If you are reading this, you are most likely looking for a way to get control of your finances. Preparing and committing to a monthly budget has always been one of the best ways to do this. Having a solid budget is fundamental for managing your finances, one that has allowed me to survive even on limited funds. One of the most critical things that I do every month is managing my monthly budget, this has allowed me to systematically meet all expenses, grow my savings, and control debt.
I normally organise my budget for the coming month towards the end of the month. This will prepare me of what’s down the road. It’s not a good idea to develop a budget after getting paid because, too often, that flush feeling of receiving a paycheck results to unessential and spontaneous spending before the paycheck ever reaches the bank.
I start my personal budget by listing all the disbursements that must be paid on time like, loan repayments, utilities, insurance payments and auto loans. The overall idea is to allocate a budget for the affairs that I must pay to keep a adequate roof over my head and carry on earning money. I like to pad these requirements to create “money back” after paying the bills and, if costs increase out of the blue, I’m always covered.
Next, my budget is subjected to a list of discretionary things I need to cover but could live without if absolutely unavoidable. An example are monthly savings deposits, credit card repayments and donations. These things are also necessary, but in instance of emergency I could put them off for a short time. By paying credit card companies the maximum instead of the minimum, I keep my credit score high and my debt low.
My budget does not include the cost of living such as food and entertainment. These expenses get covered by what’s left over and that’s that. Some months involve lots of beans and rice, slow-cooker meals, free or cheap entertainment, and only one inexpensive piece of clothing . This strategy of overseeing my monthly budget has worked out very well over the long term as long as I observe it scrupulously.
It can be very difficult for any family to oversee their monthly budget and making sure that their spending is in line with the household income. Not managing your finances can often lead to things getting out of hand. With the effects of the global financial crisis, it is not helping at all. It is not right to waste what you have worked so hard to build, which is the main reason why you need to get help. How do I get my budget back in control? It’s all about controlling your spending.
The importance of managing my budget
Most people don’t get this until it’s too late, but making a budget and sticking to that plan is the most important thing that you can possibly do. Lots of people question why their budget does not work in the long term. In summary, if you do not plan your expenditure and know where your salary is going, then you will start to stress at the end of the month. One thing that every family needs to do is take a look at mybudget in order to come up with some definitive solutions on their financial situation. When I plan for my budget, I try to be as prepared as possible. As the head of the family, you owe it to yourself and to your family to be a dependable steward.
The challenges associated with organizing my budget
As mentioned previously, creating a budget is not easy. How much should we put aside for food? What about funds for emergency situations? These are questions that you need to address to to factor in all the monthly costs. This is where building my budget can get so troublesome, and I’m sure it’s the same with you. With all of the stress associated with working a job, it can often be easy to let these things slip by the wayside. After all, how important is just one bill? It is obviously very important, and if you want your family’s finances to be in order, then you should most certainly use a solid programme like the one found at mybudget.
All in all, budgeting is a serious challenge and it can sometimes cause uneccessary stress. With the resources at your disposal today, you can put your family’s finances into an coordinated plan and you can follow through with that plan completely. It has unquestionably helped with my budget, and it should do the same for yours.
Divine Alchemy gives you the opportunity to express the harmony, the symphony from within. Basically what that means is, you’re not clinging to circumstances being the same. And because you’re not clinging to them being the same, they begin to flow. In other words, I’m not fixating it. , I’m not fixing them in time and space. You’re not trying to say, “They can only be this way.” This is the great difficulty of the concept of objective reality, is that if you talk to various people, you find that objective reality is different for different people. Even amongst scientists, certain phenomena of nature are viewed differently.
If lead can be turned into gold, maybe I’m not trapped by my fate. And maybe I can actually cultivate the qualities of being that I really want to manifest in my life, knowing that as I cultivate those qualities of being and live them, that it changes; it changes, it literally puts me in almost a different realm. It expands the possibilities of where I can go, of the choices I can make, exponentially. When you say a different realm, then, you might even be talking about a different dimension, interacting in a completely different way with everything; maybe even having contact with things I didn’t have contact with before.
And yet if you’re doing it right, it doesn’t negate this dimension. It doesn’t negate this realm. It’s not a point of going to somebody else’s planet. It’s not that you’re going to some angelic realm and leaving this planet. You’re staying here, you’re just different here.
What happensand this is so far outis that we live, we are manifest, in a multiplicity of realms. And that, by directing ourselves, by creating the person that we want to be, by bringing forth the Love, the Compassion, the Wholeness, the Continuity of Being that we want to bring forthand manifesting that in our lives, manifesting that with my action, not manifesting it in my life by changing the circumstances of those around me, but manifesting it by my actionthen my action is guided by my Soul’s Purpose, my truth, that I’m discovering and opening up to as I live. As I do that, it’s going to change not only my life, but the lives of every person that I run into. It’s actually revelatory in the sense that iit is something that opens up in an ongoing way. So Ghandi’s autobiography is called My Experiments With Truth, which we talked about in the Everyday Sanyasin series. He’s saying, I have a sense of truth, and I am living, I’m manifesting, through myself, my sense of truth. I’m literally using the Power of Soul, the Power of Soul Incarnate. And I’m watching how everything happens.
Yogi Sean is the student of Swami Ramananda and the author of Dancing in the Fire of Transformation and The Everyday Sanyasin.
The day I begun noticing my receding hairline and bald spot getting bigger, I embarked on my hair loss treatment journey. I would spend hours and hours looking for ways to comb my hair a particular manner to cover my hair loss. I began wearing more hats on the weekends as I went out with my wife, friends or family. Of course at work I could not wear caps so it was a painful experience each morning for me just to walk in the office. Your mind will do that to you when you are experiencing hair loss. It is so true that you never know what you have until you lose it. That can be true about your hair loss.
As I looked in the mirror I began to appreciate every one of the hair strands I had left. It was as if with each individual hair I lost, so was a small percentage of my self-confidence gone as well. I was not alone, a mate of mine had been experiencing from the same problem as me. I observed recently that he seemed so much more relaxed and it appears as though his hair was growing back. I didn’t wanted to bring it up but after a while I decided to ask. That is when I was recommended to Advanced Hair Studio. With just a few treatments my friend Tom had not only regained his hair, but his self-confidence as well. I was determined to give Advanced Hair a try as after all I had a lot to lose, meaning my hair and self-confidence.
I was a little sceptical at first. Effects were apparent within a few weeks. Not only on my scalp, but in my behaviour. I began to lose the caps on the weekends and I quickly began to feel better about myself. My wife who has been complaining about my lack of interest in our relationship began to notice the change in that department as well. It is amazing how just a few trips to the Advanced Hair Studio had begun to change my life as a whole. I have constantly been skeptical about people discovering my bald spot. Now, I am not terrified to look people in the eyes again as I have my full set of hair back.
Advance Hair Studio has not only given me back a full set of hair, but a big chunk of my confidence as well. So, if anyone is suffering from hair loss I highly recommend them. Don’t let baldness take your confidence away.
Most never thought the indestructible Chandra Sharp, our family friend, could wear medical wigs. Her trademark hair and fashion was synonymous with her indomitable look. Get this. Miss Prim n’ Proper will be eternally known because of her impeccable looks. Only a handful of souls can tell she utilizes well-crafted African American wigs. Keep it on the DL.
Back in the day as mere children in the hill country, we regularly had our picks of boys. But in college her medical hair loss started acting up and she went bald. I did hint at some human hair wigs. Oh well, balding was no big deal to her. The incredible woman aggressively demonstrated her attitude.
At her fiance’s roller hockey tournament, we flirted with the crowd until her beau clumsily flung the sphere (or whichever thing that is) into the stands. She jumped up for it when her bandana landed in a beer, unveiling her thinning hair. Undisturbed, she tossed the ball back to the field. She’s that kind of girl.
Of course, everyone has insecurities. Once we got together for a cookie baking marathon, the day she laughed nervously and told me that she opts to go bald out of anger. She dare not look at well crafted lace front wigs, despite the fact that she knew it was a good idea. She then miss invincible became beet pink in the face and begged that I dismiss the notion. I had to oblige.
I couldn’t drop it. Later on, I IM’d with her about getting her a new wig. Eventually the two of us ended up with the obvious conclusion: we were going wig shopping! So I’m getting one too!
The both of us were stunned by the fashionable styles. I didn’t realize that lace front wigs were so professionally crafted for so many women. These wigs for women’s hair loss were exactly what she needed. As for me, put together an entirely modern ensemble around my synthetic wig. We’re inseparable, if you haven’t heard. The other day she sent me her thanks for her human hand-crafted human hair wig, and explained it fosters a real positive image that she’d forgotten. It’s heartwarming to watch my best friend reclaim her beauty. Friends can do anything!
Sometimes I am not so miserable, ’cause without a date, I get pretty lonely. Here’s the scoup, last night I ate a whole bag of Oreos. To ease the pain of loneliness, no less. Yeah, I did it. Does that tell you anything? Actually, it’s when I honestly thought about dating again with Great Expectations.
No problem. I can mix up my social life with this Dallas dating service. And it isn’t a bad idea. Why do I bring it up? When I was a little tipsy at little Brent’s Easter egg hunt at Oak Park this afternoon, Jim wouldn’t get off my back about if I have settled down with the love of my life. I just can’t believe that came up. My response was, “I’m eating here, and no.”
There’s nowhere to hide when “The Twerp” (my nephew, age 9) opining on the topic of my companionship situation. I leveled to the family gang: “Seriously, I manage, don’t I?”
Guess what? Each one of them scoffed. Perturbed, I went to the gym so I could clear my head. What a waste of time! It was more useful listening to my dad, which is never the case. My cousin, who wrote to me from Egypt, advised that I join Great Expectations. I said, “Fine, okay.” Should have thought of it myself. I will never regret joining this dating service full of fun and desirable Dallas singles.
At the time, meeting new singles through dating services was kinda foreign from my perspective. I was a bit nervous at first, that I noticed I wore mismatched socks by accident. A mere emotional anxiety couldn’t stop us from enjoying ourselves. The evening was a great way to start at Great Expectations. The greatest most memorable part of it all was the many enjoyable people I met, all available singles.
I started going to these incredibley satisfying Dallas singles events, I ran into a collection of dynamite friends who certainly share a like-minded spirit which made for a magnificent singles event. Don’t know why I ever let so many people give me a hard time about me being single at my age. Astoundingly enough, matchmaking in Dallas with Great Expectations is a good time and like a dream come true.
Criss
Dating, and Loving it
We’ve all heard the saying that “talk is cheap.” In fact we’ve heard it so often it’s become a cliché. Like most cliché’s the law of familiarity has set in and keeps us from actually absorbing the true meaning of the phrase. We’ve grown so tired of hearing it that we don’t really listen to it anymore. The fact remains that talk is cheap. It is easy to talk about things and most people do. In fact most people “talk a great game” on a regular basis. The difference in people, however, is not in what they say they will do but in what they actually do.
We don’t really judge people by what they say but rather by what they do. We judge people by their behaviour and by their actions. The reason for this is that deep down inside we all know that words have no real power to create anything in itself. It is only when the words are backed up by action that you have the power to create any real results. The ironic thing is that although most of us know this we get caught up in accumulating knowledge. We learn something and get really interested in the results we think the information can produce for us. In pursuing the results, we often confuse it with getting more information so we end up gathering and accumulation tons of information and knowledge without producing the result we wanted in the first place.
The proper fruit of knowledge is action. It is true that gaining knowledge can make us feel more capable but knowledge in itself will not produce the results we really desire. One of the biggest myths that is prevalent in the information age is the notion that knowledge is power. Knowledge is not power. It is only potential power. What you do with what you know is where the real power is. The difference in people comes in what they have done differently from someone else with the same information. The reality of the world we live in is that information on almost anything is freely available to anyone, quite literally at the push of a button.
Even though you have all the information at your fingertips, still, the most valuable resource you have to create results in your life is your ability to take action. An action always produces a result. When you take action you bring an idea into effect and you use your will to do something to achieve a specific purpose. When you do this you actually create in the true sense of the word as you turn an idea into reality; you express something that was internal on the outside. Every action is a cause set in motion and for every cause there is an effect and it is the effects or results that we are all really interested in. You don’t want to know that you can be wealthy. You want to experience it by seeing and touching it and the real satisfaction comes from turning your ideas into reality.
There is a big difference between knowing what to do and doing what you know. Most people know what to do to be able to make their lives work but knowing just isn’t enough - we must act and use what we know. Something intangible happens when you take action on an idea. You set in motion a series of events, events that you don’t always know the full consequences of. Like throwing a stone in a pond, the ripple effect of the water affects the whole pond and moves everything that is in or on the pond. This illustrates how a single action can have a significant impact even if you aren’t always aware of it. On a more practical and tangible level you start getting feedback from your actions and you learn things that you can only learn as a result of your actions. These are things you simply cannot learn from merely listening to others or reading books.
Think of your knowledge and ideas as an elastic band. It has the ability to be stretched, but until and unless you stretch it you are not using it for its real purpose. Information is usually something external. When you learn it you transform it into knowledge and when you act on it, it becomes part of your life. To truly experience anything in life you must take action. Knowing simply isn’t enough. We all want to feel and this only comes from engaging “all of you” - by engaging all of your senses to experience the fullness of life in all its abundance.
It doesn’t take many ideas to change something in your life. Neither does it take a complicated idea. It takes ideas that you can use and act upon to give you what you really want. Rarely is it the information or ideas that you really want as it is almost always only the means to an end. What you truly want is results and this will only come from using what you know. Don’t get caught in the flood of information and knowledge. Start to focus your mind on action and on applying ideas instead of accumulating them. Slowly feed yourself more information and knowledge, but let your actions be your ultimate guide. After all it is not what you say you will do but what you actually do that will determine the quality of your life and what you achieve or fail to achieve.
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Deon Du Plessis is the creator of A Course of Action, a FREE e-Course designed to empower you to break through your limitations, Take Action and transform your ideas into reality. Visit The Self Improvement Gym for more self improvement and personal development insights and resources. |
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“Blankey” - as in Security Blankey. OK? All parents know what this is. Sometimes it’s an actual “blankey”, or it may be a pillow, a doll or some other favorite toy or scrap of material. It’s the “thing” that provides a measure of security to developing young minds in a sometimes scary new world. It’s the “thing” the little ones sleep with, eat with, and lug around until it becomes almost unrecognizable. God forbid that we should ever misplace our blankey. It would be absolutely impossible to live without it!
But then we grow taller and get older. We mature and no longer have a need for our once dearly loved “blankey”.
Right…
If you believe that last statement, I have some prime hillside property in Tennessee I can make you such a deal on! I know, I know - very few of us are still hauling around the old tattered blanket or Mrs. Beasley doll from our youth. We’d get more weird looks than any of us could probably handle. However, I’d bet at least a nickel or two that every single one of us is the proud possessor of some kind of blankey. And yes, in some cases it may still be some kind of object - only now, since we’re adults and obviously more mature - it’s more likely our “lucky charm/shirt/shoes/penny/key ring/hat/rock/you name it”. It’s the “thing” that provides that little extra level of security and comfort in a still scary world.
No, of course there’s nothing wrong with carrying a lucky whatever around with us. Well, up to a certain point that is. If we go to extremes and refuse to even leave the house without it for fear that we’ll be hit by an eighteen-wheeler, we really should be seeking some professional counseling. But you knew that already, didn’t you?
Frequently, our adult blankey is not a physical object. It often comes in the form of a personal belief system. It’s a concept - a focus - that we rely on to act as our haven from the storms of life. Our security in yes, a still scary world. Frequently, our adult blankey is based upon our religious or spiritual beliefs. Sometimes it’s part of our quest for development - physically, mentally or emotionally. Unfortunately, it occasionally also can take the form of self-debilitating actions used to compensate for a perceived lack of adequacy in some part of ourselves.
It’s obvious that (in reference to the last sentence) that an obsessive quest for power, money, attention, etc. is not necessarily in our best interests. And it should be apparent too, that a reasonable reliance on our religious or spiritual beliefs to carry us through life can be a good thing for us - as can reasonable efforts toward any type of self-improvement.
The problem is that sometimes we carry things to an extreme. We become so over-focused on our blankey that we forget that there’s a big blob of real world all around us. We cover our heads with our blankey and try to hide from the realities of life. And unfortunately, we frequently succeed.
Blankies are good. They can be comforting and can provide a foundation for our lives - and for our personal development. They can also encase our minds, restrain our normal curiosities, and inhibit our ability to truly enjoy life. We need to be careful of that, I think…
About The Author
Gene, through NuPathz.com, provides an easy reading self-help blog, articles and links along with affordable books and materials written to help folks find the road to a more enjoyable lifestyle, to pass on some of life’s “secrets for survival” in a chaotic world & offer a few smiles along the way. It’s a down-to-earth, simple approach to discovering a better life. You can visit Gene at http://www.nupathz.com/
gene@nupathz.com
Detoxification Through Water Therapy
Do you feel lethargic, heavy and generally under the weather? Do your skin and hair look dull and lifeless? And have your energy levels reached rock-bottom? These are often early warning signs that your body isn’t coping with the toxins found in alcohol, wheat, dairy products and caffeine. In eliminating meats wheat and dairy from daily consumption stomach acidity changes and allows food to digest easily, and diet with Master Cleanse. Patients that are highly sensitive should maintain this phase for at least one month before moving onto the next stage. Master Cleanse program is highly popular with celebrities in Hollywood. One common detox diet is the combination of nothing but fruits and water for a given period. The promotion of chemicals being matabilized by our bodies can be helped with certain vitamins, which is the reason why you must be on the Master Cleanse
Why Use Master Cleanse Program
2. Most of us eat far less fiber than we need and consume far more sugar, refined flour, saturated fats, and protein than we should. In this toxic era, we need fiber more than ever, to help us neutralize the toxins and scrub them out of our system. A diet rich in whole grains, legumes, fruits, and fresh vegetables offers us plenty of fiberbut how many of us eat that way? We’re more likely to consume fatty, sugary, and floury foods or to go on the low-carb, low-fiber diets like Atkins and South Beach. Previous generations of Americans ate twenty to thirty grams of fiber per day. Our current average has dropped to less than twelve. So the food we eat sits in our colons for weeks, months, even years, where it slowly putrefies, bloating our stomachs and poisoning our bodies. Our poor, overloaded livers are supposed to detoxify our bodies, but they can’t keep up with this toxic challenge. They do the best they can, but how can they properly metabolize fat when they’re assaulted by this daily dose of toxins? Once again, we gain weight. See more on Master Cleanse at Master Cleanse Diet
Master Cleanse Benefits:
Master Cleanse is the world most popular diet program. Drinking plenty of water and having regular bowel movements can alleviate these headaches. Of those 91 pollutants, an average of 53 were known carcinogens including PCBs, dioxins, pthalates, insecticides, pesticides and heavy metals. The group of volunteers included individuals who lived in a rural coastal community and had eaten organic foods for over 30 years. So, do start your master cleanse diet today. Chelation therapy is well-respected but news here is that by taking EDTA under the tongue and holding it there for a few minutes more of it gets absorbed into the blood than if it is taken as an oral pill or suppository.
Ignorance of the Truth is the root of human suffering and this leads to anger, hatred and greed within the person. Most human beings are never satisfied with what they have and poor people have the impression that wealth would bring happiness to their lives. Physically unattractive people always feel dissatisfied with their looks and to them, beauty would make them happy. However, if we check with wealthy people and beautiful people whether they are happy all the time, we will find that they, too, have a lot of things to worry about. They may tell you money cannot buy happiness and when beauty is overcome by old age, their happiness cannot last.
Every individual has a different degree of expectations in their life. Why do people feel such dissatisfaction in their lives? Let us see a simple example here:
Once, a little girl was crying by the roadside and an elderly passerby felt sorry and asked her, “Why are you crying?” Rubbing off her tears the little girl said she had lost the one dollar that her mum gave it to her as pocket money to buy candies and cookies. The passerby wasted no time in offering her the one dollar to solve her problem. The little girl took the money and stopped crying immediately but the next moment she started to cry even louder than before. The man was puzzled and queried why she was still crying. The little girl said, “If I had not lost the first dollar, I would have two dollars now.”
Life is full of cravings and ignorance of the Truth generates sentiments of anger, hatred, dissatisfaction and suffering which in turn can lead to killing. If a human being let hatred grow in his heart, he will become an evil spirit. If an evil spirit let hatred grow in his heart, he will become a demon. Therefore, shunning hatred is the beginning of avoiding the demon. Ask ourselves whether we have any hatred in our hearts. If you have, then it is time you have to get rid of them because it leads to the devilish path. Learn to forgive and in return you will be forgiven.
A person cannot hide his true anger behind a facade of smiles and cheerfulness. Just be aware that our thoughts in our mind determine our behavior which in turn forms our habits. These habits mould our personalities and they yield our fate. If a person is always complaining and arguing with people, it shows that his heart is full of anger and darkness. Difficult personality will never have a good life because who wants to be with him?
We are normally happy when people agree with us and unhappy if they disagree. If someone says some rude words to us, we will immediately feel displeasure or even get angry. On the other hand, if someone says some appreciative words or praise us, we will feel delighted and happy. Our moods are constantly affected by someone’s comments or criticism. We simply cannot avoid being affected by people’s behavior because we are living in the world among people and surely people will say something unless we go into the jungle and hide away from the world. But this is not the solution. The only way is to set our heart to the realization of the Truth and become independent people who listen and act with a cultivated mind. There is no great happiness or great sadness.
The way to peace and calmness of the mind is to refrain from asking others to change their behavior, align ourselves with the Truth and get rid of our negative feelings towards others. The famous proverb says, “Old habits die hard.” Even a long married couple might find it hard to change their spouse’s behavior. It is much easier to demand ourselves than to demand others to change. Being a good role model for others is much simpler than asking others to set up good example. If we try to get rid of our negative feelings like anger and hatred, then happiness will come and unhappiness will disappear. Learn to forgive and our relationship with people will improve and our family life will become more harmonious. We will regain a happy life and experience true happiness.
Once we can get rid of our roots of suffering, namely greed, anger and hatred, we will no longer suffer because no one can upset us. This is because the roots come from within ourselves and not from outside. The key to a peaceful heart lies within our inner-selves and the practice of Tao is to get rid of these roots of human suffering. An evil mind is defined as a mind filled with ignorance, greed, anger and hatred. Such negative mind will lead us towards a demonic spirit.
This is the saying of my Heavenly Teacher JiGong:
“To oneself, we must seek faults among our faultlessness. Not only can this improve our virtues, it can keep us from harm too. To others, we must seek faultlessness among their faults. Not only can we cherish our kindness, it can settle resentment too. Do check on oneself at all times. Instead of demanding others, demand oneself in every aspect. It does not matter if we make mistakes, but the important thing is we can correct them. In correcting mistakes, we can realize why and what we need to correct. Yet to realize something in depth, one must demand oneself. Hence, the saying:
To blame oneself with the same heart we blame others, and to forgive others with the same heart we forgive oneself. It is always easy to know others, but it is hard to know oneself. It is easy to forgive the wrongs of oneself, but it is hard to spare the faults of others. People can see things that are a hundred steps away, but it is hard to see the back of one’s own body. The eyes can observe things as tiny as the autumn-hair, but it is hard to count one’s eyelashes. Hence, those who always see the faults of oneself are on par with TAO.”
Author: T.A Chew
T.A Chew, as a disciple of Master JiGong realized that first we need to correct ourselves and then get rid of the roots of sufferings. By forgiving others we are forgiving ourselves and happiness will come. Every little thing becomes a source of happiness. Website: http://www.white-sun.com
