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Assisted Living facilities are generally for person’s 60 years of age and older. Typical candidates need assistance with “Activities of Daily Living” (ADLs), but wish to live as independently as possible. Assisted Living communities exist to bridge the gap between seniors that can live independently and skilled nursing homes.

Assisted living facilities provide helpful services such as:

1. Eating,
2. Bathing,
3. Dressing,
4. Grooming
5. Laundry
6. Housekeeping
7. Assistance with medications.

While Board and Care facilities are usually in a private residential home, Assisted Living facilities are larger structures often arranged as senior living communities. These communities can contain as many as 400 residents or as few as 25 seniors. Residents of assisted living communities usually meet in a dining room together with other residents for meals.

A person designated as the ‘Activities Director’ oversees a key area in the assisted living community - Social activities. The Activities Director typically arranges daily options for residents including outings, crafts, dances, music, educational classes, seminars, and other opportunities. All activities are designed to encourage physical and mental stimulation.

Assisted Living facilities create a care plan for each individual resident upon admission. The care plan details the agreed upon personalized services required by the resident and guaranteed to be provided by the facility. The plan is updated regularly to assure that the resident receives the appropriate care as his or her condition changes.

Assisted Living communities are closely involved in the health needs of their residents. They often have a person designated to oversee this called a ‘Health Care Director’. They coordinate the monitoring of health related issues involving medication, diet, personal hygiene, socialization and mental acuity to assist the senior and their family as they interact with health care professionals. If a decline is noted in a specific area, family and health care professionals are consulted by the Health Care Director to resolve issues. Often, because of their experience, unexpected emergency health issues are avoided, as signs of a decline recognized and acted upon early.

Residents can live at ‘Assisted Living’ communities for many years, even as their health declines considerably. Many offer hospice care and end of life assistance. If you are considering senior care options, assisted living facilities are definitely an option worth looking into.

About the Author

Alex Jensen is with Careplacement.com - a free placement service for Southern California. Care Placement’s staff can review your care requirements to determine whether skilled nursing care, assisted living facilities or board and care homes are a viable option for seniors.

Here are 7 tips to foster learning in your child.

1. Nothing motivates a child more than a reward. Reward them for their achievement. Know what your child likes. Use it as a carrot to spur them to greater heights. It doesn’t have to cost a lot. An inexpensive toy would heighten his interest too.

2. When you begin to teach a child, you can use games as a starting point to entice him. For example, scrabble and Hangman are games that will teach them spelling and yet provides so much fun for the children. Later you take a step further and introduce him to more discipline learning. Math Games features some games you could play to teach little kids about numbers.

3. Inculcate a culture of learning. Introduce the four basic principles LLTR to the child which means Listen, Look , Think and Read. Once a child masters and applies these basic concepts he is given the framework to begin his quest for learning.

4. Set yourself as a example. Children love to copy and learn from their parents. Show an interest in reading and they will emulate you too. Inculcate their interest in reading by reading a book aloud to them. You can make it more interesting by reading only partially and letting the child read the rest of the book.

5. Don’t isolate them from new technology. New technology is another aid to encourage learning. Technology is a tool that parents can use wisely. You can harness their interest in computers by letting them learn through play with educational cd roms offering lessons in various subjects like maths and languages.

6. Don’t just confine your child to school material and textbooks. Expand his horizon by supplementing additional resources such as children’s magazine and other reference books. Enrich his learning experience by bringing the child to museums and other educational excursions to zoos, botanical gardens, for hands on and interactive learning.

7. Let the children role play, recite rhymes or tell a story about their favourite game or toy. The children can take turns listening and communicating with one another. This helps them build up listening and communication skills which are so important.

You can find lots more tips on teaching kids through play at http://www.little-kids-games.com

I must admit that I don’t usually write articles with such a chilling headline, so I feel that I should give a little background on a relatively innocent experience which prompted me to write this piece.

I would also say quite candidly that there is nothing really new in the main context of it, in fact most probably, everyone is concious of these facts in some way or another.

What I really do wonder though, is just exactly how many of us are actually making any real attempt to seriously look after ourselves, healthwise that is!

I live in Central Scotland in the UK, and according to statistics, we have one of the highest mortality rates from such things as coronary heart disease, strokes, obesity, etc, etc, and I often wonder why this should be the case!

Of course many things are contributory factors to this, and I am no medical expert, but there is one very important factor involved which I have studied extensively, and that is diet!

In Scotland we are renowned for our love of deep-fried foods such as fish and chips, pies, takeaway meals, our alcohol consumption, and so on. Every region of the Western world has its favourite “goodies” I suspect, so I am sure that you get the picture.

I must hand it to our Health Authorities however, because for some considerable time now there has been an extensive and on-going campaign of Health Education, including some excellent TV and Radio ads, outdoor billboards, and similar such things.

It was one of the latter that really caught my eye recently, so much so, that I can’t quite get the image out of my mind.
It is a large billboard, which contains a graphic picture of a human heart with two giant grey hands sueezing the life out of it!

Very very effective, (at least I thought so), my congratulations go to the person who devised it!

This was the spur that prompted this article, and as I said at the beginning, there is nothing really new in it, but I think it bears repeating nonetheless. Life is a precious gift, and although we are not immortal, there are many many things that we can do to prolong it, and preserve our health.

As far as diet is concerned therefore, here are some of the important ones again:-

Cut down on the fat,and cut down on the carbs.

You’ve heard the popular advice on weight loss diets. Cut the
fat! Cut the carbs! Cut the calories! Eat a balanced diet! But how can you cut though all of the confusion, and eat a diet that is balanced and healthy. Not always easy is it!

Here is some advice from nutritional science,which might help.

Cut out the junk fats.

Most people do not need an ultra low fat diet, but most of us could improve our diet by cutting out the junk fats. These are processed fats, hydrogenated fats, polyunsaturated oils that have been heated, and fats that are combined with junk carbohydrates.

Processed fats are those fats most likely to put on flab and clog your arteries. We do all know this don’t we!

Cut out the junk carbohydrates

The majority of people do not need an ultra low carb diet, but unfortunately, many people who do go on a low fat diet continue to eat highly processed foods.

They switch from processed high-fat foods to processed low-fat foods, and then when the food manufacturers create low fat foods, they tend to replace the fat with junk carbs.

These can actually pile on the pounds, because basically junk carbs are low-fiber carbs, like sugar, fructose (and all the other *oses), flour, cornstarch, fruit juice, and such.

Yes, fruit juice is a junk carb too you know!

After all, how much fiber is there in fruit juice. Virtually none, simply because it’s yet another junk carb. You would be better to eat the whole fruit instead, with its fiber intact.

Cut out the junk calories.

Most people do not need an ultra low calorie diet, but just think what your diet could be like if you dropped the processed fats and the low-fiber carbs. You would then be eating mainly natural proteins, with lots of vegetables plus whole fruits, and the odds would be that you would be eating far fewer calories as well.

That’s the kind of calorie cutting most of us should be doing!

Make every attempt to eat a balanced natural foods diet.

By natural foods, we mean those kinds of foods that would have been eaten by our hunter-gatherer ancestors. They would have had lots of whole vegetable foods giving them vitamins and fiber for instance, and also moderate to small portions of meats, fish, seafood, and other animal and protein foods.

These they would have grilled, stewed or baked, not deep fried!
They would also have eaten small portions of fresh whole fruit
in season, which is the diet on which the human race evolved!

So the next time you’re about to order a meal with fries and a sugary soda, stop and think about how it could be improved. Replace the fries with a salad for example, and the soda with a mineral water say.
It would probably surprise you, how much significant progress you have already made towards a healthier balanced meal.

Just simple sensible changes can work wonders!

When you are at home, look for recipes that use whole fresh foods, with a minimum of processing. Try and make sure that your meals include natural unprocessed foods, with lots of healthy vegetables, both cooked, and raw when in salads.
Avoid processed fats and processed low-fiber foods.

Here is a little simple menu that I often use and enjoy.

Grilled fish with steamed green beans and peppers.
Large mixed salad, dressed with small amounts of olive
oil and,vinegar or lemon juice.

Then fresh fruit platter to finish off.

A healthy balanced diet can be that simple you know!

Life is there to be enjoyed, but moderation in all things is the watchword in my opinion. I do hope this article has given you some food for thought however!

About The Author

Marie Gordon is Author and Publisher of “Your Fastest Way To Permanent Weight Loss” the complete solution to all your weight loss problems. You can find out more by visiting
http://www.howtoloseitfast.com

You have good traffic, but low client sign ups and other sales. Web sites are only as good as their copy. If your Web sales are down, check your copywriting.

Next time you think Web site–either putting up a new one, or wanting to improve yours for more contacts and sales–use this checklist:

1. Replace long paragraphs of copy with short benefit-driven headlines.

Incorporate sound bites or questions your visitor will feel compelled to respond to such as “Follow up or Foul Up?”

2. Make your copy beneath the headlines short and snappy.

Your potential clients come for easy-to-read material. Like you, they are in a hurry, and want free information fast.

3. Put yourself in your targeted visitors’ shoes.

Think, “why are they at my site?” They want two things: 1) free content such as articles or tips about your service or product and 2) how you can solve their problem or challenge–the top benefits you offer.

4. Give your web visitors a lot of free information.

That’s why they come to your site. After visiting you 5-10 times, they are more likely to buy from you. Place a command like “Please book mark this site. We put up new information each two weeks.” Add a new link called “free articles.”

5. Aim your copy at your targeted market.

The biggest mistake we make is not defining our target audience before we write Web copy. When we use shotgun promotion aimed at many groups, we don’t get well known as the savvy expert in our field, and lose visitor’s attention and loyalty.

Choose one audience first and aim your copy at them. You can later add special links for other audiences.

6. Give your visitors a variety of articles, such as an interview or you solving a client’s problem, to post in your “free articles” link.

Put a new one up every 2-3 weeks. Put “NEW!” beside each new article to draw attention to it.

7. Categorize the types of articles you post on your site.

Think about “under 500 words,” “how-to tips,” or “top ten lists.” Help your visitors get to the articles they want and need. Offer your articles by autoresponders too.

8. Present your copy to inform, convince, and compel your visitor to click and buy.

For your coaching services, place links such as “Why Choose your name?” or “On Book Coaching.” or “Coaching Packages.” Include proper headlines on your home page.

9. Keep your language simple.

Even if your audience is a rocket scientist, keep your copy at 10th grade level or lower. Online visitors want short sentences, short paragraphs no more than 4-5 lines. When visitors see a long paragraph, it may look too hard to read and digest. They just click away. Remember they want their information easy and fast.

10. Write a list of 5-10 benefits of your service.

Transfer this into your coaching sales piece on your Web site. You’ll need to include coaching outcomes, their needs, the value they receive, and the main area of focuses you can give them.

Stop long descriptions of you and your mission. Focus more on your Web visitor who came to learn about how she can benefit from your service. Make your reader say, “This is amazing. I want this!”

Judy Cullins, 20-year book and Internet Marketing Coach, Author of 10 eBooks including “Write your eBook Fast,” and “How to Market your Business on the Internet,” she offers free help through her 2 monthly ezines, The Book Coach Says…and Business Tip of the Month at http://www.bookcoaching.com/opt-in.shtml and over 140 free articles. Email her at mailto:Judy@bookcoaching.com

It’s a glorious October day and I am about to meet one of the best-known and highly regarded authors of today, Stephen R Covey. His huge best seller, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People has sold over 10 million copies in 28 languages and seventy countries making him the international authority on leadership. His other books including Principle-Centered Leadership and First Things First are two of the best-selling business books of the past decade. Among the many accolades he has received over the years, Times magazine recognized him as being one of the twenty-five most influential Americans.

Now his next literary offering is The 8th Habit released November 2004. The theme of the new habit is to find your voice and help other find theirs. I couldn’t agree more to such a powerful and happiness-educing practice!

Covey’s new book comes at a profoundly different time in history than when The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People was originally published. The challenges and complexity we face in our personal lives and relationships, in our families, in our professions, and in our organizations are of a different order of magnitude. We are struggling to feel engaged, fulfilled, and passionate across all areas of our lives. Tapping into the higher reaches of human genius and motivation to find what Stephen calls our voice - requires a new mindset, a new skill-set, a new tool-set…a new habit. Covey’s The 8th Habit is the path to finding that voice and one’s passion.

“I’ve not felt such passion, such conviction or excitement since my work on The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” says Stephen. “I believe the reason the response to the new ideas in The 8th Habit has been so strong is that people feel a void in their lives. This same emptiness is felt in organizations across the world, most of which struggle to achieve their top priorities. People don’t feel their unique talents are tapped or appreciated. Bottom line - there is a profound yearning in both people and organizations

to find their true “voice,” to matter, to make a difference, to find greatness.” What does Covey mean by “our voice”? Our voice is finding out who we are and what we are good at. If we know these two things we can excel in life and feel happy and fulfilled. Finding your voice is not just about your work life. It is as essential in your private life too. Imagine the difference to your relationships with your family and friends if you felt more at peace with yourself and your life. Again I agree with Stephen, and as a coach I too urge everyone to find out who they are and what they want to (not should) do with their lives and this is just as true at home as it is at work.

“People who have found their voice require no management,” says Covey. I agree. Think about a time when you were 100% engaged in something you were doing. You did not need watching over because you were thoroughly enjoying what you were doing. It felt natural, it felt right and it felt good. Covey explained that finding our voice is the key to the 21st century and I am inclined to believe him. This type of paradigm is just what we need to work from to create the fulfillment in each of the many roles we play in life as women. So how do you find your voice? Stephen advises; “Ask yourself what do I love doing, what do I do well? What needs do I serve, what does my conscience tell me? If you can answer those four, you can find your voice.” He then makes the following point; “Beware that you don’t confuse your conscience with your ego. Most of us are driven by our egos. If you use this voice, whatever you do will show no results.” His message is to ‘know thyself’. Know yourself enough to decipher between your conscience, or true inner voice, versus your ego.

Family is Stephen’s priority in life and so when you hear about his achievements and consider that he has nine children and forty-two grandchildren (with the 43rd on the way), you tend to wonder how on earth he manages. “It’s all about choice.” Stephen answers. “If you get up early and exercise and make a promise to yourself and fulfill it, then the next day you make a bigger promise and fulfill it and so on. Pretty soon you have achieved quite a bit!”

When asked how he balances such a full life Stephen quips; “Most people spend half their time doing things that are urgent but not important. The average father in the US spends no more than an hour a week with his kids who then spend on average four hours a day in front of the TV. I think this is one massive copout and one in which the fathers, and no doubt the children, will live to regret. No one on their deathbed ever wishes that they spent more time at office. I spend most of my time doing things that are important.”

Stephen ends by saying; “The habits I talk about are all principle based, I didn’t invent them and I can put them into any circumstance and situation. In a world with changes and unknowns we need these constants. Greatness comes from your moral authority and humility. Seek first to understand and then to be understood. Learn to listen more, be open and humble enough to learn what you know you need to and want to. Institutionalize these principles and take responsibility in your own circle of influence. Make a family mission statement and think through what makes life worth living for you. What is missing? Help others reach their potential greatness, not in secondary things like wealth, but with what they contribute in life. Life is short so live, love, learn and leave a legacy.”

Meeting him was an absolute pleasure and I shall remember and embrace his message in its entirety. Thank you Stephen for such a memorable experience!

Alexandra Watson has helped countless women create happy and fulfilling lives through her happiness system. She has developed a fool-proof, easy-to-follow seven step system to happiness that any woman can use and see results fast. John Gray, author of Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus calls Alexandra’s book The Happiness System for Women ‘a vibrant and exciting journey to the center of your soul’. Alexandra has featured internationally on TV, radio and in many publications. She can be contacted by email on: HappinessAuthor@aol.com or visit her website at http://www.AlexandraWatson.com

Predatory lending exists in the mortgage industry. It’s typically when a mortgage broker add’s on unnecessary fee’s to a bad credit application, because he or she knows that the applicant is in a desperate situation.

Predatory banking can also exist for those who have ended up in the ChexSystems.

ChexSystems is a network of financial institutions (mainly banks) that regularly contribute information about account holders that mishandle their checking or savings accounts. Nearly all banks within the US are a part of this consortium.

Bounce a check, and not pay it off in a timely manner, and you could end up in the ChexSystems. Even if you receive a bogus check, and the bank suspects foul play, you could land in the ChexSystems hot seat.

And the sentence for this financial felony isn’t light.

If the bank that put you in the ChexSystems refuses to release your name from the ChexSystems database, you’ll find it close to impossible to obtain a bank account of any sort for 5 years.

Even if you pay off the offending debt, the bank could still hold you a ChexSystems prisoner. Wicked, but 100% true.

So naturally when you have a situation where people are stuck between a rock and a hard place, the vultures come out to feed. This is what you may encounter if you’re looking for a non ChexSystems bank account.

Before you pay money to any service that claims to give you a non ChexSystems bank account be sure it passes the following tests with flying colors.

1. Make sure the bank is FDIC insured.

   According to the FDIC web site:

   “The FDIC - short for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation - is an independent agency of the United States government. The FDIC protects you against the loss of your deposits if an FDIC - insured bank or savings association fails. FDIC insurance is backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government.”

   In a nutshell, if you decide to open a bank account with an institution that isn’t FDIC insured, you could basically lose all of your money if that institution goes out of business. So it’s extremely important to verify the banks status before you open an account.

   You can easily verify that a bank is FDIC insured at the FDIC web site.

2. If it’s a credit union, make sure it’s NCUSIF insured.

   NCUSIF insurance is similar to FDIC insurance, except it’s for credit unions.

   According to the National Credit Union Association web site:

   “The shares in your credit union are insured by the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund (NCUSIF), an arm of NCUA. Established by Congress in 1970 to insure member share accounts at federally insured credit unions, the NCUSIF is managed by NCUA under the direction of the three-person NCUA Board. Your share insurance is similar to the deposit insurance protection offered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).”

   All credit unions that are NCUSIF insured can be found at (http://www.ncua.gov/indexdata.html).

3. Make sure the institution has a physical branch.

   This is one of the easiest ways to weed out the bad seeds. Banks with physical branches are always legitimate financial institutions.

4. Do some background work on the bank.

   Do a WHOIS search to view the registrant for the banks domain name. If it’s a single person, that should raise a red flag. It should always be the banks name or corporate name.

   Look on the banks web site. There should be separate telephone and fax numbers, and a legitimate street address - not a PO box.

   You can always call 411 to confirm that the telephone number matches the address listed. But also keep in mind that some banks have a central location where they answer general calls.

5. Make sure the bank DOESN’T require you to use direct deposit in order to open the account.

   There are some financial services that offer checkless checking accounts. (This isn’t a scam as far as I can tell.)

   But what if you don’t get direct deposit? Or what happens if you switch jobs, and no longer receive your checks through direct deposit? Then you’re basically back at square one.

   And what if you want to use checks? I mean a checkless checking account kind of defeats the purpose of obtaining a checking account at all.

6. Make sure the institution doesn’t charge you for common items like monthly statements, telephone services, and withdrawls.

   I recently noticed a financial service charging outrageous fee’s for options that are normally provided for free through regular banks and credit unions.

   They were charging for everything but the kitchen sink, including: a fee to check your balance at the ATM, a fee to receive a monthly statement, a fee if you wanted to return something you purchased from a retail store, a fee for using their automated telephone service. And that was just the tip of the iceberg!

Even though you’re in the ChexSystems doesn’t mean you should play victim to financially draining ploys like these. There are always better alternatives waiting in the wings.

Alexis Dawes is the author of “How To Get a Bank Account Even If You’re in the ChexSystem.” This report offers information on non chexsystems banks that will give you a checking account, even if you’re in the Chexsystems. Alexis has personally used all of the recommended banks. You can get more information at (http://www.GetCheckingNow.com).

Fantasy football books, magazines and other experts will likely forget a key ingredient in their recipe for building a fantasy football champion next season. That ingredient is Curry, Ronald Curry, a forth-year wide receiver for the Oakland Raiders. Now, Curry posted some noteworthy fantasy football numbers a year ago, but they weren’t the kind of numbers that make the average fantasy football player race to select him in the top three rounds of their fantasy drafts. This may be a critical oversight.

Curry might have jumped off fantasy football information sheets, if it weren’t for the arrival of Randy Moss to the Raider fold. With Moss as the obvious new number one, and Jerry Porter having just inked a new deal with Oakland, it seems there may not be enough footballs for Curry to even match last year’s decent stats. Don’t let the aforementioned information fool you, as it will the poorly prepared competitors in your fantasy football league.

Curry is a seasoned 25 years old but has only two full years in the National Football League, as he appeared in only one game in his rookie season. Most wide receivers learn how to handle NFL defenses in their third seasons. The great Marvin Harrison didn’t begin to put up big catch and yardage numbers until his fourth season. Now, Ronald Curry may not post the kind of fantasy football numbers of Harrison or Moss, but he is almost guaranteed to improve on last year’s impressive performance.

Remember, Curry played in only 12 games last year. He caught 50 balls for 679 yards and six TDs. He averaged roughly six catches and over 80 yards in his final four games. Also, Moss and Porter will most likely draw the coverage, so Curry will find his openings. He will rarely see double teams, while Moss will see plenty. When the Raiders reach the Red Zone, defenses will watch Moss, and Curry will be able to use his good size to outmuscle linebackers and safeties.

So, there is a very good chance that Curry will improve in every category. If healthy, expect 8-11 TDs, 65-75 catches and 800-plus yards - tremendous fantasy football statistics for a guy who will likely be your second or third receiver.

So, add the Curry to your draft-day recipe, and you should taste the playoffs a few months later.

Mark Barnes is the author of the new novel, The League, a shocking, sports-related conspiracy. Learn more about his suspense thriller at http://www.sportsnovels.com. He is also an investment real estate and home loan finance expert. Get his free mortgage finance course at http://www.winningthemortgagegame.com

There are four methods for installing a wood floor: nail down, staple down, glue down, and free-float. If cement is the base of your floor, then you can only use glue down and free-float. If you have plywood, then you can use any of the four choices. This article explains how to go about the installation of free-floating floors.

The four methods from easiest to hardest are:

Free-float: requires little to no experience, and will help you save money on the cost of installation. If you have no experience, this is the one recommended.

Glue down: recommended for people with some experience. This method is not that difficult if your sub-floor is flat or requires only a minimal amount of preparation.

Staple down: this method requires skill with power tools. You may be able to rent the stapler that is needed for this job.

Nail down: if you need to read this article to find out how to install a floor, this method is not for you. It requires experience and specific tools.

Free-Float Installations

Floating floors are installed as a panel system, rather than as individual strips of wood. Most panels come in 8″ by 96″ lengths, and fit together with a tongue-in-groove method. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions during the entire installation or your warranty will not be eligible. The recommended adhesive is aliphatic resin glue as it is white, dries within an hour, and is
cured in 24 hours. Ensure that all excess glue is wiped away with a damp sponge as you proceed.

1. Allow the boards to sit in your house for 3 days before installing them so that they acclimatize to the moisture in your house and don’t expand or contract too much once installed.

2. Lay down the manufacturer recommended underlayment on your sub-floor. Cut it with a utility knife to fit the room exactly. Products are usually made of foam or plastic or a combination.

3. Fit the first board into the corner. Leave a gap between the wall and flooring for the wood to expand. Use a wood spacer.

4. Fit the next board into the first - they should fit well with their special grooves.

5. Ensure they are fitted tightly and place a spacer near the joint.

6. Apply adhesive on the edge of the next board, but not in the groove unless specified by the manufacturer’s instructions. Most floors only require adhesive on the edges and not on the ends.

7. Position the new board in place and hammer it together with the adjacent board to secure. To protect the flooring, place a scrap piece of wood in between the flooring and hammer. Alternatively, you could use a tapping block.

8. Repeat until you reach the last board. The last one may require cutting in order to fit.

9. To fit the last board in place, use scrap wood to protect the wall, and a pry bar to lower the last board into place.

This method of installing wood floors has several advantages.

•Save time: minimal sub-floor preparation is required

•Floating floors are stable and forgiving since the foam placed on the sub-floor hides imperfections

•In comparison to other installation methods, floating floors allow for the natural expansion of wood without leaving gaps - the panels are glued together so the floor expands as a whole. This is particularly important in areas where temperature changes vary significantly between seasons

•Because the hardwood flooring is not fastened directly on the sub-floor, creaking sounds will not be heard.

Words seem inadequate to describe the beauty and abundance that
surrounds us during the month of October in New England. Its as
if Mother Nature has taken her paintbrush and with broad strokes
has set the landscape ablaze in color. There are only a few
weeks when the maple trees are at their peaks of color. We soak
this glorious time in, basking in the beauty around us. We stop
to lie down in piles of just raked leaves and breathe in the
musky smells of earth. Briefly we are absorbed into the
landscape. Our problems seem like small dramas in the grand
scheme of things.

Like the majestic maples ablaze with color, we all have the
innate ability to turn up the heat, live lives on fire and show
our true colors. Each of us carries the fire within us. Our
bodies create energy by burning the food we eat into calories
that fuel our cells which sustains our life. We must burn to
live.

Unfortunately, many of the messages we’ve been given about fire
are negative. Instead of living our lives on fire, our passion
for life gets doused with fear. We turn our backs to the fire.
We don’t tend our own fire or we are too busy tending the fires
of others. Our passion for life thenbecomes a pile of smoldering
embers that is eventually snuffed out.

To create a life on fire, you must kindle it with your focused
attention. Begin by noticing the experiences in your life that
fuel you and give you energy. Who in your life fills you with
Joy? What captures your attention? Remember, every fire needs
oxygen and energy.

Breathe deeply. Feed your life fire with the highest sources of
energy…love and compassion. Only when your life becomes a
torch can you light the way for others.

copyright, 2005 Nancy D. Bishop

In our world of dizzying change, nothing is more true than the time honored statement that circumstances always change.

No where is this more true than with financial issues.

Have you ever borrowed money, or charged up the VISA card at Christmas, all the while telling yourself that you would pay everything off with a coming tax refund or bonus?

Sound familiar. And then what happens when the bonus money arrives?

Let me guess….circumstances changed, the car needed brakes (or the kids needed braces, etc), and the VISA debt and interest charges keeps piling up.

Unless you have a plan, you will always be caught in the unpredictable grip of “changing circumstances.”

This is a slippery slope that can very quickly become serious financial stress. Consider the fact that Americans are declaring bankruptcy at record rates. One in every 100 families is affected by a bankruptcy.

I was on this slope 10 years ago. Declaring personal bankruptcy and filing for divorce went hand in hand.

One of the most insightful moments of the process was preparing a written log for the trustee of all of our spending for the 5 years leading up to bankruptcy.

While all of the individual decisions made sense in the moments that they were made, they looked totally foolish in the context of the “bigger picture”

In other words, constantly changing circumstances drove us off our financial roadmap.

Consider this five step plan for getting on, and staying with, your financial roadmap.

Step No. 1: Make a list of what you owe & prioritize: Put all your bills in a pile. Then list your debts in order, starting with the largest balance first. Then prioritize your repayments (ie paying down the highest interest rate first).

Step No. 2: Eliminate credit cards and don’t roll over balances. Once paid off, notify the company that you want to close the account.

Step No. 3: Make a spending plan. Change your free-spending ways. Track the money that’s coming in and going out. Use a debit card instead of your credit card. Download your bank transactions into a computer program for easy categorizing.

Step No. 4: Be careful about the equity in your home. Billions of dollars worth of equity has been withdrawn from millions of homes in the last few years. But many people pay down credit cards only to charge them up again - and then you don’t have the safety net of the equity in your home.

Step No. 5: Get help. For some people, the problem of overspending is a psychological one. Spending can become a habit that’s as difficult to kick as alcohol, drugs or gambling. Sometimes, it’s due to circumstances they truly could not avoid: medical bills or divorce or loss of a job.

You can talk with a credit counselor on a private basis. It only appears on your credit report if you enter their debt repayment program.

During this holiday season, as you consider your finances, remember that Americans are now carrying $683 billion in revolving credit card debt. 47% of the people who paid less than the full amount on their credit card bills in a recent month, made only the minimum payment due.

The good news is that planning and professional help will definitely help you turn things around.

Case in point: I went from bankrupt with zero assets living in a boarding house, to gainfully employed, running my own home based business, with 2 houses and excellent re-established credit.

In other words, it can be done.

Debt-eliminationsite.com is run by Drew Harris and is a one-stop-shop web portal for those facing crushing debt issues.
Multiple pages of resources, referrals and tools. Expert
advice on credit cards, loans and avoiding bankruptcy. http://debt-eliminationsite.com