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How Is Naturopathic Medicine Helpful?
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Naturopathic medicine is a medical movement and profession that has recently moved to the forefront of health-care innovation in North America and elsewhere in the world. Focusing on prevention and using natural substances and treatments, naturopathic doctors support and stimulate the body's ability to heal itself. The naturopathic approach is comprehensive, integrating scientific knowledge with several well-established alternative therapeutic systems (modalities), including:
- Lifestyle counseling
- Nutrition
- Herbal medicine
- TimeWaver technology
- Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP)
- Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT)
- Chinese medicine and acupuncture
- Manual therapies (ie massage, physiotherapy, chiropractic, etc.)
These naturopathic modalities can be divided into two categories:

1. Modalities that address the causes of disease: our interaction with the physical environment (what we eat, drink, and breathe), as well as the physical structure of our body. These are best addressed through holistic nutrition, herbal medicine, and Chinese medicine.

2. Modalities that address the underlying mental, emotional, spiritual, and constitutional causes of physical or psychological symptoms: these reflect the internal imbalance that persists even in an optimal environment and ideal lifestyle. These are best addressed through energy medicine, Chinese medicine, and psychotherapy.

By applying these two perspectives together, our clinic is able to offer a comprehensive array of solutions for preventing and treating virtually any health condition, including and especially those considered medically incurable.

Naturopathic Assessment and Treatment

Through an in-depth assessment your naturopathic doctor will strive to understand your complaints and symptoms at the deepest level and to offer you a treatment plan that will bring revolutionary results and promote personal growth. This assessment involves an understanding of the following factors:
- Lifestyle and physical activity
- Food intake
- Psychological temperament (behavioral tendencies, strengths, weaknesses)
- Childhood history and family relationships
- Social environment
- Past physical or psychological trauma and stressful life transitions
- Past medical interventions
- Body chemistry (laboratory tests)
- Exposure to environmental toxins
- Heredity
Virtually all chronic and most acute conditions can benefit from naturopathic treatment, offering safe options for all ages from infants to the elderly, and for pregnant women as well. Some of these include:
- Endocrine (hormonal) and metabolic diseases such as diabetes, thyroidconditions, infertility, menstrual complaints, and menopause.
- Gastrointestinal disease, from baby colic to irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) to Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.
- Heart disease, high cholesterol, and hypertension.
- Autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and interstitial cystitis.
- Skin conditions such as eczema, psoriasis, and rosacea.
- Asthma, allergies, chronic sinusitis, recurrent infections.
- Mental health conditions such as addictions, anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and autism.
- Chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, and other stress-related (psychosomatic) conditions.
- Personalized medicine for body, mind, and spirit
The primary goal of naturopathic treatment is to address the underlying causes of all illness rather than simply to treat individual symptoms. Naturopathic doctors take into account the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions of an individual when diagnosing and devising a treatment plan, working from a mindset that emphasizes sustainable, long-term resolution of complaints as well as improvement in overall well-being. Although most patients first choose naturopathic treatment because of chronic concerns, naturopathic methods can also be used to bring relief in acute situations.

Naturopathic doctors complete a minimum of seven years post-secondary education. This training includes the study of medical sciences comparable to that of medical doctors, in addition to exposure to many alternative treatment modalities. Some naturopathic doctors work as general practitioners, utilizing a variety of modalities, whereas other specialize in a primary modality, using other modalities in a supportive role or by referring out to other specialized practitioners.

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Source by Richard Lobbenberg

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July 29, 2022
Be An Expert Internet Marketer

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Perception is so important in dealing with other people in any aspect of human experience. In the field of internet marketing this is especially true. Your website visitors, subscribers and customers should perceive you as someone they can believe in; someone they can trust. To this end it is so important to always ensure that the information you provide is accurate and honest. Even if you are not the greatest expert on a topic your customers should perceive you as a source of reliable and valuable information. Never claim to be something you are not but by offering quality your subscribers and customers will consider you to be someone they can comfortably deal with.

A good starting point is to establish yourself in a particular niche. At a later date you may well wish to expand your business into other fields, but I would recommend that you operate in just one subject area to start with. The more specialized your chosen niche is, the easier it will be to promote yourself as the 'go-to' person. If the niche you choose is one where you already have an in-depth knowledge then you are in a very strong position to market within that niche. You can genuinely portray yourself as an expert by way of autobiographical notes added to your website, articles or sales pages.

If you do not have that level of expertise, concentrate on learning as much as possible about your niche through research and study. Immerse yourself in all aspects of the niche so you do become, at least, something of an expert, able to answer queries and give a genuine aura of knowledge which will go down very well with your customers. It has been said that the definition of an expert in any field is someone who knows more than you do. Any newly qualified teacher will tell you how, from time-to-time, they manage to stay just one lesson ahead of their students.

There have been libraries full of advice about how to select an ideal niche so I am not going to cover that here. You will find that information very, very easily via your search engine, but one piece of general advice would be to find a topic which has a significant following but which has limited coverage on the internet. As always with internet marketing, research is the key. The marketplace is vast so there are seams of gold out there as yet un-mined if you can find them. Go prospecting!

Being seen as an expert by your website visitors will always have a significant positive impact on your business but you do need people to find your website and related copy to be 'suitably impressed'. Finding a profitable niche which is largely undeveloped will make it easier to bring in the traffic as the competition will be much less fierce. Once you have people on your site then, and only then, can you impress them with your expertise, your available information and your products. You might say that these two things go hand-in-hand – traffic and expertise.

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Source by Rob J Hinchliffe

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July 28, 2022
Cost of Alcohol Abuse is Far Greater Than Drug Abuse in California, Says Study
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The misuse and abuse of alcohol and drugs can have various repercussions, not only on the individuals doing that and their families, but also on the society as a whole. One of its major consequences is financial burden. Besides causing health complications and raising concerns for public safety, alcohol and drugs cost the United States billions of dollars every year.

Like the impact, the economic cost of these substances varies immensely from one place to another. In fact, the cost of alcohol misuse is relatively far greater than the cost of drug misuse in most counties in the U.S. Since studies related to economic and social costs of alcohol and drug abuse are generally conducted at the state and national levels, this allows policymakers to better assess the problems within their jurisdiction and come up with countermeasures.

Similarly, a study, led by author Ted Miller and conducted at the Prevention Research Center of Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, sought to find out the consequences of alcohol and drug misuse in California and was published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research (ACER).

Alcohol abuse cost California $129 billion in 2010

The study highlighted the eye-opening economic burden of alcohol and drug related problems on the Californian taxpayer’s money across all 58 counties and 50 midsized cities. It was found that alcohol-related problems are more prevalent and costlier than drug-related problems in California. Moreover, both costs and repercussions varied greatly from one place to another. Some other findings are as follows:
- While alcohol-related problems cost $129 billion in 2010, which comes to $3,450 for every Californian, drug-related problems cost $44 billion in the same year.
- The highest per capita cost ($7,819) of alcohol problem was more than three times the lowest per capita cost ($2,588). Among the counties with drug-related problems the per capita cost varied between $608 and $3,786.
- The rates of alcohol and drug-related problems were found to be higher in the Californian cities. The highest per capita cost of alcohol-related problems in a city was $10,734, 11 times higher than the city with the lowest costs. Among the cities, the highest per capita cost of drug-related problems was $7,159, almost 19 times higher than the city with the lowest cost.
Correspondingly, the breakup of alcohol and drug-related costs are as follows:
- Crashes and accidents under the influence of alcohol cost $26 billion in 2010.
- Of the $10 billion cost borne due to violence associated to substance use, 73 percent was attributed to alcohol, while the remaining 27 percent was attributed to drugs.
- Of the $127 billion expenditure incurred due to other illnesses and injuries, 73 percent of the costs resulted from alcohol-related problems. Similarly, 82 percent of the $4 billion cost incurred due to nonviolent crimes were attributed to drug abuse.
- 74 percent of $2 billion incurred due to treatment expenditure was attributed to drug-related problems.
The study authors believe that the findings can assist policymakers and help the state in planning and allocating resources for substance abuse problems. In addition, this study provides a crucial tool for predicting and averting alcohol and drug-related problems, as well as a crucial means to plot localized cost estimates.

According to Dr. Miller, “Efficient funding of substance abuse prevention, enforcement and treatment hinges upon understanding the variation of alcohol and other drug problems from place to place. Because estimated costs combine data across many health and social issues, they provide an effective, comprehensible, and comprehensive measure for use in understanding how communities shape their distinctive social environments and for monitoring the effectiveness of our intervention strategies.”

Avoid the death trap

In 2010, problems related to alcohol and drugs in California led to 22,281 and 5,533 deaths, respectively. In addition, crimes related to alcohol and drugs were responsible for 350,000 and 164,000 deaths, respectively. These large and unsettling numbers are pertaining to only one of the 50 U.S. states, signaling a far greater magnitude of the problem.

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Source by Susan Navarez

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July 28, 2022
Trading and Profit and Loss Account

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Trading Account

As already discussed, first section of trading and profit and loss account is called trading account. The aim of preparing trading account is to find out gross profit or gross loss while that of second section is to find out net profit or net loss.

Preparation of Trading Account

Trading account is prepared mainly to know the profitability of the goods bought (or manufactured) sold by the businessman. The difference between selling price and cost of goods sold is the,5 earning of the businessman. Thus in order to calculate the gross earning, it is necessary to know:

(a) cost of goods sold.

(b) sales.

Total sales can be ascertained from the sales ledger. The cost of goods sold is, however, calculated. n order to calculate the cost of sales it is necessary to know its meaning. The ‘cost of goods’ includes the purchase price of the goods plus expenses relating to purchase of goods and brining the goods to the place of business. In order to calculate the cost of goods ” we should deduct from the total cost of goods purchased the cost of goods in hand. We can study this phenomenon with the help of following formula:

Opening stock + cost of purchases – closing stock = cost of sales

As already discussed that the purpose of preparing trading account is to calculate the gross profit of the business. It can be described as excess of amount of ‘Sales’ over ‘Cost of Sales’. This definition can be explained in terms of following equation:

Gross Profit = Sales-Cost of goods sold or (Sales + Closing Stock) -(Stock in the beginning + Purchases + Direct Expenses)

The opening stock and purchases along with buying and bringing expenses (direct exp.) are recorded the debit side whereas sales and closing stock is recorded on the credit side. If credit side is Jeater than the debit side the difference is written on the debit side as gross profit which is ultimately recorded on the credit side of profit and loss account. When the debit side exceeds the credit side, the difference is gross loss which is recorded at credit side and ultimately shown on the debit side of profit & loss account.

Usual Items in a Trading Account:

A) Debit Side

1. Opening Stock. It is the stock which remained unsold at the end of previous year. It must have been brought into books with the help of opening entry; so it always appears inside the trial balance. Generally, it is shown as first item at the debit side of trading account. Of course, in the first year of a business there will be no opening stock.

2. Purchases. It is normally second item on the debit side of trading account. ‘Purchases’ mean total purchases i.e. cash plus credit purchases. Any return outwards (purchases return) should be deducted out of purchases to find out the net purchases. Sometimes goods are received before the relevant invoice from the supplier. In such a situation, on the date of preparing final accounts an entry should be passed to debit the purchases account and to credit the suppliers’ account with the cost of goods.

3. Buying Expenses. All expenses relating to purchase of goods are also debited in the trading account. These include-wages, carriage inwards freight, duty, clearing charges, dock charges, excise duty, octroi and import duty etc.

4. Manufacturing Expenses. Such expenses are incurred by businessmen to manufacture or to render the goods in saleable condition viz., motive power, gas fuel, stores, royalties, factory expenses, foreman and supervisor’s salary etc.

Though manufacturing expenses are strictly to be taken in the manufacturing account since we are preparing only trading account, expenses of this type may also be included in the trading account.

(B) Credit Side

1. Sales. Sales mean total sales i.e. cash plus credit sales. If there are any sales returns, these should be deducted from sales. So net sales are credited to trading account. If an asset of the firm has been sold, it should not be included in the sales.

2. Closing Stock. It is the value of stock lying unsold in the godown or shop on the last date of accounting period. Normally closing stock is given outside the trial balance in that case it is shown on the credit side of trading account. But if it is given inside the trial balance, it is not to be shown on the credit side of trading account but appears only in the balance sheet as asset. Closing stock should be valued at cost or market price whichever is less.

Valuation of Closing Stock

The ascertain the value of closing stock it is necessary to make a complete inventory or list of all the items in the god own together with quantities. On the basis of physical observation the stock lists are prepared and the value of total stock is calculated on the basis of unit value. Thus, it is clear that stock-taking entails (i) inventorying, (ii) pricing. Each item is priced at cost, unless the market price is lower. Pricing an inventory at cost is easy if cost remains fixed. But prices remain fluctuating; so the valuation of stock is done on the basis of one of many valuation methods.

The preparation of trading account helps the trade to know the relationship between the costs be incurred and the revenues earned and the level of efficiency with which operations have been conducted. The ratio of gross profit to sales is very significant: it is arrived at :

Gross Profit X 100 / Sales

With the help of G.P. ratio he can ascertain as to how efficiently he is running the business higher the ratio, better will be the efficiency.

Closing Entries pertaining to trading Account

For transferring various accounts relating to goods and buying expenses, following closing entries recorded:

(i) For opening Stock: Debit trading account and credit stock account

(ii) For purchases: Debit trading account and credit purchases account, the amount being the et amount after deducting purchases returns.

(iii) For purchases returns: Debit purchases return account and credit purchases account.

(iv) For returns inwards: Debit sales account and credit sales return account

(v) For direct expenses: Debit trading account and credit direct expenses accounts individually.

(vi) For sales: Debit sales account and credit trading account. We will find that all the accounts as mentioned above will be closed with the exception of trading account

(vii) For closing stock: Debit closing stock account and credit trading account After recording above entries the trading account will be balanced and difference of two sides ascertained. If credit side is more the result is gross profit for which following entry is recorded.

(viii) For gross profit: Debit trading account and credit profit and loss account If the result is gross loss the above entry is reversed.

Profit and Loss Account

The profit and loss account is opened by recording the gross profit (on credit side) or gross loss (debit side).

For earning net profit a businessman has to incur many more expenses in addition to the direct expenses. Those expenses are deducted from profit (or added to gross loss), the resultant figure will be net profit or net loss.

The expenses which are recorded in profit and loss account are ailed ‘indirect expenses’. These be classified as follows:

Selling and distribution expenses.

These comprise of following expenses:

(a) Salesmen’s salary and commission

(b) Commission to agents

(c) Freight & carriage on sales

(d) Sales tax

(e) Bad debts

(f) Advertising

(g) Packing expenses

(h) Export duty

Administrative Expenses.

These include:

(a) Office salaries & wages

(b) Insurance

(c) Legal expenses

(d) Trade expenses

(e) Rates & taxes

(f) Audit fees

(g) Insurance

(h) Rent

(i) Printing and stationery

(j) Postage and telegrams

(k) Bank charges

Financial Expenses

These comprise:

(a) Discount allowed

(b) Interest on Capital

(c) Interest on loan

(d) Discount Charges on bill discounted

Maintenance, depreciations and Provisions etc.

These include following expenses

(a) Repairs

(b) Depreciation on assets

(c) Provision or reserve for doubtful debts

(d) Reserve for discount on debtors.

Along with above indirect expenses the debit side of profit and loss account comprises of various business losses also.

On the credit side of profit and loss account the items recorded are:

(a) Discount received

(b) Commission received

(c) Rent received

(d) Interest received

(e) Income from investments

(f) Profit on sale of assets

(g) Bad debts recovered

(h) Dividend received

(i) Apprenticeship premium etc.

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Source by Anil Kumar Gupta

Views: 0

July 27, 2022
Journey of a Drug: Design to Market Seller
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Where do the medicines we take from chemists come from? How do the doctors know which drug is good for which disease? How the medicines really are able to cure a particular ailment they have been prescribed for? Do these questions come to your mind, whenever you buy any medicine?

Come, let us today know about the medicine development from the beginning …

The development of medicine is called a Clinical Research and has different Phases. Phases of the clinical research are the steps of experiments with a health intervention in an attempt to find enough evidence for a process which the scientists think would be helpful in medical treatment.

The pharmaceutical study starts its journey from a drug design and drug molecule discovery which further progresses into animal testing and then human studies to see the drug's effectiveness.

Drug undergoes many trials- Preclinical, Phase 0, Phase I, II, III and IV. Sometimes combined trials also are undertaken to reduce the time of development, like Phase I / II and II / III.

Pre-Clinical Study

When the drug molecule is identified, it undergoes many in vitro ( test tube or cell culture ) and in vivo ( animal ) experiments. These experiments are conducted to know the preliminary efficacy, toxicity, and pharmacokinetics of the various doses of the drug. Many drug molecules are designed at a time and these pre-clinical studies let the pharmaceutical companies decide which molecule has a greater potential in further studies.

Design of the Studies:

Trials are always conducted by following the set of steps, called the protocol, developed by the researchers to find the specific questions related to the medical product. Information from the prior studies become the base for the researchers to develop research questionnaire and objectives:
- Participant selection
- Number of participants
- Duration of the study
- Controlled or not
- How and what dosage will be given
- What and when the data will be collected
- Review and analysis time
Phase 0 Study

It is also called micro-dosing trials, 10-15 human subjects are taken and single sub-therapeutic doses are administered to gather the pharmacokinetic ( PK ) data of the drug. This enables the company in deciding to go or no go for the further development of the drug, based on more relevant human data instead of animal data.

Such trials exceed the speed of promising drug development by establishing whether or not the drug acts on humans as expected in pre-clinical studies.

After the company decides to take the molecule of the drug forward in development, it will have to submit the data of its preliminary studies to the FDA called Investigational New Drug ( IND ) application filing.

Phase I Study

Also called First-in-man studies as these are the first stage of human testing studies. These are the studies which are designed to determine the maximum dose that can be administered without showing adverse effects.

Contract Research Organizations ( CROs ) conduct such studies in the clinical trial clinics where medical staff provides full-time attention to 2-100 healthy subjects enrolled for the study and collects the data.

These studies determine the safety ( pharmacovigilance ), tolerability, pharmacokinetics ( PK ) and pharmacodynamics ( PD ) of the drug. The design of Phase I studies is dose-ranging also called dose escalation studies conducted in controlled clinics called Central Pharmacological Units ( CPUs ).

Usually, healthy subjects are hired but sometimes terminally ill patients like of cancer and HIV and also those who have already tried and failed to improve on existing medications.

There are two divisions for Phase I study:

Phase Ia: Single ascending dose

Phase Ib: Multiple ascending dose

Phase II Study

More than 100 diseased subjects are enrolled for a longer period study, to know the benefits of the drug along with its safety which includes genetic testing. These studies are also called as "Proof of Concept or Pilot" studies.

This is the phase when the drug's development can fail due to toxicity or less than expected results.

Two divisions of this phase are:

Phase IIa: Pilot study, to determine the clinical efficacy or the biological activity.

Phase IIb: Dose-finding study, to check the biological activity with minimal side-effects.

A combined trial determining the efficacy as well as toxicity are Phase I / II trials.

Phase III Study

These are pre-registration trials means the data of this study is submitted to the regulatory agency through New Drug Application (NDA) for its registration. Also called Pre-marketing or Pivotal trials.

Such studies are multicentral, randomized, in large diseased population ( more than 500 ) with much longer duration of treatment and short follow up period, to determine the long-term safety and efficacy of the drug.

Even if the regulatory submission is pending, the drug is received by the patients in case it's a lifesaving drug until the drug can be purchased.

'Label expansion' that is drug can treat an additional disease, other than the disease for which the drug is already approved, may also be the reason for running the Phase III trial.

It is said that for FDA ( United States Food and Drug Administration ) and MHRA ( United Kingdom's Medicines and Health products Regulatory Agency ) needs at least two trials of successful trials data to register the drug.

After these trials, the drug is approved for market selling.

Phase IV Study

These are Post Market Safety Monitoring studies done after the drug is registered. Also called Late Phase or Confirmatory trials.

This kind of study determines the long-term adverse effects on the much larger population for a very long duration (at least 2 years). If harmful effects are detected in this study, then the drug is disapproved and the company has to retrieve the drug from the market as it can no longer be sold.

The entire journey of the drug from a molecule to a market selling product takes around 15-20 years.

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Source by Nidhi Sharma

Views: 0
July 27, 2022
Entrepreneurship and Innovation: The Inconvenient Truth

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Entrepreneurship and innovation: The popular belief

Entrepreneurs are widely believed to be the agents behind economic growth and innovation. They are, we are told, the movers and shakers who create new industries, unseat current leaders from their thrones, and open new frontiers for everyone. Popular culture tirelessly propagates one success story after another – from Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, who was glorified in "The Social Network" movie, to Tesla's Elon Musk, an immigrant who became a household name, to Google's Sergey Brin, whose internet search engine name has officially become a verb in English.

So persuasive is the narrative of the entrepreneurial technological prowess and success, that many countries – including developing countries that feel they are lagging behind – develop comprehensive policies to support and promote entrepreneurship and even set aside sizeable funds to invest in startups via government-run venture capital programs. But is this fascination with and belief in entrepreneurs justified? How likely are entrepreneurs to push the technological frontier and bring about the kind of change that governments want? Entrepreneurship Professor Sergey Anokhin from Kent State University says the hard evidence is far less convincing than the popular culture makes you believe.

The dark side of entrepreneurship

In a study of 35 countries over a 7-year period, Professor Anokhin from Kent State and Professor Joakim Wincent from Sweden's Lulea University of Technology show that there is no universally positive relationship between entrepreneurship and innovation. While for the world's leading economies such as the United States the positive link between startup rates and innovation may be true, for the developing economies the relationship is actually negative. Such countries are more likely to see innovation championed by the existing companies, not startups. With few exceptions, entrepreneurs there pursue opportunities of a different kind that are based on imitation and dissemination of others' ideas, and are not equipped to produce truly advanced "grand" innovations. On average, startups are less efficient than existing firms. Accordingly, if local governments support entrepreneurship, economic effectiveness may suffer, and innovation is less likely to occur. In fact, successful technological development in emerging economies is often associated with an aggressive entrepreneurial behavior of large corporations, not individual entrepreneurs. Such is the case, for instance, of South Korea with its chaebols .

The figure below shows the vastly different impact of startup rates on innovation and technological development (as measured by patent applications) across countries. Only rich countries can expect more entrepreneurship to result in more innovation, says Dr. Anokhin. For the lesser developed countries, as the plot demonstrates, an increase in startup rates will only lead to less, not more innovative activities. The problem, according to Sergey Anokhin, is that developing countries often look up to the leading economies when trying to design their own policies. Moreover, quite naturally, the very textbooks that the students across the world use, are written by the scholars from the world's leading countries, and do not take developing economies' context into account. Taken together, it often locks policy makers in assuming the relationship between entrepreneurship and innovation that will not hold in their particular parts of the world. The pro-entrepreneurship policies will not bring about the effects expected, and the limited resources will be wasted to support activities that are largely detrimental.

What it all means

It is time to recognize that the relationship between entrepreneurship and innovation varies across countries, says Professor Anokhin. That is why World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council for Fostering Entrepreneurship explicitly acknowledges that Silicon Valley success stories do not necessarily resonate in other parts of the world. Broad-strokes policies that aim at fostering entrepreneurship to boost country innovativeness may well be misguided. A contingency approach that takes regional specifics into account should be employed instead.

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Source by Sergey Ahmetov

Views: 0

July 27, 2022
The Difference Between Good Success and Bad Success

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Do you desire to be a good success here on this beautiful earth?

Do you need the secrets that can ensure you record good successes in everything you do?

If you answer YES to these questions, then i believe you need to know the difference between good successes and bad successes

“This book of the Law shall not depart out

of your mouth, but you shall mediate therein

day and night that you may observe to do

according to all that is written therein: for

then you shall make your way prosperous,

and then you shall have good success” – Joshua 1: 8 (KJ2000).

The first time I read the above portion of the bible, I was inspired to understand that, there is a good success and a bad success.

Nothing support this fact other than the passage quoted above from the Scripture. The Word of God says if “you will hearken to the Voice of God, Obey His Commandments, Study and Meditate daily on His Word, you will have good success”.

The Word of God qualifies the noun “Success” with the adjective “good”. This simply means you will not have a bad success if you follow God’s rules during your success journey in life.

What then, are a good success and a bad success? How do you differentiate a good success from a bad success? How do you recognize someone with a bad success and someone with a good success?

Good Success

I have tried to carefully study the lives of people in the bible days and those of present times and I found out that there are actually some people with good successes.

I was able to reach a conclusion using my definition of success stated earlier on as a basis of analysis.

God

God Almighty enjoyed good success during the creation of heaven and the earth. He actually set the pace at creation, showing us how to obtain good successes in whatever we do.

“And God saw everything that He had

made, and behold, it was very good.

And the evening and the morning were

the sixth day.

-Gen 1:31 (KJ2000)

There were lots of obstacles which stared HIM in the face when HE was creating heaven and the earth but HE never allowed them to stop HIM.

“And the earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters”

-Gen 1:2 (KJ2000)

Yes, even a formless earth and the darkness would not prevent Him from achieving His aim.

“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:

and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea,

and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.”

-Gen 1:26 (KJ2000)

He also transferred His “breath of Life” into Adam for him (Adam) to become a living soul.

What a loving and selfless God who strongly desired somebody to act like Him

There are countless numbers of people in the Bible who had good successes: Jesus, Moses, Apostle Paul, King David, Joseph, John the Baptist, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob all had good successes.

One thing is however, common with all these people and that is the fact that they fear God.

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom:

and the knowledge of the Holy one is understanding.

-Prov 1:10 (KJ2000).

You can become a child of God by accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior and begin to live a life that has the fear of God.

You can expect to record good number of good successes in your lifetime as you do this.

Bad Success

I may not need to bother you with the stories of people who recorded bad successes in the Bible or even in our societies today but you will observe with me that this set of people also have something in common – they lived a Godless life.

You can study the stories of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt when the Israelites were in bondage in Egypt.

Cain who killed his brother Abel (Gen 4:8)

Herod the king who ordered the killing of all new born babies when Jesus was born (matt 2:13-23)

Satan who fell from grace to grass because of pride (Luke 10:18)

Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus ( Matt 26:36-46)

These People all recorded bad successes. One thing is also common to these people: they lacked the fear of God.

My dear reader, I want to believe you desire to be a good success. You need the fear of God in you to be successful in all you do.

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Source by Sesan Oguntade

Views: 0

July 25, 2022
Love One Another (A Sermon on John 13: 31-35)
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We are in the 13th chapter of the Gospel according to St John's this week, and I'm going to unpack our reading verse by verse as it is a difficult passage.

"When he had gone out, Jesus said," Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. " (John 13:31)

The person who had 'gone out' was Judas, and the sentence seems to suggest that Judas' leaving somewhat brought glory to Jesus, which sounds really odd.

"If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once." (John 13:32)

I really have no idea where to begin with that statement!

"Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, 'Where I am going, you cannot come.'" (John 13:33 )

That statement makes sense to us as Jesus speaking about his own impending suffering and death, though at the time it made no sense at all to His disciples.

I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. "(John 13: 34-45)

That concluding pronouncement, I suspect, is the most difficult to understand of all!

"All you need is love!" – so said the Beatles.

When I read statements like these from the lips of Jesus, I can almost hear the soundtrack of that well-known Beatles song playing in the background.

"Love is all you need. Love is all you need …"

It's not true, of course. Love isn't all we need – not in relationships, not in families, not in governments.

We had an election yesterday. Did you vote for the most loving candidate? Should you have?

I tried to give some thought after reading this passage as to who the most loving candidate for electoral office was. It wasn't obvious.

It didn't take me long to come up with the names of politicians who were definitely NOT full of love and sweetness, but it seemed less obvious to me which candidates actually were.

Did the candidate who loves us the most win? Do we care?

In truth, in as much as we might say, "all we need is love" , I don't think we really care whether our political leaders love us, any more than we really care whether our boss at work truly loves us. Love is not all we need. A good capacity for management is probably far more important in cases like this than is love!

Love is not all we need in government or in families, and it's not even all we need in a system of morality! This might sound counterintuitive. Is not all of morality – all our statements about what is right and what is wrong – really an extension of that basic ideal of love?

Certainly, over the generations, scores of philosophers and other great thinkers have suggested that all of our moral intuitions can be reduced to one simple exhortation – if not 'to love' exactly, to something very akin to that.

The British philosopher, John Stuart Mill, saw all of morality as a system of increasing pleasure for people and reducing harm. He is probably best remembered for his 'harm principle' :

"That the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others."

I have a feeling that if you'd asked Mill what the essence of morality was, he might not have said 'love one another' , but might well have said 'don't' harm one another ' , which is pretty similar.

Likewise, the great 18th century German philosopher, Immanuel Kant, believed that morality could be reduced to a single maxim – the 'categorical imperative' :

"Act only according to that maxim whereby you can, at the same time, will that it should become a universal law."

That's always sounded to me like a really complex way of saying 'love your neighbor as you would love yourself " , which, of course, was Jesus' 'golden rule' that many people see as being His one-line summary of the moral law , along with the first and great commandment, of course, that you have to love God:

"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. " (Matthew 22: 37-40)

We are familiar with these commandments. We hear them every week in church, and they do seem to suggest that everything in the law of God comes down to love, and that the rest is just commentary.

Is that really what Jesus was saying? St Augustine thought so, and in my previous sermons on these passages, I have suggested exactly that – that there is really only one law of God – that we love – and that the rest is just application. My more recent reading though has suggested that it's actually a lot more complicated than that, at least if Jesus really was being true to His Hebraic tradition.

The Hebraic law centers around the Ten Commandments – the ten words of God to the people of Israel – and while it seems straightforward to see commandments like "thou shalt not steal" and "thou shalt not murder" as being extensions of the commandment to love , other commandments like "honor thy father and thy mother" do not seem to be so easily reducible. Honoring your father and your mother seems to be more about respecting authority than it is about love .

I've been reading a very interesting book lately by moral psychologist, Jonathan Haidt, called "the Righteous Mind" , in which he outlines what he calls 'moral foundation theory' .

I'm not suggesting that everyone should rush out to get a copy of this book. It is not an easy read and could prove difficult if you don't have an academic background in the study of philosophical ethics (which, thankfully, I do).

The author's key point, at any rate, is that our moral intuitions can't be reduced to any one simple maxim such as 'love one another' as morality is invariably more complex than that.

Haidt suggests that there are five reasonably independent dimensions to our moral awareness, and 'caring' for others is just one of those dimensions. The others are:
- Fairness (which is all about justice, rewards and punishments)
- Loyalty (which is associated with values such as faithfulness and patriotism )
- Authority (where you honor your father and your mother, king and country)
- Sanctity (which involves respecting your body and potentially embracing things like chastity, temperance and cleanliness)
Forgive me if I'm now sounding more dry and esoteric than the book I mentioned. My point is actually a simple one – that 'all you need is love' is both simplistic and inadequate. We don't only need love – not if we are going to be successful in our relationships or in all of life. We actually need a lot of things – courage, self-discipline, wisdom, nurture and support and a good education, and more!

Of course, Jesus didn't say "love is all you need". That was ' The Beatles' . What Jesus did say was "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" . In other words, Jesus didn't say that love is all we need to live a full and productive life. What He said was that it was all we needed in order to show the world that we are His disciples. That might sound like much the same thing but it's actually quite distinct.

The life of love is not a strategy for success, despite what any number of tele-evangelists might have told you. Indeed, if it's right to consider it a strategy at all, the life of love could only be a strategy for getting yourself killed. That's certainly how it worked for Jesus.

I'm sure I've mentioned before that friend who said to me "I'm sick of hearing people tell me about all the problems they had before they met Jesus and how He solved them all for them. till I met Jesus! "

That's difficult to hear, I think. We don't want to think of Jesus as the one who leads us down a path of suffering and misery. We want to think of Jesus as one who elevates us to heavenly places.

Isn't that what religion is for after all? Isn't good religion supposed to benefit our lives and help us live more fully and peacefully with a great sense of purpose and fulfillment? Surely, it's not just about suffering in this world so that we can enjoy a better life in the next? Surely there's more to it than that?

I don't think Jesus is saying that discipleship is all about suffering any more than it is all about success. Discipleship, Jesus says, is all about love, and everything else depends on what Jesus means by love .

Jesus says His command to love is a new commandment, and that's a surprise. Certainly, the commandment to love is as old as the Scriptures themselves, so it must be the latter part of the commandment – to love one another ' as I have loved you' – that makes it new.

When we hear those words, I suspect most of us immediately think of the cross and Jesus laying down his life for us. That makes sense, and indeed the same Gospel writer, John, writes in his first letter "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us" (1 John 3:16). Even so, without wanting to press the issue of the timeline too heavily, the exhortation we have in today's Gospel reading -to love one another "as I have loved you" happens before the cross, suggesting that the model on view here may not be the death of Jesus but the life of Jesus!

Further, as noted, today's reading begins with a reference to Judas – "when he had gone out" – and Jesus' exhortation to love each other as He has loved us comes immediately before the two terrible betrayals from disciples whom Jesus had just broken bread with and whose feet Jesus had just washed – the one betrayal being from Judas, of course, and the other one being from dear Peter!

Jesus loved Peter, was betrayed by Peter, and would eventually be reconciled with Peter. Jesus loved Judas but would never be reconciled with him. Even perfect love does not guarantee a perfect ending to the story. Even so, love anyway – that's the new commandment .

Yes, "greater love has no one than this – to lay down one's life for their friends" (John 15: 3). That is true, and bodily self-sacrifice is indeed the ultimate example of love, but most of the time love is not so grandiose and (thankfully) not quite so painful. The far more common (and in some ways more difficult) labor of love is the ongoing work of having to forgive those who fail us, and sometimes fail us very badly.

This, I believe, is the love by which everyone will now that we are His disciples – it's the love that breaks bread with those who betray us and that washes the feet of those who turn their backs on us. It's the love that finds its ultimate inspiration in the sacrificial death of Christ on the cross, but which likewise finds daily encouragement in the simple acts of grace shown by Jesus towards those whom He knew would radically fail Him.

I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. "(John 13: 34-45)

It's not a strategy for success. It's not a means to a better life or more successful relationships. It's just the way that we demonstrate to the world that we are followers of Jesus. We break bread, we wash feet, we empathise, we forgive. We love one another just as He loved us.

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Source by David B. Smith

Views: 0
July 25, 2022
Habits – The Big Secret to Marketing Success

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What do you think you need more than anything else to attract more of your ideal clients?

Many people will say, "better information to show me how to do what works."

Others will say, "more motivation and drive to implement what I already know."

Another common answer is , "more time to fit marketing activities into my schedule."

And lots of people will say, "I need better goals and more clarity about what I want to achieve."

In writing this ezine / blog for the past 20 years I've talked about the importance of all of those.

But I'm finally understanding a factor that is much more important: good habits.

Over the past year, I've been a big advocate of the writings of James Clear. He writes a blog about success and habits. And he just came out with his first book, Atomic Habits, which is fantastic.

Even though James isn't a marketing expert, I'm convinced he's right when he says that the ultimate determinant of success is building positive habits.

This idea is simple but true: Self-employed professionals who establish regular marketing habits have a much better chance of succeeding than those who don't.

And the crazy thing is that the four items – information, motivation, time, and goals – I mentioned above don't actually make a huge difference.

Information. These days, we have access to more information about marketing than ever before in history. And much of it is free and instantly available through a Google or YouTube search.

The problem is that most of us have not established a regular habit of studying what we need to know to become better marketers. The information is useless unless we become proficient at implementing it.

And even if we pay good money for courses and programs, much of it goes to waste. I just learned recently online that 97% of people who buy a course online never complete it.

Motivation. If we measured motivation by intention, we are all motivated. Don't we all want and need to grow our businesses? But we keep getting distracted and don't follow through on our intentions. Again, the issue is poor habits.

Time. If only we had more of it. But unsuccessful marketers have just as much of it as the most successful ones. The key is that they dedicate more time to implementing regular marketing habits.

Goals. Nothing wrong with goals except that they are only a starting point for success. And they can get us stuck in the future, instead of doing what needs to be done today – the routine marketing habits that we perform every day or week.

"A habit or system beats a goal every time." – James Clear

The research is in and the conclusion is clear.

Establishing positive and consistent marketing habits have a bigger impact on marketing success than anything else.

We may have great information, high motivation, lots of time, and clear goals, but unless marketing activities are performed regularly and habitually, the chances of success are slim to none.

The question you should be asking is, "How do I start establishing better marketing habits?"

James's Atomic Habits goes to great lengths to share a multitude of ways to become an expert habit practitioner. So I highly suggest you get his book. It could be the most valuable 'marketing' book you'll ever read.

But let me also give you my perspective on what it takes to establish new marketing habits.

The C – SPAT Model

This is a model I came up with for one of my marketing programs.

Coaching or Context. A coach declares the game, how it is played and how to win at it. And this creates the context in which you play the game. It helps if you have an outside source that can hold you accountable to play by the rules necessary to succeed.

This principle is why when you're working with a coach or in a program that you suddenly find it's easier to take action and form positive habits. The context of the game helps shape your behaviors.

Notice that all professionals such as doctors, lawyers, and accountants go through rigorous training in the form of a professional school and internship. And in this context, professional habits and protocols are established.

As independent professionals, we'd all prefer to do things on our own, charting our own direction. That's nice, except that it doesn't always work very well, does it?

Study. A big part of the game is study and learning the body of knowledge necessary to perform effectively. Again, the information required to be an effective marketer is readily available, but you need some assistance in sorting the wheat from the chaff and studying what is most useful.

Planning. All successful marketing needs a plan. The alternative is implementing random marketing activities with little structure and direction. So it's not how much you know, but how you put what you know into action.

Action. Success doesn't come from being busy or doing a lot of things, but in doing the right things at the right time. This is where establishing regular marketing habits comes in.

To some, it might be writing an article once or twice a week. For others, it may mean setting up more meetings with networking contacts. Or it could be booking regular speaking engagements.

The secret to making this work is to leverage the first three steps of the model – Coaching, Study, and Planning, into marketing Actions that you perform as consistently as possible.

Tracking. What gets measured gets done. And when we fail to measure, habits don't tend to stick. When we measure and track habits, the chances increase dramatically that they are performed consistently.

It can take some time to establish positive habits. You know that's happened when you don't even have to think about it anymore; you just sit down and write that article every Monday or make five calls to prospects every week.

And when you're in action like this, you create a feedback loop, learning what works the best and what doesn't. This enables you to fine-tune and adjust over time until your marketing habits become more established.

So, stop putting so much attention on searching for the "perfect" marketing strategy, getting motivated, finding more time, and setting goals.

Instead, use the C – SPAT approach to establishing positive marketing habits.

Cheers, Robert

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Source by Robert Middleton

Views: 0

July 23, 2022
Study Links Drug Use to High Rates of Syphilis

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A connection between drug use and high syphilis rates in the United States was established by a recent report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Sarah Kidd, lead author of the report, pointed out that two major health issues, namely addiction and syphilis, seemed to be colliding with each other.

The report displayed a connection between drug use and instances of syphilis in heterosexual men and women. As per the report, the usage of heroin, methamphetamine, and other injection drugs by the aforementioned group almost doubled from 2013 to 2017.

The report however, did not display a similar increase in drug abuse in gay men suffering from syphilis. According to the researchers, the results of the study indicated that risky sexual behaviors associated with drug abuse may be one of the key driving factors for this increase in syphilis among the heterosexual population.

People using drugs more likely to engage in unsafe sexual activities

According to experts, people abusing drugs are more likely to engage in unsafe sexual activities, thereby making them more susceptible to sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Syphilis significantly increased among heterosexuals especially during the ‘crack cocaine epidemic’ prevalent during the 1980s and 1990s. It was observed that during this particular time period, the usage of drugs was connected with the higher transmission rates of syphilis.

According to Patricia Kissinger, professor epidemiology at the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, it is common tendency among people abusing drugs to indulge in unprotected sex, exchange sex in lieu of money or drugs, and have multiple sex partners. All these are considered as significant risk factors contributing to the spread of the disease.

Syphilis rates are setting new records

At the national level, the occurrences of syphilis jumped by around 73 percent at an overall level and 156 percent in case of women patients between 2013 and 2017. While syphilis had been almost eradicated, of late, the highest resurgence of the disease was reported in California, Louisiana, and Nevada. Syphilis can be treated with antibiotics, but if left untreated, it can cause organ damage and even death in some cases. In women, congenital syphilis typically occurs when a mother transmits the disease to her unborn baby, leading to cases of premature birth and newborn fatalities.

Analyzing the syphilis cases that occurred between 2013 and 2017, the researchers discovered that methamphetamine abuse was the biggest contributor. The report revealed that more than one-third of women and a quarter of heterosexual men suffering from syphilis were reported to be abusing methamphetamine within the last year. The California Department of Public Health reported that methamphetamine use by people suffering from syphilis, doubled in case of heterosexual men and women between 2013 and 2017.

Why is it difficult to treat sexually transmitted infections?

Owing to the overlapping instances of substance abuse and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), it becomes challenging to identify and treat people suffering from syphilis. That is because, typically, people using drugs are less likely to visit a doctor or report their sexual activities or partners.

Likewise, pregnant women may refrain from seeking prenatal care and get themselves tested for syphilis owing to concerns such as their gynecologists reporting their drug abuse. To combat this issue, the CDC urges to bring about more collaboration between programs treating substance abuse and programs addressing STIs.

Fresno County reported highest rate of congenital syphilis

According to the report, the highest rate of congenital syphilis was reported in Fresno County in California. The county’s community health division manager, Joe Prado, said that the California Health Department analyzed around 25 congenital syphilis cases in 2017 and more than two-thirds of these women were abusing drugs.

To address this issue, the country took proactive measures such as offering STD testing for patients getting admitted into inpatient drug treatment centers. Patients coming back for reports were provided incentives including gift cards. Apart from this, for patients undergoing drug treatment, the county offered a care package comprising of contraceptives and education materials about STIs.

Challenges faced

While it is significant to have an increased collaboration between STD clinics and drug treatment providers, it is not always that simple, since these two entities have not worked together previously. Usually both these units tend to focus only on their relevant specialties and often fail to screen people for associated ailments like syphilis or other forms of STIs or for drug abuse.

According to Jeffrey Kalusner, professor of medicine and public health at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), in order to fight the rising rates of syphilis more resources are needed. He added that though policies can be implemented towards syphilis testing, these policies need to be accompanied with appropriate resources.

Seeking treatment for drug abuse

Drug abuse is often associated with the development of physical ailments like hepatitis C, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), syphilis and other STDs. These infections can be severe and result in rapid deterioration of overall health. The best way to avoid the contraction of these diseases is to avoid taking drugs or if addicted, to seek addiction treatment help at the earliest.

The drug rehab centers of Hillside Mission offer comprehensive evidence-based treatment plans for substance abuse. Whether selecting an inpatient, outpatient, or a residential plan, the detox process at Hillside Mission is designed to minimize the patient’s discomfort and result in a shorter treatment cycle.

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Source by Susan Navarez

Views: 0

July 22, 2022