The Eternal Individual

Just last week, I heard of another friend who committed suicide.

I can think, offhand, of about five people, not including him, whom I’ve been somewhat close to, who’ve made that choice in my lifetime of 55 years. Sad to say, but my immediate thought when writing this was, “That ain’t bad, considering the state of the world and the challenges of living!”

Corey (name changed) was special to me in that I had been a part of a healing ceremony with him where, essentially, he was baptized by fire. I believe I witnessed his physical transformation from a man hounded by personal demons into a man willing to face life squarely. It was a phenomenal experience that happened in an instant. You’d expect someone like Robert DeNiro to pull an instantaneous, visible, change like that off, but the actor would be doing it so we could see it, whereas what we witnessed in Corey was the choice to be it.

Transformations like that happen all the time. We say to ourselves, “Well, in Corey’s case, it didn’t hold very well, did it?” But who are we, who keep on going, to say?

What I haven’t mentioned is that I’ve been an integral part of one or another stage of two hundred or more suicides. I was in emergency services as an ambulance paramedic for twelve years, and I doubt there’s a phase I’ve missed in whatever process there may be. In those and subsequent years, I’ve counseled many on the brink. Of those whom I’ve counseled, I don’t know that any have followed through on the act. Usually, the encounters were flashes of despair that dissipated over time (more on this, later).

But the first thing I say to someone whom I counsel is “Yes, suicide is an option.”

I come from the point of view that it happens enough, it is such an integral part of the experience of being human, that it could not be otherwise than an option. No matter how much you may try to regulate it, you cannot stop it. You cannot even stem its tide by promising eternal damnation. It’s something we do, and some of us more happily than others.

Yes, I said more happily. In conversation, I’m sure you’ve heard of the term “shit-eating grin.” In the ambulance trade it refers to a look of complete relief and contentment on the face of a dead body. I have encountered these kinds of facial expressions most often in suicides.

With most everyone else, if there is any clearly definable expression at all it’s in the vein of “What the Hell? Get me outta here!” The grins of these suicides, however, speak, “I’ve made it!”

Generalization is a trap, of course, and by no means am I saying that suicides are a happy thing. The point I wish to make is that suicide can be as much a vehicle of personal empowerment as it appears to be evidence of resounding defeat.

To live is to get scarred. No one gets out alive — in the form we have right now, anyhow. The only difference for any of us is when. There is not a one of us who isn’t doing something to hasten our own deaths, if nothing else than clinging to a belief in it.

What we do with our lives is a function of choice, which is so sacred even God doesn’t mess with it. Free will has no limitations, which means even causing our own deaths (which happens all the time) is a gift offered by life.

What our impressions of life are - what our interpretations of our circumstances are - is what our lives become. If we interpret our lives as intolerable, with the only outlet remaining to be death at our own hands, then that is exactly what it will be. To the person who commits suicide, it is a by-product of their considered, not casual interpretation of their circumstances.

By no means am I advocating suicide. I am just suggesting that those who are left behind make room to see the world through the eyes of the person who has cashed in his or her chips. If you begin from the place that, for the individual, her world-view was valid, under the circumstances you may be able to grasp that taking her own life was appropriate.

It’s funny how we use phrases like, “those who are left behind,” or, “we, who carry on,” or, “the ones remaining” to describe who is left after the dying go - and these not being specific to suicides. The implication, as Buddha says, is that “life is suffering.” We all know and experience this. Perhaps the wonder is not that so many people commit suicide, but that so many more of us don’t.

Next, walking in the others’ shoes.

Russ Reina shares over 35 years of experience in the healing arts through his web site http://mauihealingartist.com. It is a potent resource for those wishing to deepen their abilities in connection and develop their powers as healers. For a powerful free tool to explore your inner world, please check out his adjunct site http://thestoryofthis.net (Permission is granted to reprint this article, unedited, provided proper attribution is made and the signature line — the above resource paragraph — is kept intact)

Depression is a medical condition that affects the mind, often leaving the person suffering from it feeling hopeless, without ambition and unable to focus. Left untreated, this condition can adversely affect academic achievement, family life, friendships and careers. People tend to seek help from a mental health professional who may prescribe mood balancing drugs. Most, however; use an alternative form of medicine for a more natural treatment in tandem with drug therapy. Milder cases of depression can be treated solely with natural remedies without the need for prescription drugs.

Therapy is a great way to restore balance in your life. Seeking help from others who have similar issues will provide a support system to discuss issues, understand symptoms, and develop techniques to feel better. Often talking is very cathartic and can help alleviate stress and loneliness, which may cause feelings of depression.

Therapy that involves personal expression has been found to provide an outlet for pent-up feelings and can be a positive way to articulate deep feelings and emotion. This can take many forms. Dance is a great outlet for this as well as other movement therapies such as martial arts. Martial arts teach focus, self awareness, and control which can greatly benefit someone suffering from depression. Using art as a form of therapy is another expressive form of therapy. Whether it is sculpting or painting or any other variation of art, it’s a way to expose feelings in a tangible way.

Relaxation techniques help a person focus and gain a sense of serenity. Yoga is an ideal form of exercise that melds the body, mind, and spirit. It promotes good health, a positive self image and teaches relaxation. Meditation is also a good way to relax and unwind. It reduces the heart rate and clears the mind, allowing more focused thought. Acupuncture has grown in popularity as a means to treat depression. By using various pressure points, it is believed to enable a calming effect and promote a healthier emotional balance. Hypnosis is also popular as a means of getting to the core issues of why someone is depressed and leaving them with a sense of well being.

Certain dietary changes and supplements have been reported to be helpful in the treatment of depression. Adding fish oil, Zinc and B vitamins are found to help the body regulate chemicals that may trigger depression. Exercise is also very important. Keeping active will rejuvenate the body and keep it fit, promoting a healthier lifestyle and better self image. Working out several times per week can calm the senses and invigorate the body.

Depression does not need to be debilitating. Making a few changes to your daily routine will help promote a sense of well-being and help alleviate symptoms of depression. If you continue to have feelings of depression or have severe symptoms like suicidal thoughts, consult a health care professional immediately.

Gray Rollins is a featured writer Depressionso.com. To learn more about natural depression treatments and alternative depression treatments, visit us.

With the legal culture increasing all around the globe, possessing public liability insurance is becoming ever more and more needed. If you don’t at this time have professionally indemnity insurance integrated into your building cover, then now is the instance to look into purchasing better insurance. Here is some information about why you require cover, & what to pay attention to. Find a public liability insurance business today.

What is public liability cover: Public Liability insurance is an insurance policy that protects you from claims that other individuals could make against you in the probability of an accident. If somebody damages their possessions or hurts themselves in or around your property or business then the professional indemnity insurance will protect you for any fees that could possibly take place. Insurance typically ranges from two-hundred and fifty pounds up to one million pounds.

What are you insured against: Insurance will insure you against accidents or loss that other individuals could experience in or around your house or business premises. You are protected against claims from intruders, and injury that could crop up to anyone from falling items or personnel carrying out maintenance. If an accident arises on your land and someone claims against you, your insurance will support you to pay any damages.

What’s included Lots of contents or property insurance policies have in-built liability insurance. You should check with your insurer whether this is the case, and what amount of cover you have. Even if the insurance is included, you need to guarantee that you are accurately covered for any likely accidents that might possibly arise.

Payment: The payments that you are expected to have to pay depend on the level of coverage you purchase. If you just insure your home, then the payments are likely to be not as much as than if you are wanting to cover a business. Although, premiums are fairly cheap for the extent of protection that you have to pay for, & its therefore crucial for anybody running an organisation.

Creativity enables people to make breakthroughs in their thinking and find better ways of working. According to Clive Lewis at Illumine Training, it is precisely for these reasons that trainers need to know how to stimulate creativity among their participants.

If you are a trainer, you probably think of yourself as being creative. But are you? Do you have the tools to help groups that are stuck to gain fresh insights? Can you help individuals to generate new workable solutions?

In this article I want to provide an insight into how trainers can apply creative thinking when they find themselves working with people who need to make breakthroughs - and specifically what tools can help course participants to radically shift their energy, understanding and output. Firstly, let us just agree some of the territory for creativity. There is often a belief in organisations that creativity is the preserve of a small group of people in marketing or new product development. This isn’t so. Not only can everyone be creative, but creativity is a key skill for people as they work with their customers, solve problems and improve their personal effectiveness. For trainers, whenever you are working to help people gain new insights or work in new ways, creativity isn’t just relevant - it is essential.

Another misconception is that creativity takes time. This is nonsense. People can get extremely creative in one minute, but this ties into the blocks that people have about creativity. People reject new ideas because they can’t see how else things would be done. They assume there is only one way of looking at a problem and they accept beliefs, judgements and facts as real. The joy of creative thinking is that it allows us to challenge such ‘fixedness’ and generate new perspectives.

So, as trainers, how do we do this? Well here are a few creativity tools on offer:

Edward De Bono’s Six Thinking Hats is a powerful and time efficient problem-solving technique, which is ideal for teams that are stuck. In essence the whole group thinks about a specific problem from six separate perspectives, which are represented by six different colours. For example, ‘white hat’ thinking is like a white page and helps people to look at their problem from the perspective of ‘what information do we need?’ It provides a neutral, information gathering perspective. ‘Red hat’ thinking is where the team looks at the problem from what they feel about it. ‘Black hat’ thinking gives the team permission to be overtly critical about the issue. The beauty of Six Thinking Hats is that it allows a team to have productive discussions based on different perspectives. Instead of adversarial thinking, it promotes co-operative exploration.

The use of metaphors is another great way for trainers to help trainees develop new insights into difficult situations or problems. The trainer might ask the group to compare the problem they are grappling with to a symbolic metaphor and see how many similarities they can find. For example, if a team is struggling with meetings, the trainer could ask participants to find the similarities between that problem and, say, ‘having a bath’. Answers might be - ‘it’s hard to get the temperature just right’, ‘there’s never enough time’, ‘it always spills over’ etc. This way, the team can speak about the issue in new ways and generate new insights into their problem.

Situational or solution reversal is another technique which trainers can use to help people overcome their blocks. So, for example, participants are looking at the issue of the best way to make a presentation. In this case the challenge could be restated as ‘how could you guarantee that your presentation would make a negative impact on your client.’ Giving people permission to explore what doesn’t work is extremely enlivening and, more importantly, the resulting answers and ideas can be reversed and examined when they are applied to the original challenge.

There are also a number of useful checklist tools that trainers can use to help delegates generate new ideas. The SCAMMPERR acronym is one of these and it works as follows:

Take a challenge and note what new ideas emerge when:

S. You substitute it - you see what else could be applied in its place.

C. You combine it - you mix, blend or merge your challenge in different ways.

A. You adopt it - you look at what else could be worthy of emulating.

M. You modify - you look at what could be changed to give it a new twist.

M. You magnify or minify it - looking at what could be added or subtracted so that size, time, value or quantity is increased.

P. You put it to other uses.

E. You eliminate it - looking at what could be removed or reduced from the issue.

R. You reverse it and consider its opposites.

R. You rearrange it - looking at possible changes in schedule, layout and pattern.

These are just a few of the tools available. However, the key for trainers is to ensure that creative ideas are considered properly. The easiest way to kill creativity and innovation is to say about a new idea ‘that will never work here’ or to evaluate it too quickly - in other words to allow black hat thinking to dominate. In this respect, the issue of how to harvest ideas is critical. Creative ideas may not arrive fully formed - they may need shaping, strengthening, adapting and testing. It is up to the trainer to establish the environment in which such conversations and thinking can take place so that real business benefit can be assured.

Ref: IT160106

Knowing what a single serving of food really is can help Americans from getting fatter and fatter as a people and nation every year. Supersized portions of food weren’t even heard of in our grandparents’ and great-grandparents’ day. The higher rates of diabetes and heart disease can unfortunately be attributed mainly to the extra large portions of food people eat, according to many nutrition experts. At one point, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association; 300,000 deaths could be attributed to obesity a year. Those numbers are even larger today. Americans, at one point, were weighing over 20 percent too much of their weight. At one point, 22 percent were considered obese and half of Americans were considered overweight. Unfortunately, those numbers keep growing and growing every year.

Fast food was even different for Americans decades ago when it came to calories. Today, an average fast food meal consists of a burger with 6 ounces of meat and a drink that can be from a quart to a half-gallon (32 to 64 ounces). In the 1950s, a fast food meal consisted of a burger with only 1 ounce of meat and the drink was only a cup (8 ounces).

People tend to eat more food when more food is placed in front of them. Bigger is not always better. Larger packages of food unfortunately encourage people to 9 to 36 percent more of the product. Large packages of snacks and candy unfortunately encourage people to eat 50 percent more. In an experiment, when moviegoers were given a medium and a large bag of popcorn, moviegoers tend to eat 44 percent more popcorn from the big bag than from the medium bag.

Restaurants have particularly been bashed recently for supersized servings of food. Some fast foods have enough calories for the day for an average American in just one serving. An example of this can be cheese fries from steakhouses that not only have cheese but ranch dressing as well. It is estimated that a 4 cup serving can contain as much as two-thirds worth of fat and 3,000 calories. Compared to the government’s standards on food portions, restaurant’s portions of food can be two to four times bigger.

It is simple but true. People get fatter when they eat more because the more calories are taken in the body. Research has found that people tend to consume less fiber but more fat and calories when they ate in restaurants. This cover people of all ages. In a study, women took in 30 percent more fat and 16 percent more calories per day when they ate takeout food or ate in a restaurant at least 6 times a week than women who ate takeout food less often. That’s an extra 288 calories a day.

Visualizing portions according to one serving can help in controlling your calories and weight. For example, a drink is 1 cup (8 ounces). A one serving hamburger is what would be considered a kid’s size burger. A serving of bread is 1 slice. A serving of French fries is only 10. A serving of meat should be the size of a bar of soap. A serving of rice, cereal and pasta as well as fruit and vegetables should be the size of a tennis ball or hockey puck.

Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Food

Do you participate in all the bickering of mankind; all the name-calling, which goes on all the time? You need not be involved in that sort of stuff, you should be above it all life just isn’t that rough? Are you one live in fear? Just get over it sometime this year.

I can tell you all this sound and fury takes its toll on a man who is in such a hurry. Chaos and controversy that’s what they want you see; sure it is interesting, doesn’t cost much; hell it is free? You need to look beyond the mass hysteria of TV; concentrate on what is real like; peace, love, freedom and liberty.

Please wake up and turn yourself back on; you gone somewhere less pleasant and been away so long. Look I do not to sit here and preach to you; you are my fellow man I just don’t want you to be blue. Your mind is yours, it should not be for sale; don’t wait on promises there are no checks in the mail. Live your life free from want and anger; if you fail to do this your health could be in danger.

If you will dump the stress and stand back and simply look at the world and all its characters out there then you will find your self laughing at the situation, rather than taking issue with all of it. You sincerely need to consider yourself above all this sound and fury, so think on this in 2006.

“Lance Winslow” - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

When you are choosing to obtain a spanking new television, one of the principal decisions that you may need to make, especially if you have a young family, is if you require to wall-mount you’re LCD/Plasma TV, put it in a living room cabinet or on a TV stand.

If you choose that you want to place your telly on a telly stand, it is wise to buy your stand at the exact time as you pay for your brand new telly in order that you are able to put it up when it gets there.

Lots of models of TV’s come with a stand already as standard, but if you’ve elected telly is not one of these that do, then you will be required to settle on if you want to pay for a stand purposely made for your TV or a universal television stand which is purposely developed to fit any model of telly.

If you choose a telly stand purposely made by your TV’s manufacturer, you will without doubt need to ensure that you have the correct model number of your specific telly at hand when you are searching for the stand to go with it.

Furthermore, there are also many different brands of television stands in existence, thus you will have to settle on if you demand a floor stand, a base stand or simple a desk-top stand. You could possibly wish to get what is acknowledged as an “open cabinet”. Open cabinets are telly stands which, unlike the traditional furniture television cabinets, comprises of open shelves with the intention that you can keep your DVDs while still being capable to have unproblematic entrance to the wires and the back of the TV when you require.

Opting for the best cabinet to match your arrangement can be enormously difficult, definitely considering the number of TV manufacturers in the marketplace these days. To support you in making the best decision there is a large mixture of guides available currently.

When you splash out on a telly or home cinema system, you may well also wish for some accessories to go with it. There’s a large variety of telly accessories to be had on the market now for instance; remote controls, television stands, TV cabinets, wall-mount fixings and telly cables. Don’t miss huge LCD Stand discounts at Digital Direct. Visit Here!

This is a mini guide to help you eat better, giving you some insider tips on getting that healthy lifestyle. This is not just about food but also about the way you cook.

Firstly the tools of the trade. We love the new cast iron range from Berghoff as stocked by simplykitchenware.com. This range is lightweight and contains an advanced non stick coating; not only preventing your food from getting stuck or burnt on but also preventing the need for non essential fats. We recommend 4 pans for your kitchen; grill pan, saute pan 18cm, Wok and deep saucepan. The range is light weight and has detachable handles which means you can put the item in the oven easily. We were amazed that in just a few moments in the washing bowl the pans were clean!

Top tip during cooking is to have some kitchen roll/paper on hand, you can use this to gently mop up those non essential oils released during cooking to make your food healthier and get rid of those non essential calories.

Top foods to cook in your Grill/Saute Pan - no oil or fats needed!
* Steak - top tip make sure the pan is hot before placing. The grill pan will give you a charring effect
* Chicken breast - put a whole chicken breast between 2 pieces of clingfilm, bash out with a rolling pin till flatten. season with salt, pepper and a squeeze of lemon and rub in a teaspoon of balsamic oil.
* If you love fish with that grilling effect then again the grill pan is perfect and easy to clean afterwards! If you have more delicate fish use the sautepan and control the heat.

Top foods to cook in your Wok - no oil or fats needed unless adding as a flavour
Woks aren’t just for stir fry, why not use it to cook a curry or thai food? the dish is perfect to serve at a dinner table.
Consider the following for a healthier change;
* Creme fraiche of greek yogurt instead of cream
* Seasame oil instead of olive oil or sunflower oil for stirfrys, this also gives the vegetables another falvour
* This wok is perfect for cooking spices as you need no oil and therefore release the full flavor of the spice.
* Using your Wok for finishing pasta dishes will ensure you get sauce coated on all the strains of pasta. This is perfect for Spaghetti Carbonara.

And that about wraps it up! Berghoff pans and a little care mean FAR less calories in your food, effortlessly!

About the Author

Super Celeb Chef Helen Porter, cooks it up at www.simplyKitchenware.com

My daddy always said that men are great with a shovel. My mammy always said that women are great at emotional issues.
I say that men are pleasant pigs and women are pleasant pig observers.

Since I left high school, my opinions have been gradually changing. I used to think that boys were smelly but now I’m sure. I used to think that men are smellier versions of boys, but now I’m convinced.
I used to think that dirty men were exceptional and now I know that they are exceptional; exceptionally smelly.

I used to read that pigs were actually clean, but now know that it was a myth, but also that it was a true statement, relative to men.
Pigs grunt less, and tend not to piss on the toilet seat. Pigs tend not to deny where they piss either.

Please don’t get me wrong. I like men and one can become accustomed to any odour. It is the design and nature of the olfactory senses and is a preserving biological feature. If we must live with a smell, then it won’t affect us all the time!

If only the eyes had a similar feature, then we wouldn’t have to look at piss on the toilet seat, all the time. (I’ll see if I can construct something in the laboratory, to achieve this end. Watch out for my next article entitled “Artificial Blindness and Toilet Seat Technology”).

I will even attempt to invent a “pants-mounted” vacuum cleaner (without any special side effects), which might eliminate men from “the liquid exchange element” of toilets and their functions.
However, I don’t envisage any device of mine, eliminating the “solids exchange” elements of toilet function.
What I mean is that men still won’t flush the toilet after a dump! So while I might be able to induce some artificial blindness with respect to the piss, solids will still be in sight with respect to smell. And unless one was to designate the toilet as the primary living space within a structure (house, etc.), then any biological abilities to become accustomed to the smell of the “floaters” would be useless!

Oh, I’m not giving out, complaining, or anything, but these are just some of the technical issues that I’m presented with. And while my life is consumed with such effluent goals or subject matter, it is hardly a wonder that I don’t have time to date.

I would also like to introduce a caveat. If any of you ladies out there should know of any man with excellent toilet practises, then let me know. In any case, my email account is 60 Kilobytes in capacity, and I don’t expect it to be full. Ever!
Unless of course, that some man decides to use it as a toilet!

Going a little further, if any lady out there knows of a pig that is unattached, then I will certainly consider such an option.

Sincerely,
Tranni D’Electric
technicaltoilettrials@thetrivialtimes.com

About the Author

Tranni D’Electric is an “expert” columnist with TheTrivialTimes.com and is proficient with electronics.

A newcomer to the world of investments in the notion of “Virtual Real Estate Investing“. There are many variations on what this term means, encompassing everything from using the internet to aid in real estate investing efforts to participating in online games such as SecondLife.

To find out the real story, I had a conversation with Bryan Ellis, widely considered to be one of the originators of the concept of Virtual Real Estate Investing.

When I began using the term virtual real estate investing in the late 1990s, I did so because I saw clear parallels between the strategies used for profiting from physical real estate and those that would create income in the online world, said Ellis.

Bryan Ellis cites the similar strategies one can employe to make money from “virtual property” and “physical property” as a primary parallel of the two markets. “These types of assets - websites and physical real estate - can be monetized in very similar ways like buy lo/sell high, leasing/rental and advertising opportunities” he says.

The parallels really are obvious. Consider: A valuable piece of real estate is valuable largely due to the interest that other people have in that specific location. Similarly, ownership of a desirable domain name is valuable for the same reasons. Regardless of the type of asset, you can sell or lease or use any number of strategies to turn the assets into cash.

In our next installment of this series on virtual real estate investing, Bryan Ellis will share the internet analogies to the physical concept of real estate development.