Mentally Disturbed

The great Stoic philosopher Epictetus once said, "People are not disturbed by things, but by the view they take of them." In other words, events don't mentally disturb you. You become mentally disturbed by thinking disturbing thoughts about the events.

So the more disturbing thoughts you think about events, the more mentally disturbed you'll be. And the less disturbing thoughts you think about events, the less mentally disturbed you'll be.

You say: "How's it possible to NOT be mentally disturbed over clearly bad events? Wouldn't an event such as having your home ransacked, your car vandalized, or being fired from your job cause you to be disturbed?"

The answer is yes and no. Yes, if you simply see the bad in the event. No, if you see some good in the event.

Let's use having your home ransacked as an example. Having your home ransacked can be a traumatic experience, but it doesn't have to be if you ask yourself "How can I benefit from this?"

If you really think deeply enough, you'll see the benefits of having your home ransacked. Benefits include becoming mentally tougher and less sensitive to harassments, motivation to move to a better neighborhood or become rich enough to do so, and becoming better at problem solving. If you focus on these benefits, you'll be a lot less disturbed and able to handle the situation better.

So the trick to handling events is in the way you mentally frame them. The more negative you mentally frame events, the more mentally disturbed you become, possibly leading to mental illness and failure. The more positive you mentally frame events, the more mentally undisturbed you become, possibly leading to mental health and success.

Al A. Gammate
http://www.theguaranteedcure.com/

No Time

Today, I have much to get done, but have little time left. If I need to get everything done, I need to move fast. But speed sometimes causes sloppiness and errors. And sloppiness and errors cause me to lose more time, since I have to do my tasks over again.

I'm wondering if it's possible to be fast and accurate at the same time. As I'm thinking, I realize that the answer is yes and no. No, if you go too fast. Yes, if you go fast, but not so fast that you lose accuracy.

So the trick is to take your time and aim, but hurry up as you do it. In addition, I realize that it's okay to do good work, but not okay to do perfect work. Perfect work wastes too much valuable time. In these modern times, time is such a limited and valuable commodity. So it's important not to waste it.

Al A. Gammate
http://www.theguaranteedcure.net/

Why do bad things happen to good people?

I had an especially challenging day today. My car was having trouble, so I dropped it off at a local car repair shop this morning.

When I walked back to my apartment, I noticed that my apartment was having trouble, since maintenance workers were taking a part of my wall out to get to some water pipes.

To top this off, I stayed up around the clock last night to catch up on paperwork at my workplace, and was beyond tired. Today was my day off, so I figured that I would drop my car off to get fixed, then would catch up on some sleep in my nice quiet apartment.

But wait! It doesn't stop there. Though I dropped my car off at the car repair shop at 8:00 AM, they called my cell phone at 2:00 PM to tell me that they haven't worked on it yet! In addition, they tell me that a much bigger problem is preventing them from working on the initial problem, and that I would have to leave my car there for a few days and fork over an additional $500.

Say whaaat? I told them to forget it.

Now why can't I have a life free of hassle? Why must things go wrong? Why do bad things have to happen? I pondered this until a flash went off in my head. Then I remembered reading "The Science of Success" by James Arthur Ray.

In it, he was discussing the seven Super Laws. And one of the Super Laws that stuck out was the Law of Polarity. This law basically states that nothing can exist without its opposite! Right away, dualities started popping into my head: light-darkness, male-female, alpha-omega, sun-moon, success-failure, rich-poor, and so on.

Then it hit me! Good things and bad things are dualities of each other. In fact, they are one and the same. If you're a negative thinker, you'll see things as bad. If you're a positive thinker, you'll look for some benefits in what has happened. And if you look hard enough, you'll find them.

I immediately applied this to the "bad" events of my day and began to see them as "good" events, in that I started seeing how these events could benefit me.

So the next time you're going through a bad situation, ask yourself "How is this benefiting me?" And if you look hard enough, you'll see the benefits.

Al A. Gammate
http://www.theguaranteedcure.com/

Dorothy Hamill

Dorothy Hamill was one of the greatest professional ice skaters of all time. In 1976, she took first place in the Winter Olympics, U.S. Championships, and World Championships.

Dorothy Hamill seemed to be physically designed to skate, much like a fish is physically designed to swim. During her performances, her movements seemed to flow naturally with incredible precision and coordination.

In her earlier years, Dorothy Hamill didn't always ice skate well. In fact, it took her years and years of practice before she reached her ultimate level of expertise.

Dorothy started ice skating at the age of eight and never stopped. She loved it so much; it was almost like an addiction. She later went on to get formal training to further enhance her skills.

But Dorothy's sheer love of ice skating wasn't enough to catapult her to the top. She needed to be able to handle adversity and move through it.

During the 1974 World Championships held in Germany, Dorothy almost blew it. She abruptly left the ice rink without completing her performance due to a raucous audience. But then later returned, completed her performance, winning her the silver medal.

How you handle adversity decides whether you succeed or fail. If you let adversity discourage you, you will never succeed; since the road to success is always fraught with adversity. Nevertheless, if you let adversity encourage you, you will always succeed. "But how do I let adversity encourage me," you ask.

How adversity affects you depends on how you use your head. You can use your head to think, "I'll never be able to complete my ice-skating performance. The audience is booing, and I can't stand it." This will cause you to quit.

Or you can use your head to think, "So the audience is booing. Big deal. I'll give them something to boo about. I'm going to skate so well that it will overwhelm them. That'll show them." This will cause you to excel.

If you want to learn more in depth ways of using your head to succeed, you need to download
The Athlete's Mind
by former professional athlete David Horne.

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Al A. Gammate's main website is at
http://www.theguaranteedcure.com/

Joe Kennedy Dies Suddenly at Age 28

Joe Kennedy, a professional baseball pitcher, had recently and suddenly died at the age of 28. This came as a shock to everyone, especially to those who knew him well. He had pitched for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Colorado Rockies, Oakland A's, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Toronto Blue Jays.

Presently, the cause of Joe Kennedy's death is undetermined. So far, all we know is that he got out of bed in the middle of the night, collapsed, then died.

Was his death due to a heart attack, or perhaps a stroke? If so, was he genetically predisposed to have a heart attack or stroke, or was this drug induced? Perhaps he died of something entirely different.

Enough of speculating.

The fact is Joe Kennedy was a talented and famous baseball pitcher whose life was tragically cut short, leaving behind a wife and 1-year-old son. Though Joe Kennedy had fame and fortune, he ran out of the most precious commodity - time.

How much time do you have left? Nobody really knows. Maybe you are using your time wisely, maybe not. But all of us want more time. More time to do the things that we enjoy. More time to achieve our goals. More time to spend with loved ones.

As you know, you can lengthen your time on this planet by eating more fresh fruits and vegetables, drinking more water, exercising regularly, reducing stress, and avoiding tobacco and other dangerous drugs.

There are other important things that you can do. To find out more about living longer, go to
Longevity – The Ultimate Secrets.

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Al A. Gammate's main website is at
http://www.theguaranteedcure.com/

The Flying Spaghetti Monster

Bobby Henderson, an Oregon State physics graduate, began a parody religion whose deity is the Flying Spaghetti Monster. This was in response to the debate in Kansas over whether intelligent design should be taught in public school science classes. Apparently, Henderson wanted to satirically demonstrate the ludicrousness of including intelligent design or religion in science classes.

According to Bobby Henderson, the Flying Spaghetti Monster is an omniscient deity made of pasta. Also, The Flying Spaghetti Monster created everything that exists. Most religions have this theme with the exception of a deity being made of pasta.

You cannot prove that the Flying Spaghetti Monster exists. Nor can you prove that any other deity exists. Given this, is religion irrational?

Though I agree with Bobby Henderson's view that religion or intelligent design shouldn't be included in science classes, I don't think that religion is necessarily irrational. However, if a religion promotes disharmony, hatred, violence, or the murdering of other people, then it is irrational. It is irrational because it brings unnecessary pain to others; it is irrational because it brings unnecessary pain to the followers of that religion.

Cause and effect. If you bring pain to others, they will bring pain to you.

Religion can be rational if it promotes harmony and well-being. For example, Christians are encouraged to follow the Golden Rule. The Golden Rule states, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Parallels of this rule exist in the Talmud and Analects of Confucius.

This rule alone can eliminate most of the disharmony you see in the world today. Can you imagine how harmonious the world would be if everyone followed the Golden Rule?

Finally, religion can promote well-being. To see how religion or spirituality can promote your well-being, get the highly acclaimed book
Our Ultimate Reality.

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Al A. Gammate's main website is at
http://www.theguaranteedcure.com/

Natavia Lowery Did Not Have to Murder Linda Stein

Most of us heard the shocking news of Linda Stein's murder. Even more shocking was that her personal assistant, Natavia Lowery, did the murdering. Linda Stein was a very successful woman. She was the manager of a very popular rock group The Ramones, and was a successful real estate agent serving celebrities such as Sting, Billy Joel, Steven Spielberg, Calvin
Klein and Bruce Willis.

Why did Natavia Lowery murder Linda Stein? Apparently, it was over a heated argument; and things got out of control. They had many arguments in the past, but this argument was the last straw.

Perhaps Linda Stein was a very demanding and short-tempered employer. But even so, Natavia Lowery had no right to murder her. Natavia could have walked away; then once she calmed down, she could have attempted to calmly resolve her disagreement with Linda. If this was not possible, Natavia could have quit her job as Linda's personal assistant.

Disagreements are inevitable. Everyone will eventually get into a disagreement with someone. After all, each one of us thinks differently from one another.

A disagreement can be positive, in that it can help you to understand and appreciate the other person's viewpoint, strengthening your friendship. Or a disagreement can be negative, in that, blinded by your own viewpoint, you refuse to understand and appreciate the other person's viewpoint, angering you, and possibly leading you to attack or murder the other
person.

When you find yourself in a disagreement with someone and notice that it's becoming heated, the following tips can help:

(1) Stop talking and start listening. Allow the other person to vent. He will eventually calm down.

(2) Change your body language and voice tone. Instead of tensely standing, sit down relaxedly slouching in a chair. Instead of yelling, speak softly and calmly. Your body language and voice tone will calm the other person down.

(3) If you find yourself becoming heated and can't calm yourself, leave the situation immediately! And don't come back until you are calm and in control.

For more advanced tips on how to handle disagreements and arguments, please download the very popular e-book
How to Deal With Verbal Aggression.

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Al A. Gammate's main website is at
http://www.theguaranteedcure.com/