You know you have worked hard to get where you are today, but what about the future? To develop the physical strength and mental outlook you will need in times to come, see that your personal needs are met at mid-life and beyond. Check these areas:

• In what ways are you ignoring your physical needs? Do you get enough sleep, find time to exercise, eat right, and take your vitamins? Fuel your body properly for maximum performance.
• Are your social needs being met? Attend to them by having good relationships with family, friends, and co-workers. Have at least two evenings a month where you go out just for fun. Work is important but shouldn't dominate your entire life.
• How about emotional needs? Pay attention to how you are feeling and have someone to share your feelings with. Are you comfortable with anger and do you allow yourself to grieve over a sad occurrence or loss?
• Everyone has spiritual needs, but they are met in different ways. Some people pray, others meditate. Others meet spiritual needs through 12-step groups where they are reminded of a higher power. And for some people, their spirituality involves being in the moment, finding gratitude in the day, or being outdoors in nature.
• The last need is to have a purpose in life, whether it is raising your children, having a successful marriage, getting ahead at work, or something else. Everyone needs to know the direction they want to travel and enjoy the journey.

I received an email the other day from one of my readers. She told me that she used one of my articles on her blog. She said she used it last year on New Year's (she had my permission then) and really couldn't fond anything better so she used it again this year. Frankly I didn't remember what I wrote last year. I was surprised and honored too that she wanted to use it again so I went back and looked at it. Well it was o.k. in my opinion, but if she thought it was good enough to use again on her blog then I should probably follow suit. So to repeat my 2006 New Year's article I hope you enjoy reading about just one of many southern traditions.

Being southern can mean many things, but the one image that comes immediately to my mind is that of hospitality which - at its core – means “large quantities of food served with tall glasses of sweet tea”! I don’t know this for certain, and suspect others would disagree, but I truly believe that southerners coined the phrase “comfort food”.

Every occasion, from weddings to funerals, would be incomplete without an abundance of food lovingly prepared by a multitude of southern cooks, and especially ringing in the New Year is no exception. Most southern ladies begin preparing for New Year’s Day - and I don’t mean the usual football treats like chips, pretzels, cheese and dip either as soon as the Christmas is over.

In my house (family) it has always been and I know will always be our New Year’s Day tradition to eat as many "black-eyed peas" and turnip greens as possible, along with hot cornbread and pork chops. You see the more peas you eat, the more money you come into during the New Year. You would have to live in the south to understand just how important that is, and how easy it is for our grocery shelves to be emptied of bags of dried black-eyed peas between Christmas and New Year’s Day. Any southern cook will tell you that not having black-eyed peas New Year’s Day is a disaster of gigantic proportions.

Growing up, I cannot remember a New Year’s Day that my mother did not fix black-eyed peas, turnip greens, pork chops and corn bread. I am quite confident that there was not one. Not wishing to bring ill-fortune, on my family, I have most certainly carried on the tradition including not doing ANY laundry on New Year's Day or you would "wash someone out of the family". Don't even think about it!

There is no secret to cooking black-eyed peas, I simply follow the directions on the bag – removing any debris and rinsing the peas until the water is clean. The peas are soaked over night in salt water, and that water is discarded the next day. The soaked peas are covered with fresh water and then simmered in a large pot on the stove with slabs of hog jowl, onion, garlic, salt and pepper until they are just right. We just eat ours in a bowl - like a thick soup or stew. My husband likes to eat his peas spooned over his cornbread.

Greens are a staple in southern gardens and kitchen pantries. Greens boil down to practically nothing, it takes "a mess" (Southernese for “a lot”) of them to cook enough for everyone. I usually cook them with only the water that clings to the leaves after washing them, and it takes just a few minutes for them to be tender and ready to serve. I’m not as fond of greens as my husband is, but my grandmother added just a pinch of sugar to her greens while they were cooking to remove the bitterness. My husband loves to eat his greens sprinkled with a few drops of hot pepper sauce. I like a little vinegar on mine with salt.

The scent of cornbread baking in the oven brings a delightful balance to the pungent, and sometimes less appealing, aroma of simmering black-eyed peas and turnip greens. Cornbread is baked in a well-seasoned, large cast-iron skillet, using my mom's recipe. Hot cornbread right from the oven is sliced like pie and served with large slabs of butter. My mouth is watering already! My husband makes better cornbread than I do. I don't know why that is.

There is nothing about the food we eat in the South on New Year’s Day that is compatible with my normal eating habits, but I think I’d rather give up my Harley than to break with this time-honored tradition!

What about you? Does your family have a New Year's tradition?

At this time of year, everyone else is going over the river and through the woods to grandma's house, but a brave few are headed into the real estate market. Is that a smart move?

Depends on how you look at it. There is no doubt that the real estate market slows down at the end of October. According to the National Association of Realtors, sales of existing homes drop about 30 percent between December and January. Home sales traditionally do not pick up until the end of January.

For sellers, the holidays still can be profitable. Holiday home buyers are usually serious about buying quickly. The buyers are hitting open houses while the browsers are off at the mall. Plus, for sellers, there is no better time to show a house than the holidays when a tasteful Christmas tree, wreath, and sparkling lights can make a house feel like your future home.

For buyers, it's a great time, too, because with less competition from others, buyers have a good negotiating position with sellers who want to move quickly. If a buyer finds a house during the holidays, it is possible that he or she will be able to come to an agreement with the seller to accommodate holiday plans.

If you are selling your home during the holidays, take this advice from home staging experts:

• Stick with simplicity. Take down your personal pictures and collections. Put up simple Christmas decorations that include a tree, wreath, and a few strands of lights outside. Put a few nicely wrapped presents under your tree.
• Build a fire in the fireplace. Play holiday music softly. Put potted evergreens in place of potted flowers.

Kept in small cages for their entire lives and bred every time they come into season from six months of age twice a year every year, year after year after year.

Female dogs bred at every cycle and too many times until death with little or no concern and unhealthy specimens spawning progeny with multiple genetic defects and or genes to be sold across America mostly to unsuspecting pet shop customers. Shipped under conditions that in and of itself result in transport deaths exceeding 10%. Additionally another 10% die within 30 days after leaving these puppy farms. Puppies removed and sold at such young ages often without any or improper inoculations. Pups isolated and neglected, removed from mothers at such early ages (5-6 weeks on average) historically grow in mature animals with odd behaviors and emotional dependencies. Many mature with and multiple health problems associated with poor husbandry practices.

They live their lives without proper hygiene, exercise, dental maintenance or simple human interaction, a life of pure misery. I'd call it hell for these precious creatures from God.

Can you imagine spending your whole life in a tiny wire cage, surrounded by hundreds of barking, crying dogs, for years and years, would you go insane? I'm sure I would. The urine and poop drops down onto the dogs underneath; they can't escape the filth. When you go to the toilet, it collects in a big pile underneath you, never cleaned, the stench rises in the summer heat, uric acid burns your eyes and nostrils; covered in flies; many dogs go blind over time. Your only protection from the sun, rain, wind, and snow is a torn canvas tarp that blows in the wind on top of your cage and tht's if your're lucky. You are constantly forced to breed, and your puppies are taken from you too young and sold, to pet stores. When you're done breeding and you are not worth feeding, they dump you at a vet or shelter to be killed or worse! They leave you to die in agony. What is this place? It's a puppy mill. There are hundreds of thousands of dogs suffering in kennels across this country that are waiting to be rescued.

I've met a puppy mill dog. Her name is Hope. This precious girl was dumped in an animal shelter after she was used up as a breeding machine. The shelter stated there were over 300 dogs at this puppy mill and none received proper care. When you looked into her eyes there was nothing there, just a dark blank stare with the saddest face I've ever seen on any dog ever. Her eyes told her story. Hope's teeth were terrible and she also was heartworm positive. Isn't that a shame that they could use this precious dog to make money but couldn't pay a few dollars a month to keep her from getting heartworms! Hope is living in a foster home right now and has finished her heartworm treatment doing great! She is living in a home with another dachshund, two Rottweilers, an elderly lab mix along with 2 cats. She enjoys going to the dog park and running around. She is learning to play with other dogs and enjoys the attention she gets from the people. She is still shy but is slowly coming out of her shell with the proper socialization. Hope is still not house trained but her foster mom is working on this very diligently, she just doesn't realize yet what the outdoors is all about. Hope has been watching the other dogs though and slowly coming around. She just needs to continue to learn how to be a dog instead of a caged animal. I wish I could adopt her too.

So why do people do this to animals? For their own selfish greed/gain that's why. These poor animals are prisoners of greed, nothing more! They sell the pups to pet stores or to individuals for pure profits since they pay nothing to keep the dogs healthy and clean. So have you ever wondered where the pet store puppies come from? Or how much is that doggie in the window? Well consider this; if you buy him/her will other dogs pay with their lives? Hope paid for 6 long years!

I can tell you many pet store horror stories but I would be setting myself up for big problems so I urge you to do your own research before purchasing ANY pet through a pet store. Always go to a reputable breeder who you can find through the AKC or adopt one through your local Human Society/Local Animal Rescue. Not sure what you read here is true about pet stores? Check it out for yourself at No Puppy Mills.

Where do you find reputable breeders? Check this list of reputable breeders from each breed: Selected List of Breed Clubs in the USA .

But whatever you do DO NOT buy from ANY pet store. The only way to close down puppy mills is to stop the demand for their puppies. Buying puppies from pet shops supports puppy mills by increasing the demand. The Humane Society, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and many other animal welfare organizations urge consumers never buy a puppy from a pet store.

Oh you want an update on Hope! Well I'm happy to tell you that her foster mom has worked wonders with her. Now she still has that sad blank look in her eyes. She probably always will, after what she has lived through I'd guess I would too. However, she does walk (kind of prances) outside much better now and her tail is not tucked under anymore. She potty's outside now. She never knew how to do that before. She still goes in the house too, but hey we all have to take baby steps. Romewasn't built in a day. She is doing very well and it is all due to the care, love, kindness, and patience she receives everyday from her foster mom.

I believe her foster mom must be an angel sent from heaven. She takes in these dogs and cares for them as her own. You can't imagine the sacrifices she makes for these precious animals, personal sacrifices. She isn't alone, I'm sure most foster moms/families do the same thing, although I'm not so sure they sacrifice to the extent that Hope's foster mom has had to sacrifice. I know God has a special place in Heaven for her and all foster moms. If you think you would like to foster a dog or cat contact your local Humane Society for more details. You won't be sorry you did and your rewards will be greater than you ever imagined.

I’m sorry I’ve been neglectful and haven’t been here for quite sometime. I have been so busy with work and other thing I just haven’t had time to sit still long enough. But, I am going to do better and I’ll keep up from here on out I promise. I do however have a MySpace page. Never thought I would, but my son had one and the next thing I knew I made one too. Now the identity there is totally different than here, but it’s me. I never reveal my true identity on the internet for a lot of reasons. Everything you see and read is totally true except the name and picture. Go visit and let me know what you think. Here is the address.

“And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” Hebrews 9:27

“And the rain descended and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.” Matthew 7:25

“Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.” Hebrews 7:25

“And the publican standing afar off, would not lift so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” Luke 18:13-14

On Christmas Day, 800 AD, Charlemagne was crowned as conqueror and first Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, an empire that endured a millennium uniting and ruling over all the peoples of Europe. Never a more powerful influential King and ruler lived after Christ than Charlemagne.

When Charlemagne died, all the leaders and magistrates of Europe gathered for his funeral. At one point in the funeral oration, the Pastor boldly proclaimed the Gospel by calling the listener to imagine the great Charlemagne immediately after his death, standing before the Gates of Glory seeking entrance to God’s Heavenly Kingdom. A voice came from God’s Throne, “Who is this seeking entrance to My Heavenly Kingdom?” The answer came, “Charlemagne, the great King, Monarch over all of Europe and Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.” God thundered back, “Him I do not know.” Again the voice cried, “Who is this seeking entrance?” The standing soul says, “Charles the warrior and conqueror of all nations.” “Him I do not know.” Again the Lord asked, “Who is this seeking entrance to My Heaven?” “Charles the Good, benevolent King over his people, gentle Ruler for their good.” “Him I do not know,” came the response from Heaven.

“Who is this seeking entrance to My Heavenly Kingdom?”

The suppliant answered, “Charles, the repentant sinner, saved by the grace of God, seeking refuge in Jesus Christ.” “Him I know. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.”

So, my friend God does not accept the person of any man. All the ground at the foot of the Cross is level. Heaven is the City of Grace where we all meet as family in God’s House, honoring, loving, and serving our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. This attitude of humble submission characterizes all our words, thoughts, and actions this very day all the way to our entrance into His Heavenly Kingdom. We are to be “clothed with humility” (I Peter 5:5) Humility is the doorway to grace. Only the humble soul enters the heavenly Kingdom because only the humble ask for grace. Amen and Amen.

This is a great circle to join if you are not satisfied with the quality of movies being shown on TV today. We certainly weren’t at all encouraged by the violence and foul language on the programs. Yet it is really wonderful to watch something inspiring and uplifting and when I came across the Spiritual Cinema Circle  I was really pleased with the quality of  the movies. There is usually a good range of short and long movies and many of the movies I've watched have left me feeling provoked into deeper thought.

The Spiritual Cinema Circle provides positive entertainment that inspires and uplifts you. Stephen Simon is one of the founders of The Circle. He produced SOMEWHERE IN TIME and WHAT DREAMS MAY COME, along with many other films. His intent is to make a real difference in the world, so I urge you to read what Stephen has to say and join The Spiritual Cinema Circle. This is something you and you entire family will enjoy and can enjoy together.

By JESSICA E. VASCELLARO
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Kyle Sheldon-Chandler doesn't typically send holiday cards since buying, writing and addressing them gives her a headache. But this year she's found a way to mail cards to family and friends without picking up a pen. The 51-year-old from Grand Junction, Colo., will outsource most of the task to Send Out Cards LLC, a Salt Lake City-based company that allows you to write and mail paper greeting cards to everyone on your list through technology over the Web.

This season, several greeting-card companies are trying to fight the perception that a paper card that is signed, sealed, and delivered from the Web is less personal than a handwritten one. They say they've got the best of both worlds­the convenience of the Internet without the impersonalization often associated with email greeting cards.

The services typically work by having customers select online a paper card they want to send. Then, they type in a personalized salutation or draft the text of a custom note to include on the inside flap. When it comes time to send the card, users select the names of any of the recipients whose addresses they have loaded into the Web site and the system prints, stamps, and mails the cards for each entry automatically. Send Out Cards will even create a front of your own handwriting or signature from a sample you send them in the mail, meaning that the recipients may never discover that the note they receive wasn't written, signed and sealed by hand.

The efforts come as the process of sending out holiday cards has grown increasingly tedious to a culture used to dashing off emails or making a quick phone call. (Many people these days don't even know the mailing addresses of friends or relatives.) It used to be that senders painstakingly planned every detail of their holiday cards from the image on the front to the color of the pen they use. That was eventually replaced by those long "Dear Friends" letters recapping the year's highlights from the kids' accomplishments to the dog's antics. In recent years, attention has shifted to finding that perfect family photo, meaning cards could take months of planning before you even sit down to send them out.

Now, by slashing prices, streamlining online address books and offering features such as custom fonts, online greeting-card companies hope that paper cards sent via the Web will finally gain widespread acceptance.

So far, the online market that handles the printing and mailing of customized cards is only a tiny portion of the $7.5 billion greeting-card industry. But as the market for traditional greeting cards is expected to remain flat, card companies are forecasting strong gains for the online segment.

Among the companies pushing the service are leaders in the traditional greeting-card market, such as Cleveland-based American Greetings Corp., as well as smaller companies formerly focused on personalized printing for corporate clients. Even the U. S. Postal Service is making a big push for its NetPost card service, which offers customized greeting cards and postcards fulfilled by cardstore.com, a division of Touchpoint Inc.

This holiday season, several companies are offering new promotions and services that promise to save time and money. Cardstore.com this month relaunched its new consumer site, cutting the per-card price for some frequent users by more than half to $1.40 from $2.99. The company also launched a streamlined version of its address book that makes it easier for users to save addresses from year to year, and has added 150 new cards to its collection of more than 2,000 cards. The U.S. Postal Service site offers roughly the same selection as cardstore.com but with different features, such as a variety of different postcard options. This year, it plans to promote the service through its home page and a holiday mailing.

With its printed cards in 70,000 retail stores nationwide and a growing e-card business, American Greetings is focusing new attention on its remote-printing business, where consumers can customize and mail hundreds of cards directly from the Web. Through mailings to all its members and by displaying it prominently on the Americangreetings.com home page, the company will market it as a convenient holiday time-saver.

The moves are taking hold as customers gravitate to the Web for convenience, says Patti Freeman Evans, an analyst at market researcher Jupiter Research. But she says the challenge for online-generated cards is to prove that they have a personal touch.

One factor that may help these sites attract new customers is lower prices. High-end cards customized with a family greeting can run $10 each or more at a fine stationery store. At sites such as Sendoutcards.com, a card with your own personal greeting is 98 cents plus postage.

If you order even just two dozen cards from most of these sites, the average custom card sent from online is likely to be cheaper than even a generic card bought at a stationery store. Those cards average $2 to $4 a card, according to the Greeting Card Association in Washington, D.C., while most online card sites will charge you less than $2 for a card with your own greeting if you purchase more than a few dozen.

Customizing your holiday cards online yourself may save you some money and a trip to the stationery store, but it still requires several steps. First, users are prompted to select a preprinted card or even design their own before customizing it further with a greeting and a personal message. At most sites, users can then upload family photos on the front or inside of the cards and even squeeze a full-length holiday letter on the inside flap. Many greeting-card sites help eliminate another holiday chore by offering gift certificates from vendors such as Barnes & Noble Inc. and Sharper Image to include with the greeting.

When it comes time to send cards, customers can have them sent directly to the recipients or back to themselves. (In the first case, the consumer is normally charged an additional 37 cents a card for postage). If they want the card sent directly, they simply type in the recipient's address as well as their own and click "send." Or, if they have entered their addresses into the site's online address book, the same generic fields can be filled in for hundreds of recipients automatically.

Other sites allow you to set alerts to remind you about important occasions, and most allow you to choose the date you want the cards to be sent so that the cards arrive any time you wish.

But even as companies launch and market their new services, those using them still face several hurdles. Conscientious consumers may be irked to find that they cannot center or rearrange their text, leaving some cards with awkward layouts. If your addresses aren't already in digital form, entering them all into the computer may not be worth the time.

And an obvious problem for online card companies is likely to be tradition. While she sent her husband a card off Sendoutcards.com last Valentines Day, Paula Fehringer, a Web-site designer in Denton, Neb., says she will continue to do her holiday cards by hand. "Every year my husband and I sit at the table and do them," she says. "I am not willing to give that up yet."

Furthermore, customers willing to send cards from online should be cautious about how they may be received. When Stephanie Morris of Centreville, Va., sent her mother-in-law a birthday card from Cardstore.com, her in-law complained that it was too impersonal. Ms. Morris says that she still plans to use the service for around 100 holiday cards this year, but for her mother-in-law, she'll probably still sign and seal the card herself.

So, would any of you reading this article like to try sendoutcards.com for Free? Contact me and I'll set up a FREE Gift Account for you that will allow you to use the system and send out two cards absolutely free with no obligation whatsoever.  Maybe you would like to send your Sweetie a Free Valentine,  Click Here to see my special Valentine page.

A lot of you know that I have tried many different home-based companies before I found AmeriPlan. Nothing ever worked out. Now I admit a lot of it was me. I didn't put forth the work the necessary. But a lot was because of the company any my "so-called upline" too. 

The more I learn about the Laws of Attraction, the more I realize it doesn't have to be like this.  Let me explain.

Do you ever wonder why great things happen to some people but not to you?

Do you ever read about people who have tried this service or that product and had some incredible result, but when you try it, you don't get the same result?

Have you become a person who NOTHING seems to work for?

Maybe you've thought about trying the some new self- improvement package that sounds great, but you're just so tired of things not working for you.

Let's take a look at how you've gotten where you are and why these things might happen.

First, at some point, you tried something - either based on a recommendation, a testimonial you read, or some other reason. Basically, you tried it based on someone else's positive experience.

However, when you tried it, you did not get the same result so you made the assumption that it didn't work for you. But how true IS this? Often - VERY often - things work differently for different people, and it's a mistake to judge your life by comparing it with others. Perhaps you just needed more time.

Maybe your circumstances are completely different! Regardless, however, you made up - you CREATED a Truth for yourself at that time, that truth being "This didn't work" or "this isn't going to work", although remember, that truth is based only on your surface comparison with someone else... and it really doesn't have anything to do with you, and what - in the cosmic scheme of things - is best for you.

Those results you read about for that other person(s) are what was right at that time for them, and that doesn't necessarily mean that NOW is the time for you and that it will happen to you the same way that it happened for them!

From then on, every thing else you try is then compared to that first experience, with the Truth in your mind being "Well, it didn't work that time...let's see if THIS works". So again you're comparing... and not really trying anything "purely" and on it's own merit without preconceived notions or judgements.

You are already working against yourself! You may not yet automatically expect failure, but you have it as an option, and perhaps even a probability based on your previous experiences.

The more things you try with this mindset, the more you fortify this mindset - it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy that "Nothing works for me". Before you know it, that is who you become. The person you are about reaching your specific goals or trying this or that product or technology is "It works for others but never for me." Once you reach that place, it will most certainly become true for you.

So what do you do? How do you break out of this pattern? First, acknowledge how you got here... by comparing yourself or your results with other people who are really on a completely different path then you, although they may have been after similar results. Then create a new idea for yourself - give yourself permission to experience success on your own terms, without judging what happens based on other people or expectations set up by anyone other than yourself.

Once you believe that you deserve to succeed and that you CAN succeed and that you WILL succeed, your life will change. Whatever you try will work for you, because YOU define what "working" is - not somebody else! You set your own timetable, you are relaxed, and non-judgement. Your infinite patience and lack of expectation based externally, will work with you in very powerful ways and you will regain control over your destiny.

----------------

Bob Doyle is the CEO and founder of Boundless Living and the developer of the Wealth Beyond Reason program, which provides a continuing education of the physics of wealth, abundance, and joyous living through the Law of Attraction.

I was talking with a wondeful woman the other day, Linda.  She is a spiritual entrepreneur and coach. We talked close to an hour and in that hour she instilled a lot of the concepts that I am writing about here today. Linda will be teaching me a lot more (or at least pointing me in the right direction) to learn more about the Laws of Atrraction and Personal Intentions. I'll be using these two concepts in my life and in my business(es). I'm extremely grateful to have found Linda and her web site. 

Women are fabulous! They are resourceful, determined, complex, resilient, & compassionate. They are able to endure pregnacy, childbirth, child-raising, heartbreak, husband-raising, being the career women, and running the household (housecleaning, bill paying, activities coordinator, sexy vixen, hostess, etc, etc.). Learn how successful women make it all happen, while looking, feeling and being fabulous.

Make more time for yourself. You need to invest time in yourself in order for you to be living your ‘best life.’ You need time to take care of yourself, time to rest, time to grow, and time for the other 14 things on this list!

Surround yourself with successful people who you admire. You have heard the saying “dress for the job you want, not the job you have.” This is a similar principle. Being around people you admire is like a crash course in how you want your life to be, and often these people will help you find the shortcut to your dream life.

Network. Positive networking means that you meet lots of new people every week and find out what YOU can do for THEM, and then, when possible, DO IT! (see The Frog and Prince: Secrets of Positive Networking; Rezac, Thomson & Hallgren, 2003). This will widen your network and give you access to people and services that you may need somewhere down the line. People will know who you are, what you offer, and many will want to help you; too often you don't even have to ask.

Develop a strong social support system. Women get so busy that they can forget to call their friends, their family members, and their neighbors. But it is important to have people in your life that can be there for you when 'life happens' - when someone gets sick or is in an accident and you need emergency child care, a ride to the hospital, a shoulder to cry on. In return, you are there for them in an emergency. But it is a lot easier to request these favours when you have been sustaining and maintaining the relationship, not when you have been neglecting them because you have been too busy.

Get rid of toxic people in your life. Many women do not like to let go of any relationship, even if it is bad. Either we are nurturers and we think we can fix it, or we are afraid of hurting someone's feelings. However, some relationships are not worth the effort. Do you know anyone that is critical of you (in a destructive, not a constructive way)? Do you have friends/family members who drain you every time you see or talk to them? Do you associate with people who discourage your quest for success? You've got to cut or at least loosen these ties. If the relationship is very important to you, let the person know the effect that they are having on you. Perhaps these negative effects are oblivious, and they will change. But do not waste your precious time and energy on toxic people. You have too much growing to do!

Ask for help when necessary (and even when not). Ready to hear a secret? You DO NOT have to do it all. That's right. You don't have to be superwoman and be in 100 places at one time and run yourself ragged from sunrise until bedtime. Can you do everything yourself? Probably. Will you be happy doing it? Nope, I don't think so. Will you be taking good care of yourself? Will you be relaxed and happy when your family members get home from work or school? Will you look and feel your best? Heed this good advice that successful women know: Enlist A Team - a coach, a mentor, a massage therapist, a cleaning person, etc. And if you are taking care of parents - get help! Yes, you deserve your own team of "assistants" to help you with your life.

Spend time with girlfriends. Who has time, you ask yourself? Can you afford not to? Women need to talk to other women. We can talk to each other in a way that we cannot talk to our partners, our mothers, or our children. We all need friends that we can talk to about anything who know that we are just venting and know that the information goes no further. We need to commiserate, to laugh, to talk about things that men don't think we enjoy talking about. We need a safe place to talk about our fat, our old lovers, our favorite new designers - a place where our audience is enraptured by these same topics. Not something you are always likely to get at home.

Eat well. Your mother always told you - you are what you eat! Well, you may not be a french fry, but your body will certainly treat you more nicely if you treat it nicely. Eating well will help maintain a healthy weight and provide you with the energy to need to get through your busy days. Remember to eat lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, drink at least 8 glasses of water a day, stay away from junk food, fried food, and processed food, and watch your portions. A great tip is to serve your meals on smaller plates. Sometimes we eat until our plate is empty, regardless of whether we need it all or not. Don't deny yourself foods that you love. Just indulge in small amounts.

Exercise. This should be a top priority. Exercise can help you to: manage your weight, deal with stress, prevent osteoporosis, have more energy, be stronger, prevent heart disease, prevent cancer, and of course, feel, look and BE younger.

Get enough sleep. This provides you more physical, mental, and emotional resources so that you can more effectively deal with your busy schedule and keep stress at bay. You will look and feel better.

Continue to learn and grow. This helps keep you young – it’s true! One way of postponing/preventing dementia is to participate in life-long learning. It will also make you more well rounded and interesting, and more importantly, will make the world more interesting to you!

Get a coach. A coach can help you get your dreams on the map- can help you discover what your true desires are and help you find a way to live the biggest life that you can. The years pass by more quickly with time, and as far as we know, we only have one life – so why not do everything you can to make the most of it? That way, at the end of your life you will have no regrets.

Groom yourself so you look AND feel like a million bucks all the time. You don't ever want to have to hide your hands or toes because they aren't properly taken care of. Successful women are always confident about their appearance because they put the time in on a consistent basis to maintain an acceptable baseline level of grooming. Every city has the crème de la crème of hairstylists - pay an extra $20 or $50 and keep your look fresh.

Dream Big. If it isn't on your map, there is no way to get there. If it is as least a spot on your map, there is a much better chance that you will find your way there, although it would be helpful to take a more pro-active approach. See: "Get a Coach".

Give Back. Get involved (or at least donate to) your favorite charity, be a mentor, support programs in your community. Remember secret # 6- everyone could use a little help.

Do these secrets sound like fun? They are! And THAT is the final secret! You DON'T have to be run yourself ragged; you DON'T have to do it all. Taking care of yourself is like putting money in the bank. The more you invest, the greater your returns. Incorporate as many of these tips into your life as soon as possible, and if this seems like a daunting task, enlist the help of a coach. You can be successful AND happy too!