Don't Tell Your Goals to Anyone!

Don't Tell Your Goals to Anyone

Research shows that announcing your goals drains them of their power.
Source: SF Gate

It's a commonly held belief that whenever you set a new goal for yourself -- whether it's scoring your ideal job, writing a screenplay, or yogacizing your bod down a size or two -- you should broadcast it to everyone you know. After all, the more people you tell, the more likely you'll do it because you don't want to be thought of as a failure, right?

Wrong. New research shows the opposite is true. A study conducted at New York University found that blabbing about your goal can give you a false sense of accomplishment, making you less likely to actually go after it.

Here's an example: Imagine you tell a friend that you want to train to be a long-distance runner. Your bud has a "Oh, wow, that's great!" reaction, and you get a jolt of satisfaction and pride. You feel so satisfied, in fact, that you lose motivation to get up early and jog. Why should you, when you're already reaping the benefits of being known as a runner?

The smarter strategy: Don't tell a soul. Of course, that's easier said than done. Keep reading for more reasons to stay mum, plus tips for achieving your dream on the down-low.

Why Secret Dreams Are So Freakin' Powerful?

Okay, so you can at least tell your BFF, right? Nope. "By not telling anyone, you're making sure your goal is something you're really doing for yourself," says K.C. McCulloch, PhD, an assistant professor at Idaho State University who worked on the study. That's opposed to, say, just wanting to have something impressive to talk about at parties.

Plus, you won't run the risk of letting anyone else's opinions get in your way. "What stops a lot of people from doing the things they dream of is other people," says Susan B. Wilson, a life coach in Michigan and founder of Get Over It, Move On! "If you tell someone you want to apply to a graduate program, they may go on about how terrible the campus is... and you may start to believe them when you really should be trusting your own gut."

Beyond that, loved ones may have ulterior motives for being naysayers. If you announce that you're going to be devoting tons of time to a big goal, a good friend or your significant other may worry that he or she will see less of you and subconsciously distract you from the finish line.

Two more reasons why keeping your dream a secret will help your cause: You'll be so antsy finally to be able to share it with everyone that you'll put your nose to the grindstone and get it done as fast as possible. And doing something just for you feels selfish in a really good way. "Women tend to overextend themselves for loved ones," says psychologist Lucy Jo Palladino, PhD, author of Find Your Focus Zone. "So if they can have something that is solely theirs, it can feel really special."

How to Self-Motivate When No One Knows?

Staying on task without support from your friends and family might sound impossible, but there are some easy, tried-and-true ways to do it.

"There's something called the fantasy realization theory that has proven to help people attain whatever they want," says McCulloch. The gist is that you must fantasize about your goal on a regular basis - think about all the awesome consequences of achieving it. Then think about all the negative things you'll have to deal with along the way: sacrificing time with friends, paying for expensive classes, etc.

"Often, people think about only either the really good stuff or the terrible stuff," says McCulloch. "But by considering both, you make the fantasy more realistic, and it will seem more attainable." Not only that, but it also helps you plan exactly which steps you need to take to get there.

"Surrounding yourself with people who have some connection to your dream is also sure to push you forward," says McCulloch. If you want to get into the fashion industry, for example, schedule lots of time with fashion-forward pals. They may not know what you're trying to do, but being around them will keep your eyes on the prize.

If You Have to Blab to Someone...

...Make sure you pick the right person to share your dream with. "Choose someone you trust completely who has never been competitive with you and has been successful at achieving her own goals," says Palladino. Can't think of anyone who fits the bill? Zip your damn lips, and try writing an anonymous blog (just be sure to turn off the comments option). That way, you can tell the whole world without suffering any of the negative effects of outing your secret.

Edited by: Lawyer Asad

How your brain lies to you.

How Your Brain Lies to You

By Sam Wang and Sandra Aamodt
Source: New York Times

False beliefs are everywhere. Eighteen percent of Americans think the sun revolves around the earth, one poll has found.

Thus it seems slightly less egregious that, according to another poll, 10 percent of us think that Senator Barack Obama, a Christian, is instead a Muslim. The Obama campaign has created a Web site to dispel misinformation. But this effort may be more difficult than it seems, thanks to the quirky way in which our brains store memories — and mislead us along the way.

The brain does not simply gather and stockpile information as a computer's hard drive does. Facts are stored first in the hippocampus, a structure deep in the brain about the size and shape of a fat man's curled pinkie finger.

But the information does not rest there. Every time we recall it, our brain writes it down again, and during this re-storage, it is also reprocessed. In time, the fact is gradually transferred to the cerebral cortex and is separated from the context in which it was originally learned. For example, you know that the capital of California is Sacramento, but you probably don't remember how you learned it.

This phenomenon, known as source amnesia, can also lead people to forget whether a statement is true. Even when a lie is presented with a disclaimer, people often later remember it as true.

With time, this misremembering only gets worse. A false statement from a noncredible source that is at first not believed can gain credibility during the months it takes to reprocess memories from short-term hippocampal storage to longer-term cortical storage. As the source is forgotten, the message and its implications gain strength. This could explain why, during the 2004 presidential campaign, it took some weeks for the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth campaign against Senator John Kerry to have an effect on his standing in the polls.

Even if they do not understand the neuroscience behind source amnesia, campaign strategists can exploit it to spread misinformation. They know that if their message is initially memorable, its impression will persist long after it is debunked. In repeating a falsehood, someone may back it up with an opening line like "I think I read somewhere" or even with a reference to a specific source.

In one study, a group of Stanford students was exposed repeatedly to an unsubstantiated claim taken from a Web site that Coca-Cola is an effective paint thinner. Students who read the statement five times were nearly one-third more likely than those who read it only twice to attribute it to Consumer Reports (rather than The National Enquirer, their other choice), giving it a gloss of credibility.

Adding to this innate tendency to mold information we recall is the way our brains fit facts into established mental frameworks. We tend to remember news that accords with our worldview, and discount statements that contradict it.

In another Stanford study, 48 students, half of whom said they favored capital punishment and half of whom said they opposed it, were presented with two pieces of evidence, one supporting and one contradicting the claim that capital punishment deters crime. Both groups were more convinced by the evidence that supported their initial position.

Psychologists have suggested that legends propagate by striking an emotional chord. In the same way, ideas can spread by emotional selection, rather than by their factual merits, encouraging the persistence of falsehoods about Coke — or about a presidential candidate.

Journalists and campaign workers may think they are acting to counter misinformation by pointing out that it is not true. But by repeating a false rumor, they may inadvertently make it stronger. In its concerted effort to "stop the smears," the Obama campaign may want to keep this in mind. Rather than emphasize that Mr. Obama is not a Muslim, for instance, it may be more effective to stress that he embraced Christianity as a young man.

Consumers of news, for their part, are prone to selectively accept and remember statements that reinforce beliefs they already hold. In a replication of the study of students' impressions of evidence about the death penalty, researchers found that even when subjects were given a specific instruction to be objective, they were still inclined to reject evidence that disagreed with their beliefs.

In the same study, however, when subjects were asked to imagine their reaction if the evidence had pointed to the opposite conclusion, they were more open-minded to information that contradicted their beliefs. Apparently, it pays for consumers of controversial news to take a moment and consider that the opposite interpretation may be true.

In 1919, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes of the Supreme Court wrote that "the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market." Holmes erroneously assumed that ideas are more likely to spread if they are honest. Our brains do not naturally obey this admirable dictum, but by better understanding the mechanisms of memory perhaps we can move closer to Holmes's ideal.

Edited by: Lawyer Asad

How to think like a millionaire.

How to Think Like a Millionaire

By T. Harv Eker

Rich people have a way of thinking that is different from poor and middle class people. They think differently about money, wealth, themselves, other people, and life. Let's examine six crucial differences between how rich people think and how poor or middle class people think.

By doing so, you will have some alternative beliefs in the files of your mind from which to choose. In this way, you can catch yourself thinking as poor people do and quickly switch over to how rich people think.

Remember, beliefs are not right, wrong, true or false, they're just past opinions which can be changed on your command. The fact is, you can CHOOSE to think in ways that will support you instead of ways that don't.

1. Rich People Believe "I Create My Life"

Poor people believe "Life happens to me."

If you want to create wealth, it is imperative that you believe that you are at the steering wheel of your life; that you create every moment of your life, especially your financial life. If you don't believe this, then you must believe you have little control over your life and that financial success has nothing to do with you. That is not a very rich attitude.

Instead of taking responsibility for what's going on in their lives, poor people choose to play the role of victim. Of course, any "victim's" predominant thought process is "poor me." And presto, through the law of intention that's literally what they get; "poor," as in money, me.

Here's some homework I promise will change your life. For the next seven days, I challenge you not to complain at all. Not just out loud, but in your head too. I've given this little challenge to thousands of people and several hundred have personally told me that this exercise completely transformed their lives. I invite you to email me with the results of this experiment. I guarantee you'll be astonished as to how amazing your life will become when you stop focusing on the "crap."

It's time to decide. You can be a victim OR you can be rich, but you can't be both. It's time to take back your power and acknowledge the fact that you create every moment of your life. That you create everything that is in your life and everything that is not in it. That you create your wealth and you create your non-wealth and everything in between.

2. Rich People Play the Money Game to Win

Poor people play the money game not to lose.

Poor people play the money game on defense rather than offense. Let me ask you, if you were to play any sport or any game strictly on defense, what are the chances of you winning that game? Most people agree; slim and none.

Yet, that's exactly how most people play the money game. Their primary concern is survival and security, not wealth and abundance. So, what is your goal? What is your real objective? What is your true intention?

Rich people's big goal is to have massive wealth and abundance. Poor people's big goal is to have "enough to pay the bills..." on time would be a miracle! Again, let me remind you of the power of intention. When your objective is to have enough to pay the bills, that's exactly how much you'll get; just enough to pay the bills and usually not a cent more. You get what you truly intend to get. If you want to get rich, your goal has to be "rich." Not just enough to pay the bills and not just enough to be comfortable. Rich, darn it, rich!

3. Rich People Are Committed to Being Rich

Poor people are uncommitted to being rich.

Most of us have good reasons as to why it would be wonderful to be rich, but what about the other side of the coin? Are there reasons why it might not be so great to be rich or go through the process of trying to get rich?

Each of us has a file on wealth in our mind. This file contains our personal beliefs that include why being wealthy would be great. But for many people, their file also includes information as to why being rich might not be so great. These people have mixed internal messages around money and especially wealth.

One part of them says, "Having more money will make life a lot more fun." But then another part screams, "Yeah, but "I'm going to have to work like a dog! What kind of fun is that?" One part says, "I'll be able to travel the world." then the other part responds, "Yeah, and everyone in the world will want something from me." These mixed messages are one of the biggest reasons that most people never become rich.

In fact, the #1 reason most people don't get what they want is they don't know what they want. Rich people are totally clear they want wealth. They are unwavering in their desire. They are fully committed to creating wealth. They will do "whatever it takes" to have wealth as long as it's moral, legal and ethical. Rich people do not send mixed messages to the universe. Poor people do.

I hate to break the news to you, but getting rich is not a "stroll in the park." It's takes focus, expertise, 100% effort, and "never say die" perseverance. You have to really commit to it, both consciously and subconsciously. You have to believe in your heart you can do it and you deserve it. If you are not fully committed to creating wealth, chances are you won't.

4. Rich People Think Big

Poor people think small.

We once had a trainer teaching at one of our seminars who went from a net worth of $250 thousand to over $600 million in only 3 years. When asked his secret he said, "Everything changed the day I began to think big." In my book, SpeedWealth, I discuss the "Law of Income" which states that "you will be paid in direct proportion to the value you deliver according to the market place."
Another way of understanding this is to answer the following question: How many people do you actually serve or affect?

For instance in my business, some trainers enjoy speaking to groups of 20, others are comfortable with 100, others like an audience of 500, still others want 5000 people or more in attendance. Is there is a difference in income between these trainers? You bet there is.

Who are you? How do you want to live your life? How do you want to play the game?

Do you want to play in the big leagues or in little league, in the majors or the minors?

Will you play big or play small? It's your choice.

But hear this. It's not about you. It's about living your mission. It's about living true to your purpose. It's about adding your piece of the puzzle to the world. It's about serving others.

Most of us are so stuck in our egos that everything revolves around "me, me and more me." But again, it's not about you, it's about adding value to other people's lives. It's your choice. One road leads to being broke and miserable, the other leads to money, meaning, and fulfillment.

It's time to stop hiding out and start stepping out. It's time to stop needing and start leading. It's time to start being the star that you are. It's time to share your gifts and value in a BIG way. There could be thousands or even millions of people counting on you. Are you up to the challenge for our society and our children's sake? Let's hope so.

5. Rich People Are Bigger Than Their Problems

Poor people are smaller than their problems.

Getting rich is not a stroll in the park. It's a journey that is full of obstacles, twists, and detours. The simple fact is, success is messy. The road is fraught with pitfalls and that's why most people don't take it. They don't want the hassles, the headaches and the responsibilities. In short, they don't want the problems.

Therein lies one of the biggest differences between rich people and poor people. Rich and successful people are bigger than their problems while poor and unsuccessful people are smaller than their problems.

Poor people will do almost anything to avoid anything that looks like it could be a problem. They back away from challenges. The irony is that in their quest to make sure they don't have problems, they have the biggest problem of all... they're broke and miserable.

The secret to success is not to try to avoid or shrink your problems; it's to grow yourself so you're bigger than any problem.

Imagine a "level 2" character person looking at a "level 5" problem. Would this problem appear to be big or small? The answer is that from a "level 2" perspective, a "level 5" problem would seem BIG.

Now imagine a "level 8" person looking at the same "level 5" problem. From this person's perspective, is this problem big or small? Magically the identical problem is now a SMALL problem.

And for a "level 10" person, it's NO problem at all. It's just an everyday occurrence, like getting dressed or brushing your teeth. Whether you are rich or poor, playing big or playing small, problems do not go away. If you're breathing, you will always have so-called "problems."

What's important to realize is that the size of the problem is never the real issue. What matters is the size of you!
Remember, your wealth can only grow to the extent that you do! The idea is to grow yourself to a place where you can overcome any problems that get in your way of creating wealth and keeping it once you have it.

Rich people do not back away from problems, do not avoid problems and do not complain about problems. Rich people are financial warriors and when a warrior is confronted with a challenge they shout: BRING IT ON!

6. Rich People Focus on Opportunities

Poor people focus on problems.

Rich people see potential growth. Poor people see potential loss.

Rich people focus on the rewards. Poor people focus on the risks.

It's the age-old question, is the glass half empty or half full? We're not merely talking about "positive thinking" here, we're talking about a habitual way of seeing the world. Poor people come from fear. Their minds are constantly scanning for what's wrong or what could go wrong in any situation. Their primary mindset is "What if it doesn't work?" or, more bluntly, "It won't work." Rich people, as we discussed earlier, take responsibility for creating their life and come from the mindset, "It will work because I'll make it work."

In the financial world, as in most other arenas, risk is directly proportionate to reward; generally, the higher the reward, the higher the risk. People with rich mentalities are willing to take that risk.

Rich people expect to succeed. They have confidence in their abilities, they have confidence in their creativity and they believe that should the "doo-doo hit the fan", they can always make their money back or succeed in another way.

On the other hand, poor people expect to fail. They lack confidence in themselves and in their abilities, and should things not work out, they believe it would be catastrophic.

You have to do something, buy something, or start something in order to succeed financially. You have to see opportunities for profit all around you instead of focusing on ways of losing money.

Edited by: Lawyer Asad

How Does Twitter Predict the Stock Market?

How Does Twitter Predict the Stock Market?

By William Alden / Source: Huffington Post

In the latest effort to determine how exactly Twitter will help the world, a new study argues that the micro-blogging platform can predict movements in the stock market.

The report, authored by Johan Bollen, Huina Mao and Xiao-Jun Zeng, says that the degree of "calmness" of the Twitterverse can predict -- with 87.6 percent accuracy -- how the Dow Jones Industrial Average will move, two to six days before the movements occur.

To reach this conclusion, the researchers examined two already-existing Twitter "mood tracking tools": OpinionFinder, which measures positive versus negative mood, and Google-Profile of Mood States, which measures "six dimensions" of mood: alert, sure, vital, kind, happy and calm.

After double-checking the accuracy of these tools, they looked at 9.7 million tweets between March and December 2008 and determined that Twitter calmness predicts the behavior of the DJIA. They find it "surprising," they say in the report, that OpinionFinder's positive/negative indicators didn't have more influence, and that it was "calmness" that appeared to anticipate moves in the market.

The study's authors are quick to note that they have no idea why this should be the case. The researchers say their findings "offer no information on the causative mechanisms that may connect public mood states with DJIA values in this manner." While "calmness" might predict market movements, it doesn't necessarily cause them.

Also perplexing is the fact that the tweets came from around the world, and the researchers don't know how many of them were conceived in the U.S., where the DJIA is based. And of course, other influences, such as news, can trump the "calmness" factor. As the researchers put it, "The deviation between Calm values and the DJIA ... illustrates that unexpected news is not anticipated by the public mood yet remains a significant factor in modeling the stock market."

Still, as Technology Review notes, these potential flaws don't detract from the fact that the findings could be "hugely influential." If nothing else, the results suggest the influences on the DJIA extend far beyond the financial community.

"One could speculate that the general public is presently as strongly invested in the DJIA as financial experts, and that therefore their mood states will directly affect their investment decisions and thus stock market values, but this too remains an area of future research," the report says.

Edited by: Lawyer Asad

Success formula: Simplified!

Success formula: Simplified!

By Lawyer Asad

I often say to my friends that had my 40% decisions been correct then by this date I'd be mentioned in the Forbes' list of billionaires, marry the most beautiful woman of the world, buy a Castle at Scottland, own a private island, etc. etc.
But the decisions we take turn out to favour everyone else but us.
This quest to know whats going wrong has set me to think about it at length. Which factors elude most of us from being successful or achieve the desired financial freedom?
In my search for the truth it has surfaced that most of us, yes most of us, don't know actually what we want. We're like those travellers, who had hit the road and loitering, but don't know where to go or where the path is leading.
Naturally, we end up in making vain rounds along the rut, created by our own aimless trotting.
How to Succeed & Get Whatever you want? Millions of pages has been written on this one matter alone. Flip through any of the self-development handbook and you'll find most of the chapters are devoted to the study of this one cause. Unfortunately, those books only make the authors and the publishers rich, leaving the reader to his couch as he was before reading it. These authors, seem, are all experts but what they write are simply impractical and hard to be implemented for the desired result.
We don't need such "Sky Blue" rules, secrets and formulas, which we just can't put into practice.
Now at this perspective a question can rise in your mind; why again then I've undertaken to discuss such a material?
Legitimate question.
Because I'm in the same boat with all of you. I've not come from the Planet Mars nor equipped with any extra-terristorial brilliance to flood your mind and senses with some non-comprehendable theories, formulas and jargons to leave you confused, disgusted with a feeling of being deceived.
As I feel the same for you and is at level with you so I think that the methods which I've applied to my own life can be effective for you too.
If it works for me then it'd work for you too. With that conviction this article is written.
Now straight to the business.
There're simply four factors which govern the law of materialization of our desires. Yes desire. Not wish. Because desire is an intense mental state where it seems that life had no meaning unless the thing one is covetting comes to him.
Desire should be iron hot.
Then at the very beginning we must know what we desire. Right?
So the first premise is:
1. Select it.
It means clearly knowing what we want or what we're desiring to have in our life.
I want a Car or a House, or huge money is not clear cut desire. Rather a vague state of mind.
When we select something then we must select it down to its every detail.
When we want a bride for us then we can't just go out, approach the first girl we see on the road and get married to her. Doesn't it sound ridiculous? Yes it does. Because it is vague and lacks our mental clarity.
Let me site an example from my own life. At that time I was serving as a retainer lawyer of "Siddharth Automobiles Pvt. Ltd" where were the only dealer of the area to deal with Bajaj Scooters and Motor Cycles. The Indian economy started growing and the WTO or the GAT treaty was signed by India. Foreign expertise, funds and technical know hows were available in India.
I wanted to have my first Scooter (it was in 1992) but found the Bajaj scooters as not so updated in features and fuel economy. So I had opted for an LML-Vespa Scooter.
So I had gathered all the materials available on both types of two-wheelers and made detailed studies about the features and other specifications. Finally decided that the best one would be an LML-Vespa T5 Special. Then came the colour of the vehicle. I've weakness for blue. So the glossy blue was selected.
On 29th September, 1992, I had been to the local LML-Vespa Show Room with my junior Abhijit and bought one. The surprising fact is that there was only one Scooter which I had decided to buy. Though several other models were at display and the salesman tried to persuade me to buy any of those. He had even hinted that there might be defect in this lone piece and in that case wouldn't be in a position to replace it. But I knew it was there for me only and its the perfect one. And yes it was the perfect in all aspects.
I've not told you that I didn't even know how to ride a scooter or maneouver it. But had purchased a scooter!
Thats another story and I'll tell you about it.
It has happened to me again and again. When I desire for something then I undergo the rigority of flooding my mind with an ideal picture of the object what I desire.
Being specific for the article (or anything including soulmate or companion) solves our time and also helps us get it without much trouble.

2. Project it.
See it as already happening.
Experts, psychologist and others are saying that time is of no relevancy either in the Universe or in the human mind. There's no past, no future but only present. An eternal NOW!
So after detailing what we're desiring for we've to see that the Object de Desire is in our possession. Easier said than done.
From my own trend I've realized that we can't just get rid of our past or can't stop thinking (rather worrying) about our future. "Being", "becoming", "happening", "would be", etc are always crowding our minds, which we can't just shake off!
Its going to be mine. The Car would come to me. These kinds of affirmations are damage the process of materialization than help us in any way.
Its not going to be to coming to me or happening to me. But its with me already. Its in my possession and I'm enjoying it.
You know by now that when I got my first Scooter I didn't know how to drive. Though I had access to a lot of two-wheelers belonging to my brothers, friends and others from who the driving could easily be learnt. But something in me, may be my non-existing ego, came forward and it decided that I'll learn driving when I get my own vehicle.
So, a fortnight before purchasing the Scooter, I ran a self-directed, produced and acted movie in the theatre of my mind. Before sleeping I would relax my body, ease my breath and start playing the movie. I had started it, settled myself on the seat, changed the gear and twisted the accelarator. Vividly seen it. Felt the air on the sides of my head. The people of the road, the land mark, the scent of the burnt gasoline. Everything was clear in my mind.
Next day, that is, on 30th September, 1992 after getting up in the morning. I some how managed to bring the Scooter on the road and mounted it on its stand. Kicked the pedal to start it. On two kicks it started. Dismounted it and rode. For the first time when I changed the gear the engine stopped. I got it started again and this time everything went smoothly as I viewed in my mind. After riding the village road I put it on the National Highway, then to the busy thorough far and travelled more than six kilometers without engine-stop or any mishap. Returned safely to home.
Some of us are not that efficient in seeing with their mind's eyes. But the feeling, the emotion, the sensation of actual action are very vital. Absence of which might end the entire efforts in a fiasco.
While I was playing the movie in my mind it never came to me that I'm still to get the vehicle. But it was like the Scooter is with me and I'm riding it.
Sometime ago I was reading an article of Steve Pavlina. He advised to see the end result and in the absence of seeing the end result the visualization is called "part visualization"!
An 84 years lady, Helene Sellers, the winner of most of the lotteries had also reiterated it. (You can find it in my article here, Winning Lotteries).
Seeing the stack of money, or smelling its mint fresh scent are not sufficient. We've to see the end result. For example, when one is asking for money then he's to plan what he's going to do with that money and see that use in mind.
Keep it in mind that emotions is very important. Import it to the fullest while visualizing something.

3. Expect it.
Believe it is already yours.
When we desire for something then its imperative that the object de desire is in very much essential in our life. Otherwise we won't has asked for it.
The Network market people at the beginning of their careers can't afford to buy big luxurious cars or Penthouses. So they hire those and pose that they won those items to impress their down lines.
They "fake it until they can make it"!
Eventually most of them own those things to add value to their lives.
In 1923, Wallace D' Wattle, had written a book. The Science of Getting Rich. In this book he has mentioned it as, "acting in a certain way"!
(You can download the free pdf copy of the ebook from the internet).
Suppose one is desiring to have a new furniture in his house, say an Almirah. He'd have to choose a place of keeping it. The furniture is going to take at least 4x3 feet of space. So whenever he goes to that side of his room he has to act that the furniture is there and he'd not collide with it.
Got it?
Just keep it in mind. Don't over do or over stress your mind. Our sub-conscious has its own style of working. It acts on its own pace. Don't confuse it with your ever pouring surge of emotions. Ok?
Now the last part of the formula.

4. Collect it.
Its the most easy part and we all know how to take the possession of our desired object.

My own experience with these rules has been successful almost all the time. If it is put in a percentage then it'd come near 85%. I'm developing it incessantly to make it fool-proof.
For the past two and a half decades people are asking me about this mental phenomenon of Ask, Believe & Receive. Many an amazing and seemingly miraculous experience has happened not only in my life but also in the life of all those who shared their experiences with me.

This formula does work.
It has worked for me. It has worked for my friends.
It will work for you!

I hope your box is empty!

"I hope your box is empty!"

It was on the sixteenth day of the 12th month celebrating his 75th
birthday when he decided it was time.

Having been happily married, raising three boys, and continuing with
great success, the family business handed down from generations before him, this now frail man had to make a decision.

His health had not been good over the past few years and the stress of
keeping the business on course was beginning to wear on him.

The challenge was in deciding which one of his sons would take his
place.

Each boy had the experience. Each one was capable of helping it grow in
the future.

But each had different personal values.

As they gathered together to celebrate Father's birthday, he quietly pulled them aside from the rest of the family to announce his
retirement.

"Father, I can't imagine a day without you as the head of the business," one said.

"We are sure to falter without you, but you deserve some rest," another
said.

"You are this company," the last chimed in.

Then there was an uneasy silence. Surely the question playing on their
minds was "who would take his place?"

The old man turned and walked toward the corner of the room where there were three boxes.

"Come, each of you take one of these boxes. They are of equal size. By the first day of the new year when we return here to celebrate, I want each of you to bring your box filled with what you believe to be the most valuable assets of this business. Based on your choices, I will decide who will take over as the
chairman," father said.

There was much grumbling, confusion and discussion as father left the room.

During the next 15 days the families and employees could sense a strong
competitive spirit between the boys. One carried the box nearly
everywhere he went. Another ran from department to department asking for records and inventories. The third simply left the box at his desk.

It was January 1st and the family had once again gathered to celebrate.
Right after dinner father called the boys aside.

"Well, it is time. Please share with me what you have placed in your
box," father said.

The first son, eager to outdo the others, jumped to his feet and began
sharing.

From the box he pulled the business ledger, saying "This father, is the
true measure of our success. There is no greater representation than the bottom line."

"Simple and direct," father said.

Pointing to the second son, he asked for him to share.

"Where is your box?" father asked.

"It is outside on the back of truck. The box you gave me was much too
small. I have ten of our employees out there ready to bring in each of
the items I have gathered."

Father walked to the window and from that distance could see his son had gathered many of his own personal possessions; a boat hitched to the back, collections of rare art, antiques and what appeared to be two uniformed guards standing next to a large box.

"What is in the box?" fathered asked.

"My wife's jewels," the son replied. "Shall I order them to bring them in?"

"No! I have seen enough," father said.

With a deep sigh and tone of sadness, he said to the last son, "What valuables do you have to share?"

The son rose to his feet and handed his father the box.

The old man looked inside and with great shock and surprise looked up at his son.

"It's empty!" father said. "Are you telling me that you have found
nothing of value in the family business?"

"To the contrary," he said. "What I found most valuable I could not
place in a box, on the back of a thousand trucks, or scribbled on the
bottom line of a ledger."

Father's face lit up as he returned to his chair.

"How does one measure the value of commitment, quality, honesty, and
trustworthiness? What size box would hold the loyalty of our employees and customers? Would the charities we supported through the years fit into the largest trucks in our fleet? How big of an auditorium would I need to gather the families of our coworkers who have benefited from our generous pay and health plan? Where would I place the local companies we
have committed to deal with so that the community we live in stays
strong?

Finally, father, the most valuable possessions I personally hold are the
love of you and mother, family values, your wisdom, compassion and love of God. Look again inside that box. They are not there. The result of all of that is here standing before you."

It was clear what decision was made that day.

There will come a time when each of us will be asked by our Father to
share what we value most.

I hope your box is empty.

Bob Perks

Bob Perks is an inspirational author and speaker.

"I Wish You Enough!"

I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright.
I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more.
I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive.
I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear much
bigger.
I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.
I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.
I wish you enough "Hello's" to get you through the final "Goodbye."

Edited by: Lawyer Asad

Where is my mind? Want to find it?

Want to Find Your Mind? Learn to Direct Your Dreams

By Jessica Hamzelou / Source: New Scientist

"Am I awake or am I dreaming?"

I ask myself for probably the hundredth time. I am fully awake, just like all the other times I asked, and to be honest I am beginning to feel a bit silly. All week I have been performing this "reality check" in the hope that it will become so ingrained in my mind that I will start asking it in my dreams too.

If I succeed, I will have a lucid dream - a thrilling state of consciousness somewhere between waking and sleeping in which, unlike conventional dreams, you are aware that you are dreaming and able to control your actions.

Once you have figured this out, the dream world is theoretically your oyster, and you can act out your fantasies to your heart's content.

Journalistic interest notwithstanding, I am pursuing lucid dreaming for entertainment. To some neuroscientists, however, the phenomenon is of profound interest, and they are using lucid dreamers to explore some of the weirder aspects of the brain's behaviour during the dream state. Their results are even shedding light on the way our brains produce our rich and complex conscious experience.

It's a central issue in the study of consciousness. In 1992, Gerald Edelman at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, proposed that there are two possible states of consciousness, which he called primary and secondary consciousness.

Primary consciousness is the simple subjective experience of sensory perception and emotions, which could be applied to most animals. It's a state of "just being, feeling, floating", according to Ursula Voss at the University of Frankfurt in Germany.

The mental life of your common or garden human, however, is a lot more complicated. That's because we are "aware of being aware". This allows us to reflect upon ourselves and our feelings and, in an ideal world, make insightful decisions and judgements. This state, dubbed secondary consciousness, is thought to be unique to humans.

"When you're awake, you have both primary and secondary consciousness. Secondary consciousness is that reflective awareness that determines a great part of waking consciousness," says Voss.

Pinning down how our brain produces these two, subjective, states of consciousness is a tough challenge, because it's difficult to isolate the different aspects of consciousness in fully awake subjects from other neural processes unrelated to awareness.

Which is where dreams come in. When we dream, we experience events (albeit imagined) and emotions but, crucially, we lack certain aspects of self-awareness that we normally feel when we are awake, particularly those involved in the rational reflection on what we are experiencing. You could easily see an outrageous event - a fluorescent pink kitten flying past on golden wings, to name but one - without batting a dream eyelid.

"If we can accept really weird and bizarre events as perfectly normal happenings, that means there's something wrong with our reflective, rational consciousness," says Patrick McNamara of Boston University.

For this reason, some researchers, like Allan Hobson at Harvard Medical School, believe that dreams are akin to Edelman's definition of primary consciousness. Comparing the dream state with the waking state could let us explore the way the brain generates the self-awareness of secondary consciousness.

Some headway had already been made in this direction by the late 1990s. In 1997, Eric Nofzinger and his colleagues at the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, compared the brain activity of awake individuals with dreamers using PET scans, which reveal how much energy parts of the brain are using.

The team identified three main regions that showed more activity during dream sleep, which is characterised by rapid eye movement (REM). The areas were along the midline of the brain, the insula and the left amygdala. Together, these regions are thought to be involved in motivation and reward mechanisms, and processing emotions, which Nofzinger reckons might explain why dreams are often so emotional.

Surprisingly, given the irrationality of the dream experience, many of the frontal areas of the brain involved in advanced cognition such as reasoning and forward planning were also active in the dreamers. But there was one notable exception: the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) was remarkably subdued in REM sleep, compared with during wakefulness. To Hobson, that strongly suggests that this particular area, above other frontal regions, is crucial for the critical reflective awareness present in waking, and therefore secondary, consciousness.

Could this one brain region alone explain our secondary consciousness? It's here that lucid dreams enter the picture. With their increased self-awareness, lucid dreams share certain aspects of secondary consciousness, so researchers are now vying to observe what happens in the brain when someone "wakes up" within their dream, and whether they exhibit any further signatures of consciousness. "It's a very interesting leap because it can show you exactly what occurs if you jump from limited consciousness to very high consciousness," says Victor Spoormaker of the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany. "This should be one of the main themes of lucid dream research."

Lucidity on demand

Voss and her colleagues made tentative steps towards using lucid dreams to study consciousness in 2009. She trained a group of students to become lucid dreamers using a number of tips and tricks.

Once they had "woken up" within their dream, the subjects were then asked to signal to Voss that they were lucid by moving their eyes in a previously agreed pattern, which was measured with an electro-oculograph. "We have no other way of knowing they're really in a lucid dream," says Voss. "It's a great effort to make these eye movements because normally you're in that dream and you're busy with other things; you don't want to communicate with the outside world." At the same time, Voss used EEG - a cap of electrodes placed on the scalp - to record their brain activity.

Unfortunately, the team only managed to capture three lucid dreams, an indication of just how tricky they are to study. But it was enough to reveal a couple of intriguing differences between the lucid and non-lucid dreaming brain that may contribute to the secondary state of consciousness.

Firstly, the team observed an increase in a specific brainwave - oscillating at 40 hertz - in the frontal regions during the lucid dreams compared to the non-lucid dreams, which tended to have slower brain waves. They also found greater synchronised activity between the frontal and parietal regions of the brain than in normal REM sleep, though less than would be expected in a fully awake subject. Importantly, the overall brain activity was still significantly different to the waking state, meaning the subjects couldn't have been awake and simply pretending to lucid dream.

What was the DLPFC up to? If it really were key to the self-awareness of secondary consciousness, you would expect it to "light up" during the lucid dreaming state. Unfortunately, EEG is not sensitive enough to measure the neural activity in such a small, specific area.

However, preliminary work by Michael Czisch at the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Munich, Germany, hints at the answer. He used high-resolution fMRI scans to investigate the brain state of lucid dreamers. Although the results are currently being peer-reviewed, so many of the details are still under wraps, Czisch has hinted that the scans again reveal highly coordinated activity in the frontal regions of the brain, and also in the parietal and temporal zones, once the dreamers became lucid. The DLPFC was also more active than in a usual REM dream - providing tantalising evidence that it really is a crucial ingredient of secondary consciousness.

The million dollar question, of course, is how these specific patterns of electrical activity could give rise to our conscious experience. The DLPFC's role certainly makes sense, given laboratory studies that have shown it retrieves and analyses information in our working memory, and that it plays a key part in decision making.
What of the other signatures of lucidity?

The coordinated neural activity may help the various brain regions communicate more effectively, "binding" together all the different thoughts and feelings being processed separately across the brain into a single unified experience, which we perceive as "the present". One might expect more binding - and therefore greater synchrony - in secondary consciousness compared with primary consciousness, simply because the experience is so much richer, combining analytical thoughts as well as sensory perceptions and emotions.

The specific frequency of much of the neural activity in the frontal areas - 40 hertz - is also significant. Slower frequency brain waves usually dominate in sleep, whereas 40 hertz waves are more characteristic of the waking state, suggesting secondary consciousness will only emerge if the relevant neurons are communicating at a fast enough rate. Hobson likens it to "turning up the volume" in the brain.

These experiments in lucid dreaming, few though they currently are, may have wide-reaching implications in clinical situations, particularly in the study of mental illness. "When you're a schizophrenic, you're in primary consciousness really," Voss claims. "What you're lacking is reflective awareness; you cannot distinguish between reality and your hallucinations."

On this basis, Voss wonders whether it might be possible to stimulate the necessary regions in schizophrenic patients to help them achieve greater lucidity in their waking life. The work might even suggest ways for healthy people to enjoy lucid dreams. "Wouldn't it be nice if you could get somebody in REM sleep to become a lucid dreamer just by stimulating his brain?" says Voss. "No one's tried this before."

Luckily for me, I have been able to make my first foray into this strange state of consciousness without any artificial stimulation. I'm happy to report that on a sunny morning over the Easter weekend, I had my first lucid dream. It lasted all of a few seconds, and I was merely able to consciously twirl on the spot, but I woke up excited and happy. With the whole dream world now open to me, let's just hope this is only the start of my lucid life.

Edited by: Lawyer Asad

Mind to Mind Connection for Influencing People!

Mind-to-Mind Connection: How to Influence People With Your Mind

By Jim Francis
Source: Real Mind Power Secrets

It has long been suspected that your right cerebral hemisphere, when in the alpha state, operates in a realm where time and space are of no consequence. What you think affects others... and what others think affects you!

It is rather like the invisible connection between the earth's magnetic field and every magnetic compass on earth. They are interconnected. If the earth's magnetic field were to suddenly shift then every compass in existence would swing in unison.

Likewise, if you suddenly move a magnetic compass, or any magnet for that matter, this movement will have a slight effect on the earth's entire magnetic field. Admittedly this would be so small as to be immeasurable but it would still be there.

Similarly, when you have a thought it "twitches" the entire human consciousness "thought field".

Rupert Sheldrake calls this the Morphogenetic Field. Karl Jung called it Collective Unconsciousness.

Jose Silva found a practical method of evoking and controlling this marvelous human ability at will.

The technique, which is amazingly simple, has been developed over the years but to this day more than 99% of the population are unaware of it.

In the United States it is used extensively in business to "sway" the outcome of a business proposition in favor of the person using Subjective Communication.

In personal life it has been used to resurrect a dying marriage, to name but one of its many applications.

And one of the most extraordinary applications is to use it to make people aware of your advertisement in the Yellow Pages!

Its effectiveness appears to vary between 20% and 500%. That is the results can be up to 500% better than they would have been without it.

If you consider two identical competitive businesses both vying for superior market share then the one that learns to use Subjective Communication will forge ahead. This has been tested and thoroughly proven.

Car dealers in the US who use this direct mental contact technique have reported a sharp improvement in sales. The usual comment is it brings customers out of the woodwork and actually closes more deals. US real estate agents use it also - it makes a vast difference in their commissions when used properly.

And it is a strange thing that most people are using it continually without being aware of it. Unfortunately they are also conveying mentally their fears and apprehensions. So it can work against them.

But used properly and with the correct protocol it can (and does) produce quite astounding results. Sometimes the results leave the practitioner somewhat startled. They almost seem too good to be true! Some beginners have had such amazing success that the result has literally left them "awe-struck!

If you decide to apply this magical mental technique to other areas of your life ...then things suddenly become much more interesting. You seem to be able to achieve anything you set out to and for some "strange" reason; even total strangers fall over backwards trying to help you.

Welcome to the world of direct mental influence... Subjective Communication!

In reality Subjective Communication is extremely easy and you do not have to have any experience whatsoever in alpha techniques, but it will help if you do. However there are simple ways to overcome this so that even a rank beginner can use Subjective Communication successfully on their first try!

Edited by: Lawyer Asad

How our brain sees the future!

How Your Brain Sees the Future!

Have scientists found proof of psi power? New studies show people can anticipate future events.

By Melissa Burkley, Ph.D. / Source: Psychology Today

In Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass, the White Queen tells Alice that in her land, "memory works both ways." Not only can the Queen remember things from the past, but she also remembers "things that happened the week after next." Alice attempts to argue with the Queen, stating "I'm sure mine only works one way... I can't remember things before they happen." The Queen replies, "It's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards."

How much better would our lives be if we could live in the White Queen's kingdom, where ours memory would work backwards and forewords? For instance, in such a world, you could take an exam and then study for it afterwards to make sure you performed well in the past. Well, the good news is that according to a recent series of scientific studies by Daryl Bem, you already live in that world!

Dr. Bem, a social psychologist at Cornell University, conducted a series of studies that will soon be published in one of the most prestigious psychology journals (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology).

Across nine experiments, Bem examined the idea that our brain has the ability to not only reflect on past experiences, but also anticipate future experiences. This ability for the brain to "see into the future" is often referred to as psi phenomena.

Although prior research has been conducted on the psi phenomena - we have all seen those movie images of people staring at Zener cards with a star or wavy lines on them - such studies often fail to meet the threshold of "scientific investigation."

However, Bem's studies are unique in that they represent standard scientific methods and rely on well-established principles in psychology. Essentially, he took effects that are considered valid and reliable in psychology - studying improves memory, priming facilitates response times - and simply reversed their chronological order.

For example, we all know that rehearsing a set of words makes them easier to recall in the future, but what if the rehearsal occurs after the recall? In one of the studies, college students were given a list of words and after reading the list, were given a surprise recall test to see how many words they remembered. Next, a computer randomly selected some of the words on the list as practice words and the participants were asked to retype them several times. The results of the study showed that the students were better at recalling the words on the surprise recall test that they were later given, at random, to practice. According to Bem, practicing the words after the test somehow allowed the participants to "reach back in time to facilitate recall."

In another study, Bem examined whether the well-known priming effect could also be reversed. In a typical priming study, people are shown a photo and they have to quickly indicate if the photo represents a negative or positive image. If the photo is of a cuddly kitten, you press the "positive" button and if the photo is of maggots on rotting meat, you press the "negative" button.

A wealth of research has examined how subliminal priming can speed up your ability to categorize these photos. Subliminal priming occurs when a word is flashed on the computer screen so quickly that your conscious brain doesn't recognize what you saw, but your nonconscious brain does. So you just see a flash, and if I asked you to tell me what you saw, you wouldn't be able to. But deep down, your nonconscious brain saw the word and processed it.

In priming studies, we consistently find that people who are primed with a word consistent with the valence of the photo will categorize it quicker. So if I quickly flash the word "happy" before the kitten picture, you will click the "positive" button even quicker, but if I instead flash the word "ugly" before it, you will take longer to respond. This is because priming you with the word "happy" gets your mind ready to see happy things.

In Bem's retroactive priming study, he simply reversed the time sequence on this effect by flashing the primed word after the person categorized the photo. So I show you the kitten picture, you pick whether it is positive or negative, and then I randomly choose to prime you with a good or bad word.

The results showed that people were quicker at categorizing photos when it was followed by a consistent prime. So not only will you categorize the kitten quicker when it is preceded by a good word, you will also categorize it quicker when it is followed by a good word. It was as if, while participants were categorizing the photo, their brain knew what word was coming next and this facilitated their decision.

These are just two examples of the studies that Bem conducted, but his other studies showed similar "retroactive" effects. The results clearly suggest that average "non-psychic" people seem to be able to anticipate future events.

One question you may be asking is how big of a difference was there? Does studying for a test after it has occurred, or priming you with a word after categorizing the photo make a dramatic change, or is it just a slight bump in performance? Essentially, these are questions of "effect size." It is true that the effect sizes in Bem's studies are small (e.g., only slightly larger than chance). However, there are several reasons why we shouldn't just disregard these results based on small, but highly consistent, effect sizes.

First, across his studies, Bem did find that certain people demonstrate stronger effects than others. In particular, people high in stimulus seeking - an aspect of extraversion where people respond more favorably to novel stimuli - showed effect sizes nearly twice the size of the average person. This suggests that some people are more sensitive to psi effects than others.

Second, small effect sizes are not that uncommon in psychology (and other sciences). For example, on average, the Bem studies showed an effect size of .20 (out of a possible range of 0-1). Although that is fairly small, it is as large as or larger than some well-established effects, including the link between aspirin and heart attack prevention, calcium intake and bone mass, second hand smoke and lung cancer, and condom use and HIV prevention (Bushman & Anderson, 2001).

And as Cohen has pointed out, such small effect sizes are most likely to occur in the early stages of exploring a topic, when scientists are just starting to discover why the effect occurs and when it is most likely to occur.

So if we accept that these psi phenomena are real, how then can we explain them without throwing out our entire understanding of time and physics? Well, the truth is that these effects are actually pretty consistent with modern physics' take on time and space. For example, Einstein believed that the mere act of observing something here could affect something there, a phenomenon he called "spooky action at a distance."

Similarly, modern quantum physics has demonstrated that light particles seem to know what lies ahead of them and will adjust their behavior accordingly, even though the future event hasn't occurred yet. For example, in the classic "double slit experiment," physicists discovered that light particles respond differently when they are observed [for a simple explanation of this experiment, see this video].

But in 1999, researchers pushed this experiment to the limits by asking "what if the observation occurred after the light particles were deployed." Surprisingly, they found the particles acted the same way, as if they knew they were going to be observed in the future even though it hadn't happened yet.

Such trippy time effects seem to contradict common sense and trying to make sense of them may give the average person a headache, but physicists have just had to accept it. As Dr. Chiao, a physicist from Berkeley once said about quantum mechanics, "It's completely counterintuitive and outside our everyday experience, but we (physicists) have kind of gotten used to it."

So although humans perceive time as linear, it doesn't necessarily mean it is so. And as good scientists, we shouldn't let out preconceived beliefs and biases influence what we study, even if these preconceived beliefs reflect our basic assumptions about how time and space work.

Dr. Bem's work is thought provoking, and like good cutting-edge science is supposed to do, it offers more questions than answers. If we suspend our beliefs about time and accept that the brain is capable of reaching into the future, the next question becomes "how does it do this?" Just because the effect seems "supernatural" doesn't necessarily mean the cause is. Many scientific discoveries were once considered outlandish and more suited to science fiction (e.g., the earth being round, microscopic organisms). Future research is greatly needed to explore the exact reasons for these studies' effects

Like many novel explorations in science, Bem's findings may have a profound effect on what we know and have come to accept as true. But for some of you, perhaps these effects are not such a big surprise, because somewhere deep down inside, you already knew you would be reading about them today!

Edited by: Lawyer Asad

Control Your Thoughts & Create Your Life!

Control Your Thoughts & Create Your Life!

By Nelson Berry
Creator of Subliminal Video Messages

You know that YOU are the creator of all the occurs in all of your life experience, right?

You create your physical life experience through your thoughts. Literally, every thought that you think gives birth to a creation. EVERY thought has creative power.

The subconscious accepts whatever you pretend is real and will use it to create your outer reality.

The thoughts that you think, regarding those things that you want, set into motion the creation, and eventual fulfillment of that which you want. And likewise, the thoughts that you think, regarding those things that you do not want, set into motion the creation, and eventual fulfillment of that which you do NOT want.

Creative visualization is the technique of using your imagination to create what you want in your life. There is nothing at all new, strange or unusual about creative visualization. You are already using it every day, every minute in fact. It is your natural power of imagination, the basic creative energy of the universe which you use constantly, whether or not you are aware of it.

Spend time thinking of what you want rather than what you don't want and test it. Be careful of this, my friends, because if you envision something quite casually and do it with conviction, even though you may not be sure you want it, it will manifest.

This is neither magic, nor false hope. It is the reality of the power of your subconscious mind. This is why it is so important to develop self-awareness to the depths of your ability so that no creation can come about in your life without your having made the choice.

The world of images is the source of power in your physical world. Imagining what you want is like creating a model before you build the real thing. The images direct the energy in your body.

You have designed your life yourself. You have created nothing in your outer reality that is a stranger to you. There is comfort to be had by looking at your "outer circumstances" and realize that this is a perfect reflection of what you truly believe as a soul.

With each breath, with each pulsation of energy, you send out this essence of yourself, which mingles with other essences and creates and re-creates your physical environment. Feel yourself centered within and sending out waves of your energy. See it radiation outward from your physical being and into the environment, where it becomes an extension of yourself.

Realize that the objects you perceive "out there" are the materialization of your thoughts, formed by YOUR energy into symbols of the inner you, your essence, your soul.

You are the creator of everything in your life. Nothing happens that you have not called to you. The inner desire of the wise and conscious soul is to externalize, to create a tangible manifestation of what it internally holds to be true and thereby experience that belief. It is through that experience that the transformation occurs.

Your life is not your master, it is your child. Every moment of your life is infinitely creative and the universe is endlessly bountiful. Just put forth a clear enough request and everything your heart desires must come to you.

Emotions help you create reality. When you believe in something, love, desire, and want it, you can create it more quickly. If there is anything you want to become aware of, focus upon it. Whatever you turn your attention to, you will create.

Life is really very simple. What we give out, we get back. You create creation with the thoughts that you think.

Beliefs generate thoughts and emotions, which create your inner experience and outer reality. If any area of your life is not working, one of your beliefs in that area needs to be changed.

You CAN control your thoughts and create with deliberate intent.

Go get it!

Edited by: Lawyer Asad

End of world? No postponed again!

The End of the World. Postponed Again.

It's a good news/bad news situation for believers in the 2012 Mayan apocalypse. The good news is that the Mayan "Long Count" calendar may not end on Dec. 21, 2012 (and, by extension, the world may not end along with it).

The bad news for prophecy believers? If the calendar doesn't end in December 2012, no one knows when it actually will - or if it has already.

A new critique, published as a chapter in the new textbook Calendars and Years II: Astronomy and Time in the Ancient and Medieval World (Oxbow Books, 2010), argues that the accepted conversions of dates from Mayan to the modern calendar may be off by as much as 50 or 100 years.

That would throw the supposed and overhyped 2012 apocalypse off by decades and cast into doubt the dates of historical Mayan events. (The doomsday worries are based on the fact that the Mayan calendar ends in 2012, much as our year ends on Dec. 31.)

The Mayan calendar was converted to today's Gregorian calendar using a calculation called the GMT constant, named for the last initials of three early Mayanist researchers. Much of the work emphasized dates recovered from colonial documents that were written in the Mayan language in the Latin alphabet, according to the chapter's author, Gerardo Aldana, University of California, Santa Barbara professor of Chicana and Chicano Studies.

Later, the GMT constant was bolstered by American linguist and anthropologist Floyd Lounsbury, who used data in the Dresden Codex Venus Table, a Mayan calendar and almanac that charts dates relative to the movements of Venus.

"He took the position that his work removed the last obstacle to fully accepting the GMT constant," Aldana said in a statement. "Others took his work even further, suggesting that he had proven the GMT constant to be correct."

But according to Aldana, Lounsbury's evidence is far from irrefutable.

"If the Venus Table cannot be used to prove the FMT as Lounsbury suggests, its acceptance depends on the reliability of the corroborating data," he said. That historical data, he said, is less reliable than the Table itself, causing the argument for the GMT constant to fall "like a stack of cards."

Aldana doesn't have any answers as to what the correct calendar conversion might be, preferring to focus on why the current interpretation may be wrong. Looks like end-of-the-world theorists may need to find another ancient calendar on which to pin their apocalyptic hopes.

Source: Yahoo News

Cool Marriage Jokes

Marriage, as viewed by both men and women, has been a subject for much jokes. Though behind these funny sayings some truths and morals are imbedded.
Here're a collection of those rib tickling innuendoes to make you laugh.
Please read on and enjoy.

Man: Is there any way for long life?
Dr: Get married.
Man: Will it help?
Dr: No, but the thought of long life will never
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Why do couples hold hands during their wedding?
It's a formality just like two boxers shaking hands before the fight begins!
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Wife: Darling today is our anniversary, what should we do?
Husband: Let us stand in silence for 2
minutes.
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It's funny when people discuss Love Marriage vs Arranged.
It's like asking someone, if suicide is better or being murdered.
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It is difficult to understand GOD. He makes such beautiful things as women
and then he turns them into Wives.
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If u r married please ignore this
MSG,
For everyone else: Happy Independence Day
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Before marriage, a man will lie awake all night thinking about something you say.
After marriage, he'll fall asleep before you finish.
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There's a way of transferring funds that is even faster than electronic
banking. It's called marriage.
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Girlfriends r like chocolates,
Taste good anytime.
Lovers r like PIZZAS, Hot n spicy, eaten frequently.
Husbands r like Dal RICE, eaten when there's no choice.
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Man receives telegram: Wife dead-should be buried or cremated?
Man: Don't take any chances. Burn the body and bury the ash.
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Prospective husband: Do you have a book called 'Man, The Master of Women'?
Salesgirl: The fiction department is on the other side, sir.
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Q: Why dogs don't marry?
A: Because they are already leading a dog's life!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There was this guy who told his woman that he loved her so much that he would go through hell for her. They got married and now he is going thru hell.
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Fact of life: One woman brings you into this world crying & the other
ensures you continue to do so for the rest of your life!
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Q: Why doesn't law permit a man to marry a second woman?
A: Because as per law you cannot be punished twice for the same offence!

When a man steals your wife, there is no better revenge than to let him
keep her.
Lee Majors

After marriage, husband and wife become two sides of a coin; they just can't face each other, but still they stay together.
Al Gore
By all means marry. If you get a good wife, you'll be happy. If you get a
bad one, you'll become a philosopher.
Socrates
Woman inspires us to great things, and prevents us from achieving them.
Mike Tyson
The great question... Which I have not been able to answer... Is, "What does a woman want?
George Clooney
I had some words with my wife, and she had some paragraphs with me.
Bill Clinton
"Some people ask the secret of our long marriage. We take time to go to a restaurant two times a week. A little candlelight, dinner, soft music and dancing. She goes Tuesdays, I go Fridays."
George W. Bush
"I don't worry about terrorism. I was married for two years."
Rudy Giuliani

"There's a way of transferring funds that is even faster than electronic
banking. It's called marriage."
Michae Jordan

"I've had bad luck with all my wives. The first one left me and the second
one didn't." The third gave me more children!
Donald Trump
Two secrets to keep your marriage brimming
1. Whenever you're wrong, admit it,
2. Whenever you're right, shut up.
Shaquille O'Neal
The most effective way to remember your wife's birthday is to forget it
once...
Kobe Bryant
You know what I did before I married? Anything wanted to.
David Hasselhoff
My wife and I were happy for twenty years. Then we met.
Alec Baldwin
A good wife always forgives her husband when she's wrong.
Barack Obama
Marriage is the only war where one sleeps with the enemy.
Tommy Lee

A man inserted an 'ad' in the classifieds: "Wife wanted". Next day he
received a hundred letters. They all said the same thing: "You can have
mine."
Brad Pitt
First Guy (proudly): "M wife's an angel!"
Second Guy: "You're lucky, mine's still alive."
Jimmy Kimmel

"Honey, what happened to 'ladies first'?" Husband replies, "That's the
reason why the world's a mess today, because a lady went first!"
David Letterman
"First there's the promise ring, then the engagement ring, then the wedding ring...soon after....comes Suffer...ing!
Jay Leno

The Law of Cycles: Understanding it can let you work miracles!

This is the First Part of the Law of Cycles, which deals with our life's circles. In the Second Part the Law of Cycles for business will be enumerated.

Everything in the world is subject to cyclic law. The earth revolves on its axis every twenty-four hours, creating day and night. It travels around the Sun every 365 and one-fourth days, resulting in the changing of seasons. Seeds sprout into trees, grow large, then wither and die. Similarly with human beings and all other forms of life. No one knows why this is so, yet we all know it happens. We human beings have our cycles, but unlike the earth and the trees and the seasons, we can control, to a large extent, the course of our existence. We need no longer be slaves to the whims of fate. Of all living things, man alone is unique in being able to think and act freely. Unfortunately, the majority of us voluntarily choose to act as the pawns of fate, rather than taking an active hand in our own affairs. It is within all of us to become the leaders of our fate, the master of our own destiny. By understanding the law of cycles, we can "swim through the current" rather than fight against it.

As said earlier, everything in the world has a cycle of existence entirely its own. Just as our lives are divided into periods of seven years, so each year of our lives is made up of seven periods. Each period comprises of approximately fifty-two days. The first period commences from the date of your birthday. Each one of these periods has its own characteristics, offering you different possibilities, opportunities that can be availed of, or problems that can be solved.

Given below are the characteristics of the seven periods that make up your personal life cycle. Here is the technique to work out your life cycle.

Get a calendar and starting with your birthday, count off 52 days. Thus, if you're born on October 15, your first cycle will end of December 6 of the same year. Circle both these dates. In the same way, work out the chart for the entire year. It will tell you at a glance in what period you are.

Here is the characteristics of each of the seven periods:

Life Cycle, First Period:

A period of opportunity. It is the best time to advance your interests with others who may have power and influence to help you. This is the time to ask favours, to seek employment or loans or business concessions, to form partnerships or to make investments. This is also the best time to advance yourself or to build up your credit standing or your reputation. This is the best time to push yourself forward with determination so far as your name, integrity and honour are concerned.

Life Cycle, Second Period:

The Second Period is distinctly different. Its the best time to plan short journeys or trips of immediate importance. Its an excellent time for moving about, if necessary. It is a period propitious for changes that can be started and finished within the period itself. In a business way, it is a good period for movable things such as freight, cargoes, automobiles, train, public conveyance or even lectures and performances which may move from place to place. It also presents excellent opportunities for those dealing with liquids, milk, water, chemicals, gasoline, oil and such other products. This is also a good period for people associated with hotels, restaurants, car rentals and other similar services. One, however, should not, plan a change of business or start a new career or make any permanent change during this period. Long term contracts and other agreements should not be entered into. It is an unfavorable period to borrow or lend money, to start the construction of a building or to enter into any project requiring a substantial investment. It is also an unfavorable period to speculate in the stock market or to gamble in any form.

Life Cycle, Third Period:

This period requires that you exercise discrimination and good judgment. It usually brings a great inflow of energy which makes you want to do great and important things. If directed carefully, this can be the best time of year to improve your health or to build up your business or to do anything that requires the expenditure of energy. However, good judgment is needed. You will be tempted to undertake projects which have no possibility of success or which may take so long to develop that you'll have to abandon them before completion. But this a great time to overcome obstacles that have blocked progress in the past. It is a good time for dealing with things that require energy such as iron and steel, electrical machinery, cutlery, sharp instruments and fire. It is also a particularly good period to oppose competitors or deal with enemies who have previously been obstacles in your path. It is an unfavorable period for both men and women to try and deal with women. But, on the other hand, it is an excellent period for women to appeal to men when desiring favours or help in business or social matters. Arguments and troubles should be avoided. But if you've something to sell that can be sold in one forceful interview, then this is the best period.

Life Cycle, Fourth Period:

In this period, the mental and spiritual nature is stimulated. It is an excellent period for writing books, producing plays, making plans for all matters requiring imagination and quick thinking and the ability to express your thoughts lucidly. Your mind will be filled with new ideas which will come very rapidly, so it is imperative that you grasp them quickly before they are forgotten or pushed aside by new thoughts. You'll be optimistic in this period, but somewhat nervous and restless. This is to be expected since your imagination will be highly charged. It is a good period to deal with literary people, writers, journalists, book or magazine publishers. But be careful to read all legal documents very carefully because deception is possible. Most great losses through robbery or deception or misunderstood legal situation occur in this period and you should take precautions to protect yourself. However, it is a good time for study and for gaining information and knowledge. But it is not favourable for marriages, hiring help or buying homes, business and land.

Life Cycle, Fifth Period:

This is the period in which it is possible for you to achieve your greatest success in your personal affairs. This is the time in your yearly cycle when your interests will expand and your prosperity will increase. Your mind will, likewise, become a more effective instrument, sharper and clearer, and you will become more open in your relations with others, move with more confidence and sympathy. This is the best period for dealing with the law, with lawyers, judges, the courts, government officials, prominent professional men and people of wealth. It is also a good period to begin new ventures that may take time to grow, to plan large business negotiations or to undertake long journeys. It is particularly good for collecting money due or for speculations in stock or real estate, but be sure to avoid every negotiation that is not strictly legitimate. Also avoid any dealings in cattle or meat products or with marine affairs.

Life Cycle, Sixth Period:

This is the best time in your yearly cycle for rest, relaxation and amusement. This doesn't mean that business will not prosper. On the contrary, all good and legitimate business will continue with almost as much success as in the last period. Now is the time to make long or short trips for business matters that touch upon art, music, literature, sculpture, perfumes, flowers and personal adornments. It is a fortunate period for a man to seek preferment or favours or business agreement or co-operation from a woman, (just as the third period is better for women to obtain such favours from men). It is the best period to buy stocks or bonds for investment and to employ people.

Life Cycle, Seventh Period:

This is the most critical period in your yearly cycle. During these last fifty two days the elements in your life that are no longer needed gradually make way for those which are newer and better. Often this will cause distress and a sense of loss and may tempt you to foolish actions and decisions. Remember, it is a period of seeming devolution which always preceeds a period of evolution and new opportunity
Take advantage of the momentum in this period to rid yourself of the old and unwanted, but be sure to exercise good judgment. If there has been something that seems about to end, let it do so. But do not deliberately break ties or destroy relationships that are still alive and valuable. For the reasons mentioned, your mind is likely to become despondent and you'll be easily discouraged. Remember you're being influenced by the quality of this period. Do not permit pessimism to wrap your judgment or inhibit your decisions. The qualities of this period exert very subtle influences and it is necessary that you be much more alert than normally in appraising your feelings and your reactions to external influences. In the Fourth Period, it is advisable to seize immediately upon your ideas and make quick decisions. Now the reverse is true. Impulsiveness will bring disaster. Be careful in all judgments and try to postpone every major decision until the next period. Howeverm this is a good period for dealing with older people and those who, by their very nature, must consider every action most carefully. It is also an excellent time for inventing things or for dealing in inventions or for applying for patents and copyrights. In this period you'll have success in dealing in real estate, mines, minerals and all other things that find their source in the earth or in hidden place. On the other hand, it is definitely the least favourable time of the year to start anything new or launch a new business or to make expenditures in old one.

These are your personal life cycles
To a certain degree the influences of each period will overlap the periods before and after it. It is advisable, therefore, to be careful in all judgments and actions on the last two and the first two days of each period.

If you would like some proof as to the reliability of the above cycles, simply find out the dates of your seventh cycle (i.e. your last cycle). Then check back over the last ten or fifteen years. It is certain that your worst frustrations, disappointments and trials happened during these two dates. Go ahead. Try it. The informations given above has been arrived at after a thorough study of cycles extending over many hundreds of years.
It is all true, so true that many people call it miraculous.

The Law of Cycles: The Governing Factor Behind Your Business is to be posted soon.

Lawyer Asad

How to Direct the Power of Your Magnetic Thoughts

How to Direct the Power of Your Magnetic Thoughts

By Asara Lovejoy / Excerpt from The One Command

If you have meditated or practiced regular prayer, or any kind of contemplation, then you know that you have the capacity to quiet your ordinary, rapid beta mind to a lower cycle, such as theta. If you have never formally thought to quiet your mind, realize that when you daydream or are in deep thought, you are accomplishing the same thing.

We generate an electro-magnetic field of attraction or repulsion with our thoughts through the release, from our endocrine system, of hormones and chemicals known as peptides. We generate electro-magnetic charges with our thoughts that either attract to us or repel from us our experiences.

Our thoughts travel through positive/negative receptors in every cell of our body and fire sequences in the neuro-net passages of our brain. These micro-electrical charges formed by our thinking are real. They influence our reality by magnetically attracting experiences of like kind to us in either a positive or negative manner, or by repelling experiences from us. Our unconscious thoughts that operate below our conscious awareness hold great power over our lives as they are firing the peptide messengers that unconsciously drive our choices.

When we desire to be masters and we haven't achieved it yet, there is a separation between the unconscious thoughts that are driving our choices, and the conscious thoughts of our desire.

When we understand that every thought we think operates within us, below our awareness every moment, expressing out into the world and attracting information of like kind through the energy of our electromagnetic thinking, then we understand how we are creating our lives.

Ordinary Thinking

It is important to note that we go in and out of many combinations of brain waves moment by moment, yet we can become more focused in one brain wave than another at will, even as we unconsciously operate in many frequencies daily.

The most frequently accessed brain wave, beta, that we use when we are talking and thinking, is where we also run endless programs of fear and doubt and limitation.

In the slower brain frequency of theta, we can control our thoughts, and access that great capacity of who we are. When we are in this state, we can manifest all of our good instantly. It is often unfamiliar when you connect to that wonderful part of you that is allowing, loving, supportive, and has only your best interests at heart, yet you can become easily addicted to accomplishing what you want and realizing your dreams by learning this state of you.

Your mind cannot hold two thoughts at the same time. As you begin to concentrate in another way on manifesting money, prosperity, compassion, and joy, your old way of thinking simply dissolves through lack of use. If you relax and train yourself to be open, with grace and ease, to another possibility of prosperity, then that is what you will create.

Extraordinary Thinking

As our wants and desires regulate our thinking through our feelings (micro-electrical charges), our emotional thinking can Command information from the Source of who we are in theta to manifest that in our human experience.

What you are learning now is conscious access to your theta state of extraordinary thinking. You are embarking on a journey to attain other levels of consciousness within you by consciously slowing your mind to theta. This process can become as easy and automatic as waking up in the morning and going to sleep at night.

The theta brain wave is the vessel of change from your ordinary, beta-thinking, worried state to your peaceful, theta, God Mind, and the path to your immeasurable good.

By going into theta consciously, you become the master of wealth you desire to become. It is that simple.

When we talk about the four brain waves -- beta, alpha, theta, and delta -- it is important to note that all brain waves are active in some capacity at all times. With very little practice in lowering your brain wave to the theta state and going to Source, you can investigate the many dimensions of who you are. Your greater capacity exists in such subtle energy of self that you can only know it in this relaxed theta state.

A great benefit of thinking in theta connected to Source is that you de-link from the limiting and fearful thoughts held in your subconscious mind and attract a greater, richly abundant truth without resistance, seemingly by magic.

Success Story

A wealthy businessman started to practice The One Command to reduce his anxiety and stress. His wealth had not brought him peace of mind or a sense of satisfaction. He had to be active all the time, going from one project to another to even like himself. Soon after he began lowering his brain to theta and issuing The One Command, he called me with good news.

"I am having the best sleep I have ever had in my life, he exclaimed, and my family is much happier with me. We are going on a family vacation -- an unusual event -- and I am actually looking forward to taking the time off."

In addition, he reported that through the use of The One Command, a very difficult business transaction worth over $10 million dollars had closed. "I don't think anyone would believe me," he said, "if I told them I had Commanded this deal to come through."

Edited by: Lawyer Asad

Dream Programming can cure your Mind & Body!

How to Cure Your Mind and Body with Dream Programming

Source: Real Mind Power Secrets

The mind does not make an appearance within physical reality, but the brain is based in physical reality. Our dreams occupy the same space as the mind -- that is, no space at all.

The images that appear in dreams appear as "forms" in other realities and they are not restricted by our physical reality rules of time, space and growth. They involve the materialization of spontaneous constructions which would normally not occur in our physical world.

Dreams are a continuous flowing process which run continuously in the wide awake and the dream states.

While we are in the wide awake state they run subconsciously. The materializations we create in our dreams have no mass in our physical reality but may have the equivalent of mass in other realities.

In the dream state the personality is molded and changed via actions that do not exist in the physical universe. These dream based subjective events eventually manipulate physical matter and events for the individual concerned, depending upon how they have consciously or subconsciously programmed their dreams.

One persons dream affects another's and that person is in turn affected by the neighbor's dreams.

In many cases dreams (in slightly different formats) are shared by two or more people and in some cases close-knit communities have shared mass dreams.

We have "mass" dreams that occur just above the level relating to the collective unconscious. If we are able to tune in to these dreams (and some individuals can) we would gain an impression of what our society is collectively dreaming -- which would then give us an indication of future events, as our dreams format our future, both individually and collectively.

Sometimes these collective dreams contain enough power to significantly alter the future, for better or for worse. It is interesting to note that the dreams of one very powerful individual can affect the dreams of thousands of other people and this type of individual is capable of becoming a leader or "Guru".

They generally become known in the dream state first and are recognized in the physical world later.

Through very intense emotional focus you can create a form then project it to another person who may then perceive it. This may be done consciously or unconsciously. The presence of this form can now be detected by sensitive scientific instruments.

During the dreaming state your awareness is focused in another reality that is in every way as permanent and valid as the physical reality universe. During sleep only a small amount of your energy is focused in the physical field, enough to maintain the bodily functions only.

The dream universe is also composed of a molecular structure, but takes up no space as we know it. It is continuous but your awareness of it is normally limited to your sleep/dreaming periods.

The events in the dream reality are as meaningful as the events in your physical world and indeed are interrelated. One affects the other and vice versa. This is why it is possible (and extremely easy) to program up dreams which have an almost immediate effect in your physical universe.

One of the easiest and most effective types of dream that you can pre-program relates to your physical health. Sometimes a correctly programmed dream can cause almost miraculous improvements to your health in as little as 12 hours.

Edited by: Lawyer Asad