Why Affirmations Work

Many people do not believe that affirmations work. So why do affirmations work? If you constantly tell yourself something over and over does your subconscious actually believe it? If you constantly tell yourself over and over that you are not good enough and that you can not do something then you will be afraid to move forward with your goals for fear of failure. This works the same way with positive statements as well.

Sometimes though it may seem as though the positive affirmations you are utilizing may be ineffective because they are not manifesting what you desire. It may not necessarily be the affirmation itself. Take for instance if you constantly tell yourself over and over every morning "I am wealthy, money comes to me freely." However the whole while you are saying the statement; deep down you do not believe it.

If you constantly tell yourself something however turn around and deep down you do not believe it; and tell yourself it is not true then you will not be able to reach your goals. This is why affirmations do not work. When people beginning utilizing this technique; and do not realize instant results they tend to disregard that the law of attraction actually does work. The law of attraction does work whether you choose to believe it or not.

Positive affirmations are merely statements, and if you can not get your mind to accept them and make yourself believe what you tell yourself; then they have very little power. You must play a little game with your mind, if you want to possess more money and tell yourself constantly that money comes easily to you. Just pretend that it does; you have nothing to lose. If you play this game everyday then eventually opportunities will begin opening up everywhere around you.

If you must rephrase the affirmation so that you do not turn around and reject it because of your belief in it. Instead of saying "I am wealthy and money comes to me easily" just say "wealth comes easily" you have played a game on your mind and taken the word "I" out of the affirmation. After all you can not reject that wealth does come easily. If you take yourself out of the equation then your mind does not seem to reject it.

You must remember the only reason why affirmations do not work; is if you are telling yourself something over and over; then turn around and thing negatively about them. Now you understand how you can make your affirmations far more powerful than what you are currently doing. You are reprogramming your way of thinking positively; so that you can begin attracting everything you desire.

Yes you can be do have anything you desire; you must have the belief that you can. Without the belief and the faith you can never achieve anything different. Begin today to train your mind that you believe you already possess whatever it is you desire. You will be amazed at what your subconscious will bring you.

Reading a Cordless Impact Driver Review

As you may know, a cordless impact driver acts like a very fast drill for driving screws and other fasteners. But an impact driver can deliver much higher torque than a typical drill diver when the torque is needed.

Once you've decided that you need an impact driver, it's time to hit the reviews. But how do you know if the reviewer is addressing the important details of an impact driver? Here are some things to look out for while trying to make your decision.

torque - the amount of turning power. From around 50 in-lbs in the low voltage models, up to over 1,330 in-lbs. Higher torque means more you can do! It also means fast, accurate fastening. weight - due to their nature, these tools are already much smaller than drills. This makes them easy to use with less fatigue. However, because of the internal hammering impacts, if the weight is too low, you may feel too much vibration. Try to keep to models weighing upwards of 3 pounds to minimize the shakes. noise - impact drivers are loud! You should use hearing protection with all models, but if you are working indoors your family will appreciate a quieter model. voltage - generally speaking, the higher the voltage, the more powerful the tool. If you are looking for something small, check out the 12 volt models; for something to handle medium to large projects, 18 volts is what you probably need. battery - some models use their brand's NiCAD/NiMH batteries, others are Lithium Ion, while others allow both types of batteries to be used. In almost all cases, if you own a company's cordless drill you can use the batteries with their driver of the same voltage. physical size - if you are installing decks or other installations with hundreds of fasteners, you need a tool that will fit comfortably in your hand. Working overhead a lot? A small and lightweight driver will keep fatigue away. Plumbers or other workers in tight spots will want to get a short-profile driver to get as much working room as possible. Think about how you'll use it the most, and what will be best in those situations. New users beware - you will end up using this tool in far more ways than you expect! brand name - some brands offer longer warranties or have a reputation built around their repair services - allowing you to keep an old tool instead of replacing it! extras - a smaller feature may be final deciding factor between two similarly rated drivers. Variable speed triggers, direction switches, forward lights, automatic-brakes, comfort grips, belt hooks, and additional speed controls are some of the extra features a cordless impact driver may have.

Coming Soon to a Mailbox Near You

Video may have killed the radio star, but there many other modes of communication under threat from this powerful medium. There is no denying the internet video is one of the most powerful ways of reaching people. A message conveyed with moving images and sound can have a more instant and lasting effect on an audience than reading through pages of writing or traditional print media.

The progeny of the still image, video has exploded onto our computer screens and is also fast becoming an important corporate marketing tool. Not only that, companies are recognizing the ways that video can be used to upgrade or even replace existing marketing tools such as the e-Newsletter.

Businesses are now enlisting the help of filmmaking companies to boost their newsletters with video, realizing that the attention-grabbing qualities of the video can say more in a few seconds than any amount of text and help them to stand out from their competitors.

Delivered into the employee or customer's inbox, a short well-produced video can be the one stone hitting several of those marketing birds. Conveying news, new products or updates a video newsletter can keep a business engaged with customers and stand apart from those churning out the traditional text-based newsletters that are becoming all too easy to overlook.

Keeping in touch with employees is just as important, especially if the business is spread over multiple locations. Video can be used to offer training, best practice, demonstrations, case studies, or simply for management to keep in touch with a large workforce. There are additional benefits for your social media sites as this is easy to use as content for the company website or social networking updates. The video newsletter can provide a cost-effective way of getting the message across to as many people as possible, and quickly.

Quality is the key. Viewing and sharing videos on sites like YouTube and Google has become commonplace but can be a million miles away from the slick professional production sought by companies keen to make an impact while projecting the desired corporate image. Bad production can be an instant turn off, so unless you enlist the right skills, it's best not to include video.

With film and video production companies skilled in areas like scripting, animation and special effects, keeping up to date with the latest developments will be as easy as watching The Discovery Channel. So when thinking about updating your company's newsletter it may be worth remembering that actions speak louder than words.

Five Top Tips to Reduce Bullying at Work - We All Have Responsibility to Reduce

Can we stop bullying at work?

Friday was Stop Bullying at Work day in the UK, and I attended (and spoke at) a conference at our local healthcare NHS Trust.

One of the definitions of bullying at work is 'repeated less favourable treatment of an individual by one or more people in the workplace', and it was helpful to discuss this definition with staff. There was a comment, for example, that a 'one-off' situation can be so extremely upsetting that it stays with you for months. I acknowledged this but we then discussed the view that the person doing the upsetting was like this with everyone else, and therefore the bullying could be classed as repetitive. The atmosphere that this behaviour creates means that the individual who experienced a 'one off' knows that this is likely to re-occur.

These definitions are important for two reasons. Firstly, because the word bullying can be misused, sometimes on purpose to cause problems, and this in itself creates a bad atmosphere. We need to have a shared definition to allow us to talk about the problem and ensure we are discussing the same thing - again bad feelings can result if we are talking at cross-purposes. Secondly, because if bullying gets very bad, the legal eagles will get involved, and they will need to be sure that they can give evidence of bullying as it is legally defined.

We then talked about the problems that bullying creates for the individuals involved, including those watching. Although the business case tends to focus on poor performance and loss of productivity due to illness and turnover, I do believe that the moral case should be of prime importance. Employers are in my view morally obliged to ensure that staff can work in safe environments - ideally people should enjoy their work but I realise this is not always possible, but at least they should feel they are supported to be as productive as possible.

In the health sector most people are involved in the work because they want to make a difference and help other people - to try to do this in an atmosphere of fear and/or anxiety is against all the values we stand for. Of course, patients also bully staff, and that is also the responsibility of the employer to sort.

People who experience bullying from any source experience anxiety, irritability, depression, poor concentration, and a loss of self confidence. More serious physical and behavioural symptoms caused by stress include panic attacks, aggression, increased drug consumption and eventually for some attempts to commit suicide. Those who can leave their job, for those who cannot, it is a nightmare.

We all have a responsibility to stop bullying. Watching something going on without saying something (either through a conspiracy of silence or because one believes 'that is how it is around here') suits the bully and sometimes the organisation (although it is a very short-sighted view). Bullies can actually be worse off themselves if allowed to get away with it, as by the time it does get reported it can be so serious they will be taken to court, lose their jobs and so on. The cost to the organisation is multi-faceted, not just financial but reputation and staff morale.

There are many reasons why bullying happens. We have moved from the focus on the bully themselves (bad behaviour/personality) and the victim (must be doing something or be that type of person that gets picked on), to understanding the systems and cultures that allow or even encourage bullying to take place. Although bullying can be due to individual differences, discrimination, and power struggles, it is usually supported by systems and procedures. Overwork, organisational change, poor communication, and a culture of silence or 'bullying is just getting things done', can all increase the risk of bullying. Discrimination and prejudice can also make things worse, though there are often situations too where white middle class male bullies white middle class male - we all differ in so many ways it is best not to oversimplify! Organisations need to do more to ensure that procedures are robust, staff know what to do, feel safe reporting bullying, and understand that it is unacceptable. At the same time training should be done to ensure staff and managers understand what bullying is (versus being told to do your job), and how to manage conflict to stop the problem before it escalates. Diversity training can often help if issues are down to poor understanding of difference. Writing down incidents can give people a bit of a sense of control back to the situation, and can be used as evidence if things do escalate. However, the real key is to try to be open and explain when things are done that upset you, as often bullying is done in ignorance. If a bully is doing it on purpose, particularly when it is your manager or a group of co-workers (mobbing) then it gets very difficult to tell them the problem. That is when a listening ear (plus a formal procedure for raising issues) can be so very helpful.

Five key points for preventing bullying therefore are,

For the individual:

1. Wherever possible, express your feelings to the individual, in a calm manner, without getting too close, tell them to stop. 2. Immediately say it's not OK - once behaviour is established it's a lot more difficult to remove. Not only do people get used to behaving that way, but they may think you feel it is okay, and wonder why you are 'suddenly' complaining. 3. Log all incidents of bullying, whether you experience or witness the act. 4. Keep copies of all annual appraisals and letters/memos/emails relating to your ability to do the job 5. If you cannot confront the bully, try writing a memo/email to make it clear why you object to their behaviour. But wait a couple of hours before you send it, to give yourself time to ensure you have expressed yourself clearly and not said anything you will regret. Sometimes just writing it down can help you to get a better feeling about what needs to be done.

For the organization:

1. Have a clear policy and procedure (formal and informal) to deal with all cases. 2. Protect everyone (especially both the complainant and accused). That may mean moving someone in the short term - make sure it is the higher level person who is moved. 3. Train all employees to recognise bullying, deflate, deflect and avoid the conflict escalating. 4. Be seen to be fair and consistent - often the target gets moved. You cannot risk a culture where even some bullying is allowed. On the other hand, managers must be trained to be able to tell people to do their job without being accused of bullying. 5. Communicate your policy and the values it represents. Use it. Monitor its success. Review regularly to ensure you are achieving your aims.

Bullying at work is a sad fact of life for some people, but it is not inevitable and we should all take responsibility for reducing the level of bullying that goes on. As that famous saying goes 'bad things happen when good people stand by and do nothing'.

So if you see bullying, experience bullying, or even wonder yourself whether you may be bullying - don't just stand there - stop it!

Why Are Human Beings So Cruel?

Nine-eleven was al-Qa'eda's deliberate humiliation of the West. I remember saying 'Evil begets evil', and so I am not surprised that this act of barbarism was followed by what I consider to be disastrous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I would suggest that the brutality of some powerful people in the West can be heard in the voice of those politicians like US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld who said "There just aren't enough targets in Afghanistan...We need to bomb something else to prove that we're, you know, big and strong and not going to be pushed around."

Can human cruelty not also be seen in the action of President Bush who tossed aside the civilised principle of habeas corpus by setting up Guantanamo and other torture centres?

These recent acts of human cruelty are part of a long history of man's inhumanity to man. Also come to mind are the massacres, looting and capturing of slaves by forces led by Attila the Hun in 5th century eastern Europe; the unrestricted bombing of civilians living in cities like Gunernica during the Spanish civil war; and the starvation, brutal treatment and extermination of Jews, and other victims of persecution in the Nazi concentration camps.

Human cruelty of course goes on all the time perhaps in less dramatic ways and in a much smaller scale than these. Malicious gossip can destroy a personal reputation; spiteful actions can result in huge distress; nasty comments within close relationships can cause longstanding wounds.

We can all succumb to anger but why do some people feel contempt, or want revenge and act out their feelings in these ways?

One answer that impresses me is to do with a common tendency towards self-orientation rather than concern for others and a materialistic rather than an ethical focus in our thinking. Depending on the way the individual chooses to live life, these two innocent inclinations can actually amount to self-centredness and preoccupation with bodily pleasures and possessions.

Prioritising number one means seeing things only from ones own selfish point of view rather than trying to understand the predicaments of others. Thinking in terms of physical things means neglecting the ethical dimension.

When people with this state of mind cannot get what they want, I would suggest they are likely to feel contempt towards those who do not favour them and revenge towards those who thwart their desires. Such hostility is the seed of cruel behaviour. When these feelings dominate and people believe they can get away with it, are they not more likely to do mischief, cause injury and act cruelly?

Not everyone thank goodness allows such ugly feelings to determine their actions. But some do. This is not to argue that people will not vary in their behaviour. Some are sometimes spontaneously cruel when experiencing strong feelings of scorn or wanting to get their own back on someone. Some people can make a deliberate plan to intentionally cause hurt. And yet others actually take sadistic pleasure in seeing inflicted pain.

Adolf Hitler is an example of the last of these who took great delight in repeatedly watching the film of the cruel deaths of those who had plotted to overthrow his regime. It's all a matter of individual choice.

The main religions all warn against the dangers of this kind of selfish anger that can go wild like a forest fire. In his book Essential Spirituality Roger Walsh quotes a famous Zen story to dramatically makes this point.

A Japanese warrior approached a Zen master to request answers to some questions that had been troubling him. 'What is it you want to know?' queried the Zen master.

'Tell me sir, do heaven and hell exist?' 'Ha! Snorted the Zen master in a tone that was half-laugh half-sneer. 'What makes you think that you could understand such things? You are only an uneducated, brutish soldier. Don't waste my time with your silly questions.'

For an instant the warrior froze in shock. No one, but no one ever speaks to a Japanese warrior like that. It meant instant death. 'Are you too stupid to understand what I said?' roared the Zen master. 'Stop wasting my time and get out of here.'

The warrior exploded with rage. His hand flew like lightning to his sword and swept it aloft for the kill. But in the split second before the sword descended to crush the monk's skull, he heard the words.

'This is the gate to hell.'

Again the warrior froze in astonishment. His own rage brought hell to him and those he attacked. And the master had risked his life to make this fact inescapably clear. Breathing deeply, he slowly replaced his sword and bowed humbly in awe and respect.

'And this,' smiled the Zen master, 'is the gate to heaven.'

Copyright 2011 Stephen Russell-Lacy

Roman Hamrlik

Roman Hamrlik was drafted first overall by the Tampa Bay Lightning in 1992. He has played for many teams over his long hockey career including the Flames, Oilers and Islanders. Hamrlik was selected to play in All Star games three times throughout his career: in 1996, 1999 and 2003. He also represented his home country, the Czech Republic, at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano Japan and helped carry them to a gold medal championship.

Hamrlik was signed as an unrestricted free agent in 2005 by the Calgary Flames. His contract was worth around 7 million dollars over two years. In Calgary, Hamrlik played a big part in the development of Dion Phaneuf's game. During the 2007 off-season Hamrlik signed with the Habs. Much has been made of his big four year 22 million dollar contract (which works out to around 5.5 million per year). Many analysts say he is overpaid although this contract is what it took for Hamrlik to be attracted to the Canadiens organization when he was an unrestricted free agent back in 2007.

Part of Roman Hamrlik's game is to throw his body around. Hamrlik is 6 foot 2 inches and is not afraid of throwing the big hit. He is a very versatile veteran, Hamrlik can be used on the power play as well as on the penalty kill.

Some of Roman Hamrlik's strengths include his physicality. You will never see Hamrlik go easy on a puck carrier in a corner, he is one of the most competitive players on the Canadiens. Hamrlik is also a great puck mover with crisp passes. After almost 20 seasons in the NHL he has really developed a complete game. Even though he is a veteran, Roman Hamrlik is capable of logging much ice time while still being effective. Hamrlik played a critical part of the Canadiens' defence logging lots of minutes during Andrei Markov's absence in 2009-2010.

Of course no one is perfect and Hamrlik is no exception. Some of Roman Hamrlik's faults include his occasional turnovers. His best years are behind him and he is not the fastest cat in the league. Also his conditioning plays a part in his performance. You won't see Hamrlik do end to end rushes, he has transformed from an offensive defenceman early in his career to more of a stay at home defenceman.

Roman Hamrlik was supposedly associating with a member of the Russian Mafia along with the Kostitsyn brothers. They all had connections to Pasquela Mangiola, who is part of an organized crime organization. Charged with firearms and drug offenses, Mangiola was taken into custody during operation axe. No charges were laid on Hamrlik or the Kostitsyns.

Hamrlik's nickname has always been the Hammer. His nickname, the Hammer, stems from his last name Hamrlik and also from Hamrlik's big hits he will dish out which are few and far between compared to earlier in Hamrlik's career.

One of Roman Hamrlik's defining tendencies is to stop right before gathering a puck behind his net and then jolting his opponents with thunderous checks.