My Essay Blog

I recently had the privilege of traveling to a third world country. I realize that using the word “privilege” when talking about an underdeveloped country may seem incongruous; however, it proved otherwise.

I was part of a group of nineteen, along with my husband and 16-year old son, who traveled to Ghana, West Africa. Although this was not the first time I’d been in a foreign country, it was my first short-term Missions trip.

Our main focus was to teach and train church leaders in several villages as well as provide medical treatment for the locals. Many people there understood English; however, they had difficulty understanding our American dialect. Therefore, all teaching or training was done with the aid of an interpreter.

At my first teaching post, I was asked to explain what I do for a living. How do you explain to people who have so little that you help others organize their “stuff” because they have so much? Most of the people we came in contact with lived in small, concrete or mud huts, without running water. They cooked their meals over an open fire and owned only a few changes of clothing.

Day after day I would look around at what you and I would consider extreme poverty. And yet, the Ghanaians appear to be content and even happy people. When my children were young, I taught them that being content was being thankful for the things they already had. The Ghanaians seem to get this principle.

What surprised me the most about this trip was how hard it was to leave. I had grown to love these people and felt as if I was abandoning them. They have so little and I have so much. To say that this experience has changed my life is an understatement.

Although the focus of our trip was to bless the people of Ghana, I felt like I was the one who got the biggest blessing. As you look around your home and the life you have, I hope you see the incredible abundance and blessings you experience each and every day. I know I do.

A personal self-esteem coach can provide an objective perspective sorely needed to see things in a new light, challenge long-held beliefs that have held you back, change the patterns that have kept you stuck and make new choices so that you create and attract success into your life.

Creating a clear direction for your life can be difficult. Old thinking and behavior patterns are persistent. Your coach can help you recognize and replace these old patterns with new ideas and strategies which serve you and clear the way for a healthy, balanced life. Your coach can also tune in to the language you use to describe yourself, your life circumstances, both past and present, and your future. The language you use is a strong indicator of the level of self-esteem you are experiencing right now.

As your self-esteem improves, you’ll notice you are more focused, more organized and more able to take action. You’ll be able to create strategies, plans and structures to achieve your goals more easily. Procrastination will be a thing of the past. What once pushed you past overwhelm will no longer intimidate you.

Maybe you have self-esteem issues rearing their ugly heads in your relationships. Do you often feel jealousy, especially in the context of romantic relationships? Are you struggling with finding or staying in a romantic relationship? Do you feel too stressed and vulnerable to make good decisions? Maybe you are still recovering from the break up of your last romantic relationship and you want to firm your boundaries and learn to trust again. Wherever you find yourself feeling badly about yourself, a self-esteem issue exists.

If you are tired of living on automatic pilot and want to take charge of your life to create the happiness you’ve spent all this time looking for, then a personal self-esteem coach might be the right choice at this place in your life.

Superman is a timeless figure that is known by everyone, regardless of age and race. Since 1938, this superhero has starred in many comic books, cartoons and movies. His image can also be found in cards and action figures. And, even though many improvements have been made in the comic art due to the advances in printing technology, the red and yellow S on his chest has remained the same throughout the ages. And, its appeal to the public has never faded. As a matter of fact, anyone who sees this icon will be able to recognize it. That S can only stand for one person &ndash Superman!

Be A Superhero Too!

How does one define a superhero? With the way he can wear tights and run around with a cape, he must be a very confident individual who can easily express himself without fear of ridicule or disapproval. Release the superhero within you by allowing the world to see who you are. Go ahead and wear a pair of Superman cufflinks because you can identify with this hero.

Release The Child In You!

Your being a Superman fan doesn’t have to end with your childhood. You might have put an end to your hobby of collecting Superman comic books in order to move out of the house and pay your rent. But, that doesn’t mean you can’t relive the days wherein you saved your allowance in order to buy a limited edition Superman comic book by wearing a pair of Superman cufflinks to work. You may have given up the thrill of showing off your latest issue to your friends because most of them have outgrown it and have moved on to other interests like golf and poker nights but that doesn’t mean that you can no longer release the fan in you by flaunting your Superman cufflinks.

Be a Hero to Your Child!

Perhaps now that your friends have grown out of it, you now collect comic books with your son. And, you never fail to tell him about the collection that you have accumulated in the past. You even take him to the attic once in a while to open the dusty boxes and show him your plastic-covered collections. You also took him to watch the movie and gave him a recap of the Superman stats and info in your head. So, even though you are already an adult and wearing a pair of Superman cufflinks is the last thing on your mind, be his hero for today and wear the gift he has studiously searched for you. Maybe after you’ve gotten used to the feeling of wearing something that stands out from the regular cufflinks, you will enjoy wearing your Superman cufflinks. It will not only help you relive your childhood, it will also allow you to smile and look back to the moments you’ve shared with your son.

Be the Generous Hero

Even if you have never been a Superman fan, you can still release the hero within by being a good friend to your best bud. You may find him immature because he hasn’t stopped purchasing comic books and action figures. In fact, he still attends conventions and he hounds e-bay for every single collector’s item he can find. Why not show that you appreciate who he is. Be his hero for the day! Give him a pair of Superman cufflinks and put a smile on his face!

If you get a feeling that you hit the bottle too often and too much, and are unable to control the drinking habit, and if you want to do something about it, then you must seriously consider enrolling in a residential alcohol treatment course. Most residential alcohol treatment programs can help those who can’t stay away from alcohol to give up on the habit and can’t stay clean. One big morale booster that the program offers is that you would be amidst people who, like you, are determined to stay away from alcohol. Plus, there are counselors too, who give you their professional advice and guide through each stage of the process; food and stay are included.

The counselors give you valuable tips on how to stay clean once you are through with the program. Enrolling on these programs may be either prescribed or voluntary &ndash courts may recommend these programs to someone who’s committed any type of alcohol-related charge, while some people join them because they feel they need help.

Self-Help: How To Go About It

If you wish to rid yourself of this alcohol problem on your own, then you must seek out a residential alcohol treatment program around your vicinity or futher away depending on your discretion. If it’s the cost that is inhibiting you, then you can always check with an insurance company and find out if they have plans that cover these programs &ndash you must know that many insurance companies do cover these treatments. When you check-in, you will be familiarized with the surroundings and the schedules (meal times, activities, meetings, etc.) of the facility. The activities are built and designed to ensure that you stay away from the bottle by indulging in other wholesome pastimes that keep you engrossed so much that you do not have the time to think about drinking.

About The Activities

Most residential alcohol treatment courses clue you on to mind-stimulating activities that help you stay clean. Majority of these activities are group-oriented. In these group activities, you will find yourself partnering with other fellow inmates with the same goal &ndash to stay away from drinking. The activities comprise of role-playing or story-telling sessions and they boost your morale and make you think that you are not alone while dealing with this problem. For example, when you are through with the program and feel the urge to drink, it will help to recall an experience you have had or a story you have heard at the residential alcohol treatment facility. Such a story or experience will give you the necessary strength and willpower to stay clean.

Most residential alcohol treatment programs can really help you in kicking that vile habit of drinking heavily. Once you have completed the treatment, you will find it easier to lean away from alcohol and you will also wonder why you ever couldn’t give it up earlier.

It took me a long time to realise the benefits of positive thinking. I had often heard people mention that if you think positive, positive things will happen to you, I used to think they were a bit weird. I now believe they were right and this article explains why.

Growing up through the difficult teenage years and into my early twenties, I felt very sorry for myself. I used to think I was the most unluckiest person in the world. I had a bald patch the size of a ten pence piece on my head, a speech impediment(stutter), I was overweight to the point of being fat, and was short for a male(5ft4).

I believed that I received more mickey taking out of me than anyone else, and life was certainly a struggle. To meet members of the opposite sex when you have a lack of confidence and a speech impediment is not easy. To gain work, order drinks, socialise in general, these were all difficult for me. Everyone else seemingly breezed and eased there way through life.

One day I was at work and a colleague of mine who was about thirty years older than me, commented that I was a very depressive person. I disagreed with him and was quite shocked, I believed that most people worried and stressed about things. He went on by stating that I was always negative about most things in life, always moaning about this or that and very rarely smiled. He went on to say that he had used to be like me, always depressed, moody and stressed until he was given some advice when he was aged thirty. He then proceeded to give me the same advice.

THE ADVICE:

When you feel down, depressed and sorry for yourself, watch the news and read the newspapers and you will see that there are many people worse off than you, and that you are actually one of the lucky ones.

I thought about this and started to follow what he had said. I now realise how stupid I had been. To be born and live in the UK, I am one of the lucky ones.

Your closet is a place to keep necessary everyday items that you may not want to actually look at all the time. Closets provide excellent storage space in your home and can have many different uses. A closet can be small, while other can be huge. It all depends on your house and what you need out of your closets. Unfortunately, your closets can become a mess and you may need to invest in organizers or a specific closet organizer to make more sense out of your prime storage space.

There are many things you can do to make your closets neater and more organized, but the most important one is to actually take out the clutter from your closet before you start trying to organize. You would be amazed at how much stuff is in your close that you never use and really don’t want anymore. Try to get over the inability to get rid of things and just go for it.

When you are ready to purchase a closet system for your home you can have them customized to fit your rooms perfectly. If you have distinct organization needs then you can have them customized to suit you specifically. You can buy a pre-made closet organizer if you just need some basic adjustments.

Take a look at these useful tips for closet organization:

1. Take advantage of shoe racks

If you have shoes all over a room then your room will be a messy and it will be hard to find the things that you need. If you use a shoe bag that you can put over a door, then you should go for it. Make sure whatever type of shoe rack that you pick it that it will actually hold all your shoes and that they won’t fall off the shoe rack. Usually you can find something that will hold 9-12 pairs of shoes.

2. Organizing your drawers

When you have lots of small items in a drawer they can be very messy and hard to sort through. You can buy a drawer organizer to help to find things quicker. Most drawer organizers are made of plastic and you can just drop them inside your drawer with no hassle at all.

3. Storage for outwear

When you need a place to hang your winter coats, fall blazers, hats, and gloves then you need to get organized. If you don’t have room in your coat closet, then get sorting it out right away. Think about giving things to a local thrift store if you don’t use them and make sure you only put one thing on one hanger to keep things neater. Get hangers that are durable and that will last a long time with heavy things hanging on them.

4. Extra shelves

Add shelves above the rack in your closets for more room to put things away. You can also use them for items you may not use as often.

5. Arrange items seasonally

Put away things according to season so you can have more space for whatever you are using at the time.

Use these tips and clean up your home today!

Abraham Lincoln once met a man who he really didn’t like. The man kept annoying him and Abe couldn’t understand what it was that made him have to act like that all the time. In a famous quote, he said “I don’t like that man. I must get to know him better.” This quote embodies one of the great sentiments about people that we sometimes forget to incorporate into our lives.

There are many people in the world who don’t make sense to us and who we wish were different than the way they are. In fact, there are many people that we would simply do better to just avoid rather than try to understand them. Still, Abe Lincoln’s quote is a great sentiment for many of us to learn by because it teaches us that we don’t always see people for who they truly are and we may be too quick to judge a person who has been through something that may have been harder than we can imagine.

Everybody is born into a certain life and is faced with overcoming the difficulties that are presented to them. If we are faced with some people who are extremely hard to endure, it may be that there is a lesson in there for us to learn about the problems that others face in their lives. It may be that we can stretch our minds and our hearts to incorporate compassion and understanding into our relationships and make things better for ourselves and others. Learning to look past some of the initial problems we see in others and find that silver lining in their cloud is a great talent and an ability that can define a leader. This was the kind of leadership that our 16th president embodied and why he became such a great emancipator for so many people.

Another great quote that expresses the essence of a positive attitude is by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson once said “The sun shines and warms and lights us and we have no curiosity to know why this is so; but we ask the reason of all evil, of pain, and hunger, and mosquitos and silly people.” Emerson’s words are a real wake up call for many people. They may think to themselves, have they ever felt the need to wake up every morning and see the first glimmer of light as it begins to glow in the night sky? Have they noticed how fast the sky begins to brighten up upon the first evidence of daylight? Have they noticed how long it takes after that before the actual sun can be seen on the horizon? Have they noticed the magnificence of those first sun beams as they peak over the horizon and burn a bright fire against your eye?

These things that can be witnessed each morning by everyone on the planet are more than often ignored by millions of sleeping people. This amazing and monumental event is seen as nothing because it happens everyday and has been pushed into the background of our subconscious mind. The sun indeed provides all life to the world and is an amazing phenomenon too great to even imagine its intensity. Still, somehow this is all lost to us against a long list of other problems and concerns that plague us each day.

Keeping a positive attitude each day is something that can only come through discipline and effort at first. Once we have created a lot of bad habits and negative attitudes, they take a concerted discipline to overcome. Once we overcome them, however, we may begin to see great things in both the people we thought we could never like and the magnificent sun that we never noticed before.

Most of what we do naturally when we’re young is a good lesson for our later years, but for some reason we forget those early lessons and begin to believe that there’s a better way.

Any parent will tell you that their baby didn’t go from being held and rocked straight to running, although sometimes the time seems to fly so quickly that it seems that way. All of us, the young, the old and those of us in the middle, transitioned from lying helpless to rolling, creeping, crawling, reaching, a single step, then a few steps, and eventually a walk or a run.

Once we knew how to run however, we just never looked back to see how we got to this beautiful place. Instead we look far ahead to the distant future and hope to simply take a giant leap to that dreamy place where life is perfectly aligned &ndash and when we don’t arrive immediately, we lose hope and give up.

Sometimes I wonder where our determination goes when we hit our teens or early adult years. So many of us want to see immediate results or we just give up. Instead we need to revisit those early lessons and learn from them. All of the hype of today’s world, fast food, fast cars, fast cash and fast love… They’re just that &ndash hype. We’re programmed to think that if it’s not immediate, it’s not a good deal, so we don’t even try.

Take Tatiana for example, a 30-year old client of mine who called to interview me to be her coach. I always recommend at least 3-months of coaching because real change, permanent change, takes time. Tatiana told me that she’d try 6-weeks and hopefully we’d be complete in finding her inner peace. Instead of telling her that I could help her, I asked her what she’d say if I told her that there was no way she would find true inner peace in six short weeks. She sighed, said she’d be disappointed and then hesitated. I told her that I wasn’t going to promise inner peace in 6-weeks and that she was welcome to interview other coaches if she preferred.

I think she appreciated my honesty, although I know she was hoping to find that fast and easy road to inner peace. Right now we’re working together on week 9 &ndash she’s still calling, and yesterday I received an email from her that said thank you.

So what’s your first step? Accepting that real change happens in baby steps. When you accept that you’ll have to take a few small steps to get to the goals that are near and dear to your heart, you’re already on your way.

Soon you’ll be looking back on the small, simple, easy steps that you’ve taken &ndash and the future that you anticipated will be in the palm of your hands. I promise.

Your biggest step is stepping back to the lessons you learned when you were less than 2-years old. Put simply, tiny steps work and they keep you from falling on your face.

So take your first small step today and accept that there’s not a quick fix to those things that mean the most to you.

What are the best times in your life when it’s sensible to clean house and get rid of stuff you don’t use? Take advantage of these opportunities to clean out your home and downsize your belongings.

When you move from one house to another is the best time to get rid of things you no longer need. Why move stuff you haven’t used from one place to another where you won’t use it either? Think kitchen gadgets and closets as your best place to start.

Do you have a wok but can’t remember the last time you cooked anything stir-fried? If you rarely entertain, do you really need all those wine glasses and extra sets of dishes? How many plastic containers are in the cupboard and how many do you really use on a weekly basis? Get rid of the sizes you never use. Spend a little time to consider how much of your stuff you really use and make up your mind to let go of what is just taking up space.

Of course, when I say here to get rid of something, I mean donate it- don’t throw it away unless it doesn’t work or it’s broken. There are plenty of charitable organizations happy to have your stuff as long as it’s usable.

Look at your linen closet- how many of those sets of sheets to you really use? If you have towels that have lost their fluff, out they go. Old makeup and medical supplies should be tossed, especially if it’s now past the expiration date.

If there is stuff in the basement or garage still in boxes from the last move, it’s safe to say you won’t use it again. Test your courage by just tossing the boxes without even looking in them. If you can’t manage this without your palms starting to sweat, then check to make sure there wasn’t a hidden treasure in one of them.

When your kids grow up and move out, it’s time to clean out the stuff they didn’t take with them. Don’t feel you should keep your kids’ room as a shrine to them. While I understand you want to keep your memories, you don’t need to keep sports equipment from high school or every trophy they ever won. If it’s not important enough for your kids to take with them to their new place, you shouldn’t hold onto it either. Offer them the chance to keep what they want, but set a deadline for them to move out their things.

If you’ve always wanted a reading room or a place to work on your crafts, now you’ll have it. Or, make this into the fancy room your guests will be thrilled to spend the night in. Redecorate, renovate and make that room your own!

At some point as you get older, you may decide your house is too much to keep up and you’ll move to a smaller place such as a condo. Now you will absolutely need to decide what to get rid of since storage space will be limited. Once again, your kitchen and closets are the best areas that can be downsized. At this point, your lifestyle may also change- you may dine out more often than at home, causing you to need less kitchen gizmos. Consider your new routine and decide what you will no longer need.

Take advantage of these major life events to sift through your stuff, get rid of what you will no longer need in your new life, and donate it to someone else who could use it to start their new life.

When you start having problems with your memorization ability, there is definitely something wrong with your lifestyle in general, which, affects you from having a good mind and body. Anything that obstructs the mind to work well to its full potential causes memory issues such as difficulty with concentration, picking up important key points from an important source or even experiencing the slightest ability to understand and focus on certain things and ideas.

If, during bedtime, sleeping is your main problem, you can try ways that can contribute to how you can have a goodnight sleep. It’s not only through sleeping problems that causes an individual to suffer memory problems but also the lack of sufficient physical activity is another obvious culprit. As you can see, both sleep and physical exercises are important in maintaining a healthy mind and body. Ever notice how you sometimes find it difficult to understand a simple lesson from one of your subjects? Or what about the time when you were supposed to run an errand but you failed to do so because you forgot?

Unless you want to and can live with this type of lifestyle, it is most advisable to put mindful actions to work as early as possible. Minor memory problems that start early in life could lead to serious and even overwhelming conditions in later years.

There isn’t much of a big reason as to why a person needs to engage in physical exercises. It’s simply that a human brain requires proper supply of oxygen and blood flow in a regular basis and an active body generates an active mind. When the body is engaged in an activity, the blood circulation keeps up in a regular pace and this allows proper blood flow towards the brain. This explains why after a good and adequate exercise routine, a person feels refreshed, light and able to do any task of the day.

Try, even the least that you can to walk everyday. Walk around your neighborhood at least 15 minutes each day and while you are at it, keep in mind the details that you see, the names of the streets, faces and names of the people you meet and many others. This trains your brain to be active while you rev up physically. And since a human brain works well with routine activities, doing this everyday causes for it to store new information.