We human beings are an insecure lot. We wish that we were more confident… that we could tell people what we really think… that we could ask for what we really want… that we could get ourselves to do something important, however much it frightens us. Life coach and regular Daily Health News contributor Lauren Zander says people often ask her how to deal with their insecurity. They wonder how to overcome the fears they bump up against whenever they think about what they truly want from life. The answer, she says, is simple and involves just a single element. Once they get it, people can conquer their fears and experience unshakeable self-confidence. “This comes from one place only — having personal integrity, which is complete trust in yourself to do what you say you will do,” says Lauren. “It seems counterintuitive that a fear of things external could be solved by trust in yourself, but it really is true.”

Many people mistakenly believe that integrity is based on their behavior with others, that it means following through if they tell another person that they’re going to do something. But personal integrity is really about taking internal responsibility for all your decisions — not simply doing what your boss says… or taking a stand because you’re a board member… or staying on the straight and narrow path because you don’t want to get into trouble. These are obligations and forms of outer responsibility, says Lauren. When it comes to themselves, people will say they keep their promises but then will have a list of reasons why they can’t eat right, exercise, be patient with family members and so on. “Hanging on to beliefs about why you can’t keep promises to yourself enables you to think you have integrity,” says Lauren. “But,” she points out ” your soul always knows the truth.” The more often your soul watches as you fail to keep promises to yourself, the more insecure you will feel about your world in general.

“Every day that you fail to do what you should — just for yourself — eats away at your self-confidence and respect and erodes one of the most important elements in life, your personal integrity,” says Lauren. On the flip side, “People who learn to keep a promise to themselves — no matter what it is — have the power to change anything in their life, because they know they can trust themselves to do it,” she says.

THE ROAD TO REAL INTEGRITY

A first step is to consider the primary areas of your life (your health, your career, how you manage your finances, relationships with family, friends and your significant other) and evaluate whether your life is everything that you want it to be in each area. You may have an integrity issue in the parts of your life that don’t measure up. The danger here is in not being completely honest, brushing aside situations you consider tolerable rather than identifying them as broken. For instance, you might accept the body that is “okay” instead of trim and healthy… the relationship that’s fine but not great… the job you can barely endure but “need” to pay the bills but that dooms you to a life of mediocrity. Wouldn’t you rather have the confidence to bring about change? This is how greatness happens.

After you have evaluated five or so major areas of your life, pick one that is really troubling and address it. This will be the start of learning that you can make promises… keep promises… and make a difference in your life. You might decide to stop complaining about your inability to save money and start depositing a few dollars each week in a special account… or decide to eliminate sugar completely from your diet. Start with small steps that are concrete and achievable, as even small achievements can make a big difference.

Next, tell at least one person you are close to about what you are doing and for how long — this is “practice” for keeping a promise to yourself. “Assign a consequence,” urges Lauren. “Perhaps for every minute you’re late, you pay the person you leave waiting a dollar, or even a dime.” It’s not about making it painfully expensive, but rather to help you to stay focused on your commitment to your promise and to teach yourself to stop making excuses. The consequence makes you focus every time you keep or break the promise, so you quickly realize how your excuses have gotten in your way — telling yourself you need sleep more than exercise today, for instance, or blaming traffic for making you late again. Lauren gets tough with clients who complain that it’s impossible to keep a promise, taunting them that if they were paid $1 million to accomplish the task, they’d likely find a way.

“We all need to realize that we do have the power to keep our promises,” says Lauren. As you stay the course, day after day, your mental drama will begin to quiet down and good feelings about yourself will arise. “You will experience the pride of having personal integrity and realize what a great asset in life this is… there is no better feeling in the world than respecting yourself,” says Lauren.

THE NEXT STEP

Now that you know this about yourself, Lauren says it is time to decide how to use the knowledge. In what areas of your life are you being fearful? What have you not addressed that could, in fact, be improved or changed?

“If you don’t ever experience fear, you need to ask if you are really going after things that matter to you,” says Lauren. She advises that you take a deep look into your life to identify issues and challenges that you have never really conquered — for example, your ability to be truly intimate with others or to actively pursue advancement in your career instead of waiting for someone to promote you. Such areas are fabulous opportunities to see where your excuses have been holding you back. Make yourself a promise — or two — about new and different behaviors and then watch how it lifts your life to a higher and far more satisfying level.

Lauren invites Daily Health News readers who rise to the personal integrity challenge to email the results they create for themselves. Send them to HandelGroup (click on “Get in Touch” at http://www.handelgroup.com) where the staff will select a winner for a free coaching session with Lauren.

Source(s):

Lauren Zander, cofounder and chairman, Handel Group, http://www.handelgroup.com.

Here is the start of the republican battle to take back the Senate. They have targeted Harry Reid.
—————————-
Fellow Conservative,

Harry Reid has sold out to the liberal special interests and used pork projects to buy the votes of Democrat Senators with our tax dollars. He’s spent millions of campaign dollars claiming to be the most powerful U.S. Senator in our state’s history. But he’s used that power to make taxpayers pay for abortions, raise the cost of health care, and dramatically increase our national debt.

Harry Reid knows I’m the proven conservative who can kick him out of the Senate. He’ll lose the power he covets and his ability to do any more damage to America’s taxpayers. I’m the proven conservative who beats him by ten percentage points and I’m the only conservative who according to recent polls would beat him with more than 50% of the vote!

With December 31st quickly approaching, we face our first major reporting deadline to send a clear message that the American people want to kick Harry Reid out of power. Will you join us in kicking Harry Reid out of the Senate by making your contribution of $50, $100, $250, $500 or more now, before the end of the quarter on December 31st?

I’m reaching out to you, because it’s essential we post the highest possible fundraising numbers. Harry Reid, the media and even the far left will look to our fourth quarter fundraising report to judge the strength of our opposition to Reid and his Democrat majority in Congress.

The government take over of health care is Harry Reid’s plan – and he is proud of it. But you and I both know that this radical, big government scheme will have terrible consequences on American families, and I guarantee you this bill will be Harry Reid’s “Waterloo.”

Thanks to Reid’s strong-arming and selling of pork projects, the Democrat majority in Congress is imposing a government take over of health care that will limit our ability to choose our doctors, decimate the quality of our health care, astronomically raise our taxes and force taxpayers to help pay for abortions.

Unseating the liberal Senate Majority Leader will not be easy. Harry Reid has proven time and again that he’s not afraid to take and spend liberal special interest money on his campaign. Make no mistake; the radical left will work hard to keep him in power.

We need to send a clear message with our December 31st reporting deadline that we want to kick Harry Reid out of power. Please follow this link immediately to contribute $50, $100, $250, $500 or more before midnight on December 31st.

Americans have had enough of Harry Reid’s selfish ways. Times are beyond tough, but Harry Reid has chosen to make passing the Congressional Democrat’s radical agenda into law his top priority instead of providing relief to America’s families.

We must kick Harry Reid out of the Senate! If I am fortunate enough to be elected to the U.S. Senate, I will proudly work to defend life and prevent taxpayer dollars from being used to fund abortion. I will actively work to protect our 2nd Amendment rights. I will consistently vote against pork spending and will work to roll back the growth of government. I am opposed to any tax increases. Soon after announcing my candidacy I signed the Americans for Tax Reform pledge to not raise taxes.

December 31st marks our first major reporting deadline, and we need your financial support to post the strongest possible numbers. Please follow this link now to make a generous contribution before midnight on Thursday, December 31st.

Thank you in advance for your support, and have a happy New Year.

Sincerely,

Sue Lowden

P.S. As families celebrated the holiday season, Harry Reid and his Congressional Democrats have worked over time to impose their radical, government take over of health care on us. Join me in kicking Harry Reid out of the Senate by following this link now!
————————————–
The scare tactics are on full bore.

Mike

Tiger Woods came a flyin’, chased by his spouse.

She wielded a nine iron and wasn’t too merry,

Cause a bimbo’s phone number was in his Blackberry.

He’d been cheatin’ on Elin, and the story progressed.

Woman after woman stepped up and confessed.

He’d been cheatin’ with Holly, and Jaimee, and Cori,

With Joselyn, and Kalika. The world had the story.

From the top of the Tour to the basement of blues,

Tiger’s sad sordid tale was all over the news.

With hostesses, waitresses, he had lots of sex,

When not in their pants, he was sendin’ them texts.

Despite all his cryin’ and beggin’ and pleadin’,

Tiger’s wife went investin’ — a new home in Sweden.

And I heard her exclaim from her white Escalade,

“If you’re gettin’ laid then I’m gettin’ paid.”

She’s not pouting, in fact, she is of jolly good cheer,

Her prenup made Christmas come early this year.

A: To determine if a charity you want to make donations to is legitimate, check the IRS searchable database at http://www.irs.gov/charities/contributors/index.html, where you can find out if a charity is eligible to receive tax-deductible donations (click on “Search for Charities”).

For greater detail, check with Guidestar USA, Inc. (www.guidestar.org). This charity, founded in 1994, will show you (for free) a nonprofit organization’s actual tax filing (IRS Form 990).

A third helpful source is Charity Navigator (www.charitynavigator.org). Founded in 2001, it is the largest evaluator of charities, covering 5,300, but does not evaluate every charity registered with the IRS. Charity Navigator evaluates charities based on how much of their income goes to the actual charitable works, to administrative expenses and to fundraising, assigning them zero to four stars, four stars being tops.

I selected one of the four-star charities, Action Against Hunger-USA, and learned that 89.2% of its income goes to programs, 9.6% to administrative expenses and 1.1% for fundraising. The name and salary of the top executive is also given, as well as the charity’s mission statement and contact information.

Note: Not every dollar you give to a charity is tax deductible. Visit http://www.irs.gov/publications/p526/ar02.html#d0e589 for more information.

Our inside source: Nancy Dunnan, a New York City-based financial and travel adviser and author or coauthor of 25 books, including How to Invest $50-$5,000 (HarperCollins).

Guam – Some forty-five men in the Guam Army National Guard are getting ready for war. The platoon is currently undergoing intense pre-mobilization training at the old Naval Housing Field in Barrigada. In less than two months time these men will be in Afghanistan as part of the president’s mission to beef up U.S. troop presence in 2010.

In order to adequately prepare for the intense high stress environment that these men are going to face in country in Afghanistan, it’s necessary that they undergo a series of drills and training. The drills they are undergoing right now have to do with how to properly execute a building search.

Sergeant Dennis Eber is no stranger to war. He himself is a Purple Heart recipient and having been deployed to Afghanistan before, his insight in the battle field is key for a training instructor. “Our training is designed to prepare the whole platoon pushing out, to prepare them to start working as teams and how to react to certain situations whether receiving small arms fire, indirect fire, or soldiers go down, how to evacuate that personnel, how to call in and utilize radio communications,” he said.

Specialist Jesse Muna was deployed once before to Afghanistan, but he says it doesn’t make it any easier. He will be leaving behind his four children. He takes his training seriously. “Every drill is essential we are making sure we are all ready to go out so we can come back home safe,” he said.

For Private First Class Clint Materne, just 24, this will be his very first deployment. “We are always reassured we are coming back home so we put that in our mind and we reassure our family’s we are coming back home and they are good back bone and support,” he said

These men will be gone for ten months to a year and leave for more intense training in the next few weeks before they push out to Afghanistan sometime in February.
=============================
Anna