Thursday, November 6, 2008

These Shoes Are Too Tight!

These Shoes Are Too Tight!

Sometimes when we are at the window looking into someone else’s life, it’s easy to pass judgment based on what we see at that particular moment. I’ve always been told to believe none of what I hear and only half of what I see and frankly, I think maybe half is too much. I say this because for a long time, I was the person standing at the window looking in-passing judgment on other people simply because they looked or behaved a certain way.

At the age of nineteen, I was carefree and single. I had been in one relationship that was basically puppy love. I was happy go lucky, and very self-righteous. I couldn’t understand how a young lady could find herself pregnant without a husband and I was very vocal about it. Guess what happened to my self-righteous behind? In a span of 5 years I fell in love two times and became a single mother not one or two times, but three. And to add insult to injury, my children were fathered by different men.

Taking a short journey in someone else’s shoes is one of the most surefire ways for me to stay balanced and honest. I’ve stepped into a dancer’s shoes when I was tempted to judge her –not knowing she had children to feed. I’ve stepped into a disabled person’s shoes more often than I can remember [Read more]

Twenty-Eight Hours

Have you ever spent twenty-eight hours with somebody and it felt like one minute? Twenty-eight hours in which the conversation never ceased to stop? Twenty-eight hours in which the excitement kept building and where the connection kept getting stronger as each minute passed?

Life is a gift. It’s time all of you started accepting the gift of life, because when you do what will happen is that you will actually start to meet people who are going to blow you away. When you’re open and you’re being honest, that is when you’re going to find someone who is also open and honest and then life is just going to seem to mesh.

You will be on the same page with this person about everything you think and feel. It’s amazing when you spend twenty-eight hours with somebody, and when they leave all you want to do is start another twenty-eight hours with them all over again. You don’t want that person to leave. You just want them to stay [Read more]

One Real Change Beats a Thousand Daydreams

Successful change requires taking action, handling the problem in a different way than you have in the past. Thinking about it, wishing, daydreaming, repeating old behaviors, none of that works. Only an actual change in your behavior will move you in a new direction to fix the problem.

But if you’re like most of us, much as you may want to change, when the time comes to actually do things differently, negative feelings get in the way. Everybody wants to feel ready to change before they get going. “As soon as I lose 20 pounds, I’ll try to find a guy.” “When I don’t feel so depressed, I’m definitely going to look for a job.

”Or sometimes when people’s feelings resist change, they decide change is totally impossible for them. “It’s my nature to be shy. There’s nothing I can do about that.” “It would make me too nervous to give up cigarettes.” “AA can’t help. My father was alcoholic and so was my grandfather. It’s genetic.

”Wanting to feel ready to change before taking action is exactly backwards. As a clinical psychologist who has spent many years helping people successfully change, I know that if you wait to feel ready to make your move, you could wait forever. But the good news is, with the right roadmap, it’s perfectly possible to move yourself forward without feeling ready. We don’t like to go against our own feelings, but in the situations I’m talking about, it isn’t dangerous to do so, just uncomfortable. And there are techniques you can learn to handle that discomfort and move forward anyway [Read more]

Will Shopping Save the Economy

Shopping is our real national pastime, but it comes, as he warns, at a price that is not advertised in the malls:

The idyllic wonderland of consumer credit too often belies a reality of unknown sacrifices and enduring debt… the credit card industry is playing a crucial role in transforming American consumer attitudes. The promotion of “immediate gratification” ruptures the cognitive connection between earnings/saving and credit/debt that has traditionally shaped consumer behavior. It is this “cognitive disconnect,” with its siren song “Buy, buy, buy. It could be free, free, free” that constitutes the cornerstone of the Credit Card Nation.

And so it is not surprising that holidays are used or created as national events to spur consumption. They have become rituals of shopping. None is as important as the first day after Thanksgiving, itself a day set aside for overindulgence at the kitchen table. That day now has a name, Black Friday, so called because it is supposed to be the day when the whole retail sector goes into the black financially. (This may not have been such a wise use of language since the Wall Street crash of l929, ushering in the Great Depression, started on a “Black Thursday.”) [Read more]

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Dating Other Women

How to Save Marriage by Talking to and Dating Other Women

Sooner or later your wife is going to be looking for a new man. A guy who is confident and self assured. Someone who is capable of living his own life while protecting her at the same time. You can be this guy if you want to be and one of the ways you can help yourself to turn into the man she wants is to start dating other women. You won't get your wife back just because you've been out on dates but it will give your confidence a boost that your ex is bound to notice.

Pleading with your wife to change her mind about the breakup is not going to work. This is what most guys do in this situation because it's what all your instincts are telling you that you should do. This is why most men fail to save their marriages. All you will succeed in doing is push your wife further away and make things even worse than they were before.

It's hard at first. I know because I've been there. You've probably forgotten how to talk to women and you may be a little frightened by the thought of it. Well you have to get over that. Force yourself to take the plunge and just say something to a woman. Anything - it doesn't matter much what you say, the point is just give it a go [Read more]

Parking Spaces As Real Estate Investments

So how much does a deeded parking space cost? It depends on where you are located. In New York, it's possible to pay more than $175,000 for a prime parking spot. In Chicago, deeded parking spaces run anywhere from $20,000 to $65,000 or more in some of the trendy new construction high-rises or downtown locations.

According to Parkingsearch, the value of parking spaces has increased by quite a bit over the past few years. Their research finds that in Chicago the average parking space sold for $28,000. By 2006 that increased to $30,000 and last year in 2007 it was about $33,000. With a fixed rate loan of 6 percent there is definitely a profit to be made. It may be a bit if a challenge to find a bank to loan you the money, but it is certainly doable. You monthly payment should be in the range of $200 and the going rate for renting a parking space in prime spots can be as much as $300 to $500.You need to keep in mind that you'll have a few fees associated with owning a parking space. It isn't all profit. While you won't have much upkeep on the spot, you will probably have to pay a maintenance fee to the building or condo association. A deed must be obtained, liability insurance is a good idea and yearly taxes must be paid [Read more]

Currency Controls Coming to the U.S.?

Exactly what is a digital blip worth? For that matter consider that the paper dollars in your pocket are backed by nothing more than digital blips.

Washington backs those dollars and blips with nothing more than the promise of "I owe you nothing". If you walked into the U.S. treasury and asked to exchange your dollars you would be met by blank stares. After all, it's been a few decades since anyone even pretended that a U.S. dollar had any real value.That brings us to the problem. With the world's supply of U.S. dollars greatly enlarged we will soon see more dollars chasing the same amount of goods and services. Actually, in a recession/depression there will be a diminished supply of goods and services. That means the increased supply of dollars will be vying for fewer goods and service.

You don't need to be a Stanford economist to know that your government is lighting the fuse to an inflationary explosion. The result will be that every one of your dollars will be worth less… and less… and less. It's the time honored way governments rob from their citizens to pay for politicians misguided financial policies [Read more]

Should Your Teen Get a Job?

The legal age for employment is, indeed, fourteen, although there are certain state regulations, such as not being allowed to work between the hours of 9:00 PM and 7:00 AM. And being employed in hazardous or unsafe working conditions. No problem, there!

But regardless of the fact that the law allows my son to be employed, is he truly ready to hold down a job? Maybe you’ve wondered the same thing. Here are a few things to consider before chauffeuring your teenager around town to fill out those applications.Is my child responsible? The term, “responsible” is most definitely subjective. You might consider you son or daughter responsible if they keep their room clean. Other parents might overlook the messy room but see their child as responsible if he or she turns in their homework on time.

Does my child get along with others? Of course, we’re not only talking about siblings, although if they get along well with their brother or sister, you are in the minority and have reason to rejoice! The more important question to ask is how your child gets along with friends, as well as the parents of those friends. Being comfortable around adults and being able to communicate well with them is a sign that your child may be ready for this step towards their own adulthood [Read more]