5 Tips for Uncovering Your Hidden Talents

What’s Your Dream?

The first step of turning a dream into reality is getting clear on what you want to accomplish. Even if you're not sure what you want to do or you've got a bunch of competing ideas to choose from, it all starts with the creative process. Creativity is a way of thinking about the world and your surroundings, and can take many forms -- it doesn't have to be limited to being a painter, writer, knitter or designer (although it could be). If you open your mind, open doors are sure to follow. Are you ready to discover your true potential? The following exercises are designed to get your wheels turning so your creative spirit and talents can be unearthed!

1. Say "Yes." Being open to invitations or activities you might normally decline, whether personal or professional, lays the groundwork for the forward momentum you need to make a change. Think of it this way, sometimes not doing something is really just an easy way to maintain life's status quo. But our goal is to help you start seeing things in a new way, meeting different people, and having unexpected experiences that will lead you toward success, one step at a time.

Take action: Start saying "yes" this week. Accept an invitation, idea or suggestion that you'd normally decline. This could mean doing something new with the kids (for example, making up a story versus reading one), going on a creative outing to a museum or exhibit, or even taking a new route to work.

2. Be afraid. Yes, that's what we said! The more you can step out of your comfort zone in small ways, the faster you'll be comfortable with the idea of turning your dream into a reality.

Take action: Do something that scares you this week. Serve a new recipe for friends and see if they think it's "sellable," test an idea at your child's pre-school to see what other parents think, or make a phone call to get more information on your future product -- even if it's still just an idea. Use fear or doubt to move you forward, not keep you stuck.

3. Clear the clutter. It's important to build a dream on a great foundation, but sometimes, a messy home or even an over-committed calendar can get in the way.

Take action: Get organized. Everyone has a room or corner that doesn't get enough TLC. Clean under the bed, file overdue paperwork, and get rid of anything in your home that's blocking your path or broken. Try one area this weekend and feel the difference.

4. Find inspiration. Everyone needs a role model; it's natural to look up to people who have accomplished amazing things. Martha Stewart is a great example of someone who harnessed her creativity and passion and turned it into a thriving business.

Take action: Find a muse. Research someone who inspires you, who has a story you could follow, or who has a business model you might use for your own project. How did they get started? You might be surprised at how little many very successful people knew about their business before getting into it. They relied on hard work, timing, creativity - and you can too.

5. Get support. Did you know that creativity is contagious? Just try putting yourself in a creative environment and not catching the bug! Isolation has the opposite effect -- it's one of the biggest dream killers.

Take action: Create a community. Find at least one person (up to five or six would be ideal) whom you can check in with weekly and use as a sounding board for ideas. Encourage him or her to bring ideas and act as a point of accountability for each other.

By: Amy Swift, Chief Product Officer,

Resources and Community

For Business, For Life

IT COULD BE WORSE!

If I could turn back the hands of the clock, one course I would study is Philosophy. this is because I like to be both spiritual and philosophical about life and events. Indeed year 2008 is about to take its exit and if I may ask you, how many of the dreams you had about yourself early this year has been fulfilled? The answer may be difficult to provide due to some explainable and unexplainable reasons. Some of the explainable reasons could be that you have not been proactive and working towards realizing those dreams. May be you are procrastinator who postpones what should be done today till tomorrow.

Well, it does not matter where you have been, but what I know is that there is a destiny that you are created to fulfill. So, what is your own problem? Is it that you want to become a millionaire, a business owners, a mother or father, married or looking for a life partner and all seemed not to be working in your favour? Are you failing in virtually all aspect of life? Dont worry! By the time you hear the story other people who had many failures, disappointments, trials, sorrows and loses, and succeeded eventually, you will know that in life there is no "Zero' situation the ultimate nothingness. Your situation can be described as "worse" but you will always have something to rejoice over. If you are looking for a Spanish shoes to buy and you could not, remeber that some do not even have legs at all. The list of your problems may be endless. Your problem will not remain constant; its just a matter of time, it will fade away if you do not fade in your faith and determination. A man of determination overcomes any examination. Know that there is nothing constant in life, except change itself. The Holy Bible says, though weeping may endure till the night but surely joy will come in the morning. That means every problem has an expiry date. According to John Grey, "there is no hopeless situation, except only people who are hopeless about situation." Your situation may look hopeless, relax, take a recourse in God through Jesus Christ who said"cast all your worries, anxieties, pains on Him because He cares for you."

One of the greatest philosopher and motivational speaker, Robbert Schuler says "Tough times do not last but tough people do." Your situation cannot be tougher than God to handle. Another philosopher says " love a man who can laugh in the days of trouble, because he has triumphed." Your dispostion to a problem determine the solution to that problem. Radical situation requires radical solution. Therefore, look at the brighter side of life and be tough wth the siuation and you will see that it will fade away. And most importantly run to God through prayer who can solve that problem for you. Whatever you are passing through is an examination that will show the real man or woman in you. It is a process that leads to promotion as no student is promoted to the next class without passing the previuos class. The beauty of raw gold cannot come out except it passes through the furnace where it is refined to becoame a preciuos and beautiful gem. So every problem in your life is meant to take you to the next level that God intended for you.
Even if you have tried and failed try again and again. Quitters will never win except lose. According to Bern Williams, "if we try and fail, we have temporary disappontments, but if we dont try after failing again, we have permanent regrets."
Dont carry your problems to heart becasue the longer a problem is carried to heart, the heavier it gets. Whenever you failed or have dispponiments, forget aboout it , erase it from your mind and move on. Sometimes our problem is that we dont ewant to froget our past failures. In his best-selling book, Harold Heifer wrote and I quote, "There is nothing we can do about the past but the biggest sorrow is , we can miss the present by fretting too much about the future."
Dont live in the past. Forget past mistakes. Yesterday is a cancelled cheque, today is cash and tomorrow is a promisory note. What lies ahead of us is greater than what lies behind us. Look into the future with hope. The Holy Bible say forget the former things. The enemy of the new is the old. The enemy of today is yesterday and the enemy of tomorrow is today. The type of decision you take today has a great consequence on ou tomorrow whether good or bad. So dream big positive dreams. And follow it up with prayer and you shall surely laugh on day. Above all be very positive in your thinking. As a man thinks in his heart so he is. Believe also in yourself, have confidence in your ability. If you dont believ in yourself who will beleive in you. Remember that success comes in CANs and failure comes in CANTs.

Building A Relationship With God

During my discussions with religious leaders about Deut 22:5 I repeatedly stressed that we need to look at the specific circumstances to see what is really going on with the individual person before making any kind of judgment. My point was to end the universal judging of any kind of cross-dressing as a sin requiring repentance and to consider the idea that the Bible may not actually be condemning a man simply for wearing a dress. Then we would be able to have discussions about what is going on and deal with the underlying issues in a constructive way. I stressed that real dialog is needed before rushing to judgment.Does that mean we are Okay? No! Cross-dressing was a significant problem for me for a long time. It took several years of reading books, correspondence with others, study and introspection for me to finally discover that there wasn’t anything intrinsically wrong with cross-dressing. But until I achieved that understanding, balance and perspective, it posed a problem for me personally and in my relationships with others. It also formed a particularly strong wedge between God and me. The tragedy is that none of the healing flowed through the church. I never felt that I could obtain any help for my problems from any spiritual source. So, I went elsewhere.It is my observation that cross-dressing is a significant problem for many of us. There are many cases where it is decidedly unhealthy because it is out of control, secretive and used as escapism. It undermines relationships, leads to excessive use of alcohol and drugs and, far too frequently, to life endangering actions. The problems continue and worsen because people are afraid to talk about them. The most consistent message I received from other cross-dressers was to never tell anyone because I would lose everything. Our secrets own us and through continued hiding, small problems become overwhelmingly large.So what are we to do?We know that God loves us. We know that He wants a loving relationship with us. While cross-dressing may not be a sin in and of itself, it is an issue in many of our lives and, as such, affects our relationship with God. We need to fix that. We should not recoil from the idea of our issues being sin because we are all sinners. But being a sinner doesn’t warrant condemnation. It warrants forgiveness.Several of the religious leaders who wrote in support of transgendered people also expressed concerns about some of the underlying issues that needed to be addressed…The question YOU must answer is: Why is it necessary for you to dress like a woman? What is it about changing clothes that commands / controls your personality? I worry that you are NOT becoming "whole" by cross-dressing, but you are demonstrating instead that you are "fractured." To that end, I would suggest counseling ... not to "fix" you but to help you discover the underlying attitudes, experiences, etc. which have caused your continued "brokenness." By the way the only source of true Wholeness is through a personal relationship with Jesus ... not religion ... not "churchianity" ... but a daily, living relationship with the risen Lord of lords. Pastor Dennis If you lived in you would notice that men sometimes wear kilts, that basically are dresses. In the Middle East and other places both men and women where long robes. So the question of what men wear obviously is cultural. But the fact that you have this "desire" to wear a dress that is obviously compelling in some degree is a problem. This attachment or desire to the clothes one wears is a form of bondage. Perhaps it is no different then other compulsions people feel for other things. We all have them to some degree. That is the question and that is really where the question of your freedom comes in. Are you really free when you are controlled by attachments to something? Brother John The most important thing to do is to be open and honest with ourselves about where we are and what we need. My book "The Bliss of Becoming One" is an excellent resource in understanding and accepting ourselves. It was originally conceived as a self-help workbook to assist transgendered people in uncovering and resolving their issues. It is an excellent tool for understanding and acceptance.Every one of us has problems that are kept hidden inside because we don't feel free to deal with them. Rather than getting resolved they become increasing burdens. This is particularly true about cross-dressing. The only effective treatment is to be honest about the issues and seek constructive solutions rather than hiding. The most effective treatment and constructive solution is to plug into God.God knows who and where you are. He knows your innermost hurts and fears. He wants to help you with them but He won’t force Himself on you. You have to invite Him in. His yoke is easy and His burden is light. He is spring-loaded to the I-love-you-more-than-you-can-imagine position. Why not let Him in…