LivingReal

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Over the years I have been given the opportunity to work with many different populations of people. This has been both an education and an honor. I realize from time to time how fortunate this has been to connect with people from a variety of backgrounds and cultures.

‘Variety’ is a way of saying from the full strata of economics, race, culture, education, intelligence, common sense, sense of humor, contentment, family background, criminal records, haves and have nots. These experiences and meetings have come about through managing a non-profit organization and owning a staffing business.

Currently my family is hosting a young engineering student from Spain who is in America for two months to improve his English. His curiosity led me to share that we have hosted five French students and 2 ladies from Korea prior to himself. We are also supporting a young girl in Nicaragua through World Vision and previously supported a girl in Thailand for over 15 years.

But I transgress

My point is that this exposure has shown me the importance of financial and physical fitness as the firm foundation of success in other areas of life. This goes deeper than saying that a person has to have money and be in good health.

Having money is different than managing money. I know many people who have the uncanny ability to make money. Far larger sums have flowed through their hands over the years than most average folks, but there is little to show for it. This is not to say that the accumulation of material possessions is a sign of wealth, nor large bank balances.

He &/or she who controls money, rather than be controlled by money has developed other traits and skills. Sound money management requires and develops wisdom, a sense of right and wrong, an empirical knowledge and gut feeling. Wisdom comes from above.

Sound money management develops a sense of priorities. It teaches patience as we make one choice over another, unaffected by Wall Street, Madison Avenue, advertising and peer pressure. It maintains control through learning wise decision making.

Wisdom, a sense of Priorities, good Decision Making - don’t these traits have an impact on other parts our life? If we lack these skills will this not cause a negative impact?

Physical Fitness on the surface is important as it helps us move around easier, pain free and avoid illness. A person who controls their eating habits and maintains a regular exercise routine has developed other very useful skills and sense of self. Self Discipline is the first and most obvious.

A person who can say no to tempting foods, who wakes up and goes to sleep when the rest of the world is resting and partying has developed discipline over them self for a greater purpose. The byproduct of this discipline is a strong sense of Self Worth, Self Esteem and Self Confidence - traits that bolster all other activities and endeavors in our life.

Financial Fitness leads to

• Wisdom
• Patience
• Sense of Priorities
• Wise Decision Making

Physical Fitness leads to

• Self Discipline
• Self Confidence
• Self Esteem
• Self Worth

For these reasons I focus a portion of the coaching process in these areas, building a solid foundation.

Thoughts?

Picking up from a previous entry - let’s provide an explanation of the commonly marketed methods for a person to get out of debt.

One method offered by companies that earn their income through the sale of mortgages is “consolidation”. The premise here is to roll all your unsecured debt (such as student loans and credit cards/things that have no collateral covering them) into your home mortgage. It has also been suggested to roll secured debt, such as a car loan into this consolidation.

This assumes your home has equity to borrow from. The theory here is that these funds, the money you previously paid to the credit card companies you will now pay to the mortgage companies, which is okay because then you can write it off on your taxes. The problem with this method is that while it may drop your monthly payments a little, and save you a small amount in annual taxes, you are no closer to being out of debt.

In addition, your student loans, credit cards and car loans are now part of a payment schedule that may actually have you paying them off longer than before, or longer than the car lasts. You have also given up the equity in your home, which is not a bad thing if it is part of an overall strategy to reduce the time in which you are in debt, but not a good thing if it is used as a quick fix to have more money to spend each month.

Another method highly marketed is ’settlement’ or ‘negotiation’. In this case you enlist the services of a company that contacts your creditors for you and negotiates lower interest, a smaller monthly payment, freezing fees or any other method to help you to not have to pay. This method has fault on many levels.

“There is no doubt that debt settlement with any company does hurt your credit – it is the downside to the process of reducing your total debt using this strategy.“   an email response from a debt settlement company

Of immediate concern is how this affects a person’s credit score. Any company that agrees to a negotiated payment will enter this information into a person’s credit history. This information is now there for all other potential creditors to see. Landlords, retail stores, auto loan companies etc now know that you failed to pay back your debts as agreed. This can haunt you for many years to come.

In addition - negotiation may not work. Companies may not agree to new terms, they may agree to terms that are less than desirable, and this will still become part of your permanent credit history. The settlement company is also not in business to lose money and your fees to them must still be paid. I have heard horror stories of unscrupulous companies who were supposed to pay a client’s bills for them and just kept the money or held it for a time before paying it to collect the interest for themselves.

Lastly - where is the morality of not paying your debts? While there are instances of ridiculously high interest rates, and yes - today’s world seems to suck us into buying more than we need or can afford - how can we as adults accept an agreement to purchase something under certain terms and then squirrel our way out of paying for it? I came across a company which claims to have found a loop hole in banking laws and is using that as a way to ‘help’ their clients end all payments to bank provided credit cards.

When I asked what lesson he was teaching his children by sitting on a couch watching a television, both of which were purchased on a credit card which he now feels he does not have to pay back - he had very little to say.

In summary - consolidation, settlement and negotiation, while maybe the last resort for some, fail to effectively eliminate debt for ethically minded families.

It may seem true that there are a lot of choices about which supplements to take until you set certain standards, trust certain sources & stop listening to Kevin Trudeau and other television robber barons.

Marketing controls what people think which leads to how they act and ultimately the decisions and purchases they make. For this reason Centrum has become one of the leading vitamins people purchase. And yet this highly publicized multivitamin is lacking in much of what a body needs.

A telling demonstration was seeing what happened when pieces of cut apple were placed into 2 glasses of water. One of the glasses contained a crushed Centrum vitamin and the other contained Mega Anti-Oxidant from USANA.

A quick explanation (more in future postings). Oxidation is rusting. A shovel left in the rain, an apple turning brown, our body’s cells breaking down are all the negative side of oxygen. Fighting oxidation within our bodies is crucial to avoiding illness and aging.

After an few hours in the glasses the apple floating in the Centrum was just as brown as if it had been left on the counter. The USANA protected apple slice was as white as it was when it was first cut. That is true anti-oxidant protection, the same that will occur in your body.

Most vitamin supplements are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. The standards here are the same as regulating a can of peas. If it doesn’t harm you it passes. A higher standard of regulation is Pharmaceutical Grade. Items that are Pharmaceutical Grade show up in the Physicians Desk Reference. Two of the important aspects of being Pharmaceutical Grade is that the pill dissolves completely and is available to be used 100% by the body.

Nurses refer to most vitamin supplements as ‘bedpan bullets’ since they fail to dissolve and show up in bed pans in the same condition they were ingested.

A second aspect of Pharmaceutical Grade is that each lot of the product is the same as the last. In other words there in no range of quality and quantity of the ingredients. It does not vary from month to month. This is not true with most products and even some generic over the counter drugs.

USANA was the first and still one of only a handful of companies which voluntarily submit their products to Pharmaceutical Grading.

comments?

There is an avalanche of offerings recently from companies that claim to be able to consolidate, negotiate, reduce, settle and eliminate a persons debt load.

This is exciting for anyone who owns a home. Unfortunately many people will overlook these offerings since they fail to recognize themselves as a candidate for this service. The fact is that if you still are paying a mortgage you have debt and could benefit greatly by paying your loan off quicker. Wouldn’t it be better for the interest you are giving to the mortgage company to go into your retirement savings?

The bad news in all of these offerings is that a person must be astute in understanding the difference between the processes of ‘consolidation’ versus ‘negotiation’ versus ‘elimination’. It is another case of Buyer Beware and the necessity to be wise and educated about the choices you make.

I will discuss the differences over the next few days.

Be wise and have fun!

This will certainly not be the first time you have heard it said that “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day” and yet for many of us our morning routine does not lend itself to fulfill this reality in our life.

The most important word in the above sentence is ‘routine.’ While I strive to make my life anything but routine - morning and evening routines set the pace for the quality of the rest of the day. More on this later.

Rehydrate! - get in the habit (its all about habit - 21 days to create a new habit so be patient and consistent with the things you know are right) of drinking water as soon as you wake up. Throughout the night your body lost lots of water through respiration and all the metabolic activity it performed. This lost water needs to be replaced as soon as possible. By drinking a large glass of water you are also turning the wheels and getting your body into motion - waking it up and preparing it for the day ahead.

My routine begins when nature calls, around 5:30, to use the toilet and then fill the large tumbler I always leave in the bathroom with water and gulp it down. I then return to bed, or not. Over the next half hour as the water makes it way through the digestive system and rehydrates the body I begin to feel more and more awake.

Within the next hour I will make breakfast. I want to finish this entry by suggesting the simplest and fastest breakfast I normally consume. This choice is effective in fulfilling my nutritional needs as well as setting me up for most of the morning. In other words shutting down any desire for other foods until late in the morning or near lunch time. Give it a try and we’ll talk later about the whys.

Oatmeal - a half cup with 2/3rds cup water (I eyeball the measurements, but used a measuring cup at first) in a large cereal bowl. One minute in the microwave. Now forget the honey cinnamon and raisins (Okay, maybe sometimes) and mix in a serving of protein powder. The product I use calls for 2 scoops to equal about 25 grams of protein and comes in either chocolate or strawberry.

Couldn’t be any easier and now I have a protein rich complex carbohydrate to which I add my vitamin supplements and I am set for the morning. This is a fairly easy meal to grab and eat in the car. No buttery things to hold in your hand, no milk sloshing around so if you are in a hurry there is no reason not to eat a good breakfast. Our cars often have an empty bowl and spoon with dried oatmeal stuck to the sides rolling around on the floor. A small concession for a proper breakfast. - Priorities!

Protein Powder - Many brands

Vitamin Supplements - One Brand

Have a Fit day!

The earliest lesson I remember getting concerning money was when I was in my early twenties. (It would of course be wrong to say that my parents taught me nothing prior to this – in fact much was learned and taught growing up about spending, saving, investing and earning, but we’ll leave that for another time)

My then girlfriend and I (now wife of 27 years) were traveling by thumb and backpack around Europe and caught a ride somewhere in Italy with a very exuberant woman. She insisted on taking us to a café for coffee. She felt a connection. She was sure we knew each other. We met in a prior life. We were Native American Indians. It was a long time ago. I was into it. I liked the connection. I liked being an American Indian.

After enjoying the coffee together we left the café and said our good-byes. Her parting action was to stuff a wad of money into my hand. I tried to give it back saying how we really didn’t need it and had just earned money working in Switzerland over the winter. She pushed my hand back and said – “take it – it is only an energy of the world”

That was an important lesson. It parallels the laws of giving and receiving, tithing, sowing and reaping. I have often shared the story adding the example of how electricity flows through a building and a person only needs to plug into it to become part of the flow. (Of course plugging into it can lead to death, an appliance it recommended). A better example is the water pipes in a home. In this form of energy a person can control the flow. Opening the faucet wider creates a larger flow.

And so it is with money. Some people have learned to tap into this Energy of the World in a bigger way. Some professions or industries have a larger faucet; some are limited in how much the faucet can be opened.

The software industry is an example. While many examples exist of failed attempts in this area, those that have succeeded in creating a product consumers like can open a wide flow of energy. Once written, software code can be duplicated and delivered rather inexpensively. I apologize to those who would choose to differ; I use this as an example only, along with five years working in this industry.

Compare this to the flow of money/energy that goes to a person who has chosen the profession of child care. While the energy flow of money is a comparative trickle, it is important to know that the flow of grateful emotions, smiles and giggles is far greater than in other professions.

But flow is the important word here.

Who hasn’t stood in a warm shower when someone flushes the toilet?

What happened is that the flow of cold water was diverted and all that was left was the hot water flow. Fortunately this situation quickly corrects itself and the flow of water is balanced. Not so in life. If we stop the flow of money out of our hands we eventually stop or slow the flow of money into our hands. The retailer who does not buy new products to sell can not continue to make profits. The business that fails to spend money on advertising slows the ability to earn income.

A great example of this is in the natural world. In Israel there are two great bodies of water, the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. The Sea of Galilee, or Kinneret in Hebrew, is where Jesus took a memorable walk. On the northeastern side of the lake is the Golan Heights. This is where many of Israel’s first kibbutizim began. The Kinneret is full of life. Fish and fowl are in abundance – size, quantity and variety. In contrast, the Dead Sea, many kilometers to the south is, well, dead. There is little to no life in the salty water and only desert species in the surrounding mountains.

The difference between these two is their flow. Both bodies of water have an inflow from the Jordan River, (and the Kinneret also has underground springs). Then the Sea of Galilee flows strongly out through its southern end, continuing the Jordon River into the southern deserts where it pours into the Dead Sea. Then nothing. The Dead Sea stops the flow, it does not continue on. The salt and minerals collect and life ends.

In summary – whether your profession taps into the flow of money and wealth in a big way or a small way, it is often up to you to decide how wide you want to open the tap. Check the other energy flows in your life. Are they stuffed up? Is it because you are not giving as much as taking? Become a conduit of all the energy and resources and talents you have been given, and much will be added unto you, press it down, shake it up and enjoy!

“Give and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure– pressed down, shaken together and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.”

General Mills, Proctor Gamble and all the other food processors (I use the word processors rather than manufacturers purposely) have stealthily succeeded in changing the biological makeup of our taste buds.
If we are completely honest each of us can quickly create a list of  snack foods/fast foods/junk foods that we enjoy eating. Imagine Great Grandma coming by the house and all we had to offer were the foods on our list. After she was convinced that these items were edible there is a good chance that she would find the taste quite repulsive.
We often hear the term “it is an acquired taste” in referring to food and other individual styles and tastes. And no doubt with the growing abundance of snack foods/fast foods/junk foods we are acquiring tastes that serve the profit needs of the food processors but fall far short of meeting our health needs. As a child I recall the candy section at the local drug store. A normal height shelf with probably three feet in width devoted to candy and sugary products.
Compare that to the massive aisles of sugar laden candy we see in stores today. Then turn the corner and if doughy things are more to your liking there is the pastry aisles. Salty chips fill another large section. Now add in the whole row of coolers holding sodas and fountain drinks and its no wonder that the little corner drug store has become a large convenience store.
My #1 Point:  Our taste for these unhealthy items was acquired since an early age and the way in which our bodies naturally crave for the proper nutrients that it needs for health and survival have been altered by overuse of low nutrient  man-made products.
My #2 Point:  We MUST Re-Acquire the taste for healthy / whole / nutrient rich foods that feed our bodies to maintain the excellent state of health for which we were created. In order to do this we need to approach our dining tables with a paradigm of “what do I need to feed myself right now” rather than “what looks good”. Over time the two become the same as our bodies readjust to craving the right foods.
Action Item - experiment for yourself by catching your first thoughts and first choices when you are hungry and choosing what to eat. Is it a pastry or fresh fruit? A diet soda or a yogurt? A handful of M&Ms or a handful of almonds?     Now - take control of your thoughts and purposefully choose the healthier choice (not sure what the healthier choice is? Lets Talk!) While these healthier food items may not at first tingle your taste buds - chew well to obtain the natural sweetness and give it time - “its an acquired taste”.
Do this for a month and see how your taste buds adjust. It may take longer but while your taste buds adjust you will also be noticing some feelings of better health.

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It’s never easy to break free from the course we find ourself on, to change the path we are traveling.

Is it the right path? One of my own choosing? Am I truly challenged? Am I finding myself unable to be the best I can be? Am I using all my gifts and talents?

Traveling alone, it is difficult to see a clear path, to determine a plan and then muster the dicipline to make the necessary changes.

Some of us are overwhelmed with the confusion and chaos around us, paralyzed, unable and unaware of where to begin to take control.

What do we do when our home no longer provides a sense of peace, pleasure or ownership.
Where do we turn when our relationships are a constant point of tension and frustration?
How do we react when our office has become a place we can’t seem to tame and it is costing us money.
How does it feel when our life is off balance and unfulfilling.
Where is the excitment when we are chasing after dreams that were never our own.

What small thing could we change - Right Now - that will set our course straight?
What difficult thing have we put off time and again?

> Where has our pride kept us from asking for help?
> Where has stubborness undermined our relationships?
> Where has cloudy vision kept us in the dark - not seeing the possibilities?
> Where has ‘doing it my own way’ held us back from real prosperity?

Maps and Blueprints / Visions and Objectives
A Person Needs To Be Certain the Path They Are Following, The House They Are Building, The Life They Are Living - Is Worthy of Who They Are.