A Collection of Works by Jack Canfield The author of the billion dollar series “Chicken Soup for the Soul” spends his life helping others get from Point A to Point B and beyond. He has been a mentor of mine for years. Reading this piece has helped make it clear to me that I can’t help anyone unless I help myself first. My positon is not strong enough to shore up others; once I have my base, then I can reach out! Surely this applies to many many of us and I hope this helps you in your endeavors.

There are only two words that will always lead you to success. Those words are yes and no. Undoubtedly, you’ve mastered saying yes. So start practicing saying no. Your goals depend on it!

If you are constantly saying yes to other people, then you are constantly saying no to yourself and your goals. Ask yourself if what is being requested of you is in line with your goals, will it benefit you in some way and bring you closer to your success, or will you simply be spending your time on someone else’s good opportunity?

How much time do you waste with projects and activities that you really don’t want to do simply because you are uncomfortable saying no?

Success depends on getting good at saying no without feeling guilty. You cannot get ahead with your own goals if you are always saying yes to someone else’s projects and agendas.

What a simple concept this is, yet you’d be surprised how frequently even the world’s top entrepreneurs, professionals, educators and civic leaders get caught up in projects, situations and opportunities that are merely good, while the great is left out in the cold—waiting for them to make room in their lives. In fact, concentrating on merely the “good” often prevents the “great” from showing up, simply because there’s no time left in our schedules to take advantage of any additional opportunity.

Is this your situation—constantly chasing after mediocre prospects or pursuing misguided schemes for success, when you could be holding at bay opportunities for astounding achievement?

If saying “No” is so important, then why is it so hard to say?

Why do we find it so hard to say no to everybody’s requests? As children, many of us learned that “no” was an unacceptable answer. Responding with “no” was cause for discipline. Later, in our careers, “no” may have been the reason for a poor evaluation or failing to move up the corporate ladder.

Yet, highly successful people say “no” all the time—to projects, to crazy deadlines, to questionable priorities and to other people’s crises. In fact, they view the decision to say “no” equally acceptable as the decision to say “yes.”

Others say no, but will offer to refer you to someone else for help. Still others claim their calendar, family obligations, deadlines and even finances as reasons why they must decline requests. At the office, achievers find other solutions to their co-workers’ repeated emergencies, rather than becoming a victim of someone else’s lack of organization and poor time management.

One response that I have found helpful in saying “no” to crisis appeals or time-robbing requests from people is . . . It’s not against you; it’s for me.

When the chairman calls with yet another fund-raising event that needs your dedication, you can say, “You know, my saying no to you is not against you, or what you are trying to do. It’s a very worthy cause, but recently I realized I’ve been over committing myself. So even though I support what you’re doing, the fact is I’ve made a commitment to spend more time with my family. It’s not against you; it’s for us.”

Few people can get angry at you for making and standing by a higher commitment. In fact, they’ll respect you for your clarity and your strength.

So, how can you determine what’s truly great, so you can say no to what’s merely good?

Start by listing your opportunities—one side of the page for good and the other side for great. Seeing options in writing will help crystallize your thinking and determine what questions to ask, what information to gather, what your plan of attack might be, and so on. It will help you decide if an opportunity truly fits with our overall life purpose and passion, or if it’s just life taking you down a side road.

Talk to advisors about this potential new pursuit. People who have traveled the road before you have vast experience to share and hard-headed questions to ask about any new life opportunity you might be contemplating. They can talk to you about expected challenges and help you evaluate the “Hassle Factor”—that is, how much time, money, effort, stress and commitment will be required.

Test the waters. Rather than take a leap of faith that the new opportunity will proceed as you expect, conduct a small test, spending a limited amount of time and money. If it’s a new career you’re interested in, first seek part-time work or independent consulting contracts in that field. If it’s a major move or volunteer project you’re excited about, see if you can travel for a few months to your dream locale or find ways to immerse yourself in the volunteer work for several weeks.

And finally, look where you spend your time. Determine if those activities truly serve your goals or if saying “no” would free up your schedule for more focused pursuits.

Be brave in saying no to good opportunities, stay focused on your higher goals and let people know that you are committed to those goals. People will respect your clarity and drive.

Remember, just as you are in control of your feelings and attitudes, other people are in control of theirs, so if they do get upset with you for saying no…well that is a choice they make for themselves.

Jack Canfield is founder of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul© and a leading authority on Peak Performance and Life Success. If you’re ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: www.FreeSuccessStrategies.com

1. Identify a practice that you’d like to become an automatic part of your life.
Perhaps you want to spend regular time honing your craft. Maybe you want to complete a particular amount of creative work each week. Or meditate regularly. What practices would you like to turn into habits? Select one of these habits as your target habit. (It’s helpful to focus on one at a time).

2. Be specific and concrete.
Instead of saying ‘write more’, identify exactly how much you want to write. “I want to write at least five pages a day, at least five days a week, every week.” OR “I want to spend at least an hour a day writing, at least four days a week, every week.” The more specific the practice, the likelier it will become a habit.

3. Ask yourself: why?
Identify the benefits of starting this habit. (For example, if I practice my sousaphone at least an hour a day, I’ll become a better musician; I’ll increase my repertoire; I’ll do better in auditions; I’ll feel so much better). Write down as many reasons as possible to start your new habits and practices and keep them handy. Review your list at least daily.

4. Whittle your intended habit into reasonable, doable baby steps.
If your target habit is to compose a new song every day, for example, then you might begin the process by committing to write a song a week (assuming that sounds realistic for you). After that becomes second nature, aim for two songs a week. When, eventually, that practice seems like old hat, go for three a week…until eventually you are writing a song every day.

5. Start small.
Your beginning practice should be so easy it’s laughable. Guarantee your success. Returning to the last example, if writing a song a week is easy as pie, that’s a great place to start. If, however, the notion of writing a song a week puts you in a sweat, then choose something smaller and easier. Aim for a viable chorus or verse instead. Still shaking? Aim for a musical idea or a cool phrase that might become a lyric someday.

Rest assured, wherever you start is fine. AVOID JUDGING yourself or being too hard on yourself. Pick a practice that’s really, truly easy.

For example, let’s say your target habit is to paint for at least an hour a day. You might start with the practice of painting for at least five minutes a day, at least four days a week. “Five minutes? I can’t get anything done in five minutes,” you are apt to wail. Yes you can. You can gesso a canvas. You can sketch out a figure. You can apply paint.

“But five minutes a day isn’t going to accomplish anything!” You’d be surprised what you can get done in five focused, undistracted minutes, dedicated to a specific task.

The truth is, if you aim for minutes, you may well do more. What matters is that you do AT LEAST five minutes, at least four times a week.

Let me repeat that: The important thing here is to ESTABLISH THE HABIT. The amount of time doesn’t matter. What you’re actually doing doesn’t matter. What you get done doesn’t matter. As long as you are taking steps towards your intended target habit, you are on track. That’s why it’s helpful to start with easy practices. The easier the initial practice, the more likely you’ll cultivate the new habit you desire.

6. Set yourself up for success.
Start your new, easy practice when you’re really ready. Put in place the support or resources you need — be it information, a teacher/mentor/coach or a trusted “progress buddy” (like a diet buddy to keep you on track).

If you’re the kind of person that needs to make a public commitment to get yourself to do something, then email your friends and tell them your intentions. Ask them to hold you accountable to your new practice. In contrast, if you suspect your ‘friends’ might be jealous or competitive or might unknowingly undermine your efforts, then it doesn’t serve you to tell them what you’re up to.

7. Monitor your progress.
Every day, make note of what you did, related to your target habit.

8. Remind yourself why you’re doing this.
Until your target habit becomes like breathing for you, make it a daily practice to review your ‘benefits’ list (from step 3). This only takes a few seconds and can really help.

9. Praise yourself.
This is non-negotiable. It’ll feel pretty darned good to do what you set out to do…yet it’s important to acknowledge you successes in some tangible way. Give yourself bonus points for every day that you carry out your intended new practice. You can mark ‘X’s on a calendar. You can give yourself gold stars. You can email your creativity buddy at the end of the week to say ‘I did it!’

10. Be kind and gentle with yourself.
If you happen to not do what you intend, avoid beating yourself up. Simply record what did (or didn’t) happen. I’m human and therefore fallible. It’s no big deal. Let’s move on. Tomorrow is another day. Look at the bigger picture: okay, I missed yesterday, but I did my new practice eight times in the past two weeks. That’s eight days I did great. Overall, I can see I’m establishing this new target habit — I’m making this practice an automatic part of my life, most days.

11. If you find yourself consistently missing your intentions, then it’s time to dig deeper.
What’s going on? Do you really want to establish this new target habit? If no, then review your list of habits from step #1, pick a habit you DO want to establish and start over with that. If yes, then perhaps you’re trying to do too much too fast. Try breaking your daily/weekly practices into smaller, easier increments. Or are you trying to start too many new habits at once? If so, pick one to focus on and leave the other target habits for now.

12. When you find yourself meeting your initial baby step practices regularly and consistently, up the ante a bit.
Aim to do a little bit more. Repeat the process (steps 6 – 11) as you gradually work up to performing your target habit regularly and consistently. Build momentum, slowly but surely.

13. Be patient.
Slow and steady progress is better than short-term maniacal enthusiasm followed by sudden burnout or abandonment of your intentions. Avoid thinking about what’s to come — just focus on what you need to do today. Depending on what it is you’re trying to do, it can take 21 — 30 days — or more — to establish a new habit.

14. When you’ve successfully established your new habit, be sure to reward yourself for that milestone.
Give yourself a healthy, happy treat — you deserve it.

After your first target habit is well established and ingrained, you can return to your list of habits from step #1, select a new habit and go through the process again. You’ll find that each time you go through the process, you’ll get faster and faster at establishing your new target habits.

Activity: Select a healthy, helpful habit you’d like to start. Follow steps 1 -14.

** To comment on this article or to read comments about this article,
go here.

About the Author:

Liisa Kyle, Ph.D. is a life/creativity coach and internationally published writer/editor/photographer as well as co-author of the book ‘Happiness Awaits You’.

Liisa Kyle co-founded The DaVinci Dilemma™ and DaVinci Coaches — providing solutions for multi-talented people. If you’re a creative person with too much to do, we can help.

As an international consultant, Liisa Kyle has coached individuals, facilitated groups, and delivered inventive workshops on four continents. She specializes in creativity, communication, organization and planning. Her personal artistic pursuits include working in metal, glass, clay, textiles, paper and more.

Not sure of what direction to take. Perhaps this will help: ttp://www.davincidilemma.com/.

CLICK HERE FOR a
Selection of Books and CDs (and even a children’s game) by Jack Canfield, noted author of “Chicken Soup for the Soul.” (Hardcover, softcover, large print, new, used)

• The Success Principles(TM): How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be
• Maximum Confidence: Ten Secrets of Extreme Self-Esteem
• Jack Canfield’s The Secret Law of Attraction
• Chicken Soup for the Teenage: The Game Soul II (An Adventure of Sharing, Friendship and Laughter)

Have you ever been driving your car and realized that you’d left the emergency brake on?

Of course. We all have. But when we discover the brake is on — do we press harder on the gas pedal? Of course not!

We simply release the brake… and with no extra effort we go faster.

Going through life is a lot like driving a car. But unfortunately, most people drive through life with their psychological emergency brake on. They hold on to negative images of themselves… or suffer the effects of highly emotional events they haven’t yet released. To cope, they stay in a comfort zone entirely of their own making.

And when they try to achieve their goals, these negative images and preprogrammed comfort zones always cancel out their good intentions—no matter how hard they try.

Call them “blocks” or “limiting beliefs” or “being stuck” — but these images and past hurts are nothing more than driving through life with the emergency brake on.

Successful people, on the other hand, continually move beyond their comfort zone — not by using increased willpower, but by replacing their beliefs about themselves and changing their self image.

They release the brakes — and, just like a car, they instantly go faster.

GET OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE

Think of your comfort zone as a prison you live in – a largely self-created prison. It consists of the collection of can’ts, musts, must nots, and other unfounded beliefs formed from all the negative thoughts and decisions you have accumulated and reinforced during your lifetime.

The good news is that you can change your comfort zone. How? In three different ways:

You can use affirmations and positive self-talk to affirm having what you want, doing what you want, and being the way you want.
You can create powerful and compelling new internal images of having, doing, and being what you want.
You can simply change your behaviors
All three of these approaches will begin to shift you out of your old comfort zone.

STOP RE-CREATING THE SAME EXPERIENCE OVER AND OVER!

An important concept that successful people understand is that you are never stuck. You just keep re-creating the same experiences over and over by thinking the same thoughts, maintaining the same beliefs, speaking the same words, and doing the same things.

Too often, we get stuck in an endless look of reinforcing behavior, which keep us stuck in a constant downward spiral.

It goes like this: Our limiting thoughts create images in our mind… and those images govern our behavior… which in turn reinforces that limiting thought.

This is known as the Self-Talk Endless Loop.

As long as you keep complaining about your present circumstances, your mind will focus on it. By continually talking about, thinking about, and writing about the way things are, you are continually reinforcing those very same neural pathways in your brain that got you to where you are today. You are continually sending out the same vibrations that will keep attracting the same people and circumstances that you have already created.

To change this cycle, you must focus instead on thinking, talking, and writing about the new reality you want to create. You must FLOOD your unconscious with thoughts, images and ACTION that match your desired reality.

Then suddenly, instead of your outcomes being predetermined by an endless cycle of reinforced self-doubt and self-talk, you’re free to pursue your goals with new determination and confidence.

If releasing the brakes is something you need to do, realize that it’s difficult to do by yourself.

We need outside influences to break through our habitual ways of thinking and behaving to assist us in restructuring our beliefs, releasing our repressed emotions and connecting with our true selves.

Two of the most powerful methods for doing this are large group awareness trainings and therapy. If I were to attribute my incredible level of success to any one thing, it would be the hundreds of personal development seminars I’ve attended over the past 40 years.

If you’ve discovered that you’ve been recreating the same outcomes, scenarios, experiences and endless loop of not getting what you want, I’d like to help you break free from this downward spiral.

In fact, one of the most important things I do for participants in my Breakthrough to Success training week is to help them identify these “blocks” that govern their behavior — then replace those blocks with new thoughts, attitudes, beliefs and patterns.

Of course, there are literally hundreds of individuals and organizations that conduct seminars all over the world. Some are better than others, and in my experience, about 20% of them are highly competent and effective.

Visit their websites, call and talk to them, attend their guest events, and then make a decision about which one feels right for you.

The impact in all areas of your life will be incredible.

CLICK HERE FOR
Selection of Books and CDs by and about Napoleon Hill, noted author of “Think and Grow Rich.”  (Hardcover, softcover, large print, new, used)

Have you ever been driving your car and realized that you’d left the emergency brake on?

Of course. We all have. But when we discover the brake is on — do we press harder on the gas pedal? Of course not!

We simply release the brake… and with no extra effort we go faster.

Going through life is a lot like driving a car. But unfortunately, most people drive through life with their psychological emergency brake on. They hold on to negative images of themselves… or suffer the effects of highly emotional events they haven’t yet released. To cope, they stay in a comfort zone entirely of their own making.

And when they try to achieve their goals, these negative images and preprogrammed comfort zones always cancel out their good intentions—no matter how hard they try.

Call them “blocks” or “limiting beliefs” or “being stuck” — but these images and past hurts are nothing more than driving through life with the emergency brake on.

Successful people, on the other hand, continually move beyond their comfort zone — not by using increased willpower, but by replacing their beliefs about themselves and changing their self image.

They release the brakes — and, just like a car, they instantly go faster.

GET OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE

Think of your comfort zone as a prison you live in – a largely self-created prison. It consists of the collection of can’ts, musts, must nots, and other unfounded beliefs formed from all the negative thoughts and decisions you have accumulated and reinforced during your lifetime.

The good news is that you can change your comfort zone. How? In three different ways:

Use affirmations and positive self-talk to affirm having what you want, doing what you want, and being the way you want.

STOP RE-CREATING THE SAME EXPERIENCE OVER AND OVER!

An important concept that successful people understand is that you are never stuck. You just keep re-creating the same experiences over and over by thinking the same thoughts, maintaining the same beliefs, speaking the same words, and doing the same things.

Too often, we get stuck in an endless look of reinforcing behavior, which keep us stuck in a constant downward spiral.

It goes like this: Our limiting thoughts create images in our mind… and those images govern our behavior… which in turn reinforces that limiting thought.

This is known as the Self-Talk Endless Loop.

As long as you keep complaining about your present circumstances, your mind will focus on it. By continually talking about, thinking about, and writing about the way things are, you are continually reinforcing those very same neural pathways in your brain that got you to where you are today. You are continually sending out the same vibrations that will keep attracting the same people and circumstances that you have already created.

To change this cycle, you must focus instead on thinking, talking, and writing about the new reality you want to create. You must FLOOD your unconscious with thoughts, images and ACTION that match your desired reality.

FOLLOWING ARE NAPOLEON HILL’S THIRTEEN STEPS TO RICHES:

In his book “Think and Grow Rich”, Napoleon Hill talks of the Thirteen Steps to Riches. This information is still as relevant today as it was at the time of publication. This article looks at each of the steps briefly.

1. Desire

   You need to have a burning desire to achieve success. If you are tentative and timid, then it is not true desire. Have a definite and specific goal for what you want to achieve, and stick to it. Have a plan for how you are going to achieve that goal.

2. Faith

   Have faith that you really can achieve what you desire. If you have truly believe it, then it is more likely to manifest itself.

3. Autosuggestion

   Have a mental picture in your mind that you have already achieved what you desire. By replaying this consistently in your mind, you will gain the faith that you need to achieve it.

4. Specialized Knowledge

   Knowledge is not power, it is potential power. It becomes power if that knowledge is used, and put into definite plans of action. Take the time to learn what you need in order to become an expert in your field of expertise. Associate with others who are already experts and learn from them.

5. Imagination

   Albert Einstein said “Imagination is everything. It is the preview to life’s coming attractions”. This sums it up beautifully. If you can visualise what you want in life, and then focus on it, it should become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

6. Organized Planning

   Once you know what your goal is, you need to have a definite and practical plan for how you are going to achieve it. Put the pieces in place that will help you achieve your success.

7. Decision

   Come up with a firm decision and stick to it. Don’t let others make your decision for you, and don’t delay your decision or procrastinate.

8. Persistence

   Lack of persistence keeps many people from great accomplishment. Keep working towards your goal, no matter what obstacles get in your way. Many people give up the minute they reach the slightest obstacle. You have to keep rising above the challenges thrown at you, and keep focusing on your end goal.

9. Power of the Master Mind

   Often those that are close to us will send us off course with their opinions and ridicule. Surround yourself with like minded people, who are all working towards a common goal. By doing this you create synergy, which is an unstoppable force.

10. The Mystery of Sex Transmutation

    There are a number of different stimulants that increase the intensity of our thought way beyond the realms of ordinary thought. For example love, a burning desire for fame or financial gain, music, fear. The most powerful of these stimulants is that of sex.

11. The Subconscious Mind

    The thoughts you have determine what you get in your life. Focus on your plan, and imagine that you have already achieved it.

12. The Brain

    It has been said that we only use somewhere between 5 and 10 percent of our brain. The rest of our brain power forms the subconscious mind, which is what we need to tap into in order to achieve the successes we desire.

13. The Sixth Sense

    The ability to use the sixth sense is gained when you apply and master all the previous steps. It takes time to develop it, and it is not something that can be switched on and off at will.

A Selection of Books and Products
Relating to Oxygen Therapy

What is Oxygen Therapy?

Oxygen therapy is a form of treatment based upon the premise that all harmful bacteria, viruses and fungi (e.g. flu, colds, AIDs, candida albicans and cancerous cells) are anaerobic – they can only thrive in low oxygen environments. Conversely, to maintain good health, the human body requires a rich supply of oxygen.

Dr Otto Warburg, twice Nobel laureate was able to prove that cancer cannot grow in an high oxygen environment. He states: ‘Cancer, above all diseases, has countless secondary causes, but there is only one prime cause: the prime cause of cancer is the replacement of normal oxygen respiration of body cells by anaerobic respiration’. In other words, lack of oxygen. His research revealed that when a cell is denied 60% of its normal requirement of oxygen, it switches to a fermentation mechanism and grows out of control. Researchers have since shown that cancerous growths contract and even disappear when oxygen saturation is sufficiently raised in the fluids surrounding them.

Read more on Oxygen Therapy and the One Minute Cure.

Somewhere around that time, Marin County philosopher Alan Watts sat on top of Mt. Tamalpais, let out a breath to the West and imaged it flowing around the earth to come around and touch him on the back of his head.

Prior to reading Chaos, I never liked killing anything . . . not an art, bug or moth. I had to excuse myself from frog-cutting-up in science classes. When the neighborhood boys tormented any creature, I cried. After reading Chaos, I can’t kill anything because of the effect it might have on our universe. Also, since that time, it has become very clear to me that everything is everything . . . we are all irrevocably connected. “We” meaning everything, not just people.

20th Century science introduced three main theories to the general public: quantum mechanics, relativity, and chaos. Chaos theory is a blanketing theory that covers all aspects of science, hence, it shows up everywhere in the world today: mathematics, physics, biology, finance, and even music.

The term chaos theory is used widely to describe an emerging scientific discipline whose boundries are not clearly defined.

From various Web sites:

Chaos theory is a developing scientific discipline which is focused on the study of nonlinear systems. To understand chaos theory, you must first have a grasp its roots: systems and the nonlinear.

System can be defined as the understanding of the relationship between things which interact. To better understand this idea, we will examine the example of a pile of stones. The pile is a system which interacts based upon how they were piled. If their initial piling is not in balance, the interaction results in their movement until they find a condition under which they are in balance. A group of stones which do not touch each other is not a system because the interaction between is so minute, it can be considered non-existant.

Systems can be modeled, meaning systems can be created which will theoretically replicate the behavior of the original system. Following the pile of stones example, one could take a second group of stones which are identical to the first group, pile them in exactly the same way as the first group, and predict that they will fall down into the exact same configuration as the first group. Similiarly, a mathematical model, based upon Newton’s law of gravity, could be used to predict how piles of same and different types will interact. Generally speaking, mathematical modeling is the key to modeling systems, although it is not the only way.

Nonlinear has to do with the type of mathematical model used to describe a system. Until the interest in chaos theory, hence nonlinear systems, most models were analyzed as though they were linear systems. In other words, when the mathematical models were draw in a graph format, the results appeared as a straight line. Calculus was Netwon’s mathematical method for showing change in systems within the context of a straight line and statistics.

Linear systems are easy to generate and simple to work with. That is because they are very predictable. For example, you could think of a factory as a linear system. We could predict that if we add a certain number of people, or a certain amount of inventory to the factory, that we will increase the number of pieces produced by the factory by a comparable amount.

As most managers know, factories don’t operate this way. Change the number of people, inventory, or any other variable in the factory and you receive widely differing results on a day to day basis from what would be predicted from a linear model. This is true because a factory is actually a nonlinear system, as are most systems found in life. When systems in nature are modeled mathematically, we find that their graphical representations are not straight lines and that the system’s behavior is not so easy to predict.

Prior to the devolepment of chaos theory, the majority of scientific study involved attempting to understand the world using linear models. Beginning with the work of Sir Isaac Newton, physics has been the has provided the processes for modeling nature, and the mathematics associated with them have been in a linear nature.

Imagine an equilateral triangle. Now, imagine smaller equilateral triangles perched in the center of each side of the original triangle–you have a Star of David. Now, place still smaller equilateral triangles in the center of each of the star’s 12 sides.

Repeat this process infinitely and you have a Koch snowflake, a mind-bending geometric figure with an infinitely large perimeter, yet with a finite area. This is an example of the kind of mathematical puzzles that this book addresses.

Fractual Geometry
The Fractal Geometry of Nature is a mathematics text. But buried in the deltas and lambdas and integrals, even a layperson can pick out and appreciate Mandelbrot’s point: that somewhere in mathematics, there is an explanation for nature. It is not a coincidence that fractal math is so good at generating images of cliffs and shorelines and capillary beds.

A “simple” explanation of fractal geometry from ThinkQuest’s online library:

While the classical Euclidean geometry works with objects which exist in integer dimensions, fractal geometry deals with objects in non-integer dimensions. Euclidean geometry is a description lines, ellipses, circles, etc. Fractal geometry, however, is described in algorithims — a set of instructions on how to create a fractal.

The world as we know it is made up of objects which exist in integer dimensions, single dimensional points, one dimensional lines and curves, two dimension plane figures like circles and squares, and three dimensional solid objects such as spheres and cubes. However, many things in nature are described better with dimension being part of the way between two whole numbers. While a straight line has a dimension of exactly one, a fractal curve will have a dimension between one and two, depending on how much space it takes up as it curves and twists. The more a fractal fills up a plane, the closer it approaches two dimensions. In the same manner of thinking, a wavy fractal scene will cover a dimension somewhere between two and three. Hence, a fractal landscape which consists of a hill covered with tiny bumps would be closer to two dimensions, while a landscape composed of a rough surface with many average sized hills would be much closer to the third dimension.

The Wisdom of Insecurity

At this time in America’s uncertain climate, many of us are insecure. I know I am on many days . . . greatly due to the fact that I’ve been trying to save my home from foreclosure for more than one year. (Lenders DO NOT want to cooperate.)

I started writing this post without seeing any “wisdom in insecurity.”

Years ago, when Alan Watts first wrote that book, I saw value. And as I think about the title now, I can again glimpse the value of insecurity.

It is what is keeping me going, I pray every day, but it is my insecurity that causes me to plan and continue forward and not to “rest on my laurels.”

I just got off the phone with a gentlemen whose stress level is causing health problems. Nothing, absolutely nothing is worth making yourself sick over. So, I eMailed the following to him and I hope it will help others in the midst of any kind of trials and tribulations.

Whenever my mind won’t leave me alone — which is frequently, actually — I repeat something uplifting until my brain shuts up. My absolute favorite, even though I don’t follow any specific religious doctrine, is:

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

I’m also currently reading books on changing my DNA so that my response to challenges is calm and allows me to plan: I am the Captain of My Fate; I am the Master of My Soul. Also, several new movies illustrate just how challenging life is for others and how beautifully they overcome: “Avatar,” “Mandela,” and “The Blind Side.”

Almost all stress is of the mind. Almost all disease is just that — “dis-ease” — as philosopher Alan Watts pointed out in 1960 (or so). His writings and early morning radio talk-show enlightened many of us: “The Way of Zen,” “Buddhism, the Religion of No-Religion,” “Become What You Are,” “The Wisdom of Insecurity” . . . Alan Watts is the philosopher who sat on the top of Mt. Tamalpais in Marin County facing West. He breathed and followed his breath around the world until it came and brushed him on the back of his head. It was a stunning image then and it still is now. To quote Joseph Campbell: “No one has given such a concise . . . introduction to the whole history of Far Eastern development of Buddhist thought as Alan Watts.”

Remember, Be Here Now
Also, I am of the “Be Here Now” generation. Right now I’m sitting in my home, warm, comfortable, on my marvelous computer. We are in beautiful Marin County with everything we need. I’m not anywhere else. Yesterday is gone; tomorrow hasn’t arrived. At the moment, the reality is that I have no problems — I COULD worry about tomorrow, but why bother.

Okay.

Hugs.