Two thousand years ago, a man walked the earth who is now worshipped by two billion people. He called his followers to lead carefree lives, in which they could love their enemies and turn the other cheek, because they lived under the care of an unconditionally loving Father. Within mere decades, however, this teacher of radical wisdom was turned into a divine savior, so that the appropriate response was not so much following his teaching but believing in his divine status and saving death. What could have been a movement of countless people seeking to live egoless lives, just as he did, became a religion about belief in, devotion to, and sacrifice to certain heavenly figures. The message that could have uplifted the world was left buried in the gospels like veins of gold, to be occasionally rediscovered by great individuals such as St. Francis, Tolstoy, and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Today, thousands of people believe he has, in a sense, come again, in the pages of a book called A Course in Miracles. On every level—spiritual, psychological, philosophical, literary, practical—this book is a towering masterpiece. It is a reflowering of his...

It’s a favorite past time of babies and teenagers, and even some of our elderly friends. It reduces stress, improves memory, makes you more alert, and helps you keep your brain at max performance over the long haul, among many other things.

So why do so many people resist napping or feel guilty for taking one?

Sleep is one of the most critical elements of maintaining a low stress, productive, and high quality life. Here’s how to work a nap into your daily schedule to give you a nice BOOST for the latter portion of the day.

1. Make your napping environment YOURS. People sleep much better when they are in familiar surroundings. For example, if you have a couch in your office, put a nice covering from home over it. This will make it easier to associate your couch (or "napping space") with the comforts and relaxing nature of your home. Going out to your car to nap would be another possible method.

2. Choose a proper time to nap. Early afternoon is probably your best bet as most people start feeling sluggish around this time. An added benefit is it is still early enough to not...

In the spirit of Thanksgiving I'd love to share with you the benefits and power of two simple words. THANK YOU. They are two words that have the power to transform our health, happiness, and success.

Research shows that grateful people are happier and more likely to maintain good friendships. A state of gratitude, according to research by the Institute of HeartMath, also improves the heart's rhythmic functioning, which helps reduce stress and helps us heal physically. It's actually physiologically impossible to be stressed and thankful at the same time. When you are grateful you flood your body and brain with emotions and endorphins that uplift and energize you rather than the stress hormones that drain you.

Gratitude and appreciation are also essential for a healthy work environment. In fact, the number 1 reason why people leave their jobs is because they don't feel appreciated. A simple thank you and a show of appreciation can make all the difference.

So, this week I want to encourage you to tap the power of thank you. Not just on Thanksgiving but each and every day. Gratitude is like muscle. The more we do with it the stronger it gets. The key...

One constant in life is that all things change. Every season flows into another without concern for the ending that is taking place, and we, the viewers of nature, see the good results of that change.

The newness of spring moves into the warm and carefree days of summer, which melds into the glorious riot of color in autumn, which turns to the quiet dormancy of winter, where preparation for renewal begins once again. We do not view these changes with trepidation or sorrow because we know that they are all good.

An Ending Is Only a Beginning
We do not always initially view other changes or transitions in our lives with such optimism and hope, however. If we could only remember what we know about the seasons—that one ending is another beautiful beginning—perhaps we wouldn't experience such fear or doubt about the turning points in our lives.

Viewing life this simply is not an easy exercise, but with faith and with practice as we release our concerns to God, we learn to expect the best for ourselves and those we love.

A Renewed Sense of Hope
Endings and beginnings are good and necessary in our lives.  May you...

Tags: religion, spirituality

The love you seek is also seeking you. Love is in your heart, at the very center of your being—an inherent part of you because you had your beginning in God, and God is love. You are created by God’s love, which is unconditional, all-encompassing, and totally fulfilling.

How wonderfully reassuring to realize that your desire for happiness and fulfilling relationships is but the love of God in your heart seeking expression through you! Every moment of your life becomes an opportunity to prove God’s love by expressing it in all your thoughts, words, and actions.

God’s love will satisfy every need of your mind and heart. You may have found some experiences in your life difficult to understand, but in every season of trial or change, the love of God is with you to strengthen, sustain, and guide you.

“In all these things,” the apostle Paul assures us, “we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither … things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God” (Rom. 8:37-39).

You live...

Tags: religious, spiritual

An excerpt from "The Art of Conscious Creation: How You Can Transform the World," by Jackie Lapin, Founder of United World Healing

Imagine an Earth in the throes of peace! People of every culture and race respect each other, help each other, and work together for the good of humans, animals, and the environment. In this world everyone has enough to eat, adequate shelter, work that is fulfilling and sustaining. The global economy is balanced, and everyone is reaping the benefits. Science is working to protect our treasured planet and heal all of the illnesses that have scourged the globe. Businesses are adding benefits and vacation time for workers, while executives and shareholders are sacrificing their profits just a bit in order to insure they are bringing to market the best quality products and making the right moral choices. Worldwide and national leaders are truly "men and women of the people," working for the benefit of their constituency, not the strengthening of their own power base. Global warming is a thing of the past, solved through worldwide corporate and government cooperation. Alternative fuel solutions are in use everywhere. Everyone practices energy and resource conservation. People of all ages are...

Tags: personal development, spirituality

By Robert Ringer

"If a man be gracious and courteous to strangers, it shows he is a citizen of the world, and that his heart is no island cut off from other lands, but a continent that joins to them."

- Francis Bacon

While channel-surfing recently, I happened to catch a glimpse of Tony Dungy sitting on the sidelines during a football game. Dungy, of course, is the coach of last year's Super Bowl champs, the Indianapolis Colts. It crossed my mind that rarely does a coach in professional sports have the majority of fans rooting more for him than for his team, but there's no question that this has been the case with Dungy for many years.

Dungy and his Baltimore Colts - oops, I mean Indianapolis Colts (still haven't gotten over the Colts' middle-of-the night escape from Baltimore in 1984) - are off to another great start, and only the three-time-champion New England Patriots appear to stand in the way of their winning a second straight Super Bowl.

You don't have to meet Dungy personally to know that he's a genuinely nice guy. Your television screen doesn't lie. Dungy is soft-spoken, respectful, and gracious in...

BY:  James Arthur Ray

In the East, many have condemned the body or the physical world saying that matter doesn't matter. Likewise, traditional religion in the West has suppressed the sensual world, often calling material and physical pleasures carnal and sinful.

However in the secular West, we've often made matter all that matters, worshiping on the altar of the physical body and its toys and trinkets.

I submit to you that "poor" is a state of mind, heart and soul, and not just a financial state. Just like true Harmonic Wealth is so much more than what's in your wallet. And I've got news for you... While I can't say that every person who's rich is spiritual, I can assure you that those who are poor are not spiritual!

Reread that last paragraph and be sure you understand this new definition of "poor."

So many religions of the East and fundamentalists of the West want to condemn society at large for chasing after illusion, for being caught up in the materialistic mind. I can agree with that on one level... but there's more to the equation.

I'm tired of the individuals that are so "spiritual" and yet they are...

Tags: personal development, self-improvement, spirituality

By Mark Victor Hansen

Your attitude determines the state of world you live in. It is the foundation for every success and every failure you have had and will have. Your attitude will make you or break you.

Attitude creates the way you feel about people and situations. Your actions are a result of your attitude, which, in turn, creates a reaction from others. So, basically, what you think ... you get. It is your attitude toward others and the Universe that determines the resultant attitude toward you. Incorporate a positive, joyful attitude and you'll have positive, joyful results. Put out a bad, negative attitude and you've failed before you begin.

I know it sounds simple, but the truth is….it IS simple!

WHERE DO NEGATIVE ATTITUDES COME FROM IN THE FIRST PLACE?

Negative attitudes come from thinking negative thoughts over and over until they have become a part of your subconscious – they've become habitual, a part of your personality. You may not even realize you have a negative attitude because it's been with you for so long. Once you have a bad attitude, you expect failure and disaster. This expectation turns you into a strong magnet for failure...

Tags: personal development, self-improvement

By Jon Benson

Everything is bigger in America - larger plates, larger ovens, larger clothes, and larger insurance policies to cover our larger health care bills. And it’s all related to America’s serious problem with portion sizes.

Researchers from the University of Michigan found that, over the past 50 years, portion sizes in the home have increased 42 percent for processed foods and decreased about the same percentage for foods high in fiber.In short, more junk, less Roto-Rooter. More empty calories, less thermogenic calories. Plus, we’re talking larger amounts of food.

Restaurant portions make those stats look cheery: up 220 percent.

The same study revealed that decreasing restaurant portion sizes to "near" the size they were 50 years ago, done slowly over the course of several months, did not affect customer satisfaction. While the study stopped there, I can tell you from many years of professional experience that a smaller plate with whole, unprocessed, tasty food on it will satisfy most any palate - more so than a huge plate of nothing but nutritional detritus.

Keeping this in mind, you should consider taking the issue of portion control seriously. The best way to do it is to...

Tags: healthwellness, personal development, self-improvement

By: Jon Gordon - The Energy Bus 

It's easy to be positive when everything in life is going great. The hard part is staying positive when life kicks you down and knocks you around.

It's even harder when we see so many people around us and on television who are enjoying great success. As a society we celebrate the rich, successful and famous and too often focus on the picture of success rather than the journey it took to create it.

It's as if we see only a picture of someone enjoying the best moment of their life while the video of the struggle and pain it took to get to that moment sits in the closet. We don't hear about the obstacles and adversities people, organizations and businesses had to encounter to create their success.

The fact is no one goes through life untested. If you study history and business you will find that every great leader and team had to overcome adversity and challenges to define themselves and their success.

Apple and Steve Jobs are all the buzz right now but let’s remember that Steve Jobs was once down and out, fired from his job...

Tags: personal development, self-improvement

"To some it will be given to let go of the ego as they paint. When this happens, a masterpiece is born"

Many people complain about their way of life, or certain events of their life, unleash. However, those people don't usually look for help because they usually deny that there is a problem. Discovering purpose involves some searching that only few are willing to take. Reason why there are only few people out there living the life of their dreams. Proper guidance can only come from a master; someone with a lot of experience who can take your hands through the most difficult moments.

Have this ever happened to you? meeting a master in the right time of your life when you needed the most... wow that sounds pretty cool eh? The problem is that in reality finding masters or wise people are not that simple. Sure you have your friends that can give you advice and stuff... but really... be honest... wouldn't you prefer having a master, a wise man to guide you into a deeper and more...

Tags: meditation, personal development, spirituality

Change HAPPENS! Here’s 5 solid tips on how you can start embracing life’s sudden diversions.

Ever had a day where you woke up feeling ’stuck’? Has life thrown you an irony that’s totally thrown your life as you know it completely off course? Want to know how to deal with it?

More than likely, if your reading Mindhacks, you’ve probably made a conscious or a subconscious decision to begin working on yourself. Sure, this blog is FILLED with fantastic resources to start you on that journey; but in order to benefit the most from all this great information, you will first need to start embracing change.

Here are five great tips to help you regain your direction!

1. Drop the Drama

The more drama that we involve ourselves in makes it more difficult to adapt when change happens to us. If you look at it from a broader perspective, who really WANTS a complicated life anyway? But we have been conditioned to feel that complications are necessary, and there are MANY reasons for them too! Sometimes, drama makes us feel needed, or special. Sometimes it may be a belief that the drama is forced upon us, or that...

Tags: personal development, self-improvement

By David Lindahl

Real estate investing is still, hands down, one of the best methods for real wealth creation, and just about anyone can do it. But it is a huge topic. There are so many choices, so many types of real estate to invest in. Mobile homes, single-family homes, apartment buildings, warehouses, office buildings, strip malls...

How do you know what to pick? Should you specialize? Is it better to have diversity in your investment portfolio? Or should you stick to one kind of real estate?

Let's say you find a property that you think might be a good deal. Can you be certain you'll make a profit if you buy it?

Worst of all, if you've heard about the exploding foreclosure market in single-family homes, you may be a little scared to get into real estate investing. With mortgage lenders going under and hedge funds closing, is real estate the right move right now?

With the proper education, you can learn the right methods, the right kind of real estate to invest in, and the right way to structure your deals.

And there really isn't any need to worry about the foreclosure market or the sub-prime mortgage...

Tags: personal development, self improvement

by Denis Waitley

Prime time is that period between 6 and 10 p.m. during which most of the general public watches television. Commercials in prime time are the most expensive, approaching a million dollars per minute. Your real success in life will take a quantum leap when you stop watching other people making money in their professions performing in prime time, and start living your own dreams and goals in prime time. Time is the ultimate equal opportunity employer. Time never stops to rest, never hesitates, never looks forward or backward. Life's raw material spends itself in the now, this moment, which is why how you spend your time is far more important than all the material possessions you may own or positions you may obtain. Positions change, possessions come and go, you can earn more money. You can renew your supply of many things, but like good health, that other most precious resource, time spent is gone forever.

Each yesterday, and all of them together, are beyond your control. Literally all the money in the world can't undo or redo a single act you performed. You cannot erase a single word you said. You can't add an "I...

Tags: personal development, self improvement

[Excerpt] By Sandy Brewer  

Chapter 22 
  
Let's have a brief review. 
  
No true change is going to happen without choice. And no true choice is going to 
be implemented without will, heavily laced with more than a little courage. One 
of the gutsier choices has to be the willingness to give up one's story. A story 
is: My mother plotted to kill me (which mine did), and so I am screwed forever. 
Too dramatic for our daily lives? A story is: The clerk in the store was rude to 
me but not the skinny blonde next to me, so it must be because I'm fat or drab 
or that the wart on my nose hasn't fallen off yet. Or maybe all three. A story 
is: My partner just yelled at me and now I have to be a victim because, after 
all, people always yell at me... Nobody ever, ever treats me right. I never get 
any breaks. It always rains. 
  
Basically a story is anything we get attached to -- and play and replay -- in 
order to validate that we don't have any worth. It's the addictive drama -- the 
head noise of inner war. Even if... 

Tags: personal development, self improvement, spirituality

By Al Sears, MD

When I was a child, I was taught that if you felt a cold or flu coming on, the way to prevent it from blossoming into a full-blown illness was to go outside and soak up the sun - a bit of wisdom that had been passed down from my grandmother. Her theory was that a lack of "fresh air" and sun caused the infection.

This theory appeared arcane when scientists discovered that a virus causes the flu - but new research has found merit in it. And the next time you're exposed to the flu, it may serve you better than drug therapy.

Researchers at Harvard University concluded that a lack of sun during the winter months prevents your body from making the one thing it needs to ward off the flu: vitamin D. Which may explain why some people catch the flu, while others don't. I don't think I've ever had it, yet I am repeatedly exposed me to heavy viral loads while examining infected patients.

Fact is, vitamin D deficiency is rampant in non-tropical latitudes ... like here in the U.S. And during the winter, it gets worse - raising your risk...

Tags: health, wellness

by: Noul Sanchez

It's all upside down .. .love and happiness are not where you think they are, so how will you ever find them? You say you want consistent happiness, lasting love, endless abundance but why don't you have it? Because you mistakenly think (along with the rest of the planet) that it comes from gaining more spiritual knowledge, more money, a better self, a better relationship or a better life.

Here's the rub. No amount of self-improvement, spiritual  study, money or knowledge will deliver consistent happiness or love. It's impossible. You can practice the 'law of attraction' all you want but once your goals are attained the downward .cycle of desire & suffering must return. Inner emptiness rises again initiating more desire. You may have manifested your dream life but are still arguing with your lover, so now you search for another lover & so it goes on. Happiness and love are only 'temporary' when we follow the law of attraction.

We're looking for happiness and love in all the wrong places, that's why it's so rare to find a blissfully content human being who's consistently in that experience.

It's not about searching for love...

By David Cameron Gikandi

The ease and speed at which you get from point A to B depends on 
the distance between point A and B. So, what is the distance 
between you and success in whatever field you choose? What is the 
distance between you and success in your marketing, financial, 
relationship, happiness or health matters? It does not matter what 
you are looking to succeed at - the principle here is the same. 
  
Success Distance is measured by three components: Body, Mind, and 
Soul or in other words physical distance, intellectual knowledge 
and emotional bearing. Let us examine each one. 
  
Body, or physical distance, is simply the physical distance in 
miles between you and your marketplace, your target health point, 
or your relationship partner. Physical distance is the easiest 
distance component to understand, so we shall not spend too much 
time on it. 

It is all about location. Like they say in real estate, 
it is all about location, location, and location. Where are you 
physically in relation to your marketplace, target health point, or 
your relationship partner? Are you easy or hard to get in touch 
with? Do you network with people in similar situations so... 

Tags: personal development, self-improvement, spirituality

by Esther Hicks

An important aspect to unlocking the true power of attraction for yourself, it is important to first understand that what you create and manifest; should not be influenced by others — but instead, be a compelling desire for success stemming from YOURSELF.

A quote from Jerry and Esther Hicks summarizes the kind of mental shift that you must accomplish before true Attraction happens:

In order to effect true positive change in your experience, you mist disregard how things are — as well as how others are seeing you — and give more of your attention to the way you prefer things to be.

Law of Attraction

Goal-setting and asking the Universe for your desires is important, but for those of us who are uncertain of our goals should first come to terms with themselves and their desires instead.

Read more to find out what ALL of them have in common!

Here’s a list of characteristics that masters of Attraction that we have observed have in common:

Reality Bending
People who have achieved Attraction mastery have an efficient view of ALL reality. They have NO fear of the unknown, and have the ability and the spontaneity to...

Tags: personal development, self-improvement, spirituality