The Smart Examiner

I had looked all over for the kind of round glasses that I love so much. Every store in my hometown had any kind of frames you could imagine, except the round frames! My style is more retro, so these newer rectangle frames just do not do it for me. I hated the way they fit my face. Trying on pair after pair and never finding just the right one was getting extremely frustrating! Finally, I found what I was looking for at eyeglasses.com. These frames are just what I was picturing when I was going from place to place searching! Why is it none of the national brands carry these frames?

Eyeglasses.com has thousands of frames to choose from– more than most of the other national brands that I checked out. The best part, they have competitive prices as well as an awesome selection! What more could you ask for? I’m rocking that vintage look that I was going for! I’ve had so many compliments on my new glasses. Talk about a confidence booster! If I’d only known I could find what I was looking for online, I wouldn’t have wasted so much gas driving from place to place! I will never waste my time looking any where else again!

Van and Man is a family run concern based in South London that could aid customers moving furniture within, to or from S London to cities throughout England including Tipton, Harleston, Cobham, Haslingden and Peacehaven. We have a mixture of vans and all the things necessary to facilitate your move. As opposed to several of our challengers, we’re a fully insured GB Ltd. Company and hold all necessary employees, insurance and controls to insure there will be no problems.

From us you’ll receive a dependable and amicable supply – importantly for our customers this means that you won’t need to put up with the facelessness of the vaster removals services. Tell us what you want doing and we’ll do our best to secure that there are zero troubles. Some customers may simply need to drive a few boxes across town on the other hand different customers employ us almost daily.

Take away the pain from the removal by using Van and Man. There’s zero buried tolls with the product. With moves within London we only charge you once we arrive at your place till as we leave. If you are looking to move further for example Dunwich, Sunbury-on-Thames, Oxted, or Solihull give us a call and you’ll receive a quotation specific to your demands.

Normally an inhibitor of pain, norepinephrine can produce pain as well–especially in the case of fibromyalgia. Your subconscious may be able to help counteract the effects of this pain-related brain chemical.

When your brain receives a pain signal transmitted by substance P, a major amplifier of pain, it immediately ships a packet of pain-relieving chemicals to the site where substance P was first released. Included in that packet is norepinephrine.

If the pain becomes chronic, however, norepinephrine may begin to alter nerve cells so that they intensify pain signals rather than dampen them.

Norepinephrine and Fibromyalgia

The abnormal alteration of nerve cells by norepinephrine seems to play a large role in fibromyalgia pain.

Fibromyalgia often begins with a car accident or some other physical or psychological trauma. That event sets off the sympathetic nervous system, which controls the fight or flight syndrome, to be hyperactive 24/7. This can cause the sleep problems, fatigue, digestive upsets and cognitive difficulties associated with fibromyalgia.

The constant activity of the sympathetic nervous system can also cause pain. If it becomes chronic, the mechanism described above kicks in–norepinephrine begins to alter nerve cells so that more pain is produced. This leads to more hyperactivity of the sympathetic system, which leads to more pain, thus starting a vicious cycle.

This pain shows up in tender points throughout the body. Many of these points are in the neck area, which contains a large number of interconnections for the sympathetic nervous system.

Norepinephrine and Visualization

Through visualization statements it may be possible to focus your subconscious on reducing the impact of norepinephrine in the pain process. This could be true not only for fibromyalgia but for back pain or pain in the neck or other extremities, arthritis pain, or neuropathic pain (nerve pain).

Visualization statements represent the specific language that your subconscious wants you to read back to it to help ease your pain. They’re simple and are targeted directly at the main factors that could bring you relief.

You can obtain these statements by learning how to communicate directly with your own subconscious mind. The process is straightforward and can be done at home by working with a facilitator over the telephone. You you need no special skills and no previous experience in working with the subconscious.

To help break the vicious cycle of more pain leading to more hyperactivity of the sympathetic system, the subconscious will probably suggest visualizing a decrease in the amount of norepinephrine that you release.

Easing the Pain

Fibromyalgia has no known cure, but we’ve found that visualization statements do seem to ease the pain in some cases. It may be worth exploring this technique as an alternative way of dealing with norepinephrine-related pain.

Ben Plumb is CEO and President of The Visualization Group, Inc. The company’s service is delivered by people like himself who personally suffered from years of chronic pain, and used the visualization method described in this article to obtain relief when nothing else worked. For more information, please visit http://www.thevisualizationgroup.com.

(c) 2005 The Visualization Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The methodology and program disclosed in this article are Patent Pending.

Hello!

Alan Allard here…

You have my respect for taking action to learn how to improve your overall health. You can discover and learn how to do just that…change and improve your health…and enjoy the new levels of energy and vitality that will simply come your way.

You might want to know why I believe you are capable of changing and improving your health, regardless of the past. I am a former psychotherapist, now in private practice coaching others for rapid personal change, accelerated performance enhancement, and creating and nurturing outstanding levels of well-being. I am also the founder of GeniusDynamics, a Training and Coaching firm that specializes in accelerating the process of reaching levels of “unconscious competency,” what many call “being in the zone.” And, as I have worked one on one with clients for over twenty- two years now, I have identified seven keys that can and will improve your health and energy.

The seven keys that I share with you are not meant to be understood in a literal, “This is the most important key, and this is the second most important key,” manner, or practiced in a linear fashion. Rather, these are dynamic principles, beliefs, values, behaviors, etc that work together simultaneously and synergistically.

With that said, here are the seven keys!

Health And Energy Key # 1:

Begin With A Well-Formed Outcome

Simply put, your brain and your mind (conscious and unconscious) are “outcome focused,” by nature. You will always be using your brain and your mind to be moving toward an end target, a goal, a desired outcome…so choose each one wisely.

Now, when you think of something, anything, such as your health, keep your mind on what you desire, and off of what you do not desire. And the key to keeping your mind off of what you do not desire is to…keep it on what you do desire! Period. See, hear and feel that which reflects what you desire. If you get off track, away from what you desire, to what you do not desire, simply bring your mind (your pictures, sounds and feelingsmore on this later) back to what you desire.

Some individuals might find it challenging at times to craft a well-formed outcome because of conflicting beliefs that need to be “cleaned up.” More on that later.

Health And Energy Key # 2:

Create and Maintain A Useful State

You are always creating and entering into, and operating out of, a “state…” a mental, emotional, spiritual, physical state. You have no doubt heard someone say, “I am in a really good mood.” Or, “She is in a really good frame of mind today!” When I use the word “state,” I am describing what is going on with you on mental, emotional, spiritual and physical levels…your total being.

Now, if you get anything out of this article, get this, and you will be ahead of the game: Never plan your future, or begin to solve a problem, or do anything, without first ensuring that you are in a useful, appropriate state for the outcome you are going for. Period.

Remember at time when you were in a conflict with someone you love, perhaps even with yourself! Did it help matters if you were in a less than useful state? By “less than useful state” I mean, one that is composed of, say, impatience, irritability, cynicism, lack of empathy, “I want to be right,” etc? What might have been the difference if instead, you had created and entered into a state that is composed of perhaps patience, caring about the best interest of the other person, curiosity, flexibility, creativity, genuine self-regard, etc?

Now, this article cannot fully coach you how to do that. You might want to have one individual coaching session to learn how to easily do what I am describing. You can also practice doing the following so you can enjoy learning how to create a useful state for yourself.: Imagine that your desired outcome is to persuade someone to your point of view on a matter. Now, remember a time when you communicated very effectively and got your outcome of someone being persuaded to your perspective. Imagine seeing a movie of that experience, and then “step into” the movie you are watching, and relive that experience for 30 seconds or more.

Now, step out of that movie, and remember a time when you were communicating with someone and you were very patient with that person, taking the time to really hear them out and to understand them on a superb level. Make a movie of that, and step into that! Then step out of it and remember a time when you were communicating with someone or a group of people and you demonstrated great flexibility to the point of reaching your outcome! Whatever “obstacle” came up, you were flexible in responding resourcefully to it. Now step into that movie…

You get the idea, right? This is one easy way to build a useful state for reaching any desired outcome.

Again, always make sure that you are in a useful state, one that is appropriate for easily and enjoyable reaching your desired outcome.

Health And Energy Key # 3:

Invest Yourself In Healthy And Rewarding Relationships

The people that you surround yourself with, those you let into your space, will affect you on all levels. It is as simple as that. Choose wisely. Perhaps it is time for you to let go of some relationships and to begin some new relationships. You are not doing anyone a favor by allowing them to adversely affect you over a period of time. That is not love, it is something else.

Know what you want from your relationships. Learn how to communicate with those around you, especially your loved ones, in such a manner that you effectively enhance the quality of your relationships, for all concerned. Learn to master the states you are in! When it comes to powerfully effective communication, the state you are in will be paramount. In your communication, be clear and be effective. Communicating effectively with yourself and others is the greatest single skill you can learn and develop. Invest your time, money and energy in doing so and you will be rewarded beyond what you are capable of currently imagining.

Health And Energy Key # 4:

Be Flexible

“Flexibility is the key!” The key to what? The key to achieving your outcome, the key to persuasive communication, the key to rewarding relationships. Flexibility is being able to do something different if what you are doing is not getting you the results you desire. Flexibility will get you to where you want to go with your health and energy. If what you have been doing has not gotten you the health and energy you want yet, do something else! You might be aware that there is no one “diet” or exercise program that is useful for everybody. You can find and use what will work for you…for now. And you can be flexible and change what you are doing as you find what works even better for you, moment by moment.

Health And Energy Key # 5:

Place Your “Health And Energy” As One Of Your Top “Life Values”

Tragically, “health and energy” is rarely a top value with most people. And I say “tragically” because of the fact that your values will drive your behaviors, and your behaviors will drive the results you create. So, it follows, that to engage in healthier behaviors, you will need to make sure that your health and energy is one of your top values. If you want to learn how to easily change your values, to actually choose which ones you want to drive your behaviors, you can do so in one coaching session. You will then have the ability and the tools to prioritize your values as you move through life. Remembering that your values will drive your behaviors. What is that worth?

Health And Energy Key #6:

Personal Congruency

“Congruency” is when your beliefs, values, behaviors, emotions and states are all lined up… and going in the same direction! You can easily understand how important this is. If for example, on one hand, you believe that you can greatly improve your health and energy, and on the other hand, you believe that doing so is not really possible, or that it would be quite difficult and unpleasant…well you can see the conflict, and you probably would feel the conflict as well. The stress that these two conflicting beliefs generate is unnecessary and can be eliminated with the appropriate tools and skill set.

Much energy is dissipated because of incongruent values and beliefs, not to mention incongruent behaviors! And when you learn how to “clean things up” and develop more congruency, you will immediately enjoy the results in your health and energy. Doing so is worth your investment, whatever that might be for you.

Health And Energy Key #7:

Design Your Life With Wisdom

And what is wisdom? It is contemplating and understanding the consequences of your choices and behaviors, not just for the immediate future, but for the distant future as well!

Now, my experience as a psychotherapist and Life and Business Coach has taught me that consistent improvement is more reliable than the so called overnight successes that you hear about from time to time.

Your health and energy…your overall well being, are all worth your patience! Because it is far better to take small and incremental steps into increased vigor, health and energy, than to take on too much, too soon. Your body and mind will thank you for exercising wisdom. An effective personal trainer said in an interview that “Most people try to do too much, too soon, get discouraged and then throw in the towel.”

It can be different for you. Be flexible enough to find out what works for you, in what increments, and then move forward with patience. Your patience and persistence will take you to your desired outcome of greater health and energy. Period. Remember the story of the tortoise and the hare? Enough said. And if it isn’t… remember that Rome was not built in a day. Or a month for that matter. And yet progress began with the first action taken, and continued with each step after that. Each step brings more of what was desired.

An Easier And Enjoyable Way To Learn The Seven Keys:

Now that you have the Seven Keys To Improving Your Health And Energy…Now!…use them… experiment with them. If you desire some assistance beyond this article, give Alan Allard a call or drop him an e-mail by calling 630-355-2111 or emailing at: alan@geniusdynamics.com. His coaching experience can make it easier for you to implement the Seven Keys For Improving Your Health And Energy… Now! Drop Alan an e-mail or call him and let him know what you thought of this article and what is on your mind. He would love to hear from you.

Copyright 2003-2004, Alan Allard

Alan Allard is president of GeniusDynamics, offering life and business coaching. He is certified in Human Performance Engineering ™ and offers seminars and training as well as private coaching. Free Coaching e-Letter at: http://www.geniusdynamics.com

Bella Italia…just thinking about this beautiful Mediterranean country makes us dream about a romantic gondola ride in Venice, about Romeo and Juliet and the Roman Empire’s relics. The beautiful cities, the incredible countryside, the wines, cheeses and pasta…the pizza and gelato…ahh Italy makes us want to just pack and go!

However, we also need to think about the prices. Thankfully, it’s not that hard to find affordable international air tickets to get to Italy. Actually doing just a bit of research will land you discount hotels and flights when you are considering traveling to Italy .

Most often it’s cheaper to fly into another European capital – like Paris or London – and then take a low-cost carrier to get to Italy as all big cities are served by such flights. Or you can fly directly into Rome and then catch a train to go to your destination. No matter what you choose, make sure to do some research in advance and compare prices.

Book your flight, find a hotel and pack your bags! Don’t forget your Italy conversation guide and your camera. Pick up a map once you get to Italy. And please, try not to look like an American tourist. Learn just a bit about fashion just by observing the locals. Plus, if you show up in Italy right after the winter Holidays or after Easter you can find incredible bargains and end up going back home with an entire new wardrobe.

So maybe you don’t comprehend betting hall games, then do please read on — To clarify terms, a gaming establishment is a construction that focuses on gambling. Customers are expected to gamble by having a bash at the slot machines or plenty of other games. Betting saloon games habitually include logically derived chances built in that insure the casino has the upper hand against the guests.

Many gaming room games can goad you into being dependent speedily. Let’s examine the notorious 1-armed-bandit, a coin operated gadget with 3 plus gears which circumvolve if a bar on its side is wrenched. The contraption typically pays established by a distribution of pictures observable on the display of the instrument. Lamentably, betting hall games will convey the fantasy of remaining in control, effectively conning the gambling enthusiast – the victim is given over options, but in actual fact these can never realistically match the customer’s statistical handicap. That is precipitated by the gambling saloongambling house never paying up the entire wager as expected. This mode is often seen at work in well-known casino games such as seven-card stud, dice games, roulette or blackjack.

Five-card stud is indisputably an immensely fashionable casino game. The gamers, playing with fully screened hands, are betting into a principal pot that is then given to the winning player bearing the leading set of cards. (And yes, the bluffing hand may well prevail) Not far removed from five card stud poker, blackjack is likewise an incredibly fashionable casino pastime. Most of its celebrity is by virtue of its particular mix of chance and knowledge & decision making, not to forget a practise dubbed “counting”. It is a highly complicated strategy by which gambling enthusiasts will bend the probabilities of the game in their favor both by betting and strategy decisions in accordance with the hands dealt.

“Craps” is a well known gambling hall pastime involving the roll of two dice. Clients can bet on the score of 1 cycle, or on a series of rolls of two dice. Dissimilar to blackjack, there isn’t any conceivable long term killer tactics players can make capital of to ramp up the odds. Roulette is another notable game of luck: a croupier will revolve a roulette wheel which holds thirty-seven (European roulette) or thirty eight (American roulette) differently tagged pockets in which a white pellet must come to land, thus announcing the final winning number and the other connected odds. If the punter happens to place chips on a specific number which actually is successful i.e. they’ve got a lucky hand, the guaranteed recompense is 35:1, the wager itself being paid out. Accordingly in total it is multiplied by a factor of thirty six.

Please take care to be very very watchful nonetheless as all of these betting house games of luck can be massively dependency forming. Myriad lives have regrettably been ruined due to inordinate gambling and even if it definitely may be a lot of fun, do struggle to regulate your gaming.

casino chip

Oneness in Marriage (Part 2) [Part 1 -- submitted July, 2005]

If “oneness” is one of the primary goals of marriage (“the two shall become one flesh…”), let’s explore some of the thngs that thwart or hinder “oneness” in marriage.

There are many reasons why a couple might fail to achieve oneness: * All of the sins which are rooted in the unholy trinity, namely, “me, myself, and I.” All of the hypenated “self” sins, like: selfish, self-centered, self-interest, self- concern, self-focused, etc. * Various “flesh patterns” and “coping strategies” which we develop over our lifetimes which are aimed at “making life work the way we think it should work or the way we think we deserve it to work” … another way to say it is, “making life work apart from God and His ways.” * Failing to deal properly with unmet expectations and differences.

The “self” sins are fairly easy to understand. Anytime I am more focused on myself and what I want as opposed towhat God wants or what is best for the marital relationship, I will hinder the ability to connec t with my spouse.

Flesh patterns and coping strategies are developed over a lifetime. They grow out of our fears, insecurities and wounds. An example might be that a man is “passive” in his marriage. If, as a young man, he was criticized by his parents or if he believed that he does not know exactly what to do in a given situation, then instead of moving into the “chaos” of life, he will choose tobe passive or withdraw. The truth is he may choose this path of passivity simply because he does not want to risk rejection and criticism from his wife. He may have an idea of what to do but he just isn’t willing to take a risk by acting on his thoughts, ideas, or potential solutions.

Another example of a “flesh pattern” is a woman is when a woman becomes controlling. Often the root of control in women is FEAR which they are not conscious of. She is afraid of life in general and all the things that can go wrong in life. So, she has convinced herself that if she is in control she can minimize the amount of hurt that touches her life.

Both of these patterns are not what God desires of a man or woman in marriage (or even in life in general.) However, the great thing about God is that He will allow people to use these faulty, flesh patterns. God ultimately wants these patterns to be exposed for what they are. God wants every person to be able to recognize the ways they attempt to make life work and exchange the sick and faulty ones for His way of doing things.

EXPECTATIONS: An expectation is a desire or mental picture that is not always communicated and which, when goes unfulfilled, produces significant emotional distress. We all enter marriage with certain expectations. Sometimes we express these expectations and sometimes we are not aware that they exist.

A woman may enter marriage with the expectation that the new husband will continue to give her the same amount of attention and care that he gave her during their courtship. A man may have an expectation that the house will be spotless and that a hot meanl will be on the table every evening.

Almost every couple has experienced a “season” when their flesh patterns, coping strategies, differences and diverse backgrounds and expectations collide. When this happens, it would be good for the new couple to see it as AN OPPORTUNITY for them to draw near to God and allow God to expose what is really going on … what the real, deep dynamics are. However, all too often, each partner will begin to justify their flesh patterns or will defend their rights or will excuse their differences, rather than stepping back and taking a long, hard look at what is root problem between them.

A good rule-of-thumb is that if I react strongly to someone the issue is not reallyh about them as much as it is about me. Something in me is coming to the surface and God is just using the other person in order to expose this hidden area or thought or belief or dynamic within me. When we choose to look at it this way, it explains “marriage is God’s chief sanctifying tool.”

Instead of blaming or attacking each other, consider looking at the root of the issue. Start with yourself. Ask God to show you what is going on. Then, bring your issue to Him and/or confess and repent when necessary. The closer you are to God the more you will be able to draw near to your spouse and experience the “oneness” that God desires for you in your marriage.

Exercises: 1. What are some way that you try to make life work or try to feel good about yourself apart from God? 2. What were some of the expectations you had when you first got married? 3. How did you develop these expectations? 4. Have the expectations proven to be “realistic?” Why/why not? 5. How do you, as a couple, handle your disappointments and differences?

If you enjoyed this article please visit: www.murphytoerner.com for more information about Murphy and more articles in general.

The eighteenth generation Patriarch, Chang Tienzen was born in Shantung province, China in 1889. There was a saying that if the Yellow River became clear there must be a birth of a holy sage into the world. After receiving the Heavenly Decree in 1930, his teachings reached many parts of China where many masters were delegated with the decree of Heaven by Patriarch Chang to transmit Tao.

All forms of miracles happened to help the masters to encourage people to receive Tao. This was one of the most difficult times in China where the Chinese were at war with Japan. Tao and calamities came at the same time. It was during this time before 1947 that Patriarch Chang and another Lady Patriarch Sun, directed several elders to go to Taiwan to propagate Tao and at that time Taiwan was a backward place. He told them, “Go ahead and do not worry; Taiwan will have everything.” His words came true that now Taiwan has everything and if not for Taiwan, Tao would not be able to propagate worldwide. The timing was just perfect for Tao to be shifted to Taiwan as Heaven knows and it is the Heavenly time that it has to be so.

With the Heavenly Decree, his light illuminates throughout the three realms of the universe and not only mortals rely upon him to liberate them from suffering, but the spirits of the deities and ghosts in hell will also be able to receive his grace and mercy so that they can return to Heaven. Patriarch Chang returned to Heaven on 15th August 1947, of the Chinese lunar calendar where the moon is the brightest and this is what he said:

“The reason that mankind fails to be awakened and enlightened is due to the attachment to the myriad worldly things, which consequently gives rise to a multitude of obstacles and entanglement. We should know that the worldly realm is not our real home and the physical body is not our true self. These are transient illusions that are like the sparks of flames or flashes of lightning. When all of these ephemeral entities perish, the true nature would have no place to belong to. It is then compelled to roam around in the earthly realm and wanders endlessly through birth and death as dictated by the rough and ruthless tide of karma. The true nature thus declines viciously as time goes by.

Such degeneration is a let-down to the great expectation of God and the efforts of all divinities in saving the world from destruction. Furthermore, it degrades and obliterates one’s own spiritual foundation and affinity, which also affects directly the elevation of the souls of one’s own ancestors and descendants.

Now is the time for the Heavenly Way to descend in order to save the world. This presents a truly rare opportunity for our own elevation. Wouldn’t it be a great pity if we miss out on such good opportunity? Remember that time and tide wait for no man. As we become older, such great timing and opportunities become increasingly less. Only through meticulous understanding and realization on this critical matter can you begin to appreciate how anxious I am in attempting to save the world. It is really not a simple task at all.”

The mission is to save the world before the coming of the Final Catastrophe. The past Saints and Buddhas, with their high level of cultivation and their far reaching wisdom, actually pity the worldly beings for their ignorance. Human being is pitiful not because of their failure in worldly pursuits, but rather their ignorance of the precious essence in them and their failure to put such precious essence into good use.

God had endowed us with the most precious essence within each and everyone of us but unfortunately we may not realize it. Instead we choose to pursue externally and regard all the material things that we acquire externally as being valuable. After working for more than half of our lives, we might appear to have acquired and possessed many things. All these worldly possessions, however, will eventually turn to nothingness and be of no use to us when we die. It is not only that all of our efforts will be wasted as we might also have committed many wrongdoings in the process of pursuing. This will result in negative karma and it will contaminate our true nature, causing it to be trapped in the vicious reincarnation cycle.

There is a Godly nature within us and that is the essence of creation of the universe. If we can apply this gift of God into our lives, things will become orderly and harmonious. Gradually, our inner true self will manifest and subsequently it will guide us into the realm of Truth and become one with God. This is The Mission. This is the reason why the Patriarch said mankind fails to be awakened and enlightened. His mission is to wake us up to the Truth and save ourselves through his guidance and teachings and end the cycle of birth and death.

Patriarch Chang Tienzen was the reincarnation of the Heavenly Teacher “JiGong,” a Living Saint during the Song Dynasty in China and he returned to Heaven in Mid-Autumn Festival (15th day of the 8th lunar month) in the 36th year of the Republic (1947). Upon his return to Heaven, God bestowed him a Heavenly title as “Tien Ran Ku Fo,” the status of a Buddha. The word “Fo” means Buddha and he is also addressed as the Living Buddha in the teachings of Tao of Heaven because his divine soul always descends from Heaven to teach the devotees.

Author: T.A Chew

T.A Chew first encountered the teachings of “Karma” more than twenty-five years ago when a group of Hare Krishna monks came to his office to sell him a spiritual book. He donated some money and started reading the book called The Bhagavad-gita. As a stepping stone, his understanding and realization of the mission is made easier. Website: http://www.white-sun.com

One of my favorite stories in the Bible is the story of Joseph. If you read and really understand this story, you will see that nothing is coincidental and that all things work according to God’s plan. It might not be according to YOUR plan, but it all works out for the best.

Just check out the story of Joseph.

Joseph had a bunch of brothers. I think it was about 12 of them mugs altogether. But Joseph’s father loved him the best. The reason he loved him more is because Joseph’s father had a bunch of baby Momma’s and he loved Joseph’s mother more than the other momma’s and therefore was the proudest of Joseph.

The other brothers didn’t like Joseph because of their father’s blatant favoritism. (Side note: you should never treat any of your children better than the others. If you don’t believe me, check out this story for proof.)

Well, one day, Joseph’s father bought him a really nice coat with a lot of colors in it. It was an expensive coat and his brothers were jealous because of it. To give you an example using today’s standardsdid you ever watch the movie, Starsky and Hutch where Snoop Dog plays Huggy Bear? I think it’s on either Showtime or HBO right now. Towards the end of the show, Snoop comes out in this big old fur coat with a lot of colors in it. I don’t know why, but when I saw that movie, I thought of Joseph and wondered if his coat looked anything like the one Snoop Dog was wearing in that movie.

Anyway, I digress.

Well, Joseph loved the coat and wore it all the time. Then, one day Joseph had a dream and made the apparent mistake of sharing his dream with his brothers. He dreamed that one day they would bow down to him.

Well, if this wasn’t the straw that broke the camel’s back. His
brother’s started plotting and came up with a plan to get rid of him so that their father can stop showing him all the love and start showing them some. Their plan was to kill him. One of the brother’s talked them out of killing him and made them agree to simply put him in a ditch and leave him there. They were going to bring his coat back home and tell his father that some wild animal must have killed Joseph.

So they did. They threw him in the ditch and took his coat. But then, they had another fantastic idea. There were these guys who were buying people to bring them to Egypt to be slaves. So, the brother’s said, hey, why not make a few bucks off of him and sell him to these guys as a slave. This way our brother’s blood won’t be on our hands, but he will be out of our lives.

That’s exactly what they did.

Now, I don’t know about you, but if I were Joseph, I might not be able to see any Godly plan in all of this. How could this be a POSITIVE thingmy brothers selling me into slavery and taking my Huggy Bear coat?

I know I would have gotten angry with my brothers and been ready to fight. I probably would have gotten a little angry with God, too, for allowing this to happen to me.

There will be times when you are working towards a goal or towards something that is important to you, and then something comes out of nowhere and sets you back. At the time, it might seem like a horrible thing. But chances are, it is not. God has a plan. You might not understand His plan it right now, but trust me, He does.

Well, back to Joseph.

He gets sold into slavery.

Listen to this. God never left his side. Joseph knew this and simply allowed God to lead his life.

Because God loved him and showed favor to him, Joseph wasn’t the kind of slave that we visualize when we think of slavery. He wasn’t picking cotton and singing, “Swing Lo’”. No, none of that. But he was a slave who had a wise master. His master saw that God was with Joseph and that everything that Joseph did, even though he was a slave, prospered. So, his master found favor in him and made him a “house slave.” Joseph’s job
was to take care of the master’s needs.

Joseph was cool with where he was and simply went with the flow. He remained positive and held fast to his belief in God.

His master had a wife who was big on Joseph. I liken her to a “gold digger.” She saw that everything Joseph did was prosperous and so she wanted to get her hands around him and get in like Flynn. But Joseph was a godly man and was not going to sleep with his master’s wife. Then, like any other Gold Digger, she got highly offended because Joseph wasn’t falling for her little games. She figured he’d get him back by
lying to her husband and telling her husband that Joseph was trying to get with her. This, of course, angered her husband, Joseph’s master, who couldn’t believe that Joseph would do such a thing, especially after how wonderful he had treated Joseph. But, of course, he took his wife’s word over Joseph’s and had Joseph put in jail.

Now, I don’t know about the laws back then, but that seemed like a harsh punishment for coming on to someone’s wife (even though he never did come on to her). But, nevertheless, that is where he ended up.

So now, look at Joseph’s lifehis brothers get angry with him because their father loves him more (nothing Joseph has control over). Then, he gets sold into slavery–gets a good master, but a bad master’s wife, who gets him thrown in jail for nothing.

Seems rather hard, doesn’t it?

But God isn’t finished with him yet. Everything happens for a reason.

Joseph goes to jail and is simply forgottenor so it seems. Time keeps ticking away and he has more than served his time. Why is he forgotten? Well, because right now the timing isn’t right. Everything works in God’s timenot ours.

Even though he is in jail, God is still with him and the wardens find favor in him (isn’t it “coincidental” that everyone finds favor in Joseph? No, because nothing is coincidental. Everything happens for a reason. God has him in jailwaiting for the right time so He is going to make his stay as pleasant as possible.)

While he was in jail, he interprets two inmates’ dreams, both of which come true exactly the way he said they would. One gets out and one gets the electric chair (or the equivalent to the electric chair nowadays.)

The one that gets out is supposed to remind the people that Joseph is there so he, too, can get out. But, he forgets about Joseph. Sounds like a bad thing, doesn’t it? Well, it is not because the timing still isn’t right for the plan that God has for Joseph.

Then one day the King has a dream that bothers him. He doesn’t
understand what it means, but feels that it has a meaning to it. There is no one who could interpret his dream. This is when the guy (who happens to be the baker for the Kingcoincidence? Not at all) remembers Joseph and how accurate he was in his dream interpretation.

So, they call Joseph out of jail. He interprets the dream and the King puts him in charge of saving Egypt by preparing for the drought that is going to hit the land over the next seven years. He is no longer a slave but the most important person in Egypt.

WOW. Now this entire story is fantastic when you think of it. His brothers HAD to do what they did. Even though it was evil and the whole nine yards, but without this part of his life, Joseph would not have been able to save Egypt. See how everything works for the best.

If Joseph wasn’t sold into slavery and given the master that he was given, you know, the one with the whore, gold digging, wife, Joseph probably would never have ended up in jail where he happen to be at the exact same time as the two men who had dreams. If he wasn’t there to interpret their dreams, who knows what could have happened? Even more “coincidental” one of the inmates was let go. If both of them died, no one would have known that Joseph could interpret dreams. And the ex-con
who lived, just coincidentally worked as a baker for the King, who coincidentally (two years later mind you) had a dream that needed to be interpreted.

Now, if after reading this you still believe in coincidences, I don’t know what to tell you. Your life is not a series of coincidences, but a series of related events that is planned out by God.

When hardships come into your life, it is just preparing you for the greatness that is on the way. Now, your timing may not be aligned with God’s timing so just be patient. Everything happens for a reason, and your day to shine is on its way.

Oh, and by the way, Joseph’s brothers did end up bowing down to himjust as they did in the dream that started it all.

Dawn Fields is a motivational speaker, author and life coach. She teaches how to discover your life’s purpose and incorporate it into your life. Visit the web site at http://www.dawnfields.com and be sure to sign up for Your Lifes Purpose newsletter by sending a blank email to dawn@dawnfields.com
and SUBSCRIBE in the subject line and tune in Thursdays at 9 p.m. EST to her radio broadcast at http://www.dawnfields.com/radioshow.htm.

Every webmaster knows the importance of incoming links to a site to boost traffic and search engine rankings. But how do you find good quality sites that will link to you?

I recently came across an article that explains how to search for quality link partners on Google. According to the article this technique has become old hat to many search engine optimization experts but it’s new to me. Maybe I have not been doing my homework.

Simply use one of the following search techniques replacing the “keyword Phrase” with the keyword you want to associate your site with. The key word phrase is the key because you want sites that are of the same subject matter as your own to link to you. Try using the key phrase that you want your site to be found by when someone does a search. Also be sure to use that same key phrase in all your link titles.

• 1. intitle:add+url “keyword phrase”
• 2. intitle:submit+site “keyword phrase
• 3. intitle:submit+url “keyword phrase”
• 4. intitle:add+site “keyword phrase”
• 5. intitle:add+your+site “keyword phrase”
• 6. intitle:directory “keyword phrase”
• 7. intitle:list “keyword phrase”
• 8. intitle:sites “keyword phrase”

I used the above examples and came up with 100’s of potential link partners all who have good page ranks with Google. You want to make sure that the pages your links will appear on have a Google PR or your link will not be found when the Google spider comes crawling.

Tom Worsley is a successful work from home Internet marketer and independent representative for Strong Future International (SFI), Owner and Webmaster for http://kawarthapublishing.com. This article may be re-published on your site or in your newsletter as long as this resource box is included.