Posts Tagged ‘a-certain-way-’
Going On a Mental Diet
Diets are always in style. Every time you turn around, someone is coming out with a new and improved diet. The latest craves are the Atkins Diet, the South Beach Diet, and Dr. Phil even has a diet he’s promoting. Everyone is on a diet.
That’s how I came up with the idea of a “mental” diet.
I thought it would be interesting if we put our mentality on a diet.
What I mean by this is let’s, for the next month or two, go on a mental diet. Let’s watch what we are feeding into our subconscious mind. What I mean by this is let’s pay close attention to the stuff that we feed into our conscious mind and make sure that we are only feeding POSITIVE thoughts into our mind.
Let’s pretend that negative thoughts are the new carbs. And every time you feed negative thoughts into your mind, it’s like eating an entire cheesecake-with strawberries on the top.
Take time to stop and pay attention to the thoughts that penetrate your subconscious mind for the next month or two; you might be surprise by the amount of negative images that are fed into your conscious mind every day and even every second of the day.
Just to prove this thought, let’s do an experiment. Today or tomorrow, when you are at work, go somewhere that a lot of employees congregate. It could be the coffee maker, the water cooler, the smoking section or the cafeteria-and eavesdrop on the conversations.
If you do this, you will realize that most people are negative. I’m sure they are not even aware of the negative thoughts or the negative energy they are putting out all day every day. If you just listen to the conversations you will most likely hear nothing but complaining. They will be complaining about their work load; about their supervisor; about their spouse; about their children; about their day-complain, complain, complain, on just about anything and everything.
On a mental diet, it is your job to stop all the negative thoughts and images that come into your mind. If you find yourself engaging in negative conversation, remember, you are on a mental diet. You cannot feed negative thoughts into your mind for the next couple of months.
Watching the news and certain television shows is out of the question–too much negativity. Now, I know that some of you are news junkies and that you may have news withdrawal. But don’t worry. If there is anything that happens that is really news worthy, you will know. Someone will feel compelled to tell you-trust me.
In order to change your life, you must change the way you think. There’s no other way around it.
To become more aware of HOW you think, you have to become aware of your thoughts and your habits. Everything that you do is out of habit-the way you walk, talk, work, dress, and behave is out of your conditioning.
Your conditioning comes from years of doing things a certain way. The way you do things is due to the fact that you have programmed your subconscious mind to work in a certain way. If you want to change your life, you have to change your programming. In order to change your programming, you must first become aware of the negative thoughts that are penetrating your subconscious mind.
People who are successful are those who have learned to eliminate their negative thoughts-they are on mental diets. They only allow positive thoughts to penetrate their subconscious mind. All negative thoughts are rejected.
Discovering your life’s purpose is the easy part. LIVING your life’s purpose is the hardest part because of your previous subconscious programming. In order to make changes you must go on a mental diet and change your negative thoughts such as “Who would ever pay me to do that?” “I can’t do anything other than what I have been doing, even if I hate the job that I presently have.” “I have no talents and no abilities.”
These are the negative thoughts that we MUST eliminate in order to move forward with our lives.
ACTION POINT: DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT allow any negative thoughts to enter your mind for the next few weeks. If you find yourself having a negative thought, participating in a negative conversation, or viewing negative images-STOP. Replace the negative thought with a positive thought. If you are engaging in a negative conversation-STOP, and walk away, or better yet, tell the person you are conversing with that you are on a mental diet and refuse to participate in any negative chitchat.
If you seriously go on a mental diet, you will start seeing the results in your life. Positive attracts positive. Negative attracts negative. Like attracts like. It’s the law of attraction. It works all the time. Change your thoughts and you can change your life.
Dawn Fields is a motivational speaker, author and spiritual life coach who teaches about discovering and living your life’s purpose. Visit the web site at http://www.dawnfields.com and be sure to tune into her radio show, Your Life’s Purpose Interactive Internet Radio Show each Thursday at 9 p.m. EST at http://www.dawnfields.com/radioshow.htm. Be sure to sign up for Your Life’s Purpose weekly newsletter by sending a blank email to dawn@dawnfields.com
with SUBSCRIBE in the subject line.
Loving Every Phenomenal Part of You
Have you ever wished yourself away? I am not referring to leaving your precious life on this Earth; but rather, just wished you weren’t a certain way or did not have some particular qualities and mannerisms that were so apparent to you. I know I have.
In the past, I’ve had a very difficult time when others would point out my weaknesses to me, either constructively or not-so tactfully. I would think, ” Wow, not only do I think these are big problems I have, but now everyone else sees them as well.” I would hope and pray that these parts of my personality would disappear into the deep character trait abyss. I would pretend to myself they weren’t present or I would try my hardest to cover them up. I spent a lot of time and energy on hiding these areas that I wanted so desperately to vanish.
A big first step in learning to love oneself and in self-forgiveness is accepting every part of you as the unique person that you are. All of your so-labeled liabilities can be tweaked into assets, but they must first be accepted. Otherwise, you are pushing against the grain and not being authentic to your true self.
Let me give you an example of what I am talking about. In all of my past serious relationships, I have loved very passionately- so much so, that I’ve depended on the other person in the relationship for my happiness (what is commonly referred to as co-dependence). My moods depended on their moods, their well-being, or were correlated to the way they were treating me at the time. One can argue that this is not really love. I feel it was love, but with a very important component missing-that passionate love for myself? With it, the “dysfunctional” one-sided relationships may have flourished or an even more likely scenario~ I would have probably not attracted them in the first place (but that’s a topic for another day). Once I accepted this as a part of my unique persona I was able to direct it in a more healthy manner-passionate love for my child, my work, my family, my faith, and most importantly, myself.
You may find your dark sides in anger, co-dependence, low self-esteem or a combination of these or other perhaps not so desirable traits. We are missing a part of us by wishing these traits weren’t ours and not owning up to every inch of them. If we are only loving a part of ourselves or of others, we are not fully engaged in the experience of love. You know that feeling of being in a relationship where the other person may “kind of like you” or you “kind of like them”. It doesn’t flourish, and neither party is truly happy. It has been said by finding an area in which you have found the most struggles, therein lies your true purpose. These are gifts for us to embrace; lessons are presented for us to learn. Think of one of your greatest challenges-has that not shaped who you are today? When you are in the midst of it, it can be difficult; but when you step back, you see the beauty of it all.
Accept your yin and your yang. Accept your dark and your light. Accept your failures and your successes. I am not suggesting that we use this as an excuse to not participate in personal development or self-care, or to neglect to learn those lessons that are often presented to us throughout our lives. Instead I am suggesting that we embrace our unique selves and know that we are not on this Earth to take up space but rather to fulfill a beautiful life of our dreams in our own special way~ every valuable bit of us.
“If you can’t accept yourself, then certainly no one else will.” ~Author Unknown
Copyright 2005~Deborah Shipley is a registered yoga teacher, publisher of a free monthly e-zine on self-esteem, and an e-book author. This article may be distributed provided the author’s information is included in its entirety. http://www.tipsforinterpersonalskills.com
Coffee Drink Basics
When you enter a coffee house, you have a multitude of drink choices like latté, cappuccino, straight shot and caffé mocha just to name a few.
Sometimes knowing what to order can be overwhelming unless you know what you are getting. After all, who wants to pay an outrageous amount of money for a mystery drink that you may not even like?
So PerfectCoffees.Com has come to the rescue, and after you read this, you’ll have a basic understanding of how the most popular coffee drinks are made and what they are made of.
Most coffee drinks start with espresso and espresso is just coffee that is brewed a certain way. It is finely ground to almost a powder then very hot water is forced through the grounds under intense pressure.
The brewing process is timed so that the flavorful and aromatic oils are extracted from the coffee and not the bitter components. This produces a strong flavored, but not bitter, concentrated shot of coffee.
Straight Shot
The straight shot refers to espresso coffee and the secret to good espresso is the extraction time, volume, and golden crema which is a thick light brown layer of frothed coffee oils that float on top of a properly extracted espresso.
The short shot or ristretto is extracted to a volume of three-quarters of an ounce. The shorter restricted pour magnifies the essence of the coffee and the chance of any bitter elements being extracted is minimized. If you have ever ordered an espresso shot in Europe they usually serve the ristretto.
The long shot or lungo is extracted to a volume of one and one-half ounces.
The double shot is a 2 ounce shot using twice as much coffee in the portafilter.
The correct way to serve a straight shot is to extract it directly into a warmed demitasse cup. The warm demitasse cup will keep the straight shot warm and prolong the crema. A straight shot is best enjoyed immediately after brewing.
It is rare to see people drinking straight shots of espresso in the US. Most people here drink variations using steamed milk mixed with the shots to make the different coffee drinks listed here.
Espresso Macchiato
The Espresso Macchiato starts with a shot of espresso and then a small amount of foamed milk is spooned over the shot. Macchiato in Italian means “marked,” as the espresso is marked with foam.
Espresso Con Panna
This is an Espresso Macchiato using whipped cream in place of the foamed milk. The drink gets its name Con Panna which means “with cream.”
Caffé Americano
The Caffé Americano is a drink similar to American brewed coffee. It is made with a single or double shot of espresso combined with 6 to 8 ounces of hot water out of an espresso machine. The result is a very smooth cup of coffee that is much hotter than brewed coffee.
Cappuccino
Cappuccino is made with a fluffy, wet foam, mixed with espresso coffee upon the pour to create a blend of the two flavors. Cold milk is essential, as is expertise in the foaming process. Cappuccino has a large volume of foam making it a light weight drink and less filling.
Caffé Latté
Caffé Latté is similar to the cappuccino but with much less foam and more steamed milk. A latté is made by holding back the foam with a spoon while pouring the frothed milk from the steaming pitcher. The caffé latté is completed by being topped with a small amount of the held back foam.
Caffé latté gets its name from the addition of coffee to milk. For an iced latté, cold milk is combined with the espresso and then the ice is added.
Caffé Mocha
A caffé mocha is made by adding powdered or chocolate syrup to a hot shot of espresso and blended. Steamed milk is then be added to the espresso-chocolate mixture and usually it is topped with whipped cream.
Iced mochas are made with cold milk and the ice added after the coffee and chocolate have been blended.
Flavored Coffee Drinks
Some popular coffee flavors are: vanilla, Irish creme, almond, hazelnut, caramel and fruit flavors such as orange and raspberry. These drinks usually start with a flavored syrup that is mixed with hot espresso and stirred. Then steamed milk is stirred in like in a latté.
An iced version of these flavored coffees made with cold milk instead of steamed makes a delicious cold drink in the summer months.
So now that you know what’s in the basic coffee drinks, try one you haven’t tasted yet. Who knows, you might find a new favorite.
Copyright © 2004 PerfectCoffees.com – All Rights Reserved.
This article may be re-published “as is” (unedited) as long as the author’s bio paragraph (resource box) and copyright information is included. The URLs in the resource box should be set as hyperlinks if used on a web page.
About The Author
Gary Gresham is the webmaster for www.perfectcoffees.com where you can purchase quality coffee, tea, cups & mugs, coffee gifts and delicious desserts online. He offers a free monthly coffee newsletter at www.perfectcoffees.com/newsletter.html.
