If your child refuses to go to bed unless you’re in the room with him, work on changing it now rather than later.  It can become a habit that will prove difficult to discard at a later age.

One of the best lessons you can teach your 1 to 2 year old will be the skill of soothing themselves to sleep. Use a nightly bedtime ritual to get them used to a regular routine that leads to peaceful slumber.  Giving them a warm bath, reading a few pages of a story, a glass of milk and tucking them in is a good 30 minute routine your child can both get used to and enjoy.

Always tell your toddler that if they stay in bed, you’ll return five minutes later to check. Assure their safety and let them know you’re nearby.

Toddlers are great negotiators, and they’re no different when it comes to bedtime. Because they so enjoy the time they spend with you, they’ll do what they can to prolong your time together. If you suspect he’s stalling, don’t let him. Tell him it’s time for bed and that you can both finish building the model boat or find the stuffed microbe the following morning.  Make the nighttime routine more “business like” when you kiss your baby and tuck them in.  Get up and close the door behind you but do wait a few minutes before retiring yourself.

Enjoy some of the best days of you and your baby’s life.

1. You spend the next 6 months clamping your dick in a strange device, adjusting screws and tightening stretch as you see fit.
2. You take pills discreetly. Seriously, will you really let your neighbors see you popping a capsule designed to improve size and girth?
3. You perform jelqing and other exercises that you learn by watching a 2 hour video of men doing the same things. Ack….my eyes…my eyes!

Seriously though, penis enlargement may no longer be as taboo as it was a few years ago. If women can get their mammaries ballooned with no public outcry, I sure can get my stickshift extended without fear of the same.

If you’re looking for the best resource on getting your pecker pimped, EnlargementWorld should be a worthy stop. With free articles, editorials and product review, it should get you started on a world that’s entirely normal if you can get past the eyesore of before and after pictures.

* hospital based
* university based
* privately owned or “freestanding”

If you are interested in finding a sleep center, look no further than Sleepcenters.org, a nicely done searchable database of sleep centers accredited by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

You can also use the directory listing of sleep specialists from long-running medical information site, webMD.

While snoring is frequently caused by this narrowing of the airways from the soft palate, tongue, and throat relaxing, it can also be brought forward by allergies or sinus problems as well as being overweight and the unfortunate genetic gift of having extra soft tissue around your upper airways.

The larger the tissues in your soft palate, the more likely you are to snore while sleeping. Alcohol or sedatives taken shortly before sleep also promote snoring. These drugs cause greater relaxation of the tissues in your throat and mouth. Surveys reveal that about one-half of all adults snore, and 50 percent of these adults do so loudly and frequently. African Americans, Asians, and Hispanics are more likely to snore loudly and frequently compared to Caucasians, and snoring problems increase with age.

Careful though. You may end up wanting to sleep on the floor once you redecorate your home with beautiful rugs from Superior Rugs.  Superior Rugs builds high quality area rugs at the best prices you can find anywhere. With over 20 years of track record manufacturing and delivering top notch products, you’re guaranteed only the best rugs with the best service team behind it.

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The Best Price

How do you know you’re getting the best price? Superior Rugs makes their own product line and retails them directly, leaving no extra costs on the table. Without middlemen and additional retailers taking a cut off your purchase, you get a better bottom line! Why shop elsewhere when the best prices can be found just a click away?

With clearance sales for discount area rugs that get you as much as 80% off the listed price, money should be the least of your concerns allowing you to shop for style and form!
And Wait, Here’s More!Get instructions from their How-To guide to buying area rugs as well as see their fabulous designs all from the company website.  Plus, when you buy, get the best guarantee in the business with a 30-day window and up to three full months for factory-related defects.

Sightings report of 30 Bottlenose Dolphins by Clive Martin, Director for the wildlife charity Marinelife and senior Wildlife Officer for the Biscay Dolphin Research Programme.

Researchers have discovered a new fact about hooded seals, a mysterious 200 to 400 kilogram mammal that spends all but a few days each year in the ocean.  Aaaah that's the life....

Writing in the journal Nature, a Cornell biogeochemist describes an economical and efficient way to help offset global warming: Pull carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere by charring, or partially burning, trees, grasses or crop residues without the use of oxygen. Seriously though all he has to do is DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE.

My girlfriend consistently gets headaches when she stays in bed too long.  This happens a lot on the weekends when she refuses to get up until around noon.  While understandable due to the lack of sleep she gets because of work on normal days,  this affects both her productivity social activities and general mood.  Her weekend basically sucks and, since I’m a part of her day, I am negatively affected as well.

She has recently agreed to work with me to get over this tendency to sleep in for long periods.  We’re trying to figure out a system that can work for us.  Does anyone have any suggestions?

On that note, I just wanted to run a quick refresher of my first personal development posts on Quickie Sheets. Hope some of you can enjoy them as I have enjoyed writing them over the past months.

• Breathe To Relax
• Implementing Habits
• Posture Techniques
• Modified To-Do List
• Warrior Diet, The First 2 Weeks
• How To Make Your Month’s Salary Gambling
• Build Your Own Social Circle From Scratch
• Sleep Every Other Day

Thinkgeek is selling cute, soft and fluffy replica dolls of different microbes including our favorite Sleeping Sickness bacteria.

How cute can it get to own one of these giant plush microbes and keep as a reminder of those invisible organisms making your life a living hell?

No, not from trying to pronounce them during a dream state either. Syringomyelia is a disorder in which a cyst forms within the spinal cord. Syringobulbia is the same cyst that extends into the cerebral area and affects the cranial nerves.

2. Sleepwalking in Unsafe Areas

If you have knives hanging from the ceiling and spikes protruding from the wall, sleepwalking is very dangerous. Otherwise, it’s usually safe. However, if you are a chronic sleepwalker, you need to make sure no dangerous items lie around your bedroom and home, in case you go wandering and venting off that extra agrression duing slumber.

3. Being an Infant

Up to now, sudden death by an infant during sleep is still an unexplained event. It happens but medical science is unsure why. So far, only risk factors have been assessed which can contribute to it, including: laying an infant on its stomach, respiratory infections, being one of a multiple birth, or being born to a substance abusing mother.

4. Being South East Asian

Sudden unexplained nocturnal deaths can happen to healthy young adults. Clinical history nor autopsy suggest any patterns for the occurences and contrary to urban legends, it’s not likely due to eating too much.

Southeast Asian men between 25 and 44 years of age are most often the victims of this disorder. (source: Holistic Online)

5. Obstructive Sleep Apnea

The condition is a high-risk factor for both stroke and heart attacks, even during slumber. So get that shit treated now!

6. Having Multiple System Atrophy

This is a neurodegenerative condition marked by many different symptoms that adversely affect movement, blood pressure, and other body functions. Its causes are unknown and symptoms vary from person to person so detection is really hard at the beginning.

A recent study of 7 patients suffering MSA found 3 dead during their sleep.

7. Being Murdered

Of course, you are easiest to murder during your slumber. It is unlikely to be a crime of passion as well since I doubt you’re invoking any emotions while snoring in the corner. Unless, that is, you’re the world’s loudest snorer.

Maybe she wasn’t asleep for a long, long time and instead, she just fell asleep all the time. I mean, she should be dead of hunger and malnutrition otherwise.

In such case, Prince Charming probably just gave her coffee or some prescription drug like Ritalin, modafinil, dextroamphetamine, or pemoline. A cigarette probably didn’t hurt as well.

b. Depression

Maybe she wasn’t asleep but just locked herself up, shying away from the world, incapable of living among people. Having Prince Charming come along showing love and affection can do a truckload for depression.
c. Stupidity

Maybe she thought you weren’t supposed to wake up. Or that she was dead.

d. Hibernation

Maybe Sleeping Beauty was a bear. And it was that time of the year, like winter or something.

e. Cryogenics

Maybe they lived in Antartica and she was frozen in ice because, if I remember the movies correctly, her window was wide open.

What do you surmise?

Reports include a woman who binge-ate in front of the refrigerator while sleepwalking, one who painted her front door while asleep and other similar unconscious activities.
The health department also received 104 reports of hallucinations and 62 complaints of amnesia related to the medication.

There have also been reports from other countries of similar cases.

I get a lot of work done this way. Additionally, my sleeping night, I usually just sleep normal, like 7 to 8 hours, unlike my old cycle which was around 11 to 12 hours. I’m liking it!

There’s some feeling of tiredness occasionally after an awake night but nothing I can’t handle. As long as I don’t sneak a quick nap at work, I’m ok. However, when I do, I just feel like shit. It’s like I need to sleep the whole day.

Downside is I transform into really ugly after the all-nighter with eyebags and tired eyes.  Oh well….

I’d hate to be the guy’s roommate at his home in South Hampton, England! His wife, in fact, has already gone stone-deaf in one ear! Poor woman.

Melvin was interviewed for his unique achievement and seems to enjoy the recognition.

Oftentimes, it will just be a blockage in the breathing passages, maybe a cold or something similar.  Statistics show only 3 percent of child snorers are suffering from any form of apnea, in which case surgery may be needed.  Consult your doctor immediately if the child snore sloudly and encounters moderate difficulty in breathing.  Otherwise, it is usually nothing to be alarmed about and your doctor can reassure that.

Just wanted to announce the Self-Help Can Be Fun blog has moved.  All old posts will be retained here because I love history.  But all new posts will appear there to give the blog a fresh start for the new year!

If you noticed, Quickie Sheets has become “The Better Sleep Guide” and this blog will focus on sleep-related information starting 2007.  Sorry for the inconvenience,  but I love you just the same!

Mwah!

2. Check out salary ranges for your skillset.  Some of this will be available from the web, either from job hunting websites or professional organizations in your field.  Whatever is the highest figure you find, add 20 percent because you’re not average.  Otherwise, why will you be asking for a freaking increase?  When making your case, try to obliquely assert the reasons why your skills are unique to you even though everybody knows it’s not.  If you can successfully debate it, running out of rebutalls will compel anyone to accept your position eventually.

3. Make the pitch in accordance with how your company pays.  While you can ask for a higher salary than the CEO, it may not be the winningest idea in the pool.

4. Be open to compensation in terms of additional benefits or under-the-table bonuses.   Under-the-table rocks because you’re screwing the government and making more money at the same time.  You can then sing out, “I’m not paying for your war!” and actually have it mean something.:)

5. Be aware of your position in the organization.  Is your job dispensable?  Is there any part of your duties that only you, at this moment, can do?  You can use this as leverage which you can obliquely hint at later until they bring it up themselves.

6. Be prepared to walk.  Not all negotiations will end favorably and, more importantly, the power during the process will always be in the hands of that who has less attachment to a particular result. If this is not you, convince yourself that it is you.  During the meeting, sit with your body facing the door so you look like you’re ready to leave at the slightest provocation.  Otherwise, you’re fighting a losing battle.

7. When you do get the raise, try to come early at least for the next week.  You don’t want them to regret it so quickly, do you?

I just watched it in its entirety the other day and it’s a really helpful film about manifesting intentions in your life.

I had the highest expectations from the movie, given how people were raving about it. I was happy for the most part, although I did want to fast forward through some segments. I didn’t like the overly-simplistic take by some of the resource persons in that movie. It’s almost like they were spouting words out of their ass. I’m not discounting the possibility that I was listening with my ass so consider that a disclaimer.

I loved Esther Hicks, Bob Proctor and Jack “Chicken Soup” Canfield. I didn’t expect to like the Chicken Soup For The Soul guy but he comes across so genuine it’s impossible not to like him. Those three spoke with a lot of clarity and gave very focused ideas. Listening to most of the others was pretty awkward for me. I think they muddled the message more than they added to it.

The stories used to illustrate the concepts were mostly good, especially Jack Canfield’s.

Quote of the Year (LOL!)
“You can cook a man’s dinner with electricity….and you can also cook the man!”
- Bob Proctor

Esther Hicks, hands down, does the best job explaining the concepts in that movie:
“Whatever it is you are feeling is a perfect reflection of what is in the process of becoming.”
- Esther Hicks

This one is the truest statement I heard from the movie. All my ex-girlfriends say the same thing:
“It’s hard to swallow…..”
- Rev. Dr. Michael Beckwith

I know, I know…..

Another classic from Bob Proctor:
“Think of something beautiful…think of a baby…(video of a crying baby shows)…errrr…maybe one you love.”

LOL! I’ve never even read of this guy before. He’s like a skinny Don Rickles! Definitely future reading for me.

When manifesting, one of the things that usually hold me back is asking “How am I gonna achieve this?” and Bob Proctor had a great answer for this:
“You will attract the way.”

Lastly, I loved the segments about resistance. This is an area I’ve been working on lately and I really learned a lot from the movie in this regard.

“When they push against the unwanted, they add power to it.”
- Esther Hicks

“The anti-war movement has created more war. The anti-drugs movement has created more drugs.”
- Jack Canfield

“I will never attend an anti-war rally, if you have a peace rally, invite me.”
- Mother Teresa

1. Stop watching TV.  TV is the most boring activity ever created in the history of mankind.  You hardly move your body.  You barely use your mind.  You learn no useful skill.  It fills you head with useless information and makes you feel like you actually picked up something but when you evaluate for real, you’ll find nothing.

2. Find a solitary hobby.  Find a hobby that you enjoy and can do on your own.  Don’t think too much about it.  Just try one activity and do it, see if you like it.  Make sure to find something less passive than tv and videogames.  If possible, find a hobby where you create something.  It’s a great feeling to finish a task and have something to show for it.

3. Find a group hobby.  There are groups, clubs and classes everywhere for all sorts of stuff.  Join or enroll in one.

4. Change your routines.  If you stay home every night, go out tonight.  If you party all the time, stay in and wash the dishes for once.  If you do the exact same things every single day, you will get bored.  This is true whether you are passionate about what you do or not.  Set the bar higher in the things you do everyday.  Do it in the gym.  Do it at work.  Do it in your sport.  Do it in your home with your family and friends.  Make yourself step up by setting to accomplish something bigger.

5. Make a target of accomplishing something productive everyday.  If you keep a list of goals and milestones, work on one every day.  If you can do it in the earlier hours, all the better.  It will set you up for a better day, guaranteed.

6. Start jounaling or meditating. It will help you gain perspective on both the past and the future.  It can help you stay grounded in the present.

7. Meet new people. However you meet them, even from online, making new contacts brings a a feeling that kills any possibility of being bored.  We spruce up when we meet someone new, we desire to put our best foot forward, and act accordingly.  It’s automatically refreshing.

8. Attend to the banal things.  Stop being lazy about it.  If your bed is unmade, fix it.  If your curtains are dirty, wash it.  Oftentimes, boredom is caused by looking past the activities we have staring us in the face.

2. Steve Pavlina has always recommended 30 days. He’s done it for everything, from trying out vegetarianism to sleeping like Frank Sinatra.

3. Gleb Reys from Personal Development Tips suggested giving the activity a name that means something to you to help personalize it and give it more weight for transitioning into a habit.

4. Various authors recommend visualizing and NLP work. I think a lot of us have done this at one time or another with varying degrees of success.

5. My current personal preference is to combine several activities all geared towards developing the new habit.

a. Perform the new action for 21 days. Like many, 21 days has been a magic number for me. I’ve always liked the number 13 so I actually started out doing things for 13 days but it never quite worked out as well.

b. Read 1 hour a day about things that will reinforce the new habit.

c. Write about it. I found I learned and internalized things faster the more I turned it over in my head.

d. Throw some appreciative love towards it. I like imagining how much quality the new habit will add into my life. It makes it more powerful, more real and brings me closer towards really wanting to fulfill it.

Google just dropped one my sites from the index, leaving only two pages - the index and the very first post. What the fuck?

The site had some backlinks - to internal pages even - and shit.

Also, they just fucking dropped my most search-engine trafficked page on this blog last week, which has been indexed and ranking for about 4 months already.

Ay kabayo!

Anyway, thanks for the good times, Google. Hope we can make sweet love again someday. Hello MSN and Yahoo!!!! Love you guys!

Oh, and one more thing. Fuck you Google! WooohooO!

None of the moderators banned him because he provided a breath of fresh air from all the overly serious threads that personal development forums tend to encourage.

The image of head explosions pretty much stuck with me - even dreaming about it at times - and I remember it everytime I get into long, winding self-analysis. Anytime I find myself acting out theoretical events, I imagine a head explosion as a metaphor for an unnecessary excursion into events that can, may, and could happen but no one really knows.

It’s a great reminder how we can sometimes, during the course of our personal development activities, get too locked up in our heads and away from what really matters - how are the things we engage in enriching our lives and the lives of those around us?

I’ll end this now as further thoughts suggest the cartoony image of my head blowing up like a New year firecracker.

Procrastinators are notorious for running away from problems that never solve themselves. If an issue is stressing you out now, imagine how much worse it can make you feel after a year when left to itself.

2. Waiting for the Perfect Solution

There is no magic elixir and there is no spoon. There is no super cure that will fix everything in your life. There is no genie that will come along and give you all the solutions for your ills. You need to make do with the resources you can muster right now. Amazingly, when you resolve to handle things this way, you will realize those resources are all you really needed anyway.

3. Worrying About Things Outside Your Control

If it’s not within your abilities to do something about it right now, then accept it. Focus on things you can make an impact on. Check the rest out of the corner of one eye and act when it’s within your reach. Think globally, act locally.

4. Finding Blame
When you look for people to put the blame on, you waste unnecessary energy you can instead invest on finding solutions. If someone is to blame, it is apparent at the onset. Accept it, avoid that person in the future, but keep your present in problem-solving mode.

5. Unhealthy Lifestyle

All the alcohol, drugs and cigarettes that are promoted as stress relievers actually stress your body more while never doing anything tangible for the issues at hand. It’s escapism at its finest - a quick fix to keep someone’s pockets fat!

6. Keeping Secrets

Introverted people are notorious for keeping problems to themselves. While its a good strategy for keeping a problem within finite boundaries, it’s also doubly hard feeling like you need to go through your problems alone. It doesn’t hurt to tell someone without wanting anything from them.

7. Blaming Yourself

Like finding blame in others, there’s no use dwelling on blame even if it’s on yourself. Cursing at yourself and going over and over your mistakes has never been a good strategy for solving anything. In fact, it only makes matters worse because it can easily lead to depression and self-loathing. Keep your eyes on what can be done, never on what has happened.

8. Refusing to Lose a Battle

It’s ok to surrender to your problems sometimes. There’s a lot of value in accepting defeat once then getting back up on your feet to win the war.

Technorati Tags: stress

If you are a procrastinator, start by replacing the habit’s manifestations in the small and banal things like:

1. After your alarm clock goes off, get up from bed

2. As soon as you get up from bed, make your bed

3. Right after you eat, clean the dishes

4. As soon as you notice dirt in the house, clean it up

5. Settle your bills as soon as you get them

Begin attending to things immediately by applying it to the small, inconsequential things.

Later, as the new habit begins to take hold, notice bigger things where you often put off action and start with the easiest ones you can handle.Forget fixing your life all in one shot. It never really works. Quick fixes are as easy to quit as they are to dream up.

Forget waiting for inspiration. It doesn’t come to the idle. Inspiration amplifies action but it never spurs it. Notice how much more passionate and involved you become the more you engage in something. Action brings the insights grounded from experience, never the other way around.

I was browsing through 43 Things  and found this little comment from a user named FlutterbyD that really touched a nerve:

Dear Body,

I am so sorry for putting you through six years of abuse. I never told you I loved you even when you were thin. Even then I said you were fat and not as pretty and attractive as the other girls in school. I am so sorry. By telling you that every day, every time I looked in the mirror I made you become that. I am so sorry. And I shoved food into you to compensate for aching emotions and that is not your burden to carry.

I would never tell a friend, a lover or a family member, or even a stranger, every day that they are fat and ugly. Yet I did it to you.

So, to my dear body, which still functions in all five bodily ways, I say sorry. I love you. I appreciate you. You ARE beautiful. I now choose to see you as that. I give you permission to work with me in letting go old negativity and in so doing, letting go of the unnecassary weight. To my body, I love you. You are gorgeous and perfect.

It was a great reminder how unfairly mean and critical we can be of ourselves at times.  Can you imagine telling your daughter how fat and ugly her body is every single day?  Or how dumb and stupid your kid brother is and if he keeps acting this way, he’ll never amount to anything?

You will never imagine shaming and verbally abusing a child that way, even another adult.  Yet so often we talk this way to ourselves.  It’s horrible and hurtful.  If someone came up to you and said that, don’t you feel like punching them in the nose?

If your lover came to you and spoke that way, would you still see them in the same light?  Will you still feel the same way for them the way you do now?

Think about how you are making yourself feel when you speak to yourself that way.  You can punch yourself in the nose but I doubt you’re compelled to go that route.  Unlike a lover, you can’t leave yourself either.  You’re stuck with same person you are for the rest of your life.  Choose to live it with the compassionate and understanding version of you.

I like to compare goal-achieving to a never-ending world travel. You will never run out of places you want to go to. And the more places you visit, the more you discover places that you haven’t found yet.

Intent creates our purpose. When we intend, we set a target and we bring our focus towards a specific place. It creates the picture of the desired outcome. Think of intent as your plane ticket. It says where you are now and where you’re going. The booking assures you’re gonna get there. Sure, the plane can crash or the flights can be cancelled permanently but you never think about that. You have a ticket and you’re booked - you know you’re going somewhere.

Willpower is simply the determination to do your part to ensure that the trip happens. You pack your bags, get dressed, and check in at the airport in the proper time. Even with the flight booking in place, you must want the trip to happen in order and take actions that do not derail it. You can get drunk and go to bed two hours before your flight but you will choose not to. You must use your willpower to move you towards the schedule not away from it.

Appreciation is what makes the trip worthwhile. You can have a ticket and actually take your flight but unless there’s a strong feeling of joy and happiness in making the trip, you merely move from place to place with no real purpose and meaning. When you appreciate the preparation, the departure, the time spent on board, the arrival and the time you spend in the destination, it adds value the your life. Without it, you most likely just wasted your time in different time zones.

Appreciation brings a passion to your trips. It gives you permission to truly enjoy what the new experience has to offer.

When you set your goals, treat them like a plane ticket. The booking is there. The destinations fixed. There may be rerouting, the schedules might be delayed a bit but if you exercise your willpower, tap on your patience and don’t go back home, you are sure you will eventually get there.

Again, a terrorist might pilot your plane towards a tower but that’s the price of life - sometimes it happens. Yet I don’t see people canceling all flights because of it! And you won’t too. Your will won’t let you!

When you work towards those goals, do everything you can to move consciously towards them. If your ticket says you’re losing weight and you’re spending the afternoon eating cake, impose your will on yourself. Move consciously towards the goal, not away from it.

Finally, be thankful for all the good things that this goal achieving is bringing into your life. Thank everyone who helps you along the way - the flight agency, the lady answering the phone, the cab driver who drops you off. Even before the goal is manifested, imagine how good it feels to have that in your life and be immensely thankful for the opportunity to experience it. Like falling in love, that gives it richer meaning and makes the whole process of achievement joyful and fun.

Technorati Tags: intent, appreciation, manifesting

• What is thought stopping?
• How does thought stopping work?
• What are some thought stopping techniques?
• Irrational thinking which blocks you from letting thought stopping work for you
• Directions for thought stopping

I really like the step by step directions they give for accomplishing the task, as well as their list of irrational reasons for allowing the process to fail. The reasons they give include:

• It’s OK if I just think about it and do nothing about it.
• What’s the harm of thinking about it?
• People will never know if I just think about it for a little while.
• I’ve denied myself so much, why can’t I just think about it once in a while?
• You can’t condemn me for thinking.
• I never thought about it before I acted so why should I avoid thinking about it now?

2. Host it with a 3 dollar a month host, like mine

3. Don’t do your own backups and trust that the host (I suspect in my case, a reseller) does backups
LOL!

The site was wiped out and inaccessible for the last two and a half days and the host/reseller had NO functional backup.  Fuck!  After a little digging with the help of a two-month old backup plus google cache plus a little mySQL work, Quickie Sheets is up again. Haaaaaa!

Anyway, if the layout is shit or if there are broken links, just let it pass for now, I’m still fixing everything.  Will likely move the site to a new host too, probably with the one that hosts my other sites.  I just feel a bit bad I have to fork out money again.

I guess you do get what you pay for and three dollars pays for crappy service.

I avoid drinking more than one or two beers at a time for this reason.  I hate hangovers.  I hate having to sleep longer than normal.  It’s a waste of time and usually marks the loss of an actually productive day.

However, with the holiday season coming along, I know I’ll be in for several boozing parties that I will actually either want or have to go to.  For others gearing up their livers and their bodies for the holiday drinking, here’s stuff I’ve done over the years to avoid those nasty headaches.

1. Drink a 500 ml Gatorade before drinking.  Then before retiring to bed, drink another 500 ml.  Don’t be conservative about drinking lots of water during the parties too.  I’ve never had a hangover every single time I did this, no matter how much alcohol got consumed.  This is my plan A for the holidays!

2. The morning after a heavy drinking session, you will normally be suffering from a vitamin C and a vitamin B deficiency.  In order to normalize this and restore energy quickly (and potentially prevent further hangovers), take 2 tablespoons of dry yeast, 4 tablespoons of honey and a freshly squeezed glass of citrus, papaya or pineapple juice.  This should start the day right just when it’s about to be wrong.

3. If headache has already struck, do the following things.  Each one should help relieve the headaches a little bit, hopefully fixing it in the course of a couple of hours:
* Take a quick cold shower
* Do #2 to restore vitamin levels in the body
* Medicate with either aspirin or ibuprofen to soothe the headache
* Eat some carbohydrates
* Take any of the following, preferably in juice form: cabbage, celery, artichoke, beetroot, apple and tomato.  Make your own combinations to taste.
* Sleep for 1 or 2 hours

We always want something bigger, something better, something new.

It’s hard to appreciate from a mindset motivated by desire. Our focus is often driven towards that which we want to have, not on those that we already do.

But appreciation, like many have pointed out before, is the single greatest key towards manifesting more in our lives. The more we appreciate something, the more we seem to attact of the same things.

Furthermore, when we are in a mindset of appreciation, we move into a space of plenty. There is no scarcity in the universe when we are appreciating. There is no lack. Everything feels within reach.

So how do we reach this place? How do we move from our present thinking, whether we feel lack, envy or lust, to a place of gratitude and thankfulness?

1. Recognize that you are enough. You are enough. When you look inside you and search for what’s missing for you right here at this moment, you will find nothing. When the bible said we are all perfect, the bible meant it. Right at this moment, this very second, right exactly where you are now, what is lacking in your life? Not tomorrow, not someplace else, but right here right now, what is missing in that second? Nothing.

Scarcity seems to be created when we move into a space other than the moment. Lack happens from a projected reality, not in the present.

2. Notice good things that happen to you throughout the day, no matter how small.

3. Choose an area of your life you have been working on for the last year. Write down how you were in that area one year ago. Write down how you are now. Celebrate any improvement and express thankfulness for them.

4. Say “Thank you!” to everyone you deal with whenever appropriate.

5. Share your blessings.

6. Look at different areas of your life. Inventory them. Start with your relationships, your financial standing, you career down to any area you can think of. Then, list down all the good things about them. Let this activity inform you of how many good things you truly have in your life right now.

Technorati Tags: blessing, appreciation

Stop doing the stupid stuff now!

Stop smoking, drink-bingeing, and drugs. Stop eating too much, throwing up after meals and sleeping when you should be productive. Stop refusing to schedule your activities, balance your finances, and pay your debts. All this and others like it are surface-level stuff. If you’re involved in personal growth and this is the stuff that eats your time away, I think you’re wasting energy unnecessarily.

All it takes is a conscious effort - no weird systems, new scientific data or bestselling book will fix it if you haven’t already. If you’re trying to lose weight and still drink soda, why the fuck are you wasting your time trying to lose weight? Either apply yourself to your goals or just fucking stop it already.

I’m not belittling people’s efforts nor undermining the value of those things for personal development but all that stuff eats time that you can instead use finding and serving your purpose, retraining your mind towards positivity and helping those around you. All the surface-level issues can be handled by sheer willpower and dedication - any effort without those two components will just send you around in circles.

They’re things you can actually fix now without having to look for another resource, other than conscious effort. It’s not something you have to understand further in order to move positively towards. Sure, it’s not easy but how much easier is it compared to spending the rest of your life focused on the same issues over and over?

If you’re really serious about fulfilling your highest potential, getting rid of the mundane stuff that you can get rid of should be a given. Imagine it like you are hiking up a mountain with untold riches on top. You start your climb with plenty of supplies - food, entertainment and anything else you have been used to bringing with you on your travels. Later, as the climb gets steeper, you realize all that heavy supply is slowing you down and keeping you from progressing. You inventory your supplies and estimate that you can get rid of 3/4 of it - entertainment stuff, extra food, dirty clothes. Will you really spend any more time debating with yourself about throwing that extra baggage? Will you spend the next ten days considering what to do with supply you know you don’t need? How long will it take before you decide to throw them away?

Think of these surface-level baggage of negative habits that way. Will you let them go and make your journey easier or hold on to them as you keep trying to reach the top?

I started it by simply following Neil’s advice. Look at Neil’s diagram or a brain anatomy textbook and find where the amygdala is located. Then simply visualize where it is on your head and imagine puhing it backwards and then forwards with a pencil. After doing this enough times, you can get a good sensation of how it feels to push forwards and backwards. After the first hour of doing it, I can click it forward easily without any visualization, feeling all the exact same sensations, by just moving it like I move a muscle.

Many times, when I’m feeling a bit confused or stress, I’ll just click it forward, close my eyes and allow myself to feel a great sensation, like sinking into a meditative state.

I often click forwards when I’m doing concentrated work. I found it helps my focus a whole lot.

When I meditate or do image-streaming, I always click forwards. It’s one of the most simple yet highly useful hacks to quickly improve your meditative state and increase the quality of your visualization.

Neil Slade makes many promises about the benefits of amygdala-clicking. Whether he is right, delusional or it’s all marketing copy like some editors at Wikipedia seem to believe, the technique is one of the most helpful, simple and practical self-help tricks I’ve ever used.

Technorati Tags: amygdala, techniques

While I have stopped doing magick for many years now, the habit of clearing the environment before any undertaking has stuck with me. I think it is one of the most useful things anyone trying to manifest results can ever do.

In the old rituals, clearing is usually performed for a specific area - usually a pentagram - where you will perform your ritual. It followed specific steps like putting guardians or invoking angels (or demons lol!) to guard every corner of the area and remove any negative energy present in your ritual space.

Looking back at it now, the rituals were a great way to clear the mind. The whole ritualistic clearing seemed like a methapor for what actually goes on in the mind during the ritual. Imagine warding off all negativity present in your head, then having angels guard it from any negativity that tries to make its way to you.

I do a lot of things now that pretty much took the place of these rituals - a lot of small stuff that clears negative thoughts and helps me stay on track throughout the day. Maybe you do some yourself. If you don’t, maybe it’s time you start your own little rituals - just things that help you remove negativity and clear your focus.

Some of the things I do include:

1. Screaming “I Feel Great!” and “Life is Fabulous!” everytime I wake up in the morning

2. Meditating

3. Staying away from negative subjects and aligning myself with positive work (it’s like having guardians)

4. Being thankful for small things

5. Exercising or doing something physically demanding when my mind is under stress (it clears my head in a great way)

I’m sure we all have things that clear negativity and promote positive things in our life. For most of us, it’s all a matter of consciously doing more of them instead and less of the things that do the opposite for us. Think of that process as being your own guardian angel, protecting your mind from things that will not serve you.

1. How to Stop Being Sleepy After Lunch
2. How to Stop Being Sleepy When You Need to Finish Work
3. Alarm Clock Logistics for Chronic Sleepers

Technorati Tags: recap, sleep

Over the years, I’ve tried a lot of personal development tools. Some of them were simple and straightforward. Some were mystical and otherworldly. Others were just unique and strange. Here’s a list of some of the wildest ones. A few of them gave me some results, others none, and some, I continue to use (sometimes unconsciously) to this day.

1. Amygdala Clicking

This one, I still use to this day. This predicates on the scientific theory that the amygdala controls the flight or fight instincts in mammals. The amygdala is a part of the brain located on both sides of the frontal lobes, a little above the base of the ears. When clicked backwards (scientifically validated), it triggers the body’s “fight or flight” mechanism. When clicked forward (the theory goes), it triggers states of joy and creativity and allows access to untapped resources of the brain.

The technique is pioneered by T.A. Lingo and documented in products from Neil Slade. While I cannot vouch for the validity of the technique (or the history and science behind it, for that matter), I can vouch for the positive things it does for me. I notice now, in times of concentrated efforts and focus, my amygdala clicks fully forward and locks there for a few minutes at least. When I’m feeling ill or down, I consciously do the clicking and my focus usually changes and my mood begins shifting a little.

You can check out Neil Slade’s site for a few free articles and the guide on how to click it forward. It was actually quite easy for me when I first tried it two or so years ago and you can literally feel it in your head.

2. “Multiple Self ” Self-Image Exercise

In this one, you imagine your image appearing everywhere. Like, everyone around you is you. There’s two of you behind you, three of you in front, and several dozen of you falling gently from the sky. The idea is to improve your presence (by taking so much space) and get used to seeing yourself doing different activities. I really liked it a lot.

3. Physical Angles

This one courtesy of the pick-up artists from Fast Seduction. When you’re beginning conversation with anyone, whether alone or a group, angle your body away from them. You can keep your head facing them, even give eye contact, but angle your body away. This sets you up as the less needy party, as your posture suggests a readiness to walk away at any time.

While this is weird and a little freaky, it works amazingly well. Additional variations include angling your body away when the other person starts exhibiting behavior you don’t like, turning your back completely while staying in the conversation, and angling away when you’re speaking dismissively.

4. Intending During Orgasm

An old book I studied by Margo Anand taught stating your intentions for manifestation during that peak point while making love. The idea is, during orgasm, you reach a peak meditative state, your mind is clear and your heart is wide open. In such conditions, sending out your intentions makes them more likely to manifest. I did try it a few times but found sex a bit too weird with it. I am almost 100% convinced it works, even though I’ve never successfully done it. I’d love to hear from people who have done it, though.

5. Stop It! Stop It!

This is one of those short and simple Richard Bandler recommendations. I never really got the hang of it since i never liked being mean, even to the thoughts in my head. Everytime you have a thought pass your mind that you don’t want, just fucking scream at it in your head. “Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!” If you’re in the mood, take it even further, “Stop it, you motherfucker!” LOL!

6. NLP Pattern Language

While this isn’t exactly as weird as the others, for me, it’s one of the most amazing things ever concocted. When I first read about them, I always thought they were conversational hypnosis intended to influence whoever was listening to the languaging. I don’t know if you’ve ever read samples of them but they are really fun and sound so weird to recite during regular conversation.

Once I tried them, it turns out it works a bit more obliquely than that. It’s supposed to influence me which drops me into the target state which would then prompt whoever I was interacting with to mirror the same state. It was one of the most amazing experiences I’ve ever had about relating with people. When I want to create a positive interaction, all I have to do is go into my desired state and, most of the time, those around me will follow suit.

7. Mantak Chia (Male Multiple Orgasm, etc)

Dude, that thing takes so much discipline and reads so cryptic I have no idea how you can enjoy the fucking sex without distancing yourself from what’s in the moment. But maybe that’s just me, Mr. Quickie!

8. Remote Seduction

This is one of those weird stuff that you read and you think to yourself, “This is fucking stupid and totally inefficient.” Yet something gnaws at you to try it anyway. Then when you try it, you realize it’s actually really stupid and inefficient that you don’t want to admit you ever did it.

The system includes a lot of magick-based visualization and rituals and well, I don’t want to admit I ever did it, all I got to say.

9. Write it Till Your Hands Bleed

I read a book from around 4 years ago by Stuart Lichtman and Joe Vitale which presented a manifestation system. A large part of the system involved writing down your intentions a thousand times, readng it to yourself then editing it and writing the edited version a thousand times more. It became one of the most painful exercises I ever fucking went through, my hand hurt like shit. I got so freaking tired of the whole exercise that I couldn’t care less how my intentions went, I just wanted to be done with the fucking weirdness of it.

I never enjoyed that process and I doubt I ever will. I respect both those guys and what they tried to impart ( it was a good book with great bonuses as well) so thank you for the music but that song just ain’t for me.

10. Jacking Off Without Ejaculating

Some dudes from a forum suggested not ejaculating because it keeps your masculine energy and does not deplete you. It’s from some man-centered guide (I don’t wanna name it because I didn’t actually read it but A LOT of people think it’s great.) The only thing it’s done for me is act like a natural viagra. I get hard so fucking fast. Then I just do my world-famous breathing and relaxing to last a decent fuck. Arrrrrr!

Technorati Tags: self-help, quirky

2. Shift to a fruit and vegetable centered diet. Plant-based diets just help you consume less fattening and less chemical-based stuff. You can eat too much cabbage and never worry about serious repercussions, I swear!

3. It’s okay to leave food on your plate. I Know mom made you clean up that plate of dinner she cooked and labored so hard for. But guess what? Mom doesn’t cook your dinner anymore. You’re probably near her age when she was telling you to eat all your food. Social conditioning sucks but you don’t have to do it anymore. You’re old enough to be fucking over that shit. Dude.

4. Start looking at food as sustenance, something that gives you energy and allows you to work through the day. Quit viewing it as a recreational activity or a way to bond with friends. Food is supposed to sustain you to do meaningful work, not be meaningful in itself.

5. If you want to enjoy the way a particular food tastes, then eat slower than normal. You can enjoy it as much if you eat slowly the same way you think you can enjoy when you it plenty of it.

6. Chew slowly and pace yourself. Chewing slowly digests your food better and pacing yourself gives you more time to evaluate whether you’re really still hungry or you’re stuffing food in your face for another reason.

7. Stand up. This will take a bit of judgment on your part but stand up when you think you’ve eaten a fair amount of food yet you still want more. It’s nearly impossible to determine how full you are while you’re sitting. The mind seems to equate being comfortable w