Have you written off your dreams because you think you are too old?

Think about this, more and more Olympic athletes are over 30 and some over 40. The 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing China has more athletes over 30 participating than any time in history. Do you realize how difficult it is to make the Olympic team in a country with a lot of athletes trying to get on the team and where there are many young athletes competing for the positions?

Dara Torres, 41-year-old swimmer for the USA, just got two Silver medals and she out swam her much younger competitor during the last leg of the relay. She has successfully balanced the rigorous training needed with being the mother of a 3-year-old daughter.

Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus, competing in the women?s single skull rowing, brings home a bronze medal and she is 36. This is her 4th Olympics, she has won three gold?s and one silver in this event in those efforts proving she has remained in top shape for many years.

Romania?s Constantina Tomescu is 38 and just won the gold in the women?s marathon. In fact at the halfway point she was in 26th place before she gathered speed to end up finishing almost two and a half minutes ahead of the second place finisher. She finished 20th in the 2004 Olympics but has improved steadily in the last four years as she has gotten older in age.

Oksana Chusovitina the 33 year old German gymnast received a silver medal on the vault. My two daughters were both involved in competitive gymnastics, I know how physicaly brutal this sport is. She has stated that if she is able to qualify for the next Olympics she will, she will be 37. She said, ?if I can I?ll do a sixth Olympics.? Is she giving up on what she loves? She says, ?I don?t feel 33, I feel 18.? She not only made the German team, she took 3rd place amongst all competitors, most of which are about 16 years old!

Jason Lezek, the US swimmer who helped Michael Phelps win the two team relays, is 32 swimming against athletes 10 to 15 years younger. He has shown that he can still compete in finals in the Olympics as well as other international events.

The ability of athletes continuing to compete at such a high level as they age can be attributed to several factors; more financial support for athletes, better sports medicine, more understanding about diet, but mental perspective and determination is at the foundation of it all. It definitely can become more difficult physically to train as a person gets older and the drive to continue must be strong. But the decisions you make based on your perceptions are the determining factor to what you will motivate yourself to do.

These older athletes are redefining what is possible as we get older. Their success shows what we are capable of when we have the vision, motivation and determination. More importantly is shows that more people are able to see themselves in this role as they continue to get older. When you can see something as possible you are more likely to find the ways to bring it about.

The demise of ones abilities begins with their perception of what is possible and not possible. So often people fall into the mental trap of thinking they are too old for something or that it is not appropriate for an older person. This is just not the case in all instances. Your physical abilities and mental drive is governed by your perceptions of what is possible, what you ?should? be doing and many times the influence of others.

This concept does not just apply to sports, any endeavor that you have stopped allowing yourself to see as possible is not necessarily dead, unless you condemn it in your mind. Take time to assess your deep wants and desires and rather than staying with restrictive perceptions, take a fresh look at it. You will discover that many times it is your own mental decisions that have stopped your progress and squelched your dreams, not your actual abilities.

Harland (Colonel) Sanders did not even start franchising his chicken until he was 65 years old, you may have heard of Kentucky Fried Chicken.

What is really possible for you ?if? you were to follow your dreams without telling yourself no?

John Halderman
More life changing concepts at Effective Personal Development Blog

Are you actively expressing gratitude every day? You should be. Expressing gratitude is one of the most powerful acts you can do to support your personal growth. There are always even minor things around and in your life that you can start to feel grateful about. The act of focusing on what you are thankful for places those things to a high value in your mind. And what you think about greatly affects your life.

Is your gratitude as potent as it can be? We know that thoughts are powerful, but what is even more powerful? Thought that has emotion added and focused thoughts are far more powerful than plain thought. This is why we tend to see more of what we fervently dislike in our lives, because there are strong emotions attached to the thoughts.

So how do we add emotion and focus to thoughts about gratitude? Write down your thoughts, in a gratitude journal, to engage more of your senses. Your mind is using many more brain cells with the act of writing, thus more of your brain is engaged.

First, Your emotions will greatly increase when there is more brain involvement. And your brain will better be able to link multiple related positive thoughts to your gratitude statements enhancing positive emotional feelings. The number and strength of the neural connections in your brain actually increase with the added activity with writing. The more attention given to anything, the more it will affect your life. The addition of positive emotions will supercharge your gratitude.

Second, your mental focus is enhanced as it takes more of your mind to do the writing. Your mind is pumping out thoughts all the time, how would it know that you want specific thoughts to be more important than all that chatter? You add this importance by giving the thoughts more attention. Writing down what you are grateful for and allowing your related emotions to develop clearly moves other thoughts out of your awareness. You can truly only think one thought at a time. The act of writing helps keep you from bouncing from thought to thought. Gratitude thinking is the kind of thought you want to spend your time with, it is positive and uplifting.

Start a gratitude journal. It can be anything from a fancy hardbound journal to a simple spiral notebook, all you need is blank space to write. With a physical journal it is easier to set up a routine to use it, and it is easy to review when you want a little boost or motivation. You can establish a time of the day to pick up your gratitude journal and express your thoughts and feelings. This helps create a good habit that you will follow over time.

John Halderman

More on Gratitude, Effective Personal development Blog

by Randy Wood

Learning is one of the biggest stumbling blocks we have with eating and diabetes.

By learning when you should eat, how much you need to eat and what to eat, you can take excellent care of yourself. When making food choices, choose wisely so that you can lose unnecessary weight, lower you risk of diabetes complications and even feel good from day to day.

Our goal with diabetes is to keep our blood glucose levels at healthy levels and to prevent damage to our body caused by those unhealthy levels of glucose, cholesterol and blood pressures. This can be maintained with good eating and physical activity habits along with proper medications if prescribed by your health care professional.

When taking diabetes medications, it is best to follow schedules for physical activity, meals and snacks. Some medications allow for flexible schedules while others do not. Discuss your diet and medication routines with your doctor.

The risk of developing heart disease is two times that in people who have diabetes than in people who do not. High cholesterol levels raise that risk. Lowering the amounts of saturated fats and cholesterol and maintaining optimal body weight can help lower cholesterol levels in the blood and reduce your risk of heart disease. Eating and Diabetes definitely go hand in hand here.

With you doctors help and with monitoring results:

• Determine how many times you need to eat per day
• Determine how many snacks you can eat per day
• Determine your physical activity levels required to maintain

Remember that conditions can change as time goes by, never stop monitoring and never stop working with your health care professionals. Keep up with your diet and diabetes plans and follow them with care.

It is your life and you should make it as comfortable and as productive as you can. You can always take medications, but there is no substitute for self care.

by Randy Wood
www.diabetes-and-me.com | Randy Wood promotes Article Marketing

Tips from Diabetes And Me? Always Move - Keep It Physical

We like to hear success stories of people to inspire us to keep living… each story has its own style, uniqueness and content… each has a plot, a struggle, a solution, a conclusion… one generic story that remarkably struck me is how women trudged her way towards what she is in the society today… this is because, as a woman, I feel grateful that I am able to expand my wings and not be limited to the walls of a home… just like a man, I have a license to dream and hope… come with that, a right to fail and learn and narrate my story to my children and people who dare to listen.

For decades, women earning their status in workplaces is becoming one of the most common news.. since early 1990?s, the growing number of career women has been shockingly shooting statistics up… some were pleased while there were those who were apprehensive.

It?s funny because a hundred years ago, this may not even be thinkable…. who ever knew that women who were dressed up like dolls and trained to be contented goddesses of the home would struggle to get out of the norm? Who ever thought that she would be able to lead a nation? Way back, women were loveable puppets… experiences through time, however, revolutionized the way people think… educated women become more aware of their rights and abilities… nowadays, women are lovingly embracing their responsibilities not just in the home but also in the society… i do think that this movement is making the world a better place… so, what?s the noise all about? We are not here to replace men but to compliment them as always.

There are now more and more mothers who are going out of their homes and helping their husbands create financial stability… some are single moms needing to earn a living. Others just enjoy career stability and recognition.

Although the figures may have initially put men in an awkward state perceiving the opposite sex as competition, however, nowadays, men are becoming more appreciative and accepting of what?s going on. To evidence this, a few shifts in home routine have taken place such as reallocation of household chores, less personal motherly attendance have paved husbands a chance to substitute; and mothers now take part in the decisions more than before.

A successful woman did not become a superstar overnight! She suffers and endures a few work-related issues left and right… she recurrently battles with machismo once in a while and maybe this is something she can never get rid of.. around the globe and anytime, harassment and violence are major problems that come her way… she is prone to a lot of mishaps… however, she keeps on.

She keeps on and people have to give her credit for that… let?s be frank.. women are closing the gender gaps as time goes by… she is redefining her success from homemaker to associate to corporate executive where she levels with if not overpowers men in achievements… do these facts make men irritable?

At some point it did, maybe it still does to a few. But there are also others who are not really bothered by such transformation… she still remains to be an unwavering emblem of beauty…she still has her grace and add to that a glowing confidence to voice out what she believes in this time… that doesn?t make her less of a person… the evolution that a woman faces in her social and career life did not only make the world a better place but also has made her more fulfilled as a person. Who dares to take that away from her? I wouldn?t.

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Miz Helena is an avid writer of lifestyle articles and is co-owner of Abundant World Publications which is part of a vast network of quality and affordable self improvement and lifestyle audios and ebooks

Are you trying to be successful at something, or with several areas in your life? This is a characteristic normal for us human creatures, to feel good about our abilities and accomplishments. We seem to be continuously striving for something more to feel good about. We so often think that we are not doing or being what we want.

When actually, it?s not a matter of finding out ?how? to have success in your life, but rather how and where to
direct your success. The problem is not, not being a success. The thing is you actually already are very successful every day, but maybe not at what you would like.

You are successfully living your life, your body is functioning and you are thinking about something every day, all day. Now if you weren?t having any thoughts at all, I would be concerned. And since you are thinking about something, you are receiving the fulfillment of those thought requests without fail.

The universe doesn?t fail itself, and since you are a part of it you will not be failed either. Just as a plant seed always gets what it requests, so do you. So then why don?t you get everything you think you want? You want it so you must be requesting it right.

Well, again you actually are getting everything that you are requesting. I know it seems like I?m taking you in a circle here but think about this for a moment, how do you know what a tulip has requested from the universe? Well, the tulip would not be a tulip if it had requested something else. The way to tell what has been requested is by the evidence that is present.

Now, a tulip can?t request anything else, it is programmed into the bulb exactly what it is to request from the all providing source. But you and I are a little different, we have two different aspects. One, like the tulip, your physical self, has been programmed much the same way through your DNA and this is just as automatic as with the flower. You don?t need to think to keep your body running as it was designed, including all your uniqueness.

Then, the other aspect you have is your mental capacity to reason, think and choose. Sure some other creatures have a little of this aspect but nothing like we do. A cat can decide to seek out a warm sunny spot to lay in, but it can?t learn a new trade or change the way it perceives things like you can. This second mental ability is one where you decide what is in the seed - your seed. You have the ability to design what the seed will request from the universe, let?s call it your ?creative seed?.

Now this part is important to understand, just like the tulip seed and your physical body, your ?creative seed? is always activated with the universe. This means the universe is constantly reading your request within your ?creative seed?, thus it is always responding in kind. Here is the scary part, your thoughts, all of them, are the ?creative seed? which is a continuous active request link to the intelligent universe. So everything you are thinking is your ?creative seed? whether you are or are not consciously aware of it.

This is why it is so critically important to make it your main objective all day every day to discover what you are thinking and adjust it to be congruent with that which best serves what you want in your life. When you may say that you want something, but all the while your inner thoughts are pointed elsewhere and your behavior is reinforcing something else, your ?want? doesn?t hold much weight in the request seen by the universe. Your predominant thoughts and actions are so strong; the universe can?t hear what you really want.

You are right now completely successful at what you have invested your thoughts and energies to, even if you are not totally aware of them. Your experience in life has a direct correlation to what you think about and feel strongly about most of the time. There is an exact relationship to the percentage of time you allot to any thoughts and your life experience.

So if you want to be successful at something other than what you are successful at today, you will need to devote a higher percentage of your thoughts, feelings and energies in ways that are more in alignment with these desires. Just occasional lip service will not do.

All of your thoughts combined are what is included inside of your ?seed? that the universe works to fulfil for you. So ask yourself, ?How much of the volume or space in the seed is taken up with what I deeply want and how much of it is what I don?t want, don?t like, put up with or just complain about?? You are constantly creating this seed, and from this you are completely successful based on what?s in it.

To change this, you will need to take command of your everyday thinking, choose to have more of your thoughts, feelings and actions be congruent with your deep desires. Using your valuable thought time to complain, ridicule, doubt, worry, feel angry, resent someone, and many other negative type thoughts, just steal time you can be filling your ?seed? with what you really want. Plus, you will just get more in your life to complain, resent, worry about and all the rest - is that what you really want?

Some people have actually kept track, in time, of their thoughts all day long in order to discover what percentage of time they devote to certain ideas. With this you can discover what undesirable thinking you want to replace with the aligned thinking you want.

Take command of your thinking now by aligning more of your thoughts with your deepest desires, you will see your feelings and actions follow suit, then your life experience will too. Choose what you are successful at by redirecting the same tools and power you now use to get what you now have.
John Halderman

You?ve done this, I?m sure, but do you do it often enough? It?s always nice to do something that results in a person feeling good, in fact usually you feel good as well don?t you.

Now, you don?t actually make anyone feel anything, which is up to him or her, but you can contribute to how they feel by doing something they appreciate or enjoy. One of our deepest human desires is to feel good so everyone is open to any assistance with doing this. And I?m sure you are aware of how it is so easy for people to focus on the negative, everyone can use some assistance placing their attention on what makes them happy.

What does it take to assist someone to feel happy? First you want to discover what they would appreciate, which requires a bit of attention to the other person. Do you take the time to notice what others would appreciate or enjoy? It really doesn?t take much effort, but rather some attention. With our busy lives it can take some purposeful effort to notice what others would like and do something about it but it?s worth it.

What you do for others comes back to you in some way, so there is some secondary motivation behind your kindness to others. It doesn?t hurt to remember that you get more of what you think about in your life.

What can you do to help someone feel better and feel good about it yourself as well? Can you make a positive comment, praise or compliment? Who can you do this for? The people close to you as well as peopl