"READING IS FEEDING YOUR MIND"

The power of reading a great book is that you start thinking like the author. For those magical moments while you are immersed in the forests of Arden, you are William Shakespeare; while you are shipwrecked on Treasure Island, you are Robert Louis Stevenson; while you are communing with nature at Walden, you are Henry David Thoreau. You start to think like they think, feel like they feel, and use imagination as they would. Their references become your own, and you carry these with you long after you've turned the last page. That is the power of literature, of a good play, of music; that is why we constantly want to expand our references.
How can you fill that chest? Explore the wealth of literature, stories, myths, poetry, and music. Read books, view movies and videotapes, listen to audiotapes, go to seminars, talk with people, and get new ideas. All references have power, and you never know which one could change your entire life.

"JUDGE AND JURY"

We all have different rules and standards that govern not only the way we feel about the things that happen in our lives, but how we'll behave and respond to a given situation. Ultimately what we do and who we become is dependent upon the direction that our values have taken us.
But equally, or possibly even more importantly, what will determine our emotions and behaviors is our beliefs about what is good and what is bad, what we should do and what we must do. These precise standards and criteria are what I've labeled rules.
Rules are the trigger for any pain or pleasure you feel in your nervous system at any moment. It's as if we have a miniature court system set up within our brains. Our personal rules are the ultimate judge and jury. They determine whether or not a certain value is met, whether we'll feel good or bad, whether we'll give ourselves pain or pleasure.

"LEADERS ARE READERS"

My teacher taught me that reading something of substance, something of value, something that was nurturing, something that taught you new distinctions every day, was more important than eating. He got me hooked on the idea of reading a minimum of thirty minutes a day. He said, "Miss a meal, but don't miss your reading."
I've found this to be one of the most valuable distinctions in my life. So while you're cleansing your system of the old, you might want to be empowering it by continuing to read the new. And there are plenty of pages of valuable insight and strategy ahead of you that you can be utilizing during these ten days.
If you've learned anything from here, it's the power of decisions. You're at a critical point in our journey together. It's an opportunity and an invitation to demand more from yourself than other people would ever expect, and to reap the rewards that come from this commitment. It's a time to put in practice what you've learned. But it's also a time to decide whether you're willing to make the commitment to make some simple yet powerful improvements in your life.

Stress-Management facts

Stress may be considered as any physical, chemical, or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental unrest and that may be a factor in causing disease. While many people associate the term stress with psychological stress, scientists and physicians use this term to denote any force that impairs the stability and balance of bodily functions.Stress is any physical, chemical, or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental unrest.

• While elimination of stress is unrealistic, management of stress is an attainable and realistic goal that can be achieved by a number of strategies.
• People with strong social support networks report less stress and fewer negative symptoms of stress than those who lack social support.
• Stress-management techniques include relaxation techniques, time-management skills, counseling or group therapy, exercise, and maintaining an overall healthy lifestyle.
• There are hundreds of different relaxation techniques to help manage stress, including yoga, guided imagery and many other progressive muscle relaxation.

women's right to chose

The issue of abortion is one of the most contentious, and emotive dilemmas faced by modern societies. The question is whether one should allow the termination of a pregnancy. For some, the question is even more fundamental: at what stage is the embryo or fetus in the uterus to be regarded as a child? At fertilization? At birth? Or, maybe somewhere between. The battle-lines are drawn between strict, religious ('pro-life') arguments (that it is never permissible), and those ('pro-choice') that emphasize the woman's right to choose as the primary concern. While abortion has been legal in America since the land-mark Roe vs. Wade case in the early 1970s, this is by no means a reflection of universal agreemen

US drone kills 5 in NWA

five suspected militants were killed in a US drone attack on a house in Hurmaz village, near Mirali town of North Waziristan. Tribesmen said that militants from the Hizbe Islami Turkistan group belonging to the Chinese Uygur community had set up a compound in the Hurmaz village. The compound was hit by four missiles and was razed to the ground.
Five of its occupants were killed. After being struck by missiles, the damaged house caught fire, while drones kept hovering over the area for some time. Later, other militants rushed to the site and recovered the dead bodies from the debris. The killed men were later buried in a nearby graveyard. According to reports, the top commander of Hizbe Islami Turkistan, Abu Waleed Al Turikistani, is included among the killed persons.

"Drone attacks in Pakistan"

The United States government has made hundreds of attacks on targets in northwest Pakistan since 2004 using drones (unmanned aerial vehicles) controlled by the Central Intelligence Agency's Special Activities Division. These attacks are part of the United States' War on Terrorism campaign, seeking to defeat Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants in Pakistan. Most of these attacks are on targets in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas along the Afghan border in Northwest Pakistan. These strikes have increased substantially under the Presidency of Barack Obama. Some media refer to the series of attacks as a "drone war". The covert CIA-run program is a cause of tension between the U.S. and Pakistan.
Pakistan's government publicly condemns these attacks, but has secretly shared intelligence with the United Statet and also allegedly allowed the drones to operate from Shamsi Airfield in Pakistan until 21 April 2011, when 150 Americans left the base. According to secret diplomatic cables leaked by Wikileaks, Pakistan's Army Chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani not only tacitly agreed to the drone flights, but in 2008 requested Americans to increase them. However, Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik said, "drone missiles cause collateral damage. A few militants are killed, but the majority of victims are innocent citizens."The strikes are often linked to anti-American sentiment in Pakistan and the growing questionability of the scope and extent of CIA activities in Pakistan.