In its simplicity, fly fishing transcends the commonplace to become art itself.

Years ago I used to live in the Berkshires, the heavily forested and hilly land of Western Massachusetts, home to writers, theater folk, artists of all types. It is a beautiful place, a land rich with natural beauty. Its rivers and lakes boast trout of all kinds - brook, brown, rainbow, even tiger trout (a cross between a female brown and male brook trout) and fishing with flies is deeply embedded in the angling culture of the area.

The Berkshires are home to painters, too, and of these I count Norman Rockwell as my best example of a painter who grabs the inner heart of fishing. Rockwell, who lived in Stockbridge, Massachusetts from 1953 to his death in 1978, did homage to that ideal. All outdoor sports have their cache of needed equipment, and fishing is no different. Every angler has his or her favorite fly fishing gear to port along. But it is in the quiet simplicity of casting flies, over and over again, that one begins to feel what Rockwell once said: “if it isn’t an ideal world, it should be so.”

Fly fishing is a game of cat and mouse, or fly and fish, true. Whether it’s Montana fly fishing, with its pristine mountain lakes and rivers, or a wilderness trek for Alaska fly fishing, it’s all the same.

Combing the banks, one is always on the hunt for the trout rise, trying to read its complex nature - bubbles? rings? nipping rise, or gobbling attack? - and thereby one decides on a fly and a strategy. But at the heart of it lies the desire for more than fish. One is after solitude and peace, and connection with a pastime which stretches back into the mists of time.

Perhaps no one said it better than Herbert Hoover:

“Fishing is much more than fish. It is the great occasion when we may return to the simplicity of our forefathers.”

Paul Smith lives in the northwoods of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. He divides his time between his family, teaching the Japanese martial art of Aikido and building his outdoor gear website and its more freewheeling cousin, The Outblog

How to choose an tattoo artist? here are a few suggestions you should consider.

Needless to say, finding the right tattoist to do your tattoo work is very important to a successful piece of body art. Remember, this is the only body you have and it can never be taken seriously enough when choosing an tattooist. Here are a few ways you should consider when selecting your tattooist:

1. Read Tattoo Books and Tattoo Magzines

There are many different tattoo publications in the book store or library, go buy or burrow a few and look through the materials. The best one will educate you, inspire you, and expose you to a wide variety of work from artists all over the world.

2. Talk to Your Friends,Relatives or Somebody on the Street That haveTattoo Style You Like

Paying attention to other people’s work. Ask the people who had tattoo done about: who did the work for them? how long ago did they have the tattoo done? Would they recommend the tatttoist to you? Why and why not?

Tattoo fans are usually very opinionated about artists, styles and trends, they will have a lot to say on these subjects, learn from somebody else’s success or failure.

3. Visit Local Tattoo Parlors

Stop and look around at your local tattoo shops, walk in and ask questions, ask to see examples to the artist’s work.. If a tattoo studio won’t let you look around or answer your questions, they are probably too busy to accommodate you at that moment. In this case, make an appointment to come back at an approperiate time.

4. Attend Tattoo Conventions, Tattoo Expos and Tattoo Shows

Attending one of the many annual body-art conventions, expos and shows will give you great opportunities to see many of the artists in your area, as well as artists from all over the world.

Go talk to the tattoo artist you think has the best talent for the style you choose, you can probably even get your tattoo done at the scene with a reasonable price.

5. Contact Your Favorite Tattooist via Emails or Phone Calls

Many artists travel extensively and spend time tattooing as “guest artists” in reputable tattoo studios around the world. If you are interested in getting work by an artist who lives far from you, call or write and ask whether she/he will be coming to your area sometime in the near future. You may save yourself a lot of time and travel expenses, and spend that money on getting the best quality tattoo.

http://www.tattoo-symbol-design.com/ - the starting place for exploring and learning all about tattoos, tattoo ideas, tattoo design concept, tattoo supplies and equipments.

By far the most severe oppression that the women faced comes from the dominant culture. This oppression is shown in numerous ways, such as degradation, exploitation, and murder. As a result, the women have an understandable fear and hatred of white people. Maya describes an errand into the white section of town like this: “We were explorers walking without weapons into man-eating animals’ territory” (Angelou 25). Likewise, because of Mary’s beatings by Catholic nuns at the Indian Boarding School, she “hated and mistrusted every white person on sight, because [she] met only one kind” (Crow Dog 34).

One example of whites’ degradation of minority peoples is the changing of their names. Native American peoples were forced to adopt Christian first names. Mary writes that her husband’s family name should have been Crow Coyote, but due to a white interpreter’s misunderstanding, they ended up with the name Crow Dog (Crow Dog 10). Maya also had her name changed by her white employer. Her given name is Marguerite, but the white woman called her Margaret. Then a friend of the white woman told her the name Margaret was too long and she would “call her Mary if I was you” (Angelou 107). Maya said that “every person she knew had a hellish horror of being ‘called out of his name’” and that “it was a dangerous practice to call a Negro anything that could be loosely construed as insulting because of the centuries of their having been called niggers, jigs, dinges, blackbirds, crows, boots, and spooks” (Angelou 109).

Another element of oppression by whites is how minority peoples are exploited for their labor and cheated out of what is owed to them. Native and African Americans were relegated to the lowest and worst paying jobs by whites. Mary claimed that all the whites living near the reservation “made their living in some way by exploiting [the Indians], by using Indians as cheap labor, by running their cattle on reservation land for a mere pittance, by using [Indians] as colorful props to attract the Eastern tourists” (Crow Dog 81). Mary discovered that her people were being cheated by the reservation trading post when she was in New York. According to Mary, “everything was so much cheaper than on the reservation where the trading posts have no competition and charge what they please” (Crow Dog 112).

African Americans suffer from this exploitation also. Since they were segregated, African Americans were only allowed to attend certain schools and colleges. These colleges trained “Negro youth to be carpenters, farmers, handymen, masons, maids, cooks, and baby nurses” (Angelou 170). They were not given the opportunity to become “Galileos and Madame Curies and Edisons and Gaugins” (Angelou 179). As with the Indians, whites cheated the black cotton pickers out of their earned wages. Maya reported that “no matter how much they had picked, it wasn’t enough” to pay the “staggering bill that waited on them at the white commissary downtown” (Angelou 8).

The most severe oppression suffered by minorities is the physical violence and unjustified murder committed by white people. Maya describes a gruesome scene in which she and her brother learn about the murder of a black man:

And once, we found out about a man who had been killed by whitefolks and thrown into the pond. Bailey said the man’s things had been cut off and put in his pocket and he had been shot in the head, all because the whitefolks said he did ‘it’ to a white woman (Angelou 37).

Mary also recounts numerous times Indians were murdered by white men. The following account is particularly inhuman:

Not long before that a Sioux, Raymond Yellow Thunder, a humble, hard-working man, had been stripped naked and forced at gunpoint to dance in an American Legion Hall at Gordon, Nebraska. Later he was beaten to death — just for the fun of it (Crow Dog 83).

The previous passages narrate only a few of the many indignities and humiliations these women (and other people in their ethnic group) saw and suffered due to the oppression by the white dominant culture. To survive in the harsh world they are forced into, African Americans and Native Americans developed numerous strategies to keep on living. For example, both minority groups have a “dream,” they both have a communal spirit, neither believes crime against the whites is wrong, and both adhere to the concept of double consciousness.

The African American dream consists of achieving full rights and equality with the dominant culture. This dream is exemplified in Maya’s narrative when she imagines her grandmother standing up for her rights against a dentist and demanding to be treated with the respect that is due her as a human being:

Stand up when you see a lady, you contemptuous scoundrel…You knave, do you think you acted like a gentleman, speaking to me like that in front of my granddaughter?…I order you, now and herewith…Leave Stamps by sundown (Angelou 190).

This passage reflects the African American dream of equality with whites; since whites have long exerted power over blacks, the roles are reversed and the blacks have the power now. The passage also shows that African Americans have the right to be spoken with politeness and respect and not as if they were dogs.

In contrast, the Native American dream does not seek equality with whites. Rather the Native Americans want their homeland back the way it was: no white people and plenty of buffalo.

And so they began to dance and sing, to bring back the buffalo, to bring back the old world of the Indians which the wasièun [white man] had destoyed, the world they had loved so much and for whose return they were praying (Crow Dog 149).

Native Americans and African Americans developed these dreams to give themselves hope that, eventually, their condition will be better.

In a time when the whites were trying to obliterate Native and African Americans, they developed a sense of us against them. These minority groups do everything in their power to help their people survive. In regards to visitors, Mary’s grandmother told her, “Even if there’s not much [food] left, they gonna eat. And whatever is left after they leave, even if it’s only a small dried-up piece of fry bread, that’s what we eat” (Crow Dog 19).

Maya describes the communal spirit among blacks in the following way: “Whatever was given by Black people to other Blacks was most probably needed as desperately by the donor as by the receiver” (Angelou 49). Both these passages illustrate how the groups do without something they need in order to help others survive.

In order to combat economic oppression by the dominant culture, many minorities turn to crime as a means of survival. These crimes against the whites are not viewed as wrong by Maya or Mary. When Maya meets two African American con men who perpetuate scams upon white businessmen, she said “it wasn’t possible for me to regard them as criminals or be anything but proud of their achievements” (Angelou 224). Similarly, Mary describes shoplifting as “just getting a little of our own back, like counting coup in the old days by raiding the enemy’s camp for horses” (Crow Dog 61).

The concept of double consciousness is very important among African Americans and Native Americans. This concept was probably developed to achieve self–esteem in minorities. In other words, minorities identify with someone of their race who is successful in order to feel better about themselves and experience success vicariously.

This concept of double consciousness is seen when Maya describes a boxing match between the heavyweight champion Joe Louis and the contender Carnera. She writes that the fight “might be the end of the world” and that “if Joe lost [African Americans] were back in slavery and beyond help” (Angelou 135). After Louis wins the fight, she says “Joe Louis had proved to the world that we were the strongest people in the world” (Angelou 136). This illustrates the idea of people living vicariously through other members of their race.

Another facet of double consciousness is seen in Mary’s narrative. In this instance Mary feels she represents all the Lakota women and therefore cannot fail in her endeavors. During an extremely hot sweat ceremony, in which more rocks were used than Mary was used to, she “felt she could not cry out to have the flap opened” because she “represented the Sioux women on this occasion” (Crow Dog 205). Double consciousness works both ways: other people in your race represent you, and you represent your race. Consequently, Mary’s “story is not just hers, but the story of a whole generation and era” (Mahtowin 28).

Maya’s narrative is also regarded as being representative of her people. One critic of I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings wrote:

The process of her autobiography is not a singular statement of individual egotism but an exultant explorative revelation that she is because her life is an inextricable part of the misunderstood reality of who Black people and Black women truly are (O’Neale 26).

Both of these women’s autobiographies explore the realities of Native Americans’ and African Americans’ lives, and seek to dispel the myths surrounding them that have been spread by the dominant culture.

Maya Angelou and Mary Crow Dog gained their self-determination in different ways. Maya fought to be accepted by white society and Mary fought to be left alone by white society. Mary, speaking of the Indian civil rights movement and the African American civil rights movement, made this distinction: “They want in. We Indians want out! That is the main difference” (Crow Dog 77).

Maya integrated herself into white society step by step, peacefully. Later in her life she participated in peaceful demonstrations, but she began this process when she was fifteen in San Francisco. She wanted to get a job on the streetcars, even though “they don’t accept colored people on the streetcars” (Angelou 265). Maya was determined, though, and she haunted the railway officials until the “blissful day when [she] was hired as the first Negro on the San Francisco streetcars” (Angelou 269).

In contrast, Mary’s struggle was forceful. At a very young age, she responded to insults and discrimination by fighting back. For example, at the Indian Boarding School one of the nuns singled out Mary as a bad example for being “too free with her body” for holding hands with a boy (Crow Dog 38). Mary attacked back with the following passage:

You people are a lot worse than us Indians…Maybe twelve, thirteen years ago you had a water stoppage here in St. Francis…When the water backed up they had to go through all the water lines and clean them out…And in those huge pipes they found the bodies of newborn babies…And they were white babies…They weren’t Indian babies…At least when our girls have babies, they don’t do away with them that way (Crow Dog 39).

Later in life, Mary also becomes involved with the Indian civil rights movement and participates in many demonstrations. Some of the demonstrations are violent confrontations, such as Wounded Knee. Mary finds her identity through her involvement with the American Indian Movement and when she marries a Lakota medicine man, who teaches her the traditional ways of the Lakotas.

To conclude, both of these minority women struggle against oppressive restrictions throughout their formative years. But the dominant culture fails to break them and make them submit to their will. Instead Maya and Mary break down the barriers blocking their chosen path and achieve the power to lead their lives as they see fit.

Bibliography

Angelou, Maya. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings. New York: Bantam, 1993.

Crow Dog, Mary. Lakota Woman. New York: HarperPerennial, 1991.

Draper, James P., ed., et al. Contemporary Literary Criticism, Vol. 77. Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1993.

Mahtowin, “Mary Crow Dog: Real Life Hero.” New Directions for Women, Vol. 21, No.2, March-April, 1992, p. 28.

Narins, Brigham, and Deborah A. Stanley, eds., et al. Contemporary Literary Criticism, Vol. 93. Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1996.

O’Neale, Sondra. “Reconstruction of the Composite Self: New Images of Black Women in Maya Angelou’s Continuing Autobiography.” Black Women Writers (1950-1980): A Critical Evaluation, edited by Mari Evans, Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1984, pp. 25-37.

Mary Arnold is an author on http://www.Writing.Com/ which is a site for Creative Writing.

Her writing portfolio may be viewed at http://www.Writing.com/authors/ja77521

Once reserved only for the rich and famous, personal fitness training has hit the mainstream. A personal trainer is now as common as a pair of good cross trainers and a water bottle.

But unlike your hair stylist, your fitness trainer doesn’t need to be tested and licensed by a state licensing board. Someone with little more than a great body–but no experience–can print business cards, call themselves a personal trainer, and take your money.

So if you’re looking for a trainer, you’re on your own. Here are six questions to ask trainers either in person or by phone before hiring them.

1. Can I have references?

This is the best way to get honest information. A prospective trainer should be more than happy to give you a list of at least three clients whom you can contact. Ask the references if they achieved their goals, how the trainer helped them to do so, and what they liked best about the trainer.

If the trainer refuses to give references or acts as though it is a major inconvenience, look elsewhere.

2. Through what organization are you certified?

Certification is a credential given by an agency or institution with its own educational and testing procedures. Quality credentialing agencies require a thorough, and often expensive, process of certifying trainers. Usually this includes written, oral and practical exam components. Other agencies will literally “sell” a certification as long as the check clears.

Current popular and reputable certification associations include the National Strength & Conditioning Association (NSCA), the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), and American Council on Exercise (ACE). Certification from any of these organizations doesn’t guarantee trainer excellence but shows only that the person successfully passed the minimum requirements for certification. While important, certification is a factor that should be used in combination with all of the other information that you are collecting.

The trainer also should also be certified in CPR/First Aid and be able to show you the credentials.

3. What is your training/exercise philosophy?

A credible trainer should be able to explain a philosophy of exercise training. You don’t need a doctoral dissertation here, only a description of how they help clients reach their goals. How do they train clients? How do they motivate them? Is there an assessment process? Find out as much as you can about how they work with clients to achieve goals.

What you are looking for here is a reflection of trainer credibility. If the trainer says something like “I kick my clients’ butts…No pain, no gain, dude,” thank them for their time and move on. Be an intelligent consumer. Ask for specifics and clarification if you don’t understand something. This person is going to tell you how to exercise, give you lifestyle information and hold very heavy weights over your head.

3. How much do you charge and how do you expect payment?

Prices for personal fitness instruction vary widely based on where you live and trainer qualification and experience. As with everything else, you usually get what you pay for, but there’a no guarantee that the most expensive trainer will be the best suited for you and your goals.

Talk to other people who have used fitness trainers. Or call health clubs near you to determine the average rate in your area. If the trainer is meeting you at your home, expect to pay slightly more than average. If you are meeting at a health club, prepare to cover the cost of a guest fee if there is one.

Get specifics on all fees and how payment is to be made. Some trainers charge on a per session basis, while others offer packages and discounted rates for a given number of pre-paid sessions. Some accept only cash. Others accept checks and credit cards. Most fitness trainers have some sort of cancellation policy. Agree on all financial obligations before the first session and insist that both parties sign a billing contract.

Avoid at all costs the trainer who responds to a question about fees with statements like “How much can you afford?” or “How much are you looking to spend?” This is someone who has their wallet—not your fitness goals—in mind.

5. How do they look?

You should never base your selection solely on physical appearance. A person with a flawless-looking body may not know the first thing about safely teaching you how to achieve your own goals. This is especially true if they have achieved their own results through things like drugs, eating disorders or exercise obsession.

The person you hire will be teaching you skills and lifestyle habits and doesn’t need to look like a model in a fitness magazine. But trainers do need to practice what they preach. Let’s face it. Are you really going to respect someone’s opinion if you’re in better shape than they are? Probably not.

6. What’s your comfort level?

Above all, make sure you choose a trainer with whom you feel comfortable and whether their personality is a good match with yours. Above all, trust your instincts. Hiring someone with superior training knowledge is worthless if you don’t feel comfortable. You need to trust, respect and feel at ease with them.

You wouldn’t buy a pair of exercise shoes without at least trying them on to see if they’re comfortable. The same concept holds for hiring a personal fitness trainer. Set up an interview, ask the right questions, and follow your instincts for the perfect fit.

About The Author

Jon Gestl, CSCS, is a personal fitness trainer and instructor in Chicago specializing in in-home and in-office fitness training. He is a United States National Aerobic Champion silver and bronze medalist and world-ranked sportaerobic competitor. He can be contacted at jongestl@jongestl.com.

Did you know every year 25 Million people in the USA are suffering from Hemorrhoids by age 50?

Health Information Website: http://mdchoice.com/Pt/consumer/hemr.asp#howcommon

Hypnotherapy can provide hemorrhoid sufferers with the fastest natural lasting relief, without the need of expensive painful surgery. Hypnotherapy is known to be a very effective treatment eliminating the need for drugs and the possibility of side effects.

So, why suffer the pain? You can get rid of it with the help of professional applying the right suggestion directly to your subconscious mind, naturally treating that ugly, nasty hemorrhoid effortlessly. Just imagine the power of your subconscious.

Hemorrhoid creams or ointments will relieve the temporary symptoms. However, with hypnotic suggestions the condition where the veins around the anus and rectum are inflamed and swollen will shrink and be eliminated. Thus, freeing the sufferer of the pain, itching, and irritation of the skin area.

Studies show that holistic approaches to all diseases are effective. The reason being, in most cases the symptoms are psychological.

Dr. William B. Salt II, MD, writes in his book, “Your Prescription for Change!” about patients with GI and IBS functional disorders that are related to psychological problems. Psychological stress or emotional response to life influences the GI function by producing GI Symptoms such as pain. One of the main causes occurs when straining while trying to have a bowel movement. Other hemorrhoid causers include constipation and diarrhea. In addition, obesity, standing, and/or lifting too much can make hemorrhoids worse.

Study: Healthy Hypnosis:
http://www.myhypno.com/product_category.cfm?id_category=38

Study: Family Doctor.org:
http://familydoctor.org/090.xml

A researcher from University of North Carolina believes hypnosis can be less expensive and less painful than other medical treatments, since it is for a long lasting relieve, “No Drugs, No Side effects” solution.

Who Suffers from Hemorrhoids and why?

Most pregnant women can suffer from hemorrhoids. Factors like childbirth, extended periods of sitting, lack of fiber, stress, tension and worrying, are all leading contributors.

**You must see a doctor if you notice bleeding to make sure the causes are hemorrhoids, and not some other problem.

Study: MDChoice.com:
http://mdchoice.com/Pt/consumer/hemr.asp#howcommon

A hypnotherapist is committed to changing clients’ bad habits. This is achieved by following a plan, and a program to get rid of bad habits related, in this case, to hemorrhoids, or other issues that are known to many of us in our subconscious mind level. The reason we cannot simply control our bad habits without enlisting professional help, is because our primitive mind is programmed in our memory program. The memory program contains about 88% from our subconscious mind.

Dr. Jasvant Modi, Chief of Gastroenterology, and President of medical staff at Temple Community Hospital in Los Angeles, recommends maintaining a high-fiber diet supplemented by drinking plenty of fluids and a healthy, active lifestyle to prevent recurrence of hemorrhoids.

Changes in diet can result in normal bowel habits, and as a result, relief. In some cases, hemorrhoids must be treated endoscopically or surgically, shrinking and destroying the hemorrhoid tissue by a gastroenterology and internal medicine (G.I.) specialist.

Benefits using Hypnotherapy:

Hypnosis helps clients: Maintain a high fiber diet supplemented by drinking plenty of fluids, a healthy active lifestyle, taking brakes from sitting too long, receiving hypnotic direct suggestion for swelling reduction. All that leads to:

Physical Benefits: Relieves tension, reduces pain, and improves circulation.

Mental Benefits: Relieves stress anxiety, calms the worried mind, elevates mood.

Spiritual Benefits: Balances, integrates and connects you as a whole person, puts you in touch with yourself, assists in connecting with your spiritual self.

A hypnotherapist applies your Doctor’s Recommendations by reinforcing positive suggestions to your subconscious mind. Suggestions like a high fiber diet supplemented by drinking plenty of fluids, Ice packs to help reduce swelling, cleaning the rectum with baby wipes or washing with warm water, as well as sitting in hot tubs for 10 to 15 minutes in order to shrink the hemorrhoids.

** Doctor referral will be needed in order to apply the correct nutrition in case of other medical condition.

http://www.emedicine.com/med/topic2821.htm#section~relevant_anatomy_and_contraindications

Testimonials received from satisfied Clients

“I’ve tried creams, supplements and even surgery right after having my first baby. That only lasted for a year. My hemorrhoids came back and even more painful. For nearly 11 years I was in pain. Then I skeptically decided to try hypnotherapy over the phone six months ago. I wasn’t disappointed, within days my hemorrhoids were gone. I can’t thank you enough.

Betty- B, New York 2005

“After having my son I had the worst hemorrhoids and I could never sit still. It was just before my final exam. Can you just imagine being a full time mother and a full time student, the fear of what if??? Thanks to Doreen Cohanim my hemorrhoids are down to flat. Finally I feel relaxed again.

Yahel Biton- Israel 2004

Doreen Cohamin, C.Ht. is an Honors Graduate of HMI Hypnosis Motivation Institute, the nation’s leading accredited hypnotherapy college.
Graduated: 2004

Also a Certified Practitioner / Facilitator of The Melchizedek Method™ (incorporating the Hologram of Love Merkaba). Energy Healer since August 1999, she was healed from a car accident preventing back surgery and being able to eliminate her back pain with hypnotherapy and energy healing.

PERMISSION TO REPUBLISH: This article may be republished in newsletters and on web sites provided attribution is provided to the author, and it appears with the included copyright, resource box and live web site link. Email notice of intent to publish is appreciated but not required: mail to: brent@actionleadership.com

Word count: 1450

“He Hate Me” was the nickname of Rod Smart, a leading rusher in 2002 for the Las Vegas Outlaws of the now defunct XFL pro football league. Looking for an edge, the XFL allowed players to put nicknames on their uniforms.

“I was always saying, ‘he hate me,’ all through camp in Vegas,” Smart said. “If I didn’t get the ball, I’d talk to the other running backs and say, ‘He hate me, man; this coach hate me.’ I was always saying that.”

Smart put He Hate Me on the back of his number 32 jersey, and now the name lives in lore, though XFL has been out of business for years.

When I first saw Rod Smart play and his “He Hate Me” jersey, I thought, “Forget about football. That’s a leadership lesson!” That’s because “He Hate Me” and leadership often go hand-in-hand.

Clearly, leadership is not about winning a popularity contest, it’s about getting results — not just average results but more results faster continually. To lead people to get the latter, you often must challenge them to do not want they want to do but what they don’t want to do.

That’s where “He Hate Me” comes in. When you move people from being comfortable getting average results to being uncomfortable doing what’s needed to get great results, strong feelings, hatred and anger, are often triggered. Having people resent you, even hate you, comes with the territory of being a leader. In fact, if you are not getting a portion of the people you lead angry with you, you may not be challenging them enough.

This does not mean you consecrate their anger and let it fester. You absolutely must deal with it. After all, you can’t motivate angry, resentful, “He Hate Me” people to be your cause leaders.

Here is my four-step process to help you deal with angry people you lead. (1) RECOGNIZE. (2) IDENTIFY. (3) VALIDATE. (4)TRANSLATE.

RECOGNIZE: Recognize that if you don’t face up to the anger of the people you lead, that anger will eventually wind up stabbing you in the back.

Many leaders could care less about people’s anger. They say in effect: “People should do what I tell them to do. Period. Their feelings are irrelevant.” If ‘my-way-or-the-highway’ is your way of leading, don’t engage in this process. I submit, however, that such leadership is far less effective than the leadership that motivates people to be your ardent cause leaders.

Making motivation happen involves first understanding if people are angry with you or not. Often, people won’t tell you they are angry. They’ll try hide it from you either out of embarrassment, trepidation, or wanting a sense of control.

Here are ways you can recognize that people are angry with you. The first is that you can see it on their faces or their body language. The second is that you can tell it in a drop off in their performance. The third is that you hear from other people they are angry. The fourth is they actually show you and tell you they are angry.

IDENTIFY: Identify the causes of their anger. This may not be as simple or as easy as you think. They may be angry, but they may not want to talk about why they are angry or even admit to you that they are. Don’t back them in a corner. Don’t make judgments. Don’t get angry yourself. Get interested. Don’t say, for instance, “You’re angry … ” Instead, ask open-ended questions like, “Are you angry with me?” — a question that seems on the surface only slightly different but that will make a big difference in the consequences of your interactions with them.

Once you and they have identified that they are angry, come to an agreement as to the actual reasons why. Drill through superficial reasons to the bedrock of why. They may say they are angry because you are giving them more work to do. But digging further, you may find out that they believe the supposed extra work will set them up for failure, and they might lose their jobs. So, they are really angry not simply for work-load reasons but for job security reasons.

VALIDATE: Validate their anger. Their anger is real and important to them. It’s who they perceive themselves to be (at the moment they feel angry) in their relationship with you. Many people embrace their anger. They may see it as the one thing that they can control in an environment in which they feel out of control. If you try to ignore that anger or belittle it, they will feel you are belittling them.
Tell them that you know they are angry and that you want to find out why. Avoid saying things like, “I know you’re angry … but … ” That “but” can harden them against you. Saying, “Help me understand why you feel angry about what I’m doing.” can get you farther than the “but.” This is not to condone their anger nor approve of it but simply to come to an agreement with them that it exists and that you intend to do something about it in a way that will be mutually beneficial.

TRANSLATE: Their anger is your opportunity, an opportunity to translate their anger into your results. Because, as you’ll see, their anger can be great raw material for results.

People get angry for many reasons. * Their time is being wasted. * Their individual worth is not respected. * They feel threatened. * Their efforts are not appreciated. 5. They are not given voice or choice in their work. * Their values are not recognized or given credence. * Their leaders cannot do their jobs well. * Their leaders focus on their own needs. * Their leaders don’t understand and acknowledge their needs. * Their leaders don’t provide clear direction. * They are being overworked. 11. They are being set up to fail.

Here is a process for translating their anger into your results.

I call it the problem/solution/action process. The key to this process is that people’s anger usually stems from an unresolved problem. A. With their help, identify the problem. B. Come to an agreement with them as to the causes of that problem. C. Help them find a solution. D. Challenge them to take action to solve the problem. E. Link that action to increases in results.

You can apply this process to any of the aforementioned reasons people get angry. As an example, let’s apply it to the first reason. Often, a key challenge in getting others to take new action is their complaining you are wasting their time.

A. Draw up two lists, one composed of the aspects of their job they believe waste their time, and the other of the aspects they feel are crucial.

B. Come to an agreement with them on which aspects are truly a waste of their time and which aren’t. Without such agreement, they may remain angry with you. For instance, they may feel that their having to complete a particular report or aspects of that report wastes their time. If you think that such reports are absolutely essential, you cannot continue this process unless you convince them that the reports are essential or that you will change them to make them essential.

C. Once you come to that agreement, work on each aspect in the “waste of time” list by applying this analytical tool: Decide if you want to leave it alone, change it, or eliminate it. There is no fourth choice!

D. If you have chosen to change it, have them suggest actions they will take to do so. Note the sequence here. Your first step in changing an aspect is to elicit from them what needs to be changed and the actions required to affect the change. If need be, you can always veto their choice. But if you first let them make that choice, you may find that they have delineated actions that tap a new vein of results. At the very least, they will be committed to those actions, since they go right to the heart of solving the problem of their anger.

E. Link those actions to increases in results. For instance, now that they have reduced, eliminated or changed a particular aspect of their job that was a problem for them, how will that translate into money saved/earned?

Be advised: You may be confronted by “professionally angry” people who will be angry and stay angry no matter what you do. Just being you or just being a leader or just being you as a leader gets them angry, and nothing you can do or say seems to change that. But keep working the four-step process. It’s your best way of remedying even the “professionals” anger.

2006 © The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

The author of 23 books, Brent Filson’s recent books are, THE LEADERSHIP TALK: THE GREATEST LEADERSHIP TOOL and 101 WAYS TO GIVE GREAT LEADERSHIP TALKS. He is founder and president of The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. – and for more than 20 years has been helping leaders of top companies worldwide get audacious results. Sign up for his free leadership e-zine and get a free white paper: “49 Ways To Turn Action Into Results,” at www.actionleadership.com

Do you have domain names that you are not currently using?

Did you know that these domains can actually become a source of revenue for your online business?

There are several companies on the internet that will pay you to redirect your domain to a landing page, filled highly relevant PPC (pay per click) links. The links displayed on your landing page will be optimized based on what keywords are in your domain, and what links previous visitors have been interested in looking at. You can earn real money every time one of your visitors clicks a link on your landing page, in addition to guaranteed ad revenue for each and every unique visitor that you recieve. All this revenue building up month after month can form into a very nice income stream for your business.

Considering the fact that you can earn up to $5.00/click (depending on your domain, and what country your traffic comes from) with this type of program, there is no doubt that domain parking can be an extremely lucrative practice. If you would like to learn more about how to start earning money with your unused domain names and be recieving paycheques by the end of next month, please click here…

For more internet marketing articles and online business resources, please visit WealthStream.info…

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

About the Author: Jeremy Maddock has been a successful internet marketer for over three years, and is the webmaster of http://www.WealthStream.info.

So you’ve read the etiquette rules proclaiming cash bars a no no, and now you’re fretting the potential cost of a pricey open bar at your wedding reception. Relax, an open bar does not have to kill a carefully planned wedding budget. Consider these ways to save:

Find a Reception Site that Allows Outside Alcohol -

Believe it or not, many wedding reception sites will let you bring your own alcohol – which can lead to extensive savings! Liquor store prices are always less, and you can usually return any unopened bottles for a full refund after the wedding. When prospecting potential reception sites, ask whether stocking your own bar is a possibility.

Select a Reception Site with Reasonable Bar Prices -

Along those lines – even if you can’t find a desirable reception site that will allow you to stock your own bar, compare bar prices when interviewing facilities. Just like catering menus, all bar menus are not created equal. Many reception sites offer reasonable bar rates (anywhere from $15-$25 per person), while other charge exorbitantly. Choose wisely…

Serve a Limited Bar -

Even though cash bars are frowned upon, you don’t necessarily have to provide a completely open bar at your wedding reception. Consider serving beer and wine only; this will substantially cut down on bar costs, and most wedding guests will hardly notice. If you’ve got a number of liquor drinkers on your guest list, serve a full bar stocked with only well brands.

Cut the Guest List -

We know you’ve heard it before, but the only way to substantially cut your wedding budget is to decrease your guest list. Almost all wedding costs are tallied on a per person basis – bar packages included. Decreasing the number of people in attendance will significantly decrease your bar costs.

Cori Locklin is editor-in-chief for http://www.elegala.com and Elegala Magazine. Elegala is a new wedding planning resource offering the most comprehensive portfolio of superior wedding reception sites and wedding vendors, with the planning tips to keep brides in the know on today’s planning trends and styles.

One most important way to help increase web traffic is by link development. A typical way is by link exchange which is not a good practice especially if you are exchanging links with sites with unrelated topic. Your ranking will not benefit or even get harm by SE if you have a website about dogs but exchange links with an online casino. Search Engines will detect that and knows that you are doing unnatural link exchange.

blog - add value to your website
Now it comes another way of smart link building - blogging. You can create a blog and write related topics about your website. You can posts links to your website pages, of couse dont make it appear that you are ad marketing your website.

Index your website quickly
blogger.com is a best place to create your blog as it is owned by google. All blogs in blogger.com are automatically included into the crawler. You dont need to submit your blog to google to ask for inclusion. In this way if you have a new website and wish to be indexed by google in a quick way, conside creating a blog there !

More backlinks
You may choose to host your blog in your own domain, or you can let them host it for you. In either case you are probably using another subdomain (e.g. blog.yoursite.com, yoursite.blogspot.com). Search engine sees subdomains as separate websites. So any links from the blog to your main website would be valuable and not counted as internal links. This naturally increases your SERP.

More Traffic
People like to see blogs, as they are more human. Keep your blog content fresh and frequently updated. This can grant you a new source of traffic. Dont underestimate the traffic that a blog can bring you. If you have a product related page, it is strongly suggested you write comments and some product reviews on your blog.

Come to my blog at http://make-money-online.softbath.net for more SEO tips.
Also visits http://ezine.softbath.net for ezine articles about internet marketing

Ah…advertisements, those wonderfully adorable little vignettes
that come to us at all hours of the day, seven days a week,
fifty two weeks a year. Seventy percent of them are ineffective.
Probably more than that actually. And a lot of them can become
very annoying.

But then there are those ads – those special ads that stand out
and make you say, “Hey, that was a really good ad!” For us in
the ad and copywriting business, that may happen a little more
often, simply because we tend to pay more attention to things
that interest us. But, when it happens for you, what do you
think it is that is making you take notice?

Well an advertisement is obviously an image, coupled with a
message (copy). But not all the time. Sometimes it’s just an
image, other times it’s just copy. But more often than not, it’s
a combination. Well, in this article, we’re dealing with the
Copy aspect. And in my opinion, that’s the most important part.
But then again, I’m a little biased! Well, anyway, here are some
tried and true methods for making sure you have written
world-class ad copy that can begin to build Brand Equity.

1)Clarify the Goal of the Ad Copy. What do you want the consumer
to do after seeing the ad? Do you want them to buy your product,
“call now”, go to your website, or send for a brochure? Whatever
it is, make sure you know before you even put pen to paper. (or
hands to keyboard) The “Call to Action” as it is known in its
classic form, is without a doubt one of the two most important
parts of the ad copy. The other is the…

2)Headline! …Headline! Headline! Headline! We’ve heard it a
million times – a great headline can make a business rich
overnight. And it’s true. The headline is critical. The mission
is to reach out to the consumer as they are paging through that
magazine, surfing the web or channel surfing their TV and
magically bring them into the ad. How are you going to do it? Do
a lot of brainstorming before you decide on the headline. That
will help flesh out the idea. When you have the right one,
you’ll know. It will easily stand above the rest.

3)Write like People Talk. This is not a research paper! Not even
close to it. This is a conversation with your customer, only
it’s written (or spoken) and it’s one-way communication. That
is, the potential customer can’t ask questions of the ad. Or can
they? Well, at least not now they can’t, but definitely in the
future. Great ad copy is persuasive prose that convinces the
consumer to buy. Write like people talk. You’ll bond with the
potential customer that much more.

4)Be Inventive. How do you make your ad really stand out? How
about creating a new metaphor? That’s a tough one. But it has
been done. Maybe you can find a unique way of expressing an idea
or concept in the ad. A new way of approaching an old subject
can really bring it to life. This is also one step that most
copywriters forget about.

5)Don’t use Clichés! Nothing more really needs to be said on
that one. Just make sure they don’t creep in.

6)Make Every Word Count. This is where ad copywriting really
becomes an art form. To make every word count means that you
have to get rid of the fluff and keep the meaningful words.
You’ll find when you do this that the ad will take on a whole
new look and feel. But the real impact is made when it is read.
An ad that keeps only the words that count is an ad that will
read very well.

7)Use Short, Snappy Sentences. Save the long drawn out,
adjective filled ones for those term papers or essays. That’s
the only place they belong. People are drawn to copy that is
punchy, snappy and to the point. Using the present tense and the
active voice will go a long way to getting you there. Good ads
always use them. You also know it when you see it. And it always
makes a better impression.

8)Use AIDA. Attention-Interest-Desire-Action. If you remember
nothing else from this article, remember this. With any
advertisement, this is really the “foundation” on which
everything else is built. Quite simply, it’s: Grab the reader’s
attention, build their interest, create a desire in them, and
make them take action. Of course, it’s very easy to say this is
what you need to do. The harder question is “how do you do it?”
Well think of yourself. What makes you buy something? After you
figure that out, then apply it to the copy you are writing.

9)Write about Benefits! People love to know what’s in it for
them. In fact, they really want to know what’s in it for them!
But how many websites or ads have you seen that just talk about
how great the product or service is? The goal is to express how
this product or service will positively impact your customer’s
life. The features of the product or the details about the
company are important, but they are second string to the first
string status of benefits. It takes practice, but it will come.
People are just so conditioned to talk about features, that they
forget about the most important part…BENEFITS!

That’s it! Nine simple steps to keep in mind when writing that
next world class, award winning ad! And if you really follow all
of them, winning an award could truly be a reality. Because when
the right words come together with the right image, that’s when
people will magically…and faithfully….BUY!

Good Luck!