Giving Can Overcome Language Differences
August 21, 2008
I recently had to take a trip to Germany. It has been more than ten years since making my last international trip. I now have a renewed sympathy for non-English speaking visitors and residents in the United States.
I didn’t have it as bad as it could have been. Many of the businesses that I visited spoke English as a second language. What amazed me was how patient and helpful those that couldn’t speak English were to me. I was able to go where I wanted and get what I needed with relative ease. It didn’t matter if we spoke different languages because we worked out other ways to communicate. Contrast that to some experiences I have witnessed in the United States. I have watched non-English speaking people intentionally ignored or dealt with without any patience. I have also heard people say they shouldn’t be in the United States if they can’t speak English.
Do you want to make the world a better place by doing even little things? My recent trip to Germany was proof that you don’t have to speak the same language to help others. The next time you see someone that may be visiting from another country, go out of your way to smile and greet him or her. Spend time finding a way to help them if they appear to need something. I am confident you will make their day better and yours as well.
Roger Carr is the founder of Everyday Giving. His life purpose is to help people help others. To learn more ways to give and sign up for the Everyday Giving ezine, go to http://www.everydaygiving.com/ezine.htm.
Being Relatable in Todays World as a Christian
August 19, 2008
There are reasons we cross paths with those that we do. Sometimes its SO obvious, because we have walked a mile or two in what that person is going thru. But other time’s we scratch our head and wonder why. In any case, it’s important to be relatable to those around you in life.
Over the years I have put together, my own be-attitudes, ways of keeping myself motivated and moving in the right direction. Some of the keys have been taught to me by my Pastors and others that have spoken into my life.
Dawn’s be-atitudes for making it in today’s world:
1- Be real-Practice what you wear (bracelets, tshirts, bumperstickers, etc.) or for goodness sakes get rid of them, until you can! It’s a process, and just because you are a christian you are not going to have it all together all of the time of course, but let’s be practical here.
2- Be relatable. Speak normal, elminate the thou’s and thus sayeth the lord from grocery line chatter.
3- Be authentic-Say what you mean, be honest and dont make promises that you cant or dont want to keep.
4- Be Proactive-Never act out of guilt.
5- Be personal-Have your own relationship with God, rather than relying on your peers, your parents or others.
6- Be thankful and grateful. This keeps our eyes off of others and feeling like someone is getting more than what we have or need. Keeps things in perspective.
7- Be informed-Stay up on current events, stay relevent, be flexible, keep a youthful perspective and be ready to move.. God is always on the move, not in yesterday’s move, but in today’s move.
8- Be loving and accepting-Of ourselves and others. Keep your standards without compromising what Jesus encouraged us to do-love.
9- Be excited-life is a gift, try to make each day different than the last!
10- Be a planner-I have heard say that if you don’t know where you are going, you will probably end up there. Make plans, set goals, and get into action!
What are your personal “BE’s”? What is a “BE” that you need to work on? What “BE” can you share with another to motivate and encourage them?
Dawn Peters attends Christian City Church Atlanta. She has been active in the Christian community since a young girl, has taught Bible Studies and lead various youth groups over the years.
She is a Self Employed Business Owner and Teacher. She holds a degree in Early Childhood Education, has been certified as a Nurses Aid, was a foster parent for 7 years. Now she owns and operates a Professional Massage Therapy office and also teaches Massage Therapy at a local School and offers private classes as well.
Dawn has won several poetry awards over the years and has published articles related to her field -Massage and Bodywork.
On a private note-Dawn is married and lives with her husband Mark in Atlanta, GA. They enjoy camping and boating.
For more information on Dawn, her business and Massage, please visit: http://www.simplymassagetherapy.com
Quest for Freedom–A Story Of Pure Courage
August 17, 2008
The Nazis stormed into the house of Stanislavsky Lech, who was Jewish, herded the entire family out at gunpoint, packed them into an overcrowded train, filled with the stench of death and despair, and sent them to Krakow.
Then, before his eyes, Lech saw his entire family shot. Somehow, he managed to live from one day to the next, in a numb, oblivious, zombie-like state. Impatiently, he awaited his own death. But one day, he realized, that his own death was not an unavoidable truth. He could, in fact, do something about it: he could make an attempt to escape.
Once he had made his decision, he didn’t know how to execute it. He only knew one simple thing: his decision was irrevocable, and, somehow, he had to find a way to act on it.
As the weeks passed into months, he interrogated his fellow prisoners. "How can we escape?" he would ask. He became a nuisance, an irritation. "It’s hopeless," they would echo. "Stop hurting yourself," they would plead. Some would abuse him openly; others would turn away in silence.
In turn, he rejected their answers, their silences, their overbearing despair. There has to be a way, he told himself, and I will find it. This is my revenge: by surviving I will prove that the Nazis aren’t invincible and that they don’t have complete control of our wills and that they can’t do what they like with us.
Each day he would run a dialogue through his head. "Today I choose to escape from this nightmare. I will not continue to be a victim. I will not accept these conditions. I am a man, with rights and dignity, and I will, so help me God, find a way to let the whole world know about what is going on here. I will escape. There is no doubt in my mind. How can I escape today, perhaps right now? There is a weakness in their security.
They cannot watch us every minute. There is something I need to find, and I will find it today, something that I have overlooked, something that will bring me freedom. There is a weak link here, somewhere. I will find it."
The urgency of his question pounded on his heart and mind every waking moment, and it followed him into his dreams.
Then, one day, as dismal as any other, he saw what had been before him all along. The Nazis would let the corpses of naked men, women and children, shot because they were too weak to work in the labor camp, pile up on the ground before a truck would come and haul them away. With typical efficiency, the truck would only come when there were enough bodies to fill it up.
Hiding behind a bush, he stripped off all his clothes, then dived into the mound of corpses. He lay still, pretending to be dead, the nauseating odor of death all around him. He lay there for a day. More corpses were thrown on top of him. He did not flinch. Finally, the truck came. Rough hands pushed his inert body into the truck.
In the truck, many more hours of horror passed. Finally, his body was dumped into an open grave.
He waited until nightfall before climbing out.
The sweet smell of night, the fresh breeze, filled his lungs as he ran twenty-five miles to freedom.
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Saleem Rana got his Masters degree in psychotherapy from California Lutheran University. His articles on the internet have inspired over ten thousand people from around the world. Discover how to create a remarkable life
Copyright 2004 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.
What Legacy Are We Leaving Our Children?
August 16, 2008
Children can seem exhausting, annoying, wonderful, loud and funny all at the same time. They are a lot of work especially in the beginning years but what we need to realize is that they are our future so what we do with them in the early to teen years is important because they will become the leaders while we behold the golden years. How we raise them now affects how our future is in our later years and in theirs. When you see how our current situation is with illiteracy in schools, and crime, it can seem daunting to us.
Still, we can change our future by giving our children a good foundation, morals and values they can think with. I was a teacher for ten years and I learned a lot from that experience. The main thing that I learned was that the more attention you put on something, the more the children responded to that. For example, if some students were behaving badly and I constantly put attention on them being bad, then that is what I would get from them. But if I switched gears and put attention on the things they were doing right, then I noticed that they would try harder to do the right thing. It is something I noticed time and again.
It is interesting to note that when you are in a situation where you see many different children together, you can see what kind of up-bring they have had. Here is what I have observed:
a) A calm child has had an environment where he or she has been allowed to express their thoughts and has been allowed to contribute to the family. This child has been listened to and they are made to feel that they are important and have a place in the family. A child will want to contribute in his or her own way and that could be drawing you a picture or bringing you a flower. To ignore this is a big mistake. As a child this may be the only way they can contribute to the family because they are so small.
b) If a child is acting up and behaving badly and you constantly harp on them about that then they are made to feel that this is the only way to get attention and therefore will continue to do so. If you switch gears and start praising them for what they do right and ignore them or take away their privileges when they are behaving badly then they start to learn that if they want something that they have to be good in order to be a part of this group and get what they want. Then you have started to direct them to strive to be good and contribute to society. It will ultimately help them to grow into a responsible individual and your life will be better for it.
There is a motivational print called "Direction" which I love that states "There are two important things we can give our children, one is roots, the other is wings". I love this saying as it is so apt. Lets make sure our children have a good foundation for us, our children and their children.
Willie Jones
Willie Jones is a freelance writer, researcher, floral designer, and artist. "When Art Inspires, Dreams can Become Reality". http://www.artinspires.com "Make sure you enroll in the free motivational poster drawing. All winners receive a free framed print."
Time for Sunshine
August 14, 2008
Having spring around makes you feel different after such a long winter journey. How well do you feel when you have a little bit of sunshine in your life? What effect does it do have on our psyche? The power of sunshine brings us a lot of comfort, optimism, self-confidence and of course a smile. Imagine how great if would be if we were so positive all year round!
Living like this is possible if you really think about it. In order to exist in such a state of happiness though, we must have sunshine radiating from within ourselves, shining from our hearts, our minds and from our souls. I bet many of you are reading this now and saying "Yeah that is easier said than done!" And what do we say to that well, in the end that’s your choice and if you think that way then your own life will reflect that attitude of yours!
In order to make ’sunshine’ or rather, ‘light’ a part of our being It is so important that you watch your thoughts, your words and your actions so that you do not contradict what you really feel you’d like to create in your own life. Watch your thoughts and really become aware of how many negative thoughts pass through your mind about yourself and other people around you. Watch to see how often you gossip about other people and when you become aware of it you will see how often it is actually attached with feelings of jealousy, envy and insecurity about yourself.
You should also take a close look at your ‘intention’. How many of you do something for another person without expecting to receive something in return? It might not even have to be a material or physical thing you expect, expecting recognition or acknowledgement for what you have done is enough to create conditions on your intention. Think about it! We may not always pay attention to what our true intentions are behind our words thoughts and actions because many of us are not aware of the power and effect they have when it comes to creating our lives.
Putting all of what I have said together, it seems that most of us are creating monsters inside of us just by simply talking, thinking and not putting our heart out with the right intention towards helping someone else. All of these things are born from a ‘negative’ attitude and will not help us in any way at all when it comes to bringing a brighter ’sunshine’ into our lives. If you took all your negative attitudes in one hand and measured your need to feel ’sunshine’ in the other, you would see how both these elements really contradict each other.
Be brave and break your patterns and your habits this spring and by doing so you will allow the true sunshine to take place by radiating out from your heart and into your life and the lives of the people who are around you!
I will leave you with that for now until next time and allow sunshine to shine your life.
Copyright © Joseph Ghabi http://www.freespiritcentre.info
About the Author:
Joseph Ghabi is an author, lecturer, and healer. Joseph provides Intuitive Numerology Consultation, Healing Childhood Experiences Consultation and PhD Candidate living in Montreal Canada.
At the age of eight Joseph discovered his clairvoyance. Joseph is natural medium. Joseph started the ‘Free Spirit Centre’ website at http://www.freespiritcentre.info A community centre devoted to personal growth, self help, soul growth, eating disorders, relationships, healing and human issues. You can find over 800 articles on the site.
Joseph task is in bringing Souls back to realization of their own personal power and into alignment with their own soul purpose and path of evolution.
Innocent Fun
August 12, 2008
Just the other day, I escaped the business of my daily life and sought refuge on the water front here in Montreal in an attempt to recharge my energies.
Taking advantage of a beautiful day, I walked along the long stretch of the Saint Lawrence River, as a way of my meditation routine. Whilst observing the birds enjoying their new spring my eyes fell upon the sight of a child and his grandmother playing. They were along together, enjoying that spring day. They were together with no attachment in between. That was all the experience of their moment together.
I sat down awhile watching and maintaining the thought of them in mind when a flash hit me. How beautiful the sight, looking at both souls in the way they were together with each other. The simplicity of that innocent child, with no awareness of any impact on his emotion, those may come as a result of life’s hurdles that await him. Then I looked at the grandmother at the same time. She was completely at peace with herself and the innocence of her inner child, which still prevails in her old age, was enough evidence to me to realize. Our age has no relevance upon being happy within. For me, that experience was really overwhelming!
Normally, I do not have the ability to see the aura that exists around people; however, I am able to feel it through my spiritual healing work. It was clear, the link that existed and the transfer of energies between them.
I gazed through that experience until a thought occurred in my mind, just where did we go wrong as human beings, in between these stages in life between childhood and old age? Why did we let go of our innocence whilst growing up?
We don’t get this habit through our life; regardless of how tough our experiences were when growing up. It seems, somehow during our time when growing up, we lost sense of the important essence of our journey throughout this lifetime and what it’s all about.
Yes, it’s unquestionable; we are here for these experiences, both good and bad in order to obtain the lessons, however, where comes the necessity to disregard or hide the child within us. We do not have to wait until we are elderly and preparing for our new journey in returning to spirit. Why wait to re-introduce the child when we assume nothing really matters at this point? It is never too late, whatever age we are at present, to introduce or bring back that innocent child within us.
I teach in my meditation classes the value of getting acquainted with the child within, specifically between the age of 6 and 9 years old. I believe by bringing that inner child into our environment from time to time allows us the opportunity to ‘let loose’ for a while and it doesn’t hurt! Also it is very important to get to know many things about yourself too. I am not implying that you live your life as a child would, only manifest and bring some joy to you when need to laugh and release some weight you carry through the journey of life.
Both the child and the grandmother looked at me and had a smile on their faces and somehow the ball from the child came towards me in a way of an invitation to join them. I had the privilege to do so and had a great fun with the experience. We did not speak much in the beginning if like words won’t matter anyway just enjoy the ride with a happy smile and have some innocent fun.
This experience added many questions into my mind later on while I continued my walk. One important question kept coming into my mind was that why don’t we have a very small break from all our busy schedules, our problems, work, daily routine or whatever is occupying us in reality and just have some little innocent fun with no string attached. I believe that fun can be shared between any two people together who enjoy each other’s company. It might bring them into a different level of understanding of each other.
I am going to leave you with that thought for the time being for you to try it for yourself. I will keep you posted on my progress in this experience because I do have many questions that occurred in my mind and still do not have the answers for. Why don’t you try to have some innocent fun after all? It might be what you need to have at the moment. Be happy!!
Copyright © Joseph Ghabi http://www.freespiritcentre.info
About the Author:
Joseph Ghabi is an author, lecturer, and healer. Joseph provides Intuitive Numerology Consultation, Healing Childhood Experiences Consultation and PhD Candidate living in Montreal Canada.
At the age of eight Joseph discovered his clairvoyance. Joseph is natural medium. Joseph started the ‘Free Spirit Centre’ website at http://www.freespiritcentre.info A community centre devoted to personal growth, self help, soul growth, eating disorders, relationships, healing and human issues. You can find over 800 articles on the site.
Joseph task is in bringing Souls back to realization of their own personal power and into alignment with their own soul purpose and path of evolution.
