Conquering the Stairs

Have you ever let fear conquer you? Well today, you're going to read about an amazing dog who helped me overcome mine.
Caspian was a new addition to my household. He had shown up in the front yard of my 100 year old Virginia farmhouse one early morning. He was skin and bones, covered with ticks, fleas and sores, and had been shot - his skinny body riddled with buckshot. I took one look at this pathetic animal and told him he was home.

It took weeks of vet treatments, baths and many bowls of food, but he finally began to look like a dog that was going to make it. His bones began to disappear, his coat took on a shine, and he became my constant shadow to show his appreciation for me saving his life. He was always with me - except when I went upstairs to my office.
My home had a wide expanse of wooden stairs that led to the 2^nd floor. Caspian was terrified of them. It didn't matter what I did to build his confidence, or what wonderful tidbit of food I tempted him with, he refused to climb those stairs. He would just cower at the bottom stair and shake all over whenever I got him near them. Yet when I went up to my office, he was overcome with despair at being separated from me and laid at the bottom whimpering and whining.
I had no idea what had created this fear, and I had even less of an idea of how to conquer it. After two weeks of daily attempts, I finally gave up. If he didn't want to climb the stairs - so be it. But my only defense from his pitiful whining was to turn the music up any time I needed to be in my office. When I would leave my office and come downstairs, Caspian would erupt with frantic joy to be reunited once again.
About a month into this pattern, I was awakened one morning by a noise. I lay in bed trying to identify what it was.
Click, click, click. Silence. Click, click, click. Silence.
It kept on for close to fifteen minutes before my curiosity finally overwhelmed my desire to stay under the warm covers. I threw aside my quilt, grabbed a robe and went out to investigate. When I identified the source of the noise, I just stood there with my mouth wide open.
I watched as Caspian carefully climbed the stairs. Click, click, click. He got to the top, turned around, and then started back down. Click, click, click.
When he got to the bottom, he turned and gazed at me as if to say, It's really no big deal. I can do this!
And then he did it again, and again, and again. at least 25 more times - after already having done it for 15 minutes before I finally came to investigate.
I watched his confidence grow with each ascent and descent of the "dreaded stairs." His tongue hung out in joy and at the end his tail was wagging is triumph over his fears. He knew he would never again have to be separated from me because of the stairs.
I already loved him, but that day I gained an incredible respect for his courage and resilience. I was also challenged about what I was willing to do to overcome my fears. Was I willing to stare my fears in the face and then take the steps to overcome that fear? Was I willing to feel the fear, and then do it anyway? Was I willing to attack my fears, for as long as it took to overcome them? I made a lot of decisions that day that have given me a much richer life - and I have Caspian to thank for it!
So now I pose the same questions to you: Are you willing to stare your fears in the face and then take the steps to overcome them? Are you willing to feel the fear, and then do it anyway? Are you willing to attack your fears for as long as it takes to overcome them?
Every time you are faced with a fear, try to remember a courageous dog that was able to conquer his fears with love and determination - and then follow his lead. All of us are afraid of something in our lives. There is no shame in being afraid. The key to victory, however, is to face your fear head on and do whatever it takes to overcome it. You can let your fears stop you from achieving all you want in life, or. you can follow Caspian's lead and conquer the stairs!
Ginny Dye

Don't Let Life Get In The Way Of Your Life

The memories are so very clear. We had just put the final touches; the last giant cubes of marble and concrete were setting in. It didn't matter that they were really big rocks and chunks of dirt and mud on the walls. What a magnificent structure! No Indians, no Cavalry, no Kings Men and no Attila the Hun could storm these walls. My friends and I had built this magnificent fort to withstand any assault from our imaginary enemies. It never occurred to us that this fortress, this pillar of strength could crumble at any moment. It had taken us days to build but they were wonderful days. The sun was blistering hot. July days in southern Ohio would get that way. The Great Miami River sparkled in the distance as we slaved and struggled to build this edifice to engineering. Of course we didn't know that's what we were building but that's what my memory of those days has etched in my dreams. We had built something that nobody else had ever built and we'd defend it to the last man; or 8 year old boy. Life was so exciting back then and this fort represented all that was good. And then the rains came. Two days of torrential rain and the river kept rising and the insurmountable, the un-breachable fort was gone, carried away in the deluge. Dreams were destroyed that week in 1953 but they would appear again. We just didn't realize it at the time. It didn't cross our minds that we were actually learning one of the basics of an adventuresome life. Nothing lasts forever
It's interesting how memories and dreams sustain us as we grow older. Life often becomes what we want it to be based on those dreams of long ago. Sadly, we too often forget to live those dreams and we forget that anything is possible in a dream.
I've always been a bit of a dreamer so those memories of long ago have stayed with me as if they happened yesterday. That doesn't mean it hasn't rained on my forts just a few times. Those memories have helped me rebuild many forts and continue to do so today. Forts though get bigger, stronger and harder to rebuild as we get older but they don't disappear. They just take more work. I've learned over these many years that those rebuilt forts have led to the greatest lessons I've ever experienced. These are the lessons that make life worthwhile, more challenging and satisfying than almost all of the other lessons combined. I like to describe them as just one of many rebirths.
My youngest daughter had just gotten married a few weeks prior to me visiting the Dr. in May of 1998. This wasn't a comfortable visit but it was one where I pretty much knew what the outcome would be. As a runner and avid weight lifter I knew right away the signs of a hernia and thus my visit to the Dr. Little did I know that this visit would change my life and it would never be the same.
Over the next couple of weeks I was told that my kidneys were down to about 25% functioning and I soon required emergency surgery on my hernia. I was forced to delay the original hernia surgery due to the kidney issue. The prognosis I was given set the stage for life altering events that would take me in a direction I had never dreamed. The lessons I would learn would change me in ways that were unimaginable before that day. I would never be the same.My fort was being destroyed by torrents of bad news. My internal fortress was washed away, seemingly to never be found again.
Thus was my introduction to one of the most life altering moments in my fifty plus years and the beginning of a journey that continues even today. It's strange how these forts we build in our lives can crumble overnight. We think we can withstand anything and then the unexpected storm happens and the walls come tumbling down. What we do at that point creates the defining moments in our lives. Who we are and what we are made of screams out at us to make a statement and be heard. Whether we do or not attests to our makeup and sets the stage for making those dreams come true or letting them wash away with the turmoil.
For me it wasn't traumatic or even frightening. It was more like a slap across the face when I wasn't quite ready. Have you ever had a slap like that? A slap that hits you square in the face when you least expect it. It usually happens when we aren't looking with the painfully delivered message that life was changing forever. I had kidney disease and I actually lost my breath. My fort had failed to keep out the enemy. My walls crumbled and the invaders were close at hand. I was facing hand to hand combat and I didn't even have a weapon; or did I?
That was June of 1998 and I had just come through a pretty stressful few months. I lost my mother, mother-in-law and brother-in-law all between the first week in October, 1997 and Christmas. My youngest daughter had just gotten married in May, 1998 and I had just completed one of the most lucrative consulting assignments I'd had since starting my business in 1992. To say my life was turned upside down was an understatement. I almost didn't know what to deal with first, my grief over losing my loved ones, my joy over my daughter's marriage, my elation that my business had finally taken off or the crash of a life altering illness. It was a lot to deal with but as I look back, I realize that this 8 month period of time would define my life from that point forward. I now know why we say, everything happens for a reason. I now truly understand my purpose in life. Kidney disease pushed me over the hump and forced me to see more clearly what I needed to do and that i t was not as difficult or confusing as I had always made it. What I finally found was the direction I'd searched for most of my life and that direction was forward. All the trials and tribulations, all the struggles and setbacks, all the losses and seeming failures in life as well as the victories and happy times were simply a part of life. My fort could be rebuilt just like that one many years earlier. Why hadn't I seen it before?
We all have our forts destroyed at some time in our lives. Many of those forts aren't all that big or strong and some, like mine don't fall so easily but when they do, we need a plan to rebuild. We need to think clearly and rationally and believe in our hearts that it was just a structure. It had a foundation and walls and rooms that were pieces of a life well lived but it didn't have to have a roof. It didn't have to have a ceiling that stopped us. When we realize this, we're on our way to success. So how do we rebuild those forts? We keep our wits and think things through.
We slow down and analyze the problem. Overreaction can be the death of any good plan.
We act. We do something. Procrastination never accomplishes anything.
We logically move forward, one step at a time.
We believe that this is the beginning of a new chapter in life and it may very well be the best one.
I read one time where it's never too late to become what we might have been. Don't let your life get in the way of your life. It's just not all that complicated.
Jim Dineen

Daring to Take Risks

The first time anything new and creative is proposed, it gets labeled. And the label put on these novel things is likely to be "risky." Can't you just hear it?
"Let me get this straight, Orville. You and Wilbur are building a machine that will do what? Heavier-than-air flying machines are the riskiest hoax anybody ever palmed off on two gullible boys like you Wrights. Get a real job!"
Or maybe it was somebody's harebrained idea of talking pictures, black and white children attending the same school, or people walking on the moon. More than one person was berated simply for giving voice to such "silly" ideas.
It turns out that some of the people who dared to propose such outlandish possibilities are now regarded as geniuses - revolutionaries - heroes. And it was only because they dared to question others and to question themselves. They challenged the limitations others were willing to take for granted.
There is something in your profession or business, your family or church that could be done better. A situation could be more productive. A relationship could be healthier. An objective could be clarified. Some lofty ideal to which all in the group give lip service could actually be implemented. But I warn you up front: Like restoring a car or house, it will take twice as long as you thought, cost far more than you anticipated, and strain every important relationship in your life!
Only you can decide if it will be worth it to undertake something so ambitious and costly. There will be false starts. There will be embarrassing mistakes along the way. But the potential outcome could be as important to your personal situation as the achievements of the Wright brothers, Rosa Parks, and Neil Armstrong were to their time and place.
The problem with our world is not that there are no more frontiers to challenge and conquer. It's that there are too few explorers. There are too few people willing to ask the obvious questions and challenge the traditional wisdom. In a word, too few of us want to take the risks that could make us look stupid.
If you are fortunate enough to have a dream in your heart, be willing to make mistakes in pursuit of it. Be a risk-taker. You just might change the world.
Rubel Shelly
Rubel Shelly is a Preacher and Professor of Religion and Philosophy located in Rochester Hills, Michigan. In addition to church and academic responsibilities, he has worked actively with such community projects as Habitat for Humanity, American Red Cross, From Nashville With Love, Metro (Nashville) Public Schools, Faith Family Medical Clinic, and Operation Andrew Ministries.

Lossing wieght for the New Year!!

If you are having trouble with over-eating, keeping your portions under control, or with sugar cravings - then please read this whole email.

I am about to reveal a weird technique that clinical studies have shown increases the amount of weight you can lose by 146%, and more importantly. this is over the long term.

And it isn't about willpower, discipline, a fad diet, or taking a bunch of worthless pills.

You and I both know these are a waste of time and money.

How the Biggest Loser Really Lost His Belly Fat

Recently, I found out that Matt Hoover (winner of NBC's, "The Biggest Loser" season two) tried this exact technique and system.

When I first heard this, I thought to myself, "But that guy already lost a ton of weight, why would he use the program?"

Turns out, that after the show was over he was no longer able to eat like he did on the show (no personal chefs, no trainer, and no cameras to make sure he was on track). So he gained a lot of the weight back and was ashamed of himself.

In his own words, he simply could not avoid temptation.

Well, a couple of months ago, he tried this weird technique, and for the first time in his life, he is eating right and exercising without the star treatment. He is doing it on his own, and says it has been easy. By the way, he has also lost over 40 pounds of fat!

The technique is called medical hypnosis, and this specific program has been getting normal people just like you results for almost 5 years.

Cynthia Roderick, a photographer from South Deerfield, Massachusetts is one example:

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"I had an addiction to sugar and my weight problems were so severe I was thinking of bypass surgery. I tried hypnosis programs in the past. Some programs made me tense and uncomfortable; the power of others seemed to fade away.

Within the first week I was getting obvious results. Since I started the program I've lost 30 pounds and I keep dropping them. My addiction to sugar is pretty much gone and decisions to turn down foods are easy."

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Terrisa Harding, from Sapulpa, Oklahoma had this to say:

"I was always a thin person until my mid-thirties, then the weight began to creep up until I had gained over 30 lbs. I tried the Enjoying Weight Loss program and since being on it I've lost (so far permanent) over 20 lbs. I find I automatically eat much more healthfully, like more fruits and vegetables, I don't feel deprived and I'm energized. I feel GREAT!"

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If you're skeptical, I understand

Many people are when they first hear about this. But I wouldn't waste your time (or mine) with programs that don't work.

It's a proven technique endorsed by the American Medical Association and the British Medical Association. What's more, it works. I've seen people use medical hypnosis to get focused on their diet and follow it with almost no effort at all.

It's very easy to do. Instead of fighting and resisting your diet, you'll feel good about what you're doing and stick with your program without even thinking about it.

I've read many of the studies on medical hypnosis for weight loss and the results speak for themselves. In one, researchers split people following a diet into two groups. One used medical hypnosis, the other didn't. The group who used medical hypnosis lost an average of 17 pounds. The group that didn't lost an average of only 0.5 pounds.

That's not surprising. Being committed to the program you're following makes all the difference - especially over the long term.

Can Increase Results by Over 146%

A study published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology shows medical hypnosis does just that: Improves your results over the long term.

Their study found adding hypnosis increased weight loss by an average of 97% during treatment. More importantly, medical hypnosis increased effectiveness AFTER treatment by over 146%.

Clearly, this technique is even more effective over time. And as you know, long-term commitment to any diet program is the key to lasting fat loss. You can read more on a webpage I will send you to below.

Created by a Doctor.

The best medical hypnosis program was designed by America's leading expert in the field, Dr. Roberta Temes. In fact, she "wrote the book" on the subject. She's the editor of the first hypnosis textbook used in medical schools, Medical Hypnosis. (Psychiatrists in training are learning her techniques for medical hypnosis!)

Dr. Temes is also on the faculty of the Psychiatry Department in the Medical School of the SUNY Health Science Center. She's also involved with research on the behavioral factors involved with long-term weight loss.

Takes Just 20 Minutes a Day

Best of all, her program takes only 20 minutes per day and, simply by listening to relaxing CDs, may help you automatically follow your program and regain your health.

This may not work for everyone, but it is something you should consider if your previous attempts haven't been successful because you've resorted to previous bad habits.

Here are some of the experiences you may uncover if you go through Dr. Temes seven session program:

* Cravings can be reduced instantaneously,
allowing you to stop binging before you start

*New neural pathways will be created that
empower you to replace unhealthy eating habits
with healthy ones

* Experience effortless motivation without
relying on willpower

*Your desire for sodas will be eliminated and
replaced with a craving for WATER!

* Pounds will melt away as you automatically eat
the right foods and right portions, while making
exercise a part of your every day routine.

Have an Open Mind

Keeping an open mind allows you to grow in spirit and successfully overcome challenges that may have been haunting you your whole life.

The Hypnosis Network, the publishers of the program (and some people I have now worked with for a while), are very confident that this will work.

Because of this, they are discounting the program for my readers, adding some very useful bonuses and are going to allow you to try it for just the cost of shipping.

To find out how it can help you drop fat and keep it off, just click the link below.

http://www.hypnosisnetwork.com/hypnosis/ewl/special?hn=2112

I think it is a no brainer.

To Your Good Health,

Brian Proctor

P.S. Here are some more examples of how this program has helped people just like you.

"I am now down 20 pounds and still have not had any problems with stress eating (my lifetime habit is to overeat). I am also walking close to 5,000 steps per day now (a little over 2.5 miles) and into a size 16 from a 20/22 and people are finally beginning to notice. I personally thank you for your program even though I don't understand how it works. I am starting to like who I see in the mirror."

Syndi Ellison
Advertising & Finance Manager
Washington State Magazine

"I have used the program for just 10 days and have lost 6 lbs. What is most amazing after all my failed attempts at weight loss is the ease of sticking with my program since using the CD's! For the first time in my adult life I feel like I am in control of my response to food, and believe I am incorporating all those healthy eating habits that have eluded me in the past. It feels wonderful to go through the day without obsessing over food, and feeling fulfilled rather than deprived. I can definitely see these as lifetime, lifestyle changes. Thank you for the wonderful tool!"

Angela Roberts
Somerville, New Jersey

http://www.hypnosisnetwork.com/hypnosis/ewl/special?hn=2112