Feeling disempowered?

Being an Empowered Woman means it's OKAY to feel bad! We can feel anger, sad, upset, hurt, betrayed, and even alone. While you probably know this already...can you honestly tell me you don't feel guilt, worry or fear when these "bad" feelings pop up every now and then?!

Well, I did!

Women (myself included) have this awful ability to take the martyr's role, that we have to feel chipper, sweet, kind-hearted, blah, blah, blah..."No one can see me like this" baloney!

Take away the guilt, and allow yourself to be a woman...one with needs, such as having realistic expectations, wanting happiness, trying to live a calm and sane life, and wanting a life filled with joy and appreciation by your loved ones.

Don't put everyone's feelings ahead of yourself so that you don't allow yourself to feel 'poopy' once in awhile.

While this may sound crazy...I don't think I felt "scared" before until after my accident. I actually wasn't scared of possibly facing death, nor my therapy...I was scared during the 7 weeks of medical tests to figure out what we're going to do with my dangling cerebral tonsil.

If you don't know, Arnold Chiari Malformation (ACM), the brain disorder I was diagnosed with after the accident, is a condition where a part of my brain is falling out of my skull into my spinal cord. Truly disgusting and scary stuff...no doubt.

None of that scared me...not even my claustrophobic-ridden MRI tests specifically for ACM patients. Ever hear the horror stories of getting a MRI? Well...mine is worse. I actually have to put on a head gear and a bite plate to keep me more still...as if there's anywhere I can run to if I started to freak out.

Anyways, I actually said the words to my husband one night after I said the night's prayers with my girls, "I'm scared". "Of what?" he asked.

My reply, "I do not know. Not the tests. Not surgery. Not my odds against me...maybe it's the reality that I will not always be here to be a mom for our girls...or your wife raising them. Maybe...I'm angry at myself, because I'm letting life control me, and I'm wasting this precious time...right now...that I have with you...maybe you and all who love me (family, friends, and My Power Network) are right. It's time for Ponn!"

As I recall this conversation, I'm crying and sniffing at the computer. My husband is watching me right now as it's early morning and the girls aren't up yet. He just asked, "What's wrong!?".

My reply, "I'm just happy to be here." With one big wipe of my nose, I caught a glance, and now I feel ready to start my day with my family.

By the way, in addition to writing as a form of therapy, I'm a big crybaby. I've always been and always will be.

I cry for happy stuff, beautiful stuff, but never the bad stuff. So the next time I'm bad or sad, I promise to be empowered enough to let my guard down and cry.

Be empowered enough to be human!

It is all about feeling good

Every day around the world, millions of people face health problems of some kind or the other. It can be asthma, lungs problems, diabetes, and any minor or major health issues. “Health is Wealth”, and it order to maintain a decent living and a healthy life, one has to find the right means of Every day around the world, millions of people face health problems of some kind or the other. It can be asthma, lungs problems, diabetes, and any minor or major health issues. “Health is Wealth”, and it order to maintain a decent living and a healthy life, one has to find the right means of healthcare services.

There are many forms of healthcare services to help people cure health problems; however, one should have access to able health care services provider for regular check-ups in order to lead a healthy life.

Over the years, health and fitness centers have become a regular and popular routine for people across the globe. Yet, even these seemingly healthy environments can be a breeding ground for endless germs, illnesses and infections.

“Prevention is always better than cure” and it’s always advisable to latch on to a few preventive facilities available near your home or in your city. Whenever you suffer from acid reflux you should eat the right food for acid reflux. The formula is quite simple - eat the right kind of food to live healthy and feel great.

Indigestion is another common health problem faced by the multitude on this planet. Whenever you get stomachache or feel uneasy after a sumptuous lunch or dinner, don’t go for a painkiller instantly; instead consult a physician for proper advice and care.

Diabetic patients should go for regular checkups. It is not impossible to speed up your metabolism, that characteristic of your body that burns calories. There are innumerable ways and methods to burn that extra fat and slim down, but, always consult a doctor before resorting to artificial techniques.

Would you not like to wake up refreshed, rejuvenated, and full of energy every single day? Won't it be nice if you could eat and drink whatever you wanted, stop working out in the gym and still fit in your skinny jeans? We provide the answer for excellent healthcare services in India.

Disclaimer: This article is solely intended for the purpose of creating health awareness amongst the readers and doesn’t suggest any remedy to your health problems. Always consult the physician for health related issues.

Overcoming difficulties of life

Life can at times appear beset with difficulties, how best to overcome them?

1. Do not Blame Others.

Man's instinct is often to blame our problems on others. Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed somebody else; but by blaming others we do not help, even an iota, in solving our own problems. Often when we blame others we actually seek to avoid the problem, and pass it on to somebody else. Even if others are partly to blame, we need to look at what we can do to help the situation.

2. Accept difficulties as a challenge.

Part of the problem is that often we feel that difficulties are a burden we need to avoid at all cost. If we accept difficulties, as challenges that we can learn from, then they lose a significant power. When we cheerfully face up to our problems, we develop the right attitude to be able to deal with them.

3. Meditation.

Meditation can definitely help us to deal with outer problems and difficulties. Meditation is the art of silencing the mind. With a silent mind we are able to have clarity of thought and purpose; this is essential for being able to solve our difficulties. Also, the mind often exaggerates the extent and seriousness of our problems; in fact quite often our difficulties can be just imagined worries and anxieties. Through meditation we are able to dive deep within and bring to the fore our inner peace. This inner peace is of great help in keeping our difficulties in perspective.

4. Prayer.

When we pray we invoke the grace of a higher prayer. In prayer we seek to have our difficulties removed, acknowledging that we alone cannot solve our own problems. The most effective prayer is when we don't demand a certain outcome. Jesus Christ uttered the highest prayer when he said: "Let Thy Will be done". Quite often our prayers may get answered in a way we do not expect. To pray to have no difficulties is to seek to avoid life; to pray for protection from unnecessary difficulties is a different matter.

5. Deal with one Problem at a time.

It sometimes occurs that difficulties arrive all at once; faced with a range of problems it feels hopeless to solve any at all. If we take one problem at a time, we can actually make progress in dealing with our seemingly, insurmountable problems.

6. Seek guidance from Others.

There is nothing to say we need to solve problems on our own; we should not be too proud to seek help from others. Sometimes, speaking to a friend may help us to work out for ourselves what we need to do. There is an old saying "A problem shared, is a problem halved" there is a lot of truth in this. Although, ultimately we have to face our own difficulties, there is no reason we have to do it without help from others.

7. Ignore Problems.

Simply ignoring them can solve some problems. When we ignore our fears and worries quite often they leave us. These difficulties are the imaginary difficulties without any real substance. It is only real difficulties we need to try and overcome.

“Trials and tribulations are within us and without us. We simply have to ignore them. If this act of ignoring is not effective, we must face them.”

Got any regrets?

Regret in life weighs tons. Living with words spoken or unspoken, deeds done or deeds left undone, and actions taken or not taken is one of the biggest burdens many people carry with them through life, and some to the grave.

To live each moment in life with a happy perspective and disposition requires that we live in such a way that there is no need to carry regret into the next minute, let alone the next year. Why do people choose to live with regret? A better question is, why do people act or speak in such a way that requires them to experience the constant negative pull of regret in their life?

My friends, if I had an answer to that one, I wouldn’t be sitting at my computer slaving over each word, I would be cruising the Carribbean on my 60’ yacht.

I can only tell you that living with them will not let happiness into your life. They will be like a long shadow darkening the way ahead, as well as the path behind you. Their stretch is well into the future, and they cloud your past with pain, anger, resentment, grief, blame or fear.

Actions or words, or the lack of them is not the real culprit here. We will all make mistakes in life that can be interpreted by us as worthy of feeling regretful. It is what we do about these issues once we become aware that we have taken the action, or said the words.

We don’t have the luxury of taking back what we have said or done in the past, but we can forgive ourselves or others in the present. What regrets are you living with today that need your forgiveness?

Living with regrets can directly or indirectly contribute to feelings of discouragement and sorrow.

Are you asking for things and then telling the Universe "No thanks"?

Do you ask for things and then tell the Universe ‘no thanks!’?

Recently on the front page of yahoo! was this headline: “NYC cabbie returns bag of diamond rings” and instantly I thought ‘Did he just tell the Universe “No thanks!”?’

The story read like this:

NEW YORK - Never mind diamonds - a New York cabbie was a Texas girl’s best friend. The driver returned 31 diamond rings he found in his cab after dropping off the passenger, who had left him with a 30-cent tip on a $10.70 fare.

“All my life, I tried to be honest,” said Osman Chowdhury, a native of Bangladesh. “Today is no different.” But the 41-year-old cabbie from Queens did have a message: “I’m proud of what I did so that people know New York taxi drivers are honest.” What he did started on Monday evening, when he picked up the woman at a hotel in midtown Manhattan and drove her to an apartment building several blocks away. She gave him $20 to pay the fare and asked for $9 back.

The woman, who said she was a jeweler, got back the gems on Monday when she arrived at the alliance office around midnight — incredulous at her luck. She offered Chowdhury a reward — a check for $100.

“I cannot take a penny for being honest,” he said, but he reluctantly accepted the money to cover the fares he lost while trying to track her down. He said it never occurred to him to keep the diamonds. Now I think that's a really horrible message to be sending to the Universe! Here is why: The Law of Attraction is always in action - every single minute, day, night, weekend, and holiday, and you can only attract into your life the things that are inline with who you are. Your thoughts create your experiences.

Now that we’ve got that covered, it’s really great that this guy gave the diamonds back to a jeweler and the jeweler gave him $100, but what was he doing to attract these diamonds being left behind in the first place?… I can imagine he drove his taxi every day and he picked up people to and from and he got bad tips like this lady was giving (30 cents - wow you can buy your lunch with that tip alone). Now I can imagine that at the end of the day this guy goes home to his wife and thinks ‘Man I need to make more money…God/Universe send me more money. My kids need tuition, we need a new car, the mortgage needs to be paid, we need new coats, my wife is pregnant…it’s cold out here, wish I could have a different job’…Every day he thought ‘I need a way to get more money, maybe I could work more hours, put my life at risk driving all hours of the night and day.’ So this guy thinks the thoughts, starts doing the actions he believes will help…So because God/Universe always gives us our heart’s desires, he sends along this lady - who makes jewelry for a living - to get in his cab and leave 31 diamonds in his cab.

Now to get into this situation the jeweler probably wanted to make less money or had some thought about losing money in 2007 or some other thought, because really, who has 31 diamonds rings at a point where you can leave them in a cab? (You and I would have it in a bag, then in a box, then in a bigger box - you get the idea!)

If you truly believe in the Law of Attraction then you have to believe that both these people are attracting to themselves these events and circumstances through their thoughts. Now if you had driven up to this man and gave him a roll of $100’s’ he would have still told you ‘No thanks!’ He is in reality telling the Universe how the money he has asked for can be delivered to him. He is basically saying ‘If I get this money any other way except working hard my answer is no!’: “I cannot take a penny for being honest,” he said, but he reluctantly accepted the money to cover the fares he lost while trying to track her down.

We hear about this every day - someone finds money in a coat pocket with no name, no number and they turn it into the police. We are restricting how the Universe can deliver what we have asked for! We tell people and you hear it all around ‘Write it down, visualize it, act as if you have it’, but you hear very few things about when the Universe sends it to you. If you’ve asked for a car, are you open to someone giving it to you today? If you are asking for money, are you open to finding it on the back seat of your cab, in the lost belt, in a briefcase at the side of the road?…Or are you only open to getting it by hard work and a bonus on your paycheck?

Are you more programmed to give than to receive? If you read this story and all you could think of was to say ‘Wow, honest guy!’ you may need to rethink your programming and consider have you really been turning away the things the Universe has sent because you don’t like how it was packaged?! Are you asking for things then telling the Universe ‘No thanks!’?

The power of choice - What part of you makes a decision in your life?

In the course of a day how many choices do you think you make? So many times we think that the events of our lives are random. It appears as if they are happening to us, without our influence at all. When you learn to slow down and connect with your own spiritual core you will find at the heart of every choice – it is you who does the choosing.

You choose where to focus your attention. And your focus attracts energy. And from the energy that gathers you send out a signal that attracts it’s match back. Therefore all events, people and things in your life are a direct match for the choices you have made.

The kicker is that many of our choices are made unconsciously. We choose because we always have, because our mother did, because it is the “right” thing to do. Who says? Unexamined choices can get us into trouble.

Sometimes we do not think that we choose at all. During those times it is usually the child in us doing the choosing. And the child chooses from our default patterns, childhood experiences, and decisions made long ago in the environment of our family of origin - not always the best place to make empowered choices from.

Do you know the story about Cooking Ham?

There was a young woman who moved out into her own house. While living at home, she never cooked. Upon the move, she returned home to learn how to cook a few dishes. One of her favorite recipes was for cooked Ham. So she asks her mother to show her how to cook one.

The mother begins to share her expertise with the daughter. She tells her to salt and pepper the meat well. To make sure the vegetables are all cut the same size. Just before the mom places the ham in the pan, she picks up a knife and cuts about a 1?4 of an inch of roast from each end. Then she places the meat in the pan.

The daughter stops her mom. “Mom, I understand why we cut the vegetables the same size – that way they’ll cook uniformly. And I know the reason we salt and pepper the meat all over – and rather heavily, is so the whole roast will absorb the flavor of the seasonings. But why did you cut a little bit off each end of the ham before you placed it in the pan?”

“Because that’s what you do”, said the mom. “But why?”, questioned the girl. “Does it help it cook better?” “Well, I do it this way, because that’s the way my Mom taught me”, said the mother. “But I’m not really sure why we cut the ends off. Next time we go to visit we’ll ask her.”

Several months later the family gathers at Grandma’s house for dinner. As grandma prepares the meal the mother and daughter are in the kitchen with her. The daughter asks her grandmother, “Grandma, you’re such a good cook, and I know you passed all your methods on to Mom, but I can’t figure out why we cut the ends off of the ham before we cook it.” The grandmother turned to her granddaughter and said, “What are you talking about? I don’t cut the ends off before I cook it.” At this point the mother jumps into the conversation and says, “Yes you do! The time you showed me how to cook ham, you started to put it in the pan, and then you put the ham back on the cutting board and cut about a 1/4 inch off each end of the roast. I’ve been doing it that way ever since”, she declared!

The grandmother stared at her daughter in amazement. “Every time you cook a ham you cut a 1?4 inch off the ends? Every single time?” “Yes!” She answered her mother. “Every - single - time, just like you showed me.” “Honey, all I can say is you’ve been wasting a lot of good meat over the years. The only time I ever cut the ends off the roast is if it’s too big for the pan!”

A few questions to ponder:

What are you doing because you think it is the only way to get it done?
What if you took a moment to question your own motives?
What would you do differently – if you only knew you could?
Are the Choices you make empowering ones?

Top ten tips - gaining confidence

Oozing with confidence is not something that comes naturally to everyone; however it is something that everyone can acquire. I have listed some tips below for all those of you that want to get a little more confidence when it is needed. Follow one, two or all of them and watch your confidence start to grow.

1. Think fitness and health… Healthy body, healthy mind! Keeping yourself fit and healthy will keep you feeling happy and confident. Eating the right things at the right times will certainly help you to feel the way that you want to feel. It is great for your waistline too, which is ultimately good for your confidence also.

2. Mind your inner talk… What you think about yourself is so important with regards to the way that you feel and just how confident you are. Don’t rubbish yourself in any way when you are thinking or talking about yourself. Say things like ‘I would love to learn how to do that’ instead of saying ‘I can’t do it’.

3. Create a new you… A change in appearance can always help to boost your confidence and make you feel great. The way that you dress, act and look is part of your communication to the world around you. If you look and feel fantastic then that’s how others will see you too!

4. Change career… You may find that your current job is causing you a lack of confidence. If this is so then grab hold of the fact that you set the limit on what is impossible. This means that if you want to find a new job then you can choose to be whatever you want to be. Sure it might take a bit of work, but if you really want it then, isn’t it worth the effort?

5. What is so good about you..? Make yourself a list of all of your good points. Are you a good listener, advice giver, hard worker or good friend? List down all of your achievements – things that may have happened in your education, your career or your social and family life.

6. Make new friends… Surround yourself with positive friends that encourage the best in you. Happiness and positive attitudes are contagious, so by surrounding yourself with confidently happy people you will feel more confident too.

I really hope that this article has been of some help to you and has given you some ideas to go away and actually use to build your confidence.

How to transform negatives into positives

Before you next speak or act, think about the consequences of your thoughts and actions. It is not enough to think wisely; we must also speak, act, work and serve wisely too.

For example, are you about to be helpful or harmful? Skilful or unskilful? Selfless or selfish? Impulsive or compulsive? Sincere or insincere? Kind or unkind? Supportive or Critical? Constructive or destructive? Do your words and actions accurately reflect your deeper intentions and sincere commitment to compassion and loving-kindness?

We all seek relief from the doubts, fears, anxieties, worries, stresses, insecurities and hatred of the world. To see a better and happier world one where honest, healing, non-violent, unselfish and caring deeds are offered with sincere and open hearts.

Would it surprise you know that we all have within the depths of our being levels of consciousness that are totally devoid of any of the outer world's imperfections? Where there is no insecurity, frustration, ego, confusion, unhappiness, hesitation, depression, stresses or hate, only unconditional love, joy, selflessness, care, concern, kindness, silence, peace, hope and tranquillity.

How is it possible to discover then consciously offer these virtues amongst the divisions and suspicions in an increasingly self-centred world? Well we all have an inner oasis where these virtues spontaneously flow like a quenching stream flowing across the parched deserts of unkindness. And this oasis is situated in the spiritual heart.

The spiritual heart's qualities are best realised through the practice of prayer, meditation, quiet contemplation and selfless service. These disciplines calm the negative influences of the physical mind by bringing to the fore the ideals of the spiritual heart through an individual's selfless thoughts and actions.

So a good intention supported by the spiritual heart's positive virtues offers increased concern, dedication action and compassion to the outside world through an individuals deeds and thoughts. Such deeds often inspire others by their kindness and sincerity. Similarly another individual's well intentioned actions can inspire us to be more self-giving in our thoughts and actions, helping us to realise higher levels of our own spiritual heart's capacities. Simply a negative deed causes a negative reaction in others, bringing negative karma to that individual. A positive deed gives inspiration, joy and happiness to others, bringing positive karma to that individual.

So before you next act pause for a moment and reflect - shall this act be negative or positive. If it was to be negative then that thought has come from the limited reality of the physical mind. To make it a positive use the deeper realities of the spiritual heart. In time through the continued practice of meditation the heart's inspiration shall transform all the negatives of the mind into the positives of the spiritual heart.

Sri Chinmoy the meditation teacher says, (1) "The heart comes with good intentions, hoping to transform the mind's doubt into positives and its other undivine qualities into higher qualities. The mind at some point goes through everything negative and destructive-fear, doubt, suspicion, jealousy, impurity and so forth until finally it reaches the point where it feels it is high time to go to someone who can give it something better something higher. Who is this someone? The aspiring heart!"

Thoughts rule your life - You can if you think you can

What is your thought life like?

According to James Allen, strong, pure, and happy thoughts build you up. Your thought habits produce their own effects, good or bad.

The Bible says that you are as you think in your heart. Your thoughts play a big part in what you become.

I can't stress enough how important it is to learn to control your self-talk and eliminate negative and limiting beliefs, If you want to succeed in life you need to believe that you can and tell yourself that you can. If you want a better life, control your self talk.

What deep seated beliefs are you holding about yourself and your abilities? How many of those beliefs limit you? Do you tell yourself that you have what it takes? Or do you tell yourself that you can't do it?

You can consciously programme your subconscious for success or you can carry on allowing your limiting beliefs to hold you back.

You think many thousands of thought each day.

Many of them are negative

• I'll never lose weight
• I'm never going to meet the love of my life
• Nothing ever works out for me
• I'm not cut out for management
• Who am I to think that I can
• Negative self talk lulls you into believing that you're incompetent and unlovable.

To get anywhere, you need to stop talking negatively and start telling yourself

• I can
• There is a solution
• I have got what it takes
• I am loveable

You're constantly programming your subconscious mind, you can choose whether to programme yourself for success or failure

Your subconscious take you literally. It does what you tell it. When you say, "I can't ..." your subconscious cooperates and your words act as a self fulfilling prophecy. Try telling yourself "I can do this ..." Your subconscious will begin to cooperate and make it into a reality.

Your subconscious mind is very powerful. You need to watch what you think and what you say.

Start to become conscious of your thoughts and of your self talk. When you catch yourself saying negative things, stop immediately and substitute positives for the negatives.

One of the most powerful tools for building self-confidence and programming yourself for success is to repeat positive statements until they become second nature. Replace your negative self talk with positive affirmations.

Create a list of 10 or more statements that affirm you and build you up. It's best to chose your own and to say things that you can believe about yourself. Here are some examples of affirmations that have worked for me in the past:

• I am loved
• I like myself
• I am capable
• I can do anything I set my mind to
• I am a success
• I make wise choices.
• I can find solutions to problems
• I can handle whatever comes
• I have the energy I need to do everything I want to do.
• I'm getting better every day

Choose to believe in yourself. Choose to believe that you can

Belief in yourself is an attitude you can develop. Take charge of your thoughts and your self talk. If you practise positive self-talk, combine that with visualising yourself as you want to be and don't give in to doubt, you can become what you want to be

Dare to believe that you can do anything you set your mind to, combine that with positive self talk and see where it gets you.

Why is feeling good so important?

Did you ever wish you could have a built-in guidance system like the GPS guidance system found on cars? To know where you are going? To find out what is the next obstacle? To know which is the best way to get where you want to go? Do we, as human, have a guidance system? Well, good news! We do!

Are emotions are our inner guidance system. What we feel at any given moment is a signal to us. A signal that is telling us if we are going towards what we want or away from what we want. That signal is also telling us what is in store for us in the near future. Our emotions are what has to most pulling attraction in our lives. Not visualization, not affirmation, but emotions.

So, you must feel good as much as possible everyday, because if you feel bad, lousy, down, depress, all you are doing is attracting into your life those same emotions at a later date. Now, If you feel good, great, excellent, awesome and incredibly well very often, what do you think you are inviting into your life? That’s right, more of the “good, great, excellent, awesome and incredible” stuff.

I hear you telling me; “Yeah but, you don’t understand…I have issues in my life, I don’t like my job, my boss is always on my back, so is my wife, I need a new car and I don’t have the money”. Stop! This is a downward spiral, and you’ll never find a way out of it (trust me, I’ve been there), if you choose to feel emotions based on your present circumstances. If you are always feeling negative emotions throughout the day, you are switching to off one of your most valuable inner tool, your inner guidance system. It’s there to guide you, to help you quickly get back on track, on the path to joy, happiness, love and all these positively wonderful emotions.

Do the following exercise for 30 days, and see what happens (after that, do it for the rest of your life). Whenever you have a negative emotion about something, anything, find something you are grateful for in your life, see it in your mind, think about it, feel it, that will change you mood in an instant. Or, better yet, think of something you did in your past that made you feel on top of the world, it can be a personal accomplishment or something you really enjoyed doing, relive it in your mind for a few minutes, feel the emotion, that will put a smile on your face, and you’ll feel good again. Or, think of something or someone in your present life; Your husband or wife, a child, your pet or a book you enjoy, listen to a song you love. That will change your mood! Or even, something in your future that you are REALLY looking forward to, maybe a vacation, a promotion. Anything, that you can think of, from your past, present or future that can make you feel better than the negative emotion you were experiencing a moment ago, is what you are looking for.

If this is the only thing you ever do about monitoring your thoughts and emotions, and you do it on a constant basis. I assure you that your life will change for the better. In life, you get what you expect, not what you want, So expect a lot, and expect the best!