The next question for consideration is what we mean by law being universal. Our universe is that portion of existence which is characterised by what the Sanskrit psychologists call Desha- kala- nimitta, or what is known to European psychology as space, time, and causation. This universe is only a part of infinite existence, thrown into a peculiar mould, composed of space, time, and causation. It necessarily follows that law is possible only within this conditioned universe; beyond it there cannot be any law. When we speak of the universe, we only mean that portion of existence which is limited by our mind — the universe of the senses, which we can see,feel, touch,hear,think of, imagine. This alone is under law; but beyond it existence cannot be subject to law, because causation does not extend beyond the world of our minds. Anything beyond the range of our mind and our senses is not bound by the law of causation,as there is no mental association of things in the region beyond the senses, and no causation without association of ideas. It is only when “being” or existence gets moulded into name and form that it obeys the law of causation, and is said to be under law; because all law has its essence in causation. Therefore we see at once that there cannot be any such thing as free will; the very words are a contradiction, because will is what we know and everything that we know is within our universe, and everything within our universe is mouled by the conditions of space, time, and causation. Everything that we know, or can possibly know, must be subject to causation, and that which obeys the law of causation cannot be free. It is acted upon by other agents, and becomes a cause in its turn. But that which has become converted into the will, which was not the will before, but which, when it fell into this mould of space, time, and causation, became converted into the human will, is free; and when this will gets out of this mould of space,time, and causation, it will be free again. From freedom it comes, and becomes moulded into this bondage, and it gets out and goes back to freedom again. To get more information visit : http://www.spiritual-simplicity.com

I’ll admit it. I cry at movies sometimes. I’m comfortable with it and not ashamed in the least. Movies are stories and stories have been used to elicit emotions (either by design or accident) since the beginning of man. Some of the most fantastic stories are tremendously moving. This emotion can be manifested as a ‘feel good’ or a ‘tear jerker’, it can be uplifting or depressing, revolutionary, or merely entertaining. The most important thing to keep upper most in your mind as you think about stories, is that they are an opening, a hole, so to speak, that you can fill with a message, your message. Stories tailored for business and sales need to consider the emotional state of mind that they will put your prospect our client in. In persuasion, we’re really simply using stories to control these emotional states. The value of stories is in the state in which it puts our audience. When I tell stories I want to both make a point and put my prospect into a profound emotional state, carry them away, so to speak and open to accepting my message. Ideally, we should have an arsenal of compelling, persuasive, powerful stories at our ready for any given situation. Think about ‘respect’, for example. For our affluent and perhaps elderly clientиle, the idea of respect is sometimes an incredibly important and motivating factor as to whether or not they want to do business with you. With my son, I do my level best to instill a sense of respect as he deals with his elders. I reinforce this point with him when I watch him interact. I was with him the other day at his marshal arts lesson. And in front of my son, I addressed his Sensei. I said, ‘Sensei, I wanted to tell you that at the last belt advancement that I was just at with my son, I was really impressed. There was a man there that must have been in his seventies.’ And Sensei smiled broadly and he said, ‘Yes. He’s about 73.’ And I said, ‘He was up for the test to advance his rank. When it came time for his sparring, his Sensei jumped up to spar with him. I noticed that the older man was having think before reacting, he would see something coming, he would stand there for a brief second and then he would react. It was clear that his faculties weren’t as sharp and his body wasn’t as quick, but yet, it almost brought tears to my eyes to see this man walking into the ring, walking onto the matt and doing his level best. Moreover, it impressed me that his Sensei made him look so good. He respected him enough to make him look good. I realized this wasn’t about outperforming the man, it was about respecting the human spirit.’ My son’s Sensei just beamed and he responded, ‘That’s absolutely correct. You’ve got it right on all fronts.’ What preceded this, is a two paragraph story on respect that most likely elicited an emotional response. I wanted to illustrate to my son the importance of showing respect for our elders just in the same way the Sensei showed respect to his elder. The story worked and my son understood profoundly. The story also touches me profoundly as I have a great affection for both the Sensei and the older man in the ring. With emotional storytelling I look to constantly and consistently maneuver the emotions of the listener, and once I’ve opened them up emotionally, I can implant anything I want. What is a story like this, about respect, going to show you? Well, it’s going to show that I have respect for my elders, that I find value in the concept of respect itself. What might you believe as a result of hearing this story? That I am highly respectful. This sets the frame. Within the frame, we can leverage knowledge so that somebody like our listener, has an undiscovered hero. What are some of your stories that might elicit deep emotional responses and how can you incorporate them into your persuasion repertoire?

Personal development is important to grow and change as a person. Learning how to change yourself will enable you to have control over your life. A plan is important as well because you will need to have an attainable goal. You can create this plan yourself. You know what goals you would like to reach and exactly what you are capable of. To create your own plan sit down and write out your goals in business or in life, a plan will need a timeline and a break down of exactly what goals you want to have reached and when. Having this plan for your life and for your business will help you to reach the goals you set for yourself. If you are a self motivator once you have written up your own personal development plan and set forth your goals you will have no problems obtaining those goals. However more people in this world often need motivators to get the job done. Sometimes a reward of getting your goals accomplished is enough and other times people need a coach to help them along. A personal development coach is someone who will help you learn new things, can help you reach your goals, can help manage your life, can help you make changes in your life to become more successful, and is there to support you. A personal development coach can be a trusted individual that will be on your side and help you reach your own goals. Remember to be patient with yourself and allow some flexibility in your personal development plan. Patience is the key to keeping yourself from being overwhelmed and giving up on your own goals. Your plan should allow you a realistic time frame to reach your goals. Dreams can come true one step at a time, and each goal reached is a dream realized. Being flexible with your own personal development plan is also important because sometimes life can change. Creating a plan that is reactive to things that will naturally occur will allow you to not be stressed over these occurrences. If you have a coach they can help you understand how to accomplish this task while writing your plan. A big part of the process is to learn how to adapt and grow as a person, and flexibility is a big part of that. If you are unsure how to go about creating your own personal development plan finding a professional life coach, or a personal development coach will be a great asset to you. It is their job to understand and teach you how to create the plan, and follow it. Unlike a therapist, a personal development coach is ready to look toward your future instead of digging into your past.

How kids interact with other kids around them is one indicator of how well they will develop in life. Some will do well, and others will continue to struggle throughout adulthood. But if they have ADD, they will probably have trouble making friends or be outright rejected by their classmates when they’re very young. If you don’t recognize the signs, these ADD kids will often have the most trouble as they grow into adulthood. Trouble with peers often shows itself early because some kids with ADD lack control in the classroom. This irritates the kids around them, just as much as it annoys the teacher. The ADD kid often requires more of the teacher’s attention, making the other kids feel slighted, and they see this child as the “bad” kid in the classroom. This is especially true in the early grades when kids are forming relationships and becoming part of a group. The child with attention deficit is left out because they aren’t like the other kids in the group. Social skills training can be very helpful if provided when these problems appear. If your child is ADD, you may find that he or she will do much better with a little guidance. Social skills training teaches them specific ways to make and keep friends, and the counseling includes help with conversational skills, ways to manage conflict, becoming part of a group, and managing anger. Yet, not all kids with attention deficit are so easily recognized. Without the hyperactivity component, the child may not be seen as having ADD until he or she is older. This can happen as late as middle school. They aren’t usually behavior problems and can usually get by in elementary school when the academics are less demanding. People with attention deficit tend to be highly intelligent, and can make it through the early grades with minimal trouble. But as they move into higher elementary grades and middle school, they get more homework, have multiple teachers, and that’s when the struggle begins. Because their performance level has changed, these kids are often labeled “lazy.” This can make them lose their motivation and the whole thing spills even further into their social lives. Their self-esteem drops rapidly and nobody understands what’s wrong. They tend to feel very alone and very much like losers. But they aren’t losers! They have ADD, and parents need to be aware of what’s going on in their children’s lives. Parents can’t smooth out every bump in the road, but if you see your child struggling to make friends and having trouble in the classroom early on, attention deficit could be the issue. Get a proper diagnosis and some social skills training to help them. If they’re older and you realize that their schoolwork is suffering, they may have been having attention deficit issues all along. Get them help for their ADD and the help they need to make it through school. Remember, they’re probably very smart and can do the work. You just have to get them the help they need to pay attention.

You Would Jump at Such an Opportunity, Wouldn’t You? So, here’s the choice. We can stop here, now, and tread no further into the adventure of this lifetime, stunned into silence, by the storied fears within our heads, barren of exquisite feeling, satiated expression, and unqualified authenticity, inwardly aware, at least at some level, of what we have forsaken with our choosing, now and forever more, lost to this moment, this moment that only is. Or, we can walk, heads bowed low, into the mystery of life, willing to embrace life with all its ups and downs, its apparent triumphs and failures, knowing that only abundant head-on, breathless, living-out-loud can satisfy. We choose to be the expansive freedom that comes with our full consent to life, and enter into this adventure eyes wide open and raised to the heavens, our hearts laid bare upon the altar of YES. Choice is such a loaded word, especially when you feel you have none, after all, if you felt you had a choice, you would jump at the opportunity for such a life, wouldn’t you? Is it possible that we really ‘choose’ lives of quiet desperation rather than choosing to step up to the plate and live life head-on, breathless, eloquently out loud? What would it take to make such a choice? When I was imprisoned in my storied world of fear it didn’t seem like a choice. It felt more like a life-sentence—event, reaction, experience—event, reaction, experience—a giant mesmerizing revolving door. I couldn’t seem to break free of the drama, the constant dread of the next shoe to drop. I didn’t even know enough to know that I was caught in the door, going round and round. I just thought that this merry-go-round was life. If asked, I would have told you, “I would never have chosen this!” Comfort kept me bottled up in my old patterns. The ‘known’ is a trickster. It sneakily makes you believe that life could always be much worse. The pasture next door may be greener but it’s full of weeds and snakes and holes. The trickster says, ‘Stay here where it is familiar, where you know the territory and what to expect”. Comfort is a guardian of fear. If I wasn’t so enamored of security and comfort I would have been more willing to chance living life fully out loud. Was I choosing? As much as the old me would hate to admit it, yes, I was. I was choosing within a framework of fear and had no idea it was in control. My choice was unconscious, but it was choice. As I write this, I am trying to recall the turning point, that moment in time when life changed, when that something clicked into place and I was no longer willing to maintain my personal status quo, that moment when I chose the road less traveled, and began to walk down the path to freedom. My moment of truth came when I chose to stand up against heartless treatment at work, offering my resignation, unwilling to continue with the program as it stood. The choice was conscious, although I didn’t fully understand what making it meant. Choosing to live out loud becomes easier after the first excursion and victim-hood wears much heavier than before. This life lived out loud is what we all want, what we dream of, and beat ourselves unmercifully for not choosing. We know we are choosing lives of quiet desperation. We know it. As much as we try, we can’t hide from ourselves for long. Every time we get that feeling in our gut that says, ‘you’re doing it again’, we know we are the ones that let ourselves down. At a deep level, I knew that even before I knew I was caught in the revolving door. My life as drama seems like a life-time ago, and yet, just yesterday, I found myself tense and insensitive—tied up in knots, although much smaller knots, knots none-the-less. The knots didn’t last. As soon as I stopped long enough to see what was happening, they dissolved with my seeing and acceptance. Still, they had found a way into the calm, wormed their way into awareness, and attempted to convince me of their worth, but again, I chose. I chose to live a life head-on, breathless, and on the edge of God’s envelope. I can’t do that with shards of fear hanging from my ankles. Sometimes I have to give it a little kick and shake it loose, like a puppy shaking off its bath, wiggling from the top of its head to the tip of its floppy tail. We can shake like that little dog and dislodge the fear that has us trapped within its spell. All we have to do is choose and let the shaking begin. “What if a demon were to creep after you one night, in your loneliness, and say, ‘This life which you live must be lived by you once again and innumerable times more; and every pain and joy and thought and sigh must come again to you, all in the same sequence. The eternal hourglass will again and again be turned and you with it, dust of the dust!’ Would you throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse that demon? Or would you answer,’Never have I heard anything more divine’?” Friedrich Nietzsche (German classical scholar, philosopher, and critic of culture, 1844-1900)