Macon

Do you do Bad Things? Even though you know you shouldn't?

It's not your fault. It really isn't. You know you should stop doing it, but no matter how much you know that, and how much you try, you just can't stop!

Everyone knows how to lose weight. Don't eat fattening foods. Exercise. Everyone knows how to give up smoking. Dont light the cigarette. Yet having this knowledge just isn't enough. Sometimes even having the desire isn't enough! Time and again I hear about people who get really close to quitting smoking. They can get all the way down to one or two cigarettes a day, but just can't give up those last two. Many even make it all the way down to zero, but the cravings, oh the cravings! They are wretched, those cravings. Most will go back to smoking within the first few days. They can cut away most of the "stuff" that keeps them glued to the cigarettes, even not be addicted to nicotine anymore(!), but there is just something deep in their core that magnetically pulls them back in, like two lovers who know they are bad for each other but just can't help themselves.

What is this thing? What is at this core?

Let me take a step back for a moment. How many adults do you know who are happy? I mean really, truly happy? Think that question is foolishness? Let me ask you this. How many people do you know who love their work? I'm talkin' jump out of bed in the morning, can't wait to start. Sadly, the percentage is very small. Why is this?

We live in an interesting quick-fix culture. People don't really have to deal with their issues. We've got:

* television
* movies
* shopping
* toys
* and hitting the gym

to distract us and make us feel better. Even more than that, many people's issues are quite buried. Think of dreams that were squashed when we were young. "An artist? You could never make a living at that! You should be a doctor!" People often forget what their dreams once were.

As a result, I see an awful lot of unhappy, unfulfilled people walking around. They don't know what is bothering them, they just have that gnawing feeling that there must be more. Advertisers pray on this, selling us more and more bottles and gizmos to give us that ever elusive Happiness.

True inner needs? People either:

* think they're impossible to fulfill
* are too scared and resigned to fulfill them
* or are so disassociated from those needs that they don't even know what they would be even if they had to guess!

All those "bad" things -- smoking, overeating, gambling, alcohol, the list goes on and on -- are easy ways to fill the void. Smokers will be able to relate to this one -- if you've just had a fight with your family, what do you do? You go for a smoke. Smoking makes it feel like the problem goes away. (I call this the "smokescreen." Har har!)

I'll let you in on a little secret--the real reason it's so hard to quit is not the nicotine. It's this void-filling. When you quit smoking (or any bad habit), you're suddenly faced with real life. All those stresses and needs that you've been avoiding? There they are, pulling at your coat tails, yelling, "Pay attention to me! Pay attention to me!" If you got in touch with your real inner needs and took baby steps to start fulfilling them, you would actually have little desire for cigarettes. It's true! I see it happen time and again in my Stop Smoking Coaching practice.

How do you do that, you ask? Here are some baby steps that you can start trying out now:

* Next time, instead of taking that quick fix--stop.
* Have a little quiet time and listen to what your insides have been trying to tell you.
* Try journaling -- don't edit your thoughts, just write.
* Some people find meditation and yoga to be great accesses.
* Try deep breathing.
* Go for a quiet, leisurely walk by yourself.
* Personally, I find it easiest to just start noticing where in life I seem to be avoiding things the most, or if I want something more immediate and active, doing a mindmap (a word drawing) to figure out what I'm really thinking.

For each person, the key to figuring out your needs is different. Play around with it, don't give up! You'll be glad you did!

Jill Binder is The Stop Smoking Coach with a 90 day program to show people the 8 steps to quitting smoking forever, with a 100% success rate. She is the author of "What's Your Smoking Type?" and has appeared on "Daytime" (TV), "Radioactive Women" (Radio), "Good Times" (magazine), and "Metro Toronto Today" (newspaper).

You can sign up for her newsletter, "YourTurn - Turn Your Weaknesses Into Your Perfect Life" at http://www.StopSmokingCoach.ca

The US government has a secret. It's one of those deep dark dirty little secrets. And they don't want the public to know about it. It could be worse then the ludicrous conspiracy theory that our own government was behind the Kennedy assassination. It's more perplexing than the unlikely proposal that the Apollo Moon landings were frauds and staged here on Earth.

It could even be more dangerous then the Holocaust denialists position that the Nazis didn't instigate the slaughter of several millions of Jews, which nonchalantly suggests that most of them emigrated or escaped to other countries instead. Fortunately, these claims are absolutely improbable, and this other little secret is more plausible, and yet quite incredible. In fact, numerous witnesses will attest to its reality.

I'm talking about Uncle Sam's throwing a blanket over the whole UFO phenomenon, and they've been playing cloak-and-dagger scenarios ever since the 1947 Roswell incident. They have been desperately attempting the suppression of this astounding reality that we already know about anyway. But as much as we know, or think we know, the government is still trying to hide something regarding this whole business. But what? What is left to uncover that we don't know already -- and that they don't want us to know? To answer this, I'll have to lead up to it rather cautiously -- just in case "they" are listening.

Alright, folks, it seems as if the government wants us to believe all UFO sightings or alien encounters and such related occurrences are hoaxes, and that conspiracy theorists and crackpots in general are distributing blatant lies. They say that those claiming to be victims are just weaving wild yarns that's pretty much science fiction. Is this what's really going on, that we've got a lot of tall tale tellers and blatant liars and clever hoaxers? Or are we observing a mixture of truth and lies? Is the government trying to confuse the holy heck out of us in order to cover up what's really going on?

Shortly after 1947, the year of the famous saucer crash near Roswell, New Mexico, countless UFO groups began cropping up, consisting of basic enthusiasts, eyewitnesses, and serious investigators. The government and military alike saw these groups as dangerous threats to national security, because they had the knowledge and ability to expose too much information to the public.

There once existed a government campaign to make the whole UFO phenomenon appear ridiculous. The first team to initiate this strategy was formed in 1953, instigated by the CIA. The plan was to neutralize UFO enthusiasm, to literally defuse what they believed was an emotional time bomb that could explode at any moment and rile up the masses, spreading panic everywhere -- especially if members of the UFO groups happened to grab a hold of dangerous information that they had no business possessing. Not to mention UFO sighters and alien abductees might discover something they shouldn't and then tell everyone what they know.

The government had a serious dilemma on their hands, because holding onto their precious secrets was not easy. They were determined to make the plan work, to alleviate the publics thrill and excitement in UFOs and aliens, and especially to discredit the swiftly growing UFO groups. For example, through cheesy B Movies and television shows, the submitting of propaganda articles in various magazines, tabloids and other publications, this misinformation group was attempting to relegate UFO enthusiasm to a mere trivial pursuit, a waste of time, and to remind people they had better things to do in life. This clever ploy had the makings of a good convincing argument. As I see it, if you can scare them, then scare the holy bejeebers out of them.

If you can't, then guilt them into it. If sending phony Men in Black agents out with manipulative silencing techniques won't change the public's mind, then give them a guilt complex. Perhaps they'll realize they have better things to do than chase UFOs and little grey men around. Especially when countless UFO sightings are proven to be hoaxes (as stated by the government), and outlandish alien stories are found in the tabloids. Not to mention some pretty far-fetched UFO movies really make your eyes roll up in your head -- like Plan 9 from Outer Space. Heck, I'm seriously thinking about dropping the whole subject myself! Or should I refuse to let their brainwashing techniques get to me?

So far, through this campaign of conspiracies, many of these cunning tactics have worked -- against many, but not all. There are a handful of die-hard enthusiasts and UFOlogists and investigators still out on the hunt. And there are countless conspiracy theorists who are more than likely propagating exaggerated stories -- perhaps they were sent out by this CIA UFO-diffusion group. Sometimes you just don't know who to believe, or who to trust.

Throughout the years, witnesses have also been frightened by the ominous Men in Black, which is quite possibly a covert operation initiated by the government to further quell the UFO phenomenon. You don't want close-encounters-of-the-third-kind whackos or alien abductees running around spreading rumors, so it makes perfect sense to send out sinister strangers in dark suits to shut them up. This kind of clandestine action helps the government in keeping its big secret.

References:
The Truth behind Men in Black by Jenny Randles
The Day After Roswell by Col. Philip J. Corso
Saucers of the Illuminati by Jim Keith
Dreamland, a documentary about Area 51, on DVD

Copyright 2007 by R. R. Stark -- All Rights Reserved

The preceding article is from "Strange Reports from Zones Unknown," a collection of accounts involving the paranormal, Ufology, conspiracy theories, cover-ups, and other intriguing topics of the weird and unusual. You can find further articles and short stories written by R. R. Stark at:

Strange Reports from Zones Unknown: http://www.bamblebrush.com/ssfm/blog/rss.asp

R. R. Starks Strange and Curious Stories: http://www.bamblebrush.com/online_books/rrstark/rrstark.asp

Chronic bad breath is a condition where you constantly have bad breath due to the presence of oral bacteria or some underlying medical condition. If you have chronic bad breath, it is probably affecting your interactions with other people at work and in your personal life.

Bad breath can definitely get in between people in a negative way and so it is important to find out if you have chronic bad breath so you can feel comfortable with everyone. If you are wondering if you are putting people off by chronic bad breath, consider the following points that may help you decide if bad breath is a problem for you.

Bad Taste In Your Mouth

If you constantly have a bad taste in your mouth, you probably have chronic bad breath. What you taste is the decay from the food particles left in your mouth. Unless you clean your teeth and tongue regularly, you will be subject to a bad taste in your mouth.

Would You Like A Mint?

Have others offered you a breath mint or breath freshening gum before they will talk to you? Chances are the reason they gave you the mint or gum is that they cannot stand your breath unless its odour has been masked. Many people are too polite to bring up a delicate matter like bad breath and so they offer a mint or gum to the person with the offending breath before they will talk with them. If this happens regularly to you, you may have chronic bad breath.

Stepping Back

When you stand close to people and talk to them, do others step back when you begin talking? If this happens regularly, people may be stepping back to avoid your bad breath which means you may have chronic bad breath.

White Or Yellow Coated Tongue

A white or yellow coating on the tongue can indicate a condition that causes chronic bad breath. The coating on the tongue should be regularly brushed or scraped off because if it is allowed to build up, it can create a condition of bad breath.

You can take action against chronic bad breath if you have concluded that you have bad breath. You can find more joy in your interactions with other people when you have gotten rid of your bad breath. People will no longer avoid you or hand you candy before they talk to you and it will be empowering you to have your bad breath under control.

Suthep Sachasiri has compiled a site with Natural Remedies To Cure Bad Breath which explains the causes of bad breath and easy remedies to get rid of them.

Over those past years that I have been maintaining floors for commercial and residential properties, I still encounter some difficulties towards the relationship between our clients and our company in terms of their expectations. Good communication and an excellent explanation of services would greatly benefit both consumer and cleaners. I have gathered these tips and information for this purpose.

These are some steps that consumers have to know before hiring a professional cleaner.

Always remember to exercise your proper and due diligence before hiring a cleaner. Finding and maintaining a quality cleaning service provider begins with a good relationship, good communication, and a commitment to making the process work!

"PLEASE READ" - This Responsibility does not fall solely upon the cleaning provider. You share part of the responsibility too.

* Always ask if they are licensed and insured.
* Ask some detailed description of the service they will provide for you.
* Ask if you will be charged for any miscellaneous services,and will you be notified before they implement them?In this case there will be an understanding.Since there are a lot of "Bait and Switch Advertising".
*Get an approximate estimate for your project.
*What safety concerns do you have?
*What are your cleaning expectations?
*What details are most important to you?
*Are you concerned about the chemicals?
*Do you have any specific time of the day for job implementation?
*Ask about any special services,prices or cleaning specials.
*Have you received price quotes from a variety of cleaning companies?
*How many service providers will be coming to the home?
*How long will it take them to complete the service?
*Let them tell you as much as possible about themselves and their services.This way you can determine if they match your criteria.
*Trust is very important.
*The service providers will be in your home and at times unsupervised.At the beginning of the conversation and introduction you can gain a sense of the person or the company you are dealing with.

These tips will help the general consumer proper guidance about hiring and this article was created for the purpose of minimizing miscommunications or misunderstandings between the consumer and service provider.

By: RJ Cleaning and Restoration
http://www.rjcleanrestore.com