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Although owning your own business may be the “best thing I ever
did,” it has its drawbacks, especially in the early days. Many
people have unrealistic ideas about business ownership,
thinking that it’s going to provide them this six figure income
right from the first day, especially those who buy into a
franchise or established retail business. When they find out
that they aren’t earning the income they thought they would,
they begin to worry that they have made a mistake in judgment
and worry about making ends meet. Pre-planning solves a great
deal of stress that is involved when building your business
during its early creation.

The reason many new business owners have trouble making ends
meet is because they fail to plan properly for the days that
are going to yield less income. On average, it takes a new
business anywhere from three to five years to turn a decent
profit. That is true even of a franchise since those early days
will involve more income going to the franchise corporation than
the franchise owner, so you have to make sure that you plan for
that. How can you plan for those early lean income days? One
thing you can do in the very beginning is make sure that you
save more money before you invest in a business so that you
have enough cash set aside toward your living expenses until
you start earning a profit from your business. If you are
leaving a position with another company to start your own
business and are entitled to any kind of severance package such
as unused vacation or sick time, retirement buyout, or other
benefits, put those aside in a special account in case you need
them to assist with personal expenses until your business is
profitable enough to operate on its own.

One option that some people do not even know exists is that of
a loan for operating capital. This means the business owner can
borrow money to see him through until the business becomes
self-supporting. Even those who know of this option fail to
utilize it properly by setting their goals too high, being
over-confident about the time frame for building the business
to a profitable level, and then have to return to the bank for
more operating capital. This should be included in your
business plan, and in order to make sure that you have set
realistic goals, sit down with a financial advisor or
accountant in order to assure that your business plans includes
realistic goals for income generation. Making sure you have all
of the working capital you need before you open your business
saves you not only from hours of worry but also save you the
potential of having to prepare another business plan when you
require additional funds.

About The Author: Douglas Miller is the owner of
Hundred-Fold-Life. To learn how to find the best home based
business ideas and opportunities so you can work at home visit:
http://www.clixgo.com

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Here are some effective snoring remedies if you want to know
how to stop snoring. These remedies fall into two major
categories: long term and short term, or proactive and reactive
or, preventative and prescriptive. Let’s have a look.

How To Stop Snoring With Long Term Snoring Remedies

You need to know the difference between what will cure your
snoring by attacking its root cause and what will merely mask
it by only treating the symptoms (while the cause remains
intact). Let’s take a look at what is causing your snoring.

Snoring is caused by a narrowing of the airway to the point
where air is partially obstructed causing the snoring noise to
occur. It doesn’t get more complicated than that. If the airway
is completely closing cutting off breathing in the process, then
we call that obstructive sleep apnea. If this is happening you
need to see a doctor immediately. The preventative steps to
eliminating snoring can also eliminate sleep apnea.

The secret of how to stop snoring with long term snoring
remedies is to find out why your airway is narrowing during
sleep. The first thing that should be considered here is
weight. People who are overweight build up fat and tissue all
over their body, including the neck and throat. Losing just 10
pounds of bodyweight can decrease or even stop snoring all
together. If there is no improvement after losing 10 pounds
then lose another 10 pounds. I’m serious! Losing weight will
also put you at less risk of a myriad of other chronic
diseases.

If you are as thin as a rail or you are certain that your
snoring has nothing to do with your weight, then the next
option you need to consider is throat exercises. These special
exercises strengthen the muscle and tissue in your throat so
the airway doesn’t narrow during sleep and cause snoring. I
talk about these exercises in other articles on my site.

Finally, if you are certain your snoring has nothing to do with
being overweight. And, you have faithfully tried the throat
exercises by still snore. Then and only then would I consider
you a candidate for snoring surgery. However, this decision
needs to be made with your doctor.

How To Stop Snoring With Short Term Snoring Remedies

Knowing how to stop snoring with short term snoring remedies is
the second piece in curing your snoring problem. The long term
remedy isn’t going to give the results now. But, you need to
stop snoring now. You need some solutions to stop your snoring
while you are waiting for the long term remedy to kick in.
Basically the effective approaches are of three kinds. First,
make sure you are not doing anything to cause your throat to
narrow while sleeping. The second approach is to control your
sleeping position. The third approach are to use devices.

Keeping The Throat Open

Do not eat, drink or take anything that will cause your throat
to relax and narrow. Do not drink alcohol, take pain medication
or any medicine that causes you to relax before going to bed.
These items cause the muscles in your throat to relax and your
throat to narrow.

Sleeping Position

Sleep on your side, not your back. Sew a tennis ball to the
back of a shirt and wear it while you sleep if you need to.
Also, sleep with your head higher up. There are also special
pillows you can buy for this.

Snoring Devices

Visit your local drug store and see what they have for snoring
strips or other stop snoring devices. Mayne you will find one
that works for you.

Remember that these short term solutions for how to stop
snoring with snoring remedies are only going to stop the
snoring temporarily. If for some reason none of these options
don’t work you will still snore. On the other hand, the long
term approaches may get rid of your snoring for ever.

About The Author: Jonathan Higgins is an expert on snoring. He
has developed a whole series on home remedies for snoring that
he would be glad to share with you. Just send him an email at
treatsnoring@aweber.com. Visit him at
http://www.treat-snoring.com.

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Title: Understand Your Metabolism and Unlock Your Weight Loss Results
Word Count: 560
Author: Charles Carter
Email: bashbaugh@liveleantoday.com
Category: Health & Fitness
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Understand Your Metabolism and Unlock Your Weight Loss Results
Have you ever seen an ad for the next latest and greatest
weight loss program or diet pill, only to see in fine print
that this person also ate a balanced diet and did regular
exercise? The other common complaint all the time is “I
workout hard everyday and I don’t lose a pound.” Does this
sound like you? The key to achieving health weight loss
and keeping it off for a lifetime is understanding your
metabolism.

When you think about weight loss you want to think in terms
of a diet fitness program. The problem many people do is
they only focus on one aspect which leaves them always
falling short of their goals.

What is metabolism any way?

Your metabolism doesn’t have to be confusing. Let’s break
your metabolism down in to two aspects. First, is your
body’s ability to break down food that you eat and convert
it into energy or store it. You can store fat in your fat
cells though you do store carbohydrates in your muscle
cells to be used as energy later. The second is the rate
at which your body produces energy, or do you have a fast
or slow metabolism? The other key part to your metabolism
is what you are burning for energy.

Your metabolism wants small amounts of food at regular
intervals throughout the day. Typically every 2-3 hours is
a good time to eat. This isn’t eating the average American
meal 5 times a day, more cutting your meal in half and
eating that amount throughout the day. When we go longer
than 3 hours between meals are body starts to store the
food we do eat as fat, and can burn away muscle tissue for
energy instead of using your food. When you eat 5 small
meals a day you train your body to use fat as your main
fuel source. A proper metabolism burns 70% fat as its main
source of energy all day long. Just think while you are
working sitting at your chair you are burning fat.

It is through exercise that we raise our metabolism up.
The amount of calories we burn is not as important as the
rate at which we burn calories. If burning 3500 calories
worked than all the walkers at the gym would be the
thinnest people. You typically see runners much thinner
than walkers and that is because running burns calories at
a greater rate and raises up your metabolism. You burn
more calories by raising up your metabolism the entire day
than you can in any workout.

Cardio interval training is considered one of the best ways
of raising up your metabolism. Interval training is short
burst of high intensity follow by short durations of low
intensity and then repeated. People after doing an
interval workout burn more fat as a source of energy for
the entire day after than any other form of cardio. You
only want to do one interval workout per week as over doing
it creates over training and a drop in results.

Combining exercise and eating 5 small meals and you will
unlock your weight loss potential. This not only the
fastest ways to lose weight these habits work for the rest
of your life to have more energy and keep the fat off your
body.

About the Author:

About The Author: Charles Carter, BS in Exercise Science is
President of LIVE, llc of http://www.liveleantoday.com -
visit the website for more information on weight loss, core
fitness programs, optimal diets, and online personal
trainer and dietician services. For more information on
expert fitness advice go to http://www.liveleanblog.com .

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Many beginners for bodybuilding get so hyped up about the idea
of losing fats and gaining weight based on muscles. This stage
of excitement usually takes over the concentration and focus of
the bodybuilder making it possible for him to disregard some
details.

To gain weight, there are elements needed a bodybuilder has to
follow. Failure to comply with the basic necessities for
bodybuilding could result to different unpleasant
circumstances. An example would be a bodybuilder could lack
motivation eventually or halfway through the course of
training. Another possibility could lead the person to
completely give up on sticking to his bodybuilding goals and
still another factor could be the harm instead of the benefit
that bodybuilding can do to you.

Avoid from falling prey under bodybuilding hazards. A
bodybuilder has got to do what a bodybuilder has got to do so
before you the gym (you could also work out at home) and start
lifting weights, you need to keep in mind and do several safety
precautions for bodybuilding. Were not saying that a possibility
of you getting hurt during training is high, but it’s better to
be safe than sorry.

First, of course are the famous warm-ups. You can never start
on the hard exercise part of your training if you haven’t
stretched your muscles very well. This is good for initiating
the temperature of your body. Once you have done this, keep in
mind that you shouldn’t force yourself to exert your body to
the limit. The moment you feel that you can’t make it any
longer, stop the exercise. If you don’t, you could suffer great
muscle injuries.

Next to this comes the weight you need for your equipment. Try
to keep the weight of your equipment equivalent to what you can
accomplish. For example, if you think you can’t finish a 6-8 rep
by using heavy equipment, reduce the weight. Its better that you
can start with light equipment and then slowly adjust it to
heavier weights eventually.

Of course, none of your exercises is going to work properly if
you don’t keep a record of your exercises. Make sure you have
something to refer to in terms of your progress in black and
white. You can also seek an expert’s advice about your training
program to ensure that you are on the right track.

About The Author: Shareen Aguilar is a writer for
http://www.body-building-book.com which has information on
Bodybuilding and other fitness topics.

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It is not an exaggeration to declare that the United States of
America could be the only country in the world where one can
graduate from high school and even college without taking one
course of foreign language study. Of those few schools which
still require their students to take a foreign language to
graduate, the one or two years of foreign language study is
woefully inadequate for developing a high degree of spoken
fluency. As America crossed into the 21st century, a bilingual
rate of less than 9% prevailed. That rate is still true in
2005.

As early as 1979, a Presidential Commission on Foreign
Languages revealed that,

“American’s incompetence in foreign language is nothing short
of scandalous=85″

Some 26 years later, that “scandal” is still raging in America.

Second language acquisition in the public school system has
always suffered from the prevailing political and educational
ideology of the times. During the first 100 years of America’s
history, America was a multilingual society=97a fact almost too
hard to believe in light of today’s bilingual deficit. Although
xenophobic tendencies were always hiding in a bush somewhere
ready to jump out, there were no legislative efforts to control
the teaching and practice of foreign language education.

In the infancy of our country, immigrants, and their offspring
managed to maintain their native tongue while learning English.
Americans and those with English as their first language hired
private tutors to learn a foreign language. Many Americans
could make this effort today but do not. To develop proficiency
in a foreign language was seen by our early fellow-Americans as
a valuable skill and indicative of an educated person. Sadly,
this is not so in modern times.

In the 1800′s, due to the large immigrant influx into the
United States, private foreign language study began to be
replaced by public schools in order to meet the needs of the
immigrant groups.

By the beginning of the 1900=B4s, there was a major effort to
establish foreign language instruction in all levels of public
education and to establish standards governing these programs.
This effort, an amazing and outstanding thing considering
modern “English Only” movements in America, was to be sadly
short-circuited.

By the beginning of the 20th century, a high level of
xenophobia was reigning in America. World War I was primarily
responsible for outlawing the speaking of any language other
than English. Foreign language newspapers and foreign language
programs in the public schools were abolished.

A new nationalism=97a kind of populism=97emerged for the sake of
national unity. Foreign language instruction was irrationally
seen as a threat to national unity–a condition not unlike what
we are seeing in 2006 in the English Only movements.

Before 1923, twenty-two states in America had laws prohibiting
the teaching of foreign languages. The Supreme Court overturned
this silliness in 1923. However, by 1954, 56% of U.S. high
schools did not even have foreign language courses available to
their students. Of those that did, only 14.2% of the students
were enrolled in foreign language study. This was due to
America’s abnormal fear (xenophobia) of the strange or foreign
as applied to foreign languages. By World War II, America was
ill prepared linguistically to conduct the war. America’s
military had to play catch-up with the rest of the world by
developing effective language learning methods almost
overnight.

By the early 1970′s, the slight improvement in public schools’
offerings of foreign language programs once again suffered a
decline. This was probably due to reduced funding for the
programs. Second-language illiterate parents and school
administrations made ill-informed decisions to cut funding
thinking that foreign language learning did not benefit the
students.

Elementary school foreign language acquisition programs
disappeared. Foreign language entrance requirements were
abolished at some universities.

When the early 1980=B4s rolled around, a small resurgence in
second language learning occurred but progress was limited.
Though studies and reports abounded on why America needed to
become competent in foreign languages, only a small number of
states had programs in the elementary levels. Most of those
were spearheaded locally.

Any modern improvements today are constantly in danger of
elimination by nationalist neo-populist, English Only groups.
They view Mexican immigrants as brutalizing your children’s
public school’s English education with their native Spanish.

In a 2002 story by Patrik Jonsson, published in The Christian
Science Monitor, he reported that the states of Georgia, New
Jersey, and the school district in Denver, Colorado, either had
waived or were in the process of eliminating the foreign
language requirement for high school graduation.

I contacted all of these school districts. Only Denver
responded. The representative said,

“I have checked with several counselors. At this time, we
cannot think of any district in Colorado that requires Foreign
Language (particularly in the Metro area). That’s not to say
there isn’t a small district somewhere that requires it.”

PART TWO – Solving the Problem

About The Author: Doug Bower
http://www.zyworld.com/theolog/Page1.htm

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In recent years, tea has attracted a lot of attention for its
many health benefits. For years Asian cultures have used tea
for many medical purposes, and science is proving out what
Asians seem to have known all along =96 tea has many healthy
benefits.

Among tea, green tea seems to provide the most health benefits.
This is because green tea, unlike black tea is not fermented
during its processing. Green tea leaves are left in their more
natural state, compared to the leaves that are fermented. In
their natural state, tea leaves retain all of their natural
anti-oxidants, known as catechins.

Anti-oxidants are important to our health because they protect
our bodies from free radicals. Free radicals are oxygen
containing molecules that are created as a by-product of our
digestive processes. Free radicals left unchecked damage our
cells and DNA, leading to disease and aging.

Anti-oxidants keep these free radicals in check, ensuring that
they’re wiped out of our bodies before they can do damage.
Anti-oxidants are found in many plant products, including
fruits, vegetables, cocoa and coffee.

But, it seems that the most potent anti-oxidants may be those
found in the tea plant. The primary protective anti-oxidant, or
catechin, in tea is a substance known as EGCG.

EGCG is associated with a lower risk of cancer, heart disease,
and Alzheimer’s disease. It also appears to naturally regulate
blood sugar, so it may have potential in the prevention and
treatment of diabetes. EGCG has also been associated with
assisting in weight loss.

For years it was assumed that green tea was beneficial to
weight loss simply because it contains caffeine. Caffeine has
been shown to speed up the metabolism, helping you burn more
calories each day.

However, there have been studies that indicated that green tea
is more effective than other caffeinated beverages in aiding
weight loss, suggesting that something in addition to caffeine
is doing the trick. In addition, green tea is lower in caffeine
than black tea, coffee and colas, yet it aids weight loss more
than any of these beverages.

It is believed that this magic ingredient that makes green tea
a more effective weight loss aid than its more caffeinated
counterparts is the tea catechins =96 primarily the EGCG. To
further advance this theory, a study was conducted in Japan,
evaluating healthy Japanese men who were overweight.

The participants in this study were divided into groups with
similar weights and body mass indexes. During the twelve week
study, the participants were fed either a bottle of tea
containing 690 mg of tea catechins or a bottle of tea
containing just 22 mg of tea catechins.

At the end of the study, the group ingesting the larger amount
of tea catechins each day had lost significantly more weight
than the group ingesting the smaller amount of tea catechins.
In addition, their BMI, waist circumference and overall body
fat were reduced significantly compared to the control group.

Not only did the group lose more weight and reduce their body
fat significantly, but their cholesterol levels were also
significantly reduced.

This is just another in a long list of research studies
outlining the benefits of the catechins found in green tea.
And, one of the great things about using green tea as a health
supplement, whether for weight loss, or overall health
protection, is that green tea has no side effects.

Green tea is an overall healthy beverage, and is well tolerated
by most people, even those who are caffeine sensitive. So, even
if green tea doesn’t help you lose weight, you can rest assured
that you’re consuming a perfectly healthy and safe beverage.
Plus, you’re protecting your body from many serious diseases,
such as heart disease and cancer.

Many studies have linked green tea with a reduced risk of heart
disease. This risk reduction is likely due to the fact that
green tea can reduce your cholesterol levels, and seems to
prevent the cholesterol that is circulating in the blood from
turning into arterial plaque.

This is significant because this arterial plaque narrows the
arteries, leading to blockages. Once arteries are blocked, this
can lead to heart attack and stroke.

In addition, green tea has been linked to a reduction in the
risk of some cancers. Cultures where green tea is widely
consumed have significantly lower incidences of breast cancer,
lung cancer, prostate cancer and gastrointestinal cancers. In
some studies, green tea has even been shown to be an effective
adjunct treatment for some forms of cancer.

So, as you can see, drinking green tea is a good idea, even if
you don’t need to lose weight. However, particularly if you are
trying to drop a few pounds, a regular dose of green tea may be
able to help you shed those pounds more quickly and easily.

About The Author: Marcus Stout is President of the Golden Moon
Tea Company. For more information about tea, green tea and wu
long tea go to http://www.goldenmoontea.com

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Title: Simple Steps to Relieve Muscle Spasms in Fibromyalgia Sufferers
Word Count: 542
Author: Hailey Harris
Email: thkeharris@msn.com
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Simple Steps to Relieve Muscle Spasms in Fibromyalgia Sufferers
If you suffer from Fibromyalgia, you may be familiar with
muscle spasms or muscle twitches. Muscle spasms and
twitches are often one of the many symptoms that sufferers
experience. These symptoms can come and go as they please.
Muscle spasms may occur at any time and in any muscle. So
it’s important that you know what can be done to help
relieve these spasms.

Muscle spasms can occur in any muscle but they are more
likely to happen in certain muscles. The back, legs and
backend are common areas that fibromyalgia sufferers
experience these spasms.

There are different theories as to what causes muscle
spasms but among the top reasons are a lack of oxygen to
the area due to reduced blood flow. Another theory is that
these muscles become overworked and are tired so they don’t
get their fair share of oxygen. There is also a theory that
they are a reflex reaction. Some muscle spasms are due to
lack of certain vitamins, it’s important that your doctor
or health care provider check for this. And there is also
the theory out there that it could be a genetic thing. The
basis is that you are genetically predisposed to having
small muscle tears in the fibers and that these can cause
the spasms.

Whatever the cause for the spasms and twitches, they can be
very bothersome for fibromyalgia sufferers. The bothersome
effects can range from interrupted sleep to severe pain to
a mild nuisance. Sometimes you can be bothered with a
terrible headache that was brought on by a muscle spasm in
the neck region.

So what do you do about them? Well, one of the recommended
suggestions is heat compressions. Keeping a good flow of
blood to the area is good so that your muscle gets plenty
of oxygen and stays warm. Massage can also be beneficial to
muscle spasms as well as providing great stress relief.
Stretching exercises are recommended by therapists and
physicians when treating muscle spasms. Ask your healthcare
provider for information on which type of stretching
exercises you should do. There are plenty of gentle
exercises out there that will help you loosen your muscles
and provide relief to the affected area.

Another area of therapy that has proven to provide relief
to the muscle spasms is acupuncture. Also, if needles don’t
thrill you, you can try acupressure as well. These
therapies tend to work well and also help several other
symptoms of fibromyalgia sufferers.

If your spasms are caused by lack of nutrition, your
physician may give you a shot of vitamins or may prescribe
a supplement to you. Also, you may find that magnesium may
be of great benefit to you. This can settle whacked out
nerves and you may find benefit from it.

You can also get topical creams to apply to the area that
contain MSM in the cream. These seem to help by way of
having anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties as well.
They can help increase the blood supply. You can find these
at nutritional stores, just make sure that they have the
MSM in them. Consult your healthcare provider on this and
all of the treatments we went through and develop a course
of action.

About the Author:

Hailey Harris is an expert in dealing with Fibromyalgia
after suffering for more than 8 years with health problems.
She is now symptom free and living a pain free life. She
developed Ridfibromyalgia.com found at
http://www.ridfibromyalgia.com to help others learn to do
the same. To receive tons of info, tips, and healing
strategies for free visit
http://www.ridfibromyalgia.com/how.html .

You have permission to publish this article electronically
or in print, free of charge, as long as the bylines are
included. A courtesy copy of your publication would be
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Title: Health Benefits for Americans Part 1 – Is Consumer Driven Health
the Answer?
Word Count: 431
Author: Jim Martinez
Email: webmaster@familydentalhealthplans.com
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Health Benefits for Americans Part 1 – Is Consumer Driven Health the
Answer?
Lewis Gregory suffered a heart attack two years ago that
left the family mired in debt.

“We have absolutely no way to even dream of paying
$125,000,” he said.

Lewis’s story has become more and more common in the US.
Fifteen percent of Americans do not have health benefits.
And of that number, as many as 80 percent have at least one
parent working full-time. They make too much money to
qualify for government-sponsored health plans, but not
enough to pay for private healthcare. And more still are
turned down by health insurance companies because of age
limits or ongoing medical conditions.

I won’t try to list all the reasons that the US healthcare
system leaves so many of its citizens without healthcare.
But the fact is that more and more Americans are going to
bed each night without adequate health benefits or without
healthcare at all. And as recently as 2005, the White House
proposed $10 billion in cuts to Medicaid.

Is there a solution in sight?

Well, there just might be. And it comes in the form of
Consumer Drive Health benefits programs (CDH). In some ways
it operates like any business in a capitalistic society.
The healthcare provider with the most reasonable rates and
best quality of service gets the most business. Those
doctors who are too expensive or don’t meet their patients’
needs, don’t get customers. But there’s a twist. With CDH,
the consumer has the power of a network of other consumers
to help negotiate the most reasonable price possible.

Sounding a bit like an HMO? Consumer Driven Health programs
are not HMOs or any other kind of insurance. The biggest
difference is that the patient and the doctor-not the
insurance company-decide what treatment the patient will
receive, based on whatever criteria matters most to the
patient.

And there’s another BIG difference. With Consumer Driven
Health there are: – No waiting periods – No deductibles -
No claims forms – No age limits – No ongoing medical
problems exclusions – No hassles

That’s not all. With Consumer Driven Health benefits, the
customer receives many services that insurance companies
and Medicare/Medicaid do not allow, including vision,
dental, orthodontic, chiropractic, and even cosmetic
surgery!

If this sounds too good to be true, think again. Consumer
Driven Health is set up to be successful. They provide
reasonable rates, and quality products and services. But
the most important thing is that Consumer Driven Health
programs provide a reasonable alternative to a health
benefits system that isn’t working for a large number of
Americans.

About the Author:

Jim Martinez is a National Sales Director for AmeriPlan
USA, offering discount health benefits programs that
include ongoing medical conditions, starting at just $49.95
per month. For more information on AmeriPlan Health,
Dental, Vision, Prescription and Chiropractic Benefits and
more health related articles, visit
http://www.familydentalhealthplans.com .

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Some of us met on the pages of When You Can Walk on Water, Take
the Boat. Others of us may have met at lectures, seminars,
airports, on telephones or in letters. Still others have met in
areas beyond the more familiar, three-dimensional world. And
yet, though our meeting may have been as brief as two ships
passing in the night,or as long as a lifetime, we are drawn
together by gifts that transcend time itself =97 gifts such as
truth, freedom, joy, peace, love and, most important, life
itself.

And so, we meet again, or meet again for the first time, to
unite once more in the glorious adventure of life. Humankind
has advanced tremendously from the days when our ancestors
hunted the mammoth and danced under a full moon to celebrate
the “glories of the kill.” If,perchance,there are other, more
advanced civilizations watching us, they might be intrigued by
our progress. They might even remember the times, when in a
less enlightened state,they,too,traveled our path and they,
too, brought down fire and brimstone upon one another, even as
we did in times past.Perhaps,they would remember their
struggles, and in remembering,would applaud our efforts and
cheer us onward.

Yes, we have come a long way but we still have a long way to
go. Not only are we moving toward a greater tolerance and
understanding of one another but we are beginning to develop a
greater reverence for all the other life forms with which we
share the planet.

There appears to be a more enlightened consciousness on Earth,
and it may well be that we have begun to understand what the
great teachers of history have been attempting to explain to us
for centuries =97 that we are all children of the Infinite, that
we are all on a journey home and that love is the most powerful
force in the universe.

But sometimes, there is a high price to be paid for this growth
and understanding=97 tears in the night, fears and guilt lurking
in dark corners and the constant pressures of everyday living.
This is where we face our greatest battles =97 regretting the
past and fearing the future. This is, also, where we can attain
our greatest victories =97 living in the present. We are never
alone, even though all our senses may be testifying to this
“fact,” and crying out in pain; even though it appears that
hope has died and all we held dear has been blown to the winds.
There is a Presence and a Power, there is a purpose and a plan
and if we keep on keeping on, we shall finally prevail.

It is not by accident that we meet here. Nothing is ever
accidental. We have met to learn from each other again. Let us
explore the infinite potential of our “creaturehood” and in the
end we’ll find that tragedy is but triumph turned inside out,
that failure is only the other side of success and that all
paths eventually lead up to the mountain top.

It is my privilege and joy to share with you, dear friend,
portions of the story of our journey home. We are much alike,
you and I, pilgrims in the search of the peace and joy that
have always existed in the “secret place of the Most High”
under the “Shadow of the Almighty.”

To read the rest of the story visit
http://www.spiritual-simplicity.com

About The Author: Lecturer, entrepreneur and MBA business
consultant, John Harricharan is the author of the award-winning
book, “When You Can Walk on Water, Take the Boat.” For more
information, visit: http://www.spiritual-simplicity.com
http://www.vish-writer.com, http://www.innerpeaceandbalance.com

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appreciated – send to gayla@changeagentsinc.com.

Title: Building Organizational Capability through Effective Teaming
Word Count: 669
Author: Gayla Hodges
Email: gayla@changeagentsinc.com
Category: Business – General
Article URL:
http://www.submityourarticle.com/articles/easypublish.php?art_id#16572

The article is preformatted to 60CPL.

Building Organizational Capability through Effective Teaming
Most of the companies I work with struggle to accomplish
more with a smaller staff. This is a pervasive challenge
for businesses in our day. There are, to be sure, several
ways to approach this challenge. One approach, however,
that is cost effective and successful is to build the
capabilities of the organization through the creation of
effective teams.

Too many businesses respond to the need for expanded
capability by hiring an individual who is qualified and
competent to meet the immediate challenge. Once the
challenge has been met, however, they either have an
underutilized employee on their hands or they let the
individual go. This will never be cost-effective. First,
the business incurs the cost (in dollars, time and
investment) of defining the job, advertising it, and
hiring. Second, the cost of training or on-ramping must be
considered. Third, the cost of either retaining an
underutilized employee or of arranging a separation
agreement will be incurred.

A second response to the need for expanded capability is
the use of outsourcing to contractors. While this approach
eliminates some of the on-boarding cost and the layoff
cost, it can result in additional unanticipated costs.
First, an independent contractor does not know the company
=96 its business or its culture. Second, an independent
contractor will not have the internal ease or connections
to call upon the staff for the same level of assistance or
cooperation. Third, on-ramping actually takes just as long
as it does with a new hire. Fourth, an independent
contractor will approach the problem or the need from a
single point of view. That point of view may or may not be
consonant with the corporate culture or corporate values.

The response to this challenge of expanding organizational
capability I have found to be most effective in a majority
of cases is the creation of effective teams to accomplish
certain tasks. Consider these points:

=95 There is no additional employee or contractor cost.

=95 There is no loss of time or momentum to on-boarding a new
person.

=95 The corporate culture and values are shared by the
members of the team because they are current employees.

=95 Current employees have communication networks throughout
the company.

=95 Current employees are already committed to corporate
goals.

=95 Teams are flexible =96 they can address a single issue or
several issues

=95 When done well, participation on an effective team
actually increases employee capability; it can then be
applied in other parts of the organization

The key to building organizational capability through
teaming is creating an effective team. My definition of an
effective team is one that leverages the strengths of each
of its members in such a way as to create more than any of
the individuals could do on their own. An effective team
will bring to the table a number of points of view, a
variety of experiences, skill sets and knowledge bases. An
effective team will not rely upon the thinking or the
experience of any single individual. Rather, bringing the
team together will, by virtue of the uniqueness of each
individual member, provide the strength of diversity and
experiential depth. It will create the kind of enthusiastic
synergy and a level of buy-in that offers the best chance
of identifying or creating solutions that are creative and
innovative. Further, by bringing together people from
various parts of the company, the news of their work and
their solutions will quickly be disseminated throughout the
organization, energizing others as they anticipate creative
solutions that benefit the company and all employees.

If your company is faced with a need to expand the
capabilities of the organization, I encourage you to take
the bold step of creating a functional team gathered from
across the company for their skills, insights, knowledge
and experience, as well as their openness to negotiation
and innovation. Once you take that bold step, I believe
you will recognize a level of accomplishment that might be
surprising. I am almost certain your next challenge will be
met with effective teaming.

About the Author:

About Gayla Hodges
Gayla Hodges is the President Change Agents, Inc., a
company that specializes in energizing workforces to
achieve strategic goals. She coaches executives and
managers on leading corporate change, facilitating the
development and implementation of organizational
effectiveness strategies. For more information, visit
http://www.changeagentsinc.com or call 623-362-3876.