LEARNING A VIRTUE

As Christian, we have to learn to forgive those people who have done us wrong or caused us misery. Let us not forget that we, too, human as we are, commit mistakes and shortcomings. Thus, let us not hate persons who have stepped on our toes. Let not ill-feelings and resentment envelop ourselves.

Let us consider, too, that health is one factor that gives happiness. And for our health’s sake, let us always be forgiving. Yes, we have to learn the virtue of forgiving. Take this experience of a former superintendent of public schools. He once helped to the hilt a classroom teacher become a head teacher, on to becoming a principal, then as a district supervisor. The said teacher, now supervisor, was deserving of those promotions. But in so short a time, she could not have had these promotions without her superintendent’s full backing. He took in stride all the criticisms leveled against him by his detractors for helping that teacher rise in her profession. Now when the superintendent has retired, his successor turned out to be one of his fiercest detractors. The teacher-turned-supervisor, in a case of flagrant ingratitude, turned her back on her benefactor, the retired superintendent. She would not even greet him in public for the fear that the incumbent superintendent would learn of it and thereby cause the incumbent’s ire against her. When asked whether he harbors any resentment against his protégé, the retired superintendent just shrugged off his shoulders and said: “Well, it’s up to her. I have nothing against her. I only hope that she and her new ‘boss’ would have their peace of mind.”

If you forgive the people who have wronged you, you will be happy and calm. No unpleasant emotions will reign over you. As Napoleon Hill suggests: “When you feel yourself preparing to ‘lock horns’ with someone, remember that it will be profitable if you LOCK HANDS instead!

What should reign over the hearts and minds of people is forgiveness. Is it not a Christian dictum that one must love even his enemies? So, if a friend or relative has done you wrong, all the more that you must bury the hatchet, so to speak. Confucius also said that “to be wronged is nothing unless you continue to remember it.”

CHRISTIAN DICTUM

An interesting story about kindness and forgiving is that of a retired city mayor who has the distinction of having served his city in four terms and never a lot of people. He helped make simple men turn into seasoned politicians. He helped everybody, especially the needy and the poor. Budding politicians used to come to him for support. But when the time came that he needed them much, these people turned their back lo this retired city mayor. All the acts of kindness he has extended have all been forgotten or more aptly, ignored. But was he bitter? No. He forgave even those godsons who have forsaken him in his time of need. He also forgave those denouncing and attacking him in the mass media. “I am engrossed with my work that I have no time to think of retaliation. Let them enjoy destroying me; and I will prove my strength and tenacity,” he used to say when asked why he never bothered to answer and counter-attack the people who humiliate and try to destroy him. And he proved himself right when despite criticisms and innuendos leveled against him by his enemies, he still emerged the victor and he even went to the extent of offering help to his detractors and political enemies.

At this juncture, it is relevant to quote what Author Napoleon Hill says in his book The Law of Success: “Render the other fellow an act of kindly, helpful service … and he will render you a similar service. And, if he should fail to reciprocate your kindness — what then? . . . One reason for being just toward others is the fact that such action may cause them to reciprocate, in kind, but a better reason is the fact that kindness and justice toward others develop positive character in all who indulge in these acts. You may withhold from me the reward to which I am entitled for rendering you helpful service, but no one can deprive me of the benefit I will derive from the rendering of that service in so far as it adds to my own character.”

So, if you want to be happy, healthy and with a positive character and peace of mind — be tolerant. FORGIVE.

Psychologists say that there are 3 favorite positions for inducing sleep. Here they are—with their meanings:

* If you hug or cuddle yourself to sleep, you are an essentially practical and efficient person of high ideals and strong opinions. You are, most of all, a forthright person. You mean what you say and say what you mean—sometimes loudly and forcibly.

The trouble is that you seldom listen to what others say and you cannot be bothered with, other persons’ points of view if they happen to differ from your own. With all that, you have an extremely loyal and protective personality and a kind though not always understanding heart.

* If you go to sleep stretched flat out on your back, you are extremely ambitious. This makes you sometimes difficult to live with and not always attentive to the needs of others.

You dislike playing second fiddle to anyone. You want to run things, to be in charge, both in your personal life and in your work.

To you a career is more important than marriage, and your own affairs are more important than those of your parents, friends, your husband or your children.

You are inclined to be dogmatic, obstinate and overbearing, but you also have the drive that brings results.

You will go places in life. So will your children when the time comes. You will see to that.

However, you must watch that you don’t organize and run your family affairs so much or you may find yourself losing the affection of those whom you care for most.

* If you sleep on your tummy, you are anything but forceful and ambitious. You think of others before you think of yourself, and you will devote yourself selflessly to the needs of those near and dear to you.

The trouble is that you are inclined to avoid anything that seems awkward or unpleasant. You prefer to take the easy way out, to avoid trouble at all costs.

You love beautiful things and have a high degree of artistic talent, but all too often this talent lies hidden because it is so much trouble for you to develop and exploit it.

There is always something else that needs do first -usually something to be done for someone else close to you.

What you need is a forceful friend or partner who can encourage or persuade you to bring your hidden talent out. Only then will you get the best out of life.

1. If you cradle your head on your arm, you have a strongly protective personality. You are a person on whom friends and family can lean with confidence. You are something of an idealist, always ready to uphold the rights of the underdog, and you are in your element when battling for a supposedly lost cause.

You have a highly sympathetic nature and are a very good listener. You speak only when you have something to say. When you do speak, your advice is worth having.

You are loyal and faithful to those whom you love, and you’re determined and ambitious both for yourself and your family.

2. If you go to sleep curled up almost in a ball, perhaps with your hands linked around your legs, you seek protection rather than offer it. You are constantly searching for security and affection. More than anything else, you want someone to love you and take care of you.

You are not a person to take risks or chances, either in your personal life or in business.

You prefer to cling to the tried and true, even if they are also somewhat humdrum. In a curious way you find pleasure and security in being in a rut, in doing the same things and meeting the same persons.

You dislike change and are inclined to be nervous when meeting new persons or visiting new places.

You are extremely loyal and devoted to those whom you love, but you need reassurance in the form of constant attention, sympathy and displays of affection.

3. If you go to sleep snuggled right down under the covers, so that only the tip of your nose is showing, you almost certainly have an acquisitive and possessive nature. You are inclined to be something of an exhibitionist, seeking to be the center of attention.

You always have a good tale to tell, some new possession to display or some new diversion to suggest. You are the life and soul of the party.

You are always in search of something different—news friends, new places and new experiences.

You like to acquire things and to surround yourself with both possessions and people, but what is yours has to be all yours. You dislike sharing things—specially the affection of those whom you love.

You have two minds actually: the conscious mind which is in that grey matter in your head called the brain, and the subconscious mind. No one has pin-pointed where this mind is located but it is said to be much higher than your conscious mind. Psychics tell us that this is the source of your creative power. It can tap its creative needs from the inexhaustible resources of the Cosmic Mind or Supreme Intelligence which governs all things in the universe.

Free your conscious mind of the problem and let your subconscious work on it. Do not think about it anymore. Anxiety would only muddle your thoughts. Relax instead. Do something else. Rest. Read. Give yourself some fun. .

In the meantime, tell your subconscious to go to work on the problem. Since you have given all the data to it, let it do its job without any interference from you. Then wait. Be aware. Listen. Be alert. Watch for the answer. Your subconscious will not fail you if you have done your homework well.

You noticed that you gather all the facts and information needed. That is right. Without these data, there is no mold upon which your subconscious mind could create the things that you desire.

How do you gather the facts again? By reading, interviewing, looking at photographs, making sketches, doing extensive research. All these are part of your deliberate planning. Then visualize the project in its finished form. You might want to sketch it, make a rough model. Here ends your planning.

Now the subconscious takes over to harness outside creative forces to produce what you have planned.

After that the next step is to roll up your sleeves and do the actual assembling — after your dream has shown you the image of the product that you desire. The more you put into your mind (data, info, desire), the more you will eventually get out of it If you put nothing in there, there is nothing from which your dream self or subconscious mind can draw from. Your dreams will draw from the full range of your experiences, not just a portion of it. And you do not have to spend years in college to be able to do this. Just fill your cranium with data, both in words as well as in photographs, figures, scents and sounds, and your dreaming self will be ready for you when you need it.

The idea is to feed your brain with the proper fuel everyday as you would your car for daily use, and it will work for you without fail. Make it a habit to eliminate your negative thoughts and replace them with positive ideas, and you will never again be mentally impoverished.

The creative power of dreams provides you not only with new ideas — but can also improve your skills and refine your character as well. It has been said that internationally famous golfer Jack Nicklaus perfected his golf swing after a particularly frustrating game on the basis of a dream where he saw himself the club so unlike used the way he used to. A friend who was such an introvert in college because of a physical defect started to enjoy the company of friends after dreaming of being ostracized by her classmates.

WHERE TO LOOK

The kind of person you are plays an important part in your creative dreams. A soldier would be dreaming of guns and war, wouldn’t he? An architect would be interested in buildings and construction materials. A painter would dream of sceneries, of colors.

It is better to look for creative ideas in your own area of interest. You will know exactly what to look for, where to look for. You even get results faster because you already have a vast storehouse of data filed in your memory vault and waiting to be tapped.

Nothing happens by chance here. While you seem to be working alone and dreaming alone, people or events are creating circumstances that will give you the desired results.

SIMPLE METHOD

There is a simple method of creating products from your dreams. This is by dreaming the creative product in its totality. It is shown to you in its complete form in the dream, like Tartini’s The Devil’s Sonata, which was composed and played in the violin by the devil himself in Tartini’s dream.

We might call this dream an inspiration. It is a rare dream. When it does happen to you, remember it. Write it immediately, sketch it, paint it, and produce it. However unique it is, however strange the image that comes to you in the dream, don’t throw it away by not recording it. You may not have a need for it today but you will surely have a need for it tomorrow. Value your dreams. Wait for their coming eagerly each night. They are an inexhaustible source of creative ideas and products that can make you rich.

But how?

TWO WAYS

There are two ways. One way is by association. The second way is by deliberate planning.

You have been using the associative process without knowing it. By association, we mean the combining of two or more ideas or products to create new one. You associate an idea with another to form an entirely new idea.

Or, find a need and fill it with a new idea or product.

This was how Edison created the electric bulb. He could not work properly with his kerosene lamp, so he thought of a better idea. The television set was actually an improvement from the radio. The electric car you heard from Clarkfield sometime ago was perhaps a new, version of a forerunner, an electric auto manufactured in the US in 1912 to solve a problem — pollution.

PLANT THE SEED

Now, how does the creative power of your dreams help you produce money-making ideas then? First, prime the pump, so to speak, by planting the need for an idea in your subconscious mind. Idea of what? Any idea.

But it would be best for you if you concentrate in your field of interest. You have already a lot of experiences and have acquired a deeper insight there which would provide inspiration for new ideas. Look for a need in your area. Then think of a solution in the form of ideas or products. Associate these with that need.

The next step is to request your subconscious mind to help you in this regard. During the night, or in your relaxed moments, especially when you are alone and’ there’s no one to disturb you, concentrate and meditate. Do this a few times until you are sure that your request has already been implanted deeply in your inner self.

The more intense your desire is, the faster your dreaming self will work on your idea or need. Your thoughts, dreams and emotions will create magnetic lines that will attract things, people and circumstances to give you the desired result.

Third, wait and be aware. The idea may pop out any time. Be prepared for it. In many instances, you will get it from your dreams in the form of images. You may see a photograph there, or hear a word. Or you may dream of a friend, a relative, perhaps a complete stranger or a friendly spirit who will tell you what to do or where to find your answer. It was in this way that Stevenson’s dream friends whom he call the “Brownies” created for him in detail the bizarre story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

In other instances, the answer will come from something that you will see, hear, read or remember in your waking state. The psychic power of your subconscious mind is at work at all times, it never sleeps nor rests. It is most effective during your calm moments, especially while you are asleep. The answer may come at any moment, directly or indirectly.

DELIBERATE PLANNING

Now, how do you go about planning to dream about a creative product?

Thoughts precede the product, don’t they? A rocking chair is first a thought before it becomes a product. Between the thinking and the finished product, Planning was involved — deliberate planning.

As a ship captain charts his course first before embarking on a journey, so does the creative dreamer if he must succeed in his creativity. It does not matter what he wants to produce. All things were the product of thorough planning. If this is not so, there would be chaos in the universe.

Okay, you now have an idea of what you want to create. A rice thresher, for instance, why rice thresher? You know that there are dozens of brands already in the market, why create another. You have to have a reason, not just to create.

What all these persons should recognize is that each phase of life offers new challenges and its own special rewards.

One expert emphasized that if a person adopts the right approach and a more positive attitude; he can feel younger and can grow older with pleasure. Here are some tips on how to do this:

Here are 9 tips on how to stay and feel young on your next birthday:

MAINTAIN AN ACTIVE SOCIAL LIFE. Keep up your friendships. Reach out to others. Find things and persons you enjoy being involved with. Don’t get in the habit of retreating to the living room and the TV set.

FOCUS ON THE HERE AND NOW. You may have to recognize that you have reached the top in your field, but look at your situation as rather like going to a good restaurant and eating a wonderful meal. Redirect your gaze from future and delayed rewards to things available here and now.

BE FLEXIBLE. If your children are grown-up and have left home, find something to do which you enjoy. Get involved in a hobby or consider a part-time job. The important thing is to look at this as a new challenge.

PLAN YOUR FINANCES. It’s important to have some kind of security planning, so that as you grow older you’re not constantly worried about poverty.

KEEP AN EYE ON YOUR HEALTH. Stop smoking, lose weight if you have to, get some exercise and get your teeth checked. Do all the things that you haven’t done for a while.

CONCENTRATE ON YOUR STRONGER POINTS — You may have the same capabilities, strengths or looks as you once had, but don’t become preoccupied with that.

DEVELOP LIFELONG INTERESTS. Get interested in something like golf, tennis, a musical instrument or art.

COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR SPOUSE. When a couple can grow together and communicate with each other they can be very supportive to each other.

DON’T DENY GROWING OLDER. Rather than not face up to the fact that one day you’ll be in your 60s, try to figure out what you might want to be doing then.

It’s hard to fit in. And much harder to be the ‘belle of the ball’. In case you don’t know, the way you enter the scene also has its importance. The way you walk into a party will set the pace for the rest of the night. If you get your entrance right, no one will want you to exit.

According to a photographer with an eye for style, confidence is the key if you want to be noticed for all the right reasons. You have to look as though you’re worth noticing. First, observe proper posture. Stand up straight with your shoulders back and your head held high. As you walk into the room, all eyes will be on you — so, make that first impression a good one. Wear some color, even if it’s just a splash. This will be your chance to shine in the sea of black. But again, you should be confident enough to let the color speak for itself. To get noticed, you need to stand out from the crowd. Your make-up could be different or your dress, your hair, your shoes — whatever. You must have something that makes you unique. Show off your assets. They say if you’ve got it, then flaunt it! Use it to your advantage.

Here are 3 effective ways on how to perk up your social life:

1. BE THE CENTER OF ATTENTION

Who would ever want to be a budding wallflower? Of course, it’s always better to be the life of the party and the center of attention. But actually, the most important thing is just to have a blast. It’s a party so it’s supposed to spell F-U-N. Here are some tips:

• Smile and look as if you’re having a good time.

• Remember names and pay attention. Good listening skills are crucial.

• Stand by the bar so you can talk to people as they pass.

• Circulate! If you know the host, offer to take around food and drinks. In that way, you’ll automatically be more involved.

• Keep them laughing. Humor is a sure-fire people puller.

2. BE BIG ON SMALL TALK

Too nervous to get inside the circle? Most of the time, people are having a hard time to fit into the party crowd. Don’t let your tongue-tied self get into your partying. Keep these simple but effective ways in mind:

• If shy, just say ‘Hi, my name is

‘. As simple as that, it’s a sure way of starting a conversation. And most people are delighted to be approached.

• Introduce others into the circle. In that way, there will be more people to socialize with. The more the merrier!

• Compliment people. Just don’t overdo it. People always feel annoyed when someone is babbling.

• Don’t talk politics. It can be seen as too earnest. Different beliefs maybe the start of a misunderstanding.

• Commenting on the weather is fine but accentuate the positive.

3. JOIN THE COOL CREW

Spotting a bunch of elite-looking people having a blast is a drag. It makes you wish you were just one of them. If you can’t beat them, join them, right? Here’s how to rub elbows with them.

• Waltz over and offer to share your fresh bottle of champagne. This never fails.

• Know the designers and drop the name as soon as you recognize an item. The person wearing it will be thrilled.

• Swagger over, say “Hi, sweetie!” and air-kiss someone. When they look puzzled, gasp, “I’m so sorry, you look just like a good friend of mine! Do you know David Smith by the way?” And off you go.

The first ingredient then is motivation. The question to ask is why. It must be the right motivation so that will it build up enthusiasm in you. Perhaps you want to invent a much simpler, more convenient and efficient well rice thresher which is well within the price that small farmers can afford. That is motivation enough. Your sincerity in wanting to help the small farmers will make you work harder from now on.

The second step then is to gather sufficient data about rice threshers already in the market, what materials you need, how much the new product will approximately cost, how much time is needed to finish it. You also study the farmers’ needs, marketing problems, financing. You talk to people knowledgeable in this field, ever to the end–users themselves — the farmers.

In short, you make an in-depth study of the project.

You make a detailed plan, complete with sketches and figures. With all these now in your position, you go into the third step. Assemble the machine in. your mind as you see it, as you imagine it. You can almost see its shape, feel its solid form, and see it working even. In other words, the machine is now working in your mind.

Up to this point, all you’ve been using is your conscious mina, your brain. It has analyzed your problem, calculated the expenses, figured out everything that has to be done, imagined how it ‘would work. That is all it could do. At this point, your brain has reached its limit. It cannot create the machine for you; it has no power to create. It can only provide you the thought or the idea, nothing more.

What shall it do?

Now it drops like a seed all the data into your subconscious mind, there to incubate and germinate just as the soil does to a mustard seed. The subconscious will now take over.

YOU NEED FAITH, TOO

The second ingredient is faith. Of course, you need to believe in all these. Without your faith in the creative power of your subconscious, nothing will ever come out of your efforts. You yourself will be confused and pessimistic. You know you could do it, the idea is there, the motivation is there, but lack of faith prevents you from accomplishing your goal.

You see, faith is the substance of things unseen.