet Ready

Tuesday, February 28th, 2006

We are bombarded by diet fads at least a few times a year. Now, many of these fad diets are really good, and can help the right people to lose a few pounds when they are ready. I’ll repeat this one: when they are ready. It is an important concept to remember. A cigarette smoker doesn’t want to quit, won’t. The same concept transfers to the diet world. You must be a willing participant in order to see results.

If you know you need to drop a few pounds, but you seem unwilling to do the work, set yourself up with some good reading material. Learn as much as you can about the foods that you eat, the exercises you don’t do, and learn your family history. Chances are, the more you know, the more motivated you will be to get the ball rolling on a fitness plan.

Getting started is hard, there’s no doubt about it. But do it right. Get a membership at the local gym or YMCA. A personal trainer can help you to set goals and plan out a routine. Convince a buddy to join you, and make the most out of it. Soon, you will see some results. It will be addicting. Your progress will be your motivator.

You owe it to yourself to at least give it a shot. Use your membership for the month and see what happens. You can’t knock it if you don’t try it. Nobody has ever knocked the gym and said it is not worth it.

Getting fit is all about a life change. By just working out and eating the same foods, you are not doing much good. It is bad foods that are the cause of many problems. This leads us to the biggest obstacle: cooking.

Many people either don’t know how to cook, or just don’t have the time. They eat fast food and buy processed ingredients for their cooking to save time and make easy. Remember, this is a lifestyle change!

Learning to cook healthy, or taking the time to cook your meals could make the biggest impact in your health. We all have a healthy weight. It is the junk that we put in our bodies that make us overweight and unhealthy. By eating organic ingredients in my cooking for two weeks, I dropped ten pounds. This is by no additional exercise activities, just by eating healthy foods with healthy ingredients.

Cooking is not hard, but like anything else, takes time to learn. There are a great many basic techniques for you to follow. Spend some time watching cooking shows a couple nights a week. You will soon see that preparing meals in a healthy way is not hard. In fact, it might even taste better. Think about your favorite sandwich at your favorite fast food joint. You don’t eat it for taste, do you? Cooking with fresh ingredients will surprise you.

For those that are ready to start exercising and eating healthy, there are plenty of options. It will take some initiative on your part, but the rewards are there for you to possess.

Author : Robb Ksiazek
Site : ezinearticles.com