As I travel through my life, I have often noticed that dogs have some interesting effects on people. In the presence of a dog, even the gruffest, most hardened human beings can become soft and caring. I also notice that in the past few decades, more and more people are adopting dogs than ever before. In fact, I believe it safe to say that human beings harbour much more generalized affection for the entire canine species than they do for the human race. As a lifelong dog lover, my observations caused me to ask myself some very important questions about our puppy friends…

• Why do so many people own a dog or wish they could own a dog?
• Why do so many people stroke the hair of almost every dog they meet?
• Why do people hold their hands out for olfactory inspection by even the scariest mutts?
• Why do people enjoy watching dogs playing with their owners in a park or in their homes?
• Why is human behaviour more patient and kind with dogs than with people?
• What is it that dogs do to affect the emotions of people so deeply?
• Why do seventy percent of dog owners call themselves Mommy or Daddy to their dogs?
• What is it about dogs that make people so darned happy?

Of course some of the answers are obvious…dogs are cute, funny and fun to play with. Because they are not human, they are incapable of lying, cheating or bragging. In a wonderful way, they always display a childish naivete and sense of wonder. I was curious though, if there might be some deeper reasons why people love dogs. My curiosity led me to the following conclusions:

The positive influence of dogs can be traced right back to human infancy. Exposure to well-behaved dogs can improve intellectual and cognitive development in babies and small children while stimulating their immune systems to help them avoid allergies and skin irritations. With increased exposure to pets, even at a very early age, babies will learn compassion and responsibility for animals that will spill over to their relationships with human beings.

As children age, their relationships with dogs can help them improve their self-esteem, increase their empathy toward others, and nurture better communication skills. Dogs tend to give insecure adolescents a sense of purpose and a feeling of value to the world that they would not otherwise have. That confidence can improve their natural ability to socialize with other people.

A dog can provide much-needed companionship to adults and provide them with a purpose for living while encouraging a more active life. “Walking the dog,” is, after all one of the most common forms of physical exercise in North America. Studies have indicated that a dog in the workplace can bring employee stress levels down and improve morale. It is also believed that dog ownership can directly or indirectly provide some of the following health benefits to adults:

• Lowered blood pressure
• Lower cholesterol levels
• Increase immunity to illness
• Reduced stress levels
• Reduced anxiety and depression levels
• Diminished incidence of heart disease

I am not an animal psychologist or a “dog whisperer” but I think it is safe to say that the main reason people enjoy being around dogs is because they provide unconditional love to the human beings closest to them. No matter how aloof a dog-owner is or how mean or uncaring he or she might be, a dog’s naturally generous nature will cause the pup to come back for more. Dogs always forgive their owners their greatest transgressions as they optimistically strive for a greater share of the affection all human beings are capable of. All they want from their owners is love and the opportunity to love them back.

Dogs that are taught bad behavior by a human being might be considered bad dogs but even those dogs love their owners. A dog that has been trained to be aggressive or even vicious by human beings will seldom, if ever turn on his or her owner or trainers. Most dogs are inherently good natured. Even a vicious dog will strive for the love and affection of the people closest to him or her. They are only vicious because they believe that is what their owners want. Their aggressiveness is a desperate display of loyalty. Only a human being can create a bad dog.

If human beings could learn to be more like the dogs they cherish, the world would be a much better place, indeed. There might still be an occasional dogfight, but the abundance of unconditional love, generosity, and forgiveness would far outweigh any negatives.

Keep an eye on the dogs in your life. They might just help you learn how to get along with people just a little bit better!

All the Best

Wayne Kehl

Wayne is an author, lecturer and business coach in British Columbia Canada. You can find out more about Wayne and his company at http://www.waynekehl.com or http://www.dlionline.ca

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This is a great book even if you don’t have a dog.  But if you have a dog it is fabulous!  Camilla Gray-Nelson knows dogs and how to teach them to have good manners! Yes, she really does. And it works. If you follow what she teaches you will find that it works with humans as well. No we don’t actually put a leash on our husband or friends but by using our posture, voice and requests in the right way we can get what we want much easier. From dogs and humans.

I didn’t get a puppy because I wanted to see if what she says in her book works. (I’m committed to doing a good job but not THAT committed).  I got a puppy because, after losing my dear and very old cat, I wanted another pet and about that time I received a copy of  Lipstick and the Leash.  I had thought that a puppy was too much work but Camilla convinced me otherwise. One day while in PetSmart to get crickets for the frogs (don’t ask)  I took a tour of their adoption  kennel. They rarely have puppies but on this day there were three feisty two-month old brothers – it was the proverbial “love at first sight” and now Smarty is a very important part of the family.  The picture is the puppy I chose. – my grandson named him Smarty.

I had read the book long before I got the puppy and thought I knew what I was doing. I quickly discovered that the puppy was in charge and I needed help. I grabbed the book and re-read it and I return to it every now and then for a refresher. I was doing a lot of things right, but Camilla’s teachings made all the difference. She explains clearly how to stand so the dog knows I’m in charge, how to use my voice so he pays attention and responds appropriately, how to correct him and set boundaries without dampening his spirit. He has never had to hear me screech “bad dog” because Camilla gave me tips on what to do when he does something I don’t allow – like jump up on me or anyone else or pull all the paper out of the office trash can (his favorite).  Everyday is a new challenge but I have the tools now to meet the challenge head on.

I have read other books and watched a number of videos on how to work with a puppy – Lipstick and the Leash is by far the one that has helped me the most.

One of my favorite lines from her book (and there are many) is “She who sets the boundaries is the one with the status. She who yells is the imposter.” This is one of those teachings that applies to people as much as to pets and I think of it every time I am tempted to raise my voice. I don’t want to give my power away to the puppy nor to the grouchy neighbor , the car repairman, or anyone who gets my “angry juices” flowing.

I highly recommend this book to any woman who is left to train the puppy that her husband or children brought home (Oh, how I  wish I had know these things with that series of puppies). And if you’re a woman – with or without a dog –  who needs to step into her power, this book can help you with that, too.  In Camilla’s words, “Dogs will follow and obey only a calm and proven superior. Humans are no different.”

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• A Woman’s True Beauty

The French Have a Saying, “comfortable dans votre peau,” which means looking and feeling comfortable in your skin. Science can unveil its latest beauty theory, Hollywood can showcase its dewiest starlets, fashion magazines can parade their stable of underweight models, your mother can criticize your hairstyle, cosmetic companies can display their latest colors specially designed for complexions different to yours. Some random guy on the street may inform you he’d like your breasts better if they were a different size. When it comes down to it, however, you are the only person who can make others see you as beautiful. No, this doesn’t require magic, spell-casting, or mind control; it takes self-esteem.

Humans not only perceive, but are also influenced by, each other’s feelings. If people sense your self-hatred, there’s a good chance they’ll see you the way you subconsciously tell them to see you. In other words, you’ve got to believe you are attractive before other people will believe it. Throughout history, there have been beauties who could have been deemed too unusual, too plain, too ugly, too something, to be beautiful. Yet these smart ladies have ignored what society says is beautiful. They realize that to stand apart they must celebrate their own unique looks. We react to their self-comfort and are as comfortable with their beauty as they are.

Learning to appreciate yourself

Instead of worrying about what you look like, realize that your looks are only a small portion of what makes you unique. Take your mind off this small component and focus on your other characteristics, such as your spirituality, your generosity, your career, and your relationships with others. Always be aware that your body and face were created first and foremost to be functional.

Next time you compare yourself to a cover model, bring yourself back to reality with this tidbit: the average fashion model in 1968 weighed 8 percent less than the average woman; a model today weighs 23 percent less.

Celebrate your eyes, nose, mouth, and ears by bird-watching, smelling roses, enjoying a terrific meal, going to the symphony. Learning to appreciate your body and face for what they can do ­instead of how they look – helps boost your self-esteem. If you are comfortable and relaxed about the way you look, you will have a natural radiance and elegance about you.

Be happy being you

Celebrate the looks you were born with and play to your strong points. This may mean ignoring current fashion and wearing something that makes you feel good, whether that something be purple eye shadow that makes your green eyes shine like jade or an outdated hairstyle that plays up your bold profile.

When you are confronted with a media image of unrealistic beauty, ask yourself what it is about the image that is unnatural. You could write to or phone the television station or magazine responsible and let them know your thoughts. If your self-esteem is low, try reading confidence-boosting books, associating with positive people, or even visiting a therapist for professional help.

Don’t dwell on airbrushed images of underweight models. Eleanor Roosevelt knew what she was talking about when she said no one (or no thing) can make us feel inferior without our permission.

Read more on Lipsense and senegence lipsense.

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In this day and age the internet is full of resources that display techniques and methods of self help and positive thinking. What many these resources don´t mention is the tactics of self talk, this has to be a unique method when it comes to self help, and especially positive thinking. The mind is a very powerful thing and we will only ever get out of it what wee put in, or what we let others put in – so it remains vital that we use self talk to input some real positive thinking and vibes in order to maximize our self help efforts.

In general when we think of self help techniques, or positive thinking techniques the self talk tactic is very often overlooked and underestimated, and many people find it difficult to have the confidence in their own beliefs and feel they must here the encouragement from others, and this is a primary mistake. By talking things over with ourselves it helps us better know ourselves, and the situations we find our self in and therefore find easier, and better solutions. To ensure self help we have to ensure positive thinking, and to ensure this we must encourage ourselves and not wait for others to do so.

You will find that by understanding and learning the self talk method that you will soon be reaching levels of self help that before were unobtainable and that your positive thinking attitude exceeds what you were expecting – this is the reason we say that many overlook and underestimate this tactic of self help. To succeed in whatever we do one must believe in ones self, and to do this we must be thinking positive and encouraging our self – therefore self talk will become a daily part of your life, as will success.

It won´t take long for your positive thinking to help you improve with your productivity levels at work and home, you will feel more energetic, you will value yourself and your actions more – and this is what self help is all about, helping you succeed. Success breeds success and so positive thinking and self talk are two of the best self help tactics to bring you to that first hurdle of reaching success.

After you reach the first hurdle and overcome it you will find that the future hurdles become lower and easier to leap over as your new self help methods come into play and you find yourself as a natural positive thinking person. Self help is not complicated, but it is a thorough method of self help and to ensure that you gain optimal use of the technique I would encourage you to educate yourself about it a little prior to commencing the positive thinking attitude with this technique of self help.

So remembering that positive thinking brings success, which in turn brings further success, and with the urge to find a self help solution to improve your quality of life and lifestyle visit [http://www.positivethinking2009.com/] where you can find out much more about self talk and how it will help you.

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In a previous article, we discussed how to recognize passive aggression, and how the passive aggressive person communicates his or her emotions. Passive aggressive behavior takes many forms but can generally be described as a non-verbal aggression that manifests in negative behavior.

Instead of communicating honestly when they feel upset, annoyed, irritated or disappointed, a passive aggressive person will bottle the feelings up, shut off verbally, give angry looks, make obvious changes in behavior, be obstructive, sulky or put up a stone wall. It may also involve indirectly resisting requests from others by evading or creating confusion around the issue. It can either be covert (concealed and hidden) or overt (blatant and obvious).

A passive aggressive person is keen to avoid show how much is angry or resentful. They will cover up their anger with an appearance of agreement and friendliness by using kind words.

We all shut off sometimes, and keep our feelings bottled up. However, letting that become a normal way of interacting with people (because you’ve been hurt and can’t trust others, or because it’s just “easier”) can lead you down a dangerous road to passive aggression. Once you make passive aggression, your pattern of interacting with others, it’s very hard to keep friends and loved ones close, and you’ll find it hard to keep personal connections alive.

Perhaps you think that there is nothing wrong with not showing anger – that it is “zen,” “manly,” or “stoic.” There is nothing wrong, of course, with being in control of your emotions.

There is something wrong, though, with pretending that those emotions don’t exist. This passive aggressive behavior, done consistently, destroys trust between friends and significant others.

Ask yourself, what is the purpose of an intimate relationship if you can’t show your feelings? Sex? Financial support? Why not just get a hooker or a good job then? Even if you don’t want to admit it, emotional connection and support is probably important to you (it’s sort of an instinctive need in us humans, actually). You won’t be able to get it when you’re shutting yourself off passive aggressively, which means hiding your pain (anger, sadness, disappointment) will only actually cause more pain.

It creates negative energy in your partner, who feels that you don’t trust them. They get angry at you, and then you get angry at them for being angry, and then you don’t express it and withdraw more…. and round and round it goes.

Ask yourself – are you doing anybody favors by pushing your emotions deep down inside?

Aren’t you hurting anybody, including yourself?

You may feel that if you express your real emotions you won’t be accepted. In this case, you may be in danger of hurting people through passive aggression because you feel that they can’t (or won’t) love the real you.

This is your low self-esteem talking, and it’s time you started talking back.

Next time you’re feeling something strong and are going to (once again) pretend everything is okay, kindly open a door in your mind and kick that self-hating voice out onto the street.

Repeat this: “I am a person worthy of love, and I will show it by expressing my emotions in a grown-up and respectful way.”

Nora Femenia is a well known coach, conflict solver and trainer, and CEO of Creative Conflict Resolutions, Inc. You can find innovative and effective solutions for passive aggression behavior solutions at her website:
http://passiveaggresive.com/

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There is a growing amount of research and publicity about the power of personal resilience when managing pressure and avoiding stress. Despite this, many organizations still want to focus on stress management or wellbeing programmes. Although these are better than nothing maybe they, and their personnel, would benefit more from putting the attention onto developing people’s personal resilience. (There is a strong argument for also addressing organizational influence at the same time.)

Resilience has many definitions from the “ability to bounce back” to “The ability to withstand adverse events and stressful situations without falling apart, by actively and positively coping with stress” (Stein and Book) Whatever your preference for definitions, you can probably identify certain times and situations where you feel more capable and resilient. Maybe you can use these to learn from and expand the range of situations where you can respond more resiliently?

We have identified 6 components which we believe are fundamental to personal resilience. Each of these can be developed and thought of as a work in progress which you keep improving. Not only will strengthening them help to increase your personal resilience they will help you in many other aspects of your life.

Sense of purpose

Probably the core component of the six. It is the foundation for the all of the others. Not everyone is clear about their purpose and it is frequently something that you can define as you move through life. The stronger your sense of purpose the better equipped you are to handle challenges and setbacks and to recover from them. If you are not clear, it can lead to feelings of frustration or aimlessness. Being able to identify this can help you to feel you are having a more meaningful life. Do you understand the purpose in all the activities you engage in or do you experience a frustrating sense of why you are there?

For many people their sense of purpose is around one of the following, or a combination:

people – interests or hobbies – religion or spirituality – personal achievement or ambition

Positive realism

This component is something of a balancing act, between being able to think positively about situations and events whilst being realistic about what can be achieved. (It is not about some naive false optimism!) It involves being able to generate positive thoughts and feelings about situations. If you slip towards the other side, ask what do you gain by taking that more negative view of things? Practise seeing the glass half full, look at the positive and you will start to feel different. At the same time, a healthy dose of realism is good. It reduces the chance of having unreasonable expectations and subsequent disappointment. Keep things in perspective and it will help you to achieve these aims. Whether thinking about what might happen, or reflecting on things from the past, think positively and with the realistic perspective. Focusing on what is in front of you now can support this approach.

Relationships

People matter to us. Supporting and caring relationships are essential. Your interpersonal communication and skills can be an important element of your ability to be resilient and how well you can handle difficult situations or times. Having people around who you can reach out to when you need support or help is a real asset. (Provided you are open to doing so and do not think it is a weakness to seek support.) It is also powerful to be able to offer help and support to others when they need it. Developing your interpersonal skills to be able to adapt to a wide variety of people and interactions can help reduce the possible pressures created in difficult relationships.

Determination yet open-minded and flexible

How good are you at seeing things through? When faced with challenges do you deal with them by having a “can do” approach, being proactive and taking action? This component considers how well you finish tasks and things which you have started. Are you able to keep going in the face of adversity rather than giving up? Your ability to persevere when confronted with difficulty will help your resilience. An important part of this is your ability to be adaptable and open-minded. Rather than being closed minded in your determination, resilience is helped if you can be flexible in your approach to things. It prevents any tendency to keep repeating the same behaviours to similar situations and expecting different results! A willingness to explore options and alternatives will always provide you with a greater range of choices to deal with situations.

Self-Awareness

This refers to your knowledge of your inner self and how you think, feel and react. What are the patterns you have in the way we think about, or respond to, different situations and challenges? Can you identify the positive, more helpful ones – and those which might be less positive? Resilient people are able to identify the causes of their success and any failures and learn from them. They will accept responsibility for their actions and reactions. They recognise what challenges or situations are beyond their control and that the part which is in their control is how they think and react. Assess your own habits about your thoughts, do you live in the present and future, or keep going back to the past?

Self-management -self-reliance

This component is somewhat more pragmatic as it considers how well you know, and use your strengths and skills and recognize your limitations. Both at work and home, do you manage your time and only take on what you can handle realistically? Over-commitment is a major source of pressure for many. Aim to get your work-life balance at the right level for you and those around you. Take responsibility for yourself and your actions. As you build your own reliance you can become stronger at doing this. Looking after yourself is also important. Your health, lifestyle and even amount or relaxation and sleep will help towards your resilience.

For organizations, you can really benefit from helping your people to introduce some initiatives to help them increase their personal resilience. We know that stress costs your business, both directly and indirectly. Why wait until it becomes a problem? Support your people by working on prevention and start offering some personal resilience training or help.

Individuals can use various ways to assess themselves. Discussion with friends or colleagues, self-assessment, coaching or taking some sort of profile or questionnaire. (You could try our Personal Resilience Index!) Identify where you feel you could improve and where you feel you are strong. Think about your preferences or choices for how you could develop in the areas you want and take some action. Ultimately, it will help you with your quality of life and potentially help in all areas.

Graham Yemm is a partner in Managing Pressure and has 20 years of experience of working with organizations and individuals, internationally and in the UK, to help them manage time more effectively and to deal with pressure and stress. He can be reached through info@managingpressure.com or +44 1483 480656.

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I have written a lot about not giving up and the importance of pressing through difficult times until you succeed. You have probably heard a lot of things about not giving up but one thing that isn’t discussed much is letting go. Sometimes you need to know when to cut your losses and move one. So what’s the difference?

Truly successful people know when to cut their losses and when to keep pressing on. The first thing that you need to consider is purpose of what you are doing. If you know in your heart of hearts that what you are doing is part of your purpose in life, you probably should never give up. Instead, the best thing to do is to keep trying different things until you figure out the secret combination that unlocks success for you.

A great thing for you to do whenever you start something is to figure out what your pullout point is. In business this might be a certain amount of money that is lost. For instance, you might be willing to loose one hundred thousand dollars on a project. Once you reach that point you will quit and move onto something else.

This is much different then just quitting something because you feel like it’s getting tough. If you give up because something doesn’t go the way you thought it would or it’s harder then you thought, you are giving up for the wrong reasons. Letting go is part of a successful strategy where giving up is part of failure.

Is there greatness on the inside of you but you don’t know how to achieve it? Jason has just completed his brand new 7 part e-course, ‘Find Your Greatness’

Get it free here: Find Your Greatness

Do you want to learn how to create successful habits and goals? Download Jason�s new FREE ebook here: Goal Setting

Jason Osborn has dedicated himself to changing thousands of lives by helping people find their greatness and true potential through his Find Your Greatness Newsletter.

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How are you different from every other human being on this planet? While it is true that we’re all here sharing the experience of being human, and that gives us commonality, we are each totally unique beings having our own unique experience of life.

Think about it. You can see this truth in the simplest of things. Some people love the beach while others love the mountains. Some people love Chinese food, while others hate it. Some people love modern art; others hate it. Some people like trucks while others prefer sports cars. We are all having our own unique experience in life – leading to things we like and don’t like, that we think are good or bad – sourced out of the totally unique entity we each are.

How is it that you determine what’s true for you? Have you ever thought about that? Why do you prefer the beach or the mountains? Why do you love or hate Chinese food? Why do you love or hate modern art? Why do you prefer trucks or sports cars? Or why do you not care for any of these things at all? How do you know these things? Where does that knowledge come from?

One of the most powerful stories I was ever told, and one which helped me embrace my unique truth and experience in life, I call “The Analogy of The Tongue.” I know that may sound a little gross, but it is memorable.

Years ago a good friend of mine saw that I was struggling to really embrace who I was as a minister, an evolutionary advocate, and a spiritual conduit. I didn’t really know what was evolving through me at that time. In the model in which I had grown up, and the life I was living at that time, it didn’t make any sense. I didn’t have any context or precedence for it.

So he said this to me:

He asked me to name a food I do not like. I told him eggplant. He said, “OK, why do you not like eggplant?” I said “Because it’s gushy, mushy, usually gray in color, and has a paste-like taste to it. There is nothing about it for me to like.” He said “Great. Now, what if I told you everybody else is eating it, would you then eat it?” I said, “A lot of other people do like and eat it, and I still do not eat it. Therefore, no.” He said “OK, great.

Now, what if I told you you should eat it, because it’s good for you and it’s the right thing to do. Then would you eat it? Might you like it then?” I said, “No, I don’t care what you say about it, I know I don’t like it and don’t want to eat it.” He said, “Good.”

He went on to say “Now, is this something you would purchase, prepare, and serve dinner guests?” And I said “No way. I would not serve them something I myself do not like. In fact, I wouldn’t even know if it was good or not anyhow. So, no, I would not serve it to guests at my house for dinner.” Then he said, “Is there anything I or anyone could do to make you like and eat eggplant?” I said “No, I just don’t like it.”

He said “Great. Your purpose in life, and all things in life, is just like this. It’s that simple.” And he was, and is, so right. Your purpose is innate in you, as are your preferences for food. You like some things and you don’t like other things. You won’t try to like and eat eggplant because everyone else does, or because someone tells you you should, or because someone else asks for it.

So don’t try to force yourself into SOMEONE ELSE’S TRUTH! Eat and serve others what you know and like – YOUR truth. Anything else is a disservice to yourself and others. It’s not authentic!

You have a tongue, or a taste, for everything that is true for you. And this includes God. How do you know what God is for you? How do you know which religion or path or philosophy is “the truth?” You know because you test it against your own internal “truth meter.” You are always automatically asking yourself “Does this seem true to me? Does this feel right to me? Do I like this? Do I want more of this?” We do this with everything – and so does everybody else. This is how we find our truth – including the truth for us when it comes to God.

If each person has his or her own truth about life and the world, their own unique experience, then there really is no truth – EXCEPT – and this is really important – EXCEPT what’s true FOR YOU. Truth is a personal thing. Truth is created by you, for you. No one can tell you what’s true for you. And vice versa – you cannot tell others what’s true for them. Although, of course, lots of people try.

It’s important to realize that your truth ultimately comes from within you, not from some source outside. And, just as importantly, realize this is true for everyone else too. Just because something makes complete and total sense for you, doesn’t mean it makes complete and total sense for everyone else, or anyone else for that matter. Just like you, everyone has their own unique experience and perspective of the world. And just like you, they believe what they believe, and they like what they like, and don’t like what they don’t like, because that’s what is true FOR THEM.

We live in a community of many levels: from the family; to the neighborhood; to the town; to the city; to the state; to the nation; to the planet. We all have a role in the functioning of the community, at one or many levels, and it’s essential we each play our authentic, inspired role, and that we each know, own, and share our unique truth. At the same time, we must allow others to play their role, and own, and share their unique truth. Whatever that may be and however that may look.

Try this:

Take a moment to reflect on what’s true for you and how it’s absolutely unique for you. Think about how this is true for everyone else on the planet. Ask yourself “Do I honor my truth and determine it for myself? Or do I bow to external authority and tend to believe what others say is true?” Are there opportunities or areas where you can more greatly empower YOUR truth?

And just as important, ask yourself “Do I allow and honor the unique truth that others have? Or do I more often try to impose my reality and truth on them?” Are there areas where you could more greatly honor and respect the unique truth of others as THEIR truth?

If you can really get this, you will be free – free to fully be yourself, and free to allow others to be fully themselves.

Congratulations – you are one step closer to your mojo!

Roger Kenneth Marsh is a Spiritual Life Coach & creator of the Major Good Mojo System. He has an engineering degree, MBA, is a Certified Life Coach, HeartMath® Provider, and Passion Test® Facilitator. Get his book “NexGen Human” on Amazon.com, and FREE CD “3 Keys to Major Good Mojo” at http://www.majorgoodmojo.com/free-cd

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You should know about coping and support with obesity. If you are wanting to lose a significant amount of weight, you need the help of others. More than likely, you are experiencing a lot of negative emotions right now. That is okay. Do not deny any of those feelings. Talk to your therapist and doctor about what you can do. They will give you guidance on coping and support with obesity. The following are some suggestions for helping you manage your weight loss program:

* Journal. Write down what you are feeling, whether it is anger, fear, embarrassment, or any other emotion. Remember, your feelings are yours, and they are ok to have. There is no moral value to your feelings. It is what you do with them that counts. Sometimes, your feelings can motivate you to take action.

* Connect. It is very important that you not become isolated. Stay connected with family and friends. Plan and do fun things together.

* Join. Find a good support group to join. Organizations like the YMCA have groups that are very supportive. More than likely, the leaders of these groups have gone through the same thing you are going through now. You will find group members a great help as everyone supports each other through during this weight loss process.

* Focus. Stay focused on what you want to accomplish. Set goals. Being a member of a support group will definitely help you do this.

* Relax. Learn stress management and relaxation techniques. If you do not learn to manage your stress, you might tend to eat more. Relaxation techniques are something you can practice every day so that you can learn to calm yourself down quickly in stressful situations.

These are suggestions for finding the coping and support with obesity that you need. Maintain a positive attitude and you can reach your weight loss goals.

Strip That Fat is a safe and effective weight loss plan. It uses only the most nutritious and healthiest foods. Click on link below to learn more about Strip That Fat and order today:

http://myhealthydietfoods.com/

Bob Solley, MSW, MAT Louisville, Kentucky

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Ingredients
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup fat-free Italian or creamy onion dressing
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon paprika
2 teaspoons dried oregano leaves
2 teaspoons dried thyme leaves
Salt and pepper to taste
2 pounds large shrimp (not peeled)
1/3 cup light beer
1/2 cup clam juice or fat-free chicken broth
Instructions
1.  In large nonstick skillet, combine oil, Italian dressing, garlic, onion powder, cayenne, Worcestershire sauce, paprika, oregano, thyme, salt and pepper over medium heat until sauce begins to boil.
2.  Add shrimp, cook 5 minutes. Add beer and broth, cook another 5-7 minutes or until shrimp are done.

Makes 4-6 servings
Food Facts
Calories 207
Calories from fat (%) 44
Fat (g) 10
Saturated Fat (g) 2
Cholesterol (mg) 196
Sodium (mg) 614
Carbohydrate (g) 6
Dietary Fiber (g) 1
Sugars (g) 2
Protein (g) 22
Diabetic Exchanges: 1/2 carbohydrate, 3 lean meat

TERRIFIC TIDBIT:  Peeled shrimp may be used in the recipe if desired, but peeling the shrimp is tons of fun, just have plenty of paper towels.

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