Natural Health Source

The thought of vacationing to Hawaii brings visions of beautiful beaches and gorgeous flora and fauna. It is a common misconception that these vacations are unaffordable; however there are many deals and packages that can be capitalized on. A traveler must put time and thought into planning a vacation and searching for the best deal on Hawaii travel packages.

What are some great reasons for a Maui vacation? Maybe you are a couple looking for a romantic sun-soaked getaway. Or perhaps you are traveling on your own and crave lush tropical scenery and a welcoming environment. Whatever the inspiration for your travels may be, Maui will fulfill your vacation needs.

The first decision to make when planning your Hawaii vacation is which island you would prefer to visit. Since Hawaii is actually a chain of volcanic islands there are several islands. The largest of the group is the big island, also known as Hawaii. The most populous island, Oahu, is the center of population and tourism, with all the amenities of modern society and the atmosphere that one expects from a visit to Hawaii. The choice of an Oahu vacation will bring many of the comforts of home, and a choice that is quite family friendly.

If you are concerned about financing when planning your trip, you can take a few steps to make sure that you get a great deal for your money. Start by planning early so that you can take advantage of offers that are offered to early bird planners. Also do some comparison searching of different Hawaii travel packages through varied providers, finding the one that offers the most amenities at the least price.

You will find a very wide selection of sleeping accommodations when you visit Hawaii, from enormous hotels to small bungalows situated near the ocean. All offer a great place to relax, and you’ll be surprised how cost-efficient they can be. You may want to choose from both types of locations to experience the variations in Hawaiian vacation lifestyle.

Choosing Hawaii travel packages that are cost effective is a great way to have more more money to spend having fun while on your vacation. You can take hula dancing lessons, rent scuba gear, or dine in luxury on the beach with that extra cash and make your vacation that much more memorable.

Travelers considering Hawaii travel packages must take several factors into account. What are some great reasons for a Maui vacation? Whatever the inspiration for your travels may be, Maui will fulfill your vacation needs. One of the first decisions that must be made is deciding on what part of Hawaii you would prefer to visit. Hawaii is the largest island in land mass, but the island of Oahu is more densely populated and offers all of the amenities and the atmosphere that one might expect. Choosing an Oahu vacation will provide you with all of the comforts of home as well as a family friendly vacation.

- Ellen Gentry

:: Jul.20.2010 :: 4731 :: No Comments »

There are two mental states that must be fulfilled before a person will willingly quit smoking. These essentials are called “Desire,” and “Decision.”

DESIRE: A want, crave or a wish for

DECISION: Making up of one’s mind / a verdict or judgment

In order to stop smoking, you must have a DESIRE to stop. You probably want to stop smoking, at least some part of you does, or you wouldn’t be reading this article.

In addition, in order to stop smoking, you have to DECIDE to give up the habit. Since you haven’t kicked the smoking habit, it simply means that you have not DECIDED to stop yet.

So what you need is to feel a strong motivation to make a “DECISION” to stop.

MOTIVATION, we all want to have it. The source of each of our motivations is what we believe. Think about it, if you did not think it was true that you could be injured if you walked in front of moving traffic, you would not experience motivation to be vigilant. If you did not believe that the gnawing feeling in your stomach meant that you were hungry, you would not feel motivated to eat.

When it comes to breaking the smoking addiction, people who have a smoking habit need to feel a tremendous amount of motivation to make the DECISION to quit. Motivation is based on the thoughts that we believe. So you will need to DECIDE what thoughts would motivate you if you believed them. Because when you feel a great deal of motivation, you will stop smoking.

Thanks to NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) and hypnosis for motivation, it is much easier to learn how to believe these new ideas than you probably think. However, you do not believe the ideas that will motivate you to stop smoking at this point, or you would have already given up cigarettes.

For the purpose of this discussion, we need to define a few words.

DOUBT: Uncertain/distrustful/dubious – “maybe it’s this way, and maybe it is not.”

BELIEF: Trust/faith/tenet – A state of mind free of all doubt. In other words, belief means, “this is the way that it is.”

HIGHLY VALUED CRITERIA: What is most important to you, as an soul.

When you believe that if you continue to smoke cigarettes your highly valued criterion is jeopardized, you will feel the motivation that you need to stop smoking. We call this is a negative motivator, because it is a belief that motivates you by giving you dire feelings. Negative motivators are great for getting you to make decisions and changes in your life.

When you believe that if you do stop, your highly valued criteria will become enhanced, then you will also feel the motivation that you require to stop smoking. This is a positive motivator, because it motivates you by promising good feelings if you stop.

The first task is for you to DECIDE what the most vital aspects of your life happen to be. Your most highly valued criteria are usually intangibles. For example: Money would not be highly valued criteria, but the freedom, fun, or security that money can buy would be. Write your list of highly valued criteria down on a piece of paper.

Next you need to DECIDE what you need to believe to feel motivated to give up the cigaratte addiction. Here is the good news, sort of: Logic has nothing to do with belief. Things don’t have to be logical for anyone to believe them. As a matter of fact, they rarely are. So do not worry about logic!

The format for your negative motivator beliefs will be: “I believe that if I continue to smoke cigarettes, something dreadful will happen to my most highly valued criteria.”

Make sure that you frame your motivators in the positive. In other words, always state what you want or what will happen. Never state what will not happen. Eliminate the “not” word from the beliefs.

In this example we will say that your children’s health and welfare are your most highly valued criteria.

WRONG: “I believe that if I continue to smoke, I won’t be doing my kid’s health any good.”

CORRECT: “I believe that if I continue to smoke, my secondhand smoke will give my children cancer.”

Next, create a list of positive motivators. “I believe that if I stop smoking: (something very important will be enhanced).”

WRONG: “I believe that if I stop smoking, I won’t give my kids cancer.”

CORRECT: “I believe that if I stop smoking, my children will be safer because I’ll eliminate their exposure to the dangers of my secondhand smoke.”

The next step is to modify the computer codes in your brain to make yourself actually believe these new ideas. Now for a bombshell: Your beliefs have nothing to do with real logic. Instead, your beliefs have everything to do with what your perception of reality is. In other words, it has a lot to do with the way that you see things.

Our belief systems are based in our subconscious. The unconscious is like a computer. Computers do not reason. What goes in controls what comes out. To demonstrate, I want you to think of something that you already believe without the slightest bit of doubt. So come up with a belief that makes you feel good.

For instance, it’s easy for most people to believe that they love their children. If that is true for you, make a mental image that makes you experience that feeling of love.

I’m going to ask some questions, and there aren’t any correct or incorrect answers.

Is your mental image a moving picture, or a still?

Is it in color, or in black and white?

Is it close or far?

Is it focused or fuzzy?

Is it normally bright, overly bright, or dim?

Is there a border on it?

Is it borderless?

Is it a panorama?

Whatever your answers are, just write them down. These are the computer codes that your unconscious uses to indicate your feelings of belief. In this case they are the mental codes for positive belief, because you have chosen a belief that gives you a good feeling. You’ve just calibrated your positive belief.

All positive belief pictures are bright and focused. If yours aren’t, you probably do not really have total belief. An element of doubt is probably present. So find another belief to calibrate.

If you think of something that you doubt, and you make a mental picture of it, one or more of these computer codes will probably be different. Similarly, if you have a belief that gives you a negative feeling, (a negative belief): one or more of those codes or submodalities will be different.

In Neuro-Linguistic Programming we call these particular computer codes visual submodalities.

Now you will need to calibrate a negative belief. So repeat the same exact process, but do so using an idea that you already believe, that makes you feel awful.

Once you’ve calibrated your positive and your negative beliefs, it is a simple issue to control what you believe so you can motivate yourself to DECIDE to quit.

So, to summarize, using the above example: “I believe that if I continue to smoke, my secondhand smoke will make my kids sick.”

1. Sense how motivated you feel to stop smoking.

2. Make a mental image that illustrates the above belief.

3. Adjust the computer codes (visual submodalities) of the picture to make them match the computer codes from your calibrated negative belief image.

4. If you are right handed, move your eyeballs (and your mental picture) up to your left and hold it there for five seconds. If you are left handed, go up to the right. This will help you to memorize the belief.

5. Now become aware of how motivated you feel to stop smoking. Do you feel more motivated? Do you feel less motivated? Or are your feelings the same?

By using this method you can make yourself believe almost anything by making a picture in your mind that illustrates your new idea and then adjusting your mental image to match your calibrated belief images.

And if you have a belief that is holding you back, you can use the same technique to change that belief to doubt by changing one or two of the submodalities and memorizing it that way.

Now that you can motivate yourself to DECIDE to quit, you will stop smoking. A DECISION to quit means: I’m quitting no matter how much it hurts. If you are like most people, you will not want it to suffer from withdrawal and you do not have to. Because there are several hypnotic techniques that can greatly reduce, or even completely eliminate the discomforts of withdrawal from the smoking addiction. And you can read about them in my hypnosis article library.

(c) 2007 By Alan B. Densky, CH. This document may be re-printed as long as it is not altered and the author’s name and clickable web address are retained.

Alan B. Densky, CH. offers hypnosis and NLP CD’s for breaking the smoking habit. He is the developer of the Neuro-VISION(r) Video quit smoking hypnosis technology. It received a US Patent due to its uniqueness and effectiveness. He can be contacted through the Neuro-VISION web site.

- Alan B. Densky, CH

:: Jul.20.2010 :: 4729 :: No Comments »

Acne and pimples are a common skin problem that affects most teenagers and even some adults. One of the worst problem with acne and pimples is the acne scarring that may develop if they go untreated.

An effective pimples treatment isn’t just about the latest acne fighting product. As a matter of fact, a regular cleansing routine will do more for you than any acne cream can do on its own. If you’re not sure where to star, here’s how you can implement a healthy skin care routine and fight acne at the same time.

The appearance of acne and acne pimples are often the product of clogged pores. While clogged pores are the result of excess sebum mixed with both dead skin cells and debris. Daily cleansing is the best way to keep your skin free from these substances.

A cleanser made of salicylic acid or sulfur will help break through the sebum and remove dirt and dead skin cells. There are several different cleansers out in the market, but the best one will always be an oil-free, soapy cleanser.

A toner can help remove any remaining residue. But, it is not strictly necessary if you have a good cleanser. It is however, necessary to exfoliate at least once a week.

Exfoliating helps slough off dead skin cells and prepares your skin to receive moisturizers and acne creams. When exfoliating you can use either exfoliating scrubs or chemical exfoliants which are much more suitable for drier skin types. Natural products are usually the gentlest exfoliants you can find.

The final step of a basic cleansing routine is moisturizing. For oily skin, a light, oil-free moisturizer is the best while drier skin types will require a creamier moisturizer.

Following this very simple cleansing routine will make pimples pop up less frequently. If you want added assurance, you can use an acne cream after you have applied your moisturizer. Spot treating problem areas should be good enough to control any stubborn pimples.

The Importance of Treating Acne Problems

Pimples and acne are an esthetic problem, but they can also lead to more permanent damage. If acne is left untreated or is not treated adequately, it can lead to scarring. Acne scars treatment are not as effective as acne treatments.

Acne bacteria can lead to infection and inflammation which is the reason why acne is often accompanied by redness, swelling and itching. The body reacts to foreign matter with an inflammatory reaction.

The biggest problem is that this reaction does not discriminate between healthy cells and foreign substances. The destruction of healthy cells is what causes scarring. Therefore, controlling acne infection is vital if you want to reduce your chances of developing acne scars.

A poor cleansing routine can actually make acne worse. It is vital to treat acne pimples as soon as possible as they can lead to scarring. BIOSKINCLEAR is a natural skin care gel made with helix aspersa muller extract that can help control acne breakouts and prevent acne scars.

- Danna Finnerand

:: Jul.20.2010 :: 4727 :: No Comments »

If you think smokeless tobacco is “up to snuff” and not dangerous, think again. Whatever you call it – spitting, chewing or dipping – it is every bit as harmful as smoking. Many medical researchers judge more so because people are unaware of the risks. Cancers of the lips, tongue, mouth and throat can rapidly develop in people who use smokeless tobacco and cause debilitating and grotesque – even deadly – results.

Despite the dangerous and painful consequences of smokeless tobacco, quitting with conventional practices remains very demanding. Many people believe the reason lies in nicotine, a natural, super toxic substance found in tobacco that is the plant’s protection against being eaten by insects. Looking at equal quantities, nicotine is more deadly than strychnine or snake venom, and three times deadlier than arsenic.

When dipping, the nicotine travels to the brain in under 10 seconds, where it produces a flood of dopamine, which brings about a relaxing feeling. Nicotine also promotes adrenaline production, so it both energizes and calms. However, the emotional part of smokeless tobacco addiction is much stronger and leads to many more challenges to quitting smokeless tobacco than nicotine.

Many users took their first chew as early as nine years old. In just a few months, using smokeless tobacco becomes an ingrained habit that produces reliable stress relief. In addition to the psychological conditioning, a social conditioning takes place, as images of many sports celebrities dipping also attract young users.

Understanding that there are individual physical and emotional factors that play a role in a chewing habit makes it easier to develop a plan to prevail smokeless tobacco addiction. Let’s look at each element separately and look at effective methods to curb them.

Dipping for Relaxation and Pleasure: Just like using a pacifier to appease a restless child, over the course of time, people who use tobacco products start to associate putting something in their mouths with relaxation and satisfaction. Curbing the effects of tobacco usage involves addressing all facets of the addiction.

Tobacco Dipping is a Conditioned Response: The classic model of a conditioned response relates to Pavlov and his dogs, which were trained to anticipate food – and thus began salivating – after a bell was rung. In relation, if, for example, you always chew tobacco after each meal, you will consequently develop a craving to chew when you finish eating.

In your mind, the images of folding the napkin and pushing the play away may be connected to using snuff, even though you are not conscious of it. Becoming aware of the situations or trigger images can help you defeat cravings.

The Physical Addiction to Nicotine, But ! : Despite the powerful addiction, medical professionals say that the physical component of nicotine addiction is eliminated after people quit using tobacco for a week. It’s my strong belief that nicotine addiction comprises a mere 10 percent of smokeless tobacco dependency. Therefore, 90 percent of the fight to quit dipping involves overcoming the mental and emotional components. So what does this mean for people like you who wish to quit?

Quitting becomes much easier if you can:

A. Deal with and remove the anxiety and tension that compels you to use smokeless tobacco B. Cancel the conditioned responses to chew in particular settings

But how does one defeat those issues?

Self-hypnosis offers a way to deal with the psychological and emotional elements of the addiction while reducing impediments, which will eliminate the symptoms of withdrawal. When we realize how self-hypnosis works, it makes the decision to quit dipping much easier to carry out.

When people dip for relaxation and pleasure, it’s to quiet stressful feelings. People often play the same images over in their heads, like a bad film, which leaves them feeling anxious and tense. With self-hypnosis and different Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) techniques, you retrain your brain to instantaneously and naturally stop stress-inducing images and trade them with calming ideas and mental movies. This creates relaxation and satisfaction while eliminating cravings and oral compulsions. You shake the craving to put the chew in your mouth, and you don’t get any urge to substitute food in its place. This suppresses weight gain.

In order to battle the conditioned response of chewing smokeless tobacco, the NLP Flash technique removes the associations of dipping during certain activities or situations. This means your subconscious won’t trigger the compulsion. Further, the Flash can even be used to create a compulsion to deny smokeless tobacco.

Using specific and strategic NLP procedures makes the decision to quit dipping effortless and painless by sidestepping cravings, withdrawal and weight gain. The process involves training the unconscious mind to adhere to the same thought patterns that create your mental addiction to smokeless tobacco in the first place, to eliminate the compulsion.

Your brain is a powerful toolfar more powerful than an addiction. With commitment and the help of self-hypnosis and NLP, you can quit smokeless tobacco forever.

Alan B. Densky, CH is a leader in the use of hypnosis stop smoking methods. He offers an effective Stop Smokeless Tobacco program based on those same methods. See more at his Neuro-VISION hypnotherapy site where you can see Free hypnotherapy videos and articles.

- Alan B. Densky, CH

:: Jul.20.2010 :: 4725 :: No Comments »

Up to 25 percent of all children experience the emotional pain of facial tics. This problem can most accurately be explained as a repetitive, continual spasm affecting both facial and eye muscles. The exact etiology is often unknown, although research has demonstrated a strong link between stressful events and an increase in the evidence of symptoms.

Another explanation for the development of tics is a deficit in essential vitamins or minerals, such as magnesium. In certain instances, facial tics are manifestations of disorders of the nervous system, such as Tourette syndrome, a condition resulting from a dysfunction of the nervous system. This health condition is believed to contain a hereditary component as well.

Some examples of a facial tic include rapid eye movements or eye blinking, squinting, mouth or nose wrinkeling, twitching, grunting, mouth twitches, facial grimacing, facial twitches, and throat clearing. The spasm often develops in childhood, and can last for just a few weeks or for several years. At times, the disorder persists into adulthood.

Facial tics can perpetuate and increase anxiety-related behaviors in a child already experiencing significant stress because of the condition itself. Young people can be very cruel, making fun of the child’s problem. Worse, teachers who fail to understand and are unable to assist fellow classmates to understand and assist the child in overcoming his condition can have a devastating effect on a child’s self-esteem.

The problem, however, is not limited to the afflicted youth. Adults who are affected by a facial tic encounter significant challenges in managing this problem. These individuals frequently struggle with significant social difficulties. In some cases, a person can teach themselves to recognize the onset and control the urge that results in the facial tic. Even this, however, can become mentally and physiologically exhausting. Low self-esteem is often a major issue with which these people wrestle. Often, these individuals struggle with low self-esteem.

Adults who experience cessation of the painful effects of facial grimaces and other tics can experience social rebirth. Their view of themselves is altered, and they no longer are afraid to experience life at its fullest. Children who overcome the effects of this problem experience freedom the agonizing emotional pain that impairs their social lives, and experience childhood with joy rather than emotional pain.

Sometimes, medications, such as mildly sedating drugs, are prescribed to this problem. Even though the medications may decrease the appearance of these symptoms, the drugs themselves can often cause adverse effects. Because of this, individuals frequently turn alternative therapies to assist them in treating their problem.

Two treatment approaches that have shown exciting potential in helping individuals to control facial tics are hypnotherapy and NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming). Both of these therapies utilize the power inherent in the individual’s subconscious to help them rechannel the repetitive behavior. Since these therapies are concerned with the origin of the disorder through intervening in the unconscious where the problem originates, they offer significantly more hope for success than traditional therapy approaches that only attempt to control eye blinking, mouth twitches, squinting, facial grimacing, facial twitches, grunting, or other types of impulsive behavior.

Hypnotherapy permits the person being treated to reach a restful trancelike state and accept suggestions that allow them to expel anxiety. Since tics are a result of suppressed tension within a person’s body, releasing this tension allows them to successfully control the impulse. After several sessions, the client should be able to possess the ability to handle tension successfully.

Those therapists who employ NLP assist the client to focus his or her conscious will to utilize stressful thoughts as triggers for relaxing thoughts. Furthermore, the person learns to use an unrelated body part, such as a toe, to express the emotional energy that would in other circumstances be manifested by the facial tic. Through the use of this technique allows individuals to manage tension without relying on the embarrassing impulse.

Another benefit of these two therapies is that the client does not experience adverse effects from medication type therapies. For this reason, both hypnotherapy and NLP are typically perceived as the treatment of choice for individuals who cope with tics, such as nose wrinkeling, or throat clearing, because these treatment approaches do not have unwanted side effects. This avoids considerable pain and distress for the affected person.

Summary: Facial tics are often socially damaging and may yield serious consequences. Boys are more likely to demonstrate this disorder, which can last into adult life; however girls may also have difficulties with this. Although several treatment methods exist, hypnosis and NLP seem to be the safest options, because they do not cause negative side effects and are very efficacious.

Alan B. Densky, CH offers a wide assortment of popular titles for all stress related symptoms, including facial twitches hypnosis programs. For delight and education visit his Free hypnotherapy article library at his Neuro-VISION self help website.

- Alan B. Densky, CH

:: Jul.20.2010 :: 4723 :: No Comments »

When you are searching for a job you notice that many of the ads in the classifieds have a long list of job duties and expectations that you must be able to perform or meet up to. However, if you have had a job previously you will know that employers expect more from their employees that what may be listed in their ads. When you have the right attitude and are ready to take any of the challenges that will come along in your job you’ll be ahead of the rest of the candidates.

Handling Job Expectations That Are Too High

There are two very different ways to handle high job expectations from your boss or your co-workers. Either you break under the pressure you grab the opportunity to impress your employers, showing them just how much you are capable of accomplishing.

The knowledge that your boss expects you to do a lot more than you signed up for can definitely be stressful. The most important thing you can do in these situations is to keep a cool mind. You should also be able to seek assistance from others if you know you can’t handle a task on your own. If you have subordinates in the office, delegate some of the tasks to them. As long as you manage to avoid panicking and are able keep your work organized, you won’t have anything to worry about.

If your boss has assigned you to do something that is beyond your regular responsibilities, such as presiding over a meeting or delivering a product presentation to clients, you should take it as a good sign. It means that your employer has enough confidence in you and your capabilities. To avoid being overwhelmed by nervousness and anxiety, especially during the event itself, make sure that you do sufficient research and get enough practice.

Keep a positive frame of mind. One of the first instincts that you might have when tasked with something outside of our comfort zone is to feel fearful and apprehensive. The same thing happens if you become employed by an overbearing employer. But instead of caving in to the pressure, you can use positive messages to steer yourself into the right direction. For instance, you can tell yourself something like “I thrive under pressure and I welcome the challenges that come my way.” This type of positive thinking is probably your best tool in dealing with high job expectations.

Have a concrete plan. If you find yourself swamped with millions of tasks, write them all down in your planner and cross them out as you finish them. Without creating an organized to-do list, your mind will keep wandering away and thinking about all the things that have yet to be finished. Once you formulate your list, you will be able to view your progress very easily, and tons of stress and anxiety will be eliminated.

Most bosses really place higher expectations on their employees because they believe in your capabilities and are only challenging you to constantly improve yourself and surpass your previous efforts. In fact, you should be flattered if your boss seems to expect more from you than from your colleagues. It only shows that your employer is confident of your ability to deliver quality work.

Dealing with stress at work getting to be too much? Is it getting harder to sleep from so much stress? You can better your life and start coping with stress in the workplace -> go to www.SuperSonicSuccess.com and find more tips on how to deal with insomnia job stress to get and maintain a healthy life.

- Thomas Turner

:: Jul.20.2010 :: Uncategorized :: No Comments »