The Single Greatest Fear

An Open Letter to President Obama

By People For Change

Firstly the warmest and most resolute of Congratulations to you for your success and appointment as the 44th President of the United States of America. Possibly the most people ever united simultaneously in our country will join you in spirit and cause for your Inauguration, all sharing in your personal belief for change and a better way.

There is no more important role than the call to public service you have answered, and may your term in office be blessed with all the wishes for success and prosperity that the country behind you can muster. To the hard work by your growing team, the tireless efforts of your staff, and the direct sacrifice of your family and friends – our heartfelt thanks to each and every one of you for working to make a difference.

The principles of your campaign, the admiration and loyalty of your staff, and your testament to change has already served and inspired many to new levels of service and hope before you have even begun. It is within this spirit that I contribute the below, with the hopes that anything useful – however significant – can make a difference.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

There has been an unarticulated rumor long in America that any Presidential Candidate, by nature of them moving into the position of even being considered for the Presidency, has already compromised their position to effectively serve as such, simply because of the collective baggage and pledged obligations they would have inherited during their trek for the oval office itself. Your personal evolution and the pathway you have taken seem to be the first in a long time that has shaken this philosophy, and many hope that it provides the catalyst to truly challenge the establishment and rock its traditional mold.

Hopefully to the core where real change has been so long overdue.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

For a time that will find you perched upon many difficult crossroads, my prayer is that you will be able to avoid the information filters that have plagued other leaders, and that you will constantly search for new interpretations and ways to measure and grow the macro for which you will be responsible. Already your cabinet selections are forming, each with their own unique experiences and respective philosophies. The culmination of which combined with your leadership direction can have a magnificent bearing.

While none of us are in possession of the crystal ball that lets us see cause and effect from a range of varied actions, I would urge you: Seek out from above that which our society in past has taken for granted. Your objective interpretation of internal views of the macro will be in many ways the most important ally you have through the creation of policy decisions and recovery plans. Challenge the facts that are presented to you. Find new ways to quickly cultivate data that you can navigate through for accurate decisions.

The power and success of your administration will rest in being able to phrase and ask the right sets of questions, which will allow for a refined and better look at the assumptions that are too often at the core of our current difficulties. These basic assumptions are the factors that are undermining most policy decisions within today’s day and age, and unfortunately most leaders cannot decipher the difference.

This is not the lesson that you will want to reflect upon 48 months from now.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Political Accountability

To many the perception is clear: nearly every facet of our political, government, and legislative bodies in our country are seemingly corrupted, or serve as little more than commercial representatives prioritizing the needs of their underlying contributors. Many politicians have furthermore been hand placed, not due to their work ethic, or objective capability for cooperative advancement of a random goal, but for their specific known field of vision and reliability to move in an expressed direction on a relative topic.

Our government still very much resembles a throw back to the days of frontier discovery, whereby land tycoons and development groups would groom, finance and place their selected “Yes Man” on the basis of a singular vote or lobbying movement. All these years later, and the best we can still seem to do is pave the way for rampant fraud, criminal corporate activities, deregulation for profiteering, and some of the largest wealth transfer schemes perpetuated in the history of our globe.

It would be nice if the next phase of our country’s transition could embrace a higher ideology than just capital contribution rates. Our new foundation should read: any public servant, by nature of the importance and significance of their action and activities, and the dire consequences that can befall a great number of people through abuse of these privileges, will subject themselves to be held to a higher level of accountability.

It seems very clear that our leaders, expressed generally as politicians, can cause fairly significant damage when using their influence and legislative powers to pave the way for change that opens doorways to deceit and decadence. To be further compensated for it – openly or otherwise – only makes it worse. We can only hope that one day history looks back and laughs kindly at the irony of government officials in modern age initiating and voting on platforms that actually prevent their open disclosure requirements on corporate contributions and the platforms for which they serve.

Maybe anyone that continues to serve in public office past 2009 can take a new oath?

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Economic Recovery Plan

I for one hope that as our new President you never forget that the Obama the people were drawn towards and put their faith into was the one standing tall long before discussions of economic demise, bailout requirements, stimulus packages, and banking pay offs began to saturate and cover every media channel in our country. It is an absolute shame to see such a well articulated and bright bridge-builder and natural leader having to completely adapt their administration to deal with such a troublesome time. Especially when world wide the necessity for a clear-headed moral leader has never been graver, and none of your supporters ever wanted a 2009 Bailout and Recovery plan to define you.

With respects to the depth of talent you are assembling to meet this challenge head on, your tactical plans under counsel, and the level of significance it plays for our future, the following are submitted with due respect:

1. Firstly I would recommend that you work as quickly as you can to separate the bailout initiatives attached to the stabilization bill of 2008 far from your broader and more directly managed recovery and stimulus plan for 2009. You should have a clean and clear precedence that escapes all connection with the prior activities and decision making of the former administration.

2. These concepts of hurry, must rush, no time to waste, immediate, swift, dire consequences, etc., with regards to your implementation strategies and timelines represent the vernacular of two terms of misled guidance we have already stomached in the past. I would personally do away with them, as no one is questioning the capability or authority by which the new administration will be led. There is no shortage of confidence that you are coming with gloves off.

3. The real questions and concerns that most people have will be how measured and intelligent will the new administration be in their approach and execution of newly formed stimulus plans, and will you truly be able to implement smart management over common government realities of waste, misappropriation, biased contract allocation, service cost inflation, and the ingrained feeling that anything the government buys costs twice as much. Even harder to calculate are the things that they buy in a hurry.

The single greatest fear that many people now collectively share for the short term has somehow morphed into unease at the ambition and eagerness that the new administration is showing to throw as much capital as is seemingly possible at the wall, and hope that it sticks with the end result of job creation, economy stimulation, and a recovery plan. One million jobs, two million jobs, four million jobs, it would seem that the numbers fluctuate as needed just to ensure that no one opposing will have the courage to stand in the way of this type of promise for progress.

We seem to be in such a hurry to spend hundreds upon hundreds of billions of dollars, simply for the sake of doing so, while ironically most average people do not even understand what they are being “recovered” from. Furthermore, the track history of our government is ill-conceived direction, misinformation for the benefit of others, subtle transfer of wealth to foreign investment firms, and a catalog of shady deals involving politicians, government leaders, and our nation’s best and brightest CEO’s that has even tyrants overseas guilty of the most immoral crimes shaking their heads in disgust.

One thing is for sure: another stimulus check issued irresponsibly in mass is not the answer to any problem beyond thirty days. You cannot initiate handouts under any guise without first changing the way people view their situation, their attitude towards savings, the type of items they purchase in times of uncertainty and depression, and a realistic view point of where they are and where as a country we can go. The concept of savings has been completely eliminated in the US, replaced by campaigns of fear that have caused the exact reverse effect. Hence the irony of the negative reports that every news channels in operation has quoted for five months now. Consumer confidence measured by other methods is actually as high as it has ever been. We just have less to spend.

The machine is quickly outgrowing its capability to be sustained.

Furthermore any research firm worth their salt could tell you that the biggest immediate impact that stimulus checks makes is on the direct reduction of open parking spaces in Wal-Mart. And with a retail system completely designed around selling comfort foods and other items of escapism to as many visitors as they can, this is not part of any “stimulus package” most would vote for with hindsight. There is most obviously individuals who apply it immediately to critical life items, but the ratio of waste over application is high enough to deem another way is needed. The management of the swift macro factor, as an example here, does not positively offset, warrant, or justify the overall loss factor as a non-efficient strategy.

There is always a better way, and we owe it to ourselves to find it. There is nothing in your administration’s mantra that states that in the interests of fast leadership, or the appearance of quickly moving executive decisions, that we must accept the status quo of how industries work and appear in the short term as our only playing cards.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Thinking Bigger than Ever Before

Had the country known ten years ago that it would one day be facing an “overnight” $3 trillion dollar hole, with potentially ten million jobs to be lost over 24 months, a reduction of service and sales billings by almost 30%, and a staggering lack of confidence and confusion as to what America has become to the world, what would it do differently?

One thing is positive for sure: the ridiculous size of handouts, compromises, and the battle cry of recovery at seemingly any cost has done one thing – raise our tolerances and perceptions of what is possible. Had we known half of what we do now, we could have simply spent an inconceivable $200 billion in 1999 and received trillions in positive feel good factors for two decades, compounded by the aggregate of all the loss and hardship cases it would have prevented through a brand new direction. It would have made the really tough decisions on healthcare, banking reform, Wall Street accountability, and oil imports look like walks in the park. The question is – how much will we have wished we invested today on reflection ten years from now?

And that type of planning and thinking might just set us free.

Oil Drilling / Refinery / Fuel Distribution – At what stage do we consider simply nationalizing a portion of our own fuel supply capabilities? If we will nationalize investments into false securities at double their market value – knowing they will likely never be recovered – certainly we can consider ensuring that a critical infrastructure as precious and important as energy for our nation can be harnessed without the necessity for corruption, extortionist mark-ups, and partnership scandals. When will oil get the real attention it deserves, beyond hand picked past leaders who spend their entire existences working to direct all policies for the expressed benefit of their base supporters?

Green / Alternative Energy Technologies – Nothing is clearer on the pathway we are on than the detriment being created to our Earth and environment. Let’s not wait until we are told that scientists missed the compounding effects of our planet’s conditions, with catastrophic consequences coming within a five year horizon. If NASA can funnel billions with no accountability for years utilizing Arthur Andersen, certainly as a nation we can consider nationalizing research and development into alternative energies, new cell technologies, and the emerging advancements of our time. Simultaneously, let’s have the oversight and common sense needed to ensure that we do not handicap 80% of all investment dollars into this field through waste, fact assumption, and misappropriation (see Green Energy section). This is too important for our future to get wrong.

Healthcare and Hospital Management – If hospitals want to convert to investment funds, pharmaceuticals want to focus on fraud, and pharmacy distributors want to play swap schemes to pull billions away from the unsuspecting, then deal with them head on. How about the investment of a manageable $50 billion fund into the creation of 1 to 2 new nationalized hospitals and treatment centers in the top 40 states needing them most. Ultimately if you are going to subsidize America anyway, you might as well hold more of the cards and subsidize your investment into a platform that actually gives back.

An intelligent supplementary health care system could work like this: 25 million Americans move to a national healthcare program, where they pay a flat fee of $500 to $1000 per year. The health centers can start off by generating up to $25 billion in medical contributions per year for reinvestment back into operation of the providers, growing research divisions, technical capabilities, and specialty divisions to handle ailments.

Of equal importance, we can integrate new technical training and internship programs within each of the care centers, and work towards attracting doctors that do not need a high six to seven figure salary yearly due to their market area or specialty. People caring about people, and there are a lot of them hurting in America ready to pitch in and do their part. There has never been a more important time to deal with this critical facet.

And let’s avoid business as usual, where gouges in real estate development, construction contracts, political zoning, purchasing waste, and logistical issues drive up the price 200% more than is needed. Quality without compromise – without politicians lining palms. While we are at it, make qualification for this health care plan a two way obligation, with citizens who elect to take advantage of its lower cost responsible for common sense upkeep on their own bodies, e.g. moderate exercise and/or some type of commitment to activities that help them enhance the health quality of their own lives.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

At some stage, apparently our country will grow large enough where we will be forced to acknowledge the fact that we will not get through the future without widescale collapse if profiteering enterprises continue their choke hold on us. It is directly evident that the congressional members past elected will not actively work as a team to repair these problems, as individual income sources and obligations stand in the way through clear conflict of interest. At what stage do we recognize that our critical infrastructure components have transitioned out of control, and need to be repaired accordingly?

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Small Steps Make Big Noises

Knowledge Management – You can never have enough intelligent people thinking for you. For every $500 million dollars spent, revisit the way data is collected, stored, harnessed and used, and remember that ten good people constantly thinking outside the box can create an aggregate of positive gain incalculable through a single breakthrough. Many in corporate management already suffer from reduced thinking, simply because they are not allocated (or do not prioritize) time for real thinking. While daily workloads can dictate the requirement for fast executive decisions, more often than not this can breed intellectual complacency, long term waste through lack of efficiency planning, poor channel planning, and ultimately high risks of failure due to poor insight. All the things that your new administration cannot afford during these trying times.

The Obama Simple Steps Program – One of your greatest attributes is the ability to harness technology with your unique symbolism, and for zero (or very low) cost create compelling messages, and special requests that can allow America to embrace and harness the power of collective movement. Whether you do it, or you appoint an entrusted and media-friendly representative to do it for you, the small things with the right leader will add up: water reduction during teeth cleaning, a philosophy of recycling a specific item, adapting routine activities, shutting off lights, etc. With a bit of thought, there are hundreds of such strategies that do not openly conflict or provide detriment to critical industry sectors. Morph and grow them into lifestyle choices by showing people the power of unity and choice. As a nation it is worth billions.

America Must Get Healthier – The fact is we have never been as afraid or as unhealthy as we currently are. More must be done to encourage personal accountability, as estimates for healthcare strains covering the next 3, 5, and 10 year periods relating to this specific problem are grossly understated. With minimal work, a national spirit, and the right leader, millions will embrace small changes if given the opportunity and incentive.

Education at a Terrible Cost – Somehow educational costs have managed to grossly outpace nearly all other forms of inflation, in some cases skewed as much as 400% off what it should be. Real estate developers posing as technology centers and incubators, technology licensing, internally commissioned product representatives, fraudulent money distributions through dozens of non-exposed loopholes, and a tolerance of exorbitant cost allowances have no room in a breaking society committed to change.

Transitional Planning – One of the greatest detractors from modern progress is in fact how often that real transitional planning is missed and overlooked. It undermines past attempts at healthcare changes, stimulus packages, and recovery programs, isolates team members that may be unable to communicate their reservations, and has been a bane of this country’s infrastructure planning for decades. More must be done to consider the unique ramifications of real tactics, and to harness mid to long term planning strategies to truly see all the facets, variables and respective realities that result through execution.

Mechanisms to Fund It – The greatest irony to many of our most difficult dilemmas is that there are a dozen new ways to recover from every problem, and many answers are available for free simply by asking the right person the right question. The base philosophy has to be that no matter what you are doing, you can do more. No matter who is thinking for you, more need to be utilized or retained. No matter what pathway seems convenient due to timing and availability, there is always another available to you that will yield greater results with less potential consequences.

May you have the strength and wisdom to find them all.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Green Energy Debacle

Your tactical focus and aggressive stance on Green Energy development would seem on surface to be the easy choice for positive momentum for the future. Understandably it should exist as a sizable platform for any tactical recovery plan for the future.

After all, the right mix of budget allocation with commitment has positive environmental impact, stimulates a new emerging market, enhances our foreign export levels, yields new jobs and employment opportunities, and can reduce reliance on oil imports.

Please though Mr. President – do not let planning and implementation of the Macro within this sector rob you of your ability to identify and understand the largely unspoken challenges associated with this arena. Even a thorough approach to detailed knowledge management against our national progression in this field will not provide the immediate facts you will need at your disposal to determine suitable and accurate strategies.

The industry as a whole has been subjected to investment and trading philosophies that are flatly not sound, as early adopters have explored various outward trading mechanisms to reap more lucrative financial advantages. Subsequently, there has never been a more important time in our history to ensure that our best thinkers are involved, so that you can ensure team leaders can accurately identify and be held accountable for their decisions.

As an example, some of the baseline efficiencies associated with many of the more common alternative energy producers (wind, solar, hydro, etc.) are not accurately being calculated or reported on a consistent basis. In some cases, they are falsely skewed as it relates to their short, mid and long term benefits, with artificial numbers utilized simply so energy credits can be generated for others to offset penalties related to technology upgrades. In other scenarios, separate entities are purposely established to sign purchase agreements for electricity generation that are not backed through a capitalized instrument, simply so parties under new company names can sell, float, and move energy increments around – whether existing or not.

Without a real Green Energy Authority, we again risk falling victim to the same pattern that plagues our country for every emerging new industry: those in the early years profit to such heavy proportions that they can offset a decade of positive gain through their own positioning and greed. Apart from factors that cause components from early R&D and manufacturing to be greater, already many solutions in the green power sector are being billed at three to five times higher than their legitimate cost for implementation.

As example, the popular model of townships being qualified to inherit the “advantages” of being selected for a $50 million wind power plant, that in five years we will expect to cost a quarter of that. It may take two decades to cover any real advantage financially, but the manufacturers in participation with the investment fund holders will work the investment and all parties will be paid. Ironically this same township would often not be qualified to receive a $500,000 grant, so that they could make common sense energy and efficiency adjustments related to insulation, light bulbs, filtration systems, etc.

And the coupe de grace – there would be a good chance that any certificates or emission credits generated by the plant are just as likely to find themselves being sold to the most complacent of anti-environment organizations, to further prolong upgrades of their own.

Can we really afford to go into this without our eyes being wide open? Not even factoring the billions in investment that has already poured into alternative energy investments, many have done so on the belief that the 2009 administration would open Pandora’s Box for capitalization of green-based certificates, credits, and emission incentives.

Any new plan for green energy conversion should also look well beyond the completed technologies that will already be at the table, each with their elected congressman in tow. Do not accept the status quo of currently available alternatives, or the impact of our wrong decisions will be felt so heavily by our children, that the consequences could be flatly immeasurable. Ultimately every $100 billion spent with only 20% value gain wastes $80 billion that grows our deficit further without cause. With real focus and commitment, the innovations of 2010 will supersede everything you have to at your disposal for planning and fund allocation within this year.

As long as the link between our energy providers and our national legislation remains as one utilized for little more than an enforcer of necessity, our real advantages are and will continue to be dissipated through the hands of greed. As it is, even the SEC doesn’t have the manpower or resources to handle the surge of hundreds of pink sheet companies that have launched. Many of them under the guise of green energy and actively using your sound bites to part retirees with their money every day of the week.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Myth of Foreign Oil Dependence

Over the past five years, few things have appealed more to the masses than the Golden Affirmation of eliminating our dependence on foreign oil supplies. Known as the battle cry for hundreds of alternative energy companies  traded, the protagonist used by our last administration to warrant and pitch lucrative land assignments for domestic drilling, and of course the must-include political campaign tool for all sides during any election.

This boogey man, however, is in fact used more often than not as orchestrated rhetoric, a dangerous symbol of the times that continues to represent exactly what we are best at doing: shifting accountability on to someone else’s shoulders.

Given the evolution of oil, mining and refinery processes, and the use of United States technological processes to support this chronology over the past eight decades on an international basis, the notion that our future is held by foreign entities that are under handedly controlling us at the pump is ridiculous at best. Especially as many of our treaty pretenses (and Allied structures at that) were focused around management of these critical infrastructure items in the first place.

All the while accountability at home suffers in greater proportions than ever before – all because we have been convinced it is someone else’s fault. While we are told that the high price of oil (partly driven by false demand projections by companies on Wall Street) results in $4.00 a gallon gasoline in the past, US companies post record profits with windfalls of $10 billion to $16 billion every 90 days. Not even counting businesses established offshore or structured under hundreds of subsidiaries to reduce taxes.

When the price of oil per barrel collapses, suddenly the largest of these entities are expressing absolute doom and gloom – even when their last quarter profits would be the equivalent to a decade of normal earnings in traditional times. Not long later, the most illogical of wars and conflict erupts and streams as headlines as substantiation why prices at the pumps do not follow the newly declined price per barrel.

It would also seem from the initial recovery strategies and spending plans I’ve read that you are not in on another secret so here you go: In addition to the monstrous US based profits that are managed to keep up the illusion, distribution companies also buy fuel from themselves positioned as foreign entities. That way they shift large portions of the taxable income as the product appears more expensive to purchase than it really is.

The time to treat our energy concerns as a critical infrastructure is now. The trickle down effect is not working, and the people past entrusted are so busy spending that they could no longer even bother keeping up the illusion of prosperity. We are leveraged thirty times over our true national economic model, and if anything ever in the history of the world needed to be shifted from special interest control, it is the attention and management of a critical infrastructure as important as fuel consumption.

By the way – how much of that first truncheon of “recovery” money do you think was used to cover losses by firms who were buying up all they could at $135 a barrel, convinced it was shooting to $185, and then found themselves with an overnight total company devaluation of 15 to 30%??

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Obligations to the Bailout Plan

Frankly more should be done to demystify and educate the public on the $800 billion recovery package created in September of 2008 under the guise of Stimulus. At best, it risks undermining real planning strategies that could put our country back on course. It is hard to even contemplate the worst given the misinformation, half truths, and key players involved in its creation, especially considering the smoke screen approach used just weeks before most of the key players would be exiting their positions anyway.

Call me a cynic, but I start with the proposal initiated by our exiting Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, the former CEO of Goldman Sachs (a bailout recipient), who spent 32 years with the firm, and earned roughly $50 million in compensation between 2005 and 2006, not including his $200 million in shares sold so “no conflict of interest would exist”. In 2004, Paulson as the head of Goldman Sachs, joined several other banking leaders (almost all bailout recipients) to convince the SEC to release their investment houses from the net capital rule, a sensible clause that keeps them from spending more capital than they have and leveraging past their financial capabilities.

The banking leaders were aware that an act in 1999 would essentially put them beyond any oversight, and Paulson himself convinced the SEC chairman to dismantle the risk management office that should have processed voluntary inspections as a failsafe.

In 2006, George W. Bush appoints Paulson as Treasury Secretary, and literally two years later Paulson is proposing (and receives approval on) the largest direct bailout package confirmed by Congress in our history. An incestuous trail of recipients is woven, in large representing top congressional and Republic Presidential campaign contributors. And of course many (if not all) of the original banking leaders that lobbied the SEC. The irony of course being that all of them are now in “trouble” – because they were allowed to over extend and leverage themselves past a point of manageable security. Directly related to the fail safes that the Treasury Secretary himself had worked to remove.

With more than a 90% disapproval rating demanding that it be turned down (which is ironic given the fact it has been billed as an economic stimulus plan for the country), our congressional members did what they seemingly do best: they clung to basic party ideologies, positioned for media opportunities, and stuffed the bill with ridiculous additions that should be classified as an assault on intelligence. (NASCAR track building periods, Puerto Rico Rum duty reductions, duty reduction extensions on Wool and Wool research, excise exemption for wooden children arrows, etc., etc., etc.).

Within all of this high profiled reviewing and media positioning, many in politics simply took a safety position, adapting several low profile but common sense inputs on how to minimize potential loss factors. Most didn’t know how to even decipher and respond, and the White House with Paulson in tow played the perpetual fear card without ever really satisfying the lack of comprehension that was common place for the time.

However the following perceptions are puzzling:

A key portion of this “irrecoverable” loss was attributed to declining real estate values, whereby entire blocks of loans were essentially being foreclosed on and the investment houses were eating the difference of the loan default value against the adjusted lower property value. However no matrix for evaluation, analysis, planning, or recovery was ever created, discussed, or shared.

There was no encouragement for open disclosure that would have led 145 qualifying investment houses to output easily accessible data for recovery planning. For example – 30, 60, 90, 180 day default ratios, estimated market declines by regions against non-payments on their books, foreclosure rates by asset value versus current amortization formulas, contributions of front loaded interest accounts against principle reduction techniques – anything that showed a quantifiable base of loss that could be better managed through a tactical and timed approach. And be used to create an equally usable formula to minimize losses across the board through payment negotiations.

Even simple math says that you don’t spend lump sum $20 billion per organization against default write offs, when a detailed and strategic number will always exist where by payment negotiations, foreclosure extensions, and even strategies to systematically extend the default periods in easier to swallow sums could be managed within a fraction of that total amount. Not even counting the fact that the securities that Paulson negotiated with his former firm and other associate groups paid roughly double what a typical investor or shareholder would have ever considered like for.

No accountability – no transparency – and even in follow up reports absolutely no willingness to discuss the transactions with senior media, with nearly all declaring the same practiced spin: “the bulk of the monies was applied against our total operating capital, and there is no way we can isolate or identify how the stimulus dollars specifically were earmarked or utilized within company operations”. Now the pacification strategy we are given for the future is that the next batch will be used more strategically by the Treasury department, and count on more active transparency.

The extra layer of irony here of course (as just reported in the latest offshore tax report), is that the nine major recipients between them hold some 1400 strategic foreign entities and nearly 650 specific corporations arranged within tax havens. The fact that we could be handing out this type of capital (or even half of it as commonly retorted as a measure of an improved situation) and not consider this prior should be a crime.

The key point here is: new administration or not, there is an overlapping cast of characters and participants, leaders and followers, voters and benefactors that have already proven at the most vital time that attention to detail would in fact slip. Since September the general attitude has been one of expressed teamwork and cooperative approach to not rock the boat. And no finger pointing!

But then, who would the vacating Treasury Secretary really be able to point at?

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

How About “No We Won’t”

In the spirit of No More, Not Wanted, Not in America:

1. The status quo of letting the guise of democracy support and protect free roaming and abusive capitalists, intent on running us into the ground at any expense, without a second’s consideration of the consequences. It seems that we have been converted into a share-crazed nation of index focused retirement seekers, resulting in more than 50% of senior citizen wealth stolen, transferred and demolished every seven to ten years in a repetitive and highly predictable cycle. All the while real questions asked are met systematically as an attack on Democracy.

2. Banks and investment fund groups that are able to leverage their political influence to circumvent and remove traditional checks and balances system that had prior guided percentage rates of fund distributions to minimize risk exposure. For ten years, real estate moguls have driven up artificial values within their portfolios in growth areas, grossly skewing cost of living ratios, value perspectives, and associated costs of managing and retaining employees. Beyond the fact that some areas experienced 1500% valuation increases, few of our national leaders or banking officials seemed to be able to recognize this until the market had already crashed by 40% of their invested value.

3. Many politicians cling heavily to party ideologies, solely because it is the only thing they know they can cement themselves to so as not to be revealed that they are little more than a conduit for the achievement of special interests they are indebted to. It all boils down to the fact that real progress for the people continues to be stifled by groups who still have the capacity to post $15 billion profit levels every 90 days while complaining about market factors, who hide behind tiers of legislative policy they themselves initiated, who squander short term gain in favor of influence control over everything from tax haven laws to the invasion and conquering of other nations, who stand in the way of lower cost alternatives for medical advancements – even to the point of restricting sales of items that offer cures only reserved for the most wealthy. Enough has got to be enough.

4. The magazines, investment groups, and media channels that make it a point through tradition to highlight the wealthiest of us all, as an aspired target to reach. The irony of which is that most wealth is falsely projected against an unachievable value ratio that over leverages worth, and caters and encourages underachievement, false reporting, dubious accounting, short term tactics with no regards to consequences, and some of the most ridiculous decision making and direction that is literally selling any hope of a recoverable future down the river. All for the upside of a short term gain already locked in, received, and processed for protection. The number of legitimate business people making real money from real sales and service without a false valuation factor is rapidly dwindling.

5. The media is charging our collective consciousnesses with a non-stop onslaught of sensationalized headlines, permeating through every portion of our lives, that not only distort accuracies in the interests of ratings achievement, but of more dire consequence they intentionally and falsely subvert their respective readership bases to match finely coordinated agenda strategies behind the scenes. Gross and clear – to the point that if they could be tabulated and expressed within a table against the parties they serve and the motivations they are manipulating, it would create a paradigm within most normal people that would leave them feeling abused and disgusted. We call part of this the art of Politics.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The economic crisis we face is not just a series of challenges relating to job security, loss reconciliation, sales and service reductions, and re-establishing consumer confidence.

It stands to reason that if we honestly address more spending in an effort to preserve and safeguard the quality of life expectation we aspire to, that it cannot be assessed only against this broken system of self-serving agendas, and the rampant commercial baggage that mires the field of vision and points of concern for our collective leadership pool.

Everything here has the same root: our inheritance of decades of special interest groups that permeate every portion and facet of our trusted government infrastructure, a system wrought with the byproduct of groomed and placed policy makers.

Our action together should extend to drawing a clear and measurable line in the sand, whereby the Voice of America raises with a unified message:

The time for corruption and prioritization of special interest groups is over.

Let the Voice of America ring strong and clear.

Yours in Service,

RSD / Pitfall Planning
Tel: 815-383-7439

peopleforchange2009@yahoo.com

January 21, 2009 “PFC”

Blame – Who Did It To Me?

In the fall of 2008, while engaged in the kind of deep self-examination I love to hate, I discovered that when “bad” things happened to me, I reacted predictably. While my emotions might range from annoyance to downright martyrdom, my overall feeling was that life was against me. I was a victim.

Sometimes I was a victim fighting back, i.e., I was angry, resentful, argumentative, but when I found myself in these modes I felt even more victimized, because external events forced me to act in a way I didn’t like to behave.

Since I like to assume the identity of a someone who is in charge of her life, this victim discovery didn’t please me at all. Once I discovered it, though, evidence for for a pervasive victimhood began accumulating, and I decided that instead of resisting it I would explore it.

The Victim Identification Test

When something goes wrong in your life do you:

Blame others?
Feel as if the world (or someone) is against you?
Blame yourself?
Blame no one or take responsibility for what happened?

I am not suggesting you take responsibility for a hurricane which knocks down power lines, just that you not blame the weather, God, or mysterious forces which are out to get you. (I write more about responsibility further on in this article.)

However, if you forgot to pay an electric bill and your power gets shut off, do you blame anyone for not reminding you about the bill or blame the utility company for not allowing enough time to pay the bill? Do you say you can’t help it if you’re bad about paying bills, and those in charge should make allowances for the checkbook-challenged?

Regardless of your immediate answer to these questions, you may find it helpful to keep these questions in your mind as you go through your days. They can come up in these and other ways:

You’re at work, and your boss asks you to work overtime. You ask yourself, “Why me?” “Why me?” is very likely a victim’s question.

Your child brings home a report card which suggests he will be very fortunate to graduate from grade school, let alone any higher form of education. You ask yourself, “What did I do to deserve such a child?” This is a variant of “Why me?” You take bad weather, traffic jams, and long lines personally. You notice how often you say, “That’s not fair.” You decide you have been designated to experience a loveless life. You welcome a blow or disaster because now you don’t have to dread its occurrence.

The important thing is to notice how you respond to any situation which is a problem, crisis, or in any other way disturbs the flow of life as you expect it to flow.

How Victims Are Born

If you discover you have a tendency towards victimization the chances are very good that one or both of your parents were — not because there’s a gene for it, but because our earliest lessons about how to respond to life come from parents and other significant adults.

Our parents can teach us how to be victims in other ways.

Did either of your parents ever say to you, “I’m punishing you for your own good” or “I’m punishing you because I love you?”

Think of the hidden messages in these statements.

Love is punishment.
Love is painful.
Love is suffering.

Children who receive attention only in the form of punishment will seek it by “misbehaving.” This behavior can persist through adulthood: the person who constantly makes mistakes at work and is called in to his boss’s office on a regular basis, the person who forgets to perform expected household duties and is yelled at by a spouse or partner, the person who regularly gets into financial difficulties.

If we have this way of being, punishment can make us feel important. It may even make us feel like martyrs. If we come from strict Christian religious backgrounds, being martyrs can make us feel not only very important, but can reverse our thinking so that we see ourselves not as wrong, but as right and persecuted

The Victim-Guilt Seesaw

In the course of my exploration of my victim syndrome, I realized that I so readily adopted the victim identity because I didn’t want to blame myself, i.e., feel guilty. This is the opposite of victimization. I discovered how flexible I was in going back and forth between the two emotions.

In a victim state, we say, “Life isn’t perfect, and it’s someone else’s fault. I am innocent.” When we are in a guilty state, we say, “I am not perfect, and it’s my fault. I am guilty.”

Let’s look again at the examples I gave above. You forgot to pay an electric bill, and your electricity got shut off. In blaming anyone else for this, you may be resisting another way to react: blaming yourself for being stupid, careless, or whatever adjective you might be tempted to use.

In the case of the disastrous report card, the resisted thought might be, “I’m such a bad parent. Why didn’t I realize he had this problem?”

Power Failure

Whenever we feel either victimized or guilty, we rob ourselves of power. The loss of power became real for me when I sat down to think about certain things I wanted to create. I found myself unable to visualize any of these things without having thoughts such as, “Never happen.” In focusing on the negative thoughts, I eventually came up with, “Don’t deserve it,” and connected that thought to guilt.

I asked myself, “What would happen if these things I say I want came true?” The answer was clear: I couldn’t be a victim any more.

Victimization, like any way of being, becomes comfortable through its familiarity and firmly-set boundaries. A victim doesn’t have to take risks, doesn’t have to do unfamiliar things, doesn’t have to take responsibility for his/her life.

Think of a situation in which you feel victimized, or if you don’t like the “v” word, think of a situation you feel isn’t fair or think of something you haven’t been successful in manifesting. They may be the same. For example, you may want a promotion, but think your boss doesn’t appreciate all the hard work you do. You feel this is unfair.

Focus on a particular situation. Let yourself really feel the unfairness of it.

Now check into how you are feeling emotionally. What sensations are in your body? Are there areas which feel dense or heavy?

Now think of some project you want to create or fulfill. Do you feel empowered to work on it?

Do the same experiment with a situation about which you feel guilty.

A Third Way

The healthy alternative to both guilt and victimization is taking responsibility. Responsibility is NOT blaming yourself; it’s literally the ability to respond. A response is distinct from a reaction. Reactions are automatic and are stimulated by unconscious beliefs, usually acquired in childhood. Someone who unconsciously absorbed the belief that good parents have children who excel in school will automatically react negatively to a poor report card.

Guilt and feelings of victimization are reactions. We don’t deliberately choose to have these or other negative feelings.

When we respond, it’s a conscious act. We may feel the reaction, “My child has let me down” or “I have failed my child,” and let this reaction and the emotion it triggers to pass, then allow ourselves to be in the present and respond to the situation. We ask, “How can I help my child?” We have a conversation with him. We make it clear that we are available. We may speak to the teacher. We respond with the intention of solving the problem.

Being responsible also means acknowledging a mistake without guilt and learning from it. It means not blaming others for their mistakes.

I strongly believe that everything you do to help yourself to a state of unconditional self-love will release the Victim within. When we love ourselves, we don’t experience problems as punishment. When we love ourselves, we don’t experience punishment as love.

This is a two-way process. With every act of responsibility you restore power to your being. Empowerment is contagious. You set a powerful example for others. By not reacting with feelings of victimization or guilt you don’t trigger these reactions in others.

You also bring yourself closer to a state of unconditional love, and generously extend this state to others.

Each act of responsibility you take may feel small, but every time you choose responsibility, you help to make the world a happier, more loving place.

Responsible Crystals

The properties of sugilite indicate the connection between guilt and resentment (a common way in which people express their feelings of victimization). This crystal can help to dissolve both feelings. The general intention of sugilite is to assist us in releasing any feeling which is disempowering.

Azurite can give us a deeper understanding about what goes on beneath the surface of our conscious thinking. It also helps us to bring to the surface those beliefs which direct our reactions to people and situations.

Green Calcite is particularly useful in dissolving emotional and mental rigidities. Once these rigidities are released, we are able to think creatively and solve problems from a more open perspective.

Carnelian is the crystal which helps us to be focused in the present. When we are in a state in which our decisions aren’t based on the past, we are better able to make wise choices.

Flower and Other Essences

Willow (Bach) is the classic essence for resentment, which as I note in describing sugilite, is a common aspect of feeling victimized.

Wild Rose (Bach) addresses another common aspect of victimization: resignation. Everyone is against me, so there’s just no use in even trying any more. Wild Rose helps to get us back into the flow of life.

Pine (Bach) is the most useful essence for guilt and feelings that anything less than perfection in one’s being is personal failure.

Bear (Wild Earth Animal Essences), the animal who sleeps all winter, symbolizes the exploration of the unconscious mind.

Forgiveness – The Doorway To Freedom

Forgiving is love’s revolution against life’s unfairness. When we forgive, we ignore the normal laws that strap us to the natural law of getting even and, by the alchemy of love, we release ourselves from our own painful pasts. We may talk about turning the other cheek and forgiving those who have wronged us, but it is not a simple thing to do. The problem usually lies within the whirling tornado of emotions that are at the center of this act. It is the hardest trick in the bag of personal relationships.

It is important not to confuse forgiveness with other similar acts. Forgiveness is not excusing, smothering conflict, accepting people, or tolerance. When you forgive the person who hurt you deeply and unfairly, you perform a miracle that has no equal. Nothing else is the same. Forgiving has its own feel and its own color and its own climax, different from any other creative act in the repertoire of human relationships.

There are four stages in the process of forgiveness beginning with the hurt that precipitates the crisis and causes us pain that will not go away. We must acknowledge that first. The second stage is hate when all our feelings of anger and righteous indignation come to the surface. The third stage is healing; you are given the ‘magic eyes’ to see the person who hurt you in a new light. Your memory is healed, you turn back the flow of pain and are free again. The fourth stage is the coming together where you affect a reconciliation and invite the person back into your life at the right time ( which doesn’t always mean now). The major healing takes place within us thanks to the love and freedom that blooms in us.

It is best to practice forgiveness a little at a time. Ordinary people forgive best if they go at it in bits and pieces, and for specific acts. We bog down if we try to forgive people in the grand manner, because wholesale forgiving is almost always fake. Forgiving anything at all is a minor miracle; forgiving carte blanche is silly. Nobody can do it. Except God. And the first rule for mere human beings in the forgiving game is to remember that we are not God. Below, I want to share with you The Doorway To Freedom. It’s a way to begin healing yourself TODAY.

Enlightenment cannot enter through a closed door. Forgiveness is the doorway to enlightenment or love consciousness, for without completing forgiveness you cannot move on. It will always be the anchor that holds you back. Sooner or later you must do it for your own sake. “Unforgiveness” is a poison in your system that will rob you of your spiritual life. If you hate one soul you will never be able to love another completely. The poison in your system will pollute your experience of love with everyone and everything in life.

“Unforgiveness” spills over into other aspects of your life and stains your experiences. When the time comes for true forgiveness, open yourself to your God and invite the Holy Spirit to enter, to cleanse the cellular memory of all the negative energy stored in there and dissolve with love the patterns you hold about others that you have not forgiven. The vibration at this time can be so strong as to make your ego or logical mind start having fearful thoughts.

Remember God created us to experience perfection and beauty. When the Holy Spirit meets our darkness, “bad” things happen in our best interest. Do not judge the situation let it be. We cannot hate one Soul and love another. For our own sake we need to forgive one another, to be kind and considerate to each other and show tolerance. When we hold resentment in our hearts and minds we poison our beings with dark energies that foster anger that we then suppress and deny. This dishonoring of our being brings emotional pain that destroys our qualities of life. Every experience that comes to us is filtered through this unforgiving attitude, thereby diluting our enjoyment and experience of the joy of being alive.

THE LOSS OF SPIRITUAL LIFE

Vague shadows lurk in the background and forever blunt our edge. The dullness of our experience robs us of our spirituality. We know there should be more, but we can never quite fully experience what we feel we should. The shadows of resentment keep our spiritual light from shining through, never allowing us to fully experience who we are.

HONORING THE LESSONS

The longer we hold hard thoughts or feelings of animosity, the weaker our light becomes, and consequently the deeper the hurt from our own dishonoring. The anger grows and grows. No matter what the perceived sin is against us, eventually forgiveness is seen to be the only doorway to freedom. All of the denial and suppression must be reversed in order that our spirit be set free and our heritage of a full and joyous spiritual life be realized while still on the earth plane.

Anger is the state that divides and separates spiritual beings experiencing physical life. The damage is self-inflicted. The person who holds the resentment is the victim of their own anger and does little or no damage to their perceived enemies. The people closest to them become secondary victims. As they weave their karmic web, they draw others into their play, intensifying and complicating what could have been a wonderful and simple experience.

Nevertheless, the play that is happening is learning and growth, so to judge it as wrong would be another misperception of the truth. With all of life, options are there for us. The choice of how we learn is ours; no matter how it appears to others, it is our choice. As we watch another learning, we must honor that person and the path of learning that he or she has chosen. Judgment is not the way. Love and tolerance will open the door to spiritual freedom.

FACING OUR GREATEST FEAR

Pain in the heart is the energy of love pushing against a blocked emotion contained there. Forgiveness shakes our very foundation and belief that we are the victim and we are righteous in our anger. This belief pattern must go if we are to progress. Holding onto anger keeps us on the path of self-destruction. Justifying our behavior is an indication that we are out to convince others that we have a right to be angry, and hatred of another soul is completely OK because of what they did to us. Justification and self-elevation above others is the most divisive and destructive path that the ego can take us on.

In the experience of resentment, we are pushed further from our light than at any other time, because anger and hatred are the opposite of love. The festering inner wound will never heal and allow us to move forward until the door of forgiveness is reached. At this moment, depending on the intensity of the experience, the strongest person can cry and shiver like a frightened child deep in the experience of a nightmare. At this time you see the wrongs you have done to yourself.

Yet in all of this, the gentle prompting from our own divinity never really lets us forget who we are, it is the inner voice of sanity. This voice is our link to the inner Light, to our conscience; the whispering of our Soul; the comforting words of our God self; our true being; the doorway through which enlightenment will come. Discard the shackles of many lifetimes and embrace who you are. The fear perpetuated by the ego needs to be faced and seen for the illusion that it is, that which robs us of our spiritual life.

HONORING OUR MAGNIFICENCE

When we stand before the light of who we are and prepare to allow the light to enter our darkness, the fear of accumulated lifetimes in our cellular memory trembles in a way that defies any description. The pain of release goes to the very core of our beings. Yet throughout all of this, another energy stands close by, allowing but comforting, never interfering, but strengthening us. The time is at hand to honor our true magnificence. The light beckons us to come home. The lessons you have chosen are refining and purifying you to accept your rightful place in the universe.

MY EXPERIENCE OF FORGIVENESS

My father was an alcoholic from the time he was a very young man, and he carried within him a lot of pain and anger. Unfortunately, he carried that anger with him until his death at 86 years of age – a terribly long time. The effect on children of alcoholic parents is well-known; rather than regurgitate all the details, suffice it to say I had never forgiven him.

On an intellectual level I had forgiven him, but in my heart I had not. It seems a small point, but our minds tell us one thing, but in our hearts we know better. During those early healing times, it became my habit to stand and allow the spirit guides to work with my body, teaching me how to tune into them and anticipate mentally and physically what part of the body I should focus on next. All of this exercise was done alone, and greatly helped open physical and mental channels for a more efficient working partnership. These became my practice sessions.

After a clairvoyant friend had mentioned on numerous occasions that my father was around me quite a lot, I became alerted once by the spirit guides that he was here during a practice session. I felt this to be unusual as he had passed over barely two years before. Why was he around so much? My learning had taught me that he possibly should be being helped on to another level, not be visiting the earth plane so soon. With prompting from my guides I finally arrived at the conclusion that he needed my forgiveness before moving on. This realization shocked me. Had I been responsible for his staying back, earth bound? What happened next will be with me forever.
The spirit guides brought him to me, and because my sense of psychic touch had developed, I could feel his energy field moving closer to me. I can never describe to you the emotional sensations that began to move about inside me and then move to the surface. Refusing to be held in check any longer, my emotional dam wall cracked and then flooded out, demanding expression. Tears of release poured forth, so painful but so sweet.

My arms were lifted from my side to embrace my father as I had never done in my 54 years. My pain of withheld love expressed itself. The sobbing slowly abated as did the pain in my throat as all the unsaid words were released. To feel my father in my arms as he really is and was moved me in such a way that I feel it was a gift of pure grace. To have faith is one thing, to know and experience is another. At that moment I knew death to be a fraud. Life is eternal.

Next I was asked to pray for my father. This I did with much passion and love. During this prayer, my father was surrounded by a ball of golden light. He was then sent into the light to begin his journey once more in spirit. He had been released from the lower astral plane with love, something he had needed from me all of his life…love.
All was not done yet. As my communication was rough to say the least, this whole exercise had taken nearly two hours to get it right. Soon I understood that I needed to pray for myself. The Guides were most pleased that I understood this last request quickly.

My prayer for forgiveness was filled with the emotion still flowing from the experience of my father. As I prayed I became lighter and lighter, understanding that my burdens were being lifted. Our emotional burdens will be taken piece by piece over time, and though this one was large and heavy, it was leaving at once. The forgiveness that I had asked for was for my dishonoring of myself. As a divine being we dishonor ourselves with unforgiveness as much as the person we need to forgive.

The next day while driving to work, I realized that a knot in my stomach that had accompanied me all of my life had gone. My thoughts turned to my father. I felt a smile on my face and a feeling of love for him in my heart for the first time. It was a warm love, with a depth of feeling I had never felt before. How wonderful it is to know that it is never too late to forgive. Knowing where he was made me feel warm inside. The fear of death had been washed away. As I was to find out later in my healing experiences, “Those who work in the light have no fear.”

TRUE FORGIVENESS

Once true forgiveness is completed with one soul, it is done for every soul. Forgiveness will reside in your heart from that day forward. When this lesson is completed, we need not keep repeating something we now understand totally. The lesson of forgiveness shows us that love is the only experience we ever want in our hearts forever.

The stain on ourselves is so damaging when we do not practice forgiveness that another awakening occurs through the realization of our own incredibly thoughtless acts. As we see our ignorance, we see our path to enlightenment. The horror of our actions repels us so much, we seek forgiveness for ourselves. In this act of seeking, we see the need to forgive others, no matter what they may have done. The freedom forgiveness brings us is total.

TWO TYPES OF FORGIVENESS

There are two types of forgiveness, and the first one we try is the intellectual path. The ego is in control here. We say with a grandiose wave of the arm, “Oh I have forgiven them for that,” making light of the whole subject and busying ourselves in a big selling job on ourselves and on the other person or persons we are speaking to.

The second path is through the heart where we become defenseless. Now all of the emotional pain from the heart and body is released in the most wonderful act of cleansing. This path takes courage and honesty with yourself; every cell in your body holds the fear. It is powerful, painful and wonderful all at once, an experience you will always remember and cherish because you have just been reborn. You now have new eyes through which to perceive the world. Strange but beautiful things occur when you release through the heart, allow the fear to be there and drop your ego’s defenses. You CAN do it.

When you forgive, you do it with your whole being. You become as a child again without defenses. Any form of defense will stop forgiveness. The river of love that flows through us is the inner pathway.

We may or may not enlighten ourselves by standing on our heads in the corner of the room, or by saying prayers continuously like a parrot, or by focusing on an object for the purpose of stilling the mind or by any spiritual practice that disciplines our bodies. When we forgive ourselves and others, we have opened the floodgate so that the river of life can flow through us and change our consciousness. While snippets of resentment may arise, or anger may pop up, we immediately replace it with love, fully realizing that we do not want to go on that path ever again.

It is essential that all stains of unforgiveness are washed away. To truly love another soul this must happen. If you have not forgiven your Father or Mother, your ex partner or anyone that you perceive has wronged you, then you can never fully experience love or give love fully to another. Once the Creator’s love flows through our hearts, the spring cleaning begins, and it’s not always a bed of roses.

Do not stress that you have not forgiven. As love changes your mind, it is inevitable that forgiveness will come. True forgiveness comes in its own time. When love opens the door, we constantly correct and refine our behavior, gradually bringing ourselves to a state of love where fear will not exist.

If you hold a strong desire to become the loving soul that you know you are, it must happen.

He’s Lost The Attraction? 5 Likely Reasons

Ever dated a man who you shared an incredible connection with, but then he suddenly wanted his “freedom”?

Or he said he “wasn’t ready” when you started to get close?

What’s going on here? Why does this happen for so many women?

To learn to avoid these kinds of common male responses to a new relationship, and to know exactly what to do instead that will make a man feel inspired and excited for a relationship with you the way he hasn’t felt with any other woman – you need to read this article.

Are you one of the many single women in the world who would make an AMAZING PARTNER for a man…. but can’t even find a decent date?

Do you ever feel like it’s impossible to understand what a man is thinking when it comes to “dating” and relationships?

Do you ever wish that you could just skip the “games” and the uncertainty that come with dating and get straight to something REAL?

If so, I want to share with you a few important ways to stop missing out on the love and
connection you’re looking for, and start finding and creating what you want.

There’s something I want to know about you first, though.

I wonder how often this has happened to you:

You meet a man you find attractive and you go out on a date…

The date goes better than you imagined, and you find him even more interesting and desirable than
you thought you would.

You feel great around him and the conversation flows.

You both connect with each other and have all kinds of unbelievable things in common.

The more time you spend with him, the more you become excited about where things could go… and that you’ve finally met a man who’s fun, attractive AND who actually seems open and healthy as a person.

To top it off, the chemistry you share is AMAZING… and you share a steamy good-night kiss that proves it.

You can tell he’s feeling it, too.

This is something more than just another date. It’s more than two people spending time together.

This is something special and real.

That’s why you can’t help yourself…

Before you even hear from him again, you’re telling your girlfriends all about him, what a great time you had, what it’s like when you’re together… and when you’re going to see each other next.

You’re VERY excited about your new man.

You imagine introducing him to your friends.

You even allow yourself a fantasy or two about all the fun things you’ll do together in the weeks to come and what your life together could be like.

You have a GREAT FEELING about this.

Best of all, he’s calling you, emailing, and he wants to see you all the time.

And he’s not only attractive and charming- it turns out he’s a really good person, too.

After a few more dates you’re intimate with him because you feel so comfortable together. And the
sex is AMAZING.

Things are going so great that you say to yourself, “At last! A real man I truly connect with. I
better not screw this up!”

But just then you realize how much he is starting to mean to you… and in the back of your mind it kind of freaks you out.

And it’s then that the dating and relationship nightmares from your past flash back in your
mind…

You don’t want to feel the pain you felt in the past ever again… and you start to feel afraid
that the same things could happen again.

Your mind races with fear and anxiety.

But to keep it together you put faith in the situation and in this man. You tell yourself that it’s different this time, and that he isn’t one of those other guys.

And to make sure things keep moving forward in the right direction, you start trying a little harder with him to get it right this time.

You do all kinds of nice things for him.

You make the effort to find out all about him, understand him, and help him out with the things that are going on for him in his life.

You even start to do things like favors, errands, etc., just because you want him to know how much you care and to be close to him.

In the back of your mind you really hope he’ll recognize all the great things you’re doing for him, and how amazing you and your relationship can be.

With all you’re doing for him and your relationship, he’d be crazy not to want to be with you.

But after a few more dates, suddenly something starts to feel WRONG…

That same easy and free way of loving and being with each other suddenly feels different.

You realize how much you’re doing for him and all the ways you’re trying… and suddenly it
hits you

He isn’t making much of an effort to do anything for you or your relationship. Not the way you are with him.

Then you realize that he’s been calling you less than he used to.

He doesn’t seem as excited to be with you and share his thoughts and feelings as he used to be at first.

He even stops making much in the way of plans, and starts doing a lot of other things he wasn’t doing before.

And since you don’t want to keep calling him, you wait for his call… hoping he’ll make weekend plans with you.

But Thursday comes, and then Friday, and still no call.

Your worst fears are starting to be realized. But you don’t want to overreact.

So even though you’re hurt and upset that he didn’t call you… you want to be with him, so you reluctantly call him.

You tell yourself there must be a good reason and that he’s been busy or something.

When you finally get ahold of him, he doesn’t even sound like the same guy.

He talks like he hardly knows you and you’ve never been close.

You try to be casual and ask him what he’s been doing, but you want to know what he’s been doing
and why he hasn’t called you.

Then you find out he’s been going out and doing things with friends and other people.

Arggggh! He didn’t even invite you! Wait a minute…

Aren’t you two an “item”? Shouldn’t you be doing something TOGETHER on weekends and in your free time?

You start feeling really FRUSTRATED and CONFUSED.

Maybe he doesn’t see what’s going on, so you decide to let him know how you feel and “call him on it.”

You tell him how upset you felt that he didn’t ask you to hang out with him and his friends.

And you ask him what’s going on, and why he’s being this way with you.

But he doesn’t respond the way you’d want or expect him too.

Instead of listening to you and your feelings… he gets irritated and ANGRY with you. As though you’re “hassling” him.

After some arguing and back and forth, he seems to shift gears in the conversation and says something that really makes your heart SINK.

Something that you had a gut FEELING you’d hear from him with this going on-

He tells you,

“Look… you’re great, but the truth is that I’m not ready or in the right place for any kind of ’serious’ relationship right now.”

And he goes on to tell you about all the things going on in his life that are taking up his time and energy… and that he doesn’t know how to settle down right now.

Ouch.

WHAT IS HE TALKING ABOUT!?

Why is he acting like you’re going to get in the way of the rest of his life?

Why did he ask you out in the first place, and spend all that time sharing himself, being with you, and connecting with you if he didn’t want a relationship all along?

Couldn’t he have told you that when you first met, instead of asking you out?

Why did he spend all that time with you and sleep with you if he didn’t want to be with you?

And how come he doesn’t recognize or appreciate all the things you bring to his life, and all the things that you do for him?

At this point, you feel incredibly hurt, frustrated, unappreciated, and misunderstood.

You even become intensely UPSET and ANGRY with him, and with yourself. How could you have misunderstood what was happening and not seen this coming!?

Why did he do all the things he did, and why did he SAY all those things that made you think HE WANTED a relationship with you?

Now, if you’ve experienced a situation like this with a man before… then I really feel for you.

It STINKS.

If you want to learn how to avoid this kind of situation in the first place in your future, and you’d prefer to have a man “pursuing” and “courting” you… then you need to read THIS

It will help you know what to do when a great guy who you share a real connection, chemistry, and attraction with PULLS AWAY from you just as you start to get closer and a little more “serious.”

To learn how, when and why a man will start to naturally RESIST a relationship with a woman the more intense the feelings between him and her are… and to know exactly what to do to keep your relationship growing and moving forward without his FEAR and RESISTANCE getting in the way, go HERE

Now, back to our story and this frustratingly common situation women run into with men.

In the story above, for lots of women the story doesn’t end when the man says he’s not ready
for anything serious.

Why?

Because they either don’t want to listen to the man… or they refuse to believe him.

And then what happens?

Some women actually go on to spend the next few weeks or maybe even MONTHS doing everything they can to try and win the guy back.

They think that if they can just get him to stop ignoring what it is that they share, and to not be afraid… that the guy will “come to his senses” and come back to them.

WRONG!

If you’ve ever been in this situation, or known a woman who was, here are the 5 most common ways women respond that don’t work and push men away or turn them off for good:

1) Pretending you don’t want anything serious either and keep on sleeping with the man “casually” in hopes that things will grow from the “physical relationship”

2) Staying close to him by trying to become his “best friend” as you help him in his life and with his problems – all the while imagining the “payoff” of a real relationship for your good deeds once he recognizes how great you are

3) Trying to make him jealous by telling him you’re seeing other guys, even if you’re not. Or going out with other guys and doing things with them not because you like them, but because you want him to find out and want you back

4) Getting mad at him and telling him he’s dumb, immature, and acting like a little BOY… and that he’s just scared of a real relationship and a commitment – and then trying to get him to have a relationship with you to “fix” himself

5) Trying to make him interested in you by complimenting him, doing nice things for him, taking up things he’s interested in to be around him… and being available to him at anytime he should show interest. This is kind of like trying to be his “best friend,” but different since it’s often still sexual.

Now, I’m guessing that you recognized at least one of these responses as you were reading through them.

As you read yours, you probably thought “Oh no, that was me!”… and now you see your behavior in a slightly different light.

In fact, maybe you see you’ve made a couple of these mistakes with men.

Here’s the thing…

None of these responses ever work with men.

Ever.

Feel free to ask your girlfriends and your guy friends if you don’t believe me.

Doing these things with a man is like instant MAN-REPELLENT.

But, strangely enough, even though these universally don’t get men to respond in any positive way… these are still the most common ways that women who don’t understand men and dating respond.

Which begs the question…

Why do so many women make these same mistakes in the first place? And why are these so universally common?

The short answer is this-

If a woman makes these kinds of mistakes with men, it’s NOT because she “learned” it by seeing it work for other women with other men.

Absolutely not.

It’s because she does WHAT MAKES SENSE to HER in the moment.

But guess what?

If you’ve spent enough time around men, then you’ve probably discovered that men DON’T MAKE MUCH SENSE.

See where I’m going here?

If you try and use what makes sense to YOU as a woman with a man… odds are you’re going to get very poor results.

Which means…

If you want to start getting better outcomes and results when it comes to men, and you want to be able to communicate with a man in a way that brings him closer…

Then you’re going to have to learn to STOP doing what makes “sense” to you…

And START doing what it is that makes a man FEEL ATTRACTED and MORE INTERESTED in you.

In other words – the biggest challenge most women run into when it comes to “breaking through” to men and getting past the surface dating stuff and into a real relationship with a real man is not being able to see past their own MINDSET and the approach they’ve been using that hasn’t worked.

If you have the wrong mindset, and the thus the wrong approach when it comes to men and dating… then it practically guarantees you’re going to fail from the very beginning.

Seriously.

But if you can learn to understand how your mindset affects how you interpret and respond to a man…

And you can start to get the kind of PERSPECTIVE or AWARENESS that will lead you to knowing what’s really going on with him, and how to respond…

Then things are quickly and naturally going to fall into place for you.

By the way, if you’d like to learn from what I honestly think is one of the world’s best resources for quickly understanding how men think, discovering what attracts them, and shifting your mindset and perspective for easy and effortless success … I STRONGLY RECOMMEND you check out the eBook “Catch Him & Keep Him.”

You can download it below right now and be reading it in literally a few minutes. Best of all, You can read the entire thing at zero cost before you decide if you’d want to purchase it.

Get all the details and go download it right here now:

http://www.catchhimkeephim.com/

One of the biggest “make it or break it” points for women in relationships with men is when you start to grow close and want to move from just a casual and unspoken thing into a deeper and more serious relationship.

If you’ve ever felt “stuck” in your love life because you didn’t know how to break through the “casual dating” stage with a man and move into a real and committed relationship, I can help.

If you know much about men, then you probably already know that the answer with a man in this situation is NOT to ask him for a commitment.

Lots of women try this and become frustrated and baffled when the man they thought they were close to completely pulls away from them and even tries to end the relationship all together.

If you want to grow your relationship with a man, the best way to move into a committed relationship isn’t to come up against his “EMOTIONAL RESISTANCE” to commitment when you bring it up.

The best relationships that women enjoy most, and that last the longest, are the ones where THE
MAN is leading the woman into a committed relationship.

Where HE is asking HER to COMMIT TO HIM.

But for lots of women, things seem to get terribly turned around.

For the greatest chance at happiness and success with a man, and to be able to quickly and easily move from a casual situation to a real and committed relationship, the answer is to learn:

1) How the commitment process works for him

2) How to make him want to be with you and lead
you in to a committed relationship

3) How to keep your relationship growing and
healthy so that you both stay emotionally involved
and fulfilled by it

Most women NEVER learn these things, and as a result, they never have the kind of success in dating and relationships with men they really want.

So don’t wait for your relationship to figure itself out if you’re in one.

Don’t wait for a man to figure it out and make your relationship work for you.

Don’t wait until you’re dating the right guy and in a great relationship to learn how to help it grow and make it work with him.

Make it happen now.

Learn more, and get more free information right here …

Read Part 2 of this Article

He’s Lost The Attraction? 5 Likely Reasons (part 2)

Now, here’s the other important question to ask now that we’ve identified some of the common mistakes women make with men…

WHY don’t these responses and ways of communicating and dealing with men work? Even though at the time responding this way makes absolute sense?

Because they all have one terrible thing in common…

They are all deadly forms of what I call APPROVAL-SEEKING BEHAVIOR.

Ok, so what does that mean?

And why is it such a terrible thing when it comes to men, dating, attraction, and having a man see you as the kind of woman he really wants to be with?

Good question…

I’m going to try and make a long and complicated story very short here to show you what approval-seeking behavior is, and why it’s such a GIANT MISTAKE with men…

See, men have all kinds of ways of thinking, seeing things, and behaviors that aren’t completely conscious – but are what I’ll call more BIOLOGICAL or INSTINCTUAL.

These are things that have been instilled in them over thousands and millions of years of “conditioning” during mating and courtship rituals with women.

When a man is looking for a woman, a part of his instinctual “wiring” unconsciously tells him to look for a woman who is healthy and “fit.”

This means that men are biologically wired to look for, and feel “attracted” to women who have the qualities and traits that indicate a high level of health and “fitness.”

But unfortunately, this “screening process” that’s going on inside a man’s mind is largely UNCONSCIOUS.

In other words, a man can’t and won’t just walk up to a woman and say,

“Hi, I’m looking for a mate. I’d like to know if you would make a good mate for me. Are you any of the following?

- Physically fit and healthy so you can conceive a healthy child, give birth, and raise him/her?

- “Genetically fit” so that you have a high likelihood to bear successful offspring by passing off great qualities like size, strength, intelligence, immunity, etc?

- Intelligent, “funny”, and resourceful so that you can not only be a mate that makes me feel attracted to you and want to conceive lots of children … but also help in this world of hard- to-come-by resources?

- Going to make a great mother who can care for our child and raise it while I’m out trying to “provide”?

Catch my drift?

This is part of the reason why so often a woman will ask a man why he’s feeling one way or another … or why he’s acting different or not interested in a relationship and he can’t explain it.

It’s just the way he FEELS.

Either he FEELS ATTRACTED. Or he doesn’t.

Of course, these “biological buttons” aren’t the only thing going on inside a man’s mind.

Men do have more CONSCIOUS processes for the way they choose a woman, and for the way they feel.

If trying to cram all this into your head and understand what it means, and how to respond to all these things while trying to have a real conversation with a man seems ridiculous and daunting to you – it should.

The reality is that you can’t sit and think to yourself… “Gee, I’d like him to think I’d make a good mate who could rear successful and healthy children, so I’ll tell him about how healthy me and my family are.”

It just doesn’t work that way.

A man looks at much more subtle “cues” about a woman that tell him what to think.

Some of these “cues” are:

- Physical Appearance (the obvious one): If you have a specific hip-to-waist ratio, without consciously “measuring” it, a man will see it and possibly feel a physical attraction

- Health: Things like how white the whites in your eyes are, your scent, and the tone and nature of
your skin are all subtle indicators of a healthy immune system. Men find white eyes, certain scents, and smooth skin attractive not because they know they indicate that a woman is healthy and will have a high likelihood of success for offspring, but because they FEEL ATTRACTED to these things for some reason.

-”Emotional Fitness”: If a woman has the kind of attitude and “vibe” about her that is fun to be around, stimulating, exciting, and positive and consistent… then a man unconsciously will see her as a good long-term mate.

To find out all the things that truly interest and attract men… as well as the more subtle and complex things that make them become EMOTIONALLY INVOLVED with a woman it could take a long, long time to figure out.

It could take you literally years of research, of failed relationships, and of trying different
things.

And even then you might not arrive at what is really going on with men, and how to make a relationship come together and work.

If you’re single after all these years, and you still don’t have the knowledge and the confidence that comes from truly knowing how to approach and handle men, dating, and relationships… then you know what I mean.

Luckily, I’ve done the work for you.

I’ve spent my time doing years of research, observation, interviews, etc. to get deep inside the mind of men… and I’ve also spent years talking with women about every question under the sun of how to create the love life they want with a man.

Women who don’t understand what the dating and COMMITMENT PROCESS is like inside a man’s mind seem to keep running into the same painful situations, frustrations, and traps with men.

The way a man grows close to a woman, the reasons why he chooses her over another woman, and when and why he decides to start sharing himself with her and growing a real and committed relationship is simply different than it is for most women.

If you don’t understand where a man is at, you don’t know how to read the signs, and most importantly… if you don’t know WHAT TO DO in each situation, then your odds of creating what you want with a man, and him wanting it with you are very slim.

Make the rest of your love life easier, more fun, and less frustrating and uncertain today by taking one simple step.

check out the CD or DVD program at zero risk right now.

It can be at your door in a few days and change your love life forever.

If this program doesn’t deliver all the benefits you’d like it to … simply send it back to me and you won’t pay a thing.

No scams. No extra hidden shipping fees or charges, no hassles.

You’ll pay nothing just for trying my program out. (I’m 110% confident you WILL keep it though!)

You literally have nothing to lose, and a lifetime of love and a secure, loving, committed relationship to gain.

read part 1 of this Article

Deficit Inattention Disorder

I am positive we are in deep financial doo-doo.

This should come as no surprise what with our body politic afflicted by Mad Cowboy Disease, Truth Decay, and Irony Deficiency, all of which have led to the most devastating condition of all, Deficit Inattention Disorder. As for the bail out plan, unfortunately most of the perpetrators have already bailed out using their golden parachutes, so when the crash comes they will have nothing to worry about. Meanwhile, according to the most recent Greenspan Report, the average American family barely has enough “green” to span the average month. So those of you spiritual folks who’ve long envisioned a moneyless society, your patience is paying off. We’re almost there!

Friends, the economy is in trouble.

It’s a buy-ological fact. A healthy economy is a thriving multi-sell system that needs buyers and sellers. If we look at buying and selling as energy exchanges, we see that that is what life is about — moving energy. An entity that doesn’t move energy is inert. Another word for inert is “dead.”

So the issue isn’t about whether things will be bought and sold, the issue is what are we buying? We build a healthy economy by buying that which builds health, and the more we buy healthy things the more we focus our energy on creating more health. While it is understandable why one might go into “financial hibernation” to preserve valuable resources, giving and receiving is how life continues.

As we collectively awaken with a terrible hangover from our economy’s long borrowing and spending binge, we might ask ourselves, what is truly valuable? What builds health, sanity and functionality? What in our economy do we want more of, and what do we want less of? Every dollar is a vote, so maybe now is the time to vote for what we are most devoted to. So perhaps the economic crisis isn’t about withholding giving … but rather about giving more authentically. It might mean giving a service, a loving homemade gift. It might mean buying selectively from local, green or organic businesses.

Fortunately, money isn’t wealth. In and of itself, it is worthless. If you doubt that, try this simple experiment. Eat your money. While high in fiber, paper money has little nutritional value. And here is something even more amazing. A hundred dollar bill has no more nutritional content than a dollar bill.

So here’s the real good news. As surely as the sun comes up every morning, we have more abundant wealth than we know what to do with. Wealth is energy, and how that energy is used. Not only have we been given solar energy to grow our food and power our lives, we’ve been given soul energy as well – to use and magnify our resources wisely. With the collapse of the house of credit cards economy, we can finally get real. We can use the two most underdeveloped resources on the planet, love and imagination, to re-grow our Garden and have a heaven of a time doing it.

What are YOU doing to help?