Council of Nicaea Conclusion - The Origins of Christian Belief

In the year 325A.D the emperor of Rome, Constantine gathered a group of church bishops and other leaders who believes in Christianity. The purpose of the meeting was to define the true God for all Christians and eliminate any confusion within Christ's church.

By the end of this council, Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit were considered one and the same. Before the council, there was confusion about, whether they should believe in one God, two gods or three entities.

Here's a statement from got questions, a popular Christian website, "The Council of Nicea affirmed the deity of Jesus Christ and established an official definition of the Trinity-the deity of The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit under one Godhead, in three co-equal and co-eternal Persons."

This was a pretty interesting article, if you've got time to read it, I would also suggest checking out Wikipedia for more information about the Council of Nicaea.

Here's Some of the Problems I Have with This Small Group of Proclaimed Christians.

If I'm reading this statement correctly, a group of people or religious leaders, 1700 years ago decided that Jesus, God the creator of everything in the universe and the Holy Spirit are the same. What does this mean to you? To me it establishes as a fact that a group of men, at a meeting, under the control of the Roman empire and the Emperor Constantine, made an agreement within the Council of man, not gods, that the Trinity was now a fact.

If this one thing was created by a group of men, doesn't it get you thinking about other things in your religion that might be false or even misleading. These are some of the facts that most Christians tend to either ignore or don't even have a clue that they exist.

I believe more Christians and other organized religions should inspire their followers to learn more about how their religions were formed and where they came from. I cannot verify that the Council of Nicaea ever took place, I'm basing this information on historical writings from man, that I either gather on the Internet or through books. I don't know if any of this is true or false, always use religion responsibly.

I don't need to believe the information, I don't need to believes the information in the Bible, I need to research and gather more information and with this information I can make an educated guess, and be happy with that, I suggest you do the same.

Greg Vanden Berge is a published author, internet marketing expert, motivational inspiration to millions of people all over the world and is sharing some of his wisdom with experts in the fields of writing, marketing, and personal development

Greg is currently working on a self help library filled with great subjects on a wide array of topics like religion, self help and spiritual changes in the world. His views on religious freedom are slowly changing the way people think about institutional religion

Caring For Loving People

Exercising Your Self-Efficacy

Self- efficacy is the conscious awareness of ones ability to be effective in producing a desired outcome of ones task and/or the ability to deal with life challenges. A person that is self-efficient possesses a level of self-awareness that gives them an innate ability to realize that they already possess everything he or she needs to know to not only solve their problems, but to bring their goals, needs and wants into fruition.

As in each of our lives, there are 6 life areas that complete a self-efficient individual: emotional, physical, spiritual, financial, social and intellectual. Furthermore, when we have all these areas balanced we feel happy and fulfilled. The trick becomes how do we balance these areas and meet our basic needs of belonging, power / recognition, freedom and fun. The answer is to meet these needs internally rather than externally.

Think about it for a minute. If we all possess the innate ability to solve our own problems and bring them into fruition, then why are so many of us basing our own fulfillment on the needs, wants and perceptions of others and things (external). We should not be and the reality is; we will never become self-efficient if we do.

So what will it take to become a person with self-efficacy? It takes a decision, a commitment, a strategy and action.

Your Decision- you decide what you feel is your purpose and meaning. You then make up your mind that that you will start living a life that is based on your values and belief system and not from others. For those of you who are spiritual, your foundation of beliefs can be based in the principals and doctrines of your higher power.

Your Commitment- you pledge to yourself that you will utilize all of your strength, skills, talents and resources to accomplish your decision. Take your time and make sure you are being honest with yourself about your strengths, skills, talents and resources.

Your Strategy- you figure out healthy and empowering strategies that will help you bring your decision to fruition. If you realize that, you lack important resources and skills to bring your decision to reality. Strategize how you can use the strengths, skills, talents and resources you do possess, to acquire the critical ones you are lacking.

Your Action- you take positive steps toward your decision. You are simply making movement in the intended direction. Progress is progress. It is not based on how big the growth, it is based in simply growing. If you are growing your progressing, and if you are progressing you are changing, and if you are changing, action is taking place.

If you exercise your self-efficacy, you are one step closer to authenticating your spirit.

Interested in receiving more advice on healing, wellness and personal growth? Or are you interested in booking this writer for trainings, workshops, keynote presentations or seminars? Please visit us at http://www.wcwallc.com to sign up for our newsletter or request Christian F. Johnson at a speaking engagement.

Going To Heaven Or Not

10 Humorous Quotes to Help You Get Over Difficult Situations

It's easy to think about how someone else's situation is more difficult then the one you are currently dealing with. I mean, you could be starving in a third-world country, working at McDonald's, or even getting shot at in Iraq.

That doesn't necessarily help you though, does it?

What's really important is to get through whatever you're going through the best way possible. You can't just make a statement and hope your problems go away. One great way to deal with difficult situations is to face them head on with a very powerful weapon:

Humor.

Who better to assist you than one of the most iconic humorists of his time, and even today, Woody Allen. These 10 quotes should help you face your problems with a lighter heart and a less stressful attitude.

1. "Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons."

2. "I believe there is something out there watching us. Unfortunately, it's the government."

3. "There are worse things in life than death. Have you ever spent an evening with an insurance salesman?"

Love is complicated, to say the least. While it's easy to attribute the word love to many things in our lives, do we really know what it is we're talking about when we say we "love" things? Let's see what Woody says.

4. "Love is the answer, but while you're waiting for the answer, sex raises some pretty interesting questions."

5. "A fast word about oral contraception. I asked a girl to go to bed with me, she said 'no'."

When it comes to the practicalities of life, Woody has a way of making it all go by with a lot more laughs

6. "Basically my wife was immature. I'd be at home in the bath and she'd come in and sink my boats."

7. "I am not afraid of death, I just don't want to be there when it happens."

8. "I am thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose."

9. "If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans."

10. "The talent for being happy is appreciating and liking what you have, instead of what you don't have."

I can't say your problems are worth laughing at, but maybe if you looked at them in a new light, one that involves humor, you might be able to deal with them better.

Claudia Johnson is the editor of Daily Affirmations (http://www.daily-affirmations.com), a website dedicated to providing positive affirmations each day along with self improvement tips and product reviews. Sign up to receive free affirmations and site updates via email by visiting http://www.daily-affirmations.com/ now.

How to Develop a Positive Mental Attitude

Why develop a positive mental attitude?

Well, if you look around at the high achievers in this world...in any field, you will find nearly always that they display a positive mental attitude to their field of success. They may do this knowingly or otherwise but simply put you will get much more success if you do the same.

Here are a few qualities that successful people with a positive mental attitude display which you can emulate with a bit of effort:

1) The word failure does not exist and therefore has know power over successful people. Look for the positive possibilities in every situation. What other people would term 'failure' should simply be translated into a sign of what not to do the next time you attempt to do it, and believe me successful people will always try again...

2) This neatly brings us to the quality of perseverance. If something is worth doing now, then you will likely still want to achieve it next month, next year or whenever, so why stop trying? If you desire your goal there is no reason to stop trying until you have attained it, come what may. Know before you start that success won't be immediate, accept this, formulate a realistic plan, write it down, follow it through, make modifications if necessary but keep going. Writing down your plan immediately gives you a confidence boost as it allows you to see exactly how you can achieve your goals which in turn stimulates your motivation as well.

3) Take responsibility for your situation and actions. Most successful people acknowledge that they created their current circumstances due to their previous actions. Their current situation is believed to be merely a reflection of their previous thought patterns. If you have this the opposite way around then you will seemingly feel the victim to circumstance rather than the controller of it and the deliberate creator that you can be.

By taking responsibility there is therefore know attempt to blame others or for you to hide from the fact that you might have made a mistake which created your situation. By being honest in this way it is easy to make amendments to your thoughts and actions to create future success.

4) Be committed. Develop a 'whatever it takes' approach. This mentality is an extremely important part of a positive mental attitude. Life is full of stories of people with less natural talent becoming more successful than their more talented counterparts. They go the extra yard to be successful, they do the extra training, stay behind after class, run a few more minutes on the treadmill and so on. In short they make life pay the price. Often this part of displaying a positive attitude can feel frustrating. However successful people realize that success is just on the other side of frustration and use it as a good sign post towards future success.

5) Focus your energies on what you do want and not what you don't want. Energy is always creative, particularly your thought energy so don't waste it on negative things. Remember, what you resist persists. So, by seeing the negative in a situation you are actually fueling it and making it into a greater problem. Simply, if you have what you term a negative situation look again and focus on the positive possibilities and give them your thought. These areas will subsequently expand in your mind with avenues that could lead to positive solutions to the initial problem. These thoughts will naturally lead you to more successful thoughts and the spiral continues.

6) Be decisive. Successful people with a positive mental attitude make decisions and stick to them. If they decide they will achieve a certain goal then they will not go back on their decision regardless of how fruitless their task can seemingly appear to be. Remember Thomas Edison the famous inventor of the light bulb. 9,999 attempts and no success commented that he had achieved 9,999 ways not to invent a light bulb, before actually doing so. Imagine if he had given up after 2, 3 or even 500 attempts!. His decision to invent a light bulb was made and remained unchanged until he had done so.

The above are just a few of the main ways in which you can adopt a positive attitude which only you can develop through your efforts and through being persistent. Make a conscious effort each and everyday to be positive and it will naturally become a habit and lead you to success.

Author Tim Ryan provides FREE guidance and training on the power of positive thinking. View positive thinking articles, profiles tips and more by simply clicking: Personal Development or Positive Steps now.

Six Daily Motivation Tips

How do you achieve a more consistent level of daily motivation? Use the following powerful techniques, beginning at the start of your day.

1. Start The Day Motivated

Have a morning motivation routine. Experiment a bit and see what gets you going. If it has to be coffee, then so be it, although there are probably healthier options. One thing that probably doesn't work is hitting the snooze button on the alarm clock. That just trains your brain and body to pay less attention to the alarm. Try cold showers, energizing music, exercise and anything else that might work for you. Once you find a few things that help you get you ready for the day, work them into a regular routine.

2. Have Worthy Goals

If you have nothing to get excited about, find something. Quit your job, move to another town, make a goal that requires work you will enjoy. You have nothing to lose in your life if there is nothing in it that you want to be doing, so start making changes. Start exploring the possibilities to see which ones might inspire you and make you want to get going each day. Then remind yourself of these important or inspirational goals every morning.

3. Use Fear

We are all motivated by both fear and the promise of rewards, but some of us respond better to fear. You can use this to get yourself moving. In fact, you already do if you sometimes lay there in the morning until the thoughts of what will happen if you don't get up make you finally jump out of bed. Just make it more conscious and planned. Imagine the bad things that will happen if you don't do what needs to be done. This is a very basic psychological technique. You link pain with not acting, so you feel a strong urge to get busy working on your goals.

4. Have Daily Motivation Talks

Almost everyone gets excited and experiences a rise in energy levels when talking about something that is truly important and inspiring to them. This could be cars, self improvement, politics, money or just about anything. Find the "hot" topics that get you excited and start a conversation about them as necessary. This works best if the person you are talking to shares your enthusiasm, but try it with anyone who will listen. Afterwards you should be able to carry that energized and motivated state over to the work at hand.

5. Do Something

Though it may seem ironic, I started writing this article without feeling too motivated (I write more than a hundred articles a year). But I knew that if I just wrote a sentence or two, there would be some momentum created. Sure enough, I am writing easily now, and with some enthusiasm. The point: take any small step. Do anything to start the project or task in front of you - any action towards a goal - and you will feel some degree of motivation building within you.

6. Go Beyond Daily Motivation Tricks

Learn how your brain and body works and you can easily apply that knowledge through "tricks" like those here. However, there is also a natural motivation which arises in us when we are living in a balanced and healthy way. You may be skeptical of the idea at first, but when you see clearly enough what needs to be done, the energy is there. Work on that self awareness and honest inquiry into ones nature, and more and more you'll be able to tap into that natural state of seeing the truth and acting. Then you won't need daily motivation "tricks" or tips.

Copyright Steve Gillman. For more Self Motivation Tips, and to learn more powerful principles that go much further, visit: http://www.selfimprovementnow.com/self-motivation-tips.html

Is Your God Better Than Mine

If you're part of a religious organization, and were asked this question, "Whose God Is Better" meaning of course, is your God better and stronger or smarter and better looking than the religious competition. Is this something that you believe or were taught while you were young? Obviously you wouldn't think that the Hindu god Brahma is better than Yahweh or Jesus, if you're a Christian. It just wouldn't make any sense to belong to a religion that was weaker than the competition.

It seems like most religions around the world have gods or even one almighty God that is the biggest and baddest god in the neighborhood, maybe even the entire universe.

If we look at the numbers, the Christian God Jesus of Nazareth is the strongest by far. A survey that was done in 2005, showed Christians 2.1 billion strong and growing. With numbers like this, their God must be doing something right. Do you think these numbers are large because of their financial influences in poor countries? Something to think about, how did Christianity become such a large religious institution. They've got plenty of money and pay relatively little taxes. Remember the golden rule, the person with the most gold makes all the rules.

Second on our religious scale are the Muslims, the Islamic religion has over 1.1 billion followers and that puts it at almost half the size of Christianity, but more than doubled the size of the third largest religion by the numbers.

The third largest religion in the world is Hinduism and most of India which is second only to China as the most populated countries in the world are Hindus. Hinduism ranks around 800 million followers.

I'll stop right there. I wanted to give you an idea of religion by the numbers, realistically the Christians and the Muslims believe in the same God but the Muslims recognize Jesus as a prophet and the Christians don't recognize Mohammad at all and Mohammad is the number one prophet for the Islamic religion. But if we put the two of them together, it would be the largest religion by far with almost no competition economically or with military strength.

So to answer our question," Whose God Is Actually Better", I would have to say the Christian God is the most popular and powerful God and the universe. The only problem is, there's no actual proof that Jesus, Mohammed, Yahweh, Krishna or any other supreme being is real. People follow these religions and base almost everything on faith with very little facts that can actually be proven.

I'm not talking about small facts, I'm talking about big ones like, how the world was created, you can choose to believe, anything that you want but until we have some facts or at least something that sounds pretty good, you should probably stop thinking, that your religion is the only way and your God the best. Show some compassion for other religions around the world, their beliefs are no better or weaker than yours.

Hope in Religion

You are free to copy this article to your site as long as you include the following resource information with an active link to my site:

Greg Vanden Berge is a published author, internet marketing expert, motivational inspiration to millions of people all over the world and is sharing some of his wisdom with experts in the fields of writing,marketing, and personal development. Check out one of his recommended books, religious books

Flowing Through the Universe

We live in an electromagnetic sea of light which is flowing through the universe. This sea of light is a part of our human consciousness.

The many millions of Lightworkers in the world have now brought enough conscious awareness into the level of the light on earth to start and connect the whole underlying field of light to become integrated and conscious in its own right, like a huge supercomputer.

Everything in the universe has this sea of light at its core. Physical matter is a hologram of light which has condensed; a thought-form where light has slowed down and changed from a wave into the fine particles which cluster together to form the finest building blocks, the atoms, that make up matter and everything in the Universe.

When we are relaxed, happy and going with our soul's purpose, we flow in this sea of light; guided and supported by the universe, we feel pleasure when we go with the flow.

Everything around us now has this same conscious awareness which formerly was experienced only through the human system. Our body's energy field, the human aura, reaches out and connects to the underlying lay lines and magnetosphere belonging to the planet.

Connect the earth to the sun and the other planets in a web of light. Gamma ray bursts flow right through the Universe, creating a superhighway of integrated conscious connections.

We are now becoming increasingly aware of these more subtle levels of energy which have become Self-aware and conscious, creating a matrix of intelligent communication throughout the whole universe.

Astrology has proved over many centuries that the heavenly bodies have an influence on our lives, emotions and feelings.

When we are driving our car, we feel guided and if we listen to our subtlest emotions, feeling and inner voice, we can transmit and receive messages to and from the underlying field of the intelligent light matrix, which keeps us safe and free from danger.

All the various control systems seem to link into our emotions and feeling; if we are feeling in tune and supported, we get green lights all the way when we drive. Parking spaces are free in the perfect place for us.

As we drive we seem to pick up messages from the things around us. We may notice synchronicities occurring, like the numbers on the dashboard clock being similar to those on the mile counter or temperature gauge or the number plate of the car in front.

We may start to notice messages in billboard signs which seem to be meant just for us.

It is as though what is outside of us is also inside, like we have a built-in satellite navigation system. It is unusual to go far astray when you are connected to your internal navigation system; it is as though you can drive on your emotions and feeling and be guided to the right place.

When you use your subtle energies while driving, it goes without saying that for safety's sake, you need to stay consciously aware of the five senses and your connection to physical reality. All I am suggesting here is to allow the awareness to expand a little by gaining depth as well within the subtle energies.

George E. Lockett IIHHT, SSHA (C) Copyright 2008, All Rights Reserved.

New book - "A Journey into the Self - The Multi-dimensional Nature of Being Human" by George E. Lockett, visit the Website for details: http://www.healergeorge.com

If you would like HealerGeorge to send healing to you or someone else, please click the link:

Request Distant Healing

What is Distant Healing?

Distant Healing is similar to prayer and its advantage is that it allows patients to receive Healing energies just as effectively as if they were in the presence of the Healer. Patients receive Healing equally well even when they are too ill to know that it is being sent. Distant Healing is equally effective whatever the patient's beliefs, although a desire to get better intensifies the effect of Healing. Any aspect of the body, mind or spirit can be reached by Healing.

Video Book Review - The Magic of Beleiving, by Claude Bristol

I don't need to write anything, watch the video

Greg Vanden Berge is a published author, internet marketing expert, motivational inspiration to millions of people all over the world and is sharing some of his wisdom with experts in the fields of writing,marketing, and personal development. Check out one of his recommended books, More on Claude Bristol

Greg is currently working on a personal development library filled with great subjects on a wide array of topics, like religion, self help and spiritual changes in the world. His views on religious freedom are slowly changing the way people think about institutional religion.

Louis P Pojman
Jim Stovall

Feng Shui 101

What is it anyway? Feng shui has been there for many years now but still some of us do not yet know what it is or how it can be helpful. It is the art of arranging the environment in such a way that it fuses harmoniously with the surroundings. The word itself means wind and water in Chinese and it symbolizes cosmic energy. Where did feng shui originated? It was way back 3,000 years ago when philosophers of China have made the Book of Changes. This was an ancient book that uses feng shui to determine the best sites to bury the departed. People then had a strong belief that the position of the grave has a great significance on bringing prosperity and peace to their loved ones. And from there, more and more people have come to know feng shui and started to spread it.

From the burial rituals it was then extended to villages and other communities. It was then applied in the way of arranging the home, the school, a room, office or a restaurant. From then on, it was then adopted by some westerners in building their houses, rearranging the furniture, and many more. Apart from shiatsu, acupuncture and tai chi, feng shui has played an essential part in their lives. From then on, the people's interest on it has greatly increased especially when it comes to home furnishings or placements. From the colors, to the shapes of each room, to the way the light is facing and much more.

So why do people use feng shui? It is said that if you use it, the room's positive energy is optimized. Moreover, the negative energy is known to be minimized, thus, promoting a healthy well-being. Feng shui is based on the principle of chi, an invisible energy that is present in the surroundings. It flows endlessly so when it runs on a straight path, the chi is lost. But when it is stuck on a certain space, it becomes stagnant, thus, losing chi also. Keep in mind, not all chi gives positive energy.

There is the unlucky energy that may oppose the forces. The main objective of feng shui is to let positive chi flow smoothly opposing negative chi and in effect, achieving harmony. Feng shui experts say that sharp angles in a room can activate negative energy. If you want to remove it, make a balance to counter that flaw. Combining shapes, colors and adding materials may elevate positive chi which may minimize the misfortunes that may come along.

Moreover, the well-being of the occupants is said to be improved. If you bring good feng shui into your environment, then you may attract positive energy that may help in your success or in opening doors for opportunity. And it is very popular nowadays that you can tell which rooms or houses have applied this principle. When you walk into a room or a house, do you feel comfort? Does the atmosphere feel light and inviting? Well, chances are, the owner of the house has used feng shui in building their home.

Colors and placement is a very important aspect of it. There are many feng shui tips for arranging furniture around the house or in a certain room like the dining area or the bed room. They say that it can lead you to a healthier relationship with your loved ones and business relations. Moreover, it could also promote a healthier emotional well-being among the family and others. Feng shui has been there for many years now, if it was not effective, it would have died down a long time ago. But nowadays, it is still very alive and continues to help people in many different ways.

Find more interesting and helpful information about feng shui by visiting The Feng Shui Tips

What if We Ask an Artificially Intelligent Computer to Create a Religion for Mankind?

So many humans find fault with their religion or other peoples chosen religion? Wars are often fought over nothing more than religion. Silly culture wars over religious tradition and perception often arguing over what is morally right to think, say eat, wear, believe or do. Yes human wars are fought over many things, but what if we prevented religious wars?

For the sake of philosophical argument; What if We Ask an Artificial Intelligent Computer to Create a Religion for Mankind? How could this be done you ask? Oh so now you are intrigued by the latest philosophical conversation at the Online Think Tank are you?

Well first so many religions have contradictions in them. For instance live a life of peace but join in battle against an enemy? All religions have at least some contradictions, perhaps they are not so well thought out? In the future Artificial Intelligent Computers will surpass human thinking and reasoning skills, could we then ask our AI computer to design us a religion everyone could get along with and adopt Planet Wide?

There are endless contradictions in the Bible I agree and it is too bad they did not use the Future; Microsoft Professional MS Word 55.0 (with Contradiction Checker and other AI features). But alas they were merely men trying to write the best air-tight case they could to enslave the minds of the masses for control. I'd say they did an excellent job, the trickery verbiage has worked for some 2000 years and from what I see here appears to be going strong still today.

Isnt it time to use technology to upgrade human religion? After all soon man will become God and create artificial intelligence that will surpass him. I certainly hope this article is of interest and that is has propelled thought. The goal is simple; to help you in your quest to be the best in 2007. I thank you for reading my many articles on diverse subjects, which interest you.

"Lance Winslow" - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/. Lance is an online writer in retirement.

Sean Curley

Organic Food and Vegetarianism

In this article, organic food vis-a-vis vegetarianism will be initially elaborated. Organic food has been previously described to be any food - vegetables, fruits, meat, processed food, food by-products - which is free from harmful chemicals and produced using all natural methods, processes and inputs. At some point, it must carry the organic certification seal, but some simple tips to distinguish organic from inorganic food have also been presented. On the other hand, vegetarianism, which has many levels, shall be defined here in broad terms, and that is the edible fruits and vegetables.

For some people, they learned and practiced organic food lifestyle first before becoming vegetarian. For others, they took the vegetarian road first before learning and being organic food consumer. Of course, there are also those who only consider themselves as vegetarian or simply into organic food lifestyle, whichever. They may be conscious of categorizing themselves or simply not aware of it.

Vegetarian consciousness has been more identified with spirituality. This consciousness has been as old as the Eastern Civilization. It is a discipline in attaining Oneness with the Divine or Yoga. Yogis and meditators believe that the physical body, being the temple of the soul, must be clean and therefore has to be purified. Being vegetarian is one way of purifying the body because vegetables eliminate physical wastes and toxins in the physical body. Scientific researches have already presented a lot of healing and cleansing properties of vegetables. An example is the way vegetable fibers do in eliminating wastes.

Organic food awareness, for its part, has been greatly brought about by the harmful effects of artificial and commercial food production. It is actually in advocacy stage as this caters only to a niche market Although it was a natural thing to consume natural food in the pre-historic age until the dawn of commercial production, this awareness was eventually replaced when the need for mass production arose. Therefore, while organic food awareness seems to be much older, the awareness dissipation caused by modernization has made it something new for the present age.

People who are becoming more aware of organic food consumption are indeed in the process of going back, of communing with nature and be at one with it. They would like to be as healthy as the people who once set their feet on earth. With the way cancer and other diseases are shortening the lifespan of people, organic food consumption is becoming a choice.

For vegetarians, this is the same process they are discovering and doing in their life. They also would like to go back, to be home. The Vegans have for thousands of years known the benefits of eating vegetables. These same benefits are the benefits being appreciated by organic food consumers. Both are now learning from each other.

Read more organic food articles and get ready for the organic and natural choice. Browse other related articles by visiting Natural and Organic Food Reviews. The site is dedicated to provide information about healthy habits and lifestyles, list and links to organic food stores and organic food online, campaigns and advocacy on organic and natural food, organic farming and production and a storehouse full of organic food tips. Exchange of information and comments are always welcome.

Do Something About That Lousy Takeout Dinner!

If you have lived more than fifty years in Singapore, you would know the taste of cooked food have undergone great changes over the years. The eating culture has evolved from having home-cooked meals to eating takeout dinners. A few years ago, you could still find good tasting and value for money dishes in many Singapore food courts. In recent years, high rentals have pushed operators to hire cheap labour from abroad as stall attendants and cooks. Prices have risen, portions are reduced, and the quality of food has dropped to an unsatisfying level.

As a working mom, I usually pack food from the food court on my way home. The cheapest packet is $3.80 which is rice with a few slices of duck meat and not even a slice of cucumber to go with it. We cannot have that for dinner every day, can we?My takeout dinner for 3 adults and a teenager usually costs between $16 to $22, excluding drinks and fruits. In recent months, I have to order an extra food packet for anyone who needs extra helping. You see, the portions have reduced and I feel sorry that my husband sometimes looks hopefully for food that our daughters leave behind because it tastes lousy or it has too much starch.

The last meal of the day is a time when the family meets and chats. The topic should not be a complaint about food cost and unpalatable fare. I remember a time when compliments are passed about the aroma and delicious taste of food. Now the family has less reason to stay and talk. I decided to end the days of unhappy dining.

For the same amount of money spent on takeout food, I could easily feed the family with plenty of vegetables, fruits, and just the right amount of meat and staples. The only adjustment we have to make is to change our dinner time to 8.00 p.m. My family is elated with the prospect of having home-cooked meals again.

Now I prepare comfort food and favorite dishes of the family all within two hours. I can pick up the ingredients at the supermarket on the way home, and easily prepare a stew one day, a meat and vegetable soup the next evening, or a curry and a dessert mid week. A real quickie would be steamed fish fillets and a vegetable stir fry. The days of small offerings of rice or noodles with a few slices of fish cake, miserable amount of minced meat and one leaf of greens are over for us!
The motivation to cook comes from knowing everyone is happy and feels satisfied after a day at work. On the other hand nutrition and clean food preparation is assured. Home is now a place to come back to because Mom is cooking again.

Impressed your friends with an Asian meal for your next dinner party. Check out my recipes at http://theasianbuffet.blogspot.com/.

Door Fill In With Damage

What's the Difference Between a Drug Addict and Religious Extremist

Sometimes while getting responses from others about my articles, listening to audio's about religion or while watching religious documentaries, I get to meet what I would consider, to be religious extremists. I have to admit that these people get upset and a little out of hand, sometimes. I am no different, every once in a while, someone pushes my buttons and I go over the edge. I feel like a complete jerk afterwords but nevertheless it's now a part of my history.

Drug addicts are usually not positive role models and are often viewed as selfish individuals. On a spiritual level, most of them think that they have the world figured out. They are often seen spouting their opinions and justifying their behaviors daily. They usually hang around others who do drugs and this often allows them additional support for justifying their behaviors.

If you can surround yourself with others who think like you do while rationalizing their drug related behaviors, it's not long before they start believing in their social surroundings. This now becomes a way of life and everyone else who doesn't agree with them, is now an outcast from their drug using society.

Do you see any similarities between drug addicts and religious extremists? Maybe I haven't finished my painting yet. Let me continue.

Religious extremists can be considered role models in their society and often are not viewed as selfish individuals within their religious society, but outside of this community they can have enemies and might not be viewed by others in a good way.. On a spiritual level, they have everything figured everything out and there's very little room for information, outside of their beliefs. On a daily basis, they can be seen preaching and justifying their behaviors to others.

These people rarely stray to far from their religious group. The religious extremists can easily justify their behaviors, like most drug addicts, hanging around people who think like they do, often aren't well liked by people outside of their social groups, don't want to listen to outside opinions and often view these opinions as attacks on their beliefs, instead of the truth or common sense.

I'm sure there are a few differences, and many more similarities between drug addicts and religious extremist. Both of these people often look at the other as wrong, ignorant and wasting their lives. Each one of them knows what's best until proven wrong by another group, that they will soon be following as a new extremist in another group.

Spiritual Living Hernia

You are free to copy this article to your site as long as you include the following resource information with an active link to my site:

Greg Vanden Berge is a published author, internet marketing expert, motivational inspiration to millions of people all over the world and is sharing some of his wisdom with experts in the fields of writing,marketing, and personal development.

Greg is currently working on a helping Christians filled with great subjects on a wide array of topics, like religion, self help and spiritual changes in the world. His views on religious freedom are slowly changing the way people think about institutional religion.

Game Of Life And How To Play

Imagine a World without Possessions

Imagine There's No Heaven, It's Easy If You Try, No Hell below Us, above Us Only Sky, Imagine All the People Living for Today. Imagine There's No Countries, It Isn't Hard to Do, Nothing to Kill or Die for, and No Religion Too. Imagine All the People Living Life in Peace. Think about It.

It's hard to imagine, with the information today and even 50 years ago that most people still believe in religions all over the world, just because they were raised to believe in them. Religions of the future will have to adapt to change, a little faster as more people read articles like mine to promote education within your religion.

Find out a little bit more about Your Religious Freedom

You are free to copy this article to your site as long as you include the following resource information with an active link to my site:

Greg Vanden Berge is a published author, internet marketing expert, motivational inspiration to millions of people all over the world and is sharing some of his wisdom with experts in the fields of writing,marketing, and personal development.

Greg is currently working on a religous help library filled with great subjects on a wide array of topics, like religion, self help and spiritual changes in the world. His views on religious freedom are slowly changing the way people think about institutional religion.

Habits To Prevent Losing Things

Doreen Virtue appeared discusses the Crystal Children

Doreen Virtue appeared discusses the Crystal Children, a type of child born since 1995 that has unusual attributes such as very large eyes, telepathy, and fearlessness. Virtue had previously studie

Life of Jesus

You are free to copy this article to your site as long as you include the following resource information with an active link to my site:

Greg Vanden Berge is a published author, internet marketing expert, motivational inspiration to millions of people all over the world and is sharing some of his wisdom with experts in the fields of writing,marketing, and personal development.

Greg is currently working on a self help library filled with great subjects on a wide array of topics, like religion, self help and spiritual changes in the world. His views on religious freedom are slowly changing the way people think about institutional religion.

Put Your Plans Into Action

Building the Foundation Towards Personal Development

To achieve any form of success, personal development should be on top of one's priority. You cannot expect growth in your business when you lack certain aspects in terms of personal growth. Hence, the sad reality that only a few among those aiming for success achieve it. Through personal development methods, you might not ensure yourself of success but you can be one step closer to it.

Create Goals As Your Stepping Stone

When it comes to self improvement, goals serve as both your driving force and endpoint. In concept, setting a goal is like building a solid foundation. Hence, it ensures that whatever you place thereafter or what steps you take are supported by that strong foundation.

It might seem obvious at first, after all it is what most self-help books would initially point out. But stressing the importance of a goal is critical to your success. When you have a goal, you are able to determine what actions to take in order to reach that. Accordingly, you will also identify whatever it is you need to avoid so as not to be stopped on your tracks.

As much as you can, set specific goals: monthly, weekly, or daily. This helps keep your focus on what needs to get done for you to become a step closer to achieving your goal.

How Do You Create A Goal?

Now that you realize the importance of setting goals, the next dilemma is to determine healthy goals. It is easy to set goals, but recognizing the important goals is the tougher part. Hence, you might find these tips helpful:

1. Think of something, whether short or long term, that you want to achieve or acquire. Hence, you can use that goal towards personal development.

2. Devise a plan that will enable you to reach that goal.

3. Within that major goal, trim them down to smaller and shorter goals that will serve as steps towards achieving that bigger goal. This assists in the personal development process because it practice discipline in meeting those smaller goals.

Pillars of Personal Development

Depending on your habits, you can determine whether your day to day activities are productive or not. Indeed, our habits control what you do and the way you think. Learn to recognize your healthy habits from those that are not. Then, you can work on improving your unsuccessful habits and turn them into a more productive activity.

When it comes to your way of thinking, developing an optimistic outlook could spell success in personal growth. You become what you think about. Also, having a positive outlook in life will enable you to examine things objectively so you recognize the areas in your personal life that need improvement.

Improving Your Self Image

If you have a healthy self image, you do not have to worry about living up to anyone's expectations. Do not stress out over convincing others but focus on what you need to do instead.

In terms of business, you can get more people to trust you or find you credible when you act like one. Then, surround yourself with people that will help you grow and aim for the same goals as you do. Work only with people that are committed to helping you succeed. When you have a healthy working relationship, you assist in the process of personal development. Also, limiting the amount of negativity within your immediate surrounding improves your own self-esteem and capacity to succeed.

Just a few steps to take and keep in mind in your quest to achieve personal development.

Larry Rivera is a Internet Network Marketer who teaches people how to use the internet to start a home based business. Success University is the #1 Personal Development website on the internet. It gives you a place to earn while you learn. Having problems with relationship building, Learn the skills they never taught you in school.. Success University Review

Thomas Moore

Positive Attitude: Your Choice Of Friends Matters

You heard from many people and read from many books that having a positive attitude is very important as it is a foundation towards success and it will makes your life easier. But the reality is that in your life, you will sometime face some problems and difficulties. Your surrounding will not help because you will face with a lot of people who has negative attitude and the media is always full of negative things. So what kind of people that you always associated with play a part on whether you will have a positive attitude or not and decided on whether you will reach your goal or not.

Friends are very important as there is a saying that no man is a island. If you want to have a positive attitude and always have a positive thinking, then the choice of your friends will be very important to you. As you will always be interacting with your friend, you will subconsciously be influenced by your friend.

For example, you are with a group of friends who have a negative attitude towards life. What they will always tell you will be the negative things. If you want to do something and you ask for their opinions, they will just tell you that it is impossible. If you do not have your thinking, you will just feel that it is impossible too. This will not be good for you because you will never dare to do anything different from your friends.

What kind of thinking that you have in your mind is actually a kind of energy. When you are always surrounded by negative energy, you will be affected by it. So what is the best solution to this problem. It is simple and it is to mix around with more people who have a positive attitude towards everything. You will soon be influenced by them and you will have a positive attitude.

The interesting thing is that you will never see successful people with negative attitude but you will always see successful people with positive attitude. Successful people always mix around with positive thinking friends. That is the reason why they are so successful. So be selective of who your friends are and have the kind of positive thinking that you richly deserved.

Zack Lim is the owner of http://self-improvement.atspace.com providing information on positive attitude. To get Free 7 Days to Positive Thinking course, go to http://self-improvement.atspace.com This article is free for republishing by visitors provided the resource link is retained

Benefits Of A Bad Childhood

Spiritual Affirmation - Healing Your Inner Self With Spiritual Affirmations

From childhood to adulthood, the knowledge we gain or the experiences we have in our lives only helps us to discover our outer personality and brings us closer to material things of this world. At the same time we sometimes get depressed or fall into a low self-esteem Problem. Spiritual Affirmations help us get out of these problems. Spiritual Affirmations leads us towards a happy and satisfying life with a peaceful mind.

Affirmations are a judgment that we pass or any thought we have. An affirmation is directly linked to our sub consciousness. Affirmations can either be negative or positive which can either guide our subconscious actions to a successful life or towards failure.

Spiritual Affirmations are a form of meditation which when mediated often, have a desirable results. For example if a person has a lack of confidence or self-esteem problem sit in a peaceful, quiet place with some spiritual affirmations in your mind, let the emotions flow to you and start saying the spiritual affirmations aloud, 'I believe in myself' or 'My inner self will always guide me towards right path with decisions that are beneficial to me and others'.

The key behind spiritual affirmations is to let go of all your negative thoughts and trust completely in yourself. Instead of thinking 'This project is too difficult for me' try thinking 'I am capable of anything and obstacles do not effect me or my work'. Once you adopting this kind of spiritual affirmation you will notice a positive and healthy change in your life.

The best way to carry out spiritual affirmation technique is to release your mind of any negative thought, sit in a peaceful and quiet place, relax and visualize any positive spiritual affirmation such as 'My mind is at peace now'. At the same time try to use simple words and sentences which can easily be interpreted by our mind and mind can easily accept it to be true.

Spiritual affirmations not only help to achieve a peaceful mind and happy life but also helps us draw closer to God. Remember God and His blessings as much as possible while utilizing the spiritual affirmation technique. For example "I let my renewed soul thank God for His blessings" or 'I release my old self and reborn with a new pure soul'. The most acceptable and commonly used word in spiritual affirmation is 'Amen' meaning 'so be it'. While some of us use it to conclude our prayer, it can be used for spiritual affirmation.

For a positive result spiritual affirmation needs to be repeated many times for effectiveness. Write down any positive thought you get maybe in a diary, on a piece of card or whichever way is convenient to you. Review them daily to get your mind to completely accept these thoughts. Preferably review them twice a day. Initially during spiritual affirmation technique we will also get negative thoughts. Note down these thoughts as well and at the end of the day review them and try replacing them with something more positive. Once you perform this spiritual affirmation technique on a regular basis you will find a positive change in yourself with a renewed spirit.

Robert Watson is a certified hypnotherapist with the ABH and the NGH, and has worked with affirmations and subliminal messages for over ten years. Visit his Subliminal Messages website for more information about using affirmations and subliminal messages to help you lose weight, quit smoking, have a more positive outlook and more.

Stopped Losing Your Car Keys