Welcome to Michael's Article Collection

Gremlins! Time to Take Control

It is a wonder we can function at all. Each of us has multiple personality types all crying for attention. Most of us think one way, work another, and feel in a personality style different from either working or thinking styles! And you question why you are sometimes confused? On top of all that, there is our ego to deal with. Our ego has a representative that might be considered a lobbyist. Y. . .

7 Things You Can Do To Reach The Success You Truly Desire

Ever have those days where no matter what you try life seems to be a series of one step forward and two steps back? Well today is the very best day to take charge of your life and develop strategies to achieve personal success. You will need to work hard and make a commitment to your personal success plan, but once you break the inertia you will find that small achievements will help you gain m. . .

A Kernel of Truth about Relationships: 5 steps to improve...

“It’s all about relationships!” proclaimed my father during our recent holiday visit with my parents. Santa Claus coffee cup in one hand and a wagging finger toward my wife, Elizabeth, with the other. “When you retire, that’s what you realize is most important in life” (okay, so that’s not him in the photo).Dad recently retired from 30+ years as an orthopedic surgeon and the major shift in life. . .

Busy Fish: Tips for Changing Your Day from Chaos to Calm

Syndicated columnist Dale Dauten recently wrote, “One of life’s great joys that we’ve lost is that of the empty day, a day given over to quiet, to reading and contemplation. Our planners and PDAs give the illusion of importance and of being in control.” A beautiful statement but what Dale doesn’t acknowledge is that we’ve become such slaves to busyness and mental stimulation that spending “a da. . .

It's a Quantum Thing

We don't need to understand quantum physics entirely in order to appreciate it. Even those who have devoted their lives to the study of the universe and its atomic structure will admit that many mysteries remain. Well, I love mysteries, so let's set the scene for this one... There's a Big Bang. "Whoosh!" go all the molecules. Much swirling commences. Fast forward 12 billion years (give or take . . .

COACHING: When it’s beyond Oprah and Dr. Phil

How many more servings of the daytime self-help salad will it take to sooth your appetite? To actually get your life to where you want it to be? To actually start seeing changes for yourself rather than just on the tear-filled faces of Oprah’s latest guests? How about the alternatives? If you stick with TV then you will likely wind up in frightening dead ends with the likes of Jerry, Ricky and . . .

"Did Your Personality Choose Your Career?

We almost all think we are masters of our own fate. While it is true that we all make our own choices there are many things that influence what we choose. Ask yourself: Why do some people choose professions that help only themselves while others of us choose professions that help those in need?Health and wellness professionals all share the desire to help others. Our work is commendable and . . .

No Happy Ending

Direct Answers - Column for the week of May 3, 2004I'm writing to you with a completely shattered heart. I've known my wife for over five years, and we got married last August. It was a fairy tale wedding, everything we always wanted, with about 200 guests. Everyone said by the look on our faces they knew we were in love.For years before the wedding, my wife was completely into me. We spent. . .

Improving Your Self Esteem

Often in our society, we are bombarded with the lives of celebrities. We can end up feeling that if we are not part of the rich and famous, our lives are insignificant. Our society also sends a message of competition and achievement. We watch sports, we always hear about profit and the bottom line being the dollar, we see large companies competing and constantly buying each other out. The resul. . .

Practical Ways to Bring Enchantment into Your Life

THE ENCHANTED SELF® teaches you how to access positive states of well being again and again. These positive states are unique to you and often reflect your interests, talents, and potential. I thought it would be fun to finally share with you some activities useful in helping you get in touch with your Enchanted Self. I hope you enjoy them and will let me know how they worked out by writing t. . .

Sell Yourself - Sell Anything!

Each of us sells every single day. We are all sales people. How well we sell directly affects our lifestyles, friendships, and family life. Professional sales people spend their entire careers consciously selling products and services. They attend sales trainings and seminars. They listen to motivational tapes and CDs in the cars to stay optimistic in the face of the inevitable continuous strea. . .

The Hidden Superpowers Of Your Mind

The mind is an infinite wonder. It has the fantastic ability to transmute your desires into their physical counterparts. You can do anything that your mind can conceive, as long as you have the belief and will power to back it up. Take the case of cancer patients who were given placebo pills. These are just plain pills that have no healing capabilities. So how did they get well? The p. . .

An Extraordinary Person

I am not going to tell you the story of an extraordinary person, who did remarkable things in life. Why should I? Are you not an extraordinary person? What do you think about yourself? You possess all the assets of an extraordinary person but, unfortunately, you are not an extraordinary person because you don’t think so. Your low belief level about your own capabilities is blocking your way in . . .

How to Turn Idea Squashers into Possibilities

Managing a small business continues to become more challenging. However, history has shown that resourceful business owners will succeed. They will prosper, turning disadvantages into advantages by thinking creatively.While entrepreneurs focused on competition fade into the past, those working from a creative standpoint will carry the torch. The creative individual will force the solution to a . . .

What’s Bugging You?

Some people lure romance to them. Some folks magnetize riches. Others attract bugs. What’s the difference? Consciousness! The third group has “bug consciousness.” If you attract more bugs than love and money—at least sometimes—read on! Forget the Swat TeamFlies flock around you, but steer clear of the person standing next to you. Mosquitoes bite you through gobs o. . .

Owning Your Power

Owning your power, your power to be real, to be who you really are, is really about owning your freedom. Consider how your reasons for not being yourself may have been to get the love or approval of others. Then, you have given others the power to decide your way of being, and thus keeping yourself from being free. In many ways, you have been giving away your power/freedom by your ways of speak. . .

How To Radically Improve Your Everyday Experience Of Life...

Can you do something for me? Tell me…Please don’t think tomorrow.What?Yeah, you heard me. You have been thinking everyday, every moment, all the time since you were born. Can’t you just stop it for one day?Well, no…You can’t stop? You mean you don’t have a choice. You can’t stop thinking even if you want to. That sounds like an addiction.Thinking is an addiction. From the moment we wake up the . . .

Nothing Ever Stays The Same

Nothing ever stays the same. On the one hand we despise change yet on the other we don’t want to stagnate and become boring. Yet our habits keep us locked into a course of action day after day, year after year. The way we think, the way we behave, the way we experience things, the way we react to incidents, all are dominated by our habits. They are so strong that most of do not even know what t. . .

Masculine Energy versus Feminine Energy

I have been reading a lot lately about the concepts of masculine and feminine energy. It all sort of goes along with the yin and yang definitions of masculine and feminine. I do not think I need to define the differences for you. The ideas I feel called to address today have more to do with the finger pointing and blame going on in the spiritual communities. Some religions believe in a masc. . .

Second Time Around the Block

Divorce happens. I'm not going to debate the causes or the moral and ethical implications of that here. Even if you're the innocent one who stuck to your vows and got dumped anyway, you still have to pick yourself up and move on. So let's start from that place. At some point you will wrestle within yourself and within your spiritual and religious beliefs as to whether or not you will date a. . .

Under Their Thumb ... Tripping The Parental Triggers!

Some of my clients have come to me feeling like their worlds were not under their own control. They felt as though everyone else ran their lives and had some aspect of control in everything that they did. I asked them to note some specific situations in which they felt this way and how they felt "out of control" of the situation. It's interesting to note that in every circumstance, there was. . .

Developing an Opportunity Mindset

Starting a home based business is a fantastic way to earn additional income part time or full You can build a six figure or higher cash machine using you home computer and a few hours of your spare time each week. It is estimated that each day nearly 200,000 new people log on to the Internet for the first time. Many of these people looking for a home based business. Many of these people will g. . .

Context-Free Living ... Living Without Boundaries!

I know by now that you've heard the terms "Debt-Free Living", "Disease-Free Living", or an overabundance of other such coined terms for various marketing ploys to sell products and services. However, I'm not here to sell you anything, as what I'm offering, you already have! You just don't know it yet!--- Context-Free ---A "context" is a circumstance, point of reference, or a situation by whic. . .

Heavy Weather Guide

Direct Answers - Column for the week of April 26, 2004My girlfriend and I are basically the same age, just a six month difference. When I went to buy the engagement ring in February, I felt certain she was the right one. She accepted my proposal by saying, "If we go slow…" We've been doing that. We had the ring resized to fit her finger, and the wedding wasn't to be until Easter 2006. This. . .

Improve Your Business Dealings with Improvisation

"Nothing is accidental ... use everything." -- Keith Johnstone Even the best-laid plans, the proverb goes, go oft astray. And by learning how to improvise like actors or jazz musicians, corporate types can better adapt to the always changing situations that you face. What is improvisation? Trying to explain improvisation is like to trying to describe to someone how to ride a bike. The actual ex. . .

Nobody's Perfect

Being human is being fallible. Evolution determines that we all are naturally different. The one constant in our lives and nature is that things will change. A feature or solution that seemed perfect a moment ago isn't now - because everything is constantly changing to solve current problems. Perfection cannot be achieved because of change. This doesn't mean we can't accomplish things, all we n. . .

I Am Really Worried About The Future

I am really worried about the future. I am 54 years of age, my daughter, who I have brought up on my own since she was two, is about to start university, my mother isn’t getting any younger, my pension fund is not going to produce what I expected and I feel the future is going to be a really lonely place. These were the thoughts of a friend of ours who came to stay with us recently. The thought. . .

Turning Fear Into Power

How would your life shift if you moved into what you feared not away from it, if you moved into the future with controlled abandon –think about it! One of the things I know from working with people for close to two decades and from my own development is that – things change. And yet how many people say they hate change. If change is inevitable in growth and you hate change you have a bad equ. . .

How to Have a Life of Satisfaction. Guaranteed!

Satisfaction 100% guaranteed or your money back! That was the promise, so you bought the product. You’ve been there! You ended up not liking it and decided to send it back. But, when you started the return process, you discovered that it cost more to send it back than the refund was worth. Ouch!It’s, certainly, bad enough to be dissatisfied with a product that you paid good money for, but it’. . .

The Dot

We have all grown up in an age where exploration into dramatic new territory has become routine. We have had people travel into space to live for short periods of time. We have sent people to explore the moon. We have built machines to take people under the ocean to live and work. And we have even built machines, as extensions of ourselves, to go to places where we could not go physically and s. . .

What to Do When You Are Chased by a Snake

I lived for several years on the Japanese island of Okinawa. It is a tropical island setting with a wealth of beauty and lots of things to do. We lived on the side of a mountain that overlooked the Pacific Ocean. The beauty that we were able to observe from there was breathtaking.There were a lot of enjoyable things about living in Okinawa, but one of the things that I enjoyed most was learn. . .

Falling up the Stairs

There have been a lot of really good movies made over the last several years. There are a lot of bad ones too. And while I try to simply ignore the bad efforts, I like to take lessons from those which have profound messages to share. Among the more noticeable movies I have seen lately, have been the Matrix movies. And, while I don’t like everything about the series, I have been totally fascinat. . .

How To Heal Your Heart

We all experience severe heart break at some time in our lives. For many it happens in childhood or adolescence, the time when we are most vulnerable. A cold mother, an absent father, being different in any way from our peers and ostracized for it - these are some of the reasons for the early feeling that something is wrong, inadequate and utterly disappointing about us. For others, it happens . . .

Why ‘You Are Special’ and Why Does It Matter

Why ‘you are special’?Why and how does it matter?Things you can say to yourself to feel great and special always.Why ‘you are special’?:You are special. Just like your fingerprint is unique, you are a unique person with a special purpose. No one is born to do the things you were born to do. You are special because God made you special.“You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit . . .

More and More and More and More

About six years ago I began to study tai chi. When I began, I had already been studying karate for several years, but my instructor encouraged me to add tai chi to enhance my martial arts abilities even further. It seemed interesting to me from the very beginning, but I was totally unprepared for what I have received. What I have learned is far beyond anything I ever expected.Tai chi is a mart. . .

Celebrating the Couch Potato

Ah, the couch potato, that icon of American pop culture values. Isn’t that the life? Why would anyone want to exert extra energy to be productive when you can simply plop down on the couch in front of the telly and enjoy all that delicious snack food and a cool one. Why worry about a yard that needs mowing, a sink full of dishes or that overflowing garbage can. They will all be there tomorr. . .

Medical Assistant -- Where are the Men?

MALE OR FEMALE OCCUPATION?Study after study demonstrates that misconceptions about men in the medical assistant profession still abound.A study held in June 2003 revealed that male students made up less than 10 percent in courses offering medical assisting training! Despite of their interest in the profession men have historically been discouraged and frequently denied access to medical assisti. . .

Don't Ask Your Doctor

Perhaps I should ask my doctor if there is a drug to take to combat frustration from seeing so many drug ads. You know the ones I'm talking about. They always start out with a list of questions. Then they tell you that a new drug might be just the thing for you--all you have to do is ask your doctor.Here's my tongue-in-cheek riff on those ubiquitous ads. *************************Have you eve. . .

Have Heart

Direct Answers - Column for the week of May 24, 2004I am the mother of a 6-year-old child. My husband is an alcoholic and refuses to realize it because he can skip a few days, once in awhile, before drinking again. A few years ago he went to a counselor with me and was told those few days in between are considered a "dry drunk." I totally agree as his verbal abuse is worst when he's dry occasio. . .

10 Tips on How to Cultivate Relationships with Editors

If you are an aspiring writer, or you simply want to augment your professional qualifications by publishing material related to your field of expertise, listen up. Here are a few tips that will help ingratiate you in the hearts and minds of editors. Once you’ve established a positive rapport with an editor, you may find the publication to be an excellent outlet for your work – and if you’re goo. . .

Is Setting Personal Goals REALLY Necessary?

What is your reason for setting a goalThis is the first, and important question you need to ask yourself. Why? If your reason for setting your goal is not sincere, your motivation and enthusiasm can wane drastically as you progress on your goal path. Setting personal goals is just that - personal, and if you do not have deep-rooted reason for your goal, your chances of succeeding are reduced. . .

Memorial Day Tribute

Memorial Day is their day, isn't it? It supposed to be the day a grateful nation pauses to quietly thank the more than one million men and women who have died in military service to their country since the revolutionary war. Or is it the day the beach resorts kick into high gear for the summer season, the day the strand is covered by fish-belly white people bastings themselves in coconut . . .

How To Meditate Without Even Trying

I remember when I started trying to meditate. I would sit down, close my eyes, and try to be really calm (my definition of meditation at the time). That was hard: my head would burst with ideas, thoughts, solutions, problems… I would become agitated, and stopped generally after ten long minutes, if not less. It’s during my short “meditations” that I felt less… meditative.I knew there was someth. . .

How to Put the Sizzle Back in Your Relationship with Thes...

Goal Setting and Relationships?That is not as weird as it may sound. Consider the following definition of a goal: "A goal is a future incidence or event that is consciously worked towards." With this in mind, it is perfectly normal to make it your goal to improve your relationship, and these seven goal setting tools can help you. A great relationship is one of the finest things life can offer. . . .

WRONG DECISIONS

There is a famous saying,“All is well that ends well.”So even if I teach you the art of making wise decision, there is a chance that your decision will end up in a failure. But if you master this art, it will help you in reducing the factor of making wrong decision. The model, which I will explain, is “Adaptive” in nature. If you have Electrical Engineering background you must be familiar with . . .

The Loneliness of Personal Growth

The cream rises to the top. That means that it separates itself from the milk. Perhaps that is what the New Age Movement is really all about. We tell ourselves that it's lonely at the top. Yes, it is. Maybe we have to figure out how to maintain ourselves as cream, but also stay whipped up within the milk? I'm picturing some sort of luscious desert all decadent and wonderful... like hot co. . .

It's Not My Job to Free Tibet

I hate saying that. It feels so very wrong. It's not that I wouldn't like to help them. It's not that I am not appalled at what is happening over there. I have been wrestling with my guilty feelings lately. What have I done to make the world a better place? I started by taking inventory of the areas that I'd love to 'fix'. My to-do list looks like this: Free TibetHeal the hole in the oz. . .

Race and Racism – Some Concepts Defined

Despite adamant claims to the contrary, racism continues to plague many peoples around the world. The first step toward resolving issues of racial intolerance and prejudice is to develop an understanding of the underlying concepts and their labels.This (rather long) article touches on the following topics: Stereotypes, Race, and Racism Culture and Cultural Imperialism Nationalism and National. . .

Overcoming The Fear Of Money

Many people, it seems, have a fear of money. Does the thought of having a lot of money make you uncomfortable? Cause you anxiety? If so, it may be that you are buying into the myths about money. Myths that are simply untrue. In fact, many of the most common statements about money are often misquoted, wrong, or were made by people who did not understand money ... or had none. Let's look at a. . .

Romantic Relationships: A Spiritual Perspective

Meeting someone so attractive, so beautiful. Your heart beats like the rhythm at the races and your knees become Jell-O. We all know this feeling of falling in love and seeing the amazing beauty in another. Couples fall in love blissfully and fall out of it with such heartache. Love does not have to be so difficult and as we all have grown to learn, you get out of something what you put into it. . .