Author : Daryl Green
You are happily married with children. You have a great job. You are a leader in your church and community. Everything should be wonderful, but it's not. Your closet skeletons hold you captive. Some people never allow you to forget your past sins (they seem to conveniently overlook all the good you do). You attempt to make everyone happy, but you can't. You feel tears running down your face. Will you ever be accepted?Do you have a few skeletons in your closet? Is it holding you back from your happiness? Some people are so obsessed with the past deeds of others that they cannot allow them to live in the present. You can see this obsession in all walks of life. Just look around…you see it in the workplace. A manager won't allow his employees to express their ideas because he can't trust anyone. He doesn't want to give up any control. What are the consequences of his action? No new ideas, low morale, and no real teamwork! Don't think it's only in the business community. You see it even in the religious world. A church, for example, continues to go through pastors like changing clothes. The church's future is crippled by the past hurt of a previous pastor. What are the consequences of this action? The church becomes trapped in its own prison because it can never move forward while looking back.Why can't people just let it go? Some use the past as a punishment tool while others use it to fuel their negativism. These people create a mystical measuring stick to judge folks. They stand unspotted, however, while looking at the dirt on others. Jesus understood that people tend to forget their own shortcomings. He said, "For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged…Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye, and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye." Many people overlook their past when making judgments. It is a fatal human flaw. You should keep this in mind when people try and judge you from past circumstances. Don't allow this to hinder you from achieving your goals. Here are some suggestions:1. Learn to forgive yourself first.2. Take control and don't let others hold you captive for past deeds.3. Take responsibility. Accept the situation and any consequences.4. Surround yourself by positive people.5. Accept the fact that you can't please everyone.Don't allow the past to hurt your decision-making ability. Use the past as a reference source for a new life. Individuals make mistakes yet some people find it easy to find fault. Dale Carnegie, author of How to Win Friends & Influence People, said, "Criticism is futile because it puts a person on the defensive and usually makes him strive to justify himself. Criticism is dangerous, because it wounds a person's precious pride, hurts his sense of importance, and arouses resentment." Accept negative remarks as one small blip in your positive life. Learn from past mistakes and share your experience. You could save others unnecessary grief. Don't be a slave to your past. Start today and let go of your life's baggage.Daryl and Estraletta Green provide personal advice all around the country. Daryl is the author of two books, Awakening the Talents Within and My Cup Runneth Over. They have been noted and quoted in such media organizations such as USA Today, NBC's Alive at Five, Heaven 600, Answerline, American Urban Radio, The Bev Smith Show, The Hallerin Hill Show, Ebony Magazine, and BET's Buy the Book. The Green's nationally syndicated column, FamilyVision, reached 200 newspapers and over 12 million readers. For a free list of the Green's Top Ten Life, Changing Books, you can email at their website, http://www.darylandestraletta.com
Category : Self-Improvement:Happiness
วันเสาร์ที่ 19 กรกฎาคม พ.ศ. 2551
The History Of The Mysterious Valentine's Day
Author : Eric V. Allen
February 14th, the holiday of Love! Every February, across the country, candy, flowers, and gifts are exchanged between loved ones, all in the name of St. Valentine. Who is this mysterious saint and why do we celebrate this holiday? The history of Valentine's Day -- and its patron saint -- is shrouded in mystery. St. Valentine's Day, as we know it today, contains vestiges of both Christian and ancient Roman tradition. The Catholic Church recognizes at least three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred - none of whom were associated with roses OR chocolate.
February 14th, the holiday of Love! Every February, across the country, candy, flowers, and gifts are exchanged between loved ones, all in the name of St. Valentine. Who is this mysterious saint and why do we celebrate this holiday? The history of Valentine's Day -- and its patron saint -- is shrouded in mystery. St. Valentine's Day, as we know it today, contains vestiges of both Christian and ancient Roman tradition. The Catholic Church recognizes at least three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred - none of whom were associated with roses OR chocolate.
Most scholars believe that the St. Valentine of the holiday was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. During this time, around 270 A.D., emperor Claudius ll prohibited marriages for young men, claiming that bachelors made better soldiers. Valentine continued to secretly perform marriage ceremonies but was eventually apprehended by the Romans and ordered by Claudius to be put to death. But his courageous blessing of the bonds of love may have earned him a notable place in history.
Another legend has it that Valentine, imprisoned by Claudius; fell in love with the daughter of his jailer who visited him during confinement. Before he was executed, he allegedly sent her a letter signed "from your Valentine" an expression that is still used today. We could say this marked the very first ValentineÂ’s Day.
Possibly the most plausible story surrounding St. Valentine and his day is one not focused on Eros(passionate love) but on agape (Christian love): he was martyred for refusing to renounce his religion. Subsequently, his love for his god may have gone down in history.
Our final possiblity for the origins our our holiday: It could be that we celebrate Valentines Day on the 14th because this is the day that St. Valentine died. However, some believe that the celebration of Valentines Day was an attempt by the Church to civilize the celebration of the pagan Lupercalia festival - held on the 15th of February. Lupercalia was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus. Pope Gelasius declared February 14 St. Valentine's Day around 498 A.D. The Lupercalia festival was deemed un-Christian and outlawed.
Valentine's Greetings
The oldest known valentine gift still in existence today was a poem written by Charles, Duke of Orleans to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London. The greeting, written in 1415, is part of the manuscript collection of the British Library in London, England. According to the Greeting Card Association, an estimated one billion valentine cards are sent each year, making Valentine's Day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year. (An estimated 2.6 billion cards are sent for Christmas.) The first commercial Valentine's Day greeting cards produced in the U.S. were created in the 1840s by Esther A. Howland. Howland, known as the Mother of the Valentine, made elaborate creations with real lace, ribbons and colorful pictures known as "scrap".
And Who is this Cupid?
Another valentine icon you may be wondering about is Cupid (from Latin cupido, "desire"). In Roman mythology Cupid is the son of Venus, goddess of love. His counterpart in Greek mythology is Eros, god of love. Cupid is often said to be a mischievous boy who goes around wounding both gods and humans with his arrows, causing them to fall in love. The Romans believed white roses grew where the tears of Venus fell, as she mourned the loss of her beloved Adonis. Her son Cupid, while being stung by a bee, shot arrows in the rose garden; the sting of the arrows became thorns. Venus pricked her foot on a thorn, and the droplets of blood dyed the roses red.
Sending Roses on ValentineÂ’s Day
Why should you send roses to your loved one this ValentineÂ’s Holiday? The rose is the symbol of love, of magic, of hope, and of passionÂ….perfect to let your loved one know how you feel about him/her! The rose represents ultimate beauty and perfection. It is the messenger of Romance!
A dozen red roses remains the classic Valentine's Day favorite (ok, it's a toss up between roses and chocolate - but we all knwo why chocolate is). However, many women report that they adore roses in other colors just as much. There are hundreds of colors to choose from. The choices are endless and it's easier than ever to select a rose that is as unique as your sweetheart.
Whatever your Valentine's gift to give or receive, have fun this holiday of love - may this little bit of history add to your enjoyment!
Short Story Writing: Article 15: Judging a Short Story
Author : Ian Mackean
I was once approached by an organisation which was running a short story competition and asked whether I could suggest a 'points system' whereby a short story could be graded - points for plot, style, characterisation etc. I replied that I did not think such an approach was viable. I certainly didn't use any such system when assessing the work of my students, and I hope this article might reassure anyone who feels that in the other articles I have tended to suggest that a story could be judged in this way. Fiction writing is an art, and cannot be judged in the same way that we could judge answers to questions on mathematics or general knowledge, which can be 'right' or 'wrong'.Aspects of a story, such as plot, characterisation, point of view, style, and so-on are important, but to try to judge a story first and foremost by those criteria is to come at it from the wrong end. A story must be judged on its own merits, and as a whole. Individual stories differ so much from one another that it is impossible to adopt a fixed set of criteria.The way I assessed my students' stories was to ask myself whether a story worked, and if it worked I could then add that it worked because the plot, or characterisation, or style, and so on were well-handled, and if it didn't work I could say that one or other area, such as plot or characterisation or style had let it down. The story as a whole came first, and I only applied those secondary criteria if they were important features of that particular story and I could use them to explain why a story had worked or not workedWhether or not a story works can depend on factors such as whether it is convincing, whether it draws you into its world, whether you find it exciting or moving, whether you feel the characters come alive as real people, whether you feel you have learned something, or gained some insight, or been amused, at the end of it, or quite simply whether you enjoyed reading it. These are subjective judgements, but reading and writing are subjective matters, there is no getting away from that.I felt the organisation which was trying to judge short stories by applying a set of objective standards was going about things in an inappropriate way. The subjective experience of the reader should be the main guide as to whether or not a story works, and then, for such purposes as writing a review, commenting on a student's story, or judging a competition we can talk in terms of aspects such as plot and characterisation when it is appropriate to the particular story.Provided that the judges of a competition are experienced readers who can articulate what it is they like or dislike about a story, and provided that there is a panel of judges and not just one person, there is no reason why they shouldn't let themselves be guided first and foremost by their subjective experience of a story.Copyright: Ian Mackean
http://www.literature-study-online.com/creativewriting/Ian Mackean runs the sites http://www.literature-study-online.com, where his site on Short Story Writing can be found, and http://www.booksmadeintomovies.com. He was a short story and novel writing tutor for many years, and had many of his own stories published in literary magazines. He is the editor of The Essentials of Literature in English post-1914, ISBN 0340882689, which was published by Hodder Arnold in 2005. When not writing about literature or short story writing he is a keen amateur photographer, and has made a site of his photography at http://www.photo-zen.com
Category : Writing-and-Speaking:Writing
I was once approached by an organisation which was running a short story competition and asked whether I could suggest a 'points system' whereby a short story could be graded - points for plot, style, characterisation etc. I replied that I did not think such an approach was viable. I certainly didn't use any such system when assessing the work of my students, and I hope this article might reassure anyone who feels that in the other articles I have tended to suggest that a story could be judged in this way. Fiction writing is an art, and cannot be judged in the same way that we could judge answers to questions on mathematics or general knowledge, which can be 'right' or 'wrong'.Aspects of a story, such as plot, characterisation, point of view, style, and so-on are important, but to try to judge a story first and foremost by those criteria is to come at it from the wrong end. A story must be judged on its own merits, and as a whole. Individual stories differ so much from one another that it is impossible to adopt a fixed set of criteria.The way I assessed my students' stories was to ask myself whether a story worked, and if it worked I could then add that it worked because the plot, or characterisation, or style, and so on were well-handled, and if it didn't work I could say that one or other area, such as plot or characterisation or style had let it down. The story as a whole came first, and I only applied those secondary criteria if they were important features of that particular story and I could use them to explain why a story had worked or not workedWhether or not a story works can depend on factors such as whether it is convincing, whether it draws you into its world, whether you find it exciting or moving, whether you feel the characters come alive as real people, whether you feel you have learned something, or gained some insight, or been amused, at the end of it, or quite simply whether you enjoyed reading it. These are subjective judgements, but reading and writing are subjective matters, there is no getting away from that.I felt the organisation which was trying to judge short stories by applying a set of objective standards was going about things in an inappropriate way. The subjective experience of the reader should be the main guide as to whether or not a story works, and then, for such purposes as writing a review, commenting on a student's story, or judging a competition we can talk in terms of aspects such as plot and characterisation when it is appropriate to the particular story.Provided that the judges of a competition are experienced readers who can articulate what it is they like or dislike about a story, and provided that there is a panel of judges and not just one person, there is no reason why they shouldn't let themselves be guided first and foremost by their subjective experience of a story.Copyright: Ian Mackean
http://www.literature-study-online.com/creativewriting/Ian Mackean runs the sites http://www.literature-study-online.com, where his site on Short Story Writing can be found, and http://www.booksmadeintomovies.com. He was a short story and novel writing tutor for many years, and had many of his own stories published in literary magazines. He is the editor of The Essentials of Literature in English post-1914, ISBN 0340882689, which was published by Hodder Arnold in 2005. When not writing about literature or short story writing he is a keen amateur photographer, and has made a site of his photography at http://www.photo-zen.com
Category : Writing-and-Speaking:Writing
How To Make Great Money Part Time Buying And Selling Domain Names - Part One
Author : Jonathan Street
This truly is the business to get into in 2005. It's a red hot opportunity that savvy investors can make a killing on when you know how. And this article will walk you step-by-step through the money-making process.Don't be put off by the term "investors". I'm not talking big money down here. As long as you've got a spare £5 a week then great money can be made for only half an hour of your time. Like the sound of that? Thought so.There's a few ways you can make money buying domain names and selling them on for profit. And I mean PROFIT. You'll see why people will be scratching at your door to buy off you in just a moment.Let's start with the basics.All domain names are only registered for a limited amount of time.Registrars can choose to use the name for a period of between 1-10 years. After this the rights to these domain names expire and the user has to renew the name again. If they don't do this it will be placed on hold for a short time and then deleted. This means it is then availible for anyone who wants to buy it!This Is Where You Can Cash In!20,000 expired domain names are made availible each and every day. Some of them are very attractive and well-established names.Example. Last year the owners of Race.com carelessly didn't renew their registration fee. It was grabbed (the term used to describe purchasing an expired name) by a savvy 'investor' for a few pounds and sold for thousands and thousands back to the old owner.The owner was willing to pay huge sums for to the investor because he had built up qualified traffic over X amount of years and didn't want to lose all the previous custom.Now I admit that making a sale for thousands is rare, but is certainly possible.The likeliness is that you can buy a domain name and register it for £5-£50 and then sell it on for anything from £150 - £1000. Do this with five domain names a week, and your looking at a big sum of money for only a couple of hours work.It's not just businesses that have carelessly let their domain name that will buy off you. It's other businesses too that will buy the name to get the old owners' traffic. It's a legitamate way of increasing your customer base.And if the old owner and a new potential owner get into a bidding war...well..the sky really is the limit.So there's two main reasons why people will be willing to pay YOU a couple of hundred pounds for a domain name.a) They carelessly let the domain name expire. That means that they will pay you to get the name back to ensure that they don't lose their existing traffic that they may have built up over years and years.B) They are a business in the same field as the one that has let the name expire and therfore will pay you to secure the exisitng custom of a rival.Here's step-by-step how you go about this fantastically profitable part time business.There are several sources of expired domain name information and reserach tools, some free and some that require a payment of a fee.www.wehavethem.com supplies lists of names due to be deleted. Www.DeletedDomains.com allows you to do some searching free and more extensive searching for a $99 annual fee.You can search for names that are due to be deleted and also allows you to bid on newly deleted names that have already been grabbed by other 'investors'.What you are looking for is an expired domain name with traffic in the last month of anything over 1500. Ensure that the site is an actual consumer site. There's no point buying a domain name if the previous site wasn't selling any goods.If you see a site that had tens of thousands of visitors in the last month GET IT. The likeliness is that the previous owners will be itching to get their name back off of you due to its obvious success.Also if you see a name with a large qualified traffic thats due to expire and has a high traffic volume use an automated grabbing system such as www.snapnames.com and www.pool.com. These will ensure the second they become availible you will have registered them. The cost is about $60 but only if they get the names for you. Definately worth it in my eyes.Remember you could easily sell the name for hundreds, maybe thousands.In part 2 we'll take a look at how you go about selling the names once you have acquired them. But in the mean time here's a few domain names which were up for sale at the time of writing this article. Now obviously not all names sell for this much, but it's a very real possibility that you could stumble across a gem in your business.my.com $750,000
lovelife.com $350,000
fights.net $16,000
diet.us $35,000
askdoctors.com $7,500
dietary.info $6,000
lovemaking.info $10,000
textmeassage.net $17,000
ejobmarket.com $1,800
smokers.tv $5,000
teens.org $22,000
raregifts,com $20,000The profits in this business are like no other. Now it's your turn to get your hands on your share in the billion dollar industry of buying and selling domain names.Until next time...Jonathan StreetJonathan Street is a master at making vast sums of money for very little investment.
Direct mail, mail order, selling domain names, eBay...you name it - he's making money from it.
He's also the author of "How To Make £5,000 - £10,000 A Month From Home". A book which he invites you to get for free from his ever popular web site.For FREE info and to get a copy of Jonathans book go to: http://www.millionaire-enterprises.com
Category : Traffic Generation
This truly is the business to get into in 2005. It's a red hot opportunity that savvy investors can make a killing on when you know how. And this article will walk you step-by-step through the money-making process.Don't be put off by the term "investors". I'm not talking big money down here. As long as you've got a spare £5 a week then great money can be made for only half an hour of your time. Like the sound of that? Thought so.There's a few ways you can make money buying domain names and selling them on for profit. And I mean PROFIT. You'll see why people will be scratching at your door to buy off you in just a moment.Let's start with the basics.All domain names are only registered for a limited amount of time.Registrars can choose to use the name for a period of between 1-10 years. After this the rights to these domain names expire and the user has to renew the name again. If they don't do this it will be placed on hold for a short time and then deleted. This means it is then availible for anyone who wants to buy it!This Is Where You Can Cash In!20,000 expired domain names are made availible each and every day. Some of them are very attractive and well-established names.Example. Last year the owners of Race.com carelessly didn't renew their registration fee. It was grabbed (the term used to describe purchasing an expired name) by a savvy 'investor' for a few pounds and sold for thousands and thousands back to the old owner.The owner was willing to pay huge sums for to the investor because he had built up qualified traffic over X amount of years and didn't want to lose all the previous custom.Now I admit that making a sale for thousands is rare, but is certainly possible.The likeliness is that you can buy a domain name and register it for £5-£50 and then sell it on for anything from £150 - £1000. Do this with five domain names a week, and your looking at a big sum of money for only a couple of hours work.It's not just businesses that have carelessly let their domain name that will buy off you. It's other businesses too that will buy the name to get the old owners' traffic. It's a legitamate way of increasing your customer base.And if the old owner and a new potential owner get into a bidding war...well..the sky really is the limit.So there's two main reasons why people will be willing to pay YOU a couple of hundred pounds for a domain name.a) They carelessly let the domain name expire. That means that they will pay you to get the name back to ensure that they don't lose their existing traffic that they may have built up over years and years.B) They are a business in the same field as the one that has let the name expire and therfore will pay you to secure the exisitng custom of a rival.Here's step-by-step how you go about this fantastically profitable part time business.There are several sources of expired domain name information and reserach tools, some free and some that require a payment of a fee.www.wehavethem.com supplies lists of names due to be deleted. Www.DeletedDomains.com allows you to do some searching free and more extensive searching for a $99 annual fee.You can search for names that are due to be deleted and also allows you to bid on newly deleted names that have already been grabbed by other 'investors'.What you are looking for is an expired domain name with traffic in the last month of anything over 1500. Ensure that the site is an actual consumer site. There's no point buying a domain name if the previous site wasn't selling any goods.If you see a site that had tens of thousands of visitors in the last month GET IT. The likeliness is that the previous owners will be itching to get their name back off of you due to its obvious success.Also if you see a name with a large qualified traffic thats due to expire and has a high traffic volume use an automated grabbing system such as www.snapnames.com and www.pool.com. These will ensure the second they become availible you will have registered them. The cost is about $60 but only if they get the names for you. Definately worth it in my eyes.Remember you could easily sell the name for hundreds, maybe thousands.In part 2 we'll take a look at how you go about selling the names once you have acquired them. But in the mean time here's a few domain names which were up for sale at the time of writing this article. Now obviously not all names sell for this much, but it's a very real possibility that you could stumble across a gem in your business.my.com $750,000
lovelife.com $350,000
fights.net $16,000
diet.us $35,000
askdoctors.com $7,500
dietary.info $6,000
lovemaking.info $10,000
textmeassage.net $17,000
ejobmarket.com $1,800
smokers.tv $5,000
teens.org $22,000
raregifts,com $20,000The profits in this business are like no other. Now it's your turn to get your hands on your share in the billion dollar industry of buying and selling domain names.Until next time...Jonathan StreetJonathan Street is a master at making vast sums of money for very little investment.
Direct mail, mail order, selling domain names, eBay...you name it - he's making money from it.
He's also the author of "How To Make £5,000 - £10,000 A Month From Home". A book which he invites you to get for free from his ever popular web site.For FREE info and to get a copy of Jonathans book go to: http://www.millionaire-enterprises.com
Category : Traffic Generation
วันพุธที่ 16 กรกฎาคม พ.ศ. 2551
Property Investment Spain
Author : Moutushi Banerjee
Buying property in Spain can be a good investment once you have planned and researched your investment.Why Spain?As the number of people investing to buy holiday homes increases in UK and other European countries, the warm climate in Spain provides a big appeal.Based on where you buy and how you the property will decide on how much your money can earn.Spain provides a combination of attractive property prices, low cost of living and a great potential for rental and resale of properties. A great opportunity for you to invest your pension funds or invests for long-term returns.Well even if you have decided not to invest for financial returns, investing in property at Spain can be your investment in your standard of living. The climate, cost of living and lifestyle are all excellent reasons to reside abroad. You can retire to your property in Spain, selling your home in the UK. You are sure to make most of your money while investing in property Spain.Start with some investigation. Take the time to read about the searching and buying process before you begin looking at properties.Decide if you want your investment returns to come from rentals or rising property prices. If you wish to go in for rentals contact the agencies in Spain to get an idea of the existing rental patterns.Study the law governing the sale of property at Spain. It is vital that you hire qualified solicitors and notaries at Spain to help you go through the process of investment in property SpainIf possible visit the areas where you would like to buy property. This will help you to make the right decision.Arrange for finance to get the property by re-mortgaging your UK property or applying for a mortgage in Spain or using savings or cash released from your pension.Once this is complete speak to the professional agencies to find the best places available for you to invest.http://www.midasestates.com/property_investment_spain.php
Category : Finance:Investing
Buying property in Spain can be a good investment once you have planned and researched your investment.Why Spain?As the number of people investing to buy holiday homes increases in UK and other European countries, the warm climate in Spain provides a big appeal.Based on where you buy and how you the property will decide on how much your money can earn.Spain provides a combination of attractive property prices, low cost of living and a great potential for rental and resale of properties. A great opportunity for you to invest your pension funds or invests for long-term returns.Well even if you have decided not to invest for financial returns, investing in property at Spain can be your investment in your standard of living. The climate, cost of living and lifestyle are all excellent reasons to reside abroad. You can retire to your property in Spain, selling your home in the UK. You are sure to make most of your money while investing in property Spain.Start with some investigation. Take the time to read about the searching and buying process before you begin looking at properties.Decide if you want your investment returns to come from rentals or rising property prices. If you wish to go in for rentals contact the agencies in Spain to get an idea of the existing rental patterns.Study the law governing the sale of property at Spain. It is vital that you hire qualified solicitors and notaries at Spain to help you go through the process of investment in property SpainIf possible visit the areas where you would like to buy property. This will help you to make the right decision.Arrange for finance to get the property by re-mortgaging your UK property or applying for a mortgage in Spain or using savings or cash released from your pension.Once this is complete speak to the professional agencies to find the best places available for you to invest.http://www.midasestates.com/property_investment_spain.php
Category : Finance:Investing
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