Prudent Mortgages

Most women say they want a strong religious man who believes in God, attends church and goes to bible study every week. Is this true? The answer is No if the man is a religious freak who consumes every waking hour brooding over the bible; engages only with non-secular friends; excessively attends religious events; and constantly scrutinizes non-Christian behavior, especially their partner. Typically, these types of guys do not provide the type of excitement needed to keep a woman turned on.

There is only one thing that will keep a women perpetually turned on. It’s not how well you can recite scriptures. It’s not how many times you get on your knees and pray. It’s called AP (Applied Pressure). Above all else, AP will be the most important element in sustaining your relationship. AP will cause a devout Catholic girl to skip Sunday Mass to be in your angelic presence. AP is doing anything that causes pressure in a relationship; pressure meaning having a back bone and saying No once in awhile; rejecting her when she makes advances towards you or wants to have sexual relations with you. Be creative – there are many ways you can use AP on a female.

The key is deliberately causing pressure without her recognizing what you are doing. Once the pressure builds up, a woman will lose all control and become obsessed with getting you to acquiesce to her. Most women won’t endorse what I’m saying but inside they are dying for a guy with AP. Trust me, I have plenty of female friends who are bored stiff with guys who have no AP and are bidding there time until they can find a man with AP.

I’ve dated many church-going woman who babble on and on about wanting a strong Christian man but what baffles me is I’m far from it and they’re dating me. When I would attend their churches, there were no shortage of guys but what dawned on me is that most of these guys were religious freaks that had no AP. Most religious freaks, especially young guys are trying to cover up something anyways but that’s another article. The point is, if a woman is given a choice between a Strong Christian Guy with no AP and a non-church going guy with AP, they will choose the latter.

As a general rule, women want someone who believes in God, attends church every now and then, but not someone who practices the word of God in the fullest sense. If your going to practice anything in the fullest sense, it should be the principle of AP. Now, have faith in that….

With so much to do, every bride needs a surefire way to get organized and stay on track as she countdown toward that all-important day. Here’s a guide and checklist you won’t want to be without.

12 Months Before

*Buy a wedding planner and organizer (The only realistic alternative to not being well organized is hiring a wedding consultant to manage the details for you.) *Talk with your fiance (and parents if they will be paying the bill and adding to the guest list) about the size and a budget, possible date, and location for the wedding. *Reserve the ceremony and reception sites. (If the wedding will take place in a large city, don’t dilly dally on this one. Wedding venues can be booked up solid for a year.) *Begin shopping for your dress. (You could be looking for that perfect gown for months, and most shops need at least four months to fill an order. Look for styles appropriate for the wedding venue and time of day.) *Shop for or begin making save-the-date cards. *Send your engagement announcement to newspapers.

10 Months Before

*Make an appointment to meet with your clergyman. (At the time you make your appointment, let him know your wedding date. You and your fiance should arrange to meet with him as soon as possible, especially if you live in a large city or are planning to write your own wedding vows.) *Begin scouting around for a baker, caterer, florist, musicians, and photographers. (Once you have found them, ask about and review price options.)

8 Months Before

*Research honeymoon destinations and prices. *Begin the guest list. (Generally, half of the invited guests are the bride’s and half are the groom’s.) *Order your dress. *Book vendors and musicians or a dj. *Choose bridal registries and gifts you would like to receive. *Reserve a block of rooms for out-of-town guests.

6 Months Before

*Mail save-the-day notices. *Select menu and flower arrangements. *Order wedding stationery. *Shop for bridesmaids’ dresses. *Reserve rentals (tents, fans, etc.). *Make honeymoon and flight reservations. *Reserve hotel room for your wedding night.

4 Months Before

*Finalize guest list. *Have first dress fitting. *Order wedding rings. *Schedule rehearsals. *Find out if blood tests will be required. *Get change-of-name forms. *Visit the formalwear shop.

2 Months Before

*Shop for lingerie and honeymoon clothes. *Pick out shoes. (When you get them home, don’t forget to scuff up soles to prevent slipping.) *Mail wedding invitations. *Finalize vows and give copies to clergyman and groom. *Select gifts for attendants. *If necessary, get change of address forms from post office.

1 Month Before

*Have final dress fitting. *Pick up rings. *Have programs printed. *Confirm all reservations. *Send announcement to newspapers.

2 Weeks Before

*Get marriage license. *Make final arrangements with photographer. *Organize seating plans. *Begin writing thank-you notes. *Type up toasts for the rehearsal dinner and reception. *Give final guest count to caterer.

1 Week Before

*Pack for the honeymoon. *Make necessary banking arrangements. *Host bridesmaids’ party and distribute gifts. *Pick up wedding dress. *Confirm rehearsal dinner plans with attendants.

1 Day Before

*Have manicure and pedicure. *Attend rehearsal and dinner. *Mail announcements.

Wedding Day

*Eat breakfast. *Visit hairstylist and have nails touched up.

Best Wishes!

© Copyright 2005 Bachcroft.com. Permission to reprint this article, as is, is granted as long as the proper attribution (author’s biography) is given and all active hyperlinks remain intact.

As a home gardener, fall should be a very special time for you. Fall is the best season of the year for plant propagation, especially for home gardeners who do not have the luxury of intermittent mist. The technique that I am going to describe here can be equally effective for evergreens as well as many deciduous plants. The old rule of thumb was to start doing hardwood cuttings of evergreens after you have experienced at least two hard freezes. After two hard freezes the plants are completely dormant.

However, based on my experience it is beneficial to start doing your evergreen cuttings earlier than that. So instead of doing “by the book” hardwood cuttings you’re actually working with semi-hardwood cuttings. The down side to starting your cuttings early is that they will have to be watered daily unless you experience rain showers. The up side is that they will start rooting sooner, and therefore are better rooted when you pull them out to transplant them. To prepare an area in which to root cuttings you must first select a site. An area that is about 50% shaded will work great. Full sun will work, it just requires that you tend to the cuttings more often. Clear all grass or other vegetation from the area that you have selected. The size of the area is up to you. Realistically, you can fit about one cutting per square inch of bed area. You might need a little more area per cutting, it depends on how close you stick the cuttings in the sand. Once you have an area cleared off all you have to do is build a wooden frame and lay it on the ground in the area that you cleared. Your frame is a simple as four 2 by 4’s or four 2 by 6’s nailed together at each corner. It will be open on the top and open on the bottom. Just lay it on the ground in the cleared area, and fill it with a coarse grade of sand. This sand should be clean (no mud or weed seed), and much coarser than the sand used in a play box. Visit your local builders supply center and view each sand pile they have. They should have different grades varying from very fine to very coarse. You don’t want either. You want something a little more coarse than their medium grade. But then again it’s not rocket science, so don’t get all worked up trying to find just the right grade. Actually, bagged swimming pool filter sand also works and should be available at discount home centers.

Once your wooden frame is on the ground and filled with sand, you’re ready to start sticking cuttings. Wet the sand the day before you start, that will make it possible for you to make a slit in the sand that won’t fill right in. In this propagation box you can do all kinds of cuttings, but I would start with the evergreens first. Taxus, Junipers, and Arborvitae. Make the cuttings about 4″ long and remove the needles from the bottom two thirds of the cuttings. Dip them in a rooting compound and stick them in the sand about an inch or so. Most garden centers sell rooting compounds. Just tell them that you are rooting hardwood cuttings of evergreens.

When you make the Arborvitae cuttings you can actually remove large branches from an Arborvitae and just tear them apart and get hundreds of cuttings from one branch. When you tear them apart that leaves a small heel on the bottom of the cutting. Leave this heel on. It represents a wounded area, and the cutting will produce more roots because of this wound. Once the weather gets colder and you have experienced at least one good hard freeze, the deciduous plants should be dormant and will have dropped their leaves, and you can now propagate them. Just make cuttings about 4″ long, dip them in a rooting compound and stick them in the bed of sand. Not everything will root this way, but a lot of things will, and it takes little effort to find out what will work and what won’t. This is a short list of just some of the things that root fine this way. Taxus, Juniper, Arborvitae, Japanese Holly, Blue Boy/Girl Holly, Boxwood, Cypress, Forsythia, Rose of Sharon, Sandcherry, Weigela, Red Twig Dogwood, Variegated Euonymus, Cotoneaster, Privet, and Viburnum. Immediately after sticking the cuttings thoroughly soak the sand to make sure there are no air pockets around the cuttings. Keep the cuttings watered once or twice daily as long as the weather is warm. Once winter sets it you can stop watering, but if you get a warm dry spell, water during that time. Start watering again in the spring and throughout out the summer. The cuttings should be rooted by late spring and you can cut back on the water, but don’t let them dry out to the point that they burn up. By fall you can transplant them to a bed and grow them on for a year or two, or you can plant them in their permanent location. This technique takes 12 months, but it is simple and easy.

When planning a bridal shower, be sure to include fun games appropriate for all attendees. If you are in need of a great bridal shower game idea, consider taking favorite party games and adding a matrimonial twist! When planning games for your bridal shower, be sure to include games that can include guests of all ages, as many brides wish to include younger individuals on their guest list. By preparing games all parties can participate, you will ensure the bridal shower is a great success!

If teenagers or children are planning to attend the bridal shower, you may want to consider putting a general rating on your bridal shower game idea. Many games tend to be more appropriate for an older audience and will be found too risque to play in the presence of the younger crowd. Do not think that the only fun games are risque games–many of these great ideas are just as fun and much more accepting to a mixed crowd. Consider planning a brief game at the beginning of the shower to introduce everyone and serve as an icebreaker.

One great bridal shower game idea is a twist on an old favorite–Bingo! You can either purchase pre-made Bingo cards that have been designed in a wedding theme or choose to make your own. These cards can be made quickly, easily, and quite inexpensively. Instead of letters and numbers, use special wedding themed words or phrases, like bride, groom, or I do.

A great way to entertain guests and save time in the planning process for the wedding shower is to allow individuals to make their own Bingo cards, which provides you with another great bridal shower game idea. Provide the shower guests with pre cut cards that have been already marked with the Bingo grid. Be sure to have enough pens, colored pencils, or markers to go around so that everyone will be able to participate in the creation and decoration of her (or his!) own card. You may even want to create a competition and have everyone vote on the best designed and decorated card.

Be sure to provide guests with a list of potential wedding words when creating their Bingo game card. After everyone has completed and decorated the cards, begin the game of Bingo. Do not forget to have prizes on hand prizes on hand for the winners! This bridal shower game idea is great for including everyone in the party.

Wedding cakes can be the symbol of unity and the beginning of fun at a wedding reception. Images of a bride and groom smashing a piece in to each other’s face are not necessary.

Going local

One of the easiest ways to pick a wedding cake is to go to your local bakery. Better yet, you can go to the bakery in the town where you will be married. When you go with an out-of-town wedding cake, you may not be able to access them quickly in an emergency.

Being close to the bakery helps you if you have any questions or concerns as the wedding gets nearer. You may want to choose a larger style or a smaller one, depending on the responses to your invitations. In fact, smaller bakeries can be more flexible than the larger, more impressive ones.

Since you won’t be competing with hundreds of other couples, you have a better chance of getting personal service too.

The size matters

Although the baker that you have selected will be helping you with a size that is appropriate for your guest list, you may also want to consider a few other things.

A larger cake style is more impressive in pictures at the cake-cutting ceremony. You may want to choose separate tiers or just multiple ones to give the cake a better height so it’s not hiding behind you and your spouse.

The size is also a consideration when choosing the flavor. One of the newer trends is to have particular flavours for each tier. So if you want to have more flavours, you’re going to need more tiers, and an overall larger cake.

And don’t forget to save the top tier for you and your spouse to eat on your first anniversary. It’s a really a sweet tradition. A different idea

If you’re still interested in having multiple flavors, but not a larger cake, you can try separate cakes for each table. Some couples have opted for this as they can provide different flavors, but also guests may move from table to table to try other flavors–and in so doing, create more conversations and relative interaction.

Your wedding cake can be as simple or as elaborate as you choose. If your budget is a concern, then you may want to keep in mind that at the end of the night, you will be eating it and that no one will worry about how expensive it was.

Yeah, yeah, smatterings of sales trainers see fit to advise audiences to tell incorporate one of these lame lies into their sales presentations. A very few high dollar sales professionals will tell one occasionally. Even you may be tempted to respond like this every once in a great while.

What are the seemingly harmless white lies they tell?

How about this one left on Voice Mail: “I’m in a meeting or helping another client.”

Or how about the one that comes to mind when a gatekeeper asks, “Is he expecting your call?”

Then, of course there are those who have heard “No” and decide to call back with a disguised voice including the female sales person who calls with a low, sultry, voice, asking for the prospect by his first name.

Stories about colleagues who practice these white lies bring raucous laughter, tears of amusement and a shaking of heads at sales meetings. Even a few company presidents chuckle and say “Sales are sales …if it works, what’s the harm!”

And I look ‘em straight in the eye, tell ‘em what harm is done, and what they need to look out for from the few sales professionals who use these tactics.

“White lies” give the appearance of being a harmless means to a profitable end, but …

Let’s look a bit closer as we count the costs.

This email message, “I’m away from my desk or on the line with another client right now” is a bad habit and an especially ineffective bad habit if your goal is to do business with high-level decision-makers.

Take it out of context for a minute so you can see and feel the impact of that kind of message.

If you called the office of President George W. Bush after hours, what would you think if you received a voice mail message saying, “I’m either in a meeting or on the line with another citizen right now, please leave a message and I’ll call you back”?

Sounds goofy, fake, and wimpydoesn’t it? So does yours.

This kind of message reflects your need to explain yourself, which in turn is the habit of a person who belongs at the lower levels of an organization. Lower level employees, by virtue of their job description, must always explain themselves to their superiors.

You don’t need to explain yourself. They called you and can leave a message. PERIOD.

When the executive assistant asks, “Is he expecting your call,” some sales persons experience momentary brain freeze.

In a split second they are faced with a dilemma of character that demands a decision be made. The sales pro wonders, “Should I say, ‘Yes’ because that’s what it might take to get me through… or tell the truth and risk losing contact with the decision maker?”

And then there is the disguised, sultry voice thing. What’s up with that? Do they really think the executive assistant won’t catch on to that? Yeah, right!

Here’s the common thread that runs throughout these lame lies.

The conduct we choose is a clear reflection of our character.

During my study of the impact of character, a company president, Bill, shared this story:

I decided to do random drug testing throughout my company. I wanted to be fair and knew to do so I needed to randomly test all levels of employees, myself and the other executives included.

I decided ahead of time that if the tests results came back positive for drug use, I’d discuss this with the employee and give the person one of two options. He/she could chose to resign or to stay employed with us at no reduction in pay if he/she chooses to go through a drug detoxification-rehabilitation program at the company’s expense.

I was surprised and saddened that several of my executive-level colleagues tested positive for narcotics. And every person who tested “positive” insisted “The tests are wrong” and opted to resign from the companyrather than admit to the truth and take advantage of free help.

This business leader learned how a person presents himself is an issue of character. Character determines behavior. A person who has the character of a liar is devoted to lyingeven to the point of refusing free help and losing a good job.

What traits do your behaviors reveal about your character? Regular use of words that reflect integrity are a good choice with which to start your prospect-client relationships or for that matter any relationships!

Forward this article to friendsthey’ll thank you for it!

For your FREE mini-course “Jealously Guarded Secrets to Cold Calling Company Presidents” visit http://www.ColdCallingExecutives.com! Or call Your Sales Coach for Extreme Profitability, author/speaker Leslie Buterin (like butterin’ bread) at (816) 554-3674 9-3 CST (that’s Kansas City/Chicago Time).

I’ve been getting lots of email from my readers lately. And one thing that I hear often is that people need more sales leads.

In order to generate sales leads, you need three things:

• A written profile of your target prospect,
  
• A list of suspects containing potential prospects,
  
• A method of reaching your sales prospects.

In this article, I am going to discuss eight proven methods of reaching your sales prospects.

Complementary Partner Referrals

I put this sales lead generation method first because this one generates the highest quality sales leads. How you do this depends on the market you are in. There have been a lot of articles written about networking through chamber and association meetings, so I won’t rehash that here.

If you are selling business to business, you want to strike up relationships with sales reps from companies who call on the same businesses as you do. An example is if you sell an information technology consulting service, then partner with a few computer systems hardware vendors. These reps call on the same customers as you and you complement each other by sharing leads and information about customers and prospects.

Cold Calling

As much as nearly everyone dislikes this one, it is very effective for sales lead generation when executed properly. If you consistently prospect for leads by phone, you will consistently generate sales leads.

You can find more cold calling tips at my website listed at the end of this article.

Live Seminars

Live seminars are a great sales lead generation technique because you are usually delivering your a pitch to a prospect very early in their buying process. The key to a successful seminar is offering a solution to a problem that your target market really wants to solve. You can give the pitch yourself, or get one of your company executives to do it (sometimes business “celebrity” can help pull more sales prospects in).

Live seminars can be done inexpensively. The costs for in-person seminars are comprised of room rental, refreshments, audio-visual equipment, and promotion. Teleseminars are the least expensive, with the only costs being conference phone line rental and promotion. Webinars are actually more expensive due to the hefty fees the online meeting services charge to use their services.

Trade Shows

Trade shows are a good way generate sales leads if you can find events highly targeted to your prospect audience. Often such events yield low-quality sales leads because they are attended by the recommenders and influencers and rather than the true decision-makers.

I rate this method lower on the list, yet it is a valuable one if your company has the budget and there are industry events well-targeted to your audience.

Mass Mailings

Sales letters are one of the more underused sales lead generation methods. There is an entire industry of people dedicated to selling this way called direct marketing. But most field sales reps and business professionals don’t know how to use this technique well.

Success with this method comes as a result of mailing a well-written letter to a good quality list of names (quality = targeted at your audience).

Two good primers on this are “The Ultimate Sales Letter” by Dan Kennedy and “Selling to VITO” by Anthony Parinello.

Advertising

This method can be highly effective when done right. You must find publications that are able to deliver your target audience. You must run ads that stimulate people to take action. To generate sales leads, you must avoid big-company style image ads.

I am no expert on advertising, but I do know that if you can’t do this one right don’t do it at all because you can blow through your marketing budget fast.

Internet Advertising

This one is very appropriate for small businesses and some independent professionals. With a well-designed website, you can generate sales leads through “ads” that the search engines create from your webpages. If you know what keywords your prospects are likely to search for you with, then you can generate very targeted and qualified leads.

This method is not for everyone though, as your prospects must be searching for something related to your products, services or the problems that you solve.

Email Publications

What you are reading right now is an example of an email publication that keeps my name and business in front of 9000 people every month. I collect all of my names through my website, but that isn’t the only way to do this.

A sales rep or business owner could create an email newsletter and mail it to sign-ups from an offer presented at a seminar, at a trade show, in a mass mailing, in an advertisement, or on a cold call.

If your a sales rep, why not create your own email newsletter? You could send out industry news and tips to suspects in your market. Eventually a few of them will become customers because you are on their mind more often than your competition.

© 1999-2004 Shamus Brown, All Rights Reserved.

Shamus Brown is a Professional Sales Coach and former high-tech sales pro who began his career selling for IBM. Shamus has written more than 50 articles on selling and is the creator of the popular Persuasive Selling Skills CD Audio Program. You can read more of Shamus Brown’s sales tips at http://Sales-Tips.industrialEGO.com/ and you can learn more about his persuasive sales skills training at http://www.Persuasive-Sales-Skills.com/

To put it mildly most companies sales forecasting just isn’t delivering, a staggering 90% of the deals do not close as forecasted even when the close probability is 75% or over. Even more astonishing is that 54% of forecasted deals are lost to competitors or to a no decision.

This is a trend that both senior management and sales management is aware of. And with the visibility now at executive level, sales is creating a demand for more accountability. Interviews with MD’s and sales directors indicate that companies can no longer stand idly by hoping the sales team delivers as indicated. Visibility and accuracy need to be improved. And if sales cannot do this we found that the Finance Directors would!

Here is another shared dilemma where we see projected sales are actually a trailing indicator by the time you know if a deal will actually be won or lost the game is over! To this end Sales Directors and MD’s are turning to leading indicators in the sales process (e.g. ability for prospect to own product or service, timescale – is it on track, sales team ability to gain access to power etc). Every single metric available is playing an increasing role here as senior management grapple with the challenge of improving forecasting of sales more accurately so they can reap competitive and operational advantage and avoid problems associated with not knowing the true position of the pipeline and just relying on ‘gut feel’.

But it’s not the same for every organisation; many have used these challenging times to not only clear out dead wood but to build team strength. They are also starting to instil more team discipline. Today we can see Sales Directors & MD’s reasserting themselves in their demands for activity, pipeline reporting and adherence to their sales processes. During better times, experienced and even junior sales executives often balked at providing visibility into their activities. ‘It’s not my style’, ‘I really don’t have time for it’, ‘I don’t believe anyone can tell me what’s going to happen’ were more easily accepted when sales executives were exceeding targets. But those times for most are now gone. Time and again we found that Sales Directors & MD’s have stiffened their resolve. One Sales Director even said:

“We are not dealing in the halcyon days. We are now going to have to do things differently. At the end of each week, you’re either doing the things we require or your not. If you are not then you should go somewhere else, because we are going to insist on this and more importantly than insisting on it, we don’t want you here if you are not a team player. That’s all there is to it. After that, we are going to measure the hell out of this stuff because the fact of life is that we have every right to inspect everything that you are doing and that you are not doing”

To support all of this we are now seeing a noticeable up turn in the number of companies adopting formal methodologies. Whether they create these themselves or licence a commercial offering they are committed to making sure that all their sales staff, start to sell the same way, and that they apply rigor to what they do. In comparing the performance of companies who adopted a formal process versus those that don’t, on virtually every metric used to judge success, the processed focussed teams outperformed their less structured competition. In regards to some aspects of selling the differences were absolutely mind boggling.

What we do understand today is that you simply cannot rely on ‘gut feel’ or any type of ‘feel good factor’, you have to enforce a practical measurable no nonsense sales process. As a good start you could take a look at your sales funnel and measure key information, however the reporting process seen with many CRM packages will only give you a very basic picture and in certain cases the wrong picture. You should look for a system that is customisable that has multiple ‘touch points’ within each ’sales indicator’. For example it’s no good speaking with a prospect if they do not have an available budget. You usually have to speak to the budget holder and also understand what conditions must exist before they can release the budget. Given this example is it any wonder that many companies don’t find this out until it is too late? Lastly it must be easy for sales to complete and sales management to digest so that they can all focus on the areas that still need attention.

Once you have implemented and customised what works for you maybe you can then start enjoying life as you will be able to understand what you work on and what may be worth leaving alone. Now take a look at your pipeline and hold your head up it’s so predictable when you know how.

© The Sales Academy 2005. You may include this article in your ezine or on your website or distribute it to others, provided you include the copyright statement and the bio information tag line found at the end of this article.

Michael Palman, a global Master Sales Coach and author. Mike helps people and businesses do ore, do it better and get the results that they want. Mike has had a successful career in sales for over 25 years and now helps other salespeople get the sales edge. Mike lives in both the UK and South Africa.

For more articles by Mike Palman, visit http://www.theaalesacademy.com

If you are a new company in a small market or you are the new company in an industry often your prospects will decide not to buy from you because you are too new. You have no reputation and they are not sure about your ability to deliver what you say you will in the way of your company offerings.

They say things like; We will wait and see if you are still around next year, then we can talk. Interesting because if everyone says this you will not be around next year will you? I mean you need sales to grow your business and enough synergy and customers to keep it going.

If you tell the prospects this they will often say well who is doing business with you now? This is a dangerous thing to discuss in a smaller town or small city, because everyone knows everyone else and the word will get back to your competition within a day or two, sometimes as soon as you leave, they will be on the phone to them. It happens all the time.

Worse your competition who gave lousy service will be on the phone pleading to have the account back and you could lose the new account before you start? It happens, believe me. So, to properly handle this objection, pretend you are from Missouri and “Show Them” by giving them free service, free demo or something of this nature.

It will help get the ball rolling and stop that “Good Ole Boy” Midwestern Objection in its tracks. And it just does not happen in the Midwest, small towns in the Deep South and even West Coast or North East will have similar objection tactics. Consider all this in 2006.

“Lance Winslow” – Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

For three hundred and sixty four days, one third of the world’s population that is Christian talks of peace. And for one day of the year they manage to experience it…

If the youngest and largest single group of the three major religions can manage to manifest one day of peace each year, surely it could be a model for other religions to follow. All groups talk of peace, but Christians for the most part have managed to celebrate one day each year in peace. But even this is superficial. As one cruises the highways, parking lots, shopping malls and homes, two days before Christmas, you can see that the roots of war are still there. Christmas is just a rest from war and not really a day of peace.

If humanity was inherently peaceful, would we not have peace after thousands of years of trying to find it? Are we hitting ourselves over the head with the same hammer, trying to manifest a result, by doing the same things that do not bring us to the peace that we say we want to experience?

Life is a process, not an end unto itself. Man cannot find peace on earth, but only moments of peace experienced individually, in the silence between the cannon fire. The ideology of obtaining peace is more desirable than actually achieving peace. Once peace has been achieved it will not be experienced as peace any longer and the thought of war will be desired once again, as humanity reaches out to find the peace it already has.

In the history of mankind, peaceful people have sought to expand their peace through the act of war. And maybe that is because they have truly not known peace. If the world was ready for peace it would be demonstrated in the homes, on the roads, parking lots and shopping malls.

Peace is who we are inherently; we come from peace so why do we not demonstrate it? To know peace you have to come back to it. You must know non-peace before you can know peace.

War starts in the home and is pushed out into the streets and into the battle fields. This comes from an inherently hostile or primitive people that still believe it is separated from its enemies. Humanity still does not know or believe that it can only wage war on itself because there is no other, and your enemy is in complete agreement with you. When you face your enemy you are looking into a mirror. It is your own right hand striking you in the face.

War will always continue until humanity changes its mind about war. It is a learning curve coupled with insanity. If what you are doing does not bring you what you desire, why would you do it? How insane is that? Unless you have discovered the reason for not wanting peace, you will always turn to war.

War is simply a thought manifested into physical reality and demonstrated on our streets. It immerges from our own thoughts as the final way to demonstrate our own frustration over not getting what we desire. It is a face-off of egos demonstrating lack of reason. It demonstrates immaturity of the individual and discontent for self, not of an imagined enemy.

The only enemy that humanity has is a single individual. One faces off with a mirrored image of self demonstrating a strong desire to beat some sense into the part of self that is rejected. Your enemy is your rejected self, the part of you that you do not wish to deal with. That part of you that will not listen to your reason. That part of you which knows there is another way.

Mankind has traditionally believed that once you kill your enemy, he/she disappears forever. This thinking is nave at best. No souls are ever lost, and those that you seek to destroy and conquer become your children and your mates. Life changes, but it can never be destroyed. Like the mail it just keeps coming and coming.

Because humanity has all the attributes of its creator, it has immediate access to all its qualities. If we are inherently peaceful, then we can demonstrate if physically by being peaceful. Peace is only a thought away. It is not demonstrated en mass but individually and repeated many times on the street. Peace is as individual as war and is shared with all other aspects of yourself. One grain of sugar put into a pitcher of purified water changes the entire volume of water. It is no longer pure.

If it takes humanity 365 days of fighting, deliberation, and negotiation to produce one day of peace, if we begin now we can have 365 days of peace in about 133,255 years. There is evidence to show that man has inhabited the earth for millions of years not just the commonly excepted tens of thousands of years. Still the best we can do so far is one single day.

The only real issue with experiencing peace is that humanity talks about it. It doesn’t demonstrate for peace, but demonstrates against war. Humanity keeps war alive by being against it. There would not be one gun shot in the next moment if all men and women thought only about peace in that moment.

War comes from lack of awareness of the most common connection to all others, and we are our brother’s keeper because we are our brother. Peace can be found in the middle of a war, while you are on the edge of death, starvation or torture. Peace comes when you decide to experience it.

Although there are inequities in the world (haves and have-nots), peace is still a state of mind that has little to do with these things. The body has choices always whether to die in peace or live in war. The body may experience war but the soul does not.

Humanity now finds itself in the same position it has several times before. Its technology is advanced enough to wipe out all life in the world. Conventional warfare is not necessary and a small bottle of germs can do the trick. There is no safe haven, because the enemy will always go with you. You cannot kill off that part of you that desires war and the enemy has a long memory.

Christmas is a poor time to be thinking about peace. Prayers, faith, trust and hope are things that do not bring us peace, they cannot. They all happen in the future, they all deny that you have peace now and they all take away the personal responsibility of each and everyone of else to live in peace. We look to God, Jesus, Ala, Mohamed, the President, parents, fate or someone else to bring peace, and totally deny the only one that can do it.

We gave up our power and responsibility for peace when we turned outward to create it. It happened when we began to proclaim in our churches, temples, synagogues and halls that we were unworthy, that we were less than that which created us and when we denied our connection to that source, others, and our environment.

If you can demonstrate that what you believe now is bringing you the level of peace that you desire, there is no reason to change it. If however you desire more peace then you now have, you need to change your thoughts. You need to think peace, and declare that that is what you wish to experience. Demonstrate peace in your physical life by including it in all things that you do. Talk the talk and walk the walk. Do not live your peace for others, but for yourself. Do not wait for others to be peaceful as you have already been waiting thousands of years. Never look behind you to see that others are following, you will trip over yourself. Do not declare yourself as peaceful, but demonstrate it. Know peace because that is what you desire as you would war because that is also what you desire.

Do not be shamed or coerced into peace if it is not what you want, because it will not last. Do not deny yourself, declare who and what you are, what you stand for, not what you are against. Do not lie; you are worthy whether you are for peace or war. War and peace is the same thing, just different ends of the stick. Peace cannot exist without war and visa versa, but you have a choice to which one you want to experience. Do not deny the existence of war or push it away, again, simply choose not to experience it.

If you are at war, be peaceful in its presence. Lift yourself up to the position of the silent observer that is another part of you. You will smile with love and empathy and you look down on the struggle you have placed yourself in as a researcher watching a mouse in a maze. After time you will not experience those earthy events as one thing or the other. You will understand the connection and life will move more easily for you. You will not be against anything, but for everything, because you will understand the purpose for the experience.

You will fall in love with yourself all over again.

Roy E. Klienwachter is a resident of British Columbia, Canada. A student of NLP, an ordained minister, New Age Light Worker and Teacher. Roy has written and published seven ebooks on New Age wisdom and a new book coming out in late 2005 in paper form. Roy’s books are thought provoking and designed to empower you to take responsibility for your life and what you create. His books and articles are written in the simplicity and eloquence of Zen wisdom.

You may not always agree with what he has to say. You will always come away with a new perspective and your thinking will never be the same.

Roy’s style is honest and comes straight from the heart without all the metaphorical mumble jumble and BS. For More articles visit our new Article directory at http://www.klienwachter.com/adarticles

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