The Individual Guide

One of the first things I remember learning to say was “thank you.” It didn’t matter how small the gift or deed, I can still hear my mother’s voice ringing in my ear, “What do you say, Debbie?” Those two simple words can be more beneficial to the psyche than years of therapy. Why? Because when you thank someone from your heart, you make that person feel appreciated, loved and relevant. Isn’t that what we all want out of life?

Sometimes it takes a tragedy to remind us to be grateful. After my mother’s operation to remove a brain tumor, the doctors told us she would be home in six weeks. She subsequently spent three consecutive years in hospitals and nursing homes. Ironically, the anger and self-pity we felt in the first year was later replaced by gratitude. Years of hospital visits revealed countless families dealing with illnesses much worse than my mother’s. We became thankful for our own fate, as bad as it seemed at the start. We also became grateful for life, particularly my mother’s since she lived another ten years after her surgery. Even in the most difficult times, there’s something for which to be thankful.

In her book, Simple Abundance Journal of Gratitude, author Sarah Ban Breathnach says, “Gratitude is the most passionate transformative force in the cosmos.” She designed a daily journal in which to write what you are grateful for that day. She says, “If you give thanks for five gifts every day, in two months you may not look at your life in the same way as you might now.”

Everything in life is a gift. Just think of the food you ate today. As small and insignificant as an apple may seem, there were many people involved in putting that apple on your tablethe farmer who grew the tree, the worker who picked it, the trucker who transported it, the store owner who displayed it. Those are just a few people you can thank for that apple! And while you’re at it, add mother nature to the mix sunshine, rain, birds, insects, etc. They all played a part in that one little apple. How lucky you are to have all those forces joining together just for your personal nourishment.

How many times have you had an opportunity to thank someone or a higher power today… but didn’t?

5 Ways to Be Thankful:

• No matter how bad a day you have, think of one thing for which to be thankful.

• Say “thank you” to people as often as possible…and mean it.

• Send “thank you” cards or notes after receiving dinners, gifts, parties, hospitality, advice, friendship, and business.

• Thank your children for being in your life and teach them the value of gratitude.

• Think of all those people who would trade their lives for yours in a second.

Excerpted from the book: The Goddess of Happiness, A Down-to-Earth Guide for Heavenly Balance and Bliss

Debbie Gisonni, aka The Goddess of Happiness, is an author (The Goddess of Happiness: A Down-to-Earth Guide for Heavenly Balance and Bliss and Vita’s Will: Real Life Lessons about Life Death & Moving On), speaker, happiness expert and columnist for iVillage.com. Contact: http://www.goddessofhappiness.com

Copyright, All Rights Reserved, Debbie Gisonni

The success of Regis Philbin and “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” not to mention uncouth cousins like “Who Wants to MARRY a Millionaire?” and Survivor, with its million dollar final prize, and “Joe Millionaire” and “Who Wants to Marry My Dad?” and… uh, how we could go on and on!… suggests that, if we could only “win the lottery,” i.e., become a bona fide millionaire, we could just settle down, take life easier, enjoy financial security and plumb be happy.

Yet try questioning those who have actually reached this plateau: a different story emerges. Real millionaires apparently don’t even consider themselves wealthy, by and large. When it comes to stress, most have not really escaped the multitude of headaches the rest of us sub-millionaires wrestle with on a typical day.

On the first point, for example, a survey by Phoenix Home Life Mutual Company reports that today’s millionaires do not consider themselves rich in the slightest, defining real wealth as a step or two above whatever is their current status The Phoenix researchers explain, “Approximately half those individuals with a net worth of one million to four million dollars do not believe they will really be wealthy until they cross the FIVE million dollar plus plateau.”

So a million bucks is no longer all that much, at least as far as those who have accumulated such “largesse” Are concerned. This is a long way from the olden days (specifically, the mid-1950s) when each week fictional billionaire John Beresford Tipton used to instruct his personal assistant, Michael Anthony, to deliver a bank check for one million dollars tax free to some unsuspecting recipient on national TV. Now, even a five-million dollar check might not be enough, since survey respondents also declared they felt they needed MORE than five million bucks to attain the lofty status of genuine wealth.

Even more instructive may be reflections from yet another study of high-income people, this survey carried out by Yankelovich Partners, on the effect of high net worth on personal feelings of personal satisfaction and stress. Had becoming wealthy made them any happier, they were asked? A near unanimous answer came rushing back: Not really.

The Yankelovich surveyors concluded: “High-income individuals still feel ‘time-deprived’ and under varying degrees of stress as they struggle to meet the commitments of their still busy lifestyles.”

That TV series from the 50s (”The Millionaire”) worked because it implied the same thing. By following the lives of those who received the cool mill every week, more often than not, this drama implied that becoming “rich,” far from guaranteeing happiness, often led to more (or a different kind of) confusion, inner conflicts, relationship woes or outright calamity. The French say this: Plus ca change, plus la meme chose. The more things change, the more they remain the same. More mere money, even a million bucks, is rarely enough.

Ken Lizotte CMC is Chief Imaginative Officer (CIO) of emerson consulting group inc. (Concord, MA), which transforms consultants, law firms, executives and companies into “thoughtleaders.” This article is an excerpt from his newest book “Beyond Reason: Questioning Assumptions of Everyday Life”.

Visit ==>www.thoughtleading.com for more info.

As with just about anything in life, there are many things that can go wrong with plastic surgery. But just as we don’t hear news reports about the millions of planes that have taken off and landed safely, there is not the same attention devoted to the many success stories of cosmetic surgeries as there is to plastic surgery gone wrong. There are risks involved with this type of surgery, as there are in undergoing operations of any kind, but the usual difference is that while no doctor can force a patient to have surgery of any kind - even if it is a life-saving operation to remove a cancerous tumor - plastic surgery is generally a little more elective than the other.

And perhaps this is why we seem to delight in hearing about plastic surgery gone wrong. Nowhere is our interest in celebrities as heightened or as vicious as in this arena. While assigning the delight we find in the personal disaster of another human being to jealousy might be overly simplistic, there is doubtlessly a sense here of revelling in the fall of someone we thought - or felt they thought themselves - to be untouchable.

It seems that regardless of the expensive doctors they might have access to, the rich and famous are as susceptible to the vagaries of happenstance as the rest of us - sometimes, things simply just go wrong. Plastic surgery has literally been the death of some, and side effects can be life threatening. Even relatively minor mishaps can be unsightly and embarrassing, and plastic surgery gone wrong includes an enormous range of problems, from capsular contraction in breast implants (where the implants harden painfully) to problems with the wound and the slippage of implants inserted in a range of locations, including cheeks, chin, and butt. Surely we wouldn’t wish these accidents on our worst enemies - unless they were in the public eye.

So celebrities might have thousands of things we think we want, but they are as subject to the whims of higher powers just as the rest of us are. Above all, we are all human, and plastic surgery gone wrong, regardless of the paycheck of the life it affects, is a painful and upsetting time. Let’s just hope they get well soon.

Jeff Lakie is the founder of Plastic Surgery Resources a website providing information on cosmetic surgery.

Over time, the TIP’s Letters that receive the most response have dealt with creating and living the life you really want. Many of us are incredibly frustrated at not being able to reach our dreams and have the life we want. I believe there are 4 simple (not easy, but simple) techniques for getting there. You really can achieve your goals and live your dreams!

1. CLARIFY EXACTLY WHAT YOU WANT! Many of my clients have never defined what “better” or “happier” really means. How many dollars do you want to earn? How much time together as a family? Working from home doing what? What, precisely, would a better relationship look like? This can be hard work, and it involves tough choices.

One client wanted to stay home with her children, improve her marriage, and make more money, but also wanted to break the “glass ceiling” and be recognized in a profession that is notoriously competitive and involved traveling several times a month. All of these are worthy, wonderful goals, but to some extent they were mutually exclusive and she had avoided the process of choosing and writing down what she wanted most. We worked together (with her family’s help and input) to design a clear and attainable balance that she was able to pursue very quickly, ending years of frustration!

2. COMMIT TO PAYING THE COST IN ADVANCE! Any worthwhile project is going to cost a lot. An Olympic medal will require hours of training every day, and that means paying costs in terms of social life, postponing a career or education, and “blood, sweat and tears.”

Whatever you most want in life will require that you say “NO!” to other things. Making money means less recreation, writing a book means watching less TV, being closer with your partner or children may mean changes in your work, hobbies or social activities. A few years ago, many people were talking about the frustrations of women who felt that a part of the feminist message was that they could “have it all”. Well. None of us get to have it all! A recent client quit coaching when he realized that his dreams of being “the kind of father I never had” and spending time with his wife and children conflicted with pursuing his career the way he had always done it. He “couldn’t” turn down a call, and was “out there” developing leads and closing sales seven days a week. Unwilling to choose, we decided coaching wasn’t useful for him at this time.

3. RE-COMMIT TO YOUR GOALS EVERY DAY! Every day, remind yourself of your priorities and re-commit to them. For some this means time to meditate or pray. For others, it means a quick call to their coach, a friend, or members of a mastermind group. I encourage clients to start their day by writing a brief statement of where they are going and what they value in life.

Every day, 1001 minor tasks and distractions will interrupt you. The phone will ring, the boss will give you a “special” project, the kids will interrupt. Life will get in your way. Count on it! Plan for it and innoculate yourself. Every pilot and ship’s captain knows that winds and currents will take them dangerously off-course. This is a natural process, something they know about, expect and plan for. It is not a surprise or source of frustration! Every day, plot your location, check your direction, and make sure you stay on course! It only takes a few minutes, and it is essential.

4. EVERY DAY, TAKE ACTION! This is perhaps the most difficult step. Rarely, does life give us a “big choice”. Most of the transforming moments in life start as a chance meeting, a casual conversation, or an article in a magazine. We all know this, and yet when it comes to pursuing our most important goals we wait for that “big moment”, that magical day when the stars are aligned and everything is “just right”. For most of us, that means we will never reach our dreams or have the life we want.

To become fit, go for a walk. To create the business of your dreams, call someone today. Want to be a better parent and have a more satisfying family life? Tuck your kid into bed tonight, hold hands with your mate, and tell them how much they mean to you. Want a promotion or a raise? Make that extra contribution today! We’ve all heard the saying, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”, but no one ever adds that the journey also requires, according to my math, 5 million, two hundred and eighty thousand additional steps after that first one! Every day, take one step closer.

QUICK TOOL: Every morning, get a 3×5 card. On one side, write a brief statement of your biggest goals and most important dreams. Jot it down using whatever words seem right at the moment. Then, on the other side, list one or two specific actions you will take TODAY that will bring you closer to your goal. Make them specific, do-able, and clear. Put the card in your pocket, purse, or on the dash of your car, and go about your day. In 30 days, I promise you will be astonished at the changes in your life!

IN SUMMARY: Life will distract you from achieving your dreams. It will blow you off-course and you will be confused and frustrated at times. So what? Today, and every day, declare your commitment to what you really, REALLY want. Write it down and talk about your dream. Understand, and agree to make the necessary sacrifices - you must pay the costs of developing the life you want - and take action! In the end, only action counts! You can have whatever you want, when you decide to pursue it intelligently, with all your heart and with all your passion. Just do it!

© Copyright 2003 by Philip E. Humbert. All Rights Reserved. This article may be copied and used in your own newsletter or on your website as long as you include the following information: “Written by Dr. Philip E. Humbert, writer, speaker and success coach. Dr. Humbert has over 300 free articles, tools and resources for your success, including a great newsletter! It’s all on his website at: http://www.philiphumbert.com

Hair loss for men and women can be devastating and there are several hundred different types of officially recognized hair diseases that can cause this problem.

Clinical Dermatologists are unlikely to see more than 20 different hair diseases during their careers. The most common diseases that Dermatologists are likely to see are androgenetic alopecia, alopecia areata, telogen effluvium, trichotillomania alopecia, hair shaft defects from cosmetic processing and excess hair growth (hirsutism or hypertrichosis). Most hair diseases are very rare and occur in less than 1% of the population.

One of the main criticisms from patients is that their dermatologist just does not understand their particular disease but because of the limited research into hair disease it is very difficult to make a specific diagnosis. Because of limited research there are very few diagnostic tests or treatments available other than for the most common diseases.

To define a disease and appropriate treatment a dermatologist uses a process of deduction from clues that he gets from the patient. There are three main methods of information gathering. A dermatologist will ask questions regarding the history of your hair loss and questions in regards to your life style. He will conduct a visual examination of your hair and occasionally take sample of hair, skin and blood for further testing and examination.

The first most common question will be ‘How long have you had hair loss?’. This will determine if you were born with it or acquired it in later in life.

The visual examination of the hair only takes a couple of minutes, as hair loss is clearly visible. The first thing a dermatologist will check is the pattern of the hair loss and then the form of the hair loss.

If a fungal infection is suspected the dermatologist may look at the hair under a light source called a Wood’s Lamp.

A hair pull test may also be conducted. The dermatologist gently pulls on a few strands of hair to see if the fibers pull out easily.

A few fibers of hair may be taken for a microscopic analysis. The hairs have to be pulled out rather than cut so that the roots of the fiber as well as the shaft can be examined.

If it is suspected that the hair condition is the result of bacteria, yeast or fungi the dermatologist will take scrapings of skin from the affected area. Some of these scrapings will be covered with special staining chemicals that bind to certain types of bacteria or fungi.

Occasionally a dermatologist will take a scalp biopsy. This he will send to a histologist who cuts the biopsy into thin sections and lays them on a microscopic slide. The skin sections can be stained in different ways depending on what is being looked for.

Internal body dysfunction may also cause hair loss or excess hair growth. If a dermatologist suspects that hormones or the immune system are involved he may take a blood sample and may even ask you to see an endocrinologist/immunologist for further testing.

Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Hair Loss

Herbal treatment is termed as ‘alternative’ medicine and this branch of herbal science will always remain evergreen. It is renowned worldwide for treating such patients who do not respond to any other form of treatment. It is mostly suited for adults.

Most of the practitioners have disregarded the importance of healthy diet to build a healthy skin texture (with the exception of food allergies). Diet lacking necessary supplements will not affect the skin quality in any way. But if you want to tone your skin and make it healthy, then fatty acid foods are essential. Efa’s are commonly found in the form of flax, oil supplements, along with a diet rich in fiber.

A multivitamin treatment also plays a vital role, but mega doses should not be taken unless prescribed by a reputed health practitioner. Most of the people know Vitamin A is an essential nutrient for healthy skin, but only a few are aware that excessive dosages can lead to a liver damage.

Besides, there are many remedies that enter into the market. Some of them are highly priced but do not work effectively. It would be wise if one chooses the right treatment, especially those that are the extracts from natural sources. There are few treatments that are popular since ages such as the use of tree oils, neem soap, tea tree oil etc. Lavender and chamomile are meant for producing ‘calming’ effect. Besides you can read different books on herbal sciences where you can study various means of treatment. If you wish to change your eating habits you can call upon a physician and adhere to his or her suggestions.

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