Keys To Personal Growth

Institute of Noetic Capital
Unit 116, 634 - 2nd Avenue NE, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2E 0E8 Tel.: (403) 474-0632 Fax: (403) 289-7152 Email: cblakeslee@shaw.ca
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Keys to Personal Growth

By Clement Blakeslee, B.A., M.A, M.Sc.
Retired public affairs broadcaster, political journalist, human resources consultant, native affairs advocate, social science academic, and environmental advocate
PREFACE
In recent time a wide variety of books have been published which are intended to help you enrich your daily living and attain higher quality of life. Some books deal with physical exercise; some deal with meditative training; many deal with eating patterns. Yet most tend to be very narrow in focus. Our goal was to write a book of a truly holistic nature, bringing all these issue together in a single twenty-eight day guide. Part Two of this book is the guide itself, with each day offering affirmations, exercises, menus and much more in an easy to follow manner. Part One of this book should be read carefully before embarking on the twenty-eight day program. The six chapters in Part One are designed to increase your understanding of the power of the human mind. By understanding this power you will receive insights as to how such powers can be used for your own personal growth and for increasing your enjoyment of life. Before embarking on your twenty-eight day program you may with to read the six chapters in Part One more than once to be certain that you understand the information. When you feel satisfied that you are comfortable with these six chapters, then choose a target date to begin your program. Be sure you choose a time when your program will not be interrupted by major events such as vacation time, changing job, relocating your home and so forth. The object is to incorporate new habit patterns into the stable routine of your life. All the suggested approaches are in keeping with the best current practices in lifestyle management. If you are disciplined in following the guide, the dividends will greatly reward your effort. Remember: No investment; no dividends!
Buddha graphic by Wilfredor / CC BY-SA 3.0
Keys to Personal Growth by Clement Blakeslee is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Preface
Part I: The Generative Power of Mind

Chapter 1: You and Your Emotions Chapter 2: The New Age View of Stress Chapter 3: Blocks to Fulfilment Chapter 4: Capacities of Your Mind Chapter 4: The Capacities of Free Will 4 5 11 19 27 37
Part II: Things to do

Launching Your Four Week Program Week One Week Two Week Three Week Four 57 58 62 84 111 138
Appendix I and Bibliography: Creative Self-Development Appendix II: Generative Insights

173 165
Part I: The Generative Power of Mind
Keys to Personal Growth CHAPTER 1 YOU AND YOUR EMOTIONS Introduction
There is more to the individual person than a physical body. There are energy fields, subtle and extremely complex, which are important parts of the whole person. These energy fields can be experienced in a variety of ways, one of which is as certain feelings. These feelings, although associated with the physical body, are actually forms of energy and are thus not limited to the body. As fields of energy they are also outside the body. By becoming more sensitive to these energies and by becoming aware of what they actually feel like enables the individual to become more sensitive to similar feelings in others. However, being sensitive to the feelings in others does not mean merely to see sadness in another persons face, for example, and thus deduce that s/he is unhappy. Rather, in the apparently empty space between two people the feeling energies of each are being transferred and thus experienced by the other. The result is that the first person feels the unhappiness of the other. It is important to understand this process for a number of reasons. In the first place, you must understand and recognize that you are not always feeling your own feelings. When in the company of an angry person, you may begin to feel angry yourself for no apparent reason. What is happened is that you are feeling the other persons anger through the transfer of the energies between you. However, the consciousness with which you experience that anger is the same as the consciousness with which you would experience your own, self-generated anger. Therefore, it may become difficult to distinguish just whose anger it is--yours or that of the person you are with. Furthermore, if you spend time with an angry person and begin to feel his/her anger, the feelings that are generated may bring to mind things about which you could get angry. The result, of course, is that both of you are now angry. Fortunately, this process happens with pleasant feelings as well. Spending time with a happy person elicits a feeling of happiness in you as his/her energies are transferred across the space between you. Too often, however, your everyday encounters are with people whose feelings are negative; who are experiencing undercurrents of vague fear, anger, worry, hostility. Their feelings may be confused, jumbled or chaotic, causing you to experience confusion, anxiety and unrest. You are then likely to believe these are your own feelings rather than merely feelings you have picked up from someone else. As a result you tend to lose your own sense of identity and authority and start to believe that you are a helpless victim of negative feelings in general. Being less sensitive to others feelings may seem to be the solution to this problem. However, this simply deadens you to what is actually going on. Instead, it is imperative that you become more sensitive to the feelings that are being created through your relationship with others and constantly monitor your own reactions. In this way you are then able to distinguish whether your negative feelings are a legitimate report of your own inner condition--a signal that something needs attention, or whether they are the
result of the energy transfer of feelings from the person you are with. If you are experiencing someone elses negativity, you are then able to use this knowledge to restore your own sense of balance. At the same time, you are now in a much better position to contribute to the other persons well-being by transferring your own positive feelings across the energy field between you, allowing him/her to experience your sense of a clear and conscious balance. Two Opposite Mind/Body Responses For a generation now a Harvard team, headed by Herbert Bensen, M.D., has been working on the issue of mind/body relationships and the basic responses they generate. Bensens book, The Maximum Mind, summarizes the research done at Harvard in a clear and brilliant manner. He, like a growing army of medical researchers, does regard the mind as dominant in mind/body relationships. Therefore, in one way or another the mind ultimately controls whether a given person is expressing a stress response or a relaxation response. If mind and body collaborate in one or the other of these two basic responses, they can be clearly measured in terms of physiological processes and in terms of a variety of neurological events. Some of my most admired physicians who have contributed enormously to improving the human condition are Gerald Jampolsky in San Francisco, Bernie Segal in Hartford, Carl Simonton in Dallas and Herbert Benson in Boston. Hundreds of clinics, a large number of medical schools and an army of individual physicians are expanding on the work begun so brilliantly by Hans Selye in Montreal. A world-class psychiatric centre in Topeka, Kansas (Menninger) has made a vast contribution to this field also during the last generation. If the mind mobilizes a stress response, then the body physiologically expresses the stress response. If the stress response surges for coping with a life-threatening situation, then the price the body pays is minimal and the response is appropriate. However, if the stress response becomes chronic and if its trigger is frequently occurring or vaguely generalized, then the body pays a price, which escalates incrementally over weeks, months or years. A chronic stress response can literally destroy the body bit-by-bit, yearby-year, until the damage may be life-limiting or life threatening. A great many physicians now believe that a chronic manifestation of the stress response may play a very large role in generating various forms of cancer, digestive tract diseases, serious circulatory problems, skeletal pathologies and a host of other debilitating medical issues. However serious the price may be that the body pays, it is also the case that relationships suffer dearly in every dimension of life. If the mind generates the opposite response, namely the relaxation response, quite a different story unfolds. If a person can contrive to manifest the relaxation response as a dominant experience, then the body regenerates itself. The relaxation response is a healing response, and its power is just as significant as the stress response even though the effect is opposite. My experience with individual clients has demonstrated over the years many unbelievable stories of self-managed regeneration in both physical and mental terms. The relaxation response releases incalculable capacities for constructive and regenerative purposes.
The basic mind/body interface can be seen as a variety of emotional states. These emotional states are either negative or positive and are reciprocals of each other. If the emotional state being experienced is essentially negative, then the positive emotions are crowded out. Happily, the opposite is also true. These emotional states constitute the primordial soup out of which mental and physical events emerge. I see the situation as a four- link chain of causation, which helps me to understand the process much more clearly. The first link is the basic emotional state. Second, thought patterns emerge out of the emotional state. Third, patterns of behaviour are derived from thought. Fourth, consequences are manifestations of the behaviour. In short, consequences can be traced back through the four links of causation to the basic emotional state. If the basic emotional state is a stress response, then the four-link chain of causation will be a negative chain resulting in negative consequences. If the basic emotional state is a relaxation response, then the four-link chain of causation will be a positive one and the consequences are therefore positive. These basic emotions not only have a mind/body expression, they also have an internal and external expression. The internal and external manifestations are just as important to comprehend because of their impact on the external environment as well as the internal environment. Just as the mind is dominant over the body, the inner manifestation is dominant over the outer manifestation. What you are inside you necessarily radiates outside even though you may believe that your talent for dissembling is flawless. Nobody dissembles with any significant degree of effectiveness. Usually the only one fooled in the process is the dissembler, and those around are not kidded even though they may pretend to be. Thus ones inner emotional state radiates to the outer world in spite of it all. The four-link chain emerges from basic inner emotions to external consequences by way of either a positive chain or a negative chain of causation (see Table 1). Table 1 looks at the relaxation response versus the stress response through five sets of emotional polarities. These emotional polarities make sense to me simply because they have emerged out of many years of working with individual clients as well as groups of students. I have tested this scheme involving the five sets of emotional polarities in a wide range of settings with people of many divergent backgrounds. My experience is that it has generally made sense to them. TABLE 1 FIVE EMOTIONAL POLARITIES STRESS RESPONSE Anger Fear Guilt Resentment Self-Doubt
RELAXATION RESPONSE Self-Awareness Joy Tranquility Affection Self-Esteem
There are two ways of looking at this table: first as the five sets of emotional polarities as reciprocal but opposing emotional states, second as two columns of emotional states under each basic response.
Keys to Personal Growth First, if you look at the left-hand column, you readily see an aggregate of five negative emotions, which, in their totality, are a formula for misery. Anger, fear, guilt, resentment and self-doubt can appear each in varying levels of severity or in a variety of combinations. Probably few people are smitten with all five negative emotions to such a high level that they totally crowd out any of the positive emotions. Yet, my experience leads me to believe that all too many of us manifest these negative emotions at levels, which are significantly limiting to our physical well being and to our relationships.
It is even more unfortunate that these negative states can be deeply programmed at the subconscious level where the mischief potential is enormous because we tend to deal with them through the conscious devices of denial and avoidance. By doing this, any person experiencing these negative emotions at the subconscious level is, by the very nature of things, enslaved by them. This slavery precipitates the compulsive behaviours that a person fails to understand, the self-sabotaging strategies an individual engages in and a host of self-limiting barriers that all too many people generate. Anybody can come up with a list of negative emotions that may be longer than my five or shorter. However, in my experience I find that I can deal with most issues concerning the stress response through exploring one or another of these five negative emotions whether they are consciously manifested or buried at the subconscious level. Obviously, if their manifestation is conscious, it is usually much easier to deal with them. However, if they are subconscious, their problem takes on a very different dimension. Through denial and avoidance an individual can seriously sabotage his/her own efforts of selfawareness, self-teaching or self-correcting. To successfully deal with the stress response it is certainly necessary to draw on the minds innate capacity for self-awareness, self-teaching and self-correcting. This is the same mental resource drawn on for the creative process. My experience leads me to believe that the two most dangerous negative emotions by far are anger and fear. In North America we tolerate high levels of aggressive, hostile behaviour. Our incredibly high level of domestic violence provides an alarming verification of this point. In the public arena hostile, aggressive behaviour is also extremely pervasive. The police, the courts and the legal system are clogged with the results of hostile, aggressive behaviour, which goes beyond the bounds of social and legal tolerance. Most anger fails to reach the level of aggressive behaviour, which results in official intervention. For many people the anger remains relatively buried with its behavioural expression being more devious, indirect and non-specific. This sub rosa anger is extremely destructive to the body, crippling to relationships and debilitating to talent. This form of anger unnecessarily feeds arguments that are pointless, antagonisms that are groundless and barriers that are irrelevant. Anger is contagious even if it is subconscious, just as any emotion is contagious. Thus willy-nilly subconscious expression of anger radiates to the external world with poisonous effects. At this point you may say to yourself that I am trying to push you into being a Pollyanna, spreading saccharine in your wake. This most assuredly is not the direction of my
argument. Many people who exude a saccharine overlay are merely trying to cover up for deep and pervasive anger. The laugh of an angry person has a hard edge with a hollow ring. The laugh of a joyful person radiates warmth and delight. If you are in touch with yourself, you can tell the difference instantly. Fear is as debilitating as anger. Many of the same points made about anger can be made about fear. Indeed, these two emotions are actually the flip side of each other. Through these two emotions the animal kingdom, as with mankind, has developed the fight or flight response as a survival mechanism. We have all seen animals which initiate an engagement with angry aggression only to turn tail and run. We have all seen animals who have run for it but when cornered turn on their attacker with ferocious savagery. Thus, fear and anger are, indeed, the flip side of each other. All of us have been in situations where a difficult meeting reveals certain individuals switching from fearful behaviour to angry behaviour, and vice versa. Fear, like anger, can become deeply pervasive and generalized. Also, it can be buried at the subconscious level as well as being a conscious emotion. Some common fears I run across are fear of the future, fear of the past, fear of success, fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of exposure and a galaxy of other fearful ghosts. These fears can come in elaborate combinations or they can be focused on a particular overwhelming circumstance. Male culture tends to be characterized by denial of fear and elaborate avoidance behaviour around this denial. On the other hand, female culture tends to deny anger and likewise engages in elaborate avoidance behaviour around this denial. Fear certainly gives rise to a panoply of compulsive behaviour patterns which the conscious mind finds either aggravating or downright embarrassing. These subconscious compulsions emerging out of fear create incredible tensions with conscious, rational thought. Thus stress is born. All too many people see stress primarily as externally induced by way of a lousy marriage or a rotten job. My experience leads me to believe that stress is magnified vastly by internal tensions and contradictions between compulsivity and reason, between subconscious and conscious events, between negative and positive emotions. Ill quickly touch on the three other negative emotions that are less serious than anger and fear but do poison both individual and group environments. Guilt, resentment and self-doubt add interesting variations on the theme to the stress response. All of us experience these inner negative dynamics, yet they are not intractable or beyond resolution. It is true that some people can be crippled by self-doubt or guilt or even resentment, but these are extreme situations. Generally, people are merely diminished or limited by these ghostly negative emotions, which are making their contribution to the basic shape of the stress response. Anyone who is made to feel guilty is diminished by the guilt, resulting in a self-perception of being flawed merchandise. Since nobody enjoys this experience, there is a subconscious tendency to convert heavy-duty guilt into a variety of fears or pervasive anger. Western culture has used guilt as a behaviour-control strategy. Consequently, many parents emerge with black belts and guilt-tripping, and just as unfortunately many teachers and others in authority guilt-trip. This behaviour-control strategy is extremely counterproductive and self-defeating. You may be able to induce guilt in others by shaming them, yet they likely will find a way to retaliate by continuing the behaviour,
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which drew the shaming in the first place. As a result the behaviour persists, overlaid with the misery of guilt. There are far better ways to create cooperative human behaviour than by producing the stress response. Another troublesome negative emotion is resentment. Generally, people resent other persons to whom they are closely related or involved with in prolonged association. In short, you resent those you know best. Its hardly worth resenting strangers or emotionally neutral objects. It lies at the level of aggravation and annoyance. The tendency is to resent someone over a particular item of behaviour or mannerism. Being irritated by someones warts and foibles is a diverting pastime but it can become very serious and very destructive. I have been told by friends, in all seriousness, that toilet paper is loaded on the spindle only one way to do it right. Unfortunately, other members of the family insist on doing it wrong. Out of such nonsense serious conflicts gradually emerge, overwhelming the positive and the delightful elements of a relationship. If resentment is fed generously enough, it can be converted into pervasive anger with all the destructive consequences. If a relationship is worth preserving, it is worth identifying the resentments and releasing them before they fester. This is as true at work as it is at home. The last negative emotion is self-doubt. The impostor phenomenon draws its juice from self-doubt with all the inherent, self-limiting implications. Through self-doubt a person projects him/herself into the future with negative anticipations. Therefore, self-doubt provides the framework for writing a negative script and then acting on the script. Self-doubt is definitely pervasive, and it is not difficult to aggravate this negative emotion. Male chauvinism not only fosters self-doubt among women, but it also feeds the selfdoubt of the male chauvinist. No one wins.
Keys to Personal Growth CHAPTER 2
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THE NEW AGE VIEW OF STRESS Introduction Todays highly competitive world encourages the belief that people charged with leadership must not display weakness, vulnerability or personal inadequacies of many sorts. This belief system tends to create a most unfortunate condition whereby professionals and managers often deny the pervasive as well as serious manifestations of stress. Since stress cumulates month by month and year by year, it may be possible to deny the symptoms long after the considerable accumulation of physical and emotional damage, to say nothing of the destructive effects on personal relationships, has occurred. Few adults in todays environment escape the mental and physical depletion caused by stress. There are important signs that should be watched for which may indicate that the stress levels are well above the comfort zone. Some of these signs are: 1. Do you grind your teeth at night or do you flex your jaw muscles during the day? 2. Do you have frequent intermittent headaches for no organic reason? 3. Do you sometimes have visual disturbances for which your physician can find no cause? 4. Does your digestive system sometimes feel like a knotted cord? 5. Do you breathe in short, shallow breaths? 6. Are you plagued by disturbances in your sleep? 7. Do you chronically suffer from cold hands and feet? 8. Do you feel vexed by lapses in memory and concentration? 9. Do you often feel fatigue for which your physician can find no reason? 10. Do you frequently feel that your interpersonal relationships suffer from tension? The 10 symptoms in the above list are extremely common. Any one of them can make your life uncomfortable and deplete your professional performance as well as your personal life. All too many people regard these symptoms as either normal or perhaps inescapable. If you take this view and simply let the tension and stress eat at your body, you may find yourself the unhappy owner of a serious clinical crisis. The Harvard team led by Herbert Benson, a pre-eminent physician in this field, has provided a wealth of research that is extremely helpful in developing an understanding of stress as a group problem as well as an individual problem. Another team, equally useful, is located at Executive Health Examiners. Their book, Stress Management for the Executive, is brilliantly clear and very much oriented to a New Age point of view. A few quotes from this book will be found in the following pages. As discussed in Chapter 1, the stress response is a negative physical and mental state shaped and propelled by five basic negative emotions: anger, fear, guilt, resentment and self- doubt. These internal emotions are either hidden or manifest, severe or slight, but to some degree and in some combination are present in everyone. The problem is how to identify these negative emotional states and how to change them. The four-link chain
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of causation does mean that these negative emotional states take shape as negative thinking and are then expressed as negative behaviour, which then precipitates negative consequences. By way of the four-link chain of causation, the misery at the individual level becomes the disruption at the group level. A critical mass of such emotional conditions present in enough individuals can gravely disrupt any organization at the top or at the bottom. Stress is not trivial even though by objective analysis many things, which trigger stress, are themselves quite trivial. This is the tragedy of stress: the magnifying of triviality into unwarranted crisis. The five basic negative emotions are the means by which we magnify problems and invent calamity. I would like to finish this section with a delightful quote from the book by Executive Health Examiners mentioned above. The quote was taken from a poem by Charles Bukowski. Its not the large things that send a man to the madhouse . . . not the death of his love but a shoelace that snaps with no time left . . . The Cost of Stress It is my firm opinion, after 30 years of experience in human resources work, that stress is pervasive throughout the marketplace, and that stress generates enormous financial costs as well as costs in human capital. For example, recent studies in the U.S. indicate that one-fifth of American professionals and managers are involved with the abuse of a wide range of chemicals and drugs. Suggested cost to the American marketplace is $60 billion annually. It is also estimated that headaches and other forms of stress-related pain generate approximately $50 billion of market place costs. Per capita in the United States, the consumption of physician- prescribed mood-altering drugs averages 80 tablets per year per person. Over half of the sales of any drugstore are in response to ailments which are principally stress-related. Many experts believe that stress is an important component in aggravating acute or deteriorative diseases. Stress can reduce the ability of your immune system to fight off respiratory ailments. High blood pressure and other cardiovascular problems can be seriously aggravated by stress. Asthma and a variety of allergies appear often to be triggered by stress. Clinicians at the Menninger Foundation in Topeka, Kansas have for a generation treated migraine headaches as a straightforward symptom of stress. The individual medical concerns that stress generates are real and they are serious. Problems of the mind do inevitably become problems of the body. The Menninger Foundation has provided clinical leadership in this field for over a generation. The group significance generated from the medical symptoms of stress is clearly seen by Menninger physician, John C. Connelly. A piece of his appears in the book by Executive Health Examiners. Our society is quick to recognize the positive effects of change but slow to acknowledge and deal with the stresses and instability that invariably accompany it. There is no doubt in my mind that a significant part of the vague uneasiness and apprehension that so pervade our society is the result of all the changes taking place around us that we cannot control.
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Its easy to become overwhelmed so that we either throw up our hands and feel there is nothing that we can control, or we rigidly hang on to what we have, fearing that even that will be lost. Its no wonder that people tend to resist change, and the more unstable a persons life, the more desperately s/he clings to what he has even if what s/he has isnt very good. The list of such issues could go on and on, but the point is: Is there an alternative to the massive financial and human costs associated with stress? Stress Management Thousands of outstanding clinicians such as leading psychotherapists and physicians have created a vast amount of research and experience in the area of successful stress management without detriment to motivation, ambition or dynamic leadership. The previously mentioned Menninger Clinic pioneered this field, and today pioneers such as Gerald Jampolsky, Hans Selye, Dennis Jaffe, R. L. Woolford, R. Richardson, Norman Cousins and Neil Oleshan, to name only a few, are continuing the work. It is now quite firmly established that 20 minutes of carefully coached daily exercises for a period of a few weeks to a few months can drastically diminish the physical and emotional damage done by stress. Although physical exercise is an important ingredient, along with a carefully designed nutritional program, the real key to successful stress management lies with mental exercises, which actually change physical and emotional conditions. For example, through mental power you can learn to raise the temperature of your hands and feet by 5-10oC. Strange as it may seem, you can even be trained to use your mind to voluntarily reduce blood pressure. In fact, the mind can be used as an unbelievably powerful agent to work positively for your benefit and your physical enhancement. These mental exercises include a number of techniques, which are related in that they all draw on the vast resources of the subconscious mind. But the techniques do vary in emphasis and style. Some individuals, for personal reasons, prefer one technique over others even though all of them may achieve roughly the same results. These techniques all involve reprogramming the subconscious mind so that greater conscious control is generated over specific behaviours, which are proving to be a problem. The process is not so much a clinical procedure as would be performed by a physician through surgery or pharmaceuticals, but rather the techniques associated with mental exercises are best seen as a training process or a coaching program much like athletics. Some of the best-known techniques are: biofeedback training, progressive relaxation, training in positive imaging, programmed meditation, creative personal affirmations and hypno-training or self-hypnosis. If these techniques are performed for 20 minutes a day for a period of a few months, the resulting physical and behavioural changes can appear almost miraculous. Through a wealth of research, Herbert Benson and the Harvard team, in parallel with many other teams across the nation, have clearly delineated the physiological and anatomical dimensions of the stress response versus the relaxation response. Such measurements include differences in respiration, blood pressure, heart rate, gastric fluid production, hormone production, brainwave patterns and innumerable other factors.
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Even though stress can be quantified through such measurements, it is not a sufficient understanding of stress. All these physicians realize that stress is essentially a mental manifestation with measurable physical consequences. Such physicians, therefore, approach the management of stress through mind- training techniques rather than through palliative pharmaceuticals. Indeed, mind training is very much the issue. If appropriate techniques are used in mind training, the physical consequences of stress can be dramatically reduced or even more dramatically they can be reversed. The behavioural and social consequences of stress can be just as dramatically changed as physical symptoms. There are many techniques for safe and effective training of the human mind for enhanced performance. In Your Maximum Mind, Herbert Benson provides an 8-step process for mobilizing the inherent qualities of the mind for self-awareness, self-teaching and self- correcting. His training process is simple and straightforward and certainly practical. In the following quote the 8-step process is clearly described. Step 1. Pick a focus word or short phrase thats firmly rooted in your personal belief system. For example, a Christian person might choose The Lord is my Shepherd, a Jewish person Shalom, a non-religious person a neutral word like one or peace. Step 2. Sit quietly in a comfortable position. Step 3. Close your eyes. Step 4. Relax your muscles. Step 5. Breathe slowly and naturally, and as you do, repeat your focus word or phrase as you exhale. Step 6. Assume a positive attitude. Dont worry about how well youre doing. When other thoughts come to mind, simply say to yourself, Oh, well, and gently return to the repetition. Step 7. Continue for 10 to 20 minutes. Step 8. Practice the technique once or twice daily.
For many years now affirmations have been promoted as a technique by as diverse professionals as Lou Coffey-Lewis, a human resources specialist, and Gerald Jampolsky, a psychiatrist. From a human resources point of view, Lou Coffey-Lewis has done a great job in pulling the various training techniques together for rewiring subconscious pathways to improve performance and to heighten organizational
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effectiveness. She understands the simplicity of the training approach very well, and her most practical book, Be Restored to Health, clearly describes these approaches. For many years I have used affirmations in both my personal and professional life with powerful benefits. I hasten to say that denial and avoidance hang-ups can sabotage affirmations just as they can sabotage any other useful approach. If used properly, affirmations are so simple they seem almost absurd. Simple they are, but absurd they are not. Nevertheless, you need to follow a few simple principles to make affirmations work for you. In constructing your affirmations, remember these points: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. State your affirmation simply. Keep the focus clear. State the affirmation in the present tense. State the affirmation as achieved perfection. Repeat the affirmation to yourself on a scheduled basis. Repeat the affirmation when you are most relaxed. Maintain a passive attitude while repeating the affirmation. Do not argue with the affirmation. Write the affirmation for visual reinforcement.
You will find suggested affirmations for each day in the second part of this book. However, I suggest that you write your own affirmations for greatest relevance. Another approach which I make extensive use of with myself and my individual clients I refer to as structured meditation. I encourage people to use this technique on a daily basis, targeting approximately 20 minutes for the exercise. I vary the technique for some clients by emphasizing such skills as biofeedback training, autogenic training, creative visualization, etc. Many people like to use an audiotape to guide the process, while others perform the exercise without the guidance of a tape. The approach is eclectic and very effective. The only serious self-sabotaging hazards are deeply pervasive angers and fears. Anyone can learn to acknowledge these hazards and to passively deal with them rather than letting them sabotage the exercise. Here is a point-by-point description of the structured meditation exercise. 1. Sit in a comfortable chair with head supported or lie prone on a comfortable surface. 2. Centre your body by moving about until the greatest degree of comfort is achieved. 3. Begin to breathe deeply and slowly and regularly with each cycle being approximately a count of 10. 4. Repeat the deep breathing for roughly 20 cycles. 5. Now, create a scenario in your mind that is positive, meaningful and even mirthful. 6. Let the scenario develop passively without forcing it or quibbling. 7. If something negative should intrude on the scenario, then use the four-step formula for release. First, passively accept the presence of the negative intrusion;
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second, permit yourself to learn something about yourself as a lesson offered by the negative intrusion; third, export the negative thought by metaphor, such as burning it in a furnace, pitching it into a body of water or releasing it attached to a gas balloon; fourth, redirect your energy back to the positive scenario. 8. Continue running the scenario in your mind for 2 or 3 minutes. 9. Begin to focus on the relaxation process by counting backward from 21. 10. When you reach the count of one, affirm to yourself that you are now completely relaxed and at peace. 11. Now that you have achieved a relaxed state, visualize important scenes at work, in the family or at play as a positive statement of desired conditions. 12. Practice one or more of these scenes in each exercise. 13. Acknowledge to yourself that you are ready to return to the external world by counting to three. 14. At the count of three take one last deep breath and affirm that you are glad to be alive and slowly stretch and resume normal activity. Generally, the point is to reduce or eliminate the stress response and to greatly amplify the relaxation response. The remaining part of this chapter is devoted to an instrument for identifying emotional and behavioural factors, which suggest the presence of stress. I call this instrument STRESS- DEX. The scoring system has a maximum count of 100 which, of course, would indicate total flameout. This instrument is not a clinical tool for diagnostic work but rather it represents an approach for self-identification and self-instruction. You will probably score yourself on each item at a lower level than your mate or your colleagues would do. In this matter, like many others, it is tempting to fudge the issue in order to con ourselves just a little bit. STRESS-DEX This is a list of symptoms you may encounter when you experience stress. Note each symptom and indicate the degree to which you experience it by placing the number on the lines to the left: 1 (not at all), 2 (a little), 3 (somewhat), 4 (moderately), 5 (very much). ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. I have frequent headaches for no known organic reason. I am bothered by disturbances in my sleep. I chronically suffer from cold hands and feet. I frequently feel that my interpersonal relationships suffer from tension. My digestive system sometimes feels like a knotted cord. I feel vexed by lapses in memory and concentration. My heart often beats very fast.
Keys to Personal Growth ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. I feel jittery in my body. I worry too much. I get diarrhea. I imagine terrifying scenes. I pace nervously. I become immobilized. I cant make up my mind soon enough. I perspire excessively. I breathe in short, shallow breaths. I grind my teeth at night. I am frequently angry or irritable. I often feel fatigued for no apparent reason. I feel guilty when I take time out to relax.
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If you scored over 40 you very likely should be taking remedial action, such as a training program to relieve the underlying causes of your stress. As mentioned before, the intent of this chapter is aimed at a better understanding of stress as both an individual debilitator as well as a form of disinvestment for the organization. This connection is crucial because it reveals the relationship between individual minds and the dynamics of organizational culture. As discussed in earlier chapters, the four-link chain of causation is either a negative sequence or a positive one. If negative emotions dominate an individual personality and if there is a critical mass of such persons in an organization, then the effect can be quite disruptive to the organization. Negative emotions can give rise to patterns of behaviour which become strategies of life for a given person. In organizational terms a coalescence of such strategies can result in behavioural systems that become part of the organizational culture. Thus, negative behavioural systems become a capital disinvestment for the individual and for the company. The next chapter will explore five major strategies that emerge out of the stress response and, in doing go, become inhibitory factors for the company or, in fact, any other social organization. Negative life strategies rarely are isolated to one particular social setting. Stressful patterns in the family can readily be transferred to the work
Keys to Personal Growth setting, and vice versa. Few people segment life with any degree of consistency or success. In the following chapter these issues are explored.
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Keys to Personal Growth CHAPTER 3 BLOCKS TO FULFILLMENT Introduction
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An addiction is an emotion-backed demand or desire for something you tell yourself you must have to be happy. Addictions, or addictive demands, can be on yourself, other people, objects or situations. You can always tell when you have an addiction because: 1. It creates tension in your body. 2. It makes you experience separating emotions, such as resentment, anger, fear, jealousy, worry, anxiety and boredom. Look into your own experience and notice how the above emotions make you feel separate from yourself and others. Separating emotions are contrasted with unifying emotions, which give you experiences of acceptance, love, joy, happiness, peace and purpose in life. 3. Your mind is insistently telling you that things must be different in order for you to enjoy your life here and now. 4. Your mind makes you think there is something important to win or lose in this situation-- that your happiness depends on the soap opera. 5. You feel that you have a problem in your life--instead of experiencing life as an enjoyable game to be played. (Reprinted from How to Enjoy Your Life in Spite of It All by Ken Keyes, Jr., Copyright 1980 by Living Love Publications) This quote neatly summarizes a point of view toward addictions, which I have found to have enormous explanatory power and practical application. Ken Keyes has contributed, as much as anyone has done, to the understanding of addictions. Another important contribution has been made by John Bradshaw in a television series broadcast by PBS. The series is entitled Bradshaw on the Family. These two men and other people look at addictions from a New Age point of view focusing on the emotional dimensions of the various compulsivities which drive addictive strategies. Ken Keyes focuses on three addictive strategies of life, which I have adapted and extended as a result of my own teaching and experience with individual clients. In this chapter I will explore the five addictive strategies as blocks to fulfillment and as major themes of the chronic stress response (see Table 2).
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TABLE 2 FIVE ADDICTIVE STRATEGIES OF LIFE THE POWER ADDICTION 1. The compulsion to dominate others even though it may be counterproductive. THE DEPENDENCY ADDICTION 2. A compulsive need to cling to one or more people even if it is self- sabotaging. THE CONFLICT ADDICTION 3. Precipitating win/lose situations even when there is no need for it. 4. THE SECURITY ADDICTION A focused or pervasive drive to eliminate risk even though you may aggravate it. THE SUBSTANCE ADDICTION 5. A periodic or pervasive dependency on one or more chemicals, foods, drugs, etc.
I will explore these five addictive strategies of life to better understand the disinvestment consequences of them along with some insight for unhooking from these strategies. More than you may realize these addictive strategies can become major organizing themes of behaviour in a wide variety of situations but always they will have negative consequences. The negative emotions discussed in Chapter 1 provide the primordial soup out of which these addictive strategies emerge. As systems of behaviour they can therefore be traced back to emotional states. It would be handy to remember the fourlink chain of causation discussed in Chapter 1 and Chapter 2. The Power Addiction As Ken Keyes, John Bradshaw and others see it, this addiction and others are energized by states of compulsivity, which block judicious choice, normal prudence, a sense of discretion and a healthy free will. When you look at a power addiction with these things in mind, it is most likely that several friends or acquaintances pop into mind. All of us know people who have a need to dominate other people in a way, which lacks charm or sensitivity. It may be that such a person will target his/her efforts primarily on one or more family members, or it may be that the target or targets are primarily outside the family. This addiction, like all others, can be triggered by specific situations or particular
Keys to Personal Growth individuals. Furthermore, the addiction may be episodic rather than continuously present. This addiction and the others can be anywhere from trifling to overwhelming. The compulsivities, which drive addictions, by their very nature, have self-sabotaging consequences. The self-sabotaging consequences are there simply because of the absence of discretion, prudence, restraint, etc. The drive to dominate another person may so completely discomfort that person that s/he rebels or retreats completely from the relationship. Such a loss obviously sabotages the quest for domination.
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It is impossible to escape in normal social situations power dimensions of relationships. This is obviously true at work, dealing with officialdom such as the police, and even in organized recreational settings. However, it is just as important to recognize the power relationships that exist between parents and children and other dimensions of the kinship systems. Even though power is pervasive, it need not be unjust, unreasonable, irrational or capricious. Ordinarily power is used with a sense of propriety and appropriateness to say nothing of prudence. When power is manifested addictively, then it becomes capricious and irrational. The compulsivities driving the power addiction generate stress in the perpetrator as well as stress in the recipient. The compulsive capriciousness poisons the relationship and diminishes both the recipient and the perpetrator. Recently I had a client who came to me because she wanted to quit smoking. During the training process I worked with her in regard to a number of dimensions of her life. She was a tough 45 year old who complained bitterly about the alienation of her children and hostility to her on the part of her employees. It soon became evident to me, and somewhat later to her, that she had more than one addiction. Smoking was definitely a health problem and constituted a deeply fixed addiction. But the power addiction that she radiated toward family and colleagues had built within her an enormous reservoir of stress and vague apprehensions. The stress generated by her power addiction was complicating her efforts to detach herself from the nicotine addiction. Her conscious struggle with her smoking amplified the stress and seriously aggravated the anger and power-tripping directed toward other people. It gradually became clear to her that she was in a bind of major proportions, which had been protected over the years by an elaborate network of denial and avoidance. Gradually in my relationship with her the overwhelming question shifted from Why was she compelled to smoke? to Why was she compelled to dominate family and colleagues? Her power addiction resulted in an intense sense of loneliness and isolation as well as chronic and pervasive apprehensions. She decided herself that if she could unhook from her desperate need to dominate, she could then much more effectively tackle the problem of smoking. I followed this strategy with her and taught her the necessary techniques to accomplish the first job. She used them successfully and began a process of profound changes in her style of relating to those around her. After this victory was achieved, it indeed was a straightforward matter to teach her how to unhook from smoking.
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She discovered that her power addiction was traceable to her childhood. In her family environment the parents were both weak and vacillating. They demonstrated affection erratically and ineffectually. Very early in her childhood my client developed the need to control the flow of affection and control its predictability. Over time the problem with affection emerged as a drive to dominate. As what happens in these circumstances, the pattern became fixed at the subconscious level. As she matured it remained fixed, and through adulthood this childhood problem took shape as an organizing principle of behaviour, namely her power addiction. As she developed her understanding of this deep-seated subconscious emotional hangup, she was able to reprogram her subconscious fixation to a new program which allowed for relationships relatively free of the drive to dominate. The Dependency Addiction The dependency addiction is just another strategy which is generally anchored in childhood. Again, the childhood problem concerns the matter of affection. It is a truism to state that the most crucial issue in childhood is the matter of affection. Of course, nourishment and safety are critical to survival, but so is affection. If one or the other parent is erratic or unreliable in demonstrating unqualified affection, then the child has a problem. If parents bargain with affection or if they are prone to be neglectful or even abusive, the child has a problem which escalates in severity. The dependency addiction can emerge as a pattern of behaviour which tries to solve problems precipitated by the erratic flow of affection or the withdrawal of affection. An important thing to remember is that children are powerless. In particular, infancy is a totally dependent condition actively shaped by the outside world. At this stage the need for reliable affection is fundamental and utterly essential. Through the behavioural tactics of the dependency addiction, the child can attempt to manipulate the outside world by trying to get control over the flow of affection. This is done through a compulsive need to cling. The clinging becomes more frenetic and more insistent through time as an effort to assuage fear in regard to the possibility that affection will not be forthcoming. Thus the subconscious program is set and the person grows up desperately clinging to those identified as sources of affection. The fear of rejection drives this compulsion in a relentless and desperate fashion. When thinking of the dependency addiction, it is tempting to see it as a problem characteristic of women and half-grown children. Nevertheless, I have worked with senior male executives who have manifested this problem, particularly in the domestic arena. A few years ago a vice-president of a major oil company came to me for some training in preventing stress. Indeed, he was extremely stressed with many of the classic manifestations of a highly stressed life.
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Although he functioned competently in his role as vice-president, he was, at age 50, very close to burnout. He was beginning to see himself as inadequate and vulnerable to some of the younger senior staff. While exploring various dimensions of his life, I discovered a revealing and crucial fact of behaviour, although the information did come with very grudging reluctance. When work ended on Friday afternoon, he went directly home and went to bed. He stayed there until Monday morning and then with difficulty he tore himself from the bedroom to go to the office. Throughout his weekend he demanded that his wife pamper him in every conceivable way. She brought him meals in bed and even allowed the family poodle to stay in bed with him for comfort. It turned out that his current wife had married him only recently, and she was number five. When I began working with him, she let it be known that he was very close to needing number six wife because she found his clinging suffocating and intolerable. He had obviously used the same strategy in earlier marriages, resulting in the disaster of divorce. My client was an extremely bright man and responded very quickly to the training regime. As he developed insight into his clinging behaviour, he was able to use the training tools to unhook from his childlike dependency. As this behaviour pattern abated, the stress level began a dramatic decline. As the stress level declined and the offensive behaviour diminished, his wife became a good deal more affectionate. As the domestic situation rapidly improved, there was a clear and dramatic effect on his situation at the office. His self-esteem flowered considerably along with a dramatically renewed sense of joy in his work. His work behaviour improved so much that after only 6 months he received a substantial promotion. Whereas before he began the training regime he was desperately fearful of a demotion. It may have occurred to you already that the dependency addiction is as much a need to control as is the power addiction. That is true. Indeed, these two addictions are the flip side of each other. It is also quite true that a given individual can manifest both strategies, depending on the circumstances or the persons involved. Many of us have married friends who engage in an elaborate dance of playing the power/dependency game. In one situation the husband plays a power-tripping role and his wife clings in an infantile manner. Change the situation and the couple may reverse the power/dependency relationship. The effort consumed in this game can be so enormous that it leaves little time or energy for more constructive pursuits. The dependency addiction generates just as much stress as does the power addiction. Most assuredly dependency debilitates a relationship and diminishes the recipient and the perpetrator alike. The self-consequences of this addiction can easily result in the loss of the very person that the addiction is trying to control. Thus the addiction accomplishes the very opposite of that which the addiction is all about--the ultimate self-sabotaging consequence. The Conflict Addiction
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The cultural ethos of our society provides a social milieu which tends to disguise and to cover up the pervasive conflict addiction. For millennia Western society has shaped its literature, its politics and its social relationships through institutionally sanctioned modes of conflict. A clich of today provides a sample. A few generations ago the phrase rule of thumb was much more than a clich. In English common law, rule of thumb meant that you could beat your wife with a weapon so long as the weapon was not thicker than a mans thumb. Many activists engaged in the animal protection movement of last century often observed that the new animal protection laws were more solicitous of horses and dogs than any legal recourse available to children. Only within the last generation has there been a serious effort to legally protect children against excessive parental violence. However, the conflict addiction most often is not expressed in violent attack. In this era we are becoming far less tolerant of violence, even in such places as prisons. Although the media still foster violence as a problem-solving strategy, our legislative and legal systems are definitely waging a major effort to discourage this form of conflict. Mostly conflict is demonstrated through disputation, competitive practices and other forms of abrasive relationships. Conflict can be manifested in indirect and disguised behaviour. Even though the conflict may be disguised and indirect, its effects are in no way limited. The counterproductive, negative and stressful consequences are just as present when conflict is socially controlled and socially sanctioned. The essence of the conflict addiction lies in the compulsivity behind it. The driving need to foster win/lose situations removes the element of restraint, of judicious choice and of prudence from the behavioural context. The compulsivity brings about the selfsabotaging dimension of the conflict addiction. If a person enters into conflict without prudence, s/he is as likely to lose the contest as s/he is to win it. Because conflict is so widely sanctioned, it becomes difficult to finger the addictive persons. This failure to identify the situation leads to a failure to correct the situation. Worse still, our view of ambition and success is fed significantly by the notion of relentless competition, struggle and conflict. You may suspect that the alternative to the conflict addiction is wimpiness or the doormat syndrome. In no way am I suggesting such a thing. Some conflict is unavoidable. But much conflict is avoidable, and organizations would be healthier if we used successful techniques for avoiding conflict or effectively resolving it when it occurs. The roots of the conflict addiction are much the same as they are for power and dependency. This addiction is just another childhood strategy for resolving the problem of affection. The powerlessness of childhood tends to promote the self-destructive strategies very early in the game when affection is withheld or erratic. I am sure all of us have had experience with children who have extraordinary talents for creating a tumult among the adults. Even though the tumult may result in punishment, the fact is the child obtains attention even if affection is lacking. Thus the self-destructive pattern of conflict is born and maintained. The Security Addiction
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Union contracts, retirement plans and insurance policies all seek to assure a future as free as possible from risk. These efforts are prudent and reasonable and certainly necessary in our complex economic life. It is very natural and understandable that people should seek a variety of devices for reducing risk by making the future as secure as possible. Indeed, one of the main functions of a society is to promote and provide a sense of security for its members. In this regard North America is much more successful than a great many societies around the world. Yet it is a never-ending quest of both government and business to avoid unnecessary risk and all obvious hazards of life. Unfortunately, mankind has not learned how to cancel all risk. Risk is part of the human condition even though our institutions may considerably reduce major hazards. Capitalism is based on the concept of risk, and indeed life itself is an unfolding tapestry of unforeseen risks. The security addiction reveals a compulsion to deny risk. This strategy projects the individual into the future with the driving need to prevent risk. It is the denial of risk that is at the heart of this addictive strategy. The behaviour emerging out of the security addiction can be quite bizarre. Compulsive hoarding is one manifestation. I remember a businessman I knew casually who would walk blocks to get a free photocopy. Everyone has a favourite story about a miserly acquaintance whose behaviour provided considerable amusement. Miserly behaviour can become so irksome to intimates that the behaviour destabilizes intimate relationships--thereby introducing a new form of risk. The same compulsion can lead to the need to make the big score and thus provide a safe future. This may lead to the self-sabotaging strategy of big stakes gambling and imprudent stock investments. In this manner millionaires can be made and unmade with astonishing frequency. I have heard acquaintances boast about making millions, losing them and making them again. When listening to such stories, I am prompted to think, Isnt once enough? Part of the skill of making millions includes the skill of stabilizing the achievement. However, the security addiction can lead such a person to believe that any achievement is not enough, and the compulsion drives that person to take great risks in acquiring more. The irony is the millions can be lost that way. The self-sabotaging consequence of the security addiction is the tendency to provoke risk. The compulsivity blocks prudence, and therefore an individual may achieve the opposite consequence to the presumed target of the addiction. As a result, stress is magnified, relationships suffer and life is diminished. The Sensation Addiction There is little need to discuss this dimension of addictions since there is such a vast literature on the subject. Addiction to food, to chemicals, to pharmaceuticals and to other substances is dealt with by the electronic and print media relentlessly. However, we are schizophrenic about various addictions to substances of many kinds. At the same time the media promotes awareness of addictions, they also foster addictions. The golden era of Hollywood certainly fostered smoking as a sophisticated practice. One of the most insidious substance addictions concerns sugar. Western society is truly addicted to sugar and has been for more than a century. A splendid book on the subject,
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Seeds of Change, was written by an English journalist named Henry Hobhouse. As an example, 300 years ago the average European consumed approximately one pound of sugar per year. Today the average consumption is 150 pounds per year. Hypoglycemia and diabetes appear to be biochemical consequences of excessive sugar consumption. The behavioural consequences for children and adults can be extraordinary. Many people yo-yo between apprehensive and depressive moods to exaggerate frenzies. Recent research in North American prisons suggests that a great deal of pointless conflict and violence is fostered by sugar consumption which may be as high as 7 or 8 pounds per person per week among these populations. When experimental diets have been introduced, removing sugar from the diet, behaviour within the prisons improves enormously. Many school boards across North America have had the same experience with student populations. Generally, the addiction to sugar and caffeine is taken lightly. However, Dr. Janice K. Phelps, a Seattle physician, argues differently in her book, The Hidden Addiction: How to Get Free. She argues, with some potency, that alcohol and drug dependency constitute a secondary stage of addiction from an earlier sugar and caffeine dependency. Whether this is true or not, Western society does have a very serious sugar problem. The biochemical aspects of addiction provide a general focus of research and therapy in regard to addictions. However, I believe that the emotional dimension provides the driving energy for this addictive strategy just as with the four previous ones. During my early adulthood I was a very heavy smoker. Before I quit a couple of decades ago, I reached a habit level of about three packs a day. During the 20 years I was an active smoker, I quit several times, sometimes for a few weeks, sometimes for a few months and twice for over a year. My return to smoking was nearly always precipitated by a self-destructive, defeatist and depressive emotional state. I clearly remember the state of mind precipitating the return to smoking. The simple phrase, Who gives a damn?! neatly summarizes the emotional climate. Nearly everyone struggles with a sensation addiction in regard to one substance or another. As a matter of fact, it is reported that some joggers become addicted to the oxygen high from jogging. There are those who become addicted to the adrenalin high of daredevil sports. All too many deaths and serious disabilities derive from this behaviour. Suffice it to say that the sensation addiction is pervasive and serious, even though we know a great deal about it. Unhooking from this addiction is as much a mind problem as it is a body problem. The social and personal stresses precipitated by this addiction are obvious to all of us. However, these stresses can be reduced by the same techniques of emotionally unhooking as with the other four addictive strategies.
Keys to Personal Growth CHAPTER 4 CAPACITIES OF YOUR MIND Introduction
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In the early years of my career as a conventional social scientist, I struggled with the understanding of human culture and its relationship to human mind. During the 50s, 60s and 70s, I was exposed to every school of thought imaginable. Early in my career I was heavily influenced by Freud and his view of the subconscious mind. In more recent years I have been influenced by psychologists such as Stanley Krippner, James Fadiman and Frances Vaughan and the concept of mind as a transpersonal reality as well as an individual reality.
Although Freuds influence is rapidly dwindling, much of the popular view of the subconscious mind is a legacy of Freudian thought. The popular view of the subconscious mind is characterized by the metaphor of the dirty basement--a dark place full of junk from the past, much of which is at best fearful or more likely obscene. During training exercises to teach clients and students how to use techniques to mobilize the power of the subconscious mind, I typically must deal with this popular perception of the subconscious mind as being a fearful and unpleasant reality. Much of Western religious belief has given theological support to this unflattering view. The Three Dimensions of Mind The New Age view of the subconscious mind is very different from the traditional view. It is important to note that the New Age view adds a crucial third, dimension, that of the transpersonal mind (see Table 3). This school of thought recognizes that most human behaviour, meaning internal, physiological events as well as social behaviour, is governed by subconscious wiring. According to the current clich, 90-95% of all behaviour is governed more by subconscious wiring than by conscious deliberation.
TABLE 3 THE DIMENSIONS OF MIND
SUBCONSCIOUS MIND: Inner Awareness 1. a) The controller of sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems b) The archives of total experience c) The automated stage centre
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CONSCIOUS MIND: Outer Awareness a) The referee of ethical standards 2. b) The filter for unfamiliar experiences c) The voluntary messenger centre d) The guide for skill development e) The manager of voluntary action GROUP MIND: Transpersonal Awareness a) The source of intuitive insights 3. b) The focus for creative thinking c) The realm of archetypal ideas d) The source of psi phenomena
The subconscious mind is simply a total record of all experience within an individuals lifetime. Some contributions to the subconscious mind are processed through an individuals consciousness, but a great deal of experience simply bypasses the conscious state. The subconscious mind is neither good nor bad, logical or illogical, right or wrong, beautiful or ugly. It simply is total experience. Some experiences become hardwired into habits, rituals, automatic responses, or unfortunately, cravings. Some of the hard-wired patterns are extremely helpful to the individual, giving the job of managing a wide range of necessary activities to the subconscious mind so that the conscious mind is not paralyzed by an overload of choices. This aspect of the subconscious mind is absolutely essential and extremely valuable to the human animal as a facet of survival. The job of the conscious mind is to process matters involving ethics, problems requiring logic, experiences which are unfamiliar, and techniques for developing skills. Therefore, the conscious mind becomes the arbiter, the analyzer, the negotiator, the communicator. If the conscious mind and the subconscious mind are in congruence, and they generally are, then behaviour is consistent and the inner state is free of turbulence. However, if these two facets of the mind are not in congruence, then the personality is disrupted by self-sabotaging and self- defeating inner struggles. If the subconscious mind is hardwired for negative behaviour or disadvantageous behaviour, then conscious processes are thwarted, diminished or seriously crippled.
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As an archive, the subconscious mind constitutes a storehouse of images, memories, feelings and experiences, some of which are wonderful and some of which are a bit ugly. However, it simply is not necessary to focus on the ugly and thereby ignore the beautiful and the wonderful dimensions of subconscious reality. The conscious mind can be taught to gradually access subconscious material for constructive purposes. Moreover, the conscious mind can be taught to release that which is negative. This does not mean repressing or denying the negative; it means releasing it. And this is a very important distinction. The process of releasing negatives and affirming positives is a simple process relying on step-by-step training over a period of time. Some preliminary discussion of this point was made in Chapter 2. The training process is aimed at reducing the energy devoted to negative emotions and raising the energy devoted to positive emotions. In this process the trainee does not repress, deny or forget unpleasantness or negative emotions; he simply removes the energy from them. The energy thus saved can be more profitably invested through affirmations to the constructive and positive elements of mind. This training sequence switches emotional orientation from the stress response to the relaxation response. As the trainee mobilizes the relaxation response, his/her abilities are enriched in a profound way through this redirection of energy. The investment enables each person to build skills more easily, to focus on talents without sabotage and to expand innate capacities without diverting struggle. As each individual masters the technique of mobilizing the relaxation response, s/he enables him/herself to draw on the third dimension of mind, group mind, in a more direct and focused manner. Group mind in Western tradition is as suspect as subconscious mind. However, during the last decade in both Europe and North America there has been a dramatic and profound change in academic circles and among scientists in their perceptions and research regarding group mind. More and more we accept the idea that our personality does not end with the skin. As discussed in Chapter 1, your mental energy extends well beyond the limitations of your body. By virtue of this extension individual minds relate not just to each other but with each other through transpersonal awareness. This inner relationship among individuals becomes the essence of group mind and the capacity for transpersonal awareness. By releasing the negative blocks in the inner self it is possible to expand the connections with transpersonal awareness. Creativity, intuition, flashes of insight, appreciation of others become a new enriched dimension of mind which vastly increases availability of ideas and receptiveness to innovation. To the degree that an individual is able to mobilize the relaxation response, s/he opens her/himself to group mind and the personal advantages inherent in transpersonal awareness. The synergism of individual contributions to group efforts is magnified to an almost limitless degree by unfettered transpersonal functions of mind.
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Before talking about the seven states of being which comprise the last section of this chapter (see Table 4), I need to make a couple of connections. The seven states of being are the essential elements of group mind which offer a focus to life and the value, purpose and meaning necessary for group relationships. The simplest way to focus on the seven states of being is through affirmations. If you recall, this subject was briefly dealt with in Chapter 2. Now, a more thorough discussion of affirmations will help you understand the means by which the seven states of being are made more clearly manifests in life.
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TABLE 4 THE SEVEN STATES OF BEING
Beauty This state expands the awareness and acceptance of the miraculous and wondrous dimensions in life. Indeed, beauty is in all things, including oneself.
Joy Through joy the individual mobilizes laughter and an engagement with life that is full of zest and pervasive pleasure.
Affection The inner focus of affection is as essential as its outer manifestation replete with caring generosity, non-judgemental acceptance and a connecting sense of kindness.
Creativity The state of creativity requires openness and receptiveness achieved through the creation of peaceful and harmonious emotions.
Knowledge The affirmation of knowledge is the awareness that the universe is overflowing with the building blocks of life, and affirming knowledge focuses the mind on this availability.
Health Physical health needs affirming as an abundant and perfect state of being, as with all seven states. The aura of expectation is thereby focused in a constructive fashion.
Keys to Personal Growth Material Abundance Wealth is a greater concept than money. Material abundance recognizes the plenitude offered by the universe and the availability of this plenitude to everyone. Affirmations First and foremost, affirmations are a positive statement about some aspect of your physical, emotional or mental being. They can also be positive statements about situations, about other people or about aspects of work performance or even of performance in sports. Elizabeth Manley, a silver medalist in ice skating at the 1988 Winter Olympics, described her use of affirmations in clear detail in many of the interviews given to journalists. It may be fair to say that the sports world has been a major leader in the use of affirmations to enhance performance.
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Even if reality falls short of your affirmation of perfection, this is no reason to qualify your affirmation with negative references. Affirmations are meant as a device for changing the aura of expectation, rather than as a way to delude yourself. When affirmations are stated as achieved perfection, you build the anticipation of moving toward that perfection, careful step by careful step. The aura of expectation provides the goal orientation, even though the affirmation itself is presented to yourself as though you have already achieved the goal. If you qualify the affirmation with acknowledged limits, shortcomings, difficulties or other limiting conditions, you sabotage the aura of expectation and your clear focus on that expectation. Consequently, each affirmation must be stated as a condition or state of perfect being in regard to the particular matter being dealt with. Another principle to be remembered concerns the time reference of affirmations. They must always be presented in the present tense; never qualified by past shortcomings or future difficulties. Again, the aura of expectation is important in regard to time frame. The aura of expectation is irrelevant to the past since the past is dead and gone and therefore cannot be changed. It follows, then, that connecting the aura of expectation to past events is a major self- sabotaging error. Likewise, if the reference for the aura of expectation is placed in the future, you have thereby removed it from your grasp because the future is the future and it is ever receding. To hang the aura of expectation on future references is just as much a self- sabotaging error as on past references. Therefore, the affirmation must be stated in the here- and-now of the individuals experience. This practice connects the aura of expectation to the rewiring process of the subconscious mind in a direct, relevant and effective manner. Affirmations are not only useful in rewiring negative, subconscious connections, but just as importantly the aura of expectation created by the affirmations focuses the mind on transpersonal awareness. The seven states of being are integrated into the mental state through disciplined use of affirmations when correctly expressed. The message in this section is very clear: there is a right way to do affirmations and there are plenty of wrong ways. Thus, it is necessary to make sure that you carefully follow the principles of constructing affirmations for your own use.
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The power of each affirmation is greatly enhanced if you repeat them to yourself during a meditative state. By slowing the body and mind down through meditation, all dimensions of mind are much more receptive to the impact of the affirmation. Moreover, the meditation itself trains the body and mind to experience the relaxation response, and by experiencing this state there becomes a growing acceptance of it as well as a desire to achieve it throughout the day. It is possible to focus attention on each affirmation by writing it out and placing it where it will be seen on a regular basis. The posting of affirmations is certainly useful, yet it should be understood that this approach is not as effective as stating the affirmation to yourself in a totally relaxed state--provided by meditation or other techniques. The Aura of Expectation A few more words are required regarding the aura of expectation. This concept, the aura of expectation, is essential to the understanding of affirmations and how they work. Superficially, the idea of the aura of expectation appears to be in some ways selfcontradictory. However, if you follow the argument carefully, you will probably recognize that this concept possesses enormous power in writing your personal scripts for your own life. An everyday example will make this concept regarding the aura of expectation quite clear. Imagine a young person receiving for a springtime birthday a full outfit for trout fishing. The fly rod, the waders, the hat, the net all create an instant image of the accomplished fly fisherman deftly making each perfect cast. This is what the youngster has in mind at the moment he begins his frustrating career as a fly fisherman. This youngster, being bright and alert, will start the process by acquiring some books and magazines on the subject. Next, he will seek out some friends who are already well into trout fishing. Then the day comes when they go out to a carefully chosen stream for the big initiation. The equipment is carefully donned, the fly rod prepared and the first cast is made. Horror of horrors, the line arcs out over the water and then swings back over his left shoulder and hooks firmly in the back of his hat. So much for the perfect cast! The second cast reveals the line disappearing altogether and captures a willow 10 yards behind. Something has got to change if the perfect cast is ever going to occur. The difference between the notion of the perfect cast and the slightly tragic initiation reveals a vast gulf. The idea of a perfect cast is the aura of expectation. Reality is the hooked willow. If the young trout fisherman says to himself, I know what the perfect cast is but I will never achieve it, chances are the waders and the rod will be relegated to the attic and that will be the end of his fishing career. However, he may say to himself, I know what the perfect cast is and I am perfectly capable of making it. Now he has made the right affirmation to enable him to launch a successful fishing career. His idea of the perfect cast is not lodged in his mind to delude himself but rather it is there as an aura of expectation which he can affirm for himself day by day and accomplishment by accomplishment. If he qualifies his aura of expectation by focusing on his first halting casts, he will corrupt the area of expectation by writing a script crippled by qualifications. If his affirmations remain clear and without qualification, then his script focuses on excellence and success and the aura of expectation is thereby pristine.
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Moreover, his aura of expectation is a current concept, not a future concept. If he places it in the future, then the target is ever receding and ever receding. Therefore, he affirms his goal as an aura of expectation in the here-and-now, devoid of time reference and absent of judgmental criticisms. Again, this is not to delude himself but rather it is an effective method of getting all of the junk out of the way so that skills and talent and capacity can be realized. Another example may add further light. An elderly gentleman, 101 years old, goes off to his physician complaining of a very sore knee. The physician examines his elderly patient and after careful diagnosis the doctor proclaims gravely that there is nothing medicine can do for the sore knee. George, the elderly gentleman, greets the diagnosis with utter scepticism. The doctor assures George that he must expect such untreatable ailments to occur because, after all, George is 101 years old. Then a sudden flash occurs to George and he says, My left knee is 101 years old, too, and its just fine. The doctor and George clearly reveal two opposite ideas about health. The aura of expectation of the physician is that if a person is 101 years old, then physical breakdown is to be passively accepted. Georges aura of expectation is that even though he is 101 years old, he might as well be healthy and therefore he regards the defective right knee as an aberration to be dealt with by remedial action. Given the two auras of expectation, George and the physician write two opposite scripts regarding the problem knee. Now you can apply the idea of affirmations and the aura of expectation to the seven states of being as presented in Table 4. Again, these seven states of being are beauty, joy, affection, creativity, knowledge, health and material abundance. A hard-nosed manager or professional in the fast track may look at these seven concepts as wimpy. However, my rejoinder is, in no way are they wimpy; instead, these auras of expectation focus on excellence in life that write scripts free of crippling and corrupting junk. Through affirmations, the auras of expectation are given focus and clarity. This enables the auras of expectation to provide purpose, value and meaning for each individual. A further consequence generates behaviour that expresses dignity, integrity and continuity. The effect on personal and professional life is an ongoing expression of excellence. The simple and effective techniques described in this chapter and the next two chapters are meant to be applied in daily life. If affirmations are used to build an aura of expectation for each one of the seven states of being, then excellence is made manifest. It is a training process and it does take time, just as is true for fly fishing. The training process, set in motion by affirmations, pushes debilitating junk aside. Although the junk remains present, you do not need to qualify your affirmations by intruding it on the scene. The fly fisherman does not preoccupy himself with the willows on the bank; instead he focuses on the trout in the pool. If you build an aura of expectation around the seven states of being, you automatically focus your energy in the most efficient fashion on your inherent skills, talents and capacities. Just as automatically, your individual investment in your own human capital is likewise made manifest. Now the time has come to quickly look at each of the seven states of being as an expression of excellence. Of course, it is possible to devise your own list which might
Keys to Personal Growth identify any number of such states of being. In my own experience I have found these seven adequate and particularly relevant.
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As identified in Table 4, the first state of being is the concept of beauty. Of course, this is not a cheesecake notion of beauty, but rather an appreciation of the miraculous and wondrous qualities of life. Obviously, the marketplace, the neighbourhood and democratic government offer a wide variety of warts, blemishes and assorted ugliness. If you wish, you can expend your energy focusing on the ugliness and thereby poisoning your inner space. The alternative is to devote your energy to appreciation of the wondrous and miraculous aspects of life and thereby enrich your inner space. Focusing on beauty is not a process of self-delusion, repression and denial; rather, it is merely making a choice about how your energy is to be spent. If you affirm beauty, you build an aura of expectation which allows for script writing in harmony with the aura of expectation. The second state of being is that of joy. The essence of joy is laughter and a sense of connection with life. This sense of connection expresses a relish of life and a zest for life. As Warren Buffet, the Omaha billionaire investor has often said, he likes people around him who feel like dancing when they get to the office. Since Warren Buffets aphorisms are repeated around the world with great mirth, it is obvious that this billionaire understands laughter as the essence of joy. One of my favourite sayings concerns his views of whiz-kid MBAs as compared to seasoned, successful managers. I dont hire young MBAs because in my experience you cant teach a new dog old tricks. This quote comes from an interview on the television program, Adam Smiths Money World. Affection is the third item in the seven states of being. Affection focuses on kindness, generosity and non-judgmental acceptance. Your first reaction may be to say that affection so defined would be crippling to ambition and destructive to competition. However, if each individual would approach himself with affection, the critical mass of such individuals, through the connections of group mind, would radiate affection as a quality of social life. This becomes the main means to eliminate internal friction caused by we and they thinking. By reducing adversarial relationships within the group, creativity and innovation are left unfettered, and the energy of the group is not negatively diverted by internal friction. If the first three items in the list are systematically affirmed, then the fourth important state of being becomes much easier. Focusing on creativity is infinitely easier if you can first affirm as states of being in your life beauty, joy and affection. When the negative junk is pushed aside, then creativity can flower as a natural condition. Affirming the seven states of being is definitely a cumulative process. That is why I put knowledge as number five. Being open and receptive to information, learning easily, retrieving effectively all make use of knowledge in a more dynamic and efficient way. The four previous states of being open the individual to learning skills and the units of information in a very powerful way. The capacity of the human mind to gather information and to analyze data is nearly limitless. As wonderful as the computer is, the human mind is infinitely more miraculous in its capacity for acquiring and comprehending a wide array of knowledge. To do it effectively you dont have to be a genius, but you do need to push the negative junk out of the way.
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Health is the sixth item on the list. I see this state of being as a holistic concept involving mental, emotional and physical dimensions of self. Of course, the aura of expectation begins as a mental presence which then becomes expressed in emotional and physical states of being. Everyone is aware that the North American marketplace suffers dearly from absenteeism, avoidable illness and physical debilitation. To invest in health as an aura of expectation once again contributes not only to the well-being of the individual but in direct financial ways it contributes to society. Avoidable health problems cost American companies hundreds of millions of dollars each and every year. Eleven percent of our GNP is committed to medical services, and yet avoidable health problems debilitate the North American economy. When the U.S. is ranked by well-accepted health measures in comparison to other developed countries, instead of being number one it is approximately number sixteen. If the first six states of being are affirmed with discipline, then the seventh and last state of being falls into focus with some ease. The concept of material abundance is much broader than bank account numbers. Material abundance starts as a state of mind, accepting the availability of material things for individual use. This point of view is contrary to placing your sense of worth and value in external material objects, such as a mink coat or a Mercedes. This state of being begins as an internal acceptance and appreciation of material things as being available for use. This is not a concept of enslaving oneself to external items of property, but a concept to liberate oneself from property as a reference point for internal value. When you are free from hang-ups about property, it is much easier to appreciate the abundance of material goods and the easy use of them as a joyful dimension of life. Money and property are useful and they can offer a deal of pleasure as long as you approach them in a liberated mental state. This state of being becomes a capstone to the six previous states of being and their accumulated effect through their auras of expectation.
Keys to Personal Growth CHAPTER 5 THE CAPACITY OF FREE WILL Introduction Do you believe that your mind is your own? Are you capable of controlling your own feelings? Are you motivated from within rather than without? Are you free from the need for approval? Do you set up your own rules of conduct for yourself? Can you accept yourself and avoid complaining? Are you free from hero worship? Do you welcome the mysterious and the unknown? Do you love yourself most of the time? Do you grow your own roots? Have you eliminated all dependency relationships? Have you eliminated all blaming and fault-finding in your life? Are you free from ever feeling guilty? Are you able to avoid worrying about the future? Can you give and receive love? Can you avoid immobilizing anger in your life? Have you eliminated procrastination as a lifestyle? Have you learned to fail effectively? Can you enjoy yourself spontaneously without having a plan? Can you appreciate and create humour? Are you motivated by your potential for growth rather than a need to repair your deficiencies?
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Keys to Personal Growth At any given moment of your life, you can choose to say yes to all of the questions above if you are willing to repeal many shoulds and oughts that you have learned throughout your life. The real choice is whether you decide to be personally free or remain chained to the expectations that others have of you. Adapted from Your Erroneous Zones by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer. Published by Avon Books, New York, 1976.
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Wayne Dyer has contributed significantly to New Age thinking regarding personal problem solving and the role of free will in life. The best-selling book, Your Erroneous Zones, is a guide to identifying personal junk with practical suggestions for pushing the junk out of your personal space. He understands the practical value of doing this as a process for building personal excellence. The New Age approach does emphasize free will as a way to improve your personal and professional qualities. What most thinkers offer are strategies for training yourself to activate free will in a definite, deliberate and disciplined manner. To make a point Ive made before, the enrichment of human experience lies in the individual mind mobilizing purpose, value and meaning for your personal script. Such enrichment frees your creativity and releases blocks to performance. If your life is governed by an awareness of your own dignity, integrity and continuity, then problemsolving becomes a clear, quicker process. Free will is not only relevant to the issue of excellence; it also expresses ethical choices. Probably the hottest topic in todays marketplace concerns ethics, performance and profits. The object, therefore, is to use your own innate free will in a definite, directed and disciplined way to make choices which release negative mental baggage in preference for choices which affirm positive auras of expectation. To carry this idea one step further, the goal is to minimize the five basic emotions that generate the stress response in exchange for the five basic emotions that maximize the relaxation response (see Table 1, Chapter 1). In the following sections I will explore the five basic positive emotions as a way to mobilize the relaxation response with all of the physical and mental benefits which are automatically generated. The relaxation response is not torpor nor is it a vapid state. Ironically enough, the relaxation response releases creativity and mobilizes energy effectively and efficiently. It enables you to focus on priorities without diverting strategies which are energyexpensive. This very lesson is the most difficult point to get across to fast-trackers. If you operate on hyped-up willpower, you most likely are expressing the stress response. Achievements acquired through hyped-up willpower are energy-expensive to the point of being self-destructive. Whereas achievements accomplished by way of free will are energy-efficient and expressive of personal excellence. The use of free will to achieve positive basic emotions mobilizes the relaxation response. The overall effect of the
Keys to Personal Growth relaxation response generates an improvement in performance, a release of creativity and a manifestation of self-esteem.
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Now it is time to look at the five basic emotional polarities focusing on the positive investment mobilized by the relaxation response. In the following five sections a practical guide will be offered for using free will as a means for shifting from a negative basic emotion to its opposite positive emotion. Anger vs. Self-Awareness The polarity of anger vs. self-awareness may not strike you as a self-evident polarity. However, my students and clients find that this juxtaposition makes sense to them once it is explained. Usually the great reservoir of personal anger is so deep and pervasive that you deny its presence or its effect on relationships. However, if you are able to explore your inner space to enhance self-awareness, then you achieve several important things. The process of expanding your self-awareness allows you to get in touch with your anger and to understand its personal derivation. Through expansion of your selfawareness you are able to perceive how utterly misplaced most anger is. As you recognize the irrelevancy of your anger, you are able to take the next step toward releasing the useless and self-destructive anger. As discussed in Chapter 2, there is a four-step formula for accomplishing this crucial act of free will. First, you recognize the presence of the negative issue to be dealt with, such as anger. Second, you allow yourself to learn something about yourself by virtue of its presence. Third, you mentally export the negative issue through one of many metaphors (thus releasing the negative energy). Fourth, you affirm the opposite positive emotion, such as self-awareness. This four-step formula for activating free will is best done during meditation. To accomplish this act of free will, it is necessary to do two things. First, through meditation it is necessary that you let go of trying to force matters. The process of letting go is one of the most difficult lessons for many people to learn. If you try to force issues during meditation, you completely sabotage the process. Once you have learned to accomplish the first step, then the second step is much easier. Again, during meditation the second step requires that you activate the four-step formula in a passive, nonjudgemental manner. Again, this is contrary to our culture; however, it does work. For some strange reason, free will works best when you are physically relaxed and mentally at peace. When you are in this state it is much easier to choose to release the anger and to affirm a state of self-awareness. The more self-aware you become, the more anger is pushed out. This is why I regard them as polarities. The reciprocal effect of affirming self-awareness automatically assists in releasing anger. You may find this process difficult in the beginning, but through repeated practice it becomes easier and easier to accomplish. As you build self-awareness as a basic positive emotion, you accomplish a number of important things. An inherent capacity of self-awareness is intuition. This capacity now
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only allows for insight into others, but just as importantly it allows for insight into oneself. This is why I regard it as the primary basic positive emotion. Not only does intuition emerge as a dimension of self-awareness, but you also will discover an awareness of your physical self that will probably startle you. Through this basic positive emotion, mind becomes aware of body in a conscious way that allows for greater mental control over your body. All too many people in our society are grossly out of touch with their own body. This lack of engagement is not normal. However, through self-awareness you become in touch with your body and are therefore more able to control physical behaviour in a desired direction, such as reducing blood pressure, anticipating and avoiding migraine headaches, and reducing the requirements of insulin for diabetics. Fear vs. Joy The second level in activating free will is achieved by releasing fear and affirming joy. You cannot be joyful if you are crippled by fear. Conversely, if you are joyful, fear is driven out as a basic emotion. Many conventions in our society support the view that fear is more characteristic if women, whereas anger is more a male province. Although we support this distinction in a great many forms of social convention, I believe the distinction to be an erroneous one. I believe that men are as full of fear of women, even though they may struggle hard to hide it. Fear, like anger, can be deeply subterranean and extremely diffuse. Even though you may be unaware at the conscious level of your many fears, that in no way means that you are without fear. Fortunately, when you learn to release anger and to affirm selfawareness you take an important step toward understanding and recognizing your fears. Once you recognize your fears, you can begin the process of releasing them. You then discover that joy is a very natural and automatic replacement for fear. As you gradually become more in touch with joy as an inherent capacity, you are able to release the fears in a progressively easier manner. To learn to release negative emotions and affirm positive emotions is not something to be done instantly or magically. To do it takes time and it takes discipline. Through meditation you gradually, step by step, learn how to activate your free will by choosing to let go of a negative emotion by replacing it with a positive emotion. Once you accept the idea that you can simply choose whether to be fearful or joyful, the motivation for joy becomes much more focused. No one consciously or voluntarily wishes to be crippled by fear. Fear, like anger, is lodged deeply in the subconscious mind due to childhood experiences which were frustrating, disappointing or hurtful. These basic negative emotions do not go away through the passage of time. They remain at the subconscious level until you decide to deliberately and purposefully remove them by releasing them and to replace them with the opposing positive emotion. In my experience, anger is more difficult for people to learn to release than is fear. That is why I start with anger. Once you learn to release anger, it seems considerably easier to learn to release fear.
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Fortunately, the payoff is the discovery of joy as an inherent capacity. The essence of joy is laughter. The recognition that life as well as your own self is a tad ridiculous. In the recognition of the ridiculous comes the gentle chuckle or even the merry laugh. Laughter is a healing phenomenon which cannot be overemphasized. A generation ago Norman Cousins demonstrated that principle in a book which is still popular, The Anatomy of an Illness. Norman Cousins became a well-known lecturer in many medical schools where he taught the healing power of laughter. At the same time Norman Cousins wrote The Anatomy of an Illness, Arthur Koestler wrote The Act of Creation. Many years ago these two books launched our modern understanding of laughter and its profoundly healing effect. I would like to quote a delightful story from Arthur Koestlers book. Two women meet while shopping at a supermarket in the Bronx. One looks cheerful, the other depressed. The cheerful one inquires: Whats eating you? Nothings eating me. Death in the family? No, God forbid! Worried about money? No . . . nothing like that. Trouble with the kids? Well, if you must know, its my little Jimmy. Whats wrong with him, then? Nothing is wrong with him. His teacher said he must see a psychiatrist. Pause. Well, well, whats wrong with seeing a psychiatrist? Nothing is wrong. The psychiatrist said hes got an Oedipus complex. Pause. Well, well, Oedipus or Schmoedipus. I wouldnt worry so long as hes a good boy and loves his mamma. Since this story deals with a profound social taboo, namely incest, it therefore becomes appropriate to ask, Why is it funny? It is funny because the point made in the story is unexpected and ridiculous. Through a twist of logic the story turns normal into abnormal, thus inverting relationships. It is this unexpected inversion that fosters a zesty engagement through a burst of laughter. For those who wish to laugh, it is fortunate that most things which are ridiculous are unintentional. It is not necessary to rely on canned
Keys to Personal Growth humour to punctuate the day with frequent bursts of laughter. The greatest humorist of all is daily experience. A contemporary psychologist of some considerable stature is an expert on the healing power of laughter. Dr. Annette Goodheart in a Science of Mind interview spells out her approach in a fascinating manner. She makes a point worth quoting. . . . [they] become trapped in fear, afraid to laugh, when ironically laughter is the one thing that will release them from the fear. Theres a saying that if fear is the lock, laughter is the key. Also in the September 1988 issue Annette Goodheart makes another important point.
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We may have relatively little control over the events in our lives, but I think we really do have a choice about how we respond to them. If theres something were miserable about we can still inject joy into it . . . We can be serious about problems or enjoy them. If were going to have a problem, mightnt we just as well enjoy it? By now I hope you are convinced that you can, by free will, replace fear with joy. The healing exuberance of laughter is the essence of joy. As you affirm joy, your daily laughrate may explode from 10 to 15 laughs a day to the awesome rate of 400 or more. Ironically this very high rate of daily laughs is in keeping with the laugh rate of childhood. Joy is not only therapeutic to the individual, but it is contagious in any social group. Joy, as a group expression, is money in the bank. Guilt vs. Tranquility A long line of Jewish comedians have joked about Jewish mothers and the art of guilttripping. This genre of humour strikes familiar chords in most people born to a Western heritage. My own mother possessed a black belt in guilt-tripping and I, like many people, have spent a lot of energy unloading the childhood burden of sabotaging guilt. In my framework guilt is not as basic a negative emotion as are anger and fear. However, it does contribute very destructively to the stress response with the ensuing debilitation. The wellspring of guilt lies in childhood as much as the other negative emotions do. Through persistent, demeaning guilt experiences the subconscious mind becomes suffused with guilt with a ride range of irrational and unspecific linkages. Since the subconscious mind knows nothing of logic, it is easy for a basic negative emotion to become linked with all manner of issues, whether they have a logical connection or not. Therefore, guilt becomes deeply pervasive and unspecific, just like fear and anger. During adult life it is possible for guilt to be triggered in all kinds of settings which logically should not trigger guilt at all. It becomes possible for people in intimate relationships and work colleagues to push your guilt buttons without knowing they are doing so. Some people with a malevolent streak may discover your guilt buttons and push them deliberately as a control strategy. Thus you lose your own personal control to some degree and hand that control to outside forces who deliberately or accidentally trigger your guilt.
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Under these conditions it is easy to convert guilt into fear or anger. When guilt is converted into these more basic negative emotions, then the damage is multiplied. The irrationality of guilt and its easy conversion into more destructive modes indicate the uselessness of guilt as a way to control behaviour. Our culture does invest heavily in guilt as a strategy for behavioural control. It is unfortunate that this strategy becomes so self-defeating, self-destructive and self-sabotaging. If behaviour is to be controlled by a basic emotion, better it should be by a positive emotion. I see tranquility as the positive reciprocal to guilt. The idea of tranquility must compete with some deep-seated cultural attitudes. Western tradition supports the idea that ambition and success are fed by frantic activity--the more frantic, the better. As I have mentioned many times before, such frenzy is energyexpensive with heavy costs to the body and to relationships. It is possible to be successful with frenzy, but the costs can be astronomic. The idea of tranquility appears to many as a plea for indolence and a career of being a couch potato. Nothing could be further from the truth. Tranquility can manifest as much high energy as any stressful state can do. Instead of tranquility being torpor, it is rather a state of inner harmony, of inner peace, and of inner calm. Tranquility is a way of focusing positive healing energy in a balanced and generative mode. A crucial, inherent capacity of tranquility is creativity. I have had many artists and academics for clients who have reported that the state of tranquility throws open the floodgates of creativity in a way that they found verging on the miraculous. Endless writers and lecturers have reported that the quality of their effort is enhanced enormously by generating a state of tranquility before they begin producing. True creativity is, in fact, an expression of qualitative effort in the most fundamental sense. In any team the synergy of basic, positive emotions magnifies productivity and minimizes the sturm und drang of cooperative effort. A critical mass of tranquility in any group releases the creative flow and the collaborative effort. Remember, though, that tranquility is built on top of the two earlier positive emotions: self-awareness and joy. Self-awareness, joy and tranquility can mobilize the relaxation response in a powerful, generative direction with endless practical benefits. However, it seems to me that you cannot be tranquil if you are guilty. Guilt drives out tranquility in a very direct and destructive fashion. Conversely, if you are able to choose tranquility, this positive emotion dissolves guilt. The manifestation of tranquility and its inherent creativity simply render guilt harmless by taking the energy away from guilt and investing it in inner harmony. Resentment vs. Affection How many of you have had domestic tiffs over such things as the correct way to load a dishwasher, how to squeeze a tube of toothpaste, proper closet organization and the most divisive issue of all: Which way does the toilet paper go on the spindle? Everybody possesses enough personal blemishes, warts and imperfections to offer many targets for resentment. Obviously resentment is a judgemental process. First you declare someone flawed, and then your next declaration concerns remedy. Fix the flaw! becomes the war cry.
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Anyone who is judged to be flawed merchandise and then told that acceptance depends on fixing the flax is likely to be a person who counterattacks with his own resentment. Attack and counterattack becomes the essence of the resentment game. There is a considerable likelihood that the participants in the resentment game are not so much interested in fixing their own flaws as they are in identifying the flaws of the attacker. This process adds wound upon wound without anyone being fixed. As the wounds grow, so the relationship is diminished. This game can be stretched out over a period of years with an enormous accumulation of shared damage. Thus the relationship erodes through time, and through erosion the relationship ultimately disintegrates. The resentment game constitutes a no-win situation for all participants. It adds to the stress response, and it certainly diverts constructive energy. Resentment is an acid which consumes the web of associations that provide for healthy relationships. The antidote to resentment is affection. Affection dissolves resentment just as selfawareness dissolves anger. Just as resentment contributes to stress, affection mobilizes a healing mode, physically and socially. Like all basic emotions, there are internal and external manifestations which are inextricable and automatic. What you express inside you automatically radiates outside, no matter how much you may attempt to dissemble. If you generate affection as an internal state, you necessarily radiate it as an external presence. Affection is a state of being which you require for your own well-being and thereby positively affects all relationships. The macho image and the male ego are suspicious of such qualities as affection. However, affection is the essential oil of a civilized social machine. Without this essential oil, any social machine begins the process of disintegration through friction. If you are affectionate toward yourself, you do not become a doormat for a bully or a wimp amid controversy. Rather, when you are affectionate toward self, you are able to detach yourself from the resentment game by offering a contrary emotion of a healing nature. Any prudent person does not offer himself as a victim in any business relationship or personal relationship. The manifestation of affection does not cripple prudent behaviour; it merely changes the aura of expectation in and around yourself. When you are manifesting affection, you opt out of the destructive judgement game and the debilitating selfishness of feeding your own ego. Affection is a state of being generous to self and others and of being considerate to self and others. The nonjudgementalness does not throw away prudence, but it does allow you to see others and yourself without the intervening screen of resentment. This clarity of vision can be extremely important in anticipating consequences and prudently selecting options in regard to the anticipated consequences. Self-Doubt vs. Self-Esteem This section is about personal script writing. I have mentioned script writing before in this book as an expression of individual scenarios which are self-generated.
Keys to Personal Growth Consider these questions: What is the aura of expectation that pervades your personal script? Do you tend to underwrite your script or overwrite it? Do you feel in control of your script or do you feel that others write it for you? Is your script full of doubting references and negative anticipations? If your answer is No to the previous question, then is your script replete with selfactualizing references and expectations?
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Does the aura of expectation in your script reveal a high level of self-trust or is the aura self-diminishing? What are your key words in future references? (What if . . . Yes, but . . . It wont work. I cant do it. Or, Ill give it a try. I never thought of it that way; its interesting. Thats a skill Id like to develop. I have a talent for that. Does your script writing reveal a security addiction? Is your script targeted with focus and balance or is it blurred with many side issues? When writing your personal script do you feel dependent on others or do you feel completely comfortable in writing your own script? The concept of script writing is, of course, a metaphor. Very few people are likely to carefully put such matters to paper except for time/management logging or proposals for specific duties. Personal script writing mostly goes on in the mind and mostly at the subconscious level. Therefore, a great deal of your behaviour may respond to thought processes outside of conscious decision-making. As a result there are often many inconsistencies and discrepancies in behaviour vis-vis conscious decision-making. Through denial and avoidance you can fail to notice much of the self-damaging and self-sabotaging script writing which you activate at the subconscious level. All too many of us know how to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. However, it is quite possible to learn how to get in touch with this subconscious process and then to deliberately and purposefully change the script writing process. Through self-awareness you learn to identify the issues, and through free will you become able to change the issues. As mentioned earlier in this book, a basic inherent capacity of the human mind is to be able to study itself, to teach itself and to change itself through effective techniques of mind training which are self-actualizing. Earlier I discussed meditation and the use of affirmations as a way of getting in touch with your inner state and deliberately changing this state. When it comes to switching from self-doubt to self-esteem it is crucial that you understand the script writing process and your innate capacity for improving the process in a positive direction.
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Self-doubt is a projection of yourself into the future in a negative and a self-limiting fashion. Self-doubt represents personal script writing contaminated with self-defeating anticipations and self-sabotaging judgments. In this manner self-doubt becomes a selffulfilling prophecy which is inherently self-limiting. The essence of self-esteem, on the other hand, is self-trust. Through self-esteem you project yourself into the future with a positive aura of expectation. Your personal script writing in this mode will be replete with self-trusting and self-actualizing references. In this manner the self-fulfilling prophesy becomes just as automatic but in the direction of growth and personal excellence. Self-doubt adds to the stress response whereas self-esteem contributes to the relaxation response. When your control process is free of junk and addictive hang-ups, your free will can function in an unencumbered manner. When you are in full control of your free will, you are able to recognize the symptoms of self-doubt and then deliberately and purposefully release the doubt through affirming self-esteem. CHAPTER 6 SELF-GENERATING RESOURCES OF THE MIND Introduction This chapter is about techniques. None of the techniques described in the following pages can be termed new or revolutionary. All of them have been around for some while. Yet it has only been within the last number of years that the world of sports, the profession of medicine and the North American marketplace have accepted these techniques and are increasingly making use of them. There is nothing magical about the techniques and there is nothing very complicated about them. Some professionals attempt to draw a white coat image around these self-generating human capacities and thereby make them a bit mysterious. However, mysterious they are not, and fortunately, simple they are. Like affirmations described earlier, each of these techniques must be used in a disciplined manner with a long-term commitment. If you follow the rules carefully, then the results do appear, and sometimes the results seem almost miraculous. Each and every day, every individual either engages in strategies of disinvestment in personal human capital or strategies which are self-enriching in terms of human resources. You are doing either one or the other of these strategies every moment of every day. Your investment or disinvestment may be haphazard or subconscious. If your efforts are haphazard, then your personal control is relatively limited. However, if you become conscious of investment strategies or disinvestment strategies, then you can make use of specific techniques to enhance your personal control and, therefore, be able to choose between investment and disinvestment in a purposeful, directed and disciplined manner. Commitment and discipline must be central to your efforts. There are no magical shortcuts; there are no instant fixes. You can either take conscious, day-to-day control of your personal strategies or you can leave them as a relatively haphazard state of being.
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None of the techniques described in the following pages will be equally appealing to all readers. So the trick is to experiment with each of them and then select the approach that seems to be most useful for you at your current stage of development. Most people start with one approach and then move to others as sophistication grows. I have not included the more sophisticated Oriental techniques since there are many specialized books on yoga, etc. The techniques in this book I believe to be more congruent with the North American cultural ethos. However, Oriental influences are certainly present. Lou Coffey-Lewiss book, Be Restored to Health, as mentioned in Chapter 8, provides an excellent supplement to this chapter. As a sample of her work, I offer the following quote. Being able to change is essential to health and happiness. Life is change. Happiness comes in growing, meeting challenges, and feeling successful in our ability to grow and respond in life. You are ready for change and growth when you experience some dissonance between your beliefs, concepts, and expectations of the world and your own perception of the world. When you are bored, guilty or anxious, you are ready for change. When you want to try new ideas, solve new problems, serve in a greater way, you are ready for change. *** To grow is to become aware of new inner strengths and potentials we did not know we had. It is to learn new things about ourselves--to find new talents, resources, and resiliences. To grow and to change is to let go of the fixed idea of who we are. It is to loosen the rigidities of our behavior and personalities. *** As you grow and change, you will find within yourself a world that is much greater and more wonderful than you believed it to be. You will learn to be amazed at yourself and your own ability to transcend your limitations and to develop the highest potentials you have. Progressive Relaxation This technique is meant for those individuals who are relatively out of touch with the physical self. You would be amazed at the number of people who have lost touch with the subtle dynamics of the body. This explains the strange fact that so many women can be unaware of PMS symptoms even when they are fairly significant. For males and females alike, symptoms of stress can be ignored or denied to an amazing degree. If you are out of touch with your body, you can manifest the stress response to a level which is extremely destructive without recognizing it. Progressive relaxation is meant to teach you how to engage yourself with your physical being in a disciplined manner. The amount of sensitivity and physical awareness which you can develop with this technique is quite considerable. You can use this technique in conjunction with an exercise program such as 5BX or 10BX for women. If you are a
Keys to Personal Growth sophisticated fitness buff or skilled in tai chi or yoga, you may wish to ignore this technique and move on in the chapter.
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Before beginning progressive relaxation and any corollary fitness program, you should first consult your personal health care professional. Most especially you should do this if you are aware of any cardiovascular problems, respiratory ailments or musculoskeletal impairments. Never go at any regime, such as this, as though you were killing rats. Be sure you do it in a measured and carefully structured style. Progressive relaxation is such a simple technique it verges on the absurd. However, there is one caution: While you are doing it, family members may be convulsed with laughter should they see you in mid-exercise. Once you get comfortable with the technique and your family is comfortable with what you are doing, the giggling will likely dissipate. Step 1: Lie on a comfortable floor surface or stand against a wall. Step 2: Start breathing as slowly and deeply as you can while maintaining comfort. This step is meant to teach you diaphragmatic breathing which is crucial to all the techniques in this chapter. When you are using your diaphragm adequately in this breathing technique, your belly should protrude about two inches with each inhalation. Each breath cycle should last for a minimum of five counts or a preferred maximum of 10 counts. Step 3: Do this deep breathing for at least 10 cycles or as much as 20 cycles. While you are breathing in this manner, do a simple affirmation such as: My body is relaxed and my mind is at peace. This step is meant to focus your attention and also to diminish your awareness of external and internal static. Step 4: Divide your body into eight major muscle groupings. 1 The small muscles of the face and scalp. 2 The large muscles of the jaw and neck. 3 The major muscles of the shoulders and chest. 4 The muscles of upper arms, forearms and hands. 5 The muscles of the lower back and belly. 6 The huge muscles of the rump and thighs. 7 The muscles of the calves. 8 The muscles of the feet. Step 5: As you breathe in, select the first group of muscles and tighten them as much as you possibly can; then as you release your breath, gradually release the muscle tension. The breathing and the muscle flexing should be coordinated so that they begin at the same time and end at the same time. You should go through the eight groups in the same pattern for each exercise period. For your first week of exercises, I would cycle through the body at least three times for each exercise period. You can add additional cycles in subsequent weeks as long as you are not overtaxing yourself. The exercise period should take from 10 to 15 minutes. When you do the scalp and facial muscles, your countenance becomes quite grotesque, but you should not let this bother you. At first, you might feel quite awkward with the other seven groups as well, but this awkwardness does usually disappear. When you learn to discover the difference between muscle tension and muscle relaxation, you are well on your way to a focused awareness of the difference between the stress response and the relaxation response. The more you practice this technique, the more subtle your awareness becomes.
Keys to Personal Growth Autogenic Training This technique is more sophisticated than progressive relaxation. It presupposes that you do have an awareness of your body which is sensitive and subtle. Although this technique is meant to have direct and significant effects on your body, it is a technique which engages the mind to a much greater degree than progressive relaxation.
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Autogenic training makes extensive use of the power of affirmations. It is also based on your ability to engage diaphragmatic breathing as an integral part of the exercise. Through this technique, you can focus and balance physical functions to a remarkable degree. This technique allows you to gain greatly enhanced mental control over physical functions. Step 1: Lie or sit in a comfortable position which also allows for privacy. Step 2: Begin your diaphragmatic breathing as described for the previous technique. Step 3: While you do 10 to 20 cycles of deep breathing, you repeat a simple affirmation. Step 4: Identify a number of basic body functions so that you can make clear affirmations about each of them as you cycle through the body and as you breathe diaphragmatically. Step 5: Begin with your pulse. While breathing diaphragmatically, offer this affirmation: My pulse is slow, even and normal. Repeat this to yourself half a dozen times: All my blood vessels are pink, pliable and normal. Step 6: Now move to your digestive system with the idea of dissipating any discomfort and affirming a healthy and effective alimentary canal. In the same pattern as above, make this affirmation: My digestive system is smooth-functioning, comfortable and normal. Step 7: While envisioning the myriad of glands in your endocrine system, focus on their balanced and normal functioning. Affirm to yourself: My endocrine system is balanced, functioning smoothly and functioning normally. Step 8: Continue this pattern through such systems as your nerves, your urogenital system and your respiration. It can seem silly to repeat these simple affirmations to yourself over and over again, day after day. However, I can say without hesitation that the results you can obtain in terms of harmonizing and balancing your physical functions are anything but silly. This technique does work if you use it in a disciplined, non-judgemental manner. It is important that you do the exercise passively and slowly. Never, never try to force the process. The lesson to be mastered with this technique is to learn how to let go of the jangling clamour of willpower and to learn how to passively affirm a positive state of being. Through this technique, you change the aura of expectation in a desired direction for
Keys to Personal Growth your own gradual improvement. The more practiced you are, the easier it is to move from a stress response to a relaxation response with all of the physical and mental benefits that are inherent. Biofeedback Training
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Many hundreds of medical clinics, hospitals and medical schools are now using biofeedback training as a rehabilitative strategy for people recovering from some acute illnesses or accidents. For those who have serious involvement with chronic pain or many debilitative problems, this technique has proven to be extremely helpful as part of the therapeutic regime. Because of the medical application, the white-coat aura is particularly present. However, this technique, like the others, is ridiculously simple and quite applicable for many uses in the home or office. Biofeedback training, like the other techniques, requires your ability to establish the relaxation response so that you can channel greater mental control over specific physical functions. Diaphragmatic breathing is crucial to the process, as is your ability to let go of willpower and to passively manifest a much slowed-down mind/body state. In this approach, like the others, your brainwave pattern should slow down 75%, and your breathing rate should slow down by 50%. When these two things occur, vital messages are sent to your nervous system, to your endocrine glands and to all of your muscles that you are shifting into a relaxation response. When you have shifted into a relaxation response, the great irony of life occurs. In this relaxed state your voluntary control is magnified enormously. Consequently, your free will operates effectively, efficiently and relevantly. It is this liberation of the free will, allowing for focused and disciplined control, that mobilizes your inherent capacities. When your inherent capacities are mobilized, free of jangling static and debilitating diversions, you are able to express your natural talents in ways that will astonish you. With appropriate health care supervision, you can learn to reduce symptomatic blood pressure, reduce insulin requirements, reduce dependency on painkillers and many other valuable techniques. Just as importantly, some very simple versions of this technique can be used at the office or at home to avoid migraine headache, reduce digestive distress or reduce a number of stress-response symptoms. Biofeedback training uses three pieces of equipment which passively measure basic functions. A fourth machine can be used which, because of its controversial application, I tend to ignore. This fourth machine is used in lie detection, based on electrical currents and skin moisture which, in my opinion, is a social abuse of a harmless piece of technology. The three pieces of equipment which I do focus on are the electroencephalograph (EEG), the electromyograph (EMG) and the thermistor. There is nothing magical about these three machines, and they all measure, in a passive way, the degree of stress response you are expressing. The difference is that they choose three different functions to passively measure. However, all three are relevant to the issue. Hospitals use highly
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sophisticated machines, worth tens of thousands of dollars, which can measure all these responses together or singularly. At home, you can use very simple machines, costing at most $100, to passively measure the same thing. The EEG passively measures dominant brainwave patterns. By watching the dials or lights on this machine, you can learn to slow your dominant brainwaves from 40 or 50 cycles per second down to 10 cycles per second or even less. Once you have slowed the brainwaves, you can then give your attention to blood pressure measurements and their reduction. You can even learn to rebuild neuromuscular control in your tennis arm which may have suffered some damage. However, the real issue is to slow your brainwaves down as a means to learn how to accomplish the relaxation response in a measured and controlled manner to liberate all your inherent capacities. There are many companies which manufacture EEGs for home and office use without medical prescription or medical clearance. However, as a matter of common sense, you should seek competent health care supervision. Obviously, it should be from someone who is familiar with this technique as a self-training strategy. The EMG measures the muscular response derived from brainwave activity. If you are in a relaxation response, then your muscles are relaxed and vice versa. The degree of muscle tension expressed while you are quietly sitting provides a relative insight into your degree of stress response. By watching the lights and dials of this machine, you can learn to voluntarily relax your muscles which thereby breaks the stress cycle. The stress cycle involves brainwave patterns, hormone output and muscle tension. When you voluntarily reduce muscle tension, you break the causal circle of the stress response. Again, you can get EMGs which are cheap and simple to use for private, selftraining regimes. The thermistor is a third machine which can be the simplest device of all. It measures the temperature of the surface of your skin, usually your fingers or hands. For a modest price you can get an attractive machine with lights, dials and audio responders to make this measurement. This type of machine requires that you lightly hold a probe between your fingers and then learn to respond to the machines measurements in a desired direction. You can measure the same thing by buying rings for your fingers which give you a constant reading of your skins temperature by chemical reactors in the ring. You can accomplish the same thing with a Velcro strip with a built-in chemical reactor. Many inexpensive variations on the idea are on the market. The issue is to learn how to raise your skin temperature voluntarily. Barring organic damage, the temperature of your hands and feet reveals the bodys reaction to either the stress response or the relaxation response. Cold hands and feet are a signal that you are experiencing a stress response. Under stress, the small blood vessels of the hands and feet constrict as an overall strategy of the body to move the blood supply to the inner organs for an emergency. This is fine for an emergency, but if it becomes chronic then you have a serious stress problem. You can learn to voluntarily raise the temperature of your hands and feet as much as 10oC or 20oF. You can even learn to raise the temperature of your hands and feet as a voluntary countermeasure to a cold environment. Buddhist monks learn to use this capacity to such a degree that they can avoid hypothermia which would otherwise occur in some of their rituals involving physical exposure. All methods described in this chapter require slowing brainwaves, slowing respiration, relaxing muscles and raising the temperature of the hands and feet. When these things
Keys to Personal Growth happen, you are achieving voluntary control in a directed, disciplined and purposeful manner. Focusing
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A few ardent exponents of focusing promote this technique as though it is a mystery religion. There is nothing mysterious about this technique even though it draws heavily on metaphor, imagination and creative connections. In my experience I have found that some of my clients are very pleased and excited about the technique while others respond indifferently to it. For those who connect with it, the technique seems to be extremely useful in tapping the subconscious reality and exploring mental connections which were previously unrecognized. Focusing requires eight simple steps, the first two of which are common with all techniques. In the six steps particular to focusing the exercise is essentially a mental one. As with physical exercise, the more you practice it the more you increase your competency and your comfort level. Each exercise period can be done in less than 10 minutes. If you decide to do it more than once a day, it is comforting to realize that you cannot overdose on this approach. I do think, however, that twice a day is a sufficient commitment for the mental exercise of focusing. Step 1: Get yourself physically centred, that is, comfortable, safe and private. Step 2: Begin your diaphragmatic breathing and gradually clear your mind of static. Step 3: Identify a place in your body that you can focus on with comfort, perhaps in your head, perhaps in your trunk. Step 4: Imagine an emptiness in the body locale you have chosen. This emptiness can be as an expanding balloon. Step 5: Passively allow the space to be filled with a substance, an image or some quality or characteristic such as a persons face or a feeling such as silkiness. Step 6: After you have filled the space with the image or substance, then passively give it a name, maybe something as abstract as corruption or as specific as your current boss. Step 7: Test the name for validity by searching for another name or by resonating the name with that which fills the space. Step 8: Allow this awareness to permeate your inner space and circulate through your total being. This process may incur a physical shudder or a sense of shifting in your inner space. When you do this exercise passively, you discover all sorts of subconscious connections that you were previously unaware of at the conscious level. You get insights into hidden angers and fears which you have previously denied, repressed or ignored. As I have mentioned before, these hidden angers and fears are incredibly destructive even though
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they are subterranean. Of course, you cannot deal with something that you do not recognize consciously. To release or change deep-seated angers and fears requires that you first get in touch with these emotional states. The mind cannot engage in the selfteaching and self-correcting functions until it goes through the process of selfawareness. The technique of focusing does help some people to dramatically increase crucial aspects of self-awareness. These insights are the first essential steps toward generating new connections and new strategies. Creative Visualization In the locus land of the west coast, many fads have come and gone which deal with personal development. There is a tendency for the fast-trackers to regard this intellectual hubbub as merely California flaky. To dismiss it as weird is to trash some very useful and very valuable techniques. That which once was regarded as marginal and culty has, in some cases, moved to mainstream, middle-class life. In the last 20 years this shift has been so profound and so dramatic that there is a tendency not to recognize the cultural implications and the social changes induced by these innovations. When looking at some of the California contributions, there is no need to abandon your critical faculties or your analytic skills. What you should abandon are rigid preconceptions or arbitrary judgements before looking. Creative visualization, as a technique, is incredibly powerful and extremely useful as a fundamental tool for enriching your human potential. Creative visualizations, along with affirmations, appear to me as the two most powerful tools for exploring your mental resources and expanding your mental control. Creative visualization seems like childs play because it focuses on the human imagination. This purposeful use of imagination can be confused with daydreaming or with self-delusional fantasy. However, when used in a disciplined, directed and purposeful fashion it provides an easy method for changing the aura of expectation and for redefining self-fulfilling prophesies. Creative visualization is a script-writing process which you can deliberately use to stop writing negative scripts and begin writing positive scripts. When you change the aura of expectation through creative visualization, you do not engage in self-delusion or childs play, rather you engage yourself, in the most basic sense, to change your self-perception in a positive direction. Creative visualization provides you with a technique for letting go of self-doubt. As selfdoubt dwindles and dissolves, you simultaneously create and establish an aura of selfesteem. When self-esteem builds your aura of expectation, your personal script-writing takes on a dramatically different character. You begin projecting yourself into the future with self-trust and a heightened sense of comfort and confidence. To become expert at creative visualization requires daily practice and it requires a quiet, confident commitment. This is a mental exercise that focuses on image and role. Although you can derive enormous insight from creative visualization, the central purpose of this technique is to redefine your self-image and your personal role. As with affirmations, the use of creative visualization is guided by several important principles. These principles are as follows:
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1. The exercise should definitely be done while you are in a state of relaxation. 2. It is okay for you to focus on one scenario; however, most people generate several scenarios during an exercise. 3. It is desirable to choose your shopping list before the exercise and have the shopping list clearly in mind. 4. Whether you choose a personal issue, an aspect of a relationship or a particular role, be sure to run the scenario in your mind in a passive and non-judgemental manner. 5. Be precise and clear about the issues you wish to visualize so that you can repeat each scenario with each exercise over a period of many days or several weeks. 6. Keep each scenario free of quibbles or negative references or personal imperfections. 7. To shift the aura of expectation in a desired direction, it is essential that the scenarios envision yourself as you most want to be; in fact, as a perfect expression. 8. Presenting the scenario as a perfect expression of your being frees you from corrupting the exercise with the very problems you are attempting to correct. 9. If you find that your scenarios are being corrupted by negative references, use the four- step formula for releasing the negative thought and returning the scenario to a perfect, positive version. Keeping in mind these principles, you can now explore a couple of sample scenarios. I do encourage you to devise your own scenarios; however, the samples can assist you to get in tune with the process. To begin with, you may find it difficult to keep your focus for more than a few minutes. As you become more comfortable with the process and more expert through practice, you will be able to keep your focus for an exercise lasting 10-20 minutes. Sample 1: Imagine yourself in a theatre where you will be watching a scenario unfold. You may imagine the scenario as a live play or as a private screening. Take a specific sense from life that you are concerned about and allow it to be presented as a drama going on before you. The issue may be one which involves relationships at work which you feel could be improved. It may involve relationships within the family which have previously generated tension or resentment and which you wish to improve. It is important to keep the scenario simple and focused. However, do not use willpower and do not try to force a predetermined solution. While you are visualizing the scenario, allow yourself to perform the scene perfectly since it is this perfected image that shifts the aura of expectation. Be sure to maintain diaphragmatic breathing throughout the exercise and also let your eyes close during the exercise. This diminishes external static. Allow each scenario to be expressed as a story with a beginning, a middle and an end. Passively watch the performance which will, in fact, include yourself. You may see yourself split into more than one presence, performing different roles. This split in consciousness is perfectly okay and not dangerous to your health unless you fixate on it in a negative fashion. In this technique you can explore issues in your many relationships, either in the past or currently. Let the scenario run until it begins to fade, whereupon you can voluntarily choose another scenario to explore. Sample 2: When learning new skills, many people feel inadequate. Sometimes this inadequacy is derived from the self-perception of not recalling learned material
Keys to Personal Growth accurately or easily, not learning new material quickly and easily and not being able to perform tests calmly and comfortably. This exercise can be used to improve your performance as a student or on the job training which you may face.
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Before you begin the exercises, take a single sheet of paper and write two or three very short paragraphs about your concerns as you currently perceive them. Take a second sheet of paper and very simply list the characteristics or qualities which you would like to achieve for yourself and which are very meaningful to you, relative to a learning environment. Go over this list a number of times, making adjustments where necessary. With this latter list clearly in mind, create in your mind a view of yourself which expresses these qualities. Now you are ready to do the exercise. Begin breathing diaphragmatically, allowing your eyes to close and your body to go limp. When you feel that your mind is free of internal and external static, you then create in your mind the classroom or the learning situation which is important to you. Now begin the drama, keeping in mind the list of positive characteristics you made for yourself and the earlier image of yourself based on the list. Allow your mind to go through a sequence of events by seeing yourself learn the information effortlessly, retaining the information perfectly, recalling the information quickly and performing an examination about the information with total comfort. Throughout the scenario, maintain diaphragmatic breathing and a relaxed body. If you feel yourself tensing, you are probably reacting to a deep-seated fear of learning which is likely part of your original problem. Dont try to deny the reaction; instead, use the four-step formula for release. Practice the scenario until you feel totally comfortable with it and utterly free of any physical reactions to it. This may take several weeks to accomplish, but the investment is more than worthwhile. Structured Meditation I discussed structured meditation in Chapter 2 as a technique for managing stress. Since this chapter is dealing with the generative capacities of the human mind and the techniques for self-investment, I thought it timely to look at structured meditation in this broader light. As mentioned in Chapter 2, this technique is one is most favour since I made personal use of it as well as extensive use with clients. Structured meditation employs affirmations and creative visualization as primary agents of generative input. However, you can certainly make use of autogenic training, progressive relaxation and other vehicles as elements of structured meditation. Nevertheless, once you learn how to mobilize the relaxation response, I believe that affirmations and creative visualizations are particularly powerful in their capacity for personal investment. In Chapter 2 I delineated the steps to be used during structured meditation. You can use these steps as a personal guide for performing this technique or you can use one of the many commercial tapes as a coach and guide. If you decide to use a commercial tape, make sure that the tape does not contain negative references or disagreeable avoidance suggestions. I believe that negative references complicate the process by fixating on the very issue you may be wishing to release. I deeply believe that you should always focus on positive alternatives along with the four-step formula for releasing when they appear in your mind.
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Earlier I discussed the three dimensions of mind that constitute the basic mental capacities of everyone. When you see structured meditation in the light of these three dimensions of mind, inner awareness or the subconscious mind, outer awareness or the conscious mind and transpersonal awareness or group mind, then structured meditation becomes quite clear in its generative function. What you accomplish with structured meditation is the enlargement of the conscious process through an expanded control over subconscious programming and interpersonal communication. Be very clear about one important matter: You cannot control or voluntarily choose that which you either are unaware of or that which you refuse to recognize. Structured meditation allows you to expand your awareness as a self-teaching or self-enlightening process. As you get more in touch with the subtleties of your body and the deep connections in your subconscious mind, you thereby gain expanded conscious control. When free will is made more reliable, then your innate capacity of self-correction is released. Although it is important to understand that you can rewire subconscious programs through structured meditation, you can also open yourself to the creative and the innovative powers of the transpersonal awareness. The resources of group mind are unbelievably vast. The innovative process is freed of fear and freed of blockage due to preconceived judgements. It is the release of creativity that constitutes the truly massive dimension of personal investment. You have no greater capital asset than your innate creative capacity. In todays competitive world, creativity is definitely money in the bank.
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Part II: Things to do
Keys to Personal Growth LAUNCHING YOUR FOUR WEEK PROGRAM
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As mentioned in the preface, prudence indicates that you should seek the advice of a health care professional whenever you embark on an exercise regime or a new pattern of eating. This is especially true if you are a person who suffers from a significant chronic or acute problem with your health. This part of the book offers a twenty-eight day guide for improving your life physically, emotionally and socially. The chronology is laid out simply and clearly for all seven days of each week. These four weeks will enable you to build new habit patterns, which it is hoped you will incorporate into your life for the foreseeable future. Each day begins with a page called Daily Guide. On this page you will find five categories of mental and physical activity for enriching your day. This is followed by a daily menu for three meals (except Sunday) with selected recipes. If you follow this twenty-eight day guide you will identify previous selfsabotaging habits through new habit patterns, which are positive and generative. A word should be said about the recommended physical exercises. First, be sure to clear such a regime with an appropriate health care professional. When you begin your program give careful attention to appropriate breathing behavior. Diaphragmatic breathing is crucial to physical exercise as well as being crucial to meditation. To breathe diaphragmatically be sure to breathe slowly and very deeply, inhale for a count of approximately five and then slowly exhale for approximately five. When you breathe in this manner, the inhalation should press down on your organs in the abdomen causing your abdomen to protrude about two inches. You are reminded to do this in several other physical exercises since it is crucial to coordinate your diaphragmatic breathing with exercise movements. When doing exercises never hold your breath. Another recommendation for physical activity is the walking program. Walking is better for you than jogging since there is less damage to the skeleton and less stress on the body. It is important that you set aside ten minutes each day in the first week for a good brisk walk. In the second week continue the ten minute a day regime but increase your pace slightly. In the third week continue the faster pace and add two minutes to the daily walk. In the fourth week extend your walking regime to fifteen minutes a day. The exercises that are described each day will take two to three minutes to complete. Therefore, it is suggested that you set aside three points in the day for following the exercise regime. Some of the exercises you will like better than others. Some of the exercises will be more effective in dealing with particular weak spots in your individual situation, since you are exercising three times a day you may wish to use three different exercises to give variety to your daily regime. The amount of time spent for the day should be not less than ten minutes and likely less than fifteen. After you have completed the twenty-eight days, select those exercises for your on-going program that best fit your needs. The affirmations presented in each daily guide should be repeated to yourself in a relaxed meditative state. Remember the suggestions given in the first part of this book, which carefully outline how to do affirmations and how to make them work for you. And now a word about the menus.
Keys to Personal Growth Before you start scanning the following pages and groaning, let me clarify a few things.
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First, the menu suggestions are suggestions only. No one "will bang on your door in the middle of the night and haul you off to Elizabeth Arden if you don't follow them to the letter. The idea is to give you a general picture of what kinds of foods you should eat in what combinations to insure good nutrition over a period of time. Second, if the thought of broiled lamb kidneys turns your gag reflex on high, forget it. If you can handle some other organ meat without trauma, substitute it. If not, boil an egg or broil a steak. No one is trying to ruin your day. However, organ meats are extremely high in a lot of the good stuff you need to make you run; they are also low in calories. The same goes for any other suggested food that is on your hate list. Substitute whenever necessary, but check the food value charts in your reference book to make sure you are getting something with approximately the same nutrients as the substituted food. Third, you will note that salt is not mentioned in many of the recipes. This is because we eat far more salt that we require without adding it to foods we cook. Adding more just leads to threats of high blood pressure. The same goes for sugar. Except for the odd dessert, sugar has been either eliminated or a sugar substitute called for. Fourth, if you have been reading a lot of health food books lately you will likely be appalled at the fact that there are fried foods, red meats (including gasp! pork), cream, cake, and other naughty items included in the menus. Please don't get all excited and write nasty letters or threaten lawsuits. You will see, on carefully checking, that these no-no foods are not heavily emphasized. And, let's be honest, you're going to be on this kind of an eating pattern for the rest of your life if you're serious about eating to stay healthy. Therefore, you (and everyone around you) are going to be a lot happier if you are allowed a varied diet, including foods that may not be as good for you as a large plate of bean sprouts. Fifth, you will note that milk has been suggested everyday at noon, (even on the health drink days). Practically no one except perhaps nursing babies gets enough calcium. This is especially true if you are a teenager, a lactating mother, over fifty or any combination of the above. If for any reason you can't drink milk, you must find some other way to keep your calcium intake at an acceptable level; either take a supplement or eat a lot of calcium-loaded food, (see the charts in your reference book). If you would rather have your milk in the morning please don't let me stop you. In fact, it would be great it you had milk with all your meals, but again, I'm trying to be realistic here. People do like their morning fix of coffee or tea. Seventh, if you are a brown bagger you may have a little difficulty carrying a serving of hot Welsh rabbit to work. These menus were designed primarily for those who come home for lunch. However, with a little ingenuity, you can adapt most of the lunch menus to the lunch pail. A wide-mouth thermos will get you started; your imagination will take you the rest of the way. Eighth, the recipes are all constructed to serve four fairly normal people. If you are one ninety pound seventy year old, it isn't likely you'll need to make up the whole recipe. Nearly all of them can be cut in half or quartered, or you can always freeze the left over. On the other hand, if your family of four consists of three halfbacks and an Olympic gymnast, you may need to increase the proportions a tad. Ninth, (and speaking of freezing,) many of the menus call for soups or stews or whatever that take a while to make. Don't let this discourage you. Most of these dishes can be made ahead and either
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kept over a couple of days in the fridge or frozen. I would recommend that you do make them ahead, in double or triple the quantities even, when you have time, and freeze them in individual portions. Tenth and last, I have included something called a health drink twice every week for breakfast. This very nutritious concoction and its near relatives are extraordinarily quick and easy to make as well as being reasonably low in calories. I strongly suggest that you try these health drinks as suggested for a month or so. If you can't abide them, forget the whole thing and go on to one of the other suggested breakfasts. This, however, is unlikely. I'm pretty sure you will find their convenience as well as their staying power a great boon to the workday morning, and you may just opt for the health drink every morning. You will also note that neither cold nor hot cereals have been suggested for the morning meal. Feel free to substitute them any time you wish, but please be sure that you are getting whole grain cereals without sugar and that you don't neglect the fruit. Now, let's get on with the menus. I have tried to give you the recipe for any dish that asks you to do much more than bake a potato or toast a slice of bread, but in the interest of space and boredom I had to draw the line somewhere. So if you should hit a dish that I haven't told you how to construct, consult you big fat cookbook and I'm sure youll find in there. If you follow the menus faithfully, with only sensible substitutions, a month from now you should have the skin of your two year old niece, the figure of a centerfold, and the energy of Popeye. Good Luck!
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Week One Monday

Food for Thought "There is one mind common to all individual men. Every man is an inlet to the same and to all of the same." --Emerson Affirmation Here and now I joyfully accept the harmony and balance of my mind and my body. Exercise Begin by learning how to breathe properly as a restorative and balancing experience. Start by breathing slowly, deeply and regularly, each cycle lasting for a deliberate count of eight. Never hold your breath between inhaling and exhaling. Make the breathing exercise as smooth and regular as possible. Do not stress yourself while breathing in this slow deliberate manner. At this rate you should complete eight to ten breath cycles per minute. Do this exercise for two minutes. Remember to begin your walking regime today and allow ten minutes for a brisk walk without stress. Did you know? Magnesium has been shown over and over again to have an important role in preventing heart arrhythmia and fibrillation. Spice
Guarantee: Money tearfully refunded if not satisfied Menu When I started to work on these menus, I thought of suggesting a beverage for every meal. The implications of coming up with 84 different beverages struck terror in my heart, and I abandoned the idea immediately. I did leave in the milk suggestions in every lunch menu just to get across the idea that milk (or some other form of calcium) is absolutely essential to practically everyone who would like to avoid brittle bones, lousy teeth and a rotten disposition. So you've on your own when it comes to what to drink with each meal. Water, of course, is the sensible thing, but not everyone wants to be pure. Wine is okay; more milk is better. Coffee or tea in limited quantities is not likely to cause you to spin out, but don't drink it with the meal; it does funny things to some of the vitamins and minerals.
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Breakfast
Orange Juice Spinach Souffl* Whole Wheat Toast
Lunch
Avocado Sandwich* Sliced Bananas and Pineapple Milk
Dinner
Orange Chicken* Brown Rice Tossed Green Salad Cappuccino Ice*
Spinach Souffl
4 eggs 3 cups cooked spinach Salt and pepper to taste Pinch of cinnamon Heat oven to 375 F. Separate eggs and beat whites until very stiff. Mash the spinach and mix in the yolks and seasonings till well blended. Fold egg whites into the spinach mixture and pour into lightly greased souffl pan. Bake about 20 minutes. Souffl should be puffed up to the top of the dish and golden.
Avocado Sandwich
1 large very ripe avocado 1 cup alfalfa sprouts 8 slices whole wheat bread 1 small cucumber, sliced thinly 4 romaine lettuce leaves Spread avocado on 4 slices of bread. Divide cucumber slices and alfalfa sprouts into four and add. Place lettuce leaf on top.
Orange Chicken
1 orange 1 large clove of garlic 2 tsp. brown sugar 2 tbsp. soy sauce Fresh ground pepper 4 large chicken breasts, halved, boned and skinned Preheat oven to 325 F. Grate 2 teaspoons peal from orange. Place in oven dish with tightly fitting lip. Add juice from orange, sugar, soy sauce, garlic and pepper. Stir then place chicken breasts on mixture and turn to coat both sides. Cover tightly and bake for 20 minutes. Turn chicken and continue baking for another 20 minutes.
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Cappuccino Ice
2 cups half and half 1/4 cup honey 1 tbsp. instant coffee Small cinnamon stick Combine all the ingredients in a heavy saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring until honey and coffee dissolve. Reduce heat to low and simmer about five minutes. Remove cinnamon stick and put into four dessert dishes and freeze till firm. Remove to room temperature a few minutes before serving.
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Week One - Tuesday

Food for Thought As soon as everybody chooses the wrong side, it then, by some miracle, becomes the right side --Ashleigh Brilliant Affirmation I now accept and affirm my body radiating life force and replete with perfect health. Exercise Repeat the breathing exercise and add to it ten rotations of your head clockwise then ten counter-clockwise. Remember your brisk walk. Did you know? Vitamin E oil seems to work wonders when applied to dry skin, as do oils rich in vitamin A and vitamin D. Spice The only thing that hurts more than having to pay income tax is not having to pay income tax. Menu I was assuming that you have certain small appliances when we concocted this menu. The breakfast drink is tricky without a blender or food processor; a wok makes cooking the stir fry a breeze; a microwave oven does the baked apple in five minutes instead of an hour the traditional way. However, you can still follow the suggestions by using an egg beater and elbow grease for the drink and a regular skillet for the stir fry. As for the apple, eat it raw; it's probably better for you anyway.
Breakfast
Health Drink*
Lunch
Seafood Bisque* Whole Wheat Crackers Baked Apple Milk
Dinner
Ground Beef Stir-fry Almond Orange Delight
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Health Drink
This drink is the basic, all around standby as mentioned in the introduction. It has everything you could want nutritionally, it's filling, and it's delicious. You may vary it as you wish by substituting the juices, (pineapple, grapefruit, etc.) and the fruit, (berries, peaches, carrots, etc.) but keep the proportions about the same and don't leave out any of the other ingredients unless, of course, you've violently allergic to any of them.
Keys to Personal Growth 1 cup orange juice 1/3 cup skim milk powder 1 banana 1 egg 1 tbsp. lecithin 1 tbsp. brewer's yeast 1 tbsp. whole bran 1 tsp. wheat germ 3 tbsp. sunflower seeds Put everything together in the blender and whiz until smooth.
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Seafood Bisque
1 can condensed cream of potato soup 1 cup yogurt 1 cup skim milk 1/2 tsp. curry powder 7 oz. can tuna 8 stocks asparagus 2 green onions thinly sliced Dash of Tabasco sauce Cook the asparagus until just tender. Cut into bite sized pieces. Combine soup, yogurt, milk and seasonings in bowl. Beat until smooth. Add tuna, asparagus and onions. Chill.
Ground Beef Stir Fry

1 lb. ground beef 1 egg 1 clove garlic, chopped fine 1/2 tsp. chopped fresh ginger 1/4 tsp. thyme Pepper to taste 4 potatoes cut into 1" x 1/4" strips 2 onions cut into small wedges 2 cups frozen green peas 3 tbsp. cooking oil Mix beef with slightly beaten egg and seasonings and form into small balls. Heat oil in wok or deep skillet until very hot. Add meat and potatoes and stir fry until meat loses its redness. Add onion and peas and continue frying until onions are soft and peas are cooked. Serve immediately.
Almond Orange Delight

1 envelope unflavored gelatin 1/2 cup water 2 cups fresh orange slices
Keys to Personal Growth 3 tsp. almond extract 2 tsp. lemon juice 4 tbsp. ground almonds Artificial sweetener to taste Sprinkle gelatin over water and let stand two minutes. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook five minutes. Pour into dessert dishes and refrigerate until slightly thickened. Sprinkle almonds on top and chill until firm.
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Week One - Wednesday

Food for Thought "A classic is something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read." --Mark Twain Affirmation At this moment I readily release anxiety and gladly affirm tranquility. Exercise It is now time to join the head rotation with the deep breathing. Allow for one complete head rotation with each eight count breathing cycle. Remember, do not hold your breath during the process. Did you know? A protein deficiency can cause opaque white bands to appear on the nails or cause them to become dry, brittle and very thin. Spice Angry wife: "I'm always having trouble with either my husband or the furnace. Whenever I watch one, the other goes out. Menu The recipe we have given you for health muffins make enough to keep a family of four healthy for about four meals (assuming everyone eats only one per meal). Don't despair; you do not have to either throw out the leftovers or learn to love mold; there are two other solutions. One: you can cook up the whole batch and freeze the uneaten. They thaw very quickly in the microwave and, if you don't have a microwave, they can be popped into a regular oven for ten minutes or so and they come out okay. Or two: you can cook up only as many as you plan to eat at a particular meal and refrigerate the raw dough. It last for a couple of weeks without turning funny. The carrot cake also make far more than you are likely to consume in one sitting. It, too, freezes well. You can eat it at another meal, as suggested for Thursday, or impress unexpected company by having fresh cake on hand.
Breakfast
Apple Juice Health Muffins*
Lunch
Chicken Slaw* Whole Wheat Crackers Slice of Cheddar Cheese
Dinner
Lamb Chops Baked Potatoes Ginger Broccoli*
Keys to Personal Growth Carrot Cake* Milk Cantaloupe with Yogurt
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Health Muffins
1 cup whole wheat flour 1 cup raisins and/or nuts, dates. 1 tbsp. baking powder 1 cup powdered milk 1/3 cup sunflower seeds 1/4 cup caraway seed 3 tbsp. wheat germ 1 cup whole bran 2 eggs 1/4 cup molasses 1 cup water (approximately) 1/2 cup oil Mix first eight ingredients together in a large bowl. Beat eggs slightly and add molasses and oil. Blend into dry ingredients. Add water to make thick batter; do not overbeat. Pour into muffin tins lined with baking cups and bake at 400F for about 20 minutes.
Chicken Slaw
2 cups cooked chicken 1/3 cup sliced almonds 2 cups orange sections diced 2 cups shredded cabbage 1 large red onion thinly sliced 1/2 cup mayonnaise 2 tsp. lemon juice Combine chicken, orange sections, onion, cabbage and almonds. Mix together mayonnaise and juice. Add to chicken mixture and toss lightly.
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Carrot Cake
2 cup whole wheat flour (unsifted) 1 cup brown sugar 1 tsp. baking soda 2 tsp. cinnamon 3 tsp. baking powder 2 1/2 cups grated carrot 1 cup chopped walnuts 3 eggs 1 cup oil 1/2 cup honey 1/4 cup lemon juice Mix dry ingredients together in large bowl. Beat eggs and combine with oil, honey and lemon juice. Add to dry ingredients and beat three minutes. Add carrots and walnuts and stir until blended. Bake at 350F for 45 minutes, or until done.
Ginger Broccoli
4 cups broccoli heads and stems, sliced 3 tbsp. chopped onion 2 tbsp. soy sauce 2 tbsp. lemon juice 1 tsp. chopped fresh ginger 2 tbsp. water 1 clove garlic, chopped Steam broccoli until tender but still crisp. Mix together remaining ingredients and add to cooked broccoli and cook one minute.
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Week One - Thursday

Food for Thought "It matters not what you are thought to be, but what you are." --Publilius Syrus Affirmation My body is relaxed, my mind is at peace and I am one with the earth. Exercise While doing the deep breathing routine, replace the head rotation with arm rotation. Begin by touching your hands in front of you, bring them above your head and then down into the rear as far as you can without stress. Return them in front of you and begin the cycle again. Repeat this twenty times. Make each rotation mesh with your breathing cycle. Did you know? The sugar in commercial yogurt tends to nullify its therapeutic effects. Sugar inhibits the B vitamins, which are made from the bacteria found in yogurt. Spice The difference between a career and a job is about twenty hours a week. Menu The Tuna Melt recipe that follows has you layer the ingredients on a piece of Pita bread. You can also mix the whole schmeer together and stuff it inside the Pita bread and bake in a 350 oven for ten minutes or so. Whole wheat Pita bread is far more interesting than white, we have found. Pita bread, itself, is very interesting for that matter. It's great just toasted, and with its little pocket it can be made to do an infinite variety of remarkable things. I didn't give you a recipe for cheese biscuits this time, but if you will persevere you will find it later on in the month. Of course, if you don't want to be bothered checking it out, you can make plain ordinary baking powder biscuits from a handy carton of biscuit mix and no one will accuse you of shirking your duty, I've sure.
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Breakfast
Health Drink
Lunch
Tuna Melt* Honey Glazed Pears* Milk
Dinner
Chicken & Sweet Potatoes Spinach Salad Cheese Biscuits Carrot Cake
Tuna Melt
4 medium pita bread 4 thin onion slices 8 strips green pepper 1/2 cup grated cheese 1 tsp. curry powder 6 oz. can tuna Dash freshly ground black pepper Layer each pita bread with a quarter of the tuna, cheese, onion, green pepper and spice. Put under broiler and broil until cheese melts.
Honey Glazed Pears

3 tbsp. lemon juice 1/4 tsp. cinnamon 1/2 cup water 4 ripe pears cut in half lengthwise 2 tsp. honey Combine lemon juice, cinnamon, water in baking dish. Lay pears in this mixture and cover. Bake about 30 minutes until pears are tender. Remove pears and add honey to liquid. Transfer to small pan and cook until mixture thickens. Pour over pears refrigerate.
Chicken & Sweet Potatoes

1 chicken, cut into serving pieces 1 19 oz. can sweet potatoes 1/2 cup butter Lemon herb seasoning
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Melt butter in baking dish. Season chicken pieces and brown in butter. Add all the sweet potatoes and half the juice. Cover and bake at 350 F about an hour until tender. Add remaining juice as needed.
Spinach Salad
1/4 cup salad oil 1 bag fresh spinach 2 tbsp. vinegar 4 slices bacon fried crisp and crumbled 2 tbsp. sugar substitute 1 hard cooked egg very finely minced 2 green onions, thinly sliced Dash freshly ground pepper Dash Tabasco sauce Combine oil, vinegar sugar substitute, pepper and Tabasco in tightly covered jar and refrigerate at least two hours. Wash spinach carefully, dry and tear into bite-sized pieces into salad bowl. Toss lightly with chilled dressing and garnish with bacon, egg and onion.
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Week One - Friday

Food for Thought "An object in possession seldom retains the same charm that it had in pursuit." --Pliny the Younger Affirmation I enjoy my present experiences and joyously anticipate each day's unfolding abundance." Exercise Steady yourself by holding on to a table, counter or sturdy chair, then raise your right leg and rotate it so that your foot makes as large a circle as possible. Do this ten times while your coordinate it with ten breathing cycles. Repeat the number of rotations with your left leg. Did You Know? To get the skins off garlic before chopping, pound the clove with the side of a heavy knife, meat pounder or a bottle. The skin pops right off. Spice Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow it will cost more. Menu It may seem a bit presumptuous to assume you don't know how to boil* eggs. However, I have discovered that many otherwise normal people become quite neurotic when faced with the prospect of creating a boiled egg without a major disaster: the white leaks out and the shell fills with hot water; the yolk takes on the consistency of a ball bearing; the shell sticks like Crazy Glue when you try it peel it, and so on. Therefore, in the interest of furthering happier breakfasts we have outlined a foolproof method of cooking eggs that really works. You may find it hard to believe that chaos won't occur when you put the cold egg in the hot water; it won't. Trust me.
Breakfast
Tomato Juice
Lunch
Mexican Steak Sandwich*
Dinner
Oyster Stew*
Keys to Personal Growth Boiled Eggs Whole Wheat Toast Cucumber Slices in Yogurt* Milk Mixed Vegetable Salad Chocolate Pudding*
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* Purists do not refer to boiled eggs as boiled eggs; they say hard/soft cooked. They are right, of course; you don't really boil them. However, people have been calling them boiled for thirteen hundred years without doing any harm, and hard cook sounds so wimpy.
Boiled Eggs
4 Eggs Pan of boiling water Very carefully lay the eggs in the bottom of the uncovered pan. As I said before they won't crack. It they should do so, it's because they were already in that state to begin with, so be sure to check the eggs before you dunk them. As soon as the water returns to the boil turn the heat down and let them just barely simmer until they are done the way you like them: 4 minutes for soft cooked, 6 minutes for medium and 10 minutes for pretty solid.
Mexican Steak Sandwich

1 lb. lean tender steak, 1/4 thick, broiled or pan-fried 1 very ripe avocado mashed 4 large rolls 4 thin slices mild onion 1/2 cup refried beans Taco sauce 1/4 cup grated Cheddar cheese Dash Tabasco sauce Mix refried beans and cheese together and spread on one side of each split roll. Add Tabasco to avocado and spread on other side. Divide steak into four portions and place on top of refried beans. Place onion slice on avocado. Pour taco sauce onto steak and either close the sandwich and eat by hand or leave open and fork it.
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Oyster Stew
2 tbsp. butter 1 cup milk 2 tbsp. flour 1/2 cup cream 1 small onion minced 1 - 2 pints oysters 1 clove garlic minced 1 tbsp. chopped parsley Melt butter in heavy bottomed saucepan. Add flour, onion and garlic and cook, stirring, until golden brown. Combine milk, cream and juice from oysters and slowly stir into the flour mixture. Cook until slightly thickened. Add oysters and cook five minutes more. Remove from heat, add parsley and serve.
Chocolate Pudding
1 envelope unflavored gelatin 1/2 tsp. instant coffee 2 cups milk 3 tbsp. cocoa 1/2 tsp. almond extract Artificial sweetener to taste Soften gelatin in 1 cup milk. Combine remaining milk, cocoa and instant coffee in heavy bottomed saucepan and bring to boil. Stir in gelatin mixture and cook over low heat until gelatin is dissolved. Remove from heat, add sweetener and almond and chill until thickened. Beat until frothy, divide into four dessert dishes and chill until firm.
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Week One - Saturday

Food for Thought "Ah, search the wide world wherever you can There is no open door for the moneyless man!" --Henry Thompson Stanton Affirmation I know nothing outside myself can prevent me from reaping my harvest of abundance. Exercise To advance flexibility of the upper spinal column, return to the head rotation exercise. Be sure to coordinate each rotation with a cycle of breathing. Rotate the head ten times clockwise and then ten times counterclockwise. Did You Know? About 99 percent of the calcium in the body is deposited in the bones and teeth. One percent is involved in the blood-clotting process, in nerve and muscle stimulation, parathyroid hormone function, and metabolism of vitamin D. Spice Money may not buy you friends, but it often gets you a better class of enemies. Menu All of the recipes we have given for this day take a bit of time. Most good food does take a while to prepare. If, however, you are on a rigid time budget, you can take the quick way out and still follow the menus. Welch Rabbit: Open a can of cheese sauce or cheddar cheese soup, toss in a few artificial bacon bits, heat and pour over the toast. Chili: Open a can of commercial. Caesar Salad: Tear up a head of romaine lettuce and pour a bottle of commercial Caesar dressing over it with a few croutons. Pina Colada Freeze: Substitute a carton of yogurt. The chili will suffer most from the fast food routine, mainly because commercial chili is full of beans and has no fresh vegetables in it. This homemade version is infinitely better and, although takes awhile to make, freezes well.
Breakfast
Cranberry Juice
Lunch
Welsh Rabbit*
Dinner
Beanless Chili*
Keys to Personal Growth Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato Sandwich Blueberries and Cream Milk Caesar Salad* Garlic Toast Pia Colada Freeze*
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Welsh Rabbit
1/4 cup butter 1 can beer 1/4 cup whole-wheat flour 2 cups grated cheddar cheese 1 tsp. dry mustard 2 egg yolks lightly beaten 1/2 tsp. Worcester sauce 4 slices toast Dash Cayenne pepper Melt butter in saucepan. Add flour and seasonings and cook, stirring constantly, until mixture is smooth. Add beer and cheese and continue cooking till cheese melts. Pour over crisp toast and serve.
Beanless Chili
1 lb. lean ground beef 6 chili peppers crushed (less if youre chicken) 2 medium onions, sliced 1 large clove garlic, minced 1 tsp. cumin 3 tbsp. cooking oil 2 2 tsp. oregano 16 oz. can tomatoes 1 medium zucchini, cubed 1 can beer 4 stalks celery, sliced 4 oz. can tomato paste 1 green pepper, sliced 1/2 cup raw rice Heat oil in heavy pan or crock pot. Brown meat, onion and garlic in oil until meat loses its pink color. Add next six ingredients and cook about two hours. Add remaining ingredients and cook until rice is done, about twenty minutes.
Caesar Salad
1 large egg 1 tsp. lemon juice 1 anchovy fillet Dash of pepper 1 small clove garlic, minced, torn 3-4 cups romaine lettuce 2 tbsp. fresh grated Parmesan cheese
Keys to Personal Growth 1/3 cup croutons 1/4 cup olive oil 2 tbsp. vinegar
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Boil egg for one minute and cool. In food processor or blender whirl together anchovy, garlic, cheese and coddled egg. With machine still running slowly pour in oil, vinegar and lemon juice. Tear romaine into bite-sized pieces and put in large bowl with croutons. Just before service toss in the dressing.
Pia Colada Freeze

2 cups lemon yogurt 1 tbsp. lemon juice 2 cups crushed pineapple 1/2 cup shredded coconut Artificial sweetener to taste Combine all the ingredients except coconut in blender or food processor and process until smooth. Stir in coconut, pour into shallow pan and freeze. Stir every hour or so to break up ice crystals.
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Week One - Sunday

Food for Thought "He has achieved success who has lived well, laughed often and loved much." --Bessie Anderson Affirmation I gaze with childlike wonder on the world and I see beauty in people, things and conditions. Exercise Since today is Sunday, you may be able to spend a little more time on your flexibility exercises. So today include both the arm rotation exercises and the leg rotation exercises in your regime. Rotate each leg ten times and both arms twenty times. Remember to continue your ten-minute brisk walk each day. Did You Know? Cheese that can be frozen includes processed, Swiss, Greek, Cheddar and cream cheese dips. If after defrosting the cream cheese seems grainy, whip it. Spice There is always a right way and a wrong way, and the wrong way always seems the more reasonable. Menu You will notice that on Sundays we have given only two meal menus. There are two reasons for this: most people don't get up in time to eat two meals before lunch and by the end of the week of designing menus we got tired. I warned you about the organ meats in the introduction, but in case you are one of those people who always skips introduction I will repeat; you are NOT obliged to follow these menus in blind obedience. If you can't stand the idea of eating brains, especially for breakfast, you have my full permission to have a bowl of cereal, a steak or whatever turns you on. This brains and scrambled eggs dish is quite good, however; so don't be too hasty in turning it down.
Brunch
Dinner
Keys to Personal Growth Melon Scrambled Eggs and Brains* Whole Wheat Bagels Appetizer Tuna Balls Roast Beef Roast Potatoes Red Cabbage* Cheese Cake*
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Scrambled Eggs & Brains

1/2 lb. brains (calf's are best) Flour to coat 1 tbsp. cooking oil Ground pepper 4 eggs, lightly beaten Pinch of powdered ginger Scald brains in hot water and remove membrane. Cut into half-inch cubes, roll in flour and saut in hot skillet with the oil. When they are brown, lower heat and add eggs and spices. Cover and cook about fifteen minutes. Stir and serve.
Appetizer Tuna Balls

6 oz. can flaked tuna 1 egg, lightly beaten 1/3 cup flour 1 tsp. baking powder Dash Tabasco sauce 1 tsp. lemon juice Oil to cover skillet 1/2" Mix everything together and drop by teaspoonfuls into hot oil. Serve with crackers.
Red Cabbage
1 small red cabbage, shredded 2 tbsp. butter 1/2 cup diced onion 1/2 cup red vermouth 1 tbsp. brown sugar 1 1/2 cups seedless grapes 1 tsp. lemon juice 1 tsp. cornstarch Melt butter in heavy saucepan. Saut onions until limp. Add cabbage, half the vermouth, and the sugar. Cover and cook until cabbage is barely tender. Add grapes and lemon juice and cook about 1 minute longer. Mix cornstarch with remaining vermouth and add to cabbage mixture. Cook until slightly thickened.
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Cheese Cake
1 lb. dairy cream cheese (not Philadelphia style) 4 eggs separated 1/2 cup sugar substitute 1 tsp. vanilla 1 lemon, juice and 1 tsp. rind Graham cracker crust 19 oz. can cherry pie filling Make or buy cracker crust and spread over bottom of 9" x 9" spring form pan. Beat egg whites and add in order: lightly beaten egg yolks, sugar sub, cheese, vanilla, and lemon. Pour over crust and bake at 350 F until set, about an hour. Cool and pour pie filling over top. Chill and serve.
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Week Two - Monday

Food for Thought "I have no doubt that the great Accomplisher of Creation is directing within me with a single-minded purpose and an inward awakening in spite of all obstructions, and in spite of my own contradictions." --Rabindranath Tagore Affirmation I affirm that nothing in my past circumstances, in my memory, or in the world of conditions or circumstances can prevent my greatest bounty from coming to pass. Exercise Stand in a well balanced position with arms reaching toward the ceiling, then bend backward as far as possible without strain and return to balanced position. Do this movement in a slow, flowing fashion. Coordinate it with your breathing cycles for ten times. Did You Know? Some experts have found that taking 1000 mgs of vitamin C three times a day helps the body to repair bleeding gums. Spice No one is ever bored by a nonstop listener.
Keys to Personal Growth Menu
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It may have occurred to you by now that we use a lot of spinach. This is because we don't trust some people to eat enough salad greens or any green vegetable, for that matter. Spinach is rich in Vitamins A and C as well as iron, it's low in calories and it mixes well with other foods that may be more appealing to the "rabbit food" hater. In the casserole following you hardly notice that the spinach is there lurking among the cheese and rice and zapping you with nutrients. The chicken salad may, at first, startle you with all its unusual ingredients. But trust me, they blend well together and give you your daily ration of fruits in the main dish instead of the usual dessert.
Breakfast
Health Drink
Lunch
Chicken Salad* Bacon Biscuits* Custard Milk
Dinner
Sole Amandine* Spinach Casserole* Zucchini and Carrot Sticks Lemon Tarts
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Chicken Salad
4 large lettuce leaves 1 cup diced pineapple 2 cups diced cooked chicken 1/2 cup diced celery 1 banana sliced 1/2 cup toasted sliced almonds 1/2 cup mandarin orange segments 1/2 cup mayonnaise Dash curry powder Toss everything but the lettuce together. Divide into four portions and scoop onto lettuce leaves.
Bacon Biscuits
2 cups whole wheat flour 3 tsp. baking powder 1/2 cup cooked crumbled bacon 2 tbsp. grated onion 2 tbsp. caraway seeds 1/3 cup shortening 3/4 cup (approx.) milk Preheat over to 450 F. Mix together flour, baking powder, bacon, onion and seeds. Cut in the shortening. Add enough milk to make a sticky dough. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake about 15 minutes until golden brown.
Sole Amandine
4 fillets of sole 1/2 cup corn meal 1/4 cup cooking oil 1/4 cup butter 1/4 cup shredded almond.
Coat fish with corn meal and fry in oil until golden. Remove and add butter to skillet. Heat until bubbly, add almonds and brown. Pour over fish and serve.
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Spinach Casserole
1 cup cooked rice 1/2 cup grated Cheddar cheese 2 eggs lightly beaten 1/2 tsp. garlic & parsley salt 1/2 lb. fresh spinach chopped 1 tbsp. oil 4 tbsp. breadcrumbs Combine rice, cheese, eggs and salt. Stir in spinach and pour into greased baking dish. Top with breadcrumbs mixed with oil. Bake at 350 F, about half and hour.
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Week Two - Tuesday

Food for Thought "How can I be sure of my own essential worth when the exchange rates continue to fluctuate?" --Ashleigh Brilliant Affirmation I picture in my mind a rich, full happy life for myself, knowing that the universe wants the very best of everything for me. Exercise Stand in a balanced position, reaching for the ceiling. Bend forward reaching toward the floor as far as you can without strain. Slowly return to standing position. Do this ten times. Keep the movement slow and flowing and coordinated with your breathing cycles. Did You Know? A small amount of sugar added to but not stirred will prevent milk from scorching. If milk does burn, putting it in a pan of cold water and adding a pinch of salt will remove the burned taste. Spice Television is a machine that offers people who don't have anything to do a chance to watch people who can't do anything.
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I have included a fruit salad in the lunch menu today. I realize that you had a fair amount of fruit in your chicken salad yesterday, but we do have a reason. You may possibly have fruit left over, and we are thoughtfully offering you a way to use it it. Ditto the roast beef. You very likely have a perfectly good piece left over from last Sunday and are wondering whether you should freeze it, make sandwiches or give it to the dog. At the price of beef today none of these options are terribly practical. Ergo, the Beef with Capers dish. Left over roast beef needs all the help it can get, and this recipe puts a lot of pizzazz into it.
Breakfast
Apple Juice Grilled Cheese Sandwich
Lunch
Fruit Salad* Whole Wheat Scone Peach Yogurt
Dinner
Beef with Capers* Boiled Potatoes Glazed Carrots Cucumber Salad* Apple Nut Pudding*
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Fruit Salad
1 cup mandarin orange sections (canned or fresh) 1 cup diced pineapple 1 cup seedless grapes 1 banana sliced 1/2 cup miniature marshmallows 1/4 cup chocolate chips 1/2 cup whipping cream Whip cream until stiff. Combine remaining ingredients and fold in cream. If you make this the night before it will be much better.
Beef with Capers

1/2 cup beef bouillon 1 cup sour cream 1 tbsp. prepared mustard 1/4 cup red wine 1/4 cup capers 1 lb. sliced cooked roast beef Put first four ingredients in heavy bottomed pan and cook until thickened. Drain and wash capers and add to sauce. Pour over warmed beef and potatoes.
Cucumber Salad
1 medium cucumber sliced 1 medium zucchini sliced 1 cup sliced raw cauliflower 1/2 dozen radishes sliced 2 tbsp. vinegar 1 tsp. soy sauce 1 tsp. sesame oil Toss vegetable together with vinegar, soy sauce and oil. Chill and toss again before serving.
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Apple Nut Pudding

3 Granny Smith apples, chopped but unpeeled 1/2 cup chopped walnuts 1 tsp. baking powder 1 cup sugar substitute 2 tbsp. flour 1 beaten egg Mix everything together and put in small baking dish. Bake at 350 F for about 3/4 of an hour. Serve warm.
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Week Two - Wednesday

Food for Thought "As a man thinketh , so is he, and as a man chooseth, so is he and so is nature." --Ralph Waldo Emerson Affirmation Today I take a new look at where I am and where I want to re. I examine my options, set my goals and move into action. Exercise Stand erect with feet apart. Raise your left arm overhead and gradually slide your right hand down your right leg as far as you can without strain. Repeat five times then reverse position, remember, never hold your breath when doing these exercises and co-ordinate your breathing with a slow, flowing motion. Did You Know? The worst place to keep your medicines can be the bathroom medicine cabinet. Pills and capsules should be stored in a cool, dry place. Spice One good thing about being young is that you are not experienced enough to know you can't possibly do the things you are doing.
Keys to Personal Growth Menu Remember those capers you bought just for the Beef and Capers dish yesterday? You wondered how you were ever going to use the rest of the bottle up, didn't you? I didn't forget; they are in the salad!
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I have suggested "a good commercial spaghetti sauce" for the lasagna with trepidation. I've not sure there is such a thing regardless of what the TV commercials might tell us. If you have the time (and you probably don't) find a good spaghetti sauce recipe in your big cookbook and make it instead. Sorry about the Prune Whip, but it is guide tasty and so terribly beneficial. Think of it as your good deed for the day.
Breakfast
Orange Slices Health Muffins Boiled Egg
Lunch
Shrimp Salad Sandwich* Cole Slaw Apple Milk
Dinner
Lasagna* Grapefruit and Greens Salad Prune Whip
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Shrimp Salad Sandwich

2 cans salad shrimp 4 green onions, finely chopped 1 tbsp. minced capers 4 tbsp. mayonnaise 2 tbsp. Dijon mustard 1 tsp. lemon juice 1 can water chestnuts, chopped 8 slices very fresh whole wheat bread Mash shrimp and combine with remaining ingredients. Spread generously over half the bread and top with remaining slices.
Lasagna
1 lb. dry lasagna noodles 1 lb. ground beef 1 tbsp. oil 1 can good commercial spaghetti sauce 1/2 lb. mozzarella cheese thinly sliced 1/2 lb. ricotta cheese 1 pint sour cream 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese Brown beef in oil until it loses its pink color. In a shallow five-quart baking dish pour 1/3 of the sauce. Begin layering 1/2 of the beef, mozzarella, ricotta, sour cream, and noodles. Pour another 1/3 of the sauce over and continue layering, finishing with the last of the sauce. Sprinkle the Parmesan cheese on top and bake at 350 F for forty minutes. This recipe will serve about 10 - 12 people so, unless you've having company, freeze the leftovers.
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Grapefruit & Greens Salad

1 bunch of parsley, coarsely chopped 1 head endive, torn in small pieces 2 grapefruit, peeled and sectioned 1/2 cup sliced cucumber 1/2 cup chopped green pepper 1/4 cup mild onion rings 1/4 cup salad oil 2 tbsp. lemon juice Combine the vegetables and grapefruit. Add oil and lemon juice and toss lightly.
Prune Whip
2 cups pitted cooked prunes 1/2 cup marmalade 1 tbsp. lemon juice 1/2 cup chopped walnuts 3 egg whites 2 tbsp. sugar substitute Put prunes, marmalade and juice in a blender and blend till smooth. Beat egg whites with sugar sub until very stiff. Put prune mixture in bowl and fold in eggs and nuts. Pile into dessert glasses
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Week Two - Thursday

Food for Thought "Genius, in truth, means little more than the faculty of perceiving in an unhabitual way." --William James Affirmation I affirm that as I joyously cooperate with life, life will respond in a like manner. Exercise Stand with legs apart and hands of hips. Bend your right knee and gradually slide your left foot to the left keeping your left leg straight. Return to original position in a slow, flowing manner. Repeat five times then reverse legs. Did You Know? Russian pharmacologists are using garlic oil as an antibiotic against flu. Studies have shown that allicin in garlic destroys harmful bacteria in the body without interfering with the body's natural bacteria. Spice High heels were invented by a woman who had been kissed on the forehead.
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If you are a person who would rather eat mattress ticking than dive into a plate of liver, today's dinner entree is for you. Until we tried it ourselves we had always thought of liver as undisguisable; that new filling taste could permeate anything. But we were wrong. Ginger kills it. If, on the other hand, you are a liver lover, you may find that you would rather go easy on the ginger and cut it back to 1/2 teaspoon or so. To each his own. The Crazy Pudding is just for fun. It tastes pretty good and its a snap to make but don't plan on it as the piece de resistance when your designing a dinner menu for visiting royalty.
Breakfast
Health Drink
Lunch
Pizza* Sliced Peaches Milk
Dinner
Gingered Liver Corn Casserole Crazy Pudding*
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Pizza
4 Whole Wheat Individual Pita Bread 1/4 cup taco sauce Pepperoni and/or salami, ham, roast beef Sliced zucchini Sliced onion 4 Cheese slices Oregano Paprika Garlic powder Chopped parsley Parmesan cheese Spread the taco sauce over the pita bread, bringing all the way to the edges. Start layering the meat, then the vegetables, and top with cheese slices. Shake spices and Parmesan cheese over the top and place under broiler. Broil until cheese starts to bubble.
Gingered Liver
1 lb. calves' liver sliced thin 1/4 cup flour 1 tsp. onion salt 1 clove garlic minced 2 tsp. chopped fresh ginger 2 tbsp. soy sauce 1 tbsp. cooking oil 1 tbsp. cornstarch mixed with water Mix together flour and salt and coat liver strips. Stir fry garlic and ginger one minute. Add liver strips a few at a time and cook until crisp. Mix sherry, soy sauce, cornstarch and water and stir into liver. Cook until thickened.
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Corn Casserole
1/4 cup sliced onions 3/4 cup sliced celery 1/4 cup sliced green pepper 1 tbsp. butter 2 eggs slightly beaten 1/4 cup milk 1 large can cream style corn 1/2 tsp. oregano Dash fresh ground pepper 1/2 cup breadcrumbs 1/2 cup grated cheese Saut the onions, green pepper and celery in butter until limp. Mix eggs, milk, corn and seasonings together with vegetables and place in casserole dish. Sprinkle breadcrumbs and cheese on top and bake uncovered at 325 F for forty minutes.
Crazy Pudding
1/2 cup melted butter 1/2 cup water 1/4 cup honey 1 tsp. vanilla 1/4 tsp. almond extract 1 ripe banana 3 hard-cooked eggs 1 cup slivered almonds Put everything except the almonds into the blender and whirl until it thickens. Mix in 3/4 cup of the almonds and pour into four dessert dishes. Chill at least two hours. Before serving sprinkle the remained of the almonds over the top.
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Week Two - Friday

Food for Thought "All forces are potentially present in man, and the universe continues the creative process through him." --Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Affirmation I declare my acceptance of plenty in my life and recognize that abundance surrounds me. Exercise
In a sitting position clasp your hands behind the lower part of your head, elbows out to the sides.
Bring your elbows forward and let your head drop to your chest, your hands "pulling" your head, neck and upper back forward gently. Return your head to a vertical position against the gentle pull of your hands. Repeat ten times. Did You Know? A few peppercorns in your pepper shaker will keep the holes from clogging and, as an added bonus, will give the ground pepper a fresh taste. Spice A watched pot often causes one to join Weight Watchers.
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There must be as many meat loaf recipes floating around, as there are ways to dress up tuna. Let's face it; we all run out of money before we run out of month occasionally. This one is the best we've come across, and we've pretty sure its because of the onion soup mix. (Have you ever wondered if anyone uses onion soup mix to make onion soup with?) One small suggestion: if you use a heavy whole grain bread for the crumbs the taste improves even more. The creamed onions go great with the meat loaf; they even give it a little class. However, be sure to soak the onion, as ordered or they won't taste the same.
Breakfast
Half Grapefruit Ham Omelette Whole Wheat Toast Bananas and Cream
Lunch
Peanut Soup Whole Wheat Crackers Cheese-stuffed Celery Milk
Dinner
Meat Loaf* Baked Potatoes Creamed Onions* Broccoli Apple Cream
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Peanut Soup
2 cups shelled peanuts 1 tsp. oregano 2 medium onions 2 cans consomm 3 tbsp. cooking oil 2 cans water 1 tsp. marjoram 3-4 drops Tabasco sauce Put everything into blender and blend till smooth. Heat and garnish with chives.
Meat Loaf
1 lb. ground beef 1 egg 1/2 lb. ground pork 1/2 tsp. tarragon 1 package onion soup mix Dash Tabasco sauce 1 tbsp. Worcester sauce 1/2 - 3/4 cup bread crumbs 1/4 cup soya sauce Tomato ketchup to moisten Lightly toss everything but ketchup together. Add just enough ketchup to make meat mixture soft and slightly sticky. Form into loaf shape and place on greased baking sheet. Bake at 350 F about 1 1/4 hours.
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Creamed Onions
3 cups sweet onions, sliced 1 tsp. celery salt 1 cup half and half Fresh ground black pepper 1/2 cup bread crumbs 2 tbsp. butter
Soak onions in cream for 1 hour. Combine all but 1/4 cup crumbs in casserole. Top with remaining crumbs and bake at 350 F forty-minutes.
Apple Cream
1 3/4 cups applesauce 1 tsp. grated lemon rind 1/4 cup milk 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla 1 envelope unflavored gelatin 2 egg whites 1/4 cup tapioca (quick cooking) Combine milk and gelatin in saucepan and heat until gelatin is dissolved. Add tapioca and bring to boil. Remove pan from heat and add applesauce, lemon and vanilla. Let cool until thickened but not set. Beat egg whites until stiff and fold into mixture. Pour into dessert dishes and chill.
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Week Two - Saturday

Food For Thought "When the gods want to punish us they answer our prayers." --Oscar Wilde Affirmation I accept that I am the only person who can enslave me. Therefore, I am the person who frees myself. Exercise Stand with feet apart. Clasp your hands above your head and rotate the palms to face the ceiling. Slowly bend to the right as far as you can letting your arms pull your body sideways. Bend your neck with your body. Repeat ten times alternating right and left sides. Did You Know? If you are suffering from dizziness or memory loss you should make sure you are getting enough manganese in your diet. Spice I wish that I were rich enough or poor enough to do a lot of things that are impossible in my present comfortable circumstances. Menu Smelts are, in my opinion, a very underrated fish. They are incredibly cheap, for one thing, and they are mild and delicious. As least, they are mild and delicious if you buy them fresh and don't leave them hanging around the fridge while you take off to Hawaii for the Christmas break. They have an unfortunate tendency to turn into cod liver oil if you don't use them at once. Of course, if the idea of fish of any kind for breakfast turns you pale, you can always forget the whole thing and sleep till noon. Then, you can start the day with the meat loaf you didn't finish last night. These things are sent to try us.
Breakfast
Half cantaloupe Broiled Smelts* Whole Wheat Toast Beverage
Lunch
Meat Loaf Sandwich Carrot Sticks Grapes Milk
Dinner
Pork Stir Fry* Fried Rice* Cranberry Sherbet*
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Broiled Smelts
20 smelts 2 tomatoes sliced 1/2 tsp. oregano Fresh ground pepper 2 tsp. grated Parmesan cheese 1 tbsp. chopped parsley Pinch garlic powder
Broil smelts on one side till browned. Turn over and top with tomato, cheese and spices. Broil other side about 2 minutes. Garnish with parsley and serve very hot.
Sweet & Sour Pork

1 egg lightly beaten 1 14 oz. can pineapple chunks, drained. 1 tbsp. cornstarch 1 lb. lean pork, cut into 1-in. cubes 3 tbsp. cornstarch 2 greenpeppers, sliced 1 large carrot thinly sliced 3 tbsp. oil
Heat oil in wok or deep skillet. Mix together 2 tbsp. of the pineapple juice, the egg and 1 tbsp. cornstarch. Roll pork in 3 tbsp. cornstarch and fry in hot oil about ten minutes. Remove from wok and keep warm. Add green pepper and carrot to hot oil and cook one minute. Add pineapple and sauce and heat till thickened. Toss in pork and serve.
Fried Rice
2 cups cooked rice 2 tbsp. peanut oil 1/4 cup chopped green onion 1/2 cup finely chopped celery 1/2 cup frozen green peas thawed 3 tbsp. soya sauce 2 eggs Heat oil in wok and add green onion and celery. Stir-fry about two minutes. Add rice and peas and cook three minutes. Stir in soya sauce. Just before serving break eggs into the minutes and stir vigorously until eggs are set.
Cranberry Sherbet
1 cup cooked cranberries 2 large cooking apples
Keys to Personal Growth 4 tbsp. honey 1/4 cup yogurt Put everything in blender and whiz till smooth. Put into four dessert dishes and freeze till mushy. Stir and refreeze.
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Week Two - Sunday

Food For Thought "What a man thinks of himself, that it is which determines, or rather indicates, his fate." --Henry David Thoreau Affirmation By trusting in myself and believing in myself I affirm self-esteem. Exercise Stand with your feet together and clasp your hands behind your back with thumbs facing in, palms up. Very slowly, pull your shoulders together and rotate your elbows inward. Return to normal position but resist the motion with your hands. Repeat ten times. Did You Know? Popcorn should always be kept in the freezer. It keeps it fresh and helps eliminate "old maids." Spice Man's greatest fear is to have to make a public speech. His second greatest fear is having to listen to one
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The first time I ever saw Eggs Benedict in the flesh was at a posh hotel in Toronto that the expense account was paying for. As I sat in the dining room the first morning eating my scrambled eggs and toast, an expensive couple sat down at the table next and the woman ordered Eggs Benedict. I was fascinated. Then they arrived; we nearly fell into my orange juice peering over at them. I watched her eat every mouthful thinking all along: that's how the rich people live. When her companion asked how they were, she replied, "Not bad, but nothing like you get in Paris. The hollandaise sauce was bottled." Next morning we ordered them ourselves and immediately became addicts. I don't know whether the sauce was bottled or not; it tasted great to us, but perhaps that was only because I'd never been to Paris.
Brunch
Fruit Cup Eggs Benedict* Beverage
Dinner
Shrimp Cocktail Roast Chicken Mashed Potatoes* Italian Vegetables* Fresh Lemon Pie*
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Eggs Benedict
8 eggs 4 English muffins, split 8 slices lean back (Canadian) bacon Hollandaise Sauce Poach eggs, fry bacon and toast muffins. Place a piece of bacon on each muffin half, place an egg on top and pour Hollandaise over each portion.
Blender Hollandaise
4 egg yolks 1/4 tsp. Tabasco 3 tbsp. lemon juice Dash fresh ground pepper 1/2 cup melted butter Blend first four ingredients together until eggs are light. Pour melted butter into egg mixture in a thin stream while blender is running. Use immediately.
Mashed Potatoes
4 baked potatoes 4 tbsp. butter 3 tbsp. milk or cream Salt and pepper to taste Dash of nutmeg Scoop out pulp from potatoes and save the skins. Blend together with remaining ingredients. Serve with chicken gravy
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Italian Vegetables
2 tbsp. cooking oil 4 cloves garlic, minced 1 large onion cut in sections 1large zucchini, sliced
2 large tomatoes, quartered 1 cup sliced black olives 1/4 tsp. each of basil, tarragon, oregano and thyme Heat oil in wok or deep skillet. Stir-fry garlic, onion and zucchini 2 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and stir-fry 1 minute.
Fresh Lemon Pie

2 lemons 1 cup sugar substitute or honey 5 eggs, lightly beaten 3 tbsp. melted butter 9-inch unbaked pie shell or graham cracker crust.
Slice lemons very thin. Marinate for one hour in the sugar sub. Layer into pie shell and pour eggs and butter over it. Bake at 325 F for 1 hour.
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Week Three Monday

Food For Thought "A straw vote only shows which way the hot air blows." --O. Henry Affirmation I discover my rightful place in life so that I may give the best of what I am. Exercise Choose a comfortable spot and lie flat on the floor. Clasp your hands behind your head and cross your ankles. Slowly and smoothly try to bring your knees and your elbows toward each other without undue strain. Remember to coordinate the slow, flowing movement with your diaphragmatic breathing. Repeat twenty-five times. Did You Know? A significant inclusion of oat bran in your daily diet greatly assists your body's capacity to process cholesterol. Spice The world is divided into five groups: they are the haves, the have-nots, the hads, the never-hads, and the trying-to-gets.
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Menu I especially like this stuffed pepper recipe because the peppers are left raw. Most stuffed peppers call for piling hamburger into the shells and baking in tomato juice. The whole thing ends up resembling something washed up on a beach. Of course, if you happen to like the taste and texture of a dead umbrella plant, then by all means keep on cooking them. The first time I developed the Irish Stew recipe for a cookbook I included a teaspoon of instant coffee powder. Then, in a moment of sheer brilliance, I named the concoction Irish Coffee Stew. The coffee didn't do a thing for the stew and the name began to pall after I'd typed it eleven times. I am now back to basic Irish Stew and a good thing, too.
Breakfast
Health Drink
Lunch
Stuffed Peppers* Bread Sticks Apple
Dinner
Lamb Stew* Asparagus Salad* Herb Bread Pineapple Whip*
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Stuffed Peppers
1/4 cup cottage cheese 1 tbsp. prepared mustard 1 tbsp. ketchup 1 tsp. horseradish Dash Worcester sauce 4 oz. can flaked tuna 1/4 cup chopped onions 1/4 cup chopped celery 2 green peppers halved and seeded Mix everything but the pepper halves together and divide into four portions. Pile into pepper halves and serve.
Lamb Stew
1 lb. lean lamb, cubed Seasoned flour for dredging 3 tbsp. oil 1 cup chicken broth 1 cup white wine 1 bay leaf 2 whole cloves 1 tsp. garlic powder 2/3 cup raw rice 2-3 cups cut up vegetables, carrots, green beans, onions 2 potatoes cubed Heat oil in large pot. Coat lamb with seasoned flour and brown in oil for 10 minutes. Add remaining ingredients, bring to boil then lower heat. Cook about half an hour.
Asparagus Salad
4 dark green lettuce leafs 12 asparagus stocks fresh lightly cooked, or 1 can of tips 2 navel oranges, sectioned Avocado cut in strips 1/3 cup mayonnaise 3 tbsp. orange juice 1 tsp. lemon juice Put lettuce leafs on four salad plates. Arrange asparagus stocks, avocado slices and orange sections on each leaf. Mix together mayonnaise and juices and drizzle on top.
Pineapple Whip
1/4 cup pineapple juice 2 tsp. unflavored gelatin
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1 cup canned crushed pineapple, drained 1/4 tsp. pineapple extract 4 tbsp. coconut Artificial sweetener to taste 1/3 cup powdered milk 1/2 tsp. lemon juice 4-6 ice cubes
Heat juice and add gelatin. Let sit 2 minutes. Put into blender and add remaining ingredients, except ice cubes. Process until smooth. Add ice cubes one at a time and continue processing until ice is crushed. Pour into dessert dishes and chill.
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Week Three - Tuesday

Food For Thought "Every day should be passed as if it were to be our last." --Publilius Syrus Affirmation Love, harmony, cooperation and mutual assistance is the very foundation of my life. Exercise Lie flat on the floor face down with your arms at your side. Simultaneously raise your feet and your head off the floor without bending your knees. Perform this exercise in a very gradual and deliberate manner. Repeat twenty-five times. Did You Know? High potency Aloe Vera gel greatly assists the body's natural ability to heal cuts, scrapes, burns and other skin irrita-tions. Spice Finding the perfect fishing companion isn't easy. It has to be someone who has no grandchildren, has never had surgery and who hasn't recently quit smoking.
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The potato skins and the chicken dish are my token contribution to the intelligent use of leftovers. I assume you followed the strict instructions to save the potato skins from Sunday's dinner. I am also assuming (probably falsely) that you roasted a giant chicken and have two cups of leftover meat. Great cooks always plan ahead like this, I'm told. If you are like me and didn't, you can always baked a new set of potatoes (saving the insides of course for potato pancakes!), find a tray of chicken parts in the freezer to microwave and you're right back on schedule. I once knew a very organized lady who saved all her leftovers and made her own TV dinners. Another of my strange acquaintances used to put everything that wasn't tied down into her crockpot and make soup. I understand neither Stouffers nor Campbells were the least bit worried.
Breakfast
Tomato Juice Health Muffins Bacon
Lunch
Potato Skins* Carrot and Raisin Salad Raspberries Milk
Dinner
Chicken Hawaiian* Tomato Salad* Peanut Butter Bars*
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Potato Skins
Heat 1" oil in wok or deep skillet. Bring out the potato skins you saved from Sunday's dinner and cut in quarters. Fry until crisp and serve with sour cream.
Chicken Hawaiian
2 tbsp. cooking oil 1/4 cup chopped onion 1 10 oz. package frozen green beans 2 cups cooked chicken, cut up 2 cups cooked rice 1/4 cup capers 1 14 oz. can pineapple chunks Stir-fry onions and beans in hot oil 2-3 minutes. Pour juice from pineapple over and steam till beans are crispy tender. Add remaining ingredients and stir till heated.
Tomato Salad
4 large firm tomatoes 1 tsp. tarragon vinegar 3 green onions cut up 1/4 tsp. basil 1 clove garlic, crushed 2 tbsp. chopped parsley 1 tbsp. olive oil Peal, seed and chop tomatoes into a salad bowl. Add remaining ingredients, except parsley, mix well and chill. Add parsley just before serving.
Peanut Butter Bars

1/2 cup flour 1/2 cup peanut butter 1/2 tsp. cinnamon 3 tbsp. molasses 1 very ripe banana, mashed 1/2 cup chopped dates 2 eggs Mix everything together very well. Push into a greased 8" pan and bake 350 F for 15 minutes.
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Week Three - Wednesday

Food For Thought "It is indeed a desirable thing to be well descended, but the glory belongs to our ancestors." --Plutarch Affirmation Today I celebrate each intimate relationship with care and affection. Exercise Lie flat on the floor on you back with your hands at your side. Raise your head and shoulders off the floor as if you were attempting to look at your feet. Be sure to do this exercise very slowly without holding your breath. Repeat twenty-five times. Did You Know? An orange's sweetness can be identified by its navel. The bigger the hole, the sweeter the orange. Spice You usually find yourself talking more when you are with people you have nothing to say to
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You will notice that we are pushing leftovers again today. I promise - it's not a trend. The vegetable omelet is really very good, and it does use up the stuff in those little plastic dishes that are lurking in the back of the fridge. About curry: Perhaps you already know this but in case you don't have an East Indian friend to put you straight here is the scoop. It is imperative that curry be cooked before it is added to any dish. Sloshing it over heat in butter seems to be the only way to get the flavor to really emerge. So, remember, NEVER shake the powder into the dish without first giving it a shot over a hot burner. After I typed it, I wondered why I called the desert "Tasty" Pears. It would be kind of stupid to give you a recipe that wasn't, wouldn't it?
Breakfast
Half Grapefruit Vegetable Omelet* Whole Wheat Toast
Lunch
Shrimp Curry with Rice* Chutney Strawberry Yogurt Milk
Dinner
Ham Potato Salad* French Green Beans Tasty Pears*
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Vegetable Omelet
6 eggs 3 tbsp. butter 1 1/2 cups cooked vegetables Fresh ground black pepper Heat butter in heavy skillet. Beat eggs lightly and pour into pan. Sprinkle the vegetables on top of the eggs and reduce heat. Cook over very low heat until eggs are done. Grind pepper over and serve immediately. Leave open-faced; don't try to fold it.
Shrimp Curry
1 tbsp. butter 2 4 oz. cans shrimp, drained 3/4 cup chopped apple 1 tbsp. curry powder 1 tbsp. flour 1 cup light cream 2 tbsp. lime juice 2 cups hot, cooked rice Heat butter in deep skillet. Add shrimp and heat. Remove and keep warm. Add curry and apples to the butter and simmer about 4 minutes. Add flour and stir to make paste. Add cream and lime juice and simmer about 15 minutes. Place shrimp on bed of hot rice and pour sauce over.
Potato Salad
3 medium potatoes, unpeeled 3 tbsp. finely chopped onion 1/2 cup thinly sliced celery 1/4 cup thinly sliced radishes 3 tbsp. finely chopped cucumber 2 hard cooked eggs, sliced 1/2 cup (approx.) Mayonnaise 1 tbsp. prepared mustard Boil potatoes until barely tender. Drain and peel as soon as cool enough to handle. Cut into cubes and toss together with vegetables and egg. Add mayonnaise mixed with mustard. Refrigerate until cool. Note: It is important to add the mayonnaise while the potatoes are still quite hot.
Blender Mayonnaise
1/4 cup salad oil 3 tbsp. lemon juice 1 egg 1/2 tsp. dry mustard
Keys to Personal Growth 3/4 cup oil Put everything but final oil in blender. Blend until well mixed. Gradually add remaining oil very slowly while blender is still running. Blend until very thick.
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Tasty Pears
1/2 cup honey 1 cup red wine 1/4 tsp. anise 1/2 tsp. ginger 1 cinnamon stick 4 pears, halved and cored, or 8 canned pear halves Place everything but pears in heavy bottomed saucepan and cook over low heat about 15 minutes. Add pears (if fresh) and cook another 5 minutes. Cool in syrup and chill. Transfer pears to four dessert dishes, pour syrup over and top with whipped cream.
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Week Three - Thursday

Food For Thought
"Children who are born into happy families grow up speaking love as their native language." --Ashleigh Brilliant Affirmation Life becomes to me what I am to it. Exercise Stand with your feet astride and you hands clasped above your head. In a slow, fluid movement bend over and touch the outside of your left foot. Then in a slow, arcing movement s over and touch the outside of your right foot. Gradually resume an erect position and bend backward as far a feasible. Repeat twenty-five times. Did You Know? Due to the considerable thinning of the ozone layer you should be doubly restrained from exposure to bright sunlight especially if you are fair in complexion. A sun block is an absolute necessity for everyone. Spice
A man who is always declaring he's no fool has his suspicions
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Today's menus are not designed to make you sylph-like overnight. Many of the items are pretty high in calories, particularly the avocado salad. However, the high calorie count is more than compensated by the interesting taste and loaded nutrition. You can, if you're still getting your suits made by Omar, the tent maker, substitute a few items and get the calorie count down a little: Salmon is high, tuna is low; cheese spread and mayonnaise come in diet now; the apple dish can be made with 2% milk instead of half and half and forget the whipped cream topping, don't know what you can do about the avocado salad since there is no known low calorie substitute for avocados. I suppose you could chew on a stock of celery instead, but it wouldn't be the same - especially with tacos. On the other hand, you could follow the menu exactly and diet tomorrow. That's what I'd do.
Breakfast
Health Drink
Lunch
Salmon Salad* Toasted Pita Bread with Cheese Melon Milk
Dinner
Tacos* Guacamole Salad* Apple Souffl Pudding
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Salmon Salad
1 6 oz. can salmon 1/2 cup diced celery 1 medium apple, diced 1/4 cup diced onion 1 tsp. dill weed 1 tbsp. chili sauce 1/3 cup mayonnaise 4 lettuce leaves 2 hard cooked eggs, sliced Toss salmon, celery, apple and onion together lightly. Stir in dill, chili sauce and mayonnaise. Pile on lettuce leaves and garnish with sliced eggs.
Toasted Pita Bread with Cheese

4 whole wheat pita bread 4-6 tbsp. cheese spread Spread pita bread with cheese spread and place under broiler until cheese bubbles.
Tacos
8 taco shells 3/4 lb. ground beef 1/4 package onion soup mix Bottled taco sauce 2 cups shredded lettuce 1 large tomato, diced 1/2 large onion, chopped 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese Mix onion soup mix into meat and fry until meat loses its red color. Crisp taco shells in warm oven for 5 minutes. Spoon meat mixture into shells, and pour a tablespoon or two of taco sauce over them. Toss tomato, lettuce and onion together and pile over meat. Top with grated cheese.
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Guacamole Salad
2 medium-sized, very ripe avocados 2 medium sized tomatoes, chopped 3 tbsp. grated onion 2 tbsp. chili powder 1 tbsp. olive oil 1 tsp. lemon juice 1 tsp. lime juice 1/2 tsp. coriander Freshly ground pepper 4 crisp lettuce leaves
Mash avocado until fairly smooth, but leave a few lumps. Add remaining ingredients and stir until mixed. Divide into four and pile on lettuce leaves.
Apple Souffl Pudding

4 eggs, separated 1/4 cup sugar substitute 1/4 cup flour 1 1/2 cups half and half 1/4 cup butter or margarine 2-3 apples, peeled 1/2 cup chopped nuts Whipping cream Beat egg yolks and add sugar sub. and flour. Stir mixture into cream, add butter and pour into heavy bottomed saucepan. Cook over low heat until thick. Cool slightly, then stir in the apples and nuts. Beat whites until stiff and fold mixture into them. Pour into greased souffl dish and bake at 325 for about half an hour. Serve with whipped cream.
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Week Three - Friday

Food For Thought "Since it is Reason which shapes and regulates all other things, it ought not itself to be left in disorder." --Epictetus Affirmation Out of every event I produce success, harmony and happiness. Exercise Lie on your back with ankles crossed and hands clasped behind your head. Bend your knees and raise your head and shoulders aiming your right elbow toward your left knee. Repeat aiming your left elbow toward your right knee. Repeat this full alternate cycle fifteen times. Did You Know? Large quantities of caffeine can inhibit your body's ability to absorb iron. Spice How dear were all those pleasant days I spent with you last year. They say the woman always pays And I repeat: "How dear!"
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This may not be a red-letter day for you with kidneys on the dinner menu. Many people don't like even the thought of kidneys, let alone the taste. However, there are compensations. First, the stuff you drown the kidneys in helps considerably. Second, the mushrooms in sour cream are so good you can almost forget you are eating that organ meat which is so very good for you. Third, there is pie for desert. Well, maybe not pie in the strictest sense of the word. It doesn't have the traditional pastry. But the topping is good and the insides are wonderful. I promise you, you won't even miss that empty calorie crust. Very much.
Breakfast
V8 Juice Soft Cooked Eggs Pancakes
Lunch
Ham Sandwich Pineapple Slaw* Orange Sherbet
Dinner
Sauted Kidneys* Green Peas Mushrooms with Sour Cream* Fruit Pie*
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Pineapple Slaw
1 1/2 cups shredded cabbage 1/2 green pepper, thinly sliced 1can diced pineapple, drained 10 stuffed olives, thinly sliced 4 green onions, thinly sliced 1 tsp. caraway seed Freshly ground black pepper 1/3 cup mayonnaise 2-3 tbsp. cream 1 tbsp. lemon juice Combine first seven ingredients. Stir together mayonnaise, cream and lemon juice and pour over cabbage mixture.
Sauted Kidneys
3/4 lb. veal kidneys 2 tsp. vinegar 1/4 cup seasoned flour 3 tbsp. cooking oil 1 medium onion, chopped 1 clove garlic, chopped 1/4 cup 1/2 cup green pepper, diced 1 8 oz. can tomato sauce 1/2 cup chopped celery 1/2 tsp. basil Freshly ground black pepper
Clean and cut kidneys into small cubes. Marinate in vinegar for 10 minutes. Dredge in flour and saut in hot oil for about 5 minutes. Remove and drain on paper towel. Put vegetables in same pan and saut about 5 minutes. Add tomato sauce and seasonings and cook over low heat 10 minutes. Add kidneys and cook another 10 minutes.
Clean and cut kidneys into small cubes. Marinate in vinegar for 10 minutes. Dredge in flour and saut in hot oil for about 5 minutes. Remove and drain on paper towel. Put vegetables in same pan and saut about 5 minutes. Add tomato sauce and seasonings and cook over low heat 10 minutes. Add kidneys and cook another 10 minutes.
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Mushrooms in Sour Cream

1/4 cup butter 1 lb. fresh mushrooms 1/2 pint sour cream 1 tsp. dill weed Dash Tabasco sauce 1/2 tsp. paprika Melt butter in skillet and saut mushrooms 3-4 minutes. Lower heat and add remaining ingredients. Heat until just below boiling.
Fruit Pie
1 16 oz. can fruit cocktail, drained 1 cup flour 1/2 cup sugar substitute 1 tsp. baking soda 1 egg 1/4 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup chopped nuts Mix fruit cocktail with flour, sugar substitute, soda and egg. Pour into well-greased pie pan. Sprinkle brown sugar and nuts on top and bake at 325F for about 35 minutes.
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Week Three - Saturday

Food For Thought "To him whose elastic and vigorous thought keeps pace with the sun, the day is a perpetual morning." --Henry David Thoreau Affirmation Since I generously recognize my own dignity, I, therefore, invest in the dignity of my friends. Exercise Stand erect, steadying yourself with a table or sturdy chair. While your right hand steadies your body, lift your left leg and try to touch the ceiling with your toe. Reverse position and try it with your right leg. Make sure your motions are very slow and controlled. Complete the full, alternate cycle fifteen times. Did You Know? To preserve fresh cut flowers add two tablespoons of white vinegar and two tablespoons of cane sugar to a quart of water. The vinegar stops bacteria growth, and the sugar serves as food. Spice Most hard-boiled people are half-baked.
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Dinner today is a little skimpy in the fresh vegetable department, I'm afraid. That's why you are to have a tossed salad with your hamburger at noon. Since this is the only time, other that the green tomatoes at breakfast, that you are having vegetables it is quite important that you really do eat that salad. No, dill pickle and cucumber relish are not acceptable substitutes. Regarding the banana freeze: I included it because it is a great way to use up those rather mature bananas that are sitting around the counter turning brown. If you catch them before they turn to mush (in which case you can probably make passable banana bread with them) they will work out fine. It's a good idea to thaw the 'freeze' before attempting to eat it or you could easily lose a filling.
Breakfast
Sliced Oranges and Bananas Fried Green Tomatoes* Corn Muffins
Lunch
Hamburgers Tossed Green Salad Banana Freeze* Milk
Dinner
Fish Chowder* Cheese Bread Raisin Cake*
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Fried Green Tomatoes

1/4 cup flour 1 tbsp. cornmeal 4 large green tomatoes, sliced thick 1/4 cup cooking oil 1/4 cup margarine Sugar Black pepper Mix flour and corn meal and coat tomatoes slices. Heat oil and margarine in skillet and brown tomatoes on one side. Sprinkle with light coating of sugar, turn and brown other side. Grind pepper over second side and serve.
Banana Freeze
3 ripe bananas 1 tbsp. honey 1/4 tsp. vanilla 3 cups ice cubes Break bananas into blender and puree. Add honey and vanilla and blend a few seconds. Drop ice cubes into blender a couple at a time at high speed. When all the ice cubes are used up, pour mixture into dessert dishes and freeze about 3 hours.
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Fish Chowder
4 tbsp. butter 2 slices bacon, diced 2 tbsp. chopped onion 1/4 cup finely chopped celery 2 tbsp. flour 3 cups half and half 1 pint raw oysters 1 lb. white fish chunks 1/2 lb. raw shrimp 1 tsp. grated lemon rind 1/4 tsp. ground mace 1/4 tsp. marjoram Freshly ground pepper
Heat butter in heavy bottomed saucepan. Saut bacon, onion and celery until lightly browned. Stir in flour to make a smooth paste and cook another minute. Remove from heat and stir in half the milk until completely blended. Return to heat and gradually add remaining milk. When mixture begins to thicken, add remaining ingredients and cook over low heat about ten minutes.
Raisin Cake
1 cup raisins 1 tsp. baking soda 3/4 cup boiling water 1/2 cup butter 1 cup brown sugar 2 eggs 1/2 tsp. nutmeg 2 cups whole wheat flour 1 tsp. baking powder 1 tsp. cinnamon 1/4 tsp. cloves Mix raisins, soda and water together and let cool. Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and beat till smooth. Mix flour, baking powder and spices and add to butter mixture alternately with raisin mixture. Beat well after each addition. Pour into greased angel cake tin and bake at 350 for 30 to 40 minutes.
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Week Three - Sunday

Food For Thought "Everyone complains of his memory, and no one complains of his judgment. --Francois, Due de la Rouchefoucauld Affirmation I shine my love on whomever I meet and the whole world becomes illuminated. Exercise Stand with your feet fifteen inches apart, your hands firmly on your hips. Without bending your knees, bend backward as far as possible then rotate your upper body around to the left so that your elbow aims at the floor. Continue the rotation so that you look straight down at your toes, then rotate so that your right elbow aims at the floor. Return to original position and begin the exercise over only this time reverse the rotation. Complete this alternate exercise fifteen times. Did You Know? Antacids, when used to often, can deplete a child's system of phosphate and lead to muscle weakness. Spice Wall Street Saying: Why go broke when you can go public? Menu It may seem redundant to include a recipe for French Toast since it seems to be something even the klutziest of cooks can manage, (remember Kramer vs. Kramer?) Most cooks, however, make very dull French Toast. You will notice that in addition to the cottage cheese, which gives it an exceptional texture, this recipe calls for sugar and cinnamon. As any great chef will tell you; it's the little things that count! For the fruit cocktail you can either open up a can or throw together the bits and pieces of fruit that didn't get eaten last week. In either case, pour a little chilled ginger ale over it before you serve it and it will be 100 percent better.
Brunch
Honeydew Melon
Dinner
Fruit Cocktail
Keys to Personal Growth French Toast* Sausages Veal Parmesan* Lima Beans* Glazed Carrots Rice with Mushrooms Strawberry Bavarian*
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French Toast
6 eggs 1 cup smooth cottage cheese 1/2 tsp. cinnamon 1/2 tsp. sugar 2 tbsp. butter 8 slices whole wheat bread Beat eggs and cottage cheese together till well blended. Stir in sugar and cinnamon. Heat butter in large skillet till hot but not browned. Dip slices of bread in egg mixture and fry on both sides.
Veal Parmesan
4 veal cutlets 1/2 cup bread crumbs 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese 1/2 tsp. garlic salt 1 tsp. paprika 1 egg beaten with 1 tbsp. water 1/4 cup butter 4 slices Swiss cheese 1 cup tomato sauce Mix together bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese and seasonings. Dip cutlets in egg then bread crumbs to coat. Brown lightly in hot butter. Top with cheese slices and sauce. Cover and cook very slowly for 40 to 50 minutes.
Lima Beans
1/4 cup sliced onion 1 clove garlic, minced 1 package frozen Lima beans, cooked according to package 3 tbsp. butter 1 cup tomato sauce 1/2 tsp. dried mint
Saut onion and garlic in butter till soft. Add remaining ingredients and heat.
Strawberry Bavarian
1 pkg. regular size lemon Jell-O 1/2 cup water 10 oz. package frozen strawberries 2 egg yolks 1 cup whipping cream
Keys to Personal Growth 1 cup crushed ice
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Put Jell-O into blender or food processor with water and blend. Add berries and egg yolks and blend until strawberries are pureed. Add cream and ice and continue blending until very smooth. Pour into dessert dishes and chill for half an hour or so.
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Week Four - Monday

Food For Thought "I was angry with my friend:/ I told my wrath, my wrath did end. / I was angry with my foe:/ I told it not, my wrath did grow." --William Blake Affirmation My mind can poison my body or my mind can heal my body. I now choose to radiate healing energy throughout myself. Exercise Stand in a comfortable position with your feet 12 inches apart, arms relaxed at your side. Slowly squat, bending your upper body slightly as you do so until you are in a full squatting position with your face looking directly at the floor. Remain in this position for twenty seconds. Let your thighs bring you back up to a standing position. Repeat this cycle ten times. Did You Know? Zinc is a vital trace element for tissue repair.
Keys to Personal Growth Spice
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The human brain starts working the moment you are born and doesn't stop until you get up to speak in public. Menu Since this is the last Monday of the month and you've been so good about following all the instructions to the letter, I am making the menu today very easy. You probably already have health muffins in the freezer from the last time they were on the menu and the omelet is simplicity itself. So much for breakfast. Waldorf salad is just apples, celery and walnuts mixed together; salmon sandwiches can be made by a backward five year old, and the raspberry crme takes nothing to make. I should warn you, however, like the banana freeze before it, this desert should be brought out and given a shot of room temperature before serving. As for dinner, most of the stuff comes out of a can or a bottle. Even the apple pie is easy. It should be served warm, by the way, and topped with half and half or unwhipped whipping cream - just in case there aren't enough calories in the sugar and butter.
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Breakfast
Grapefruit Juice French Omelet* Health Muffins
Lunch
Salmon Sandwich Waldorf Salad Frozen Raspberry Crme Milk
Dinner
Oven Baked Chicken* Chinese Casserole* Deep Dish Apple Pie
French Omelet
The true omelet must be made individually. Therefore the instructions are for one omelet. 2 eggs 2 tbsp. butter Freshly ground pepper Beat eggs with wire whisk for about twenty seconds. Melt butter in small skillet or omelet pan until foamy but not brown. Pour in eggs and as they set at the edges, lift up with a spatula and let the liquid flow from the center to the cooked part. When still a bit runny, fold one third toward the center, then fold again as you move the omelet to a hot plate.
Frozen Raspberry Crme

2 cups raspberries, fresh or frozen but thawed 4 tbsp. honey or sugar substitute 1 1/2 cups creamed cottage cheese Pour everything in a blender or food processor and blend till smooth. Divide into four dessert dishes and freeze until mushy. Stir and refreeze.
Oven Fried Chicken

1 chicken cut into service pieces 1/2 cup cracker crumbs 1/2 cup mayonnaise 1/2 tsp. seasoned salt Mix crumbs and salt. Roll chicken pieces first in mayonnaise then in crumb mixture. Place on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 F about an hour until well done.
Chinese Casserole
1 10 oz. package frozen snow peas 1 10 oz. can bamboo shoots
Keys to Personal Growth 1 10 oz. can water chestnuts, sliced 1 cup bean sprouts 1 10 oz. can cream of onion soup Layer the vegetables in a greased baking dish and pour the soup on top. Bake at 350 F about 15 minutes.
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Deep Dish Apple Pie

4-5 cooking apples 1/2 tsp. cinnamon 1/4 tsp. nutmeg 1/2 cup brown sugar 1 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup butter 1 cup flour Slice apple and mix together with spices, 1/2 cup brown sugar and juice. Pile into greased 9" pie plate. Mix together 1/2 cup brown sugar, butter and flour. Sprinkle over apples. Bake at 350 F about an hour.
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Week Four - Tuesday

Food For Thought "It is as impossible for a man to be cheated by anyone but himself, as for a thing to be, and not to be, at the same time." --Ralph Waldo Emerson Affirmation Through an abundance of joy and laughter I can mobilize healing energy wherever my body requires it. Exercise Sit cross-legged on the floor. Interlace your fingers and raise your arms above your head until upper arms are just behind your ears. With your palms facing the ceiling push up with your hands as far are they will go. Hold for 30 seconds. Release but don't lower your arms. Repeat five times. Be sure to do this exercise slowly, and coordinate your diaphragmatic breathing with it. Do not hold your breath while doing these exercises. Did You Know? You can remove the burnt flavor from rice by placing a heel of fresh white bread on top of the rice and cover the pot. The burnt taste should disappear in a few minutes. Spice When other people take a long time doing something, they're slow. We take a long time; we're thorough. Menu I suppose everyone knows about the joys of stuffed potatoes by now; they are about as common as white wine at a single's bar. The reason I've included them here is because I have found that many people never make anything from scratch that they can buy at a fast food outlet. Hot chicken wings, for instance, or tortilla chips. So you now have a recipe for stuffed potato which you can use, or you can make up your own recipe. Just be sure to give them a try. You'll like them. The Greek Beef recipe looks for forbidding at first glance, but it's not that difficult to make. I would suggest you put it together the night before, (if you have a crock pot, so much the better) and begin cooking it the next morning. Then when you come home from a hard day at the salt mines, the delicious aroma will greet you at the door.
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Breakfast
Health Drink
Lunch
Stuffed Potato* Peanut Butter stuffed Celery Pineapple Milk
Dinner
Greek Beef* Spinach Casserole* Walnut Pudding
Stuffed Potato
4 medium baking potatoes 1 tbsp. chopped onion 1 can flaked tuna 1/2 tsp. basil 1/2 cup sour cream 1/2 cup grated Cheddar cheese Bake potatoes, cut in half and remove pulp. Mix pulp with next four ingredients and stuff into the shells. Top with the grated cheese. Return to oven and heat until cheese melts.
Greek Beef
2lbs. round steak, cubed 2 tbsp. cooking oil 1/4 cup red wine One 8 oz. can tomatoes 1/2 tsp. basil 2 cloves garlic, minced 1/2 tsp. cinnamon 1/4 cup cloves 1/4 tsp. allspice 2 tsp. lime juice 1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts Heat oil in large heavy pot. Brown steak in oil, then add remaining ingredients except juice and nuts. Cook over low heat 3-4 hours. Add nuts and juice and serve.
Spinach Casserole
1 package frozen chopped spinach Freshly ground pepper 6 oz. cream cheese 1/4 cup butter 1/2 cup soft breadcrumbs 1/2 tsp. sage
Keys to Personal Growth Cook spinach according to package directions. Mix together with cheese, pepper and 2 tbsp. of butter. Pour into small casserole. Melt remaining butter and toss with crumbs and sage. Sprinkle over top of spinach and bake at 350 F for twenty minutes.
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Walnut Pudding
1 egg 1/2 cup brown sugar 2 tbsp. flour 1 tsp. baking powder 1/2 cup chopped walnuts 1/4 cup grated apple 1/4 cup chopped dates Beat egg and sugar together. Add flour and baking powder and stir. Add nuts, apple and dates and mix thoroughly. Pour into greased baking dish and bake at 350 F for about half an hour. Top with whipped cream.
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Week Four - Wednesday

Food For Thought "One of the first principles of perseverance is to know when to stop persevering." --Carolyn Wells Affirmation I am the master of my mind, the gatekeeper of my thoughts. I can put whatever I want in my mind and think it. Exercise Lying on your back, bend your knees to your chest. Straighten your legs and in one smooth movement raise your hips up over your chest so you are standing on your shoulders. Support your back with your hands. Hold for thirty seconds and return to starting position. Repeat five times. Did You Know? A half-ounce of fresh sage leaves mixed with the juice of a lemon and added to a quart of boiling water will sooth a sore throat. Sweeten to taste with honey and strain before drinking.
Keys to Personal Growth Spice
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Most inventions come from making the right discovery when looking for the wrong thing. Menu There are people who don't like clam chowder, I'm told. They probably don't like fluffy kittens or spring flowers, either. Clam chowder is one of nature's greatest gifts, and I simply don't trust anyone who says they can't stand the taste. Many are the recipes for clam chowder, each reputed to be the last word, and I'm sure they are all very good. The one I am giving you has the added benefit of being quick and simple to make, and it tastes just as good as if you have fooled around with a potato peeler for hours. The cheese tomato biscuits, on the other hand, are a bit fiddly. If you feel they are too much work, simply make up a batch of ordinary biscuits and put a hunk of cheese on a plate beside them.
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Breakfast
Orange Juice Baked Ground Round Crumpets
Lunch
Clam Chowder* Cheese Tomato Biscuits* Baked Apple Milk
Dinner
Pork with Nuts* Noodles Green Beans Tossed Salad Peach Yogurt
Baked Ground Round

1 lb. ground round steak 1 tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese 1/2 cup tomato juice 1/4 cup chopped onion 1/2 tsp. garlic powder Dash hot pepper sauce Pinch ginger Mix everything together lightly and shape into four round patties. Bake in 475 F oven for about 10 minutes.
Clam Chowder
4 strips bacon 1 large onion, minced 1/2 tsp. thyme 1 can condensed cream of potato soup One 5 oz. can minced clams 1/2 cup half and half cream Cut raw bacon into small pieces and fry two or three minutes in bottom of heavy saucepan. Add onions and continue cooking until onions are limp and bacon well done. Add thyme, potato soup, clams with their liquor, and cream. Cook on low heat five minutes. Do not boil.
Cheese Tomato Biscuits

1 cup biscuit mix (or your own recipe) 1/3 cup tomato juice 2 tbsp. chopped onion 12 1/2-inch cubes of cheddar cheese Mix biscuits according to package directions substituting tomato juice for milk or water. Add onions and roll out 1/4-1/2 inch thick. Cut into 12 squares and form each square around a cube of cheese so that it is tightly sealed. Place on greased baking sheet and bake at 425 for 11 to 15 minutes.
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Pork with Nuts

1 lb. lean pork, sliced thin 1/2 cup soya sauce 3 tbsp. oil, preferably peanut 1/4 cup flour 2 tbsp. cornstarch 1/2 cup water 1/2 cup peanuts Marinate pork slices in 1/4 cup of soya sauce for 15 minutes. Heat oil in wok or heavy skillet until very hot. Coat pork slices with flour and stir fry until browned. Cover and cook on low heat until tender. Mix together corn starch water and remaining soya sauce and add to pork. Cook, stirring until thickened. Add nuts and cook another minute
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Week Four - Thursday

Food For Thought "Good health and good sense are two of life's greatest blessings." --Publilius Syrus Affirmation I close my eyes and mentally kiss each aspect of my life that needs healing. Exercise Walking up and down stairs can be very beneficial aerobically and for muscle tone. Today begin to focus on using stairs instead of elevators. Be sure not to over-exert, but use the stairs in a brisk manner. Did You Know? Grass stains can be removed from clothing by pouring on a little corn syrup. Rub the syrup into the stain then toss into the washing machine. The fabric should come out clean.
Keys to Personal Growth Spice Oh, three are the things that I never can keep: (Although heaven know how I wish that I could!) A secret, and still when I'm in very deep, And away from a man who is no damn good. Menu
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I once copied down a recipe for liver pate given by a TV cook, which he claimed, was the absolute end in pates. After he had made it and he and his guest had sampled it, complete with eye rollings and lip smackings, I decided to whip it up for a party I was giving the next day. I don't remember much about the recipe except that it contained a full pound of butter. When it was done, I put it into the fridge to chill, as I had been instructed, and next day pulled it out just in time to spread it on crackers. The first bite was ambrosia; the second, pretty good; the third, a little on the rich side; the fourth slightly sickening; the fifth, unswallowable. The chef was French, which may explain it. The recipe I have given you here is not at all rich; it is merely perfect.
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Breakfast
V-8 Juice Mushroom Souffl Whole Wheat Toast
Lunch
Liver Pate Sandwich* Cole Slaw Pear Milk
Dinner
Quick Chicken Rice Company Carrots* Ice Cream with Ginger Snaps
Mushroom Souffl
3 eggs, separated 2 tbsp. butter 1 lb. fresh mushrooms, chopped or 1 can stems and pieces 1tbsp chopped onion 1 tbsp. flour Dash nutmeg Fresh ground pepper Melt butter in small saucepan. Add mushrooms and onions and cook over low heat 5 minutes. Add flour and spices and cook 2 minutes longer. Remove from heat and cool. Lightly beat egg yolks and stir into mushroom mixture. Beat egg whites until very stiff and fold carefully into mushrooms. Pour into buttered souffl dish and back at 375 F until risen and brown on top; 15-20 minutes.
Liver Pate Sandwich

4 slices dark rye bread 4 lettuce leaves 1/2 cucumber, thinly sliced 8 tbsp. liver pate 1 cooked beet, thinly sliced Spread liver pate evenly over slices of bread top with beets, onions and lettuce.
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Liver Pate
1/2 lb. chicken livers 1/3 cup water 1/2 package onion soup mix 3 hard cooked eggs 1-2 tbsp. mayonnaise Cook liver together with water and soup mix for 15 minutes Remove liver and put through meat grinder or food processor with eggs until well blended. Add soup mix and liquid from pan and mayonnaise and mix thoroughly. Season to taste with pepper and salt.
Quick Chicken
1 3-4 lb. chicken cut in pieces 1 cup sour cream One 10 oz. can mushroom pieces with their liquid 1/2 tsp. thyme 1/2 package onion soup mix 2 tbsp. sherry, white wine, or lemon juice 1/4 cup toasted slivered almonds
Put everything but almonds in a large pot and mix up well. Bake at 325 F for 1 hour. Sprinkle almonds on top before serving.
Company Carrots
6 carrots sliced into 1/4" strips 1 small onion, chopped 3 tbsp. butter 1/4 cup chicken broth 1 tsp. garlic salt 1 tsp. pepper 1/4 cup sour cream Saut carrots and onions in butter 2-3 minutes. Add broth and seasonings and cook about 10 minutes. They should still be crisp. Stir in sour cream, reheat and serve.
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Week Four - Friday

Food For Thought "Outside show is a poor substitute for inner worth." --Aesop Affirmation I discard thoughts of loss, disappointment and defeatism, and replace them with thoughts of good health, happiness and continual prosperity. Exercise Lie on your back with your knees bent, your feet apart and your arms angled away from your body. Tighten your buttocks and slowly raise your body as high off the floor as you can. Hold for ten seconds then lower first your shoulders, then your waist, then your buttocks onto the floor. Repeat five times. Did You Know? You can make the lightest pancakes ever if you replace the liquid called for in the recipe with club soda. Spice "Well-adjusted" means you can make the same mistake over and over again and keep smiling Menu Beef stew is a great thing to have on hand in the freezer when unexpected company descends. You can make up a double or triple batch and put it into old cottage cheese containers and it will keep perfectly well until the next ice age. Thousands of people have their own idea of what it a great beef stew. Depending on what country they come from, they call it any number of odd, exotic names; Boeuf Bourguionne is probably the most intimidating. Nevertheless, it all comes down to a matter of hunks of beef, vegetables, spices and herbs and something to thicken it. The recipe I have given you calls for rather unusual spices and thickening, which is the reason I have included it. Otherwise, you could have looked it up in your fat cookbook yourself.
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Breakfast
Health Drink
Lunch
Salmon Salad* Muffins* Sliced Bananas
Dinner
Beef Stew* Boiled Potatoes Tossed Green Salad Lemon Crme*
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Salmon Salad
One 10 oz. can salmon, drained 2 tsp. vinegar 3 carrots, grated 4 stalks celery, diced 4 lettuce leaves 1/2 cup cottage cheese 3 beets, cooked and diced 4 green olives 4 slices lemon Mash up the salmon and stir in vinegar, carrots and celery. Divide in four portions and pile on individual lettuce leaves. Surround with cottage cheese and beets. Top with olive and garnish with lemon.
Quick Muffins
1 cup whole wheat flour 2 tbsp. honey or sugar substitute 2 tsp. baking powder 1/2 cup raisins, dates, nuts or coconut 1 cup milk 1/4 cup mayonnaise Stir everything together and pour into muffin tins either greased or lined with baking cups. Bake at 375 F for 20 minutes.
Beef Stew
1 lb. stewing beef, cubed 2 tbsp. flour 2 medium onions, sliced 2 tbsp. oil 1/2 tsp. thyme 1/2 tsp. ginger 1/2 tsp. cinnamon 1 bay leaf 1 cup beer 2 cups vegetables, potatoes, carrots, onions, etc. 1 slice bread spread with prepared mustard Dredge beef in flour and brown with onion in oil. Add spices and beer and simmer for one hour. Add vegetables and bread and simmer till vegetables are done. Stir bread till it disappears.
Lemon Crme
3 lemons
Keys to Personal Growth 3 whole eggs 2 tbsp. flour 2 tbsp. sugar substitute 1 cup boiling water 1 egg white, beaten Grate the rind from the lemons and squeeze the juice. Beat the eggs and add rind, juice, flour and sugar substitute and beat well. Pour boiling water over mixture and cook over very low heat (preferable a double boiler) until thick, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and continue stirring until cool. Stir in egg white and pour into large bowl. Refrigerate for two or three hours. Beat well and pour into serving dishes.
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Week Four - Saturday

Food For Thought "We all have sufficient strength to endure the misfortunes of others." --Francois, Due de la Rochefoucauld Affirmation I am an expression of perfect health. I let go of any attitude, known or unknown, that does not support that joyous truth. Exercise Lie on your back palms on floor at shoulder level and elbows bent and off the floor. Slowly raise you upper body, arching your back and tightening your buttocks. Support your weight with your hands. Hold for fifteen seconds then lower your body back to starting position. Repeat five times. Did You Know? European and North American diets are very often deficient in calcium. Although dairy products are excellent sources of calcium, many people avoid them because of calories, cholesterol or allergies. Dolomite, available in tablet form, is a natural form of calcium and magnesium in the proper ratio of two to one.
Keys to Personal Growth Spice Money may not make you happybut it quiets the nerves. Menu
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We're having kidneys again, this time lamb, and this time for breakfast. I won't, however, give you all kinds of excuses why you should try them as I did last week. If you like kidneys, this is a good way of doing them. If you don't, try frying a shredded wheat biscuit, (which you have softened a bit in hot water), in butter till crisp and top it with a lightly poached egg. It's great. Of course, if you do that, you'll be having eggs twice today. This isn't likely to throw your body into a state of uncontrollable trauma, but it could be boring. The baked bean recipe isn't really a recipe; its a way of making a commercial product edible when in a hurry. Real baked beans, made in a big pot and baked for hours are not in the same universe. Any good cookbook will tell you how.
Breakfast
Half Grapefruit Broiled Lamb Kidneys* Rye Toast
Lunch
Whole Meal Eggs* Scones Plums Milk
Dinner
Franks Baked Beans* Onion Salad* Fruit Compote*
Broiled Lamb Kidneys

4 lamb kidneys 2 eggs 2 tbsp. seasoned breadcrumbs 1/2 tsp. tarragon Pepper to taste Split kidneys in two. Remove skin and cut into thin slices. Dip in lightly beaten egg then in crumbs. Sprinkle with spices and broil two or three minutes on each side.
Whole Meal Eggs

4 slices bacon 1 small zucchini 1/2 cup mushrooms 2 potatoes 6 eggs, lightly beaten Dash hot pepper sauce 1 tbsp. cream Slice vegetables thinly. Saut bacon until limp, then add vegetable and fry until bacon is
Keys to Personal Growth crisp. Add eggs, hot sauce and cream and stir a bit. Cook until eggs are firm with still creamy.
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Onion Salad
1 cups sugar 1/2 cup vinegar 3 large onions, thinly sliced 2 tbsp. milk 1/2 cup mayonnaise Heat sugar and vinegar until sugar dissolves. Cool and pour over onion slices. Refrigerate 24 hours. Drain well, pressing vinegar mixture from onions. Mix milk with mayonnaise and pour over onions.
Baked Beans
1 can commercial baked beans 1 tsp. prepared mustard 1 tbsp. barbecue sauce 3 tbsp. grated onion Dash Tabasco sauce Mix everything together and heat.
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Fruit Compote
1 16 oz. can tart red cherries 1 tbsp. cornstarch 1/2 cup sugar substitute 1 tbsp. lemon juice 1 pint strawberries 1/4 cup sour cream Drain cherries and add water to make 1 1/2 cups liquid. Mix with cornstarch and sugar sub and cook over low heat until thickened. Add lemon juice and fruits and chill. Top with sour cream.
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Week Four - Sunday

Food For Thought "As if you could kill time without injuring eternity." --Henry David Thoreau Affirmation My inner world of patience and understanding, love and peace is reflected in my everyday life. Exercise As mentioned in the beginning of this section of the book and several times during week one, walking should be an important phase of your exercise program. Now that we have come to the end of the twenty-eight days, it is necessary to recognize the value of walking for clearing the mind, toning the legs and building aerobic capacity. Just as daily showers are important for personal hygiene, a regime of daily walking is a valuable habit to maintain. Did You Know? Wilted lettuce or celery can be made crisp again by placing it in a bowl of cold water in which you have added a few slices of raw potato
Keys to Personal Growth Spice Fools rush in where angels fear to "wed". Menu
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Brunch today looks like an awful lot of bother for a Sunday morning. This is the kind of menu that causes people to jump into the car and head for the nearest McDonald's. But please be assured, it isn't nearly as ominous as it first appears. In the first place, the breakfast steaks have to be prepared the night before, so they will take no time at all. (Yes, I realize that, in itself, could be a problem--perhaps you could get them ready before the party). The shake and the tomatoes can be handled by a very small child or a large, hung-over husband, whichever you have on hand. The biscuits, I admit, take time, but they are going to serve double duty (note desert) so it will be worth it to whip them up. On the other hand, dinner itself is pretty simple. Practically everything goes into the oven to do its thing while you recuperate from brunch.
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Brunch
Cranberry Shake* Breakfast Steaks* Sliced Tomatoes Hot Biscuits Beverage
Dinner
Ginger Cheese Ball* Crackers Baked Salmon Baked Potatoes Baked Acorn Squash Sunday Salad* Peach Shortcake*
Cranberry Shake
2 cups apple juice 1 banana 1/2 cup fresh cranberries Put everything in the blender and buzz until the cranberries are no longer apparent.
Breakfast Steaks
4 minute steaks 10 oz. can tomato soup 1/2 tsp. thyme 1/2 tsp. savory 1/3 cup oil 2 tsp. prepared mustard 2 cloves garlic, minced 1/4 tsp. horseradish 1/3 cup onion, minced 1 tsp. season salt
Mix everything but the steak together and marinate steak in mixture overnight. Remove from sauce and broil 2-5 minutes on each side.
Ginger Cheese Ball

1 8 oz. carton cream cheese 1/2 cup chopped toasted almonds 1/4 cup preserved ginger Beat everything together and shape into a ball. Serve with crackers.
Sunday Salad
1 can artichoke hearts One 3 oz. can water chestnuts, sliced
Keys to Personal Growth 1 small head romaine 2 tbsp. chopped pimiento 3 tbsp. salad oil 2 tbsp. tarragon vinegar 1/2 tsp. marjoram Dash pepper 1 hard cooked egg, chopped fine. Drain artichoke and cut into four pieces. Toss with chestnuts, romaine and pimiento. Mix oil, vinegar, spices and egg together and refrigerate for an hour. When ready to serve, shake dressing and pour over vegetables.
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Peach Shortcake
1 cup whipping cream 1 1/2 cups flour 4 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. salt 3 tbsp. sugar substitute 3 ripe peaches 1/2 cup whipping cream Whip one cup of cream until stiff. Add dry ingredients and stir. Place on floured board and knead for half a minute--no more. Roll out dough to 1/2 inch thickness and cut into rounds. Place on greased cookie sheet and bake at 425 F for 10-12 minutes. While still warm, cut four biscuits in half, butter, and pile on peaches. Whip remaining cream and spoon on top.
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Appendix I and Bibliography: Creative SelfDevelopment
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Each individual should be in control of his or her own physical, mental and emotional resources. Each of us has the ability and strength to take greater control of our lives if we are only given the skills to do so. Most people need training, not treatment, to overcome the problems that are so much a part of our society and lifestyle.
YOU AND YOUR FEELINGS

As individuals, there is more to us than just a physical body. There are also various subtle energy fields extremely complex in structure and content , which are part of our aliveness. These energy fields can be directly experienced by us in a variety of ways, one of which is as certain feelings. These feelings, although associated with our body, are actually forms of energy, and so they are not limited by our body. As energies, as fields of energy, they also extend outside our body. Through becoming more sensitive to our own energies by learning what they feel like, we also become more sensitive to similar feelings in others. And this sensitivity to others does not simply mean that we see tears in another's eyes, for example, and deduce that he is sad, but rather that, in the apparently empty space between ourselves and the other person, his feeling- energies are encountering our feeling-energies. Then when we take a reading on all of the feeling- energies, which are present, we feel "sadness" there. Understanding this process can be important for a number of reasons, one of which is that we learn we're not always feeling our own feelings. While spending time with an angry person, we may begin to feel angry ourselves, when what we're actually doing is feeling the other person's anger. But the consciousness with which we experience that anger is the same consciousness with which we experience our own anger. So.. .whose anger are we feeling? Unless we're very discerning, we may not be sure. Furthermore, if we though not angry at the moment spend time with an angry person and then begin to feel his anger, those feelings may re- mind us of things about which we could get angry. Pretty soon, then, our own anger is stirred and finally both of us are angry. This same process goes on with pleasant feelings as well, and most of us know that sharing time with a happy person tends to induce happiness. Often, however, our everyday encounters are with people whose feelings are not especially pleasant who feel continuing undercurrents of vague fear, anger, or hostility. Their feelings are diffused, jumbled, or even chaotic. Thus, we ourselves may experience confusion, anxiety, or unrest which we believe are our own feelings but which, in fact, are feelings we have unknowingly picked up from others. The result is that we tend to lose our own sense of identity and authority, imagining that we are helpless victims of negative feelings in general. We might think that becoming less sensitive would solve this problem, however that would simply deaden us to what is going on. Instead, we must become more sensitive, constantly monitoring our feelings. Then, whenever we start feeling bad, we can ask ourselves if that feeling is a legitimate report of our inner condition a signal that something needs attention or if we are experiencing someone else's negative feelings. If we are experiencing another's negative feelings, we can use that simple awareness to restore our own sense of balance. And simultaneously, we can contribute
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to the other person's well-being by remaining alert and allowing him to feel our feelings of clear and conscious balance.
DOES STRESS DEPLETE YOUR LIFE?

Few adults in today's environment escape the mental and physical depletion caused by stress. There are important signs you should watch for which may indicate that your stress levels are well above the comfort zone. Important Signs of Physical Stress 1. Do you grind your teeth at night or do you flex your jaw muscles during the day? 2. Do you have frequent intermittent headaches for no organic reason? 3. Do you sometimes have visual disturbances for which your physician can find no cause? 4. Does your digestive system sometimes feel like a knotted cord? 5. Do you breathe in short, shallow breaths? 6. Are you plagued by disturbances in your sleep? 7. Do you chronically suffer from cold hands and feet? 8. Do you feel vexed by lapses in memory and concentration? 9. Do you often feel fatigue for which your physician can find no reason? 10. Do you frequently feel that your interpersonal relationships suffer from tension? The ten symptoms in the above list are extremely common. Any one of them can make your life uncomfortable and can deplete your professional performance as well as your personal life. All too many people regard these symptoms as either normal or perhaps inescapable. If you take this view and simply let the tension and stress eat at your body, you may find yourself the unhappy owner of serious clinical crises. Many experts believe that stress is an important component in aggravating acute or deteriorative diseases. Stress can reduce the ability of your immune system to fight off respiratory ailments. High blood pressure and other cardiovascular problems can be seriously aggravated by stress. Asthma and a variety of allergies appear often to be triggered by stress. Clinicians at the Menneger Foundation in the U.S. have for a generation treated migraine headaches as a straightforward symptom of stress. Although researchers may argue about the exact roles stress plays in the broad spectrum of adult diseases, there is no doubt that your health profile can be improved substantially by ridding your mind and body of stressful symptoms. The important first step toward mastering stress is to recognize the power of the mind as either a negative or a positive influence in your life. Through mental power you can learn to raise the temperature of your hands and feet by five to ten degrees Celsius. Strange as it may seem, you can even be trained to use your mind to voluntarily reduce blood pressure. In fact, the mind can be used as an unbelievably powerful agent to work positively for your benefit and your physical enhancement. All too often we use the vast power of the mind for negative and destructive purposes in daily life. The trick is to eliminate destructive energy and replace it with creative and positive thought patterns. Several techniques can be learned to increase your mental resources and to switch from negative to positive mental orientation. Many experts believe that ninety-five percent of
Keys to Personal Growth the mental resources are simply unused. Certainly, we can obtain greater mental control by learning to manage the subconscious mind.
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The quickest and most effective way I know to begin this process is through hypnotherapy. Structured meditation can also be used as a powerful tool in developing self-awareness and self- mastery. Biofeedback training for specific purposes can yield astonishingresults. And for general reduction of stress, the techniques of progressive relaxation are extremely effective. Increasingly in Canada, counselors and other professionals are using some or all of these techniques. I have added all these techniques to my professional tool kit and I find them indispensable for work with my clients. Every executive in Canada would benefit from learning these skills, and I also believe that most women in today's society can make particular use of these skills due to their rapidly changing roles.
STRESS-DEX
Try this quiz to determine how stress affects your life. This is a list of symptoms you may encounter when you experience stress. Note each symptom and indicate the degree to which you experience it by placing the number in the table below: 1 (not at all); 2 (a little); 3 (somewhat); 4 (moderately); 5 (very much). 1. I have frequent headaches for no known organic reason. 2. I am bothered by disturbances in my sleep. 3. I chronically suffer from cold hands and feet. 4. I frequently feel that my interpersonal relationships suffer from tension. 5. My digestive system sometimes feels like a knotted cord 6. I feel vexed by lapses in memory and concentration. 7. My heart often beats very fast. 8. I feel jittery in my body. 9. I worry too much. 10. I get diarrhea. 11. I imagine terrifying scenes. 12. I pace nervously. 13. I become immobilized. 14. I can't make up my mind soon enough. 15. I perspire excessively. 16. I breathe in short, shallow breaths. 17. I grind my teeth at night 18. I am frequently angry or irritable. 19. I often feel fatigued for no apparent reason. 20. I feel guilty when I take time out to relax.
If you scored over 40 you may wish to consider a training program to reduce stress.
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THE NEW AGE VIEW OF STRESS

Today's highly competitive world encourages the belief system that people charged with leadership must not display weakness, vulnerability, or personal inadequacies of many sorts. This belief system tends to create a most unfortunate condition whereby professionals and managers often deny the pervasive as well as serious manifestations of stress. Since stress cumulates month-by-month and year-by-year, it may be possible to deny the symptoms long after the considerable accumulation of physical and emotional damage, to say nothing of the destructive effects on personal relationships. Therefore, the important questions need to be faced: 1. Is a manager a lesser person if he or she acknowledges the symptoms of stress? 2. If one learns to manage stress successfully, will that process impair performance or ambition? 3. Can work be challenging and yet free from stress? 4. Is it possible to manifest joy as well as ambition is today's marketplace? 5. Does willpower aggravate stress, and if so, what is the alternative? 6. How much of a personal investment is required to successfully manage stress? I am sure that these questions and many more tend to run through the minds of those who find themselves running in today's fast track. It is my firm opinion, after thirty years of experience in human resources work, that stress is pervasive throughout the marketplace, and that stress generates enormous financial costs as well as costs in human capital. For example, recent studies in the U.S. indicate that one-fifth of the American professionals and managers are involved with the abuse of a wide range of chemicals and drugs. Suggested cost to the American marketplace is an annual sixty billion dollars. It is also estimated that headaches and other forms of stress related pain generate approximately fifty billion dollars of marketplace costs. Per capita in the United States, the consumption of physician prescribed mood-altering drugs averages eighty tablets per year. Over half of the sales of any drugstore is in response to ailments which are principally stress related. The list of such issues could go on and on, but the point is: Is there an alternative to the massive financial and human costs associated with stress? Thousands of outstanding clinicians such as leading psychotherapists and physicians have created a vast amount of research and experience in the area of successful stress management without detriment to motivation, ambition or dynamite leadership. Over a generation ago the Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas pioneered this field, and today pioneers such as Gerald Jampolsky, Hans Selye, Dennis Jaffe, R.L Woolfold, F. Richardson, Norman Cousins and Neil Oleshan, to name only a tiny number, are continuing the work. It is now quite firmly established that twenty minutes of carefully coached daily exercises for a period of a few weeks to a few months can drastically diminish the physical and emotional damage done by stress. Although physical exercise is an important ingredient, along with a carefully designed nutritional program, the real key to successful stress management lies with mental exercises which actually change behavior. These mental exercises include a number of techniques which are related in that they all draw on the vast resources of the subconscious mind. But the techniques do vary in emphasis and style. Some individuals, for personal reasons, prefer one technique over others even though all of them may achieve roughly the same results. These techniques all involve
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reprogramming the subconscious mind so that greater conscious control is generated over specific behaviors which are proving to be a problem. The process is not so much a clinical procedure as would be performed by a physician through surgery or pharmaceuticals, but rather the techniques associated with mental exercises are best seen as a training process or a coaching program much like athletics. Some of the best known techniques are: biofeedback training, progressive relaxation, training in positive imaging, programmed meditation, creative personal affirmations and hypno-training or self- hypnosis. If these techniques are performed for twenty minutes a day for a period of a few months, the resulting behavior change can appear almost miraculous.
MENTAL POTENTIAL AS HUMAN CAPITAL

Centuries ago it was clearly understood by those who were in the slave trade that human beings represented capital formation of enormous value. The bitterness of the emancipation process demonstrated clearly the strength of the understanding that human beings were, in the simplest and most direct form, capital. Modern industrial societies have generally lost sight of the recognition that human talent and human intellect as well as human sweat represents wealth. One of the clearest thinkers about this matter was the famous Harvard historian, Oscar Ham- lin. He wrote a series of brilliant books about the New World and the capital infusion that immigrants represented. Even though North America was unbelievably blessed with natural resources and even though Colonial powers poured financial capital in- to the New World, the real investment was made by importing human skills and human intellect. Robert Reich, a current Harvard economist with a very high profile, has taken up the argument where Oscar Hamlin left off. In a recent book, America's Next Frontier, Reich argues most cogently that the industrial societies which are most competitive are those which truly respect the concept of human capital and consistently pursue the enrichment of human capital. He believes that North America during the last half century has failed to understand the wealth that human capital represents and, therefore, for a half century North America has failed to husband this crucial resource. In the broadest national and corporate terms we squander human capital by treating it as though it were merely an expense, except for a small percentage at the senior executive level. Even at that level we in North America can be inconsistent and wasteful. Robert Reich believes strongly that the next frontier is nothing more nor less than a focusing of our attention on human capital and a consistent and wise strategy for enhancing this form of wealth. Increasingly we understand this point of view at the individual level through programs of continuing education and various programs for personal development. Economic reversals seem to sharpen this focus at the individual level since it is a practical strategy for competing in the job market. It is unfortunate that economic reversals fan the fires of such motivation since a pro-active strategy requires continuing personal development at all times, especially when the economy is buoyant. The new wave educators and psychologists strongly believe that we systematically waste human talent and intellect. We could do much at the elementary school level to train children to make more effective use of their mental resources for a lifetime pattern of maximizing their human resource potential. The subconscious mind is indeed a vast storehouse of unused capacity. By thoughtful programming we can structure
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subconscious processes to expand the scope of the individual's control over mind and body. These techniques are not magical; instead, they are easy to learn. We can teach these techniques on the shop floor just as easily as in formal education programs.
CREATIVE SELF-DEVELOPMENT BOOK LIST

This book list has been chosen as a guide toward understanding humankind as a member of the animal kingdom but as a unique member. The sections are intended as a sequence of learning toward a better understanding of human behavior in both physical and mental terms. Some of the books are controversial, but they all are highly provocative and should stimulate considerably greater insight for those wishing to follow the regime. The organizing principle is that once a person gains insight into human behavior, then that same person can begin to manage behavior in a purposeful and directed manner by enhanced mental control and mental management.
Creative Self-Development as an Expression of Mind Power

We in the West finally understand the power of the subconscious mind and its influence on behavior. We also understand that autogenic training provides simple structured programming for changing patterns of behavior. There are a wide variety of techniques for autogenic training too numerous to treat comprehensively, but the books listed below do provide insight as a beginning stage of learning. Adams, Paul. The New Self-Hypnosis Wilshire). Arons, Harry. Handbook of Self-Hypnosis (Power). Rhodes, R.H. (ed.). Therapy Through Hypnosis (Wilshire). Williams, J.K. Knack of Using Your Subconscious Mind (Prentice-Hall).
Contemporary Problems and Solutions

This group of books provides insight into many of the most crucial issues for the individual of today attempting to survive the problems of modern society. These books provide a holistic understanding of the physical, emotional and mental difficulties, which are nearly universally experienced, and which can be resolved through practical common sense techniques. Bailes, Fredrick. Healing Power of Balanced Emotions (DeVorss). Buscaglia, Leo. Living, Loving & Learning (C.B. Slack). Buscaglia, Leo. Loving Your Body (C.B. Slack). Coffey-Lewis, Lou. Be Restored to Health (Ballentine). Cousins, Norman. Anatomy of an Illness (Dodd Mead). Dyer, Wayne. Your Erroneous Zones (Avon). Fensterheim, H. Stop Running Scared (Dell). Jampolsky, Gerald. Teach Only Love (Bantam). Jampolsky, Gerald. Love is Letting Go of Fear (Bantam). Woolfolk, R.L & F. Richardson. Stress, Sanity and Survival (Signet).
The Power of Mind as Expanded Consciousness

The philosophical trends of Oriental cultures have joined with those of Western tradition
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to generate a powerful twentieth century new thought movement. This movement has also faced the need to bring scientific knowledge and religious insight into a healthy dialogue and new world view. This section samples a tiny selection of this school of thought. Emerson, R.W. Essays (Harper). Golas, Thaddeus. Lazy Man's Guide to Enlightenment (Bantam). Joy, W. Brough. Joy's Way (Tarcher). Kinnear, W. (ed.). Thought as Energy: Thirty Day Mental Diet (Science of Mind Publications). Pearce, J.C. Crack in the Cosmic Egg (Washington Square). Troward, Thomas. Creative Process in the Individual (Dodd Mead) Wilber, Ken. Spectrum of Consciousness. (Quest).
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Appendix II: Generative Insights
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The Sages Code: Twelve Transformative Noetic Essentials

I am developing a curriculum based on the 12 points listed below. I envision this course to be the core philosophy regarding the positive personal potentials vis-a-vis a noetic approach to human life. Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated. Play Wonder Gratitude Beauty Joy Optimism Reason Purpose Harmony Compassion Generosity Spirituality
1) Play: A Serious Puzzle The first item in my list of twelve transformative noetic essentials is the notion of play. I find play to be a difficult essential to define. Commonly, much is included in play such as ruthlessly competitive sports, aggressively pursued games, and activities, which involve struggles for dominance, or deceptive activities. For me play is a pursuit, which lacks obsessive agendas or tightly structured strategies. For me play is a condition of delight involving a number of people or even solo enjoyment of nature. Fun and relaxation are the essentials of play; a delight in the common place and an intuitive appreciation of social warmth and natural wonders. I could only generate a short list of books supporting this notion. I would appreciate additional suggestions.
Keys to Personal Growth - The Spell of the Sensuous, by David Abram - Music Lesson, by Victor L. Wooten - The Hand, by Frank R. Wilson 2) Wonder: How, Why
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Wonder is the number two transformative noetic essential in my list of twelve. Wonder is a quality of the human condition, which drives the curiosity, which expands human culture. This curiosity can be cosmic in nature or deeply personal. I have chosen a literature base for wonder, which explores the miraculous and the mysterious from cosmology to consciousness. I am listing five diverse books which if read in sequence explores the full dimension of human curiosity. And they are: - The Fifth Miracle, by Paul Davies - Nature Via Nurture, by Matt Ridley - The Ape and Sushi Master, by Frans de Waal - Peripheral Visions, by Mary Catherine Bateson - Spectrum of Consciousness, by Ken Wilber 3) Gratitude: A Self-Vitalizing Essential Gratitude is the third in my list of twelve transformative noetic essentials. Western culture, through its Christian traditions, has through the century confused the concept of gratitude with bargaining, pleading, triumphalism and an array of negative baggage. I am attempting in this offering to approach gratitude in a self-vitalizing and multidimensional mental, emotional profile. I have created a graphic entitled Seven Mental/Emotional Polarities to give shape to my understanding of gratitude. Gratitude is the culmination of emotional insight and enlightened comprehension regarding gratitude as the ultimate self-vitalizing mental/emotional profile.
Seven Mental/Emotional Polarities Self-Poisoning Profile Self- Vitalizing Profile Anger Self-Awareness Fear Self-Confidence Ignorance Enlightenment Self-Doubt Self-Esteem Resentment Joy
Keys to Personal Growth Guilt Greed Tranquility Gratitude
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The list of five books approaches this subject with the above points in mind. They give depth and perspective to my graphic. - Doubt and Certainty, by Tony Rothman and George Sudarshan - Becoming Animal, by David Abram - A Passion for the Possible, by Jean Houston - Emotional Intelligence, by Daniel Goleman - My Stroke of Insight, by Jill Bolte Taylor 4) Beauty Will Save the World Recently, I entered twelve transformative noetic essentials as a base configuration for a course on the transformative dimensions of the noetic realm. The fourth item in the list is beauty. That concept does stir fundamental and crucial notions about the human condition. Writers such as David Abram and Oliver Sacks, beautifully explore the interplay of noetic and biotic forces. Frequently the terms biosphere and noesphere are used to express the same idea as the biotic and noetic realm. A powerful Russian literary tradition evoked by Fyodor Dostoyevsky and reinvigorated by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, proclaims the transformative power of beauty and beauty's ultimate capacity to be a force of salvation for human kind. I invite contributions to this discussion. 5) Joy Happiness Number five in my list of twelve transformative noetic essentials is the notion of joy. Joy, happiness, exuberance are conceptually intertwined as a state of being. Unfortunately, this noetic essential is easily sabotaged by hidden angers and crippling fears. Obsessions and ephemeral guilt are likewise poisonous to joy. If these negative emotions can be flushed from your consciousness, then joy can be released in a tide of healing and buoyant noetic transformations. I have selected five particularly valuable books for developing and understanding of joy, happiness, and exuberance. I would recommend these books be read in the order in which they are presented for the sake of continuity. - Dancing In The Streets, by Barbara Ehrenreich - The Geography of Bliss, by Eric Weiner - The Happiness Hypothesis, by Jonathan Haidt
Keys to Personal Growth - Happy for No Reason, by Marci Shimoff - Exuberance, by Kay Redfield Jamison 6) Optimism: Hope, Creativity, and Positive Intuition
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In my profile of twelve transformative noetic essentials, number six is Optimism. Without doubt, one of the most healing and generative forces possessed by the human mind is the capacity for optimism. Optimism suffuses creativity, hope, and positive awareness. Learning to use subconscious resources for maximizing the transformative power of optimism is crucial. The list of books presented below provides a wealth of insight for creatively using the subconscious mind. The eight books, when read in sequence, move from subconscious resources to active and concrete everyday behaviour. - How To Enjoy Your Life In Spite of It All, by Ken Keyes, Jr. - Peace Is Every Step, by Thich Nhat Hanh - The Knack of Using Your Subconscious Mind, by John K. Williams - Your Maximum Mind, by Herbert Benson - The Act of Creation, by Arthur Koestler - Treat Yourself to Life, by Raymond Charles Barker - Head First, by Norman Cousins - Positive Living and Health, by The Editors of Prevention Magazine 7) Reason: Logic, Empiricism, Science, Knowledge, Wisdom Number seven in my list of transformative noetic essentials is Reason. I have connected reason with such intellectual pursuits as logic, and wisdom. All of these interwoven ideas listed in the title are supportive of the human quest for cultural enrichment and technical accomplishments. Reason needs to be appreciated as a historical dynamic as well as an epistemological accomplishment. The noetic realm is energized by reason and constructively builds civilization. The eight books listed below, when read in sequence, explores reason and the corollary concepts mentioned in the title. Many more books could be added to the list, yet these eight are extraordinarily brilliant and thorough. - The Dream of Reason, by Anthony Gottlieb - Ingenious Pursuits, by Lisa Jardine - Science, Order, and Creativity, by David Bohm and F. David Peat
Keys to Personal Growth - Return to Reason, by Stephen Toulmin - Towards a New World View, by Russel E. Di Carlo - Intellectual Capital, by Thomas A. Stewart - From Knowledge to Wisdom by Nicholas Maxwell - A Passion for Wisdom, by Robert C. Solomon and Kathleen M Higgins 8) Purpose Leadership
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The eighth transformative noetic essential I have listed as Purpose. It seems reasonable to me to link purpose with leadership. All human endeavours, whether small-scale personal matters, or massive scale national issues, are all fed in a healthy state by creative purpose and constructive leadership. I have selected seven books relevant to this topic, which I will list in a sequence for building a coherent approach to purpose and leadership. - The Power of Four, by Joseph Marshall III - Making Waves and Riding the Currents, by Charles Halpern - Leading with Kindness, by William Baker and Michael O'Malley - Leadership and the New Science, by Margaret Wheatley - Managing for the Future, by Peter Drucker - Microtrends, by Mark Penn - The Black Swan, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb 9) Harmony: From the Personal to the Global For at least two and a half millennia, Taoism has energized Oriental culture with the theme of harmony vis-a-vis humanity with nature vis-a-vis the personal with the communal. In recent generations, western intellectuals have borrowed from the east to enrich the west. This process has been troubled with the cross currents of war and civil disturbances of every kind. Now more than ever the west needs to ingest harmony as an ethos and build personal as well as communal life on the energy of harmony. The books listed below build on this line of thought, from the personal to the global. - Man's Search for Meaning, by Viktor E. Frankl
Keys to Personal Growth - Love Is Letting Go of Fear, by Gerald G. Jampolsky - No Boundary, by Ken Wilber - The Roots of Coincidence, by Arthur Koestler - The Phenomenon of Man, by Teilhard de Chardin - The Book of Balance and Harmony, by Thomas Cleary - Tao Te Ching, by Lao Tzu - Speeches That Changed the World (Jesus of Nazareth, Mohandas K. Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. (I have a dream)), by Simon Sebag Montefiore - Civil Society in Question, by Jamie Swift 10) Compassion: Empathy, Civility, Respect, and Tolerance
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In my list of twelve noetic transformative essentials, compassion is number ten. For untold centuries, Buddhism has focused on compassion as a central theme. For well over a century, western thought has been borrowing from eastern philosophical streams. Recently, compassion has become a mainstream line of social analysis and even scientific research. Many concepts are woven together related to compassion. I believe compassion is the most active perception of such ideas, however, there are more passive conceptions such as tolerance. I have chosen seven books which develop this line of thought in North American culture. If read in sequence as presented, these seven books provide a powerful shift in the view of the human condition with potential salvational implications for the future. - Born for Love, by Maia Szalavitz and Bruce Perry - Born to be Good, by Dacher Keltner - The Age of Empathy, by Frans de Waal - The Empathic Civilization, by Jeremy Rifkin - Wired to Care, by Dev Patnaik - A Paradise Built in Hell, by Rebecca Solnit - The Moral Landscape, by Sam Harris
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11) Generosity: A Necessary Essential for the Successful Evolution of the Noosphere No essential in the noetic realm (noosphere) is more crucial than generosity. Humanity is hard wired for sharing as a necessary condition for human survival from the origins of Homo sapiens over 100,000 years ago to the civilized order of contemporary urban life. The literature base chosen for this essential consists of 4 anthropologists, 2 economists and 3 historians of religion. Whether the subject is paleoanthropology or massive nation states, all authors chosen provide powerful arguments for the role of generosity as the essential necessary for human survival in any environmental or organizational context. The previous essential, compassion, linked with this essential, generosity, characterize the caring and sharing necessary to the noetic realm even though many scientists may fail to appreciate this reality. Without sharing and caring there is no humanity. - Origins, by Richard E. Leaky - Women's Work, by Elizabeth Wayland Barber - When God Was a Woman, by Merlin Stone - The Way of the Shaman, by Michael Harner - The Spirit of Shamanism, by Roger N. Walsh - A Seat at the Table, by Huston Smith - The Invisible Heart, by Nancy Folbre - Systems of Survival, by Jane Jacobs - Buddha, by Karen Armstrong 12) Spirituality: The Interplay of the Human Mind and the Divine Realm Spirituality, the twelfth and last of the transformative noetic essentials, is a realm of inquiry which brings the entire profile into focus. This noetic essential stimulates an inquiry into five of the most important questions which need to be addressed by any civilization. 1) What is the nature of the cosmos? 2) What is a truly healthy relationship with the environment?
Keys to Personal Growth 3) What is a generative and vital ethical framework for any civil order? 4) What is an intuitive and insightful understanding of oneself?
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5) How does the human mind engage with the metaphysical dimensions of mind with the mystical essence of spirit? The twelve books presented below attempt answers in an organic and multidimensional manner to these fundamental questions. The interplay of science and religion, and a rich understanding of history as well as a thorough appreciation for cultural anthropology, help to conclude this profile in a thoughtful and clarifying manner. - The 5th Miracle, by Paul Davies - The Physics of Immortality, by Frank J. Tipler - Belonging to the Universe, by Fritjof Capra & David Steindl-Rast - The Great Transformation, by Karen Armstrong - Gnosis, by Kurt Rudolph - Essays on World Religion, by Huston Smith - Shamanism, by Shirley Nicholson - States of Grace, by Charlene Spretnak - Peace, Love & Healing, by Bernie S. Siegel - Gaia & God, by Rosemary Radford Ruether - An Altar in the World, by Barbara Brown Taylor - The Best Buddhist Writing, by Melvin McLeod
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Personal Action Pragmatic Philosophy

The four items in this package are intended to give a rich resource base for discussion groups, formal or informal. Across North America discussion groups are forming around the problem of bringing the philosophy into everyday life. Socrates advocated this approach two thousand four hundred years ago, and the need now is greater than ever.
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Socrates Cafe: Refinement of Ethics, Expansion of Insight, Enrichment of Wisdom (Part 1)

Socrates Cafe: A Fresh Taste of Philosophy by Christopher Phillips (W. W. Norton & Company, 2002) Description: A modern-day Socrates takes to the road to bring philosophy back to the people. Journalist-turned-philosopher Christopher Phillips is on a mission: to revive the love of questions that Socrates once inspired in ancient Athens. With great charisma and optimism, he travels around the country, gathering people to participate in Socrates cafes in bookstores, senior centers, elementary schools and universities, and prisons. In this accessible, lively account, Phillips recalls what led him to start his itinerant program and recreates some of the most invigorating sessions. Harvard psychiatrist Robert Coles praises the "morally energetic and introspective exchanges with children and adults from all walks of life," which come to reveal sometimes surprising, often profound reflections on the meaning of love, friendship, work, growing old, and other large questions of life. Phillips also draws from his own academic background to introduce us to the thought of philosophers through the ages. Socrates Cafe is an engaging blend of philosophy and storytelling. A Passion for Wisdom: A Very Brief History of Philosophy by Robert C. Solomon, Kathleen M. Higgins (Oxford University Press US, 1998) Description: Readers eager to acquire a basic familiarity with the history of philosophy but intimidated by the task will find in A Passion for Wisdom a lively, accessible, and highly enjoyable tour of the world's great ideas. Here, Robert Solomon and Kathleen Higgins tell the story of philosophy's development with great clarity and refreshing wit. The authors begin with the most ancient religious beliefs of the east and west and bring us right up to the feminist and multicultural philosophies of the present. Along the way, they highlight major philosophers, from Plato and the Buddha to William James and Simone de Beauvoir, and explore major categories, from metaphysics and ethics to politics and logic. The book is enlivened as well by telling anecdotes and sparkling quotations. Among many memorable observations, we're treated to Thomas Hobbes' assessment that life is "nasty, brutish, and short" and Hegel's description of Napoleon as "world history on horseback." Engaging, comprehensive, and delightfully written, A Passion for Wisdom is a splendid introduction to an intellectual tradition that reaches back over three thousand years. Pigs at the Trough: How Corporate Greed and Political Corruption are Undermining America by Arianna Huffington (Random House of Canada, 2003) Description: Who filled the trough? Who set the table at the banquet of greed? How has it been possible for corporate pigs to gorge themselves on grossly inflated pay packages and heaping helpings of stock options while the average American struggles to make do with their leftovers?
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Provocative political commentator Arianna Huffington yanks back the curtain on the unholy alliance of CEOs, politicians, lobbyists, and Wall Street bankers who have shown a brutal disregard for those in the office cubicles and on the factory floors. As she puts it: The economic game is not supposed to be rigged like some shady ring toss on a carnival midway. Yet it has been, allowing corporate crooks to bilk the public out of trillions of dollars, magically making our pensions and 401(k) s disappear and walking away with astronomical payouts and absurdly lavish perks-for-life. The media have put their fingers on pieces of the sordid puzzle, but Pigs at the Trough presents the whole ugly picture of whats really going on for the first timea blistering, wickedly witty portrait of exactly how and why the worst and the greediest are running American business and government into the ground. Tycos Dennis Kozlowski, Adelphias John Rigas, and the Three Horsemen of the Enron ApocalypseKen Lay, Jeff Skilling, and Andrew Fastoware not just a few bad apples. They are manifestations of a megatrend in corporate leadershipthe rise of a callous and avaricious mind-set that is wildly out of whack with the core values of the average American. WorldCom, Enron, Adelphia, Tyco, AOL, Xerox, Merrill Lynch, and the other scandals are only the tip of the tip of the corruption iceberg. Making the case that our public watchdogs have become little more than obedient lapdogs, unwilling to bite the corporate hand that feeds them, Arianna Huffington turns the spotlight on the tough reforms we must demand from Washington. We need, she argues, to go way beyond the lame Corporate Responsibility Act if we are to stop the voracious corporate predators from eating away at the very foundations of our democracy. Devastatingly funny and powerfully indicting, Pigs at the Trough is a rousing call to arms and a must-read for all those who are outraged by the scandalous state of corporate America. Dark Age Ahead by Jane Jacobs (Random House of Canada, 2005) Description: A dark age is a culture's dead end. In North America, for example, we live in a virtual graveyard of lost and destroyed aboriginal cultures. In this powerful and provocative book, renowned author Jane Jacobs argues convincingly that we face the coming of our own dark age. Throughout history, there have been many more dark ages than the one that occurred between the fall of the Roman Empire and the dawn of the Renaissance. Ten thousand years ago, our ancestors went from hunter-gatherers to farmers and, along the way, lost almost all memory of what existed before. Now we stand at another monumental crossroads, as agrarianism gives way to a technology-based future. How do we make this shift without losing the culture we hold dearand without falling behind other nations that successfully master the transition? First we must concede that things are awry. Jacobs identifies five central pillars of our society that show serious signs of decay: community and family; higher education; science and technology; governmental representation; and self-regulation of the learned
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professions. These are the elements we depend on to stand firmbut Jacobs maintains that they are in the process of becoming irrelevant. If that happens, we will no longer recognize ourselves. The good news is that the downward movement can be reversed. Japan avoided cultural defeat by retaining a strong hold on history and preservation during war, besiegement, and occupation. Ireland nearly lost all native language during the devastations of famine and colonialism, but managed to renew its culture through the steadfast determination of its citizens. Jacobs assures us that the same can happen hereif only we recognize the signs of decline in time. Dark Age Ahead is not only the crowning achievement of Jane Jacob's career but one of the most important works of our time. It is a warning that, if heeded, could save our very way of life. Zeno and the Tortoise: How to Think Like a Philosopher by Nicholas Fearn (Grove Press, 2002) Description: For those who don't know the difference between Lucretius's spear and Hume's fork, Zeno and the Tortoise explains not just who each philosopher was and what he thought, but exactly how he came to think in the way he did. Nicholas Fearn presents philosophy as a collection of toolsthe tricks of a trade that, in the end, might just be all tricks, each to be fruitfully applied to a variety of everyday predicaments. In a witty and engaging style that incorporates everything from Sting to cell phones to Bill Gates, Fearn demystifies the ways of thought that have shaped and inspired humanity among many others, the Socratic method, Descartes's use of doubt, Bentham's theory of utilitarianism, Rousseau's social contract, and, of course, the concept of common sense. Along the way, there are fascinating biographical snippets about the philosophers themselves: the story of Thales falling down a well while studying the stars, and of Socrates being told by a face-reader that his was the face of a monster who was capable of any crime. Written in twenty-five short chapters, each readable during the journey to work, Zeno and the Tortoise is the ideal course in intellectual self-defense. Acute, often irreverent, but always authoritative, this is a unique introduction to the ideas that have shaped us all.
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Socrates Cafe: Refinement of Ethics, Expansion of Insight, Enrichment of Wisdom (Part 2)

Infinite Life: Seven Virtues for Living Well by Robert Thurman (Souvenir Press Limited, 2006) Description: In Infinite Life, Columbia University professor and bestselling author Robert Thurman invites us to examine our assumptions about living and dying and to take into account the possibility that not only are our lives not meaningless, they have tremendous impact. He asks us to consider that instead of having one shot to get it right for either oblivion or eternity, we might indeed have an infinite past and future. And if that is the case, if we are evolving over infinite time, then every action in our lives has infinite consequences for ourselves and others. Therefore, we must take responsibility in the present for our actions and their effectswe must live our immortality now. But balanced against that tremendous responsibility is the opportunity for a life of infinite joy, infinite connection with other beings, and infinite power to do good. There is no escaping the facts that our thoughts create actions and that our actions affect others around us in ways we cannot see or predict. The ripples of every impulse last long after we are gone. Following the ancient teachings of the Buddha, Infinite Life introduces seven Buddhist virtues for carefully reconstructing body and mind in order to reduce the negative consequences and cultivate the positive in our lives. Thurman shows us how to let go of our rigid sense of "self" and experience full satisfaction with ourselves, others, and our world. He invites us to take responsibility for our actions and their consequences while reveling in the knowledge that our lives are truly infinite. Infinite Life is the ultimate guidebook to understanding our place in the universe and realizing how we can personally succeed while helping others. A History of God: The 4000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam by Karen Armstrong (Random House of Canada, 1994) Description: Why does God exist? How have the three dominant monotheistic religionsJudaism, Christianity, and Islamshaped and altered the conception of God? How have these religions influenced each other? In this stunningly intelligent book, Karen Armstrong, one of Britain's foremost commentators on religious affairs, traces the history of how men and women have perceived and experienced God, from the time of Abraham to the present. The epic story begins with the Jews' gradual transformation of pagan idol worship in Babylon into true monotheisma concept previously unknown in the world. Christianity and Islam both rose on the foundation of this revolutionary idea, but these religions refashioned "the one God" to suit the social and political needs of their followers. From classical philosophy and medieval mysticism to the Reformation, the Enlightenment, and the modern age of skepticism, Karen Armstrong performs the near miracle of distilling the intellectual history of monotheism into one superbly readable volume, destined to take its place as a classic.
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Belonging to the Universe: Explorations on the Frontiers of Science and Spirituality by Fritjof Capra, David Steindl-Rast, Thomas Matus (HarperSanFrancisco, 1992) Description: In this remarkable work, bestselling author Capra and Steindl-Rast, a Benedictine monk renown for making fresh sense of Christian faith, share insights into how science and religion seek to make us at home in the universe. A remarkably compatible view of the universe. The Phenomenon of Man by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (Harper Colophon, 1975) Description: Pierre Teilhard De Chardin was one of the most distinguished thinkers and scientists of our time. He fits into no familiar category for he was at once a biologist and a paleontologist of world renown, and also a Jesuit priest. He applied his whole life, his tremendous intellect and his great spiritual faith to building a philosophy that would reconcile Christian theology with the scientific theory of evolution, to relate the facts of religious experience to those of natural science. The Phenomenon of Man, the first of his writings to appear in America, Pierre Teilhard's most important book and contains the quintessence of his thought. When published in France it was the best-selling nonfiction book of the year. The World We Want: Virtue, Vice, and the Good Citizen by Mark Kingwell (Viking Books, 2000) Description: More and more, as the globe turns into a billboard for corporate propagation, the nature of citizenship is becoming skewed. For the cellphonebrandishing inhabitants of a world carved up into markets and territories determined by production and consumption, transcending the traditional boundaries of nation-states, what does it mean to be a citizen? In The World We Want, Mark Kingwell explores the idea of citizenship in the current post-national context, arguing that old ideas of civic belonging, historically tied to blood, belief, and law, need to be reconceived. What happens to political responsibility in an age of fractured identities, global monoculture, and crumbling civic nationalism? How do we make sense of a situation where the uniform spread of cola, television, and market rationalism is accompanied by resurgent ethnic hatreds? Kingwell traces the idea of citizenship from its roots in ancient Greece to the contemporary realities of consumerism and cultural banality. It is these voices from the past that provide the much needed context for the conflicts and confusions of the present day. It is obvious that we cannot simply adopt past models of citizenship that are heavily based on exclusion and nationalism, but Kingwell argues that it is too early to give up on citizenship altogether. We need a new model of citizenship, he writes, one based on participation as opposed to bloodline, constitution, or religionone that will give voice and structure to our longing to be part of something larger than we are. Adventures of Ideas by Alfred North Whitehead (Free Press, 1967)
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Description: The title of this book, Adventure of Ideas, bears two meanings, both applicable to the subject matter. One meaning is the effect of certain ideas in promoting the slow drift of mankind towards civilization. This is the Adventure of Ideas in the history of mankind. The other meaning is the author's adventure in framing a speculative scheme of ideas which shall be explanatory of the historical adventure. The book is in fact a study of the concept of civilization, and an endeavour to understand how it is that civilized beings arise. One point, emphasized throughout, is the importance of Adventure for the promotion and preservation of civilization. Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings, 1972-1977 by Michel Foucault, Colin Gordon (Random House of Canada, 1980) Description: Michel Foucault has become famous for a series of books that have permanently altered our understanding of many institutions of Western society. He analyzed mental institutions in the remarkable Madness and Civilization; hospitals in The Birth of the Clinic; prisons in Discipline and Punish; and schools and families in The History of Sexuality. But the general reader as well as the specialist is apt to miss the consistent purposes that lay behind these difficult individual studies, thus losing sight of the broad social vision and political aims that unified them. Now, in this superb set of essays and interviews, Foucault has provided a much-needed guide to Foucault. These pieces, ranging over the entire spectrum of his concerns, enabled Foucault, in his most intimate and accessible voice, to interpret the conclusions of his research in each area and to demonstrate the contribution of each to the magnificentand terrifyingportrait of society that he was patiently compiling. For, as Foucault shows, what he was always describing was the nature of power in society; not the conventional treatment of power that concentrates on powerful individuals and repressive institutions, but the much more pervasive and insidious mechanisms by which power "reaches into the very grain of individuals, touches their bodies and inserts itself into their actions and attitudes, their discourses, learning processes and everyday lives." Foucault's investigations of prisons, schools, barracks, hospitals, factories, cities, lodgings, families, and other organized forms of social life are each a segment of one of the most astonishing intellectual enterprises of all timeand, as this book proves, one which possesses profound implications for understanding the social control of our bodies and our minds.
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Institute of Noetic Capital

noospherepragmaticessentials.com scribd.com/ClementBlakeslee Twitter: @clemblakeslee

Keys to Personal Growth

Buddha graphic by Wilfredor / CC BY-SA 3.0

Part I: The Generative Power of Mind

Part II: Things to do

Appendix I and Bibliography: Creative Self-Development Appendix II: Generative Insights

Keys to Personal Growth

Part I: The Generative Power of Mind

Keys to Personal Growth CHAPTER 1 YOU AND YOUR EMOTIONS Introduction

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RELAXATION RESPONSE Self-Awareness Joy Tranquility Affection Self-Esteem

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Keys to Personal Growth CHAPTER 2

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Keys to Personal Growth CHAPTER 3 BLOCKS TO FULFILLMENT Introduction

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Keys to Personal Growth CHAPTER 4 CAPACITIES OF YOUR MIND Introduction

TABLE 3 THE DIMENSIONS OF MIND

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TABLE 4 THE SEVEN STATES OF BEING

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Part II: Things to do

Keys to Personal Growth LAUNCHING YOUR FOUR WEEK PROGRAM

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Week One Monday

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Week One - Tuesday

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Ground Beef Stir Fry

Almond Orange Delight

Keys to Personal Growth