Poker Craps And More

The first time I ever heard “boundaries” mentioned, it was by my then husband. He informed me that I had to protect and hold his boundaries. (There was nothing that man wouldn’t dump at my door!)

It took me a long while to learn:

a)what boundaries were

b)that he was responsible for his own boundaries

c)that I had boundaries too

For women who’ve been through an abusive relationship, it can be hard to understand about boundaries; and harder still to establish them. Their lives are like great open stretches of country that pretty well anyone can ride roughshod over. (When the steppes are that open, it’s not that surprising that a Ghenghis Khan-like figure will gallop across them on a mangy steed, leaving a trail of destruction in his wake.)

These women may be able to be utterly uncompromising on little things. A couple I’ve worked with were adamant that hell could freeze over before an obscenity would ever pass their lips. Yet they’d let people take advantage of them endlessly with barely a murmur. Because they had no effective boundaries.

So what are boundaries? High walls and fortified defences are not boundaries, both because they leave the person inside them in a constant state of siege and because they can always be breached.

For me, boundaries are a series of gates into different areas of your life that you decide to open or close at will. Whether you choose to open them, or not, depends on whether you judge the person standing at them to be trustworthy.

Every area of your life where you feel even remotely vulnerable is a boundary. You have a perfect right, even a duty to yourself, to choose whether or not to let someone through any one of your gates. You don’t even have to be consistent. What’s right for you today, might be wrong tomorrow. That’s fine too. What’s right with one person may be totally wrong with another.

At this point you need to ask yourself where you truly stand in your own universe. If you stand somewhere on the periphery (or deep in space), you can’t possibly police all the gates into your universe. Marauders can invade from every direction before you can possibly mobilise yourself to close the gates.

When you stand at the centre of your universe then you have more or less 360 degree vision. You can keep a watchful eye on all the gates.

When you put yourself at the centre of your universe, you occupy the best position from which to (wo)man your boundaries.

And the curious thing is this: if a boundary is (wo)manned, most people won’t even try to breach it.

I coach women into developing strong boundaries.

(C) 2005 Annie Kaszina

Joyful Coaching

An NLP Practitioner and Women’s Empowerment Coach, Annie helps women to create strong boundaries, so they can learn to build healthy, nurturing relationships where they can give and receive the love they want, safely.

Email:annie@joyfulcoaching.com To subscribe to Annie’s twice monthly ezine, or order her eBook ‘The Woman You Want To Be, go: to http://www.joyfulcoaching.com

I’m what we in the business (the “business” being journalism) call a poacher turned gamekeeper – that is, a journalist turned press officer. As a reporter I spent a huge part of my day sifting through a slush pile of press releases, all sent out by eager business owners desperate to get some publicity for their latest project. As a press officer, I was the one writing the press releases and trying desperately to get them published.

Quite apart from leaving me with some pretty good conversation openers, it left me with a good understanding of what kind of story makes the news, and what kind of press release gets filed straight under “bin”. Here’s how to make sure your press release is one of the good ones…

1. Get your story straight

Before you even think about writing a press release, you need to make sure you have the right story. The fact that you’ve just started a business isn’t a good story. Trust me on this. At the last newspaper I worked on, I lost count of the number of press releases we received which basically boiled down to, “Hey! Guess what! I started a business!” Well, so did a lot of people. If you want your press release to work, you’re going to have to find an “angle” that your target publication will be interested in. There are various different ways to do this:

Tell a strange/funny/touching story about how your business started, or how you helped one of your customers.

Run a competition, offering your products or services as a prize.

Offer your expertise in an “ask the expert” feature or column (if your paper isn’t running one, offer to write it for them)

Conduct a survey and present your findings in the form of a press release.

Sponsor a local student or organisation

All you need to get your “angle” is a little bit of imagination. And once you have a story to tell, it’s time to start selling…

2. Writing your press release

First things first, remember it’s a press release you’re writing, not a novel. Of course, you want to make sure you get all of the relevant facts across, but try to do it concisely. It’s worth bearing in mind that the newspaper will probably re-word your release to make it fit their style or the space available in any case, so don’t worry too much if you’re not exactly Stephen King. Focus on your main points. Tell the reader:

Who

Where

Why

What

When

How

These are the building blocks of any story: as long as you get these down, you’re off to a good start. And speaking of starts…

3. Get your opening paragraph right

It’s a sad fact of life that editors are overworked individuals, and their time is precious. If the opening paragraph of your press release doesn’t grab them, they probably won’t bother to read the rest. In newspaper journalism, the convention is to make the opening paragraph short and snappy, and to use it to sum up the story as best you can.

4. Use quotes

Quotes are more interesting to read than straight text, and if you don’t include some, the journalist who receives your press release will have to find them for herself. Including a few ready-made quotes in your press release will reduce the amount of work the reporter has to do, and that will give your release a better chance of being used.

5. Include your contact information

No matter how hard you try to get it right, there will inevitably be some small point which the journalist writing your story will want to clarify, and to do that, they’ll need to be able to contact you. Making things easier on the journalist, makes it easier for them to give your business some publicity.

6. Follow up!

If your press release doesn’t appear in the very next issue of the newspaper you send it to, don’t panic! Sometimes it can take a few weeks for a release which isn’t time-sensitive to appear, but it doesn’t hurt to give the paper a quick call to make sure they received it, just don’t go overboard and take up too much of their precious time…

There is a new television show, called Blind Justice that will be replacing NYPD Blue. The show follows a Detective who, at the prime of his life and career, loses his vision in a heroic attempt to thwart a bank robbery and save other police lives. The shooting of this Detective results in his losing his eyesight/vision. He refuses the “disabled” label and sues to get his job back. What immediately struck me as I watched the promo for this new TV show was the idea of losing one’s vision. Not physically becoming blind, but losing the vision we once had for our lives.

In our childhood we all had visions of being “something”, a fireman, policeman, astronaut, president, etc. As we grew older those visions might have been replaced with others, but there was always a vision of who and what we would be. Do you remember yours? Do you remember graduating and starting your first job?
Didn’t you have a vision of where your life would go? Do you still have it? Has it changed? Do you even look at it?

Often as we grow into adulthood and the day-to-day responsibilities take over our lives, we lose our vision. We get caught up in surviving, taking care of business, as it were. But, without a vision we will remain stuck in the daily grind, only to one day look back and think, “Why didn’t I…I wish I had…”

Creating a vision for our lives entails looking into the future and imagining a perfect life. If nothing stood in your way, what would you like your life to look like in 5 years, 10 years, etc? Would you live on an island in the Pacific, would you be president of your company, would you be home-schooling your three children? Would you be living in a big house, small house or log cabin? What is most appealing in the vision of your future? Money? Fame? Stability? Family? Locale? Why is that the most appealing?

Having a vision is different than daydreaming. We can all daydream about winning the lottery, marrying a prince/princess, etc. Having a vision is more reality based. It often requires a lot of work, hard work, to attain the vision of our perfect life. Often it means foregoing immediate gratification for long-term happiness. To reach our vision we need to make plans, set goals and enlist support. We need to fully occupy our vision. Can you feel yourself living that vision?

Don’t let go of the vision you once had. Pull it out, look at it, tweak it where it need tweaking, or start anew, but embrace a vision and start planning how to make it happen. It sure can’t hurt! If you don’t you just may be looking back one day saying, “Why didn’t I…I wish I had…”

Beth Densmore is a Personal Life Coach and Motivational Speaker who offers support, inspiration and motivation to those who are in transition and want to achieve a goal. For more information and more free articles like this, visit her site at http://www.newfocuscoaching.com.

Are you tired of trying different diet plans, with no positive results? Turn to South Beach Diet. This is not a traditional low-carb plan. What makes it different is that here you’ll be encouraged to choose the right carbs like whole grains, certain fruits and vegetables and right fats like olive and canola oil and lean sources of protein. When you eat bad carbohydrates and fats you tend to feel hungrier and thus you end up eating more causing weight gain.

Good carbohydrates: They have a low glycemic index so they can be digested and absorbed slowly. They are high in fiber or high in good fats. You should also eat fiber or fat to slow digestion of the carbohydrates.
Good fats: They are polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats, especially those with omega-3 fatty acids. Saturated and trans fats are bad fats.

How does it work?

South Beach Diet was created a well known cardiologist, Dr. Arthur Agatston. He developed this diet for his cardiac patients after a lot of scientific dieting research. The best thing about this diet is that you will get your three, normal size meals everyday and you can even enjoy your snacks and deserts. In just a short amount of time you will see incredible results. So you can not only enjoy your favorite foods but you can also put your fear of getting fat to rest.

According to Dr.Agatston, when you consume bad carbohydrates especially those found in foods with a high Glycemic index, they create an insulin resistance syndrome which is an impairment of the hormone insulin’s ability to properly process fat or sugar and not only this, bad carbohydrates also increase the chances of getting cardiovascular disease.Therfore his diet includes the consumption of good fats and good carbohydrates.

The three phases South Beach Diet:

This diet works in phases, the first two for a specific timeframe and the third phase for life.

Phase I -You will eat normal-size portions of lean meat, fish, eggs, reduced-fat cheese, nonfat yogurt, nuts, and plenty of vegetables including snacks and desserts. This will last for two weeks. You would have to high or moderately high-glycemic carbs so that you eliminate insulin resistance .This way the body will lose its insulin resistance, and thus use excess body fat, causing the dieter to lose between 8 and 13 pounds.

Phase II- Whole grain foods and fruits will be reintroduced in your diet, although in smaller amounts than were likely eaten before beginning the diet, and with a continued emphasis on foods with a low glycemic index. You should continue to lose weight until you reach the desired weight.
Phase III- This begins when you reach the desired weight. Here you will continue to make good eating choices which would include three servings of whole grains and three servings of fruit a day.

Effective way to lose weight:

This diet puts emphasis on changing your way of eating and variety of foods. It discourages eating of very refined processed foods, high-fat meats, and saturated fats in general. Agatston says that you should eat until you are satisfied and you do not have to count calories. You just have to eat the right food that is good carbs and fats. By decreasing the intake of bad carbs, it will help you metabolize what you eat more effectively and improves insulin resistance as well leading to weight loss

Jeffrey Meier of Jam727 Enterprises offers more detailed information on the South Beach Diet at http://www.Jam727.com. There are many other articles on health and other interesting topics there as well.

It was only a matter of time before they entered the minivan
fray and after several false starts the on again and off again
Hyundai minivan appears to be on once again. Hyundai is
targeting a market it has long sidestepped and it appears that a
long wheelbase version of the Kia Sedona will soon be sold in
the US as a Hyundai Entourage. The minivan wars are heating up
again even as one competitor exits the market and another also
gives serious consideration to abandoning the minivan segment.
Is there an Entourage in your future? Read on for all the
details and then decide.

Two decades ago, Hyundai entered the North American market with
its $3600 Excel Pony. This cheaply priced, cheaply built model
set the tone for the new importer and it wasn’t a good one at
that. Low quality went arm and arm with the low price, but
consumers still bought Hyundais anyway as a new Excel compared
favorably with prices for late model used cars of that era. Many
owners shrugged off the cheap plastics and quality problems,
citing that the Pony gave them something they never had before:
a brand new car.

Eventually, Hyundai expanded its line up and improved its
quality levels. An industry best warranty plan was crafted and
put in place which helped to underscore that Hyundai was serious
about building quality vehicles and would stand behind their
many products. Mysteriously, a minivan was not part of the line
up even as its Kia subsidiary successfully introduced the Sedona
and as demand for minivans remained strong.

Rumors of a Hyundai minivan have been circulating for several
years. Even previous company press releases hinted at the
possibility, but no official announcement had been forthcoming.
Finally, late in 2005, Hyundai signaled that they would go ahead
and produce a minivan based on the stretched wheelbase version
of the Kia Sedona. No short wheelbase van is planned, so the
Entourage will clearly target a slightly higher and more
lucrative end of the minivan market.

With a 3.8L V6 engine, power sliding doors, ABS, traction
control, six airbags, and triple zone air conditioning, the
Entourage will be equipped to compete directly against four
popular models: the Dodge Caravan, Chrysler Town & Country,
Honda Odyssey, and the Toyota Sienna. Based on the Sedona,
Hyundai does have its work cut out for itself as the Sedona has
been below average in quality and reliability.

To Hyundai’s advantage will be its competitive pricing and with
Ford out of the market and General Motors considering doing the
same, Hyundai’s focus will be set squarely on competing against
the two Chrysler products as well as the pricey Honda and Sienna
models. While Chrysler is currently the sales leader in this
segment, a smartly optioned Entourage will probably grab sales
from fully equipped versions of each model. This will not happen
if quality levels do not improve.

Knowing the competitiveness of this Korean automaker, you can
expect that the Entourage will present a strong battle once
quality issues have been overcome. Should that happen, you can
expect that the Hyundai Entourage and Kia Sedona will grab more
sales and become a force to be reckoned with. The consumer may
be the biggest winner as prices are likely to hold or even come
down in the face of strong competition.