Welcome to Michael's Article Collection

I Am Unique

We have given a lot of thought, paid an indecent amount of money and taken much action over the years to change the way we are. To become ‘better’ human beings. To make the most of this life we have. To get rid of the behaviours that are counterproductive. The behaviours that cause harm to us and others.We have attended numerous courses, workshops and seminars around the world. Only to find tha. . .

TIPS FOR LAWYERS: Creating Effective Habits in the New Ye...

It's that time of year where we all feel enormous pressure to make resolutions for personal and professional improvement. Lawyers are no exception! The problem is too often we set the new goals without a real plan of how we're going to avoid reverting to our old habits!Habits can be a friend or foe. Think of a habit as a pattern of behavior. Successful habits...help us to achieve success...othe. . .

Make your dream a reality this year

Do you have a dream you would like to accomplish? Whoever you are, I am pretty sure your answer is yes. Okay, now I am going to give you the secret to turn your dream in to a reality. Are you ready? I hope so; such a great tip can make all the difference from being a person of success or just a person full of wishes. I can almost hear you now, replying: Okay Kenia, can you please tell me t. . .

Let Other People See Who You Really Are

Do you know anybody that you feel is particularly engaging and lively? Take a moment to picture that person in your mind. What is it about that person that you find most attractive? He or she may have a charming voice and a great laugh, but it is also very likely that you find their face very expressive. That person is probably quick to smile and laugh and seems to always have a twinkle in . . .

Imagination: A Power-Tool For Success

By divine design, you possess a tremendous power-tool. This tool can make the difference between you achieving unbelievable success or being an unrecognized underachiever. You can use this tool to obtain things you desire or to advance your career. What is this great power-tool and how can you use it to your advantage? Let’s take a look at the gift of imagination.Your Built-in ‘Movie Theater Te. . .

Turn Your Passion into Business and Marketing Success

Words I have heard repeated consistently from successful entrepreneurs are '... you have to love what you do to be a success' or '...whatever you do, do what you love.' I am here to validate those words and uphold their significance and impact. Have you found you would like something much more gratifying in your career? Branching out into your own business but you’re not exactly sure what y. . .

Attitude – It Can Make All The Difference!!

It has been rightly said, “Life is an attitude of the mind!” In our daily lives we meet a lot of different kinds of people, travel, work etc. Each day adds to your experience and knowledge in some way or the other. Many of us crib about simple things each day…like a hectic day at work, a bus missed or an exam you did poorly in. Do we ever sit back and think of the attitude we show towards diffe. . .

New Year’s Resolution forgotten already?

Now that the new year is here, many of us are struggling to hold onto our usual new year’s resolutions. Have you noticed that most of the time resolutions add to your “to-do” list rather than simplifying your life? Why not making a resolution to simplify your life instead? Do you often feel overwhelmed with things to do, places to be? You enjoy being productive but feel frantic during the day? . . .

How to Sell Yourself Like a Product

Interviewing for a job is in many ways comparable to a sales person making a sale. If you were a sales person and were about to sell a product to a customer you would do some homework or research so that you could convince your customers that your product was the best product on the market to fill their needs. If you think of this scenario and apply it to the job interview process you will find. . .

Dean Martin

When singers Dean Martin and Sonny King were first starting out, they had little money. They would go to a restaurant that served 2 donuts, coffee, and orange juice for a nickel. Sonny stayed outside while Dean ate one donut, half the coffee and juice. Then Sonny would go in and say, 'Hey Dean, you've got an important call.' Dean would say, 'Okay, why don't you finish my breakfast.' which Sonny. . .

Smelling the Roses: Better Living Through Savoring

“Stop and smell the roses,” people often say. Then they smile ruefully, because everybody knows there isn’t enough TIME to stop or, as my daughter says, to “chill.” This is the Conventional Wisdom – and I’m here to tell you that the CW is simply WRONG. Researchers in Positive Psychology find that people actually get more done if they take time out to SAVOR their day. Not only that, but, over ti. . .

Make a Living or Design a Life:13 Tools for Successful Li...

On the journey through this thing called life, we all endure the challenges of mass confusion, unanswered questions and feelings trepidation as we navigate our way to “SUCCESS”. As elusive as the achievement of Success may seem, it is indeed a process with universal laws, principles and tools that nature uses to create everything we see in material existence.So as you reflect on 2004 and prepa. . .

I Need Your Help and/or Input!

I am a 24 year old mother of two wonderful children. I have a 3 year old son named Christopher Gabriel and a beautiful daughter named Alyssa Ann. I became a mother quit young in my life and had to substitute a lot of my wants and needs for the wants and needs of my children. As I sit and watch my children grow up I want them to have all the experiences I had as a child plus so much more. So I t. . .

Budgeting Made Easy

Well, dang! From what I’ve heard and read, it looks like we’ve reached an all-time world-class new record in the amount of personal debt on the books. Now it’s probably not quite as bad as we’ve been led to believe, however many of us have managed to tromp further than we should have into the financial swamp. How well we’ll be able to find our way back out to dry ground will depend on our knowi. . .

Getting Comfortable in Your Own Skin

What does it mean to be comfortable in your own skin? It’s about expressing yourself in a way they feels the most appropriate. When we think about expressing ourselves, we automatically think of the superficial ways. How we dress. The way we wear our hair. The car we drive. If you wear jeans and a T-shirt one day and a business suit the next, what is it expressing about you? Is it that you are . . .

Top 5 Reasons Why You're Not Living Your Dream

1. “I’m too old to make a change.”Maybe you’re over 30 and settled in your career. You don’t even want to think about making a move somewhere else. Besides, at this point in your life, you’re supposed to be doing what you want, right? For some reason we seem to think that we have to “act our age”. But what does that mean? Where is there a definition of what it means to be a certain age? The nex. . .

How Thinking With Consequential Logic Creates A Better Life

Foresight is a tool we should all have in our war chests. However, many of us disregard this critical thought process. If I drink this much and drive my car, I just might crash, killing myself or someone else. If I talk about my boss behind his back to the wrong person, I could get fired for some trivial reason. Almost everyone knows the difference between right and wrong, but do we all apply t. . .

Why "New Month Resolutions" Are Better than New Year's Re...

Nearly half of Americans make New Year's resolutions, but only about 15% are able to keep them over the long-term. In other words, about 85% break their resolutions, with as many as 20% breaking them in the first week!Perhaps the single most important thing you can do to be more successful in keeping your resolution and making life changes is this: don't make New Year's resolutions – make New . . .

The Principle Of Higher Self

I want to begin this lesson by a quote from Dr Wayne Dyer.He said this in his book "Manifest Your Destiny". "Within you is a divine capacity to manifest and attract all that you need or desire." --------Wayne Dyer I am sure you will agree with me that we are not just this physical form or this body. There is something within us that is invisible and is eternal.Let me ask you a question. Are you. . .

Four Major Steps Toward Building an Awesome Music Ministry

The inspiration for this article comes from an Old Testament story. In this story there is a special building project undertaken by Solomon. The four stages explained in this article are the exact same steps illustrated in this story. You will find that these four concepts will dramatically help you in your music ministry. You need to take this information and start creating an overwhelming pos. . .

Tsunami Donations: Please Help Asia Recover and Save Lives

December 26, 2004, the world was in immense shock of the horrible thing that struck South Asia. Killer waves just came unexpectedly crushing and rumbling everything that was in its way. People ran, climbed, cried, and quite a number of them died. Not many were very lucky to climb tress, hold on to a post, or reach higher grounds and survived. As accounted, more than 160,000 deaths were recorded. . .

How to Deliver Exceptional Customer Service

Having been in business a number of years, I’m amazed at the number of people who don’t have the slightest idea of what customer service is. Customer service is not a way of doing things – it’s an attitude.I always love it when company’s send their people to seminars to learn about customer service. All the seminars will discuss the customer’s needs and expectations and the orator will package . . .

Time Management

With the creation of the universe, God gave humankind a miraculous gift. A wonderful gift which cannot be seen or touched but without which there will be no meaning in life. In fact without which it would be difficult to imagine life. It is time!God being kind and just gave this to all of us in equal quantity. He knew that some of His children would be wasteful. So He gave it in such a way that. . .

How To Stop Having Problems

If you are like me you have probably lost a lot of sleep over the many problems that arise in your life. Sometimes, the problem seems too huge. I become immobilized by the fear. That leads to procrastination and guilt for my inactivity and Presto! My stress level goes through the roof. Just thinking of the word "problem" is enough to raise my blood pressure.That is the true power of words! What. . .

What You Give Is What You Get!

Are you having a hard time relating to others? Are people offending or avoiding you? Are you unable to maintain friends? Well, chances are that you are holding the key to the door called solution. I know you might be thinking, me? What control do I have over other people? And you are probably right; you do not or, can not control other people’s actions. But, there is one thing you can do: T. . .

Children Of A Star

A lot of people in our world tell stories. Stories can add insight into the meanings of our lives as well as being mediums for the transferal of wisdom and knowledge. A story that interests me is the story of us: the children of a star, a star we call the Sun. Oh sure there are many texts out there that explain who and what we are. Some are religious, others deemed to be scientific. I have alwa. . .

The Future Successes Are In The Realm Of Creativity

For a long time now business, commerce and law have been the main areas of study for students who wish to become successful in our modern materialistic society. Places like Harvard Business School were where so-called elite elements of human intelligence hoped to be trained so that they could then reach the highest ranks of status and wealth. Well, things are changing. This is because these peo. . .

Tips for Creating a Successful Personal Online Dating Pro...

Your profile is the key to meeting your perfect match at online dating and personals services so it’s surprising that many profiles are mediocre at best. With a little extra time, thought and effort, and the help of these tips, you can make yours a winner and attract a large pool of admirers to take your pick from. Invent a distinctive username: Your username (nickname) is the first hint at wha. . .

How Much Risk Is Too Much To Take?

The ladder was braced against the railings going to the basement. I started climbing up. I had to get to the ceiling and this was my Rube Goldberg way of doing it without having to put up scaffolding. I made it up two or three rungs before coming to my senses. It would be so easy for the railing to break and for me to go tumbling down the stairs. You see I was trying to paint my living room wit. . .

Leadership Like Water-Water Canoeing

Although world business is undergoing historic changes, the prevailing view of what constitutes business leadership is stuck in the past. Generally, business leaders view leadership as an order-giving process. The word "leadership" itself comes from old Norse root meaning "to make go." Many leaders believe that they must "make" people go by ordering them to do things. But today's new busines. . .

Addiction to Self-Judgment

“I’m such a jerk. How could I have said that?”“I’m a looser. I’ll never get anywhere.”“I’m so stupid. I should have learned this by now.”“I don’t fit in. I don’t belong with these people.”“I’ll never be good enough. I’ll never do it right enough.”“I’m permanently emotionally damaged. I’ll never be okay.”“No one could love me. I’m not lovable.”…and so on and so on.Are you aware of your self-judg. . .

How Not Letting Go of Your Past can Hurt Your Future

Experiences, whether good or bad, are sometimes all we have, and most of them reside in the past. So you may ask, why should I let go of my past when much of it is filled with beautiful memories and serenity? Well, that is certainly not what I mean. What I do mean is when a past is littered with seemingly overwhelming pain, it impedes one’s ability to move forward and adjust to this ever-chang. . .

Commit To Applying Lessons Learned

When growing up as a child, the concept of learning a lesson becomes so routine, that many of us just set it aside as unimportant like many other principles that otherwise should be heeded. It is so true that all of us are mortal. Furthermore, all of us are fallible and no one is absolutely perfect. However, there are some people who would argue this about themselves or someone they know. My co. . .

Looking For Love In All The Wrong Places

Quote of the day: 'All that you seek you already have within you.'Practically every year finding love is at the top of Americans’ list of resolutions for the New Year. That’s the good news. The bad news is that most Americans are looking for love in all the wrong places. The way I see it, the definition of love should not be limited to romantic love alone. Love is more than a sentiment. Love is. . .

Ridding Yourself of Being A Manipulator to Better Your Re...

One of the oldest character flaws in humans is their ability to manipulate each other. Its insidious nature tilts our everyday playing field toward the manipulator. The manipulating person has a basic personality flaw that has a direct link to control, but primarily the ever-abundant insecurity issue. So, how is it that we deal with these types of people to level the perverbial playing field? W. . .

How A Phony Persona Always Hurts You

‘Be yourself’, isn’t that what you’ve always heard? It certainly isn’t ill advice considering what you are losing in the long run when you adopt one of these fraudulent lives. You may ask, what’s adding a little sizzle hurt any? It’s not the extra energy that you bring to the table as long as it’s your true personality. It is the egregious transformation from you knowing who you are, to a pers. . .

How Much Dysfunction Should You Allow Into Your Life?

What exactly is dysfunction? It is a word society, although probably overused, labels most anything and everything. However, its true attribute can be characterized as a negative that is mostly hurtful and counterproductive. A parent who consistently talks down to their children in the attempts of suppressing their self esteem would be a perfect citing of dysfunction. It is quite obvious that n. . .

How Can Empathy Shape Your Values?

One of the most underrated concepts that most people overlook is approaching life from an empathetic standpoint. Despite our best intentions, it is not always that we live by this ethical code that is deeply embedded in all of us. Much of my writings are geared to logical approaches to a an overwhelming world and this is definitely no exception. I don’t want to underestimate the importance of t. . .

How Much Time Do You Invest in Relationship Maintenance?

When starting a new relationship, we usually adopt a subconscious idea as to how much maintenance this connection will need. Usually, if given some thought, we can throw a microscope over this concept while it is in its fledgling state. However, time, no matter how you cut it, is a commodity and is as precious as a trillion dollars in your hot little hands. We attempt to save it, cut it, splic. . .

It’s Your Dream – Claim It!

Wisdom is like money in the bank. Knowledge is power. What you don’t know can hurt you. We’ve heard people use these expressions, but what exactly do they mean and why should we care? One can be a computer whiz and savvy in other areas, but not necessarily wise. That’s because wisdom has nothing to do with intelligence or any particular talents. Intelligence only facilitates the process of obta. . .

Treasure Map Your Success for 2005

Treasure-mapping is the process of visualizing on paper exactly what you want. The clearer you can see your desired future as a reality, the sooner it can manifest. The actual process is simple: look for color pictures in magazines or catalogs and use rubber cement to glue them to a half sheet of poster board. Each new year, my husband and I “treasure map” what we want in our lives for the y. . .

PRIME THAT PUMP! Part 2

In Part 1 of this article, we talked about reaching our goals as largely a matter of following through on desire, vision and action. The difficulty for most of us lies in continuing to believe that our efforts will ever bear fruit when these fruits have not yet begun to materialize.Jonathan Swift said it best. “Vision is the art of seeing things invisible.”In order to continue to work toward . . .

Forget New Year’s Resolutions – They Don’t Work

You can forget about making New Year’s Resolutions if you’re hoping for a successful outcome. Most aren’t worth the paper they’re written on. No less than Mark Twain has written of New Year’s Resolutions, “Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual. Yesterday, everybody smoked his last cigar, took his last drink,. . .

Memories Don't Fade Like Hair Does: Memoir Writing Help f...

~~~Old age, to the unlearned, is winter; to the learned, it's harvest time. ~ Yiddish saying~~~You can tell your life story by biography, which is a whole book that starts from the start and ends at (or near) the end. But if you don't want to take on such a huge task, you can tell your story in snippets and snatches, through memoir writing.Memoir writing consists of--as the word, from the Latin. . .

The Legacy of Sexual Abuse

During the many years I've been counseling people, I’ve worked with many people who were sexually abused as children. Some of them remember it all their lives, while others repressed it and remember it only as adults. In either case, the resulting harm exists on many levels.THE PHYSICAL LEVEL If a child was violently abused, the physical pain may have been so intense as to cause the person to n. . .

How to Get Rid of the "Overwhelm" Monster

If you wear many hats, manage a family and/or a business, it is easy to feel overwhelmed on a regular basis. Too much to do, not enough time, money, or help to do it. Do you find yourself procrastinating, proceeding with resistance or remaining paralyzed then dropping the project altogether? The idea of writing an ezine overwhelmed me for 6 months. It wasn't until I applied a spiritual approac. . .

Intellectual, Individual

Of the motley of neurotic, egoistical, (or even, egotistical for that matter) overbearing megalomaniacs I come across, or those that are borne of this world as a jocular hex of the fraudulent mirth of the occasionally epochal time and all the unworthy foibles of promiscuous mothers, have given way to the most odious notion that quite some of them are intellectuals. Believe you me… they are not.. . .

Unpleasant Truths

Direct Answers – Column for the week of December 27, 2004My in-laws have continually treated me as a second-class person with respect to my husband, their son. My husband and I both have Ph.D.s, and we both are on the faculty at a research university. He is older, but I am a professor with a career and a purpose, also. I work full-time, cook every meal, clean our home, and I take impeccable car. . .

Give Your Dreams Substance

Setting goals is wonderful; it confirms that we've taken those first awkward steps towards attaining what we desire in our lives. The simple fact that you've taken the time to plan out what you want to achieve puts you in a distinct class. Amazingly very few people take the time to keep a running list of goals. Sadly, even fewer people actually work their goals. So take the time right now to gi. . .

Appreciate to Motivate

Mary Kay Ash, founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics, since said, "There are two things people want more than sex and money...recognition and praise." Time and time again the one motivating factor that is at the top of most employee lists is appreciation for a job well done. It is more requested than the green stuff, money. Why don’t more managers, owners, and employees give appreciation? Some people st. . .