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Eternally skinny isn't necessarily good news.

Some people seem to never put on weight, no matter what. It is perpetually amazing, and frustrating to see what they can eat in a day and not have the slightest trouble staying thin.

There are reasons for this, and some of these reasons are actually bad news… For them.

If you are one of these people, this article can help you avoid serious risks hidden behind that gift from God. If you aren’t, you may be tempted to revel in these news, see this as personal revenge…

It isn’t nice.

But I agree, it does kinda feel good That being said, let’s look into why.

No, it isn’t due to metabolism.

People that are gifted with a high metabolism aren’t necessarily thin. There is actually little correlation between the two, simply because a high metabolism leads to more appetite, which causes higher caloric intake.

Even the fastest metabolism rarely burns more than 3000 calories a day. Compared to the 2000 average, the extra 1000 calories (2 or 3 sandwiches) isn’t a very substantial difference. Not one that accounts for some of the spectacular eating habits that some seem to be graciously forgiven for.

While a high metabolism is a great advantage for losing fat faster (there is more calorie deficit potential), it isn’t such a great advantage for preventing weight gain when we aren’t paying attention.

It’s the fat cells, or lack thereof.

Some people never get fat simply because they have far fewer fat cells. When those are full, there isn’t any more storage space.

The number of fat cells determines how much fat we can pack on, and it largely depends on our eating habits as children. This is because fat cells can multiply when we grow up, and stop doing so when we reach adulthood. Past that point, the maximum fat storage capacity is determined for life.

Fat cells can expand a little, but that has limited impact on how much more they can take in.

Why this can be dangerous.

Where do fat (the fatty acids and triglycerides) and excess sugar go when fat cells are full? In places you don’t want them to go. They stagnate in the bloodstream (high triglyceride, fatty acid and sugar count), penetrate muscle tissue (causing, or worsening insulin resistance and herego risk of diabetes), or penetrate vascular walls in the form of  excessive low density lipoprotein (LDL, or “bad” cholesterol).

Does this mean this doesn’t happen to people with (current or potential) weight problems? No, or course not.  We simply have more leeway. But likewise, if our fat cells reach maximum capacity, those same problems start appearing.

And when we lose weight, we gain some more of that leeway, whereas the eternally thin person has no possibility of doing so. For them overeating is potentially much more serious than putting on a few pounds during the holiday season is for the rest of us.

We occasionally have informal sparring training sessions at the dojo. This is great for me because the people that attend are generally better than I am, and very accomodating (they don’t hit me too hard ).

We filmed the last session.

Joel

Joel got a silver medal in the WKF World Championships. His expertise shows on a few occasions in the video, but he is being too nice to me for you to always see just how incredibly fast he is.

I’m not complaining.

  

Jean-Marie

Jean-Marie divides his practice time between karate and boxing, which shows in his style. His strong point is a very quick eye and long reach. This makes it difficult to get close enough to score.

Sendene

Sendene is a 19 yr old powerhouse, and shows great potential. He will be integrating the junior team this year.

He’s good at sweeping. That’s just annoying

Charles

That’s me. You know what they say: train with better than yourself and you’ll learn more than if you didn’t. That’s why I tag along!

 

 

Nothing like a good mind stimulating game for a fun and productive break.

Play Chess!

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Come back and play often – quickly improve your skills!

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Two More Mind Games for Later.

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• Guess 5: Guess five letter words as fast as possible, and using as few “credits” as possible for a chance to win at Bingo!
• Puzzled: A simple, old fashioned puzzle. Beat it and you get to see a pretty picture

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2 More Mind Games

Download Robochess, Guess 5 and Puzzled!

(freeware, all Windows, installer for easy access, no third party anyware)

Chi Kung now actually has scientific backing. Read this!

I stumbled on Chi Kung (Qi Gong) purely by accident.

When I was a college student in B&A at the Grenoble Graduate School of Business, I was on the lookout for anything to make a bit of extra change.

Ah, the student life.

One of the opportunities I came accross was a translation job offered by a startup esoteric publishing company. They had acquired publishing rights in French to The Tao and the Tree of Life by Steven Yudelove.

Basically, a book about Chi Kung, and related exercises.

Translating a 300 page book (granted, with plentiful  illustrations) for a few hundred dollars (actually, 4000 francs) wasn’t appealing to many in the rather restricted bilingual circle of students, so I got the job.

That student life money was far from being the only benefit from this job. The knowledge gained in this field, even if only “academic”, or learned in a book, was a benefit I still carry to this day.

Three Levels of Training

Chi (life force or vital energy) Kung (skill developped through steady practice) is the process of harnessing energy for personal development and healing.

The first level of practice consists in enhancing your physical condition. This is why I consider chi kung to be a good addition to practices mentioned earlier – using the free weight loss plan to understand weight management and apply its principles to get fit, and enrolling in a martial art class (with a slight preference for shotokan karate, although I remain open-minded and would understand if you prefered another :)).

Having taken these steps should get you past the first level of chi kung training quickly, and allow you to experience the second one easily.

The second level of practice consists in regulating the flow of energy through visualization.

This is where things get very interesting. At this stage anyone can experience the benefits (feel them). I will describe a simple exercise that literally feels like a back massage when used on a tense day. Keep in mind that I am a typically western practicionner (read beginner) and yet have been able to reach concrete results through a little practice.

The third level of practice connects mind and soul to energy through trances. This is beyond me, and in all honesty will probably always be. But it doesn’t matter. My goal isn’t to be able to rival with taoist experts or to develop healing powers worthy of a science-fiction character. I am very pleased with the results I have accomplished and would be content to just maintain them.

Anyone can do the same!

Core Principles

The Existence of Energy in All Things

The existence of Chi in all things, each square inch throughout the world and universe is the underlying principle that makes chi kung possible.

The incredible news is that the believing in the existence of a pervading energy is no longer a pure act of faith, or something that can only be sensed intuitively. Quantum physics, a field which started with Einstein’s proposition of the existence of Zero Point Energy , and which has since evolved towards practical nanotechnological applications, have demonstrated the existence of energy in all things and places to be a fact. Zero point energy refers to the lowest possible amount of energy (not being zero, even in a vacuum).

Pertaining to medicine, the implications of energy in cellular determination, growth and function are being considered since the demonstration of the existence of biophotons  in the 1950’s, although applications are yet to have been scientifically recognized.

It has moreover been established that DNA acts as an energy “superconductor”.

This gives credit at least to the existence of energy that was intuitively sensed by chinese medicine practitionners for the past 5000 years. Knowing this allows even the most skeptical to open their minds to the first stages of practice whereas rejection of “such nonsense” would have typically led to not experiencing anything at all.

The Possibility of Harnessing Energy Through Visualization.

The final necessary step to accept giving the practice of Chi Kung at least the benefit of the doubt is to be able to accept that energy can respond to visualization. This is where the demonstrated existence of biophotons can help. If each of the body’s cells and DNA emit such radiations, then admitting to the possibility that this energy, inherent to our bodies, can respond to thought becomes a smaller leap of faith.

Experiencing your first “back massage” through visualization should do the rest.

The 8 Meridians.

Meridians  can be described as energy canals. They are energy pathways between two points, through which it can more easily navigate than between two points where there are none.

The first of the two most important, called Du Mai, runs from the perineum, over the head and down to the upper lip. The second, called Ren, runs down the front of the body from the lower lip back to the perineum.

The two associate to become a loop. A healthy body is said to have no obstruction in the circulation of energy through this loop, as all other meridians connect to it at some point or other.

The first goal once the second stage of practice is reached is to visualize, and thus cause, free circulation of energy in this loop.

Energy Storage.

Just above the perineum, in the lower midsection is where the Tan Tien , or energy storage is located.

The association of the two major meridians with the Tan Tien, as well as being open to the existence of chi, and your power to guide it through visualization are enough to give your first, and most important chi kung exercise a try.

Your First Chi Kung exercise.

Again, this uses visualization. This makes it a “second level” exercise that requires minimal physical fitness.

The good news is if fitness or weight is a problem you will find increasing resources in the strength section to meet your goals in that field!

First, Visualize Energy in the Tan Tien, or Storage Well.

We’ve seen that energy is stored in the belly, just above the perineum. You can “activate” it by closing your eyes, regulating your breathing and visualizing something in the likes of a whirlpool in that area.

Continue to control your breathing and feel yourself relaxing as you do this.

Then Give Form to Energy that Will Travel Through the Two Major Meridians.

Visualize a spot of red light taking form within the whirlpool. See it grow in intensity as it gathers energy that surrounds it.

Now visualize it moving down to the perineum, then up the spine to the top of your head, then down to the upper lip. Visualizing the energy there should make you salivate a little.

Visualize your saliva radiating with the energy and swallow. Visualize the energy travelling back down to the Tan Tien.

Repeat this process no more than three times and pay attention to how you are feeling. Personally, I am especially sensitive to the energy travelling up my spine. This is when I get the sensation I mentioned that is comparable to a back massage when I am tense.

If I don’t feel it much, then I know I am not too tense. But when I am, the feeling of relaxation is amazing!

Further Applications of Energy.

Chi Kung isn’t the only application derived from the existence of pervading energy and your thoughts’ ability to control it through visualization. Such other applications include “The Science of Getting Rich” by Wallace D. Wattles. This book (now public domain) describes how the same underlying principles as the ones supporting the practice of Chi Kung allow you to create your own reality and attract wealth and abundance.

Marelisa Fábrega wrote a detailed account on this book that spans over four articles. This links to the fourth one, which in turn links to the first three. This should make it easy for you to access them (darn those blogs and their clueless navigation ).

You will see that even western civilization has intuitively sensed the existence of “Chi”, which from one culture to the next has been referred to using different names and concepts (Ki in Japan, magnetism…).

I think this fits the book quite well. Read why!

Some questions get asked a lot. One of them is: 

Are you living the life you should be?

Nothing less than the core of personal development. And one of the most challenging questions there is. Seriously asking it, willing yourself to actually find the answer, and taking the first steps in that right direction can set you up for a lifelong journey.

A lifelong journey filled with reward, but possibly also fear, sweat, blood and tears. But can that be avoided?

Does The Leap by Rick Smith help you answer that question? Does it help avoid the tears?

Or does it merely remind you that you should be concerned by the answer? There is so much litterature out there about the importance of that question. But does anyone really offer a way to answer it?

And if you think that is the end of it…

It isn’t. The answer to that question leads to…

Many More Questions.

How far am I from that path I should be on?

How do I correct the course?

How do I evaluate the risk, and avoid its consequences?

Does The Leap answer those questions, and ultimately offer practical and realistic ways to both find and implement the answers?

Another way to phrase it: Is Mr. Rick Smith a miracle worker?

The Leap’s Founding Principles.

The Leap is derived from case studies of people that achieved great success, starting from less than extraordinary positions. It extracts the least common denominators in those success stories and translates that into principles that need to be abided by to create one’s own success story.

Some of those successes are financial, but the employed definition of success is larger. Some of the people included in this scope found success (fulfillment) in non-profit endeavors.

One of these principles is that to be successful, you must play on your greatest strengths and inner desires (the combination of which is referred to as your primary color). Yes, you get (free) access to online tools to pinpoint that primary color (even if you don’t buy the book).

That same tool establishes where your current environment is located on that same color spectrum. If the two aren’t aligned, then you are invited to consider a change in course.

The farther appart the two colors are from each other on the spectrum, the bigger the change… and also the more you will need that change to achieve fulfillment.

The Psychology of Movement.

This is where understanding some of the mind’s inner workings comes into play. The Leap gives you insight on finding the goal that will not only put you in motion, but get others to both follow and push you along.

You will understand why you may feel unworthy of wanting the benefits of making that change and why you overestimate the risk of taking real steps towards making it happen.

 You’ll learn to evaluate where you are, where you should be, and how to lift the psychological barriers that are preventing you from making the transition.

This process is illustrated by several real-life case studies of people that, while they were in average to good situations, had one strong ability and took steps to align their status quo with that ability. This alignment led to The Leap from good to great.

In that sense, The Leap does offer practical means to achieve a transition towards a more fulfilling life.

Don’t Expect an “Instant Leap”.

The title is rather misleading in that sense. There is no magic pill. Some of the case studies, who furrowed their way from an unfulfilling status quo to great personal success took years in the process. While you can reasonably expect that consciously analyzing your situation and proactively planning and implementing the change should speed things up, this is not a recipe for instant success.

But it does give you the inner workings of a successful idea, which is a solid foundation to start with.

My Doubts Concerning Primary Color.

Three of the success stories reveal their “primary color”. All three are what I would call unequivocal primary colors (blue, green or red). There are 37 different colors on the spectrum, and only 3 are unequivocal primary colors.

These three people have one core strength. Their success revolved around their implementation of this one core strength, and building a following that filled the gaps left by their relative weakness in the other two fundamental fields of competency.

Everyone else has a more or less diluted mix of two or three of those core strengths.

My question (to you, or the author) – am I right to consider that not being an “apple red, forest green, or ocean blue” is a relative handicap? Don’t we have three poles to strengthen (by getting people on board for instance) instead of two?

Note that this isn’t criticism, just a thought. Go take the test (about 15 min), then come back and share your own! I think The Leap is a good read. The foundation for a successful idea, the risk mitigation that makes the leaps more effective and less dangerous and the real-life illustrations of great success can inspire you to take the first steps in the right direction.

You’ll find a way to buy the book from the test page.

I’m panther pink BTW, and no it doesn’t have anything to do with stolen artefacts or clumsy French detectives!

It just means I’m a visionary. If you’ve been following this blog long enough, you already knew that

Creative Writing - Mood and Setting

I don’t like creative writing prompts too much.

They make good writing exercises, if your idea is to just practice. But if you have a story en route, you aren’t looking for ideas to get started on a brief three page writing exercise, but ways to expand and deepen your storyline.

I’ve explored this time and again, not because I am a prolific writer, but because I am not. As a matter of fact, the only noteable story I’ve ever finished is Peregrine’s Song. In the end it didn’t come out as a written work, but as a game.

The sad truth is that creative writing eludes me, and it’s starting to annoy me.

The Fiction Kit is the result of my preliminary work to stop being annoyed. I’m not saying I covered everything. But I think there is enough for me to break out a decent first draft. You might find it helpful as well.

For now, you’ll see my take on story structure, setting, character development (attributes and relationships) and exploring possible interactions between each of those story components.

After my dozen or so pages of theorizing, each of these elements are presented in templates that you can fill out, store, edit and review until all the ideas you need for better story architecture are available.

To better understand the difference between structure and architecture, try this article by Larry Brooks.

From that point on, your writing talent is up to bat.

If you are an expert on the subject, I’d really appreciate your comments to make it better. If needed, there will be an update.

This link opens the Fiction Kit on your browser, unless your browser is old or if you right-click – save target as.

You need Adobe reader for this. It is a PDF file.

How to get backlinks that work for SEO, and avoid wasting time on those that do not.

Getting backlinks to a website that work for SEO ranking has become increasingly difficult. Methods that worked yesterday don’t work anymore, simply because they didn’t comply with what search engines want. We’ll see a method that still works, because it does comply.

There are a lot of people competing for search engine traffic. This article reveals how you can get a big head start for your blog or cause enough backlinking to get a small affiliate site in front page search engine results for reasonably competitive keywords (this is an essential part of the online affiliate marketing plan).

Without backlinks, it is simply impossible to be seen on search engines!

The latest trend is (was) using social bookmarking sites to get backlinks needed for SEO. People bought software that automatically posts links on those sites.

Supposedly this will get them tons of “high PR backlinks that will skyrocket their search engine rankings“.

If you haven’t heard of rel=’external nofollow’, then it is about time you did. When that tag is added to a link, it instructs search engine robots not to take the link into account in the evaluation of the destination page’s page rank.

For SEO, that link is useless. Actually there is a debate going on on whether it is entirely useless or just close to useless.  In any case, it is a lot less worthwhile than a “dofollow” link.

And guess what? That tag is on the outgoing links of 95% of social bookmarking sites (as well as blogs). It used to work, it doesn’t anymore.

Previously it was all about ezine and article directories. But for that, one link required either an article or a spin off of an existing article. 100 backlinks required a solid week’s work that way. Millions of self-promoting, shallow articles later, article directory links have been seriously downgraded by search engine algorithms.

Before that, webmasters depended on online directories. Now most people know about link juice. Or just how little one link weighs when it is part of a list of dozens of outgoing links on the same page. If you don’t know, well that page’s authority is divided by the number of outgoing links. If it is a PR 5 page, that link will still be valuable. But chances are those pages are filled up and your listings will end up on pages 2,3 or higher, and the PR there isn’t the same.

It isn’t the website’s home page PR that counts, but the page your link is on.

That page is likely to be “not ranked by Google”.

The kind of links Search Engines want.

Have you been messing up your backlinking strategy? That’s OK, back to square one. It’s all right, square 1 is underrated!

We’ll see how to do that quickly, rather painlessly, and, this time, efficiently.

Links are considered, especially by Google, like referrals. If someone links to you, that means they consider your content to be good quality, and they put their reputation on the line in the process because their readers will judge them on the content they link to.

When a webpage includes a (dofollow) link to your site, it uses up some of it’s authority capital (link juice again), which is measured by Google and translates into that page’s PR.

Any link that doesn’t follow that logic has, or someday will be downgraded by search engine algorithms. Article directories are mostly filled with drivel. Directories are link farms. FFA’s were worse. They weren’t meant to last.

That is also why it is very hard to get legitimate high PR links toward a new website (or blog). Why?

Most new sites and blogs are left idle after a month. Do you imagine Seth Godin linking to a blog that then shuts down (meaning he is left with a dead link on his blog)?

Even if your content is excellent, he will prefer that you pay your dues a little longer first, just to be safe. After all if you are new online (or your blog is new, making it look like you are new online), then you could turn out being someone he doesn’t want to be associated to. He might consider associating himself to you later, once you’ve been around long enough and revealed enough about your identity, and built some authority of your own.

So what do we do?

We forget about Seth Godin (just an example of top online authority figures in general) for a while, and we concentrate on PR zero backlinks.

But you need hundreds of those. And all the backlinking everyone uses doesn’t work (rel=’external nofollow’), link farms (directories), …

So, how?

There are several examples of my backlinking strategy on this very blog which is why it is a PR2 and has, according to bizinformation.org, 1820 backlinks.

Games! Or, more exactly, submitting software to software sites. There are thousands of them. Submit a program to a few dozen and it spreads. Many freeware sites take software from other sites and add them to their catalog on their own. And when they do, they typically create an author page and a product page for each software from the same author.  Most of them link to your site on one or both of these pages… With dofollow links.

This example you can easily replicate as many times as you want (one for each affiliate site, blog or content site you would like to give a boost to). It only takes about an hour to set up and is enough to get first page rankings for reasonably competitive keywords.

It complies with what search engines want because it provides actual value (the better the games, and the more relevant to your site’s theme, the more the added value).

Note: I am no longer offering the game package creation tool, but why not visit the game programming section and learn how to create a downloadable game yourself!

Just part of the ugliness.

This post isn’t about teaching you how to quit smoking, it is about teaching myself. As always you are welcome to learn along with me.

It worked for weight loss, so why not use the same method again.

Explore, Nurture, Understand, Invent, Plan, Implement, Refine, Invent more, Plan better, Implement again (please see my about page if you haven’t yet).

This post took a while in the making, but not so much because of technical difficulty (although the theory isn’t nearly as simple as many sources make it out to be). The reason it took time is that in the back of my mind, I knew clicking on ‘Publish’ would be the start of my personal war against…

The death sticks.

It’s high time.

I would like to thank Oscar for his post, which “planted the seed” again when I read it a couple weeks ago. It centers around his success with the Allen Carr method. If you haven’t heard about that method, you may be lucky enough that it works for you as well. The following video will give you the basics.

If you think there is something to it, why not buy the book from Oscar’s Amazon link and help him out. I am not going to link to it, it didn’t work for me (I tried it years ago).

It may be all you need, if you’re lucky.

The rest of this post will aim to explain just why it may not be the case. Late scientific developments reveal that nicotine addiction isn’t the same for everyone. There are different smoker profiles (behavior and genetics). Some will find it easy to quit using the Allen Carr method.

Darn luck, I’m not one of them. Let’s find out why.

The Science of Tobacco Addiction.

Nicotine  starts a process that leads to the secretion of a rather long list of chemical transmitters, the most important of which is dopamine. Dopamine stimulates the brain’s reward circuits. These are responsible for behavioral patterns. They cause psychological addiction, using natural habit forming processes that make positive reinforcement training efficient.

But in itself this process is only slightly addictive.

It is the combination of the effects of nicotine with those of harman and norharman that can potentially multiply the addictive effects.

These two molecules are side-effects of tobacco combustion. They are, like certain types of anti-depressants, monoamine oxidase inhibitors. Their effect is to inhibit the breaking down of molecules such as… dopamine. This results in much longer half-life, and a much longer lasting psychological imprint of dopamine in the reward circuits.

This class of anti-depressants does not have the same effect on everyone. There is a certain degree of sensitivity that largely depends on genetics. In short, if you are, let’s say immune to these inhibitors (little or no interference with the dopamine breakdown process), then your addiction to cigarettes is much, much slighter than if you are very sensitive to them (dopamine sticks around much longer).

Increased Reward Pathway Sensitivity.

A chain of compensatory effects triggered by nicotine leads to a higher sensitivity to reward pathways. Other drugs like heroin or cocaine have the opposite effect.

This makes heroin and cocaine addiction more violent. They make it much more difficult to substitute their psychological effect with anything else that triggers an efficient reward reaction, because your brain’s ability to trigger that reward reaction has been significantly damaged. In short, one of the direct effects of heroin or cocaine is to make it much more difficult to replace their artificial high with a more natural one.

Fortunately (and unfortunately) this isn’t the case with nicotine.

Fortunately because substitutes to smoking are more efficient. Unfortunately because the effect of nicotine itself on reward pathways (which are more sensitive) increase with time, strengthening the psychological addiction.

Also unfortunately because one of the most common substitutes to cigarettes for ex-smokers is comfort food (it triggers a stronger reward response because reward pathway sensitivity has been previously increased by nicotine). This partly explain why they gain weight.

More about weight gain.

Using food as a substitute for nicotine isn’t the only explanation for weight gain caused by cigarette withdrawal.

Nicotine actually increases the body’s metabolism, which can account for 2-300 extra calories burned each day. This leads to 2 extra pounds a month if dieting or exercise patterns don’t change when that effect is lost due to smoking cessation.

I don’t mean to provide anyone with an excuse to continue smoking, but I am. So let’s debunk that right now. You have a very effective, free weight loss plan on this very site.

No more excuses.

Additives to cigarettes that make you more addicted.

Not all cigarettes are created equal. Some tobacco companies have made them both more efficient, and more lethal.

Ammonia.

Ammonia has been added to most cigarette brands to lower the pH of cigarette smoke, thus making it more volatille. The effects of this strategy is to substantially speed up nicotine transport to the brain.

While it should take 7 minutes for nicotine to reach the brain and take effect, ammonia makes it close to instantaneous.

This is no small thing.

(Since ammonia stinks, it has caused the need to add flavor agents as well).

Theobromine.

Theobromine  is extracted from cocoa, and its effects are the dilatation of broncholites. This increases the exchange surface between blood vessels and the lungs, and causes the smoker to absorb higher amounts of nicotine, ammonia, and the rest of the 4000 toxic chemicals found in cigarette smoke.

Note: these two substances are not in the natural form of tobacco. They are intentionally added to increase addiction.

Strategy.

This is the extent of my technical knowledge on the composition and effects of cigarette smoke. I think it is enough to actually understand the problem.

The next step, invent, is tricky business. First, I have come to realize that there is no easy solution. If you have high sensitivity to monoamine oxidase inhibitors (like me), cigarette withdrawal is going to be a rough ride.

Reminder: these inhibitors have allowed dopamine, secreted as a result of nicotine, to remain in your brain much longer than it should have with each cigarette. This increased the addictive potency of nicotine.

But there are two ways to make it much easier (but not quite as easy as I would like it to be).

Change cigarette brands.

Ammonia and theobromine make things worse, so let’s kick them out. There are several tobacco brands out there that advertise their “no additives” policy on their cartons. I will not name them, as the point of this post is obviously not to promote any cigarette brand, but there is a good chance you know about them already. If not, you will find them easily if you look for them.

Expect to want to smoke more in the beginning as a result of changing to one of those brands.

Take advantage of the increased reward pathway sensitivity.

I don’t think ex-smokers choose comfort food as a substitute consciously. It just happens to be the most readily available for most. Be aware that nicotine has gifted you with at least this much: sensitivity to anything that activates a reward pathway.

Like the endorphins secreted after exercising.

Time to review our choice of habits.

Don’t count on nicotine substitutes.

If you have a strong addiction, chances are that is due to a high sensitivity to harman and norharman (the monoamine oxidase inhibitors). There won’t be any in the patches, gums or inhalers.

They can still help, but following the logic of the lingering of dopamine as the cause of stronger addiction, patches will be more effective (constant, steady supply) than gums or inhalers (one-time hits that will be quickly broken down without the inhibitors).

Further down that same logic, causing dopamine to linger seems like a great way to feed the addiction (Allen Carr would be right in that sense).

Don’t feel guilty.

The key for this is to understand that some have it easier than others, and why. That is kind of a liberation in itself.

If you’ve ever wondered why you couldn’t, while knowing people that could, it might have made you feel like &#@. Chances are harman and norharman really are making it much harder for you.

Don’t expect a miracle, it doesn’t exist and it never will.

I’ve been guilty of this for years. “This isn’t a good time” or “I’ll find something that works later”. It will never be a good time. There never will be anything that works.

If quitting smoking is painful today, it will be even worse tomorrow (even more addicted). Now is as good a time as any to get it over with.

So let’s bite the bullet now so we don’t have to later.

So this is what I am going to try.

- Change brands (done).
- Increase exercise (taking advantage of the known effect of endorphins on reward pathways, which have been rendered more sensitive by nicotine).
- Quit on September 30th 2009. Hopefully the brand change will have taken effect. If not, too bad. It’s going to be hell.
- Accountability: Now I am going to make a big fool of myself if I don’t quit, won’t I?

If you think this page can help people you know, or even people you don’t know quit smoking or not start, please share as you see fit.

Need a good camera

This is a brief retrospective post on 20 years of karate practice. The benefits, the experience, the fun, and… some of the pain

I started karate in the United States in September 1989. How time flies! In those first two years, I had the priviledge to train in the same dojo as Mike Chaturantabut (Mike Chat), who since went on to an actual career in action cinema and won several world titles. We were following Sensei John Sharkey’s expert teachings.

I continued training in France from 1991 to this day, and currently attend the SIK (Sporting International Karate) since 2003, run by Serge Chouraqi, 8th dan, former trainer of the French female kata team.  Many great competitors have trained here (Michael Millon, Gilles Cherdieu, David Felix, Myriam Szkudlarek and Marc Pyrée, just to name some of those that won world titles).

My personal competitive achievements are infinitely more modest: just a few regional level podiums before my weight problem kicked in (hence the weight loss section covering how I got over that).

The Benefits.

I was 14 when I started. When I sparred, I would turn away and duck each time an opponent would manifest the slightest intention of getting remotely close.  I couldn’t help that. I was programmed to flee, not fight.

I do not do that anymore. Karate teaches you to face a situation that could possibly hurt you, instead of turning your back on it (in which case it is 100% sure to hurt you one way or another.)

I’ve met and learned from countless great individuals. Not only from the great competitors, but from all of those that simply strived to get better each day, and rubbed off on me just a little bit in the process.

There were years during which I lost my grip (the weight gain was only one visible aspect of this). The motivation to set things straight definitely had something to do with both the training goals, and the people with whom I strove to accomplish them.

The Fun.

There’s nothing like getting better. Especially when it is a shared collective experience. I’ve been in teams, on a few podiums, and in thousands of training sessions, hoping to experience that flow that sometimes enabled me to… almost fly. At least it is the way it felt.

The Pain.

Well, there has to be some right? A broken foot, a broken tooth, several jammed fingers, and countless hours of gasping for air… But it was all worth it!

Conclusion.

Try a competitive sport. Find one you like and stick to it. You don’t need to be a world champion to get enormous benefits over time.

That applies even if you think you are too old, too heavy, too light, or don’t have enough time. Even if you are swamped, your training will call you until you finally decide to make time for it again. And when you decide, you find the time!

Obviously shotokan has been a big part of my personal development. It works in conjunction with other things, and writing this blog will help me streamline it, track my progress, stay focused, and share the experiments to help readers.

Keep in touch!

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A few days ago I purchased and read Marelisa Fábrega’s ebook entitled How to Be More Creative – A Handbook for Alchemists.

The best books to read aren’t necessarily nation-wide best sellers. That does not make Marelisa an amateur, she is a popular blogger on the creativity theme and has years worth of research, leisure reading, writing and practice on the subject. She also has top-rated Squidoo lenses (<100) and a long-time readership.

Three Things that Stand Out.

The first is the writing. Marelisa is from Panama, so one can only assume that English isn’t her native language. It isn’t mine either, but my writing is nothing special. You can come back and check on that once in a while for the next few years, I will surely get better

Content is great, but when it is well written, it permeates. You remember more, are struck with more images, and ultimately are able to apply more without having to reread.

Nonetheless, content there is, and a lot of it, so printing and binding the ebook, as well as interacting with it as instructed is highly recommended.

Then there are the references. Where else can you expect to learn creativity secrets and insights from many great minds as Mark Twain, Isaac Asimov, Guy Kawasaki, Stephen King, Leonardo da Vinci, Machiavelli… And many others I hadn’t ever heard about. If you were to search the internet for such wide-ranging views on creativity, you would miss out on many.

There are also a heap of online references. Links to interactive tools and exercises, as well as further content sources that illustrate her own. Great finds for future exploration that you would miss otherwise, and that would be a shame.

Then comes the technique. You’ll come back often to explore further and apply it, because it is fun and rewarding. A few days isn’t nearly enough for me to describe the full potential, but I have made great progress already. For this blog alone, as well as my other projects, ideas and actions have been flowing easier, and I see things going much further as time passes.

Like many great resources, this is one you will want to keep close by if you have a mind to doing more, better things in the near future.

Click here to visit Abundance Blog at Marelisa Online. and get your own handbook for alchemists!

Remember that alchemists were those that turned lead into gold. Learn to create value for yourself, and others, with just what is available to you. Regardless of how insignificant it may seem at first, you have more potential than you think!