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[May 4, 2008]

Friends Are A Gift You Give Yourself

Filed under: Online Lifestyle Resources — @ 8:28 pm

My oldest boy is fifteen and was a real jerk about a month ago.
He had gotten pretty full of himself and acted like he was too
cool for the rest of the family. Pretty typical teenager
behavior, but I didn’t like it. I had gotten to the end of my
patience with him and laid into him about how lousy it felt to
be treated that way. We ended up in a huge fight. He argued that
he wasn’t acting any different than normal and that I was just
choosing to see things negatively. So, I laid out numerous
examples of his selfish “me me me” behaviors without stopping to
take a second breath. He hates it when I go off like that, but
once he was ready to really talk, I came down off of my soapbox.
He was close to tears. Apparently, I’d hit a nerve. He confessed
that his closest friends at school had been trying to tell him
the same thing recently and he wasn’t hearing them. Now he
suddenly knew what it was they had been trying to say. He felt
awful and began to make immediate changes in his behaviors
towards others. He really hated the idea that he was hurting
anyone’s feelings by being cold and uncaring.

We talked a lot that night about how family sort of has to put
up with each other. Family is always there for you. Family can
embarrass you and you still have to acknowledge them in public.
Family can and will scream at you until you finally get the
point that you’re being a jerk. You really don’t have much
choice over who your family is.

Friends, on the other hand, are a gift that you give yourself.
Friends don’t have to put up with your attitudes if they don’t
want to. Friends can leave you hanging if you’re not very nice
towards them. Friends aren’t friends for very long if you’re
embarrassing them in public. Friends usually won’t scream at you
to get their point across. You handpick your friends to be
something different and special. They aren’t quite the same as
family.

In order to have friends, you have to be a friend. Do you listen
to them? Do you care for them? Do you encourage them? You have
to give a lot of yourself to be a good friend to someone. But in
the end, you are the one who benefits the most. It’s not about
becoming some kind of martyr without any personal needs or
thoughts towards your own well-being. It’s more about nurturing
a cherished relationship. That way, you have a dear friend to
hang out with when your family is driving you bonkers. You have
someone to laugh and play with. You have someone safe to share
your hopes and dreams with. You have someone to talk to who
isn’t going to blab to the rest of the family that you think
your mom is an overbearing control freak or that your stepfather
isn’t turning out to be your idea of what a dad could be.

Through our discussions that night, we were able to tap into
what was it about my son that made him such a great guy to hang
out with over the years. It was his ability to genuinely care
about others and his intuitive compassion for everyone that made
him more than just popular, but a real friend to all. He’s the
kind of guy who always sticks up for the smaller kids and looks
after the lost children. Once I reminded him of who he used to
be, he realized how much of his focus had turned inwards towards
himself instead of outwards towards those whom he cared about.
He said that he’d gotten so wrapped up in his new cool friends
and in his public image at school that he hadn’t even understood
what his old friends were talking about when they said he was
cold and uncaring now. Turning his attention inwards had caused
him to alienate many of his closest friends and family. Now he
suddenly felt very much alone in the world. Luckily, it hadn’t
been happening for very long before I’d blown up at him and made
him look at it. He was able to quickly readjust back into the
caring person he used to be and was able to feel loved and
supported by his friends and family again. He passionately dove
back into his friendships.

He learned that you can treat your brother like garbage and he’s
always your brother and you will have to see each other at
family gatherings whether you ever learn to be close or not.
Friends on the other hand, can and will walk out of your life if
you are cold and uncaring towards them. Family will eventually
just shrug their shoulders and excuse your self-absorbed
behavior as just the way you are, friends won’t. I find it’s the
friendships that we love and nurture like family that last
forever as if they were family. And, it’s the family members
that we love and nurture like friends that we form the strongest
and closest bonds with.

They say that we learn our social skills from our siblings, but
I’m not so sure about that anymore. My stepmother wasn’t a very
nurturing type and when we were younger my sister and I were not
very close. So through my girlfriends, I got that female
connection that I just couldn’t get from my family. My
girlfriends became my surrogate family and taught me a lot about
how to really be there for someone else. My sister and I have
only recently become friends in the last few years. We are
forming a different kind of bond then what we had when we were
children. It’s much better now. I would never treat my friends
the way I used to treat my sister!

Copyright 2004, Skye Thomas, Tomorrow’s Edge

Is There Spice in Your Websites?

Filed under: The Webbing Way — @ 6:18 pm

When someone visits your web site, do they think, “Wow, here’s
something to look at!” Or, “Oh, here we go again, same old
thing. Boring.” You need to know that a visitor extending their
visit or leaving may depend on the spice in your site.

I remember when I first developed my website, several years ago.
I had more animations than ornaments on a Christmas tree, lit in
December, on a Christmas morning. I thought I was cooking with
gas. But as the months passed, the products on my site were
going nowhere. My site just looked and sounded pretty. It had
music too.

To help this situation, I soon began to read various newsletters
to find out how to make sales with my site. One thing I
understood was that I had to get a merchant account to accept
credit cards. This led me on a search for a merchant account
that would fit my budget. I found one.

Then I asked some consultants on the web what was the problem?
Why was I not receiving any sales? One said I had to many
animations. Another stated that I needed to put as a caption
“How to dress as an islander?” He tried to tie this idea into my
Island theme. He gave me some other ideas for which I was
thankful, since I was a newbie on the net. Then someone told me
my site was too colorful. It needed to look like other sites on
the Internet. The look should be similar to the bigger companies
such as Amazon.com.

So, I decided after trying everything and the sales were not
rolling in, to make my web site look like the other companies on
the Web. I decided to do so for the new millennium - January 1,
2000. And I did, much against my better instincts. Well the
results winded up being a complete failure. First, every time I
checked my web site to make sure the links worked, I would feel
like someone had let me down. It just was not me.

Then, came in the negative reviews from various individuals who
revisited. They wanted to know where were all the moving stuff
and the music. They inquired, “What happened to your site? I
used to send people to your site, just to see what it looked
like. I thought it was a nice site.” That bit of feedback
re-assured me that I needed to go back and add some spice to my
site.

I began to add the spice, keeping the format. Bit by bit I added
back some of the animations. In particular, the swaying palm
trees and the lizard with the bouncing head. Those two
animations everyone likes. I also added the walking feet and a
fish swimming. These animations are tastefully placed through
out the site. In addition, I added some other interactive
components. The site is constantly being updated. It changes to
keep it freshly spiced for all visitors.

Now I’m not recommending that everyone should spice up their
website with swaying palm trees and lizards. However, I would
recommend that you add spice to your web site according to your
gut feelings. Also take into consideration you and your products
culture. The infusion of spice can make a big difference in
someone glancing at your site and leaving, or staying around to
see what other goodies or surprises you may have to lure them.
Yea, mon!

Ark of The Covenant - explained

Filed under: Technology Stuff — @ 5:55 pm

Hold on to your hat! Here comes one of the most, incredible stories of ancient technology, which ranks alongside the use of atomic forces and the ‘Lost Chord’. Needless to say the editors of Scientific American who denied the Wright brothers had achieved airborne flight for months after Kitty Hawk won’t or wouldn’t believe this ‘doozy’. I think it is a very good explanation that is part of something even more fantastic which explains the existence of accurate maps from over ten thousand years ago. But I also think these maps might have been the work of Mungo Man or the De Danaan they worked with.

The other possibility that would explain their existence relates to Lhasa and a spacecraft which Churchward as well as Brugger’s The Chronicles of Akakor recounts from such things as the Lhasa Record which may only exist in the Akashic. If you have a better explanation I’d like to hear from you. Is it not important to explain such proven anomalies? Especially when they integrate with things we don’t want to admit about man’s far more advanced nature in ancient times. If we have blown each other apart before or created hyperviruses such as what killed the Mammoth (A current research underway by the American Museum of Natural History thinks it can be proven such a virus killed many large animals and that humans were the carrier.); does it warrant asking our leaders if they knew these things or why they didn’t tell us? We are certain that our knowledge is not exclusive or even complete in these matters. Yet perhaps few people know how many disciplines and areas of how lives are under such oppressive control.

The maps themselves are dealt with under the Portolan Maps entry in greater detail and at this point we think it relevant to our discussion of the ARK to bring the Pyramid into the possibility of advanced prior civilizations on earth. Michael Bradley is a map expert and a good scholar whose work we have quoted before.

“Centre of the Earth’s Land Mass, etc.

This is an important concept and I will explain to the best of my ability. It will be easier to appreciate somewhat better the truly significant placement of the Giza complex.

First let’s consider two squares. One is 100 square units (miles, kilometres, or whatever) in area, the other twice as large, 200 square units in area.

{He illustrates two squares with pyramids on top from an overhead perspective with a line connecting the centre points or apex of the pyramids. Under the smaller square are 10 units and under the larger square is the figure 14.85 units. The 100 and 200 unit figures as mentioned are further repeated further under these two squares.}

We will find their respective centres by drawing diagonals. Where the diagonals intersect is the centre of each square. Together, these squares represent three units of the largest common denominator–100 square miles. So we’ll draw a line, divided equally into three parts, between the centres of the two squares. Since one square is twice the size of the other, we will mark off two of the equal parts towards the larger square. This is the centre of their combined areas, given their distance apart. If they were closer together, or further apart, the point would fall elsewhere. Please note that this point is above the centre of the small square but below the centre of the larger one. It is a true geometric centre of the two areas that are separated by this given and arbitrary distance.

It is possible to ascertain the area of an irregular shape, although it is much more difficult to do than using squares.

The largest continent, Eurasia, happens to be about twice the land area of the American continents. These continents are separated by oceans. One can divide the separation into three equal parts, just as above, and find the ‘centre of these two land masses.’

Taking this point, we can calculate Africa into the picture the same way. Africa is about 25% the area of Eurasia and the Americas combined. Therefore, the distance from Africa’s geographic centre to the Eurasia-Americas’ centre will be divided into five equal parts (i.e. the ‘4′ represented by Eurasia-Americas, and the ‘1′(25%) represented by Africa’s area). Marking off four of these five divisions towards the Eurasia-Americas’ centre, since this centre represents a combined land mass four times as large as Africa, will yield a new point, which is geometric, in this case ‘geographic’, centre of Eurasia-Americas-Africa combined. If we continue this process with the remaining large and small land masses–Antarctica, Australia, Greenland, New Guinea, Java, Sumatra, etc. –we will eventually arrive at a ‘centre of the earth’s land masses.’ It will be as accurate as our method, plus the arbitrary inclusion of ever smaller islands, will make it.

A meticulous calculation of such a ‘centre’ will result in a point directly on the meridian (longitude) of the Great Pyramid but 6′ (minutes) south of the Great Pyramid–but there’s only sand in that location. The Giza Plateau is the first solid bedrock on the correct meridian {And Archaeology Magazine had the temerity to suggest the builders were merely imitating natural landforms with the Sphinx and Pyramid in last months issue.}. It is 6′ in error from the true centre.

Sixty seconds of 101.3 English feet = l’ (minute) of arc, 6080 feet on the equator = 1 nautical mile, whereas one ‘common’ or ‘highway’ (’statute’) mile equals 5280 English feet. A nautical ‘knot’ is one nautical mile (6080 English feet) per hour of time; it is a unit of speed measurement, not of static distance.

Sixty minutes = 1 degree of arc, or 60 nautical miles at the equator. The Earth’s equatorial circumference contains 360 degrees or 21,600 nautical miles = 24,872.73 common or statute miles.

All this sounds deceptively precise! In fact, of course, standardization of the length of the English foot, and therefore of seconds, minutes and degrees of arc, was not accomplished until the 1750s–and the size of the Earth was not measured correctly at that time. Just as the French Academy made an error in fixing the length of the metre, which was supposed to be one ten-millionth part of the surface distance from the Earth’s equator to either pole, because they couldn’t measure the Earth accurately, so also the British Admiralty made inaccurate geographic measures. Nonetheless, these measures remain accurate enough for most practical purposes. Nowadays, units of measure are fixed by correlation to electromagnetic wave-lengths {Could the ancients have been able to attune with Gaia’s earth energy grid and send signals along it to record the time taken for a bounce back or echo?}. Since 1966, for example, the metre has been fixed as a division of the wave-length of Krypton 86.

A glance at the U. S. A. F. ‘Azimuthal Equidistant Projection’ Map of the world {see illustration in our section} will show that it is centred ‘near Cairo’–i.e., at the centre of the earth’s land masses, as calculated above, and precisely on the meridian of the Great Pyramid– but 36,480 English feet south of the Great Pyramid at the true centre, which falls in an area of sand. A property of Azimuthal Equidistant Projection is that a circle drawn around any given point will have a circumference incorporating points of geography that are truly equidistant from the centre of the circle–the airplane or ship. This is not the case with large-scale maps drawn on the common Mercator projection {John Dee studied with Mercator and achieved high status in this field.}, which gives accurate longitudes and latitudes of all geography but must distort the polar regions in order to do so. It is also not the case with the Phillips projection, used by the UN, which shows the land area of countries in true proportion to each other but must distort the longitudes and latitudes near the equator in order to do so. These distortions arise from the problem of transferring the curved surface of a spherical Earth onto a flat piece of paper–the best that can be done is to know, and to choose, the kind of distortion that best serves any given need.

The location of the Great Pyramid at the centre of the Earth’s land masses, unless it is truly a coincidence, implies the following. First, its builders knew the geography and size of the Earth quite accurately because they could not otherwise calculate the correct centre of land - masses. Second, they chose Egypt because the centre is there {It would be quite coincidental that they were Egyptian as well.}, and this means that Ancient Egyptian civilization may have arisen because of lingering cultural influences as well as because of the supposed advantages conferred by the Nile. Third, the three pyramids of the Giza complex, including the Sphinx, were built by someone other than the Ancient Egyptians–unless we are willing to grant them advanced knowledge as well–but then we must contend with the various correlations at Giza that all point to 10,500 B.C. as the origin of the Giza complex {I’ll grant this date or 2,000 years later for the Sphinx, as well as the whole complex being designed at this time. I believe the capstones were used before the final Pyramids were constructed. It would appear there were other pyramids built to imitate this ‘GREAT’ pyramid. The issue of the Brazilian pyramids is yet to be determined, and it is possible they are even more ‘fantastic’.}. Either the three pyramids and the Sphinx were built by an unknown culture long before the beginnings of Ancient Egypt, now dated as about 3200 B.C., or the Egyptians themselves have a much longer history than we think.” (13)

Clearly there are many entries this impinges upon that we continue to develop. Before making another brief quote from his notes and then moving on to the ARK (An arc-transmitter that allowed large ships to send information back to the Pyramid for the mapping purposes.), I should address some other correlations with the Phoenician Pythagoras and his studies of the Pyramid. Some authors note the nautilus sea creature has a natural configuration of the mathematical concept or construct known as ‘phi’. This is encapsulated in the Great Pyramid with its two complete tetrahedra. (Read Bucky Fuller’s COSMOGONY or SYNERGISTICS for further insight.). Thales also had a Phoenician parent and he is credited by the Hellenizing Empire as the father of all sciences, but he studied the Pyramid and learned much about his limited knowledge from it. We have (and continue) shown the DNN of Homer and the Dana worshipping Scythians, Kelts and Iberian/Basque and Berbers are part of the Phoenician ‘Brotherhood’ that greatly pre-dates Pythagoras’ ‘brother- hood’ or any Therapeutae and Great White Brotherhood. We are sure Churchward’s Mu and the Mungo Man are connected with this conglomerate which will lead to Harappan and Easter Island connections to Kelts and many other enterprises from the Grand Canyon to the Great Wall.

“Pi is the ratio of a circle’s diameter to its circumference, 1:3.14 or 7:22. Phi is the ratio of a line divided so that the length of the shorter segment bears the same relationship to the length of the longer segment as the longer segment bears to the whole undivided line, 1:1.618. This ‘Phi’ is sometimes called ‘The Golden Section’ {Key Masonic concept attributed to Pythagoras.} because there’s something inaffably pleasing about the ratio. It was used by many Renaissance artists such as Poussin {Bradley shows how his art incorporated scenes and people of import and coded to give knowledge of when the family of Jesus or Merovingians were safely settled in places like Montreal and one might think another artist did the same when they were in America long before Columbus at Kingston where he has geologic core samples to show European influence.}, Michelangelo and da Vinci {An alchemist like his mentor - check ‘The Dictionary of Alchemy’ by Mark Haeffner.}; it occurs in abstract mathematics, as in the Fibonacci Series of numerical progression; it occurs frequently in nature, for example in the successive length of segments of the chambered nautilus.” (14)

When I made my brief interruption earlier in reference to attunement with the earth energy grid and ‘echoes’ I was not being facetious. The vision Napoleon saw in the King’s Chamber may relate to this through a time portal not unlike the ‘Stone’ that Michel de Nostradamus (who grew up near Rennes le Chateau) was able to glimpse the confusing potentials of the unsubstantial future we can change through creative, purposeful and FREE WILL. The king’s chamber and the delta wave forms that a pyramid creates are part of the time structure and helical nature thereof (according to Al Bielek who has a time machine which a friend of mine has seen - more later). The possibility of what Bradley is about to say may have seemed even more likely than what I just wrote until the NEC labs at Princeton demonstrated 300X light speed last year (2001).

About the Author

Author of Diverse Druids
Guest ‘expert’ for World-Mysteries.com

Wake Up - Your Life is Happening (Part 2)

Filed under: New Age + The Occult — @ 1:32 pm

In Wake Up - Your Life is Happening, Part 1, we discussed four
methods to identify if you live your life in a state of
awareness or not. These methods were:

  • you have the ability to observe your life
  • you are in control of your life
  • you feel true compassion for others
  • and everyday is a choice to live a conscious
    life

In part 2, we address how YOU can
awaken your consciousness and awareness for your
life, in three steps.

Create self-awareness: There is one simple
and easy way to create self-awareness, talk to
yourself. That’s correct, be it aloud or an internal
dialogue, talk to yourself. By having an open and
inquisitive interchange with yourself you will discover
your strengths, individuality and character. Learning
who you are will automatically begin to create a
consciousness and curiosity for your life and how you
are living it.

Ask yourself: Who am I? How am I doing? How do I
feel today? How do I feel about having to go to
work? How do I feel about my emotions, state of
mind, how I act, and how I react? Why do I feel sad?
What makes me happy? What is bothering me right
now? Why is this bothering me? There is no end or
limit to what you can ask or how you can ask it.

Be an active participant: Who is in charge of
your life - you or someone else? Your life, your
choices, your responsibilities, your decisions, it’s all
yours. Be part of it, participate. Go ahead, take
action and make decisions in regards to your life.
What better way to wake up to your life then by
taking part of it.

Take ownership: Take internal and external
ownership of the great work you do, the good deeds
you perform, even your mistakes and wrong doings.
It takes courage, bravery and personal fortitude to
take credit for your accomplishments and especially
to acknowledge your mistakes. By doing this you will
initiate an understanding of your actions and
inactions. You will begin to realize why, when and
how you do the things you do which will spark
another level of awareness for your life.

Simple and straight forward wouldn’t you say? Don’t
complicate the process of getting to know yourself
and your life because it is indeed a very simple one.
Conscious living is an amazing and beautiful way to
live; the only reason it’s not natural for us to live
that way is because we get wrapped up in
everything that is external to us and who we are.
Choose to wake up and be you. Ask questions,
discover who you are and act. Choose life, your life.

Ann Bernard is a professional life coach and life advocate. Living life is one of the most fullfilling and rewarding thing you can do in life and for yourself–so why don’t we? Nothing is more complex and simple then our own lives. If you ever ponder such thoughts contact Ann and she would love to hear from you and work with you on finding answers. Visit http://www.coachingyourfuture.com

Choosing the Right Treadmill for You

Filed under: Tons Of Templates — @ 10:06 am

Convenience, ease and the efficiency of Treadmills have made
them a revelation in the health industry. We have gone through
such a variety of fitness exercises which either break your back
trying to get them right, or are too difficult to master, let
alone do them every day. But with a treadmill, you can burn
calories the simplest was possible, by walking or running.
Which, by the way, are the two most natural exercises you can
imagine! You walk when you are a 2 year old, some even before
that, and yet when it comes to exercising people turn to complex
gym routines and diets to stay fit!

Work schedules, personal security, weather and health status;
all make us reluctant to go out doors for walks on a regular
basis. So it isn’t a surprise that even the world’s most
advanced societies are facing health dilemmas. People in general
don’t have time for gym workouts, and those who do are too
exhausted by long work days to do them. As for recommenders of
walking as an exercise, Treadmills not only make exercise
easier, they cut out the obtrusive factors which hinder us in
forming routines.

In addition to providing some very helpful bits of information
along the way, treadmills provide a wide variety of exercise
options. From walking to hill climbing, jogging to running, you
can pace yourself as you like so there is something for everyone
in the use of treadmills. However, with the market being so
overcrowded with a wide range of treadmills, we see a need for
guidance in making the best choices for you.

At the moment there are three distinct types of treadmills
available on the market. So to pick out the best treadmill for
you, let’s have a quick look at what each one of them has to
offer.

First up is the Manual Treadmill; you don’t have to be a fitness
guru to understand that a manual treadmill is non-motorized.
It’s a simple machine with a belt and rollers that you move with
your effort. The simpler a machine, the fewer are the chances of
things going wrong with it. So that’s a positive feature; it
will last longer. However, since the treadmill’s belt doesn’t
move itself you can set your own pace, which is not so good for
the lazy people who are unlikely to push themselves.

Next, there is the Motorized Treadmill with features to set the
pace of your walk, jog or run. You can set your required pace
and keep up with it over a period of time to get optimum
exercise out of the time you spend on it. Then there are the
‘incline’ options in some motorized treadmills; these can help
you decide the amount of incline you want for your run. The
negatives go with the positives though, it’s a complicated piece
of equipment and when it has problems they are complicated as
well. Plus a motorized treadmill is going to be more expensive,
compared to a manual treadmill, but with those features, you
have to decide for what you want.

Now you can’t say you don’t have space for a treadmill; Foldable
Treadmills have made that excuse redundant. Foldable treadmills
can be stored in a negligible amount of space. These are great
for use in the office or at home, whenever you take a break. So,
if you are facing schedule constraints, or are just too lazy to
take up regular exercise, then a foldable option might just be
the best treadmill for you.

Frankly speaking, there is no hard and fast rule to determine
which type of treadmill is better than the other. Though a
comparison of treadmill features does help you decide which one
is the best for you. Keep in mind, the treadmill that suits a
friend perfectly isn’t certain to be even rated as ‘decent’ for
you. So read up some treadmill reviews and choose according to
your own situation.

A top factor that will affect your choice would be your personal
age and weight. Though some might say that exercise is necessary
for everyone, but the mode of exercise has to differ accordingly
with the individual traits. A bulky person may need a wider belt
or the handlebars may obstruct the usual path of the arm
movement, so check the details before you buy. Age matters when
you choose as well, especially for older people, the resilience
of the deck and the heart rate control are very important.
Safety features help every age so make sure that you don’t
compromise on those. Similarly, whether you opt for running or
walking determines not only the top speed you need from your
treadmill, but also the size of the belt as well.

You look for a treadmill when you are conscious that you need to
improve on your fitness levels. However, your aspirations
determine the sort of treadmill you need. If you want to burn as
much as you can in good time, trying out the incline options
isn’t a bad idea at all. Again heart rate interactive checks are
very handy to get you to your optimum fitness levels without
doing damage to your body. ‘Who will be using it?’ is just as
important as ‘how will you use it?’, if you buy a treadmill
while targeting the fitness improvement of your whole family,
then keep in mind any inhibitions that might stop a member from
utilizing the treadmill to the full. Chances are if you are
willing to spend enough, there will be a treadmill that will
suit a diverse group of individuals like a glove!

Long or short workouts determine the quality of motor you need
for your treadmill. If you use the treadmill in short bursts the
‘peak duty’ might not be as useless as you first thought. It can
be maintained for a short period of time by the treadmill so
perhaps that restriction can help keep your treadmill’s price
down

How much do you use it? The amount of workout that is likely to
be done on your treadmill should affect your choice of
equipment. The more you want to use it, the more we would
recommend that you go for high quality treadmills. Repairs will
even out the price difference between cheap treadmills and
high-end treadmills when you compare them in the long run.
Consequently, it would be advisable to go for the higher priced
quality treadmill rather than a cheap treadmill that would spend
more time with the repairman than it does with you!

Proper Contact Lens Care

Filed under: Uncategorized — @ 12:15 am

Are you giving your contact lenses the proper care? Many people do not and this can lead to serious eye problems. Your eyes are pretty important and they are rather delicate, but many people do not take the time to properly care for their contact lenses which can cause health problems for your eyes.

When your contacts are in your eyes, they are being surrounded by proteins and bacteria which must be cleaned off periodically. In order to properly clean your contacts each night ( or whenever your doctor recommends) you need a contact lens travel case along with the appropriate solutions as recommended by your eye doctor. In fact, it’s a good idea to have a couple of travel cases around in case you lose one, just as it is a good idea to have a spare pair of contacts.

Now, I know many lens wearers do not take this cleaning seriously - they wear their contacts for extended periods over what the doctor recommends and haphazardly clean the lenses. But not cleaning your lenses properly can make them very scratchy and uncomfortable. The build up protein can lessen the clarity and affect your vision. In more serious cases, improperly cleaned lenses can cause eye infections and in the worst case blindness.

It’s a wonder why so many people skimp on this step when cleaning your contacts can be so easy! In many cases you can use a one bottle cleaning solution which means only one solution to rub and disinfect the lenses. Even if you have disposable lenses, you might want to remove them in the middle of the wearing period and clean them out for better comfort and vision.

To properly clean your lenses, make sure you wash your hands before taking the lenses out. Don’t use a moisturizing soap because you don’t want the oils on your lenses. Use lint free paper towels and dry your hands. The dryer your finger tips are, the easier it will be to get the lens out. Remove your lenses, one at a time and either rub with solution or place in the case according to the instructions on your cleaning kit. Do the same for the second lens. Remember to let your lenses sit for at least 4 hours, overnight if possible.

Lee Dobbins, a long time eyeglass and contact lens wearer,
writes for Eye Care Online where you can learn more about
contact lenses.

Steps to a Successful Audience/Trainer Relationship

Filed under: Uncategorized — @ 12:14 am

A major cause of trainers being unreceptive to their audience is stage fright. Being so self-involved the trainer has very little energy to devote to making personal contact. It is not unusual for this to happen, and there are ways to avoid it. You can capture and hold an audience’s attention if you begin by giving your listeners your attention first.

Never in the course of the presentation lose sight of the fact that you are speaking to people. Keep what is said on a personal level. Speak directly to individuals. Never slip out of focus and begin talking to the room in general.

There is nothing wrong with talking to yourself in private. It can be a constructive emotional safety valve. Many trainers, however, talk to themselves in public when they train without the audience’s attention. Their training presentations are boring and dry, and waste both their own and their listeners’ time. It is crucial that a trainer learn how to gauge the level of audience attention. Without audience attention, you might just as well pack up your notes, aids, projector, easel charts, and go home. There is nothing to train but an empty room.

Many trainers unconsciously place themselves in opposition to their audiences, and this comes through in their delivery. People are more likely to listen to someone who agrees with them. It is almost always possible to find some area of agreement with which to begin, even if it is nothing more than the mutuality of the audience’s and speaker’s joint presence. But it can usually go deeper than that. You should work from the assumption that both you and your audience are on the same side, both mutually seeking a solution, seeking to learn, to find the benefits of this or that technique. The word is adaptability — an attribute which any person willing to study human nature can and must develop.

Part of the larger philosophy of speaking from the audience’s point of view is through the use of their language. It identifies you with “their side.” They will automatically feel more closely in agreement with a person who speaks as one of them. If you are presenting to a group who sells boats using words such as “bow” and “stern” rather than front or back will help establish closeness and unity with your audience. The more you are able to couch your ideas in your audience’s terms, the better are your chances of establishing true rapport, and you gain one more advantage in your attempt to hold their attention.

Copyright AE Schwartz & Associates All rights reserved. For additional presentation materials and resources: ReadySetPresent and for a Free listing as a Trainer, Consultant, Speaker, Vendor/Organization: TrainingConsortium

CEO, A.E. Schwartz & Associates, Boston, MA., a comprehensive organization which offers over 40 skills based management training programs. Mr. Schwartz conducts over 150 programs annually for clients in industry, research, technology, government, Fortune 100/500 companies, and nonprofit organizations worldwide. He is often found at conferences as a key note presenter and/or facilitator. His style is fast-paced, participatory, practical, and humorous. He has authored over 65 books and products, and taught/lectured at over a dozen colleges and universities throughout the United States.


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