The law of attraction states that like attracts like. This means that whatever you are thinking and feeling on a deeper level, you will attract. You can think of it as your subconscious beliefs and programming. If you are finding yourself overweight and wanting to get in shape, then start to examine your deep beliefs about fitness and being overweight. Ask yourself the following questions; 1. Is it hard to lose weight? 2. Does being in shape mean dieting, hunger or denial of something good? 3. When thinking of losing weight now, do memories of past failures come to mind? 4. When thinking of exercise, does it seem boring or a chore to do? 5. Do you want to lose weight quickly or are you interested in life style changes that will permanently keep the weight off? 6. Do I really believe I can do this with the law of attraction? The truth is that you did not get to be where you are overnight. There were processes and patterns of thinking and feeling that brought you to the point you are at now. You have created belief systems and weight gain is just a symptom of them. Likewise, using the law of attraction, you will also begin to change those patterns and habits. I call them mental habits. The above questions will help you determine, exactly how you feel inside about losing weight. Many people want to lose weight quickly through pills, diet fads, and extreme exercise programs. While those things may take the weight off, it is often harder to keep it off permanently, because an important thing has not been dealt with – your mind. By understanding and using the law of attraction you begin to condition your mind to automatically make the right decisions and actions in your every day life that lead to a slim and trim body. Here are some simple steps in using the law of attraction to lose weight; 1. Get a picture of yourself when you were your ideal weight or get a picture of someone who is your ideal weight. You can cut out images from catalogs and magazines. 2. Get a couple of pairs of pants that are at least 3 sizes too big for you. 3. Create a short affirmation such as “I’m perfect slim and trim” or “I’m fit and slim” Then, every day you can use the law of attraction to lose weight by taking at least 30 minutes to an hour and put on the big clothes to help you get into the feeling of being slimmer. While doing that, you look at the picture and get into the feeling of being that which you see in front of you. Then keep saying the affirmation you have created to yourself. You can say it out loud or in your mind. This should be a fun time for you and if you ever feel that it is becoming a chore then you are not doing it right. It may be hard to get into the feeling of being fit and slim if all your life you may have felt otherwise. Practice makes perfect. Give yourself permission to feel good, to feel slim, to feel anything you want to feel during that 30 to 45 minutes each day. Don’t expect results over night, but if you stick with your daily program, you will begin to automatically make decisions in your daily life that will help you lose weight. Also, remember that you will have to do more than just affirmations to get fit. Eating fresh fruits and veggies, low fat foods, exercise and proper rest are also important. By law of attraction, you will find it easier to eat healthy, exercise and feel better and better. With continued dedication and persistence you will be one of those people who have used the law of attraction to lose weight.

Today’s world is reaching a crisis point, and while many of our social structures are still intact for this moment, there will come a time when major changes will need to occur in the way we are living our lives on a day to day basis. This bold statement is shared not to create alarm and fear, but rather to awaken a sense of responsibility within all of us. This awakening has already begun, and most people are now aware that our current way of life is causing harm to the precious Earth we live on. The question now for many of us is … what can I do? Our lives are already chock full of challenges. Just managing the day to day realities of life is for many of us a full time job. The growing complexities of life that have developed from the accelerated pace of change can at times feel overwhelming. We hear news reports of natural disasters, wars, poverty, disease, environmental pollution, and a seemingly endless number of new challenges … the amount of overwhelm can cause us to numb ourselves, and shut ourselves off from the realities that are happening around us. How then do we help our struggling world? What can we do? The answer to this question lies within our hearts, and is much bigger and more important than we may realize. There are certain obvious things that we can do on a daily basis to conserve energy, recycle, and be more environmentally conscious. Thankfully, more and more people are stepping up and creating change in their daily habits in this way. This helps a great deal towards beginning to reverse the cycle of abuse to the Earth and lack of respect for her resources. There is a larger change that needs to happen however, that is at the root of the world’s problems. It is one that we all participate in unless we choose not to, and this has to do with our consciousness. Consciousness? How can that affect the world situation? You may be wondering just how changing our awareness can affect things. Isn’t that in the realm of the metaphysical, for people who wear robes and chant and do strange spiritual practices? Dearest ones, taking responsibility for our consciousness is not just for those with a spiritual awareness. Our consciousness affects the world we live in, whether we are aware of it or not. The thoughts and energy we put into the world have an impact, and our consciousness creates the actions and choices we make on a daily basis. Just how did the world get into the state that it is in now? It all started with where our collective consciousness has been. Humanity has been involved in developing our individuality, and in experiencing the world of physical reality without much attention to the larger whole of which we are a part. This was a necessary step in our evolution, but now times have changed. We’ve gone as far as we can in developing our individuality and unique identities. Unfortunately, as we’ve explored our individuality, we have made choices that do not take into account the affects that our actions have on the larger whole. We’ve chosen to use energy resources that are finite, and that cause pollution of the Earth. We’ve chosen farming practices that remove the essential ingredients from our food, in favor of mass production. The lack of nutrients from our food has increased our health problems, but our healing practices have attempted to fix the symptoms without addressing the root causes. We’ve chosen to pursue individual wealth that brings prosperity to us and our families, but leaves the majority of humankind suffering in poverty and starvation. All of these challenges we now face started with a consciousness that had forgotten our essential connections to the larger whole of life. We are divine beings that entered into physical reality in order to learn, and now at this crucial time in the evolution of humanity, we are beginning to learn how to reconnect with ourselves, with each other, and with the Earth. We are beginning to learn that our thoughts create our reality, and that what we think and feel matters as much as what we do. One of the great spiritual truths shared with us by all spiritual teachers and religions is that we are all connected. We are a part of God, who lives within us. In the same way, all others in our world are equally a part of God, and are an essential part of the essential whole of life. Therefore, if we harm another, we ultimately harm ourselves. If we prevent others from receiving what they need, we limit ourselves because we are constricting the free flow of God’s light and life force. These concepts are not new, but they have been mostly in the background of human consciousness, which up until this point was focused on pursuing more individualized goals. Times have changed, and now the only solution that can be found to the problems of today’s world is to work together, and to reconnect ourselves with our divine eternal nature as souls. When we are no longer separated from the divine source of all light and love, our relationship with ourselves and with others changes. We are no longer alone, seeking to get our needs met, and competing with others who all are trying to get their needs met. Instead, we go within to connect with our hearts, to understand who we are, and what our purpose is for being on the Earth at this time. Each soul is present on the Earth for a reason, and when we discover and fulfill that purpose, our life makes a positive contribution to the world and in the process our own needs are met and fulfilled. When we realize that our consciousness matters and has an impact on others, we take responsibility for our thoughts as well as our actions. Are you holding a grudge towards someone in your life? With an awakened consciousness, you realize that holding on to this grudge is creating a blockage in the free flow of light and love in your life, and you take steps to heal this pain you are carrying. You may not be able to let go of the pain right away, but your intention to let go, rather than to hold on, opens up the energy of healing. In the larger network of human consciousness, you’ve just created a small pocket of light and love, which enters the atmosphere of the Earth and strengthens the love and light present in the world. This small pocket is like a candle, which lights other candles that it comas into contact with. On the other hand, if you choose to hold on to your anger, blame, judgment and so on, the emotions you are holding onto contribute to the cloud of negative energy that is present around the Earth during this time. You feel entitled to be angry, and refuse to budge. You may even act out your feelings and create disharmony or even harm to others. In this way your choice contributes to this very same energy pattern which is prevalent in so many of today’s world conflicts and wars. Anger, blame, judgment, entitlement, and the unwillingness to compromise are all fed by the daily thoughts and feelings of others. Do you see the choice you have each day, and at each moment? Your consciousness either adds to or detracts from the presence of love and light on the Earth. The love creates a feeling of harmony, and of possibilities and hope. The love opens up new possibilities and ideas, and can help us find creative solutions to the world problems. You are a part of this love, and your daily choices can support and strengthen the many positive actions of change now happening in the world. In this way your daily life can change the world, and can help others to awaken, heal and contribute positively as well. You are blessed to be present at this monumental time in the Earth’s history, with an unprecedented opportunity to grow, learn, heal, transform, and to participate in creating a New Earth.

Getting ahead of the majority when learning Spanish doesn’t happen in minimal time. It could take a lot longer if you don’t focus on your goals but, it could also be a fast-phased process if taken seriously. The Spanish language has hundreds of eager learners everyday and the demand to having a good Spanish learning material is overwhelming. But this makes it difficult to choose the appropriate learning material on your own. It doesn’t have to be this way all the time, though. There is a way and that is for you to handle. Researching for a good Spanish material is important even before you start to sit down and begin your Spanish lessons. Determine first the reasons why you want to learn Spanish since this brings your search down to the important factors only. Are you learning it for travel purposes? Business tie-ups? Normal conversation with Spanish speaking natives? Choose what is best that applies to you as of the moment to make your learning stage smooth. Less interruptions is better. We mentioned “as of the moment” because if you want to switch reasons in learning Spanish eventually, you can shift so without so much fuss. When you have some Spanish lessons stored at the top of your head, try to ask questions to yourself and answer it back in Spanish. It doesn’t have to be a difficult question. You can start by using questions which require only yes or no answers. Remember, these questions are great for the improvement of your Spanish language comprehension. Together with your Spanish practices, do this activity daily. Listening to any Spanish material is an extremely effective way of improving your Spanish speech and vocabulary. Remember how Spanish lines from English movies sink in to your memory easily? It’s not so just because it’s interesting and appealing but also because it dictates the perfect way of how it should be pronounced. You know the words, spelling and what it means, but pronouncing Spanish words fluently is also a plus factor for which, tells that you have been doing good on your Spanish lessons.

“Progress is a nice word. But change is its motivator. And change has its enemies.” – Robert Kennedy Change does have enemies and Robert Kennedy knew that truth and paid for it with his blood. Change can be dangerous. That is why our natural instinct is to stay the course; stay put; avoid trying something new; leaving well enough alone; being safe; and I could mention another twenty or so excuses. If you are the type that wants to stay in your comfort zone, you will never experience the immense joy that comes from living. In order to succeed we must take risks and that means we have to change. Robert Kennedy said this in the context of politics. He referred to making progress as a nation. The only way to make progress as a nation is to change our point of view, to change the way we govern ourselves, to change certain laws that are unfair, and change the way we deal with the bad guys. But his words can apply to any aspect of life, not just politics. In my career as a trainer I can say that change is the one thing that is needed the most and done the least. I have seen people go way out of their way just to avoid change. I trained adults in job readiness skills. Let me tell you that there were times I couldn’t even get an adult to change their seat after 20 minutes of being seated in class. That is how ridiculous we can get about change. We all need to train ourselves to be more open. But it goes further than that. Change is an action word and that means we need to act if we are going to progress. Change is not a theoretical practice of the mind, it implies real physical movement. For example, we may say that we have changed our attitude towards someone, but unless that is followed up by an action towards that certain person, they are only shallow words. Change means to repent. I instantly scare people away as soon as I say that because of the religious overtones. Well you can apply this to religion if you like. All I am saying is when someone says to you to repent, it simply means to change what you are doing. Change requires 3 things. The first is to recognize the need to change. The second is you actually do the action that is required. The third is you maintain the new course of action. Those happen to be the same three things involved in repentance. They say that recognizing that you need to change is half the battle and that is so true in my experience. The changing part is actually a lot less difficult to do than the first part which again is recognizing that you need to change. The final part is easy. It just requires that you keep on doing the new action over and over again. The second part in the middle means you must turn around and do something different to prove that what you recognized as needed to be done will be done. Change is empowering no matter how small it is as long as it is positive. Today, why not give change a chance and perform an action that you know needs to be done in your life. You will be gratified and empowered when you do it!

I.M. Heart came as a soft whisper one morning as I was barely awake. It was one of those whispers that you think you’ve dreamt about – and yet the word hangs in your semi-consciousness. It’s as if a messenger is trying to tell you, “Come on, it’s important for you to remember this. Now don’t forget it!” So, I crawled out of bed and wrote I.M. Heart on a piece of paper. Days passed and I wandered around with these words floating through my thoughts. Did you ever do that – go about your daily business with some concept formulating in your mind? The idea began to take on a shape and form as time passed. I realized that this was the name of a potential book and I began to consider the content of this book. I’ve always thought of your heart as the center of feeling – so this book was to be about feelings. I had read several books on the topic in an attempt to learn more and was turned off by the density and complexity of the material presented. So, I.M. Heart was to be a different kind of book on feelings – friendlier, more simple, and useful for people to apply in everyday life. It was to be something people could relate to and could identify with. I.M. Heart, the character, was to serve as a reminder to live from your heart. What does it mean to live from your heart? It means to live in awareness of feelings – both those coming from fear and those coming from love. Living with heart is being honest about feelings so that you can heal the bruised and injured ones. With this healing, it allows feelings from love to expand and become a bigger part of your life. As I thought about this, the phrase, “heal the pain, feel the love,” came to mind. “Heal the pain” — I’ve been in the process of doing that since I was in my mid -20′s. At that point in my life I was one miserable and confused human. I was so unhappy, was on a Valium trip and was becoming a hypochondriac. Two professionals changed my life. A medical physician told me to, “Get off the Valium and cope.” A counselor, on my very first visit, told me I had a choice. If I chose to continue seeing him for counseling we were going to open a can of worms that I could never again close. He asked me if I wanted to do that. The answer was yes. So began the journey to discover the complex creature called Sue. The can of worms was huge. It contained slimy, squirmy, bruised, and confused grubs, maggots and leeches. I have spent a lifetime working to change those creatures to butterflies, hummingbirds and puppy dogs. I’ve made much progress since those years, and I’m still a work in progress. As one travels life’s journey, chances to heal and then grow come along at the appropriate times. Sometimes one gets a rush of experiences to heal old wounds all at once. This is called a growth opportunity. We can choose to take or hide from it. I’ve done both. Choosing to hide in fear stops us in our path and we shortchange ourselves. The symptoms of this are the missed opportunities, the blown break, the unfinished education, the lame excuse, the lost friendship, dissolved relationships, and all the other symptoms that we consider failures in life. Depending on how we handled them, these may have been failures in that we let fear stop us from giving them our best shot. However if you’ve given it your 150% effort to resolve, proceed or finish – then it is no longer failure – but a growth opportunity you took advantage of regardless of the outcome. The steps of the process were the important growing steps. I – like everyone else – have had both growth opportunities and failures. Sometimes I fully accepted the opportunity and sometimes I ran to hide. I am a repeat offender – repeating my own variety of self-sabotage patterns based in fear. Fear is like a cactus; pricking you each time it touches you – each wound leaving a scab to be healed. However, I would not be the person I am today had these experiences not been in my life. There have been ups and downs – wonderful times and the bottomless pits. The last year has proven to be a turning point. In December of 2006, I was very ill for several weeks – it was not just physical, it was a time of mental and emotional release. I felt like a truck had run over me! However this was a point of change in my life. Since then, I have experienced a less bumpy ride – but when I fell in the ruts of life, they were deep and dirty. It was as though these were wounds that were surfacing to be healed and I chose to fling around in the mud of the rut until I healed that wound. The weather would clear after that and for a while it would be fair skies. Then I would fall into another rut – but this one was not as deep and dirty as the first one and the time to surface was shorter. As the year progressed, the ruts came further apart and the clear skies lasted longer. Not that the fear is not still there – it is – but there is a shift to feeling less fear and more feelings coming from love. The sun is shining brighter and those around me are beginning to notice the change in me. I wrote I.M. Heart in 2004 and 2005. For two years, I was afraid to publish it – all kinds of reasons. In reality, I had not fully lived the processes and was not prepared to share this with others. Now – the time is right, and I feel confident enough to share what I know, fully knowing that I still have much to learn. “Feel the love”– How can I tell you what it feels like to have finally released enough of the fear that I can allow myself to open up to love? Words escape me, but let me try. There is a sense of calm and peace that has eluded me before. It is as if I am surrounded by a field of angels – and even though fears still pop up, they do not consume me as they did in the past. I am able to feel the fear, shift its intensity and work through it in a shorter period of time. The world around me has changed – because I have changed. My glass is at least half full and some days over flowing with blessings, large and small. Around me I have people who are happier and more loving. Even the cat is more cuddly and loving. There is more laughter, a new sense of humor, and an appreciation of simple pleasures and beauty. I am beginning to be more patient with myself, more understanding, and less judgmental. As I continue this journey in process, I find that I am more confident. There have been three situations in which I stood up for myself in a very definitive manner. Simply doing that builds a new level of worthiness and deserving. It also builds a sense of confidence in strength to face the next fear-based challenges that will come along. I am more connected to spirit. Many mornings I awake with a song playing in my head. Those songs are always pertinent to the events of the day and are a message of encouragement for me. Recently I was facing a very stressful situation and I awoke with a song about being wrapped in the arms of love. I could actually sense the arms of spirit surrounding me for that day and in the days since. It gives one powerful feelings of serenity to feel such love. I encourage you to take this inner journey to heal the pain and feel the love. On your travels, please be kind, patient and gentle with yourself. This is a journey through the valley to the mountaintop and beyond. I need support on my journey just as you will – don’t be afraid to seek that support. This trip will change you, but it will not all be fun or easy. Is it worth it? Yes! I offer hope – to live in less fear and with more love. It is a lifetime journey and the most significant journey of a lifetime. I.M. Heart and I wish you many blessings.