Hello, and thank you continuing to read my Self Help Tips Blog!  Tonight we will discuss how television effects us and why we need to reduce our viewing time.  The main reason why I want to cover this subject is because I have an insider’s view on how the television industry really works.  For starters…

Watching television is by far the most popular activity on the face of the Earth.

No other activity even comes close to the popularity of TV.  We watch it, talk about it, pattern our behavior after it, laugh and cry because of it, and have at least one of them in nearly every household in America.   In fact, I make a living off of satellite TV.

When TV was introduced in the late 1940s, marketing executives looked into the future and predicted that television would become commonplace in every household.  And here we are fifty years later, with no less than 98 percent of American households welcoming television into their homes.  For once, I guess the executives knew what they were talking about!

Sit back, ponder a few of the following facts about TV and begin to understand the enormous impact it has had in our lives:

Did you know that families spend more time watching TV than they do anything else except for working and sleeping?  Even so, very few people stop to examine when TV crosses the line from being a companion to an intruder.

Television sets are left "on" an average of seven hours and 40 minutes each day, according to Nielsen reports.

The average TV viewer will see an estimated 20,000 commercials every year.  That’s about 55 commercials each day.  During the time that we watch TV our perceptions about self-image, a healthy lifestyle and human behavior are being slowly and systematically changed, and in some cases, distorted.

American children ages 2-17 spend an average of 19 hours and 40 minutes watching TV each week.

American youth watch an average of 1,023 hours of TV yearly, while they only spend about 900 hours in school.

Research by The Annenberg Public Policy Center shows 21 percent of self-professed “educational” programming has little or no educational value.

In year 2000, a National Assessment of Educational Progress report found that students who watch TV the most also suffer the most academically.  Students who watched TV for six or more hours per day earned the lowest scores, on average, and those who watched an hour or less earned the highest.

According to a year 2000 National Institute on the Media and the Family report, a child can develop brand loyalty by age 2.  This seems incredibly disturbing.  In fact, one study found more children that recognized a picture of Ronald McDonald than they did of Jesus Christ.  I’m not kidding.

A 1999 Senate Judiciary Committee Staff Report found that by age 18, the average American has seen 200,000 acts of violence on TV, including 16,000 murders.

Since so much of our time growing up is spent watching TV, and so many parents use TV to entertain and “baby-sit,” much of our earliest learning and world perspectives are formed while sitting in front of a TV screen.

Much of television advertising targets children because promoters know that they are less discerning and more easily influenced than adults.  And not surprisingly, children often insist that their parents purchase what they see advertised on TV.  James McNeal, a kids marketing expert, estimates that children under the age of twelve now influence at least $500 billion of family purchases.

The overwhelming evidence for the association between TV advertising and behavior is simply a matter of common sense.  The food industry alone spends billions of dollars on TV advertising because they know it produces results. When we see and hear the advertisements often enough, we eventually buy the products.

Apart from the influence that TV advertising has had on our lives, there is another important consideration relative to our eating habits…

Most of us will acknowledge that TV is a sedentary form of entertainment.  However, when coupled with our tendency to munch on non-nutritious snacks while watching, television delivers a knockout punch to our best efforts for losing weight.

Even dinnertime, the traditional family catch-up period, has been transformed by TV, with many families opting to dine on fast food and take-out, rather than home cooked meals.

Day after day, week after week, year after year, we are pounded by commercials promoting the trendiest fashions, technology or soft drinks until we finally succumb to their relentless attack on our connection to reality.

Let me ask you, "Wouldn’t you rather read a book or pursue some other interesting activity, rather than allow your mind to get tainted by channels that hype useless products, promote overindulgence and distort your perception of reality?"

There is nothing substantial about a medium that upholds unattainable images for the masses and presents a generally unrealistic and distorted reflection of ourselves and the world.

I am not saying that everything about television is detrimental, but it seems to do more harm than good. It seems only to serve as a mind-numbing alternative to reality that drains knowledge, lulls many into a false sense of security and contentment and urges us to think of nothing.

Life beyond the filtered screen seems much more educational, interesting and entertaining.

If you have been brought-up on a diet of fast food and television, chances are you’re still doing the same thing today.  Habits and beliefs are very difficult to change when they’ve been ingrained since early childhood.  The good news is that any environmental or behavioral influence (including TV) on a person’s habits can be changed, but it takes determination and work.

Just for fun, see if any of the following apply to YOU!

We fall asleep doing it.
We do it first thing in the morning.
We are challenged by it.
We are isolated by it.
We eat while doing it.
We eat because of it.
We ignore other people while we are doing it.
We laugh at it.
We cry at it.
We get angry at it.
We are bored by it.
We are entertained by it.
We pay to do it.
We must have the latest technical equipment to do it.
We use it to relax.
We use it as a babysitter.
We consciously pattern our behavior after it.
We are subconsciously influenced by it.
We do it whenever, wherever, and however we want.
We bring sex and violence into our homes while we do it.
We use it to keep us company when we are alone.
We are misled by it.
We are lead by it.
We envy other people we see while doing it.
We argue about it.
We do other things while we listen to it in the background.
We do it to educate ourselves.
We do it to introduce ourselves to faraway places.
We do it to stay informed.
We brag about doing it.
We complain about doing it.
We gossip about it.
We talk about it everywhere.
We become addicted to it.

Television effects everyone who watches it.  As a TV viewer, several of these scenarios even apply to my own life.  I find that a tad bit scary, and as result I have made a conscious effort to watch less television and spend more time enjoying reality.  Care to join me?

Good evening!  It’s Jeff again from the Self Help Tips Blog.  I would like to personally thank each and every one of you who continues to find help and inspiration through my writing.  Today I would like to share several self improvement tips and ideas that you can use to become a better person.

Many of us see celebrities as flawless people or at the very least, we see them as better than us.  They seem to live the fairytale life of riches, fame and glamour.

“I want the fairytale.”  “I deserve the fairytale.”  How often do you say this to yourself?

I think that we should all stop putting our heads in the clouds and come down to earth with a reality check.  Who really wants their life revealed in the headlines of the local paper, or a blog on the internet discussing their failed marriage or a failed movie?

Truthfully, just being a cut above the rest of the world should be good enough.  It should be perfectly acceptable to gain some glamour, but also to stay under the radar screen and not lose one’s sense of self.  Let’s face it:  the fairytale life is not for everyone.

So what does it take to be a cut above the rest?  Here is a seven day program to self-improvement.  Just concentrate on one point each day of the week and you should begin to see results faster than you imagined.

1. Know your purpose in life.  Some people just are not meant to be great actors, but are the best at teaching or serving dinners.  Everyone has a purpose in life, but the difficult part is finding what that is. Are you wandering through life with little direction, hoping you will find happiness and prosperity somewhere along the way?  When you identify your purpose or mission statement, you will find the compass that will point you to the path of real, true fulfillment.

2. Know your values.  What is most important to you?  Make a list of your top 5 values and, as you determine your goals for 2009, make sure they agree with your values in life.  If they don’t, you may want to reconsider that goal or change it to better suit your ideals.

3. Know your needs.  Take care of yourself.  Unmet needs can cause you to live dishonestly.  Be honest: do you need to be loved, in control, to be right all the time, or acknowledged?  List your top 4 needs and make sure they’re met, or deal with them before it’s too late.  Many go through life depressed and stressed out because they are missing an essential need.

4. Know your passions.  Find out what you truly enjoy in life and stick with it.  Express your enthusiasm and also honor those that have helped you and inspired you on your journey to become the person you are.

5. Live from the inside out.  Increase your awareness of your inner vision by regularly reflecting in silence or communing with nature.  Breathe deeply to get rid of stress and quiet a distracted mind.  Often, just sitting in a dimly lit room and listening to classical music will do wonders for your mental well being.

6. Honor your strengths.  What are your strengths?  If you do not know, ask someone close to you for answers.  Pick out three positive traits that you possess and share them with others.  You will be amazed at how much self-confidence you will gain by just by expressing your authentic self through your strengths.

7. Serve others.  Give back to the world.  When you live authentically and honestly, you may find yourself developing an interconnected sense of being.  There is no greater reward or satisfaction then sharing your talents with the world.

And there you have it: a weekly guide to becoming a person who is a cut above the rest. All it takes to succeed is to truly want self-improvement and then honestly look at yourself through the eyes of others.  You might not be able to make the front page news, but with these self improvement tips and ideas you should be able to do things that you never thought possible.  Besides, who wants to constantly be under the public’s microscope, anyway?

Good afternoon and thank you for reading my Self Help Tips Blog.  As we begin to awaken from our winter slumber, I think it is a good time to also awaken our minds and discuss how to improve your memory.

Are you constantly forgetting things? If you’re like most people then you probably said yes.

As we all know, the older we get, the worse our memory seems to become. The question is, can you do anything about it? Of course you can!

If you have been searching for ways to obtain a more powerful memory, then you’ll find these tips to be absolutely indispensable.

Being able to focus and use your full attention is imperative if you want to give yourself the best chance of remembering something. Always make sure that your surroundings are as quiet and distraction-free as possible when attempting to memorize something.

Being interested in what you’re trying to memorize is definitely an asset. If you don’t have any immediate interest in the subject matter, focus on the ways that you will benefit by remembering it - you’ll pass that exam which will give you the best shot at a good job, your girlfriend or boyfriend will think well of you, etc. This will give you the motivation to put your full attention on what you want to memorize.

Use some creativity. Conjure up some vivid mental pictures linked to whatever you need to remember. This is a technique used by all of the professionals who entertain us with their prodigious memory feats.

Here’s a quick example: Suppose you are trying to memorize a shopping list. You need to buy a new hat and this is item ten on your list. Ten rhymes with hen. Imagine a hen wearing the most outrageous hat you can think of. Make the picture big, bright and bold. If you do this correctly, you certainly won’t forget to buy that hat!

As they say, practice makes perfect, and memory is no exception. Set memory challenges for yourself. It’s vitally important that you exercise your memory on a regular basis if you want to see tangible results.

If you really work your memory regularly, you’ll soon find that it’s better than you thought possible. Think of your memory as being like a muscle. Any muscle that isn’t exercised frequently will atrophy due to lack of use. It’s the same with your memory. Use will strengthen it, and you’ll soon be dazzling your friends and family with your amazing memorizing ability!

Here’s another useful tip: Whenever you’re studying something really important that you want or need to remember, play some Mozart in the background. Studies have shown that the brain synchronizes itself to sound frequencies it’s subjected to. If you need to concentrate, the frequencies found in the music of Mozart are amongst the best to harmonize the brain to.

Having a powerful memory will help you in nearly every aspect of your life.  It is a vitally important aspect of the human psyche.  The fact that you are on the search for ways to improve your memory means that you are well on the way to becoming a better person.

Good evening!  It’s Jeff from the Self Help Tips Blog.  I would like to take this opportunity to wish the best of luck to our friends and family in Fargo, North Dakota as they continue to fight the floods of 2009.  Our thoughts are with you.   Tonight I would like to discuss one of the most important and overlooked aspects of maintaining your health:  deep breathing exercises.

Hindu, Taoist, and Buddhist traditions have special breathing methods for union with the primordial source of our being.  Martial artists have made use of them to perform superhuman feats.  You, too, can make use of them, and the focus that you develop by doing so can make every part of your life function more efficiently.

When you breathe, do so with no pauses in between breaths, which means not holding your breath at any moment to stagnate the flow of life energy.  Just keep it moving, like the tide.  This is the type of breathing that solidly connects you with the Life Force of the Universe.  Unsurprisingly, it is called Connected Breathing to describe not only how it is done, but also what it does for you.  It is Yoga, which means Union.

What you are doing is uniting the in-breath and the out-breath in a smooth, uninterrupted pattern.  You can do it anywhere, even while reclining in a soft comfy easy chair.  Breathe.  See yourself… feel yourself… know yourself to be pure energy.  The shift in consciousness will take you there.  Imagination is a real thing of energy.  Combined with this breathing,  it will take you to the realm of energy.

Microcosmic Breathing is an advanced form of Connected Breathing.  Microcosmic Breathing will energize you, heal you, clear your mind and balance your emotions.  It promotes strength, long life and spiritual development.  It is powerful and simple to do — so simple that you can do it and still be reading this.  Here’s a novel idea: do it while finishing that book you never quite finished.

Microcosmic Breathing gives you heavy-duty benefits, so do not let the simplicity of its practice fool you. Here is how it works: You take a deep breath in from the bottom of your spine, up your back, to the top of your head.  Next, you breathe out from the top of your head, down the front of your body, to the bottom of your spine.  Imagine and feel the breath move that circular route.  You can even visualize it as an orbiting ball of energy.

Try taking many Microcosmic Breaths.  Continue doing Microcosmic Breathing for five or ten minutes. Even count to 100 breaths and see how you feel from doing that.  A big inhale brings the energy up the back, and a relaxing exhale brings it down the front.  The exhale is where you can feel the energy swirl in your lower belly, which is the major energy center of your body.

An advanced form of Microcosmic Breathing is Macrocosmic Breathing.  Here is where you take full advantage of the Magnetic, Transformative, Life Resurrecting power of the Earth.

In Macrocosmic Breathing you take a deep breath in from the center of the Earth, pulling the energy up through the balls of your feet, up the front of your legs to the bottom of the spine, up your back, to the top of your head.  Then you breathe out from the top of your head, down the front of your body, to the bottom of the spine. Continuing breathing from the lower spine, down the back of your legs, through the heels of your feet to the center of the Earth. This exhale is where you can let go of any of the negative things that might be bothering you and just let them fall into the Earth.  The Earth has the power of Renewal and Rebirth.  It gladly accepts any kind of negative energy you send it and brings it back positively transformed.  You can see this power by viewing the growth of nature in springtime.  The energy of the Macrocosmic breath travels in a figure-eight.

An added visualization you can do with this is: when you reach the top of your head, visualize the Sun shining down on it, and when you breathe out, feel the warmth of the Sun filling your whole body.  If you happen to have a problem anywhere in your body, then send the trouble down to the Earth while filling the area where it was with extra amount of that Healing Warmth of the Sun.

Deep breathing and visualization are a potent combination.  Feel yourself filling with power.  See yourself as the person you want to be and doing the things you would like to do.  Make it a time to celebrate a goal that you have in your life, actually imagining that you have accomplished it.  Bathe in the excitement and rush of endorphins.  Make it a habit to put yourself in such a state of ecstasy.

Now that you can do the Microcosmic and Macrocosmic Breath, you are ready for the Metacosmic Breath.  You do this by starting the Macrocosmic Breath, but while breathing in you picture yourself getting bigger, turning giant, then a giant with wings spreading out as you get bigger and bigger.  You get so big that rather than being in the universe, you become bigger than the universe.  Your wings close as you breathe out, collecting all that cosmic energy that now swirls in your belly at a center two inches below the navel.  Feel the dynamic power gathering there as you breathe out.  You can even push out your belly with power as you exhale instead of letting your belly contract. That technique is called reverse breathing and it gives you that extra oomph of supercharged energy!

All of this is leading up to something called Triplecosmic Breathing.  It is what will open and balance all of your energy meridians, activating your DNA, chakras, and higher brain centers.  Triplecosmic Breathing is the Microcosmic Breath, followed by the Macrocosmic Breath, followed by the Metacosmic Breath.

Aging is caused by acidosis.  Acid causes you to age and die.  The waste built up by your body causes acidosis.  Deep breathing clears up the waste in your body and alkalizes your body fluids.  The Nobel Prize-winning Dr. Alexis Carrell said, "The cell is immortal.  It is merely the fluid in which it floats which degenerates."  He proved it by keeping a chicken heart alive and beating for 28 years simply by periodically renewing the fluid it was in.  The heart died when he stopped doing that.

You’ve no doubt heard of people dying of heart attacks while exercising. Don’t over-exercise, do deep breathing instead.  It will get you in better shape than highly trained professional athletes.  Three-year World Wrestling Title-holder Martin ‘Farmer’ Burns said, "Deep breathing alone has made many a weak man strong and many a sick man well."  Start deep breathing and let those poor athletes wear out their body with acidosis from straining stressful waste producing movements that age them way faster than an average person does.  You, on the other hand, will get younger with Triplecosmic Breathing.

The Enlightened Qi Gong Master Routine for Immortality:
At 3 a.m. face northeast and do the Triplecosmic Breathing.
At 6 a.m. face east and do the Triplecosmic Breathing.
At 9 a.m. face southeast and do the Triplecosmic Breathing.
At 12 p.m. face south and do the Triplecosmic Breathing.
At 3 p.m. face southwest and do the Triplecosmic Breathing.
At 6 p.m. face west and do the Triplecosmic Breathing.
At 9 p.m. face northwest and do the Triplecosmic Breathing.
At 12 a.m. face north and do the Triplecosmic Breathing.

This puts you on a cycle gathering in force from Yourself in the Microcosmic Breath, the Earth & Sun in the Macrocosmic Breath, and the Cosmos & Beyond in the Metacosmic Breath.

Make this a regular practice and don’t worry about sleep.  You’ll find yourself energetic and you won’t need it like you used to.  Use that extra time to accomplish more in your life.  However, if you are not so fanatically inclined then that is also okay.  Just do the Triplecosmic Breathing in the morning, sometime during the day, and again at night.  That too, will be alright, and you will be alright.  Nay, you will be more than all right.  You’ll be Vital, Alive, and Ecstatic!