8 Steps to Becoming the YOU of your Dreams

Spirituality and Health is one of my web favorites. Here are 8 steps to help you become a better you via the tools and practices on the www.spiritualityhealth.com site.

Read more at http://www.spiritualityhealth.com


Step 1: Find Out Where We’re Coming From…
Read the brief History of Spirituality & Health (Always find out at least a little about any teachers). >Click to Read

Step 2: Be Inspired to “Be the Change!”
Read or listen to the article by S&H editor Stephen Kiesling. >Click to Read

Step 3: Take the Self-Reflection Survey
This reflection is an important step toward finding your own best practices. >Take the Survey

Step 4: Ask Your Family, Friends, Groups, and
Colleagues to Reflect on You.
This is a tough step, but you will gain perspective on yourself - and deepen your relationships.

Step 5: Learn How Practices Create Who You Are
Read the article from cutting-edge neuroscientist
Peggy La Cerra, Ph. D >Click to Read

Step 6: Practice Your Special Practices
Each of the 16 practices (joy, compassion) have details behind them from both Peggy La Cerra and Rabbi Shapiro, as well as additional articles, videos, and of course a growing list of specific ways to practice.

Step 7: Post Your Practices and Your Progress
Be Bold. Share your special practice! Share your experiences! Your Progress! By improving ourselves to become the change we want to see in the world, we inspire others to join with us. >Write Us

Step 8: Join Us!
Help support this ongoing spiritual adventure. Subscribe today! >Start with Gratitude
Read more at www.spiritualityhealth.com

Do you doodle?

I am one of those not-so-rare types that like to doodle. It has nothing to do with attention deficit, drawing skills or boredom. OK, sometimes it has to do with those things for me but as you can read below, it may have a greater reason too... Do you doodle? Leave us a comment, link or tweet.

clipped from www.creativity-portal.com What do you think when you see someone doodling during a class lecture or a department meeting? Are they paying attention or mindlessly daydreaming? Do you ever wonder if doodling helps them in their learning process? You may be surprised. Here's the old thinking and new wisdom Wenner shares about doodling: Old Thinking: "Scribbling circles on a notepad while your company's chief inspiration officer drones on about synergy means you have trouble focusing." New Wisdom: "Doodling can boost your mind's ability to notice and remember mundane information by nearly 30 percent, according to research from the University of Plymouth. The theory is that the act of drawing makes use of visuospacial processes in the brain that might otherwise be used for daydreaming, thereby preventing your mind from wandering."

The Power of Neutral

clipped from thirstyfishinfo.amplify.com Practicing The Power of Neutral helps bring your mind, emotions and physiology to a state of neutral. Think of neutral as a “time-out zone” where you can step back, neutralize your emotions and see more options with objective clarity. Take a time-out. Breathe slow and deeply. Imagine the air entering and leaving through your heart area in the center of your chest. Try to disengage from your stressful thoughts and feelings as you continue breathing. Continue until you have chilled out and neutralized the emotional charge. One of the things that can help you get to neutral is asking yourself, “Do I really want to keep draining energy and stressing about the situation or how bad I feel?” For example, right before a situation that normally makes you anxious or stressed, you may start negatively projecting the idea you will blow it or be judged by others. This is the perfect time to use The Power of Neutral. Read more at www.heartmath.org

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Are you concerned that someone is addicted?

Are you concerned that someone you know has a problem with addiction to a substance or behavior? How do you know for sure? Here are seven sign and symptoms that will help you decide if this is true. Tell us how you have dealt with this problem by leaving a comment below.

clipped from tlc.howstuffworks.com When you discover that a friend or family member has a problem with drugs or alcohol, it often comes as a huge surprise to you. But secrecy is the drug on which addiction thrives, so it's not really that odd that you were in the dark. Addiction grows worse over a sustained period of time, and there are some indicators that may give you an idea something is wrong with your loved one before the bottom falls out. Here are seven signs you should look for if you suspect someone you love has a problem with drugs or alcohol. 7: Change in Behavior 6: Change in Friends 5: Occupational Issues 4: Legal Issues 3: Family Strain 2: Physical Changes 1: Personality Changes

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How do you define beauty?

The best line in this article is "people tell me that I have captured the persons inner beauty. This is not about inner beauty, this person is beautiful!' Watch and read on...

How do you define beauty?

clipped from www.psychologytoday.com Most of us feel that we aren't photogenic. But what if you have a genetic condition or physical trait that really makes a difference in how you feel about yourself and how others perceive you? Maybe it sounds counterintuitive, but photography actually can be the cure for a broken self-image. We humans have a common response to other people who look different. We turn our gaze away from individuals whose physical appearances make us feel uncomfortable; just think of your reaction when you see those ubiquitous television ads asking for donations for children with cleft palates. Or some of us may even stare, mesmerized by what we have been conditioned to view as physical deformity, defect, or disability. But what if a photograph could change those reactions

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How does your child make moral decisions?

One of the most under utilized bits of parenting information is Kohlberg's Stages of Moral Development. I have written a couple of other articles on children's spiritual development that reference Kohlberg but not much is out there in the popular domain. This may be due to the fact that he can be hard to follow (the names for the stages can be hard to grasp intuitively) and there is some argument about theorists about the stages themselves. I believe an understanding of them can prove useful to parents as they are working to develop their children's character and will give insight into why kids make the moral decisions they do.

To be honest, I had to look up the stages to refresh my memory (hence, the clipped information below). I was playing with my three year old grandson recently and was curious about his fascination with "bad guys" and what the disciplinary rules were for our household. Neither my wife or I had said anything about verbal warnings or time out's but this was very

clipped from en.wikipedia.org The theory holds that moral reasoning, the basis for ethical behavior, has six identifiable developmental stages, each more adequate at responding to moral dilemmas than its predecessor. Kohlberg's six stages can be more generally grouped into three levels of two stages each: pre-conventional, conventional and post-conventional. Level 1 (Pre-Conventional) 1. Obedience and punishment orientation (How can I avoid punishment?) 2. Self-interest orientation (What's in it for me?) Level 2 (Conventional) 3. Interpersonal accord and conformity (Social norms) (The good boy/good girl attitude) 4. Authority and social-order maintaining orientation (Law and order morality) Level 3 (Post-Conventional) 5. Social contract orientation 6. Universal ethical principles (Principled conscience) The picture of human nature Kohlberg begins with is that humans are inherently communicative and capable of reason. They also possess a desire to understand others and the world around them

Losing your childhood creativity

As a child therapist I spend a lot of time finding ways to help impulsive and distracted children improve what is called "executive functioning." This functioning allows us to just say "no" to our inappropriate impulses in favor of more appropriate social decisions. Children who do not have this ability can get into some serious trouble, hence, the parents call to me for an appointment.

The unfortunately side effect of executive function may be a reduction in childish creativity. We all know how spontaneous and free a child can be when it comes to crayons, paper and craft materials. According to the researchers in the study below, the more we think like adults, the more we lose touch with our creative output due to the use of logic and not imagination. The flip side is that it can be accessed at any time in our lives if we allow ourselves to engage in childish play and curiosity.
It may mean we need to inhibit our inhibitions - at least for a specific time.

How do you regain

clipped from scienceblogs.com Pablo Picasso once declared that "Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up." The solution to Picasso's problem is startlingly simple, at least according to the psychologists Darya Zabelina and Michael Robinson of North Dakota State University: We just need to think like a little kid. In their recent paper, "Child's play: Facilitating the originality of creative output by a priming manipulation," the scientists took a large group of undergraduates and randomly assigned them to two different groups. The first group was given the following instructions: "You are 7 years old. School is canceled, and you have the entire day to yourself. What would you do? Where would you go? Who would you see?" The second group was given the exact same instructions, except the first sentence was deleted. As a result, these students didn't imagine themselves as 7 year olds. the students who imagined themselves as little kids scored far higher on the creative tasks