Abu Dhabi: Toastmasters World Champion Manoj Vasudevan enthralls crowd

Abu Dhabi: Toastmasters World Champion Manoj Vasudevan enthralls crowd

Toastmasters: Mohamed Shukri: The FAST track to preparing, polishing and presenting your perfect speech.

The FAST track to preparing, polishing and presenting your perfect speech. 
      🏎🏎🏎🏎🏎

🏎 By the end of this program, participants will be able to:
 ➡ clearly identify the specific topic they want to address, know the audience they're speaking to, and decide the objectives they want to achieve.
 ➡ Add (or remove) content that is (or is not) relevant to the topic and best serves the objectives.
 ➡ Apply a simple strong speech structure that ensures zero confusion but maximum outcome. 
 ➡ Create a captivating opening that arouses highest interest in the central idea and message.
 ➡ Place the central story (turning point) and powerfully unfold it to create deepest impact.
 ➡ Support your central story with information, facts, figures etc that will deepen persuasion. 
 ➡ Conclude the speech with carefully succinct but strong summary and call for action. 
 ➡ Learn and practice delivery techniques (voice, body, visuals etc) that enhance audience understanding and reception. 

🏎 Program segments:
1. PREPARE
Determining your central topic, the drives, dimensions, what's in and what's out.

2.POLISH
Organize, layout, sequence, structure, sharpen, fine tune, and refine your "content" to the point it's ready for delivery.

3.PRESENT
Clip every section of the speech with the best delivery technique, test it, before presenting your perfect speech to the group.

🏎 Duration:
 10 hours (8am - 6pm)

🏎 Requirements:
✔ Laptop (yours). 
✔ 1-3 main topics you are keen to address. 
✔ Adequate rest and sleep before coming to the program.
✔ Manage your day and free it from every and any distraction or potential "have-to-go-and-come-back" surprises.

Are you ready?

ARE YOU READY?

ARE YOU READY?!

Hands on steering
Buckle up
And let's. ..
SPEED🏎

Uncensored: A twice-exceptional woman among us is breaking the mold and thriving

Uncensored: A twice-exceptional woman among us is breaking the mold and thriving

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF FOREVER ALOE VERA GEL®

http://foreverliving.com/page/news/blog/a-day-in-the-life-of-aloe/usa/en

1/31/2015

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Everyone recognizes that famous yellow bottle!

Ever wonder how Forever Aloe Vera Gel® is manufactured and bottled? Aloe Vera of America (AVA) is proud to give us an insider look on how one of our favorite products is produced and quality tested, from start to finish!

The stabilized, raw aloe gel is pre-processed and stabilized at the facility in Mission, Texas before being delivered to AVA in Dallas. At AVA, the raw gel undergoes a series of tests at the Quality Control Lab to ensure that the gel has is of the highest potency and quality. Once the raw gel has been given the stamp of approval, the real magic begins!

The gel is brought to the compounding area where it is mixed with other ingredients to create the proprietary formula of Forever Aloe Vera Gel®. Once the manufacturing process is complete, samples are taken to the Quality Control Lab for evaluation. After the bulk product has been evaluated and released for packaging it is directly fed into the packaging equipment via a dedicated transfer line from the mixing tanks specially designed to maintain the product quality during movement. 

The empty yellow gel bottles are fed into an automated de-palletizer, which systematically removes the bottles from their storage. Next, the bottles are coded with a lot code and expiration to make sure that they can be tracked as they are shipped and used all over the world. The bottles are mechanically checked to ensure that all necessary information is printed on each bottle before being rinsed. After rinsing, each bottle enters the filling station. The filler is located in a HEPA filtered enclosure where each bottle is then filled and sealed. Each bottle is then checked for proper weight using an automated system.

The filled bottles than travel through a cooling chamber to drop the temperature of the gel before the cap is applied by an automated capping system. The bottles then pass through an X-Ray machine before being fed directly into cases. Each case is then verified by weight to ensure the correct number of bottles is contained and then placed onto pallets by the robotic pallet stacking arms. 

After the packaging process is completed, samples of the final product are taken to the Quality Control lab for final release testing. Once the testing is completed, the product is then released for shipping to one of our many distribution centers. Over the course of the manufacturing process a total of 158 individual quality control tests have been performed. 

The production of Forever Aloe Vera Gel® has been perfected through the combination of state of the art equipment, robust quality processes and highly trained and passionate employees who constantly work to maintain the high quality that Forever is known for! We are proud to say that we are able to maintain our industry-leading standards because our products’ quality is designed into every component of the production process.

AVA Quality Processes

In addition to the quality processes related specifically to the manufacturing of each product, there are several other quality and process checks implemented by Aloe Vera of America. From weighing each ingredient to adding them to mixing tanks, each task is independently checked and verified. 

The manufacturing process is performed by following an approved, robust set of instructions to ensure that all steps are followed and critical control points are met. This helps to ensure that Forever products are consistently manufactured each time. Other checks include verifying the equipment and tools used during manufacturing are cleaned and sanitized, that all raw materials have been appropriately tested, released and appropriately staged for manufacturing.

Dyslexia Awareness

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Put Your Whole Self In: Harcourt Storytown Weekly Planner with Common Core...

Put Your Whole Self In: Harcourt Storytown Weekly Planner with Common Core...:  I have had many questions about a post I wrote a little over a year ago looking for Harcourt Storytown and Common Core alignment. I never...

Your Students are "Teaching" Without You! - Bram Faems, Belgium | Daily Edventures | Diigo

Your Students are "Teaching" Without You! - Bram Faems, Belgium | Daily Edventures | Diigo

A Dad Sending His Daughter Off to College

I want to share a slightly edited portion of a letter my friend Scott Raecker wrote to his daughter Emily on sending her off to college:
My Dear Emily,

My life changed the day we found out that you were on your way. From that moment forward, you have been on my mind and heart – every day.

I vividly remember driving you home from the hospital. I was incredibly nervous with this great awareness: I was in control and it was my responsibility to protect you from the dangers of the world.

Now, as you go off to college, I am still nervous. The dangers of the world are still out there, but I don’t have the same control, and the responsibility for your safety is more yours than mine.

When I hug you goodbye on move-in day, I may not be able to say all I want to. I want to be sure you know I love you. I am proud of you. I believe in you. I know you are ready for this next stage of your life.

Your mom and I have watched you grow into your own person, and we trust you to make good choices (though we expect that you will make some mistakes and that from these you will grow).

The rest of your life will not be the next four years – but the next four years will have a significant impact on the rest of your life. So work hard, dream big, make good decisions – and have fun! Let your values, your faith, and your character guide you and never doubt that your mom and I will always love you and be proud of you.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

There Are Two Kinds of People

There are two kinds of people in the world: those who think there are two kinds of people in the world and those who think those who think there are two kinds of people in the world are self-righteous jerks.

A listener called me to task concerning a story about a man who told his son there are two kinds of people: those who return their shopping carts and those who don't.

His first point was that it's dangerous and foolish to use simplistic categorizations. On this I have to agree, although I didn't think the father who divided the world into two categories was being literal. I think he was making the point that we all have endless choices – either to do the right thing instinctively and consistently or to join those who find excuses not to. The original story came from a book Hugs for Dad by John William Smith. I don't know if it's literally true or not, but it's a powerful parable.

His second point was that he objected to the implication that anyone who doesn't return shopping carts is falling short on any scale of virtue. "As long as markets pay union wages and benefits to employees to collect these carts," he said, "I shouldn't reduce the amount of their work."

This rationale ignores the story's main message: Be considerate, clean up after yourself, and make life easier, not harder, for the next guy. Under his analysis, we help custodians and housekeepers by making a mess.

I don't think I was a bad person when I didn't return shopping carts, but I think I'm a little bit better now that I do. You see, there are two kinds of people in the world: those who want to be better and those who don't.

Nothing Is More Important . . .

I sat next to the bed of old man, a friend for over twenty years, and held his hand. Hal was dying. We both knew these next few days would be his last.

We spent time reminiscing about his long and fruitful career as a church pastor. We talked about old friends. We chatted about his family. And I listened as he offered sage wisdom and advice to a member of a “younger generation.”

At a lull in the conversation, Hal seemed to carefully consider what he was about to say next. Then he squeezed my hand, gazed intently into my eyes and whispered, just loud enough for me to hear, “Nothing is more important than relationships.” I knew that this was somehow near the pinnacle of his life’s learnings. As he considered all of his experiences — personal, professional, spiritual and family, this one ultimate observation surfaced above the rest: “Nothing is more important than relationships.”

“Don’t get overly caught up in your career,” he seemed to be saying to me. “Likewise, don’t use people in order to achieve your goals, then throw them away. No project, no program, no task should be pursued at the expense of friends and family. Remember,” I heard him saying, as clearly as if he were speaking the words, “that in the end, only your relationships will truly matter. Tend them well.”

Writer Og Mandino puts it this way: “Beginning today,” he said, “treat everyone you meet as if he or she were going to be dead by midnight. Extend to them all the care, kindness, and understanding you can muster, and do so with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again.”

At the end of a long life, my friend Hal would have agreed.

Copyright © Steve Goodier

When Your Dream is not "In Season”: by Joel Osteen

One time, I was in my backyard talking to a man who was helping me with my landscaping. It was the middle of winter and the grass was very brown. It looked as if it was totally dead. I commented to the man about how bad the grass looked and how dead it was. He said, "Well, Joel, it doesn't look very good now but the truth is the grass is not dead, it's just not in season. In the springtime, this same grass will be just as lush and green as it can be." Sure enough, just a few months later that same brown, dry grass was a gorgeous bright green, filled with life and vitality.

I've found that life works the same way. Sometimes our circumstances look dead. It may look like a dream is dead, a relationship is dead, or a promise is dead. But you have to realize it may just be that it's not in season. It may be that it'll come back around in a new season. We can't give up just because things don't look the way we want them to in the season we are in. We have to dig our heels in and look with our eyes of faith to the new season that is on the horizon.

What am I saying? Just because something looks dead, don't write it off. Our God is a God of new beginnings.

When we go through disappointments or setbacks, instead of getting down and discouraged or giving up, choose to have the attitude, "Even though it doesn't look good, I know the truth it’s not really dead; it's just not in season. I'm in wintertime, but I know springtime is coming. So I'm going to lift up my head and get ready for the new things God is about to do." My Friend, if you'll keep that attitude of faith you will receive strength to make it through to the next season and it won't be long until those dreams and desires will flourish in every area of your life!

Stop being who you were, and change into who you are.

One always has to know when a stage comes to an end.

If we insist on staying longer than the necessary time, we lose the happiness and the meaning of the other stages we have to go through. Closing cycles, shutting doors, ending chapters – whatever name we give it, what matters is to leave in the past the moments of life that have finished.

Did you lose your job? Has a loving relationship come to an end? Did you leave your parents’ house? Gone to live abroad? Has a long-lasting friendship ended all of a sudden?

You can spend a long time wondering why this has happened. You can tell yourself you won’t take another step until you find out why certain things that were so important and so solid in your life have turned into dust, just like that.

But such an attitude will be awfully stressing for everyone involved: your parents, your husband or wife, your friends, your children, your sister, everyone will be finishing chapters, turning over new leaves, getting on with life, and they will all feel bad seeing you at a standstill.

None of us can be in the present and the past at the same time, not even when we try to understand the things that happen to us. What has passed will not return: we cannot for ever be children, late adolescents, sons that feel guilt or rancor towards our parents, lovers who day and night relive an affair with someone who has gone away and has not the least intention of coming back.

Things pass, and the best we can do is to let them really go away.

That is why it is so important (however painful it may be!) to destroy souvenirs, move, give lots of things away to orphanages, sell or donate the books you have at home. Everything in this visible world is a manifestation of the invisible world, of what is going on in our hearts – and getting rid of certain memories also means making some room for other memories to take their place.

Let things go. Release them. Detach yourself from them. Nobody plays this life with marked cards, so sometimes we win and sometimes we lose. Do not expect anything in return, do not expect your efforts to be appreciated, your genius to be discovered, your love to be understood. Stop turning on your emotional television to watch the same program over and over again, the one that shows how much you suffered from a certain loss: that is only poisoning you, nothing else.

Nothing is more dangerous than not accepting love relationships that are broken off, work that is promised but there is no starting date, decisions that are always put off waiting for the “ideal moment.” Before a new chapter is begun, the old one has to be finished: tell yourself that what has passed will never come back. Remember that there was a time when you could live without that thing or that person – nothing is irreplaceable, a habit is not a need. This may sound so obvious, it may even be difficult, but it is very important.

Closing cycles. Not because of pride, incapacity or arrogance, but simply because that no longer fits your life. Shut the door, change the record, clean the house, shake off the dust.

Paulo Coelho

Ceanlia: The Power of Acceptance by Randy Gage

Ceanlia: The Power of Acceptance by Randy Gage

The Power of Acceptance by Randy Gage

One of the hardest lessons I ever had to learn was acceptance. And I still work on it. Because there's a big difference between accepting things as they are without judgment – and challenging myself to greater things. It's quite a balancing act.

You have to understand that whatever is happening in this moment is meant to happen. It's the culmination of all the moments leading up to this one. And when you struggle against the moment, you are actually struggling against universal order.

When you practice acceptance you accept people, circumstances and events as they are, knowing that they are exactly as they are meant to be in that moment. You're accepting them as they are, not how you want them to be.

By accepting the moment as it is, you are actually taking responsibility for your role in creating it. That is where the breakthroughs are, because it allows you to then transform it to something better in the future.

So this means you don't accept circumstances as permanent. Simply accept them in the moment, and use the lessons from them to create a better future.

Every challenge, problem or obstacle allows you the opportunity for something greater. But if you fight the moment or seek to place blame, you stay mired in the negative situation. When you simply accept it and vision a better outcome for the future, you're one step closer to making it reality.

Ain't it great!

 

Empathy, Sympathy and Compassion—Do You Know the Difference? By Roxane Burnett

Many Lightworkers believe they are contributing and helping others by offering sympathy or empathy to those in trouble or in pain. There is a vast difference between empathy, sympathy and compassion. I would like to suggest you choose compassion the next time someone you care for is not doing well. Here is why.

Empathy
There is an important distinction between empathy and sympathy and compassion. When the beautiful bride reaches for a drink, trips and falls into the deep end of the swimming pool, she completely soaks her gown and ruins her hair. Empathy is when you match her emotion and jump into the pool, fully dressed, and try to save her. As you know, drowning people tend to struggle and drag the rescuer down with them. And as Empathizer, that’s exactly what happens – you get all wet and nearly drown. The bride continues to make a mess of herself in the water.
I’ve met many empathic healers and most of them offer their healing by taking on or feeling the pain of their client. Many empaths are personally invested in this martyr-like healing method. Their identity and value is wrapped up in running another’s pain through their body. I remember the case of one very successful empath who, after she passed away, was found to be suffering from many deadly diseases and illnesses—any one of which could have caused her passing. She chose to heal others by taking their pain into her body and soon her body was riddled with the illnesses of others.
If you choose to empathically heal others, you might consider clearing out the energy of your clients after each session, or better yet, creating a way to assist with their issue without running it through your body. The Rose Tool is excellent for this purpose. Use the Rose to make separations after a healing session, or place the Rose Tool between you and the client to prevent their illness from entering your space. Massage therapists can place a rose on the palm of each hand.

Sympathy
Back to the wedding reception: When the beautiful bride falls into the pool, the Sympathizer also matches the excited energy and wades into the water, waist deep, to reach as far as his arms will stretch in the attempt to save the beautiful, splashing, angry, bride. The result? Sympathizer is not successful at all, just really wet and tired. Like empathy, sympathy comes from a place of disempowerment.
Pulling someone out of the situation they created for themselves (and we do create all our situations) doesn’t assist them in untangling from the patterns and habits that got them there in the first place. You might know of friends who come to you again and again with the same issue and demonstrate no change in their behavior that might pull themselves out of the mud.

Compassion
As Compassionate Rescuer, when the beautiful bride nose-dives into the pool, you calmly sit at the edge of the swimming pool with a long pole and offer it to the now, not-so-beautiful, bride. ―Oh my, I see you’re in a really messy predicament. What do you think would be the best way for you to change this? Here is a strong stick, if you are interested in using it.
You don’t get wet and she has the empowering experience of solving her own problem and pulling herself out of her situation. Empathizer and Sympathizer may be forcing assistance and advice onto the bride that she may not be willing, able or ready to accept. The Compassionate One gives her a choice and the tool to help herself. Such a compassionate hand may completely change the bride’s life to one of greater Personal Power and Confidence. That is truly assisting another to step up, dry themselves off, laugh at themselves and be who they came here to be. Just like you have.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
An author and teacher, Roxane has been offering tools for developing intuition and Personal Power to individuals, businesses and women’s groups since 1994. Following a successful career as an art director for two large corporations and as manager of her own design firm, she trained as a Life Coach and Mastering Alchemy teacher.
Roxane’s seminars include: Spiritual Abilities and Tools for Intuition, Personal Energy Management and Female Alchemy. She also has been featured on television, radio and in national publications both in the US and Australia. She is the cofounder of Mastering Alchemy and presents this work with Jim.
PLEASE NOTE: Universal Copyright 2010 is authorized here. Please distribute freely as long as the website www.masteringalchemy.com is included as the resource and this information is distributed on a noncommercial no charge basis.

Ceanlia: Tribute to Nelson Mandela on his 93rd Birthday on ...

Ceanlia: Tribute to Nelson Mandela on his 93rd Birthday on ...: "I received a book called: ‘Conversations with Myself,’. It has a foreword by President Barack Obama. According to Verne Harris, project le..."

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Tribute to Nelson Mandela on his 93rd Birthday on 18 July 2011

I received a book called: ‘Conversations with Myself,’. It has a foreword by President Barack Obama. 
According to Verne Harris, project leader for the book, says that the new writing about Mandela ‘… aims to give readers access to the Nelson Mandela behind the public figure, through his private archive. 
This archive represents Mandela writing and speaking privately, addressing either himself or his closest confidantes. This is him not geared primarily to the needs and expectations of an audience. Here he is drafting letters, speeches and memoirs. Here he is making notes (or doodling) during meetings, keeping a diary, recording his dreams, tracking his weight and blood pressure, maintaining to-do so lists. Here he is meditating on his experience, interrogating his memory, conversing with a friend. Here he is not the icon or saint elevated far beyond the reach of ordinary mortals. Here he is like you and me. …’

On page 9 of the book, Mandela writes ‘…the cell is an ideal place to learn to know yourself, to search realistically and regularly the process of your own mind and feelings. In judging our progress as individuals we tend to concentrate on external factors such as one’s social position, influence and popularity, wealth and standard of education. These are, of course, important in measuring one’s success in material matters and it is perfectly understandable if many people exert themselves mainly to achieve all these. But internal factors may be even more crucial in assessing one’s development as a human being. Honesty, sincerity, simplicity, humility, pure generosity, absence of vanity, readiness to serve others – qualities which are within easy reach of every soul – are the foundation of one’s spiritual life. Development in matters of this nature is inconceivable without serious introspection, without knowing yourself, your weaknesses and mistakes. At least, if nothing else, the cell gives you the opportunity to look daily into your entire conduct, to overcome the bad and develop whatever is good in you.’

July 18 is Mandela Day, an international day first recognised by the United Nations in 2009 in honour of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and former South African president Nelson Mandela's birthday, during which he not only turns 93 but asks everyone to help make the world better, healthier, and just.

The Mandela Day slogan is "Take Action. Inspire change. Make every day a Mandela Day."

This year, he is asking you to set aside time (67 minutes to be exact, symbolising his 67 years of service to the people of South Africa and the world) to do something positive for your community and for yourself, from cleaning up litter in your neighbourhood to getting tested for HIV if you haven't already.

Here are 13 healthy things from Mandela's 67-item wish list, and he only suggests that you pick one:

1. Get in touch with your local HIV organisations and find out how you can help.
2. Help out at your local hospice, as staff members often need as much support as the patients.
3. Many terminally ill people have no one to speak to. Take a little time to have a chat and bring some sunshine into their lives.
4. Talk to your friends and family about HIV.
5. Get tested for HIV and encourage your partner to do so too.
6. Take a bag full of toys to a local hospital that has a children's ward.
7. Take younger members of your family for a walk in the park.
8. Donate some medical supplies to a local community clinic.
9. Take someone you know, who can't afford it, to get their eyes tested or their teeth checked.
10. Bake something for a support group of your choice.
11. Start a community garden to encourage healthy eating in your community.
12. Donate a wheelchair or guide dog, to someone in need.
13. Create a food parcel and give it to someone in need. 

Who are Followers?

Who are Followers?

STEALING THE WORLD ...... COUNTRY BY COUNTRY

David Icke Newsletter Preview 


Another consequence of this was the transfer of land from the ownership of the state to a 'World Conservation Bank' (WCB), now operating under a different name, which was proposed by a Rothschild at the Fourth World Wilderness Conference in Colorado in 1987. This was another aspect of the plan called Agenda 21 that aims to remove humans from most parts of the world, cull billions from the population, and house the rest in high-rise cities awash with surveillance and control. The World Conservation Bank was nothing to do with helping desperate countries and everything to do with a land-grab for Agenda 21.

George W Hunt, an accountant and investment consultant, was an official host of the World Wilderness Conference and he had been researching some of the 'conspiracy theory' information that was beginning to circulate. Hunt told Moneychanger magazine that the World Conservation Bank was designed as a world central bank to steal more land while claiming it was being done to reduce debt and 'help the environment'. Two very familiar names also came up. George Hunt said:

'... the banker Edmond de Rothschild was at the meeting for six days. Edmond de Rothschild was personally conducting the monetary matters and creation of this World Conservation Bank, in the company of Michael Sweatman of the Royal Bank of Canada. Those two were like Siamese twins, and that's why I say that it appears they were running at least the money side of this conference and I would say the conference was primarily to get money. Also, David Rockefeller (of Chase Manhattan Bank) was there and gave a speech on Sunday ...'

The scam was to transfer the debts from the Third World countries to the World Conservation Bank and, in return, those countries would hand over land. Any other organisation that took over the WCB would inherit ownership of vast tracts of the Earth. A fact sheet published by the Secretariat of the Wilderness Conference said:

'...plans for the WCB propose that it act as an intermediary between certain developing countries and multilateral or private banks to transfer a specific debt to the WCB, thus substituting an existing "doubtful debt" in the bank's books for a new loan to the WCB. In return for having been relieved of its debt obligation, the debtor country would transfer to the WCB natural resource assets of "equivalent value".'

George Hunt delivered a written protest to David Rockefeller via his bodyguard, Hunt says that he received a warning from Rockefeller's office saying that: 'I'd better stay out of politicking or I'd regret it.' These are nice people. The World Conservation Bank morphed into the 'Global Environment Facility' and it is doing precisely what Rothschild and Rockefeller proposed.