Archive | August, 2008

Rock the Kitchen: How to Plan for Diet Success

If you’ve ever tried a bit of body transformation (losing weight, gaining weight, redistributing it), you know what it’s like. It can be a frustrating, disheartening process. Still, it doesn’t have to be that way. As with anything, a bit of preparation makes all the difference. No matter what your body transformation goals are, here are the components of kitchen success.

Clean out the cupboard

You know what it’s like. You’ve been sticking to the plan for a while now, eating healthy meals and steering clear of the bad stuff. One day you notice a lonely packet of potato chips in the back of the cupboard, and it’s game on. Before you know it you’re scouring the room for the simplest, tastiest ready-made snack you can find. Solution : clean out the cupboards before you start, and remove anything which doesn’t fit in with your intended eating plan. No need to go overboard here, just get rid of the obvious ‘shouldn’t have’ items. NB : if you’re sharing the kitchen with others, just put your food – as much as possible – in a separate place.

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Will St. Peter Call Your Name?

“For some reason I can’t explain, I know St. Peter won’t call my name. Never an honest word but that was when I ruled the world.” – Chris Martin (Coldplay), from Viva La Vida

Christians believe St. Peter, who was one of the twelve original Disciples of Christ, stands in front of the gates to heaven and is charged with the responsibility of announcing, upon our deaths, who is entering heaven and who is not.

The belief is we are not guaranteed a spot in heaven – we have to earn it. Only upon hearing our names called, are our souls allowed to enter into a blissful eternity.

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How To Meditate (& Why it May Help You Overcome Depression)

Meditation involves silencing our mind. It is not an intellectual activity, but an attempt to expand our consciousness and be aware of our ‘real sense of being.’ Meditation can be a practical tool for relaxation, concentration and better health; it can also be an invaluable tool to self discovery. Through meditation we develop the capacity to be content with ourselves as we are. It is a happiness not dependent on external wealth and success. If practiced correctly, meditation can be a powerful antidote to depressive thoughts.

It is hard to pick up meditation from just reading an article, but I would like to share a few basic pointers about what meditation involves. No matter what form of meditation you follow, the basic shared principle is to quieten your thoughts and mind. We can sit in a chair for many hours, but, if thoughts continually pass through our mind then our meditation will be ineffective. Ultimately the aim is to have a mind free of thoughts. It is in this inner silence that we can experience a consciousness of real peace.

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Infinite Possibility, Infinite Flow

In recent weeks, several friends who are experiencing financial challenges have posed this question to me:

Why is that so many aspects of my life seem to be flowing, but when it comes to money, I feel so stuck?

Or,

Why is it that when I’m meditating, creating, writing or “in the zone,” I feel alive and vibrant, as though I’m living at the highest of frequencies, but when it comes to finances, I come crashing back to earth?

These are important questions and the answers are both simple and complex.

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Getting Back on the Right Life Path

Do you sometimes wonder if you’re on the wrong path through life – but can’t see any way to rework your footsteps and join a different one?

After I graduated from University, I wrote in my journal:

“It is exciting to have my whole life ahead of me and know that I could do pretty much anything I put my mind to. It’s daunting but exhilarating to stand at the summit of 16 years’ full-time education and gaze out at the land around me. I could go anywhere from here.”

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How to Find True Happiness

“The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance; the wise grows it under his feet.” – James Openheim

Advice on how to be happy used to be the purview of self-help gurus. However, over the past few years scientists and psychologists have begun to give serious study to the subject of happiness. Although they’ve discovered that about 50% of happiness is determined by a person’s genes, and another 8 to 10% by life’s circumstances–such as income, health, and marital status–, the remaining 40% is up for grabs. In addition, scientists have found several ways to create true happiness, six of which are explained below.

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Eckhart Tolle’s Guide to Writing

All true artists, whether they know it or not, create from a place of no-mind, from inner stillness.

Recently I was listening to an episode of the Oprah / Eckhart Tolle podcasts. Tolle described how he writes, and I was struck by the simplicity and peacefulness of the process. If you ever experience writer’s block, or if the words you do write feel forced, this guide may prove to be the solution for your troubles.

The following is a summary of how Eckhart Tolle writes:

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