It's proof that age is just a number and no matter how old or young you are, there's tons of amazing things you can do. 65 is no longer the mandatory retirement age and in fact tons of people 65 and older are making huge goals, starting businesses, going back to school, and changing their lives.

I was at Tony Robbin's Unleash The Power Within a few months ago and was amazed when I saw an 80+ year old woman say she was here to change her life!

Check out this video and see for yourself. Drop a comment and let me know what you think of this new "ageism".

Deepak Chopra seems to think it's okay.

Whatever your feelings are about "puff, puff, pass" spirituality, check out this short video where Deepak Chopra makes a very good case for it. It's funny too.

Looking at a screen saver of nature does the trick too. What's even more important to note is that when people spent more time staring at artificial landscapes they became more focused on more selfish goals such as wealth, and fame.

Check out this article and the accompanying nature slide show to give your mind some relaxation.

Looking at nature makes you nicer

If you can't get outside, download a landscape screensaver, study suggests

By Diane Mapes

“If it weren’t for Central Park, all us New Yorkers would kill each other,” says Ruta Fox, a 50-something jewelry entrepreneur from Manhattan. “It’s the saving grace of this city.”

As extreme as that sounds, Fox may be on to something. In a set of recent experiments, researchers at the University of Rochester in New York monitored the effects of natural versus artificial environments — and found that nature actually makes us nicer.

“Previous studies have shown the health benefits of nature range from more rapid healing to stress reduction to improved mental performance and vitality,” says Richard Ryan, a professor of psychology, psychiatry and education at the University of Rochester and co-author of the study, published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.

“Now we’ve found nature brings out more social feelings, more value for community and close relationships. People are more caring when they’re around nature,” he says.

Fox, who lives three blocks from Central Park, says she’s definitely noticed the effect the 843 acres of woodlands, water bodies and rolling lawns has on the city’s overcrowded, overworked inhabitants.

“People in the park are happier,” she says. “They’re playing with their kids, running with their dogs, having picnics with their girlfriends or boyfriends. Their attitudes are better than in most circumstances of interaction in the city. It’s friendlier.”

Click to continue reading and to see the nature slide show >>

Sasha Xarrian

There are many in America right now that are losing their homes.

My children and I lost our home shortly after my divorce. Losing your home, a loved one, a business, a job, or any other significant thing or person in our lives brings forth vast and unsettling emotions.

Our sense of security, identity, and safety is threatened.

We wonder if we will survive. We wonder how we will survive. We feel pain, anger and a sense of tremendous loss.

At one time or another we will all experience this in our journey through life.

Sometimes we merely survive the upset.

Sometimes we are left with unresolved anger and a lingering or lifelong feeling of unjustness and unfairness.

Sometimes we experience a greater sense of ourselves and our abilities. We realize that we can not only survive but that we have intelligence, instincts, and strengths beyond what we previously believed. Sometimes we experience a peace that is more profound than we ever imagined. Sometimes our self-confidence expands. Many times we learn the power of letting go. And many times we learn that we are not the things we own or we are not the other half of another person.

What is life about?

Why do these “calamities” befall us?

Why are we here?

I believe that we are here to learn who we really are. I believe that we are here to grow in our power, love, intelligence and sense of self. I believe we are here to demonstrate to ourselves that we can survive and that after and through survival we rise to higher levels of spiritual and internal power. When I use the word power, I mean the ability, capacity and action of generating – of creating – this divine power within that many times has lain dormant waiting to be awakened.

Are you experiencing a wakeup call right now?

Are you being challenged beyond reason?

Are you unsure of your ability to survive or cope?

Know that you are more than this experience.

Know that you are divine.

Know that, on some level, you may even have created this event for your own growth or wakeup call.

Know that this may be a turning point in your life.

Know that you may discover a part of yourself that you never knew existed.

Know that – in time – you may look back on this experience and call it the best

thing that could have happened to you.

Know that it is not “bad” and neither are you.

Know that you are a creator.

Know that life is with you – whether you feel it now or not.

Know that you have the ability to look at what occurred or is occurring and figure out what you could have done differently to have prevented this. Know that it really is okay that you didn’t prevent it. Learn from this experience.

Some of you have read in Outrageous Mastery® how I figured out how to get a home for my children and myself. It was a wreck and it made me angry but once my children and I accepted it as a challenge – we rose to the occasion.

The pride that we all felt a year later went soul-deep. A neighbor just shook her head and said, “You are superwoman!”

And I felt like superwoman.

Know that everything passes.

Know that life goes on.

Know that you are more than this experience.

Know there is a reason for it.

Know it may turn into a gift.

Know that you are incredibly special.

Know that you are loved.

Know that it doesn’t mean you are a failure.

Know that it doesn’t mean anything negative about you.

It is a life experience. That is all.

And it is an opportunity to be stretched, to go beyond your comfort zone, to find
out how tough you really are. It is your challenge.

Rise to the occasion and show yourself who you are.

Look for and find the opportunity that is awaiting you. It is there.

Know you are more important and worth more than what is happening.

Know, as time passes, everything will be fine.

Know that you are the one that can make it fine.

With Love and Mastery,

Sasha Xarrian

P.S. One of the key ways to break free from loss is using your self-confidence. It's your greatest tool, so don't let it go to waste! I've made a special report with specific exercises to get your self-confidence to shine. Just click below to download it.

Download my FREE special report on using your self-confidence to get what you want >>

Essentially, you're a robot.

Which is why we all need to take time out and focus on ourselves, consciously working on being self-aware. If you're always on the go and life is so busy it's a blur, you're likely to never reach a high state of self-awareness. Especially when your brain just switches off.

Check out this article below for the details. It's pretty neat stuff.

Watching the brain 'switch off' self-awareness

By Gaia Vince from NewScientist.com

Everybody has experienced a sense of "losing oneself" in an activity - being totally absorbed in a task, a movie or sex. Now researchers have caught the brain in the act.

Self-awareness, regarded as a key element of being human, is switched off when the brain needs to concentrate hard on a tricky task, found the neurobiologists from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel.

The team conducted a series of experiments to pinpoint the brain activity associated with introspection and that linked to sensory function. They found that the brain assumes a robotic functionality when it has to concentrate all its efforts on a difficult, timed task - only becoming "human" again when it has the luxury of time.

Ilan Goldberg and colleagues used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to scan the brains of nine volunteers during the study. Participants were shown picture cards and told to push buttons to indicate whether or not an animal was depicted.

The series was shown slowly the first time, and at three times the rate on the second run through. On its third showing, the volunteers were asked to use the buttons to indicate their emotional response to the pictures. The experiment was then repeated using musical extracts, rather than pictures, and asked to identify whether a trumpet played.
Allocating resources

Goldberg found that when the sensory stimulus was shown slowly, and when a personal emotional response was required, the volunteers showed activity in the superfrontal gyrus - the brain region associated with self-awareness-related function.

But when the card flipping and musical sequences were rapid, there was no activity in the superfrontal gyrus, despite activity in the sensory cortex and related structures.

"The regions of the brain involved in introspection and sensory perception are completely segregated, although well connected," says Goldberg, "and when the brain needs to divert all its resources to carry out a difficult task, the self-related cortex is inhibited."

Click here to continue reading >>

Just this Wednesday, President Obama made major headway for civil rights legislation when he signed called the Matthew Shepard & James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, making it a federal hate crime to assault people based on sexual orientation, gender and gender identity.

It is named after Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, who were both killed due to their sexuality and ethnicity in 1998.

While hate crimes still exist, this is a major step for humanity. Check out the article below for the details:

Hate Crimes Bill Signed Into Law 11 Years After Matthew Shepard's Death

By Rachel Weiner from the HuffingtonPost.com

President Obama signed major civil rights legislation on Wednesday, making it a federal hate crime to assault people based on sexual orientation, gender and gender identity. The new measure expands the the scope of a 1968 law that applies to people attacked because of their race, religion or national origin. The U.S. Justice Department will have expanded authority to prosecute such crimes when local authorities don't.

The provision, called the Matthew Shepard & James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act is attached to a defense authorization bill. It is named after Matthew Shepard, a gay college student tortured and killed in 1998, and James Byrd Jr., a black man who was chained to a pickup truck and dragged to his death the same year.

The measure expands current hate crimes law to include violence based on gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. To assure its passage after years of frustrated efforts, Democratic supporters attached the measure to the must-pass defense policy bill over the steep objections of many Republicans.

The measure was a priority of the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., that had been on the congressional agenda for a decade. During the signing ceremony, Obama acknowledged Shepard's mom, Judy, and remembered that he had told her this day would come. He also gave a nod to Kennedy's family. Going forward, Obama promised, people will be protected from violence based on "what they look like, who they love, how they pray or why they are."

Read or watch President Obama's remarks before signing the legislation:

"After more than a decade of opposition and delay, we've passed inclusive hate crimes legislation to help protect our citizens from violence based on what they look like, who they love, how they pray, or who they are. I promised Judy Shepard, when she saw me in the Oval Office, that this day would come, and I'm glad that she and her husband Dennis could join us for this event. I'm also honored to have the family of the late Senator Ted Kennedy, who fought so hard for this legislation. And Vicki and Patrick, Kara, everybody who's here, I just want you all to know how proud we are of the work that Ted did to help this day -- make this day possible. So -- and thank you for joining us here today. (Applause.) So, with that, I'm going to sign this piece of legislation."

Click here to read more >>

• Lion = bravery, courage, king of the jungle
• The crucifix = Christianity, sacrifice, Jesus
• Dove = peace, hope.
• Shamrock = Ireland, luck, Saint Patrick's day

If you had to pick one symbol, glyph, drawing, or logo that would represent YOU, what would it be?

Drop a comment below and let us know what your personal symbol is and why. If Bruce Wayne had a bat, what would you have?

If this sounds a little ridiculous, it's not. Your body is designed to be a runner. From your skin to your big toe, your entire body is made to run.

But then why do people consistently injure themselves while training or running long distance? Sadly, it might have something to do with our obsession with the latest high-tech sneakers.

Check out this article from the New York Times on the beauty and brilliance of the human body.

And after you're done reading, feel free to stand in front of the mirror and admire yourself

The Human Body Is Built for Distance

By Tara Parker-Pope from the NYTimes.com

Does running a marathon push the body further than it is meant to go?

The conventional wisdom is that distance running leads to debilitating wear and tear, especially on the joints. But that hasn’t stopped runners from flocking to starting lines in record numbers.

Last year in the United States, 425,000 marathoners crossed the finish line, an increase of 20 percent from the beginning of the decade, Running USA says. Next week about 40,000 people will take part in the New York City Marathon. Injury rates have also climbed, with some studies reporting that 90 percent of those who train for the 26.2-mile race sustain injuries in the process.

But now a best-selling book has reframed the debate about the wisdom of distance running. In “Born to Run” (Knopf), Christopher McDougall, an avid runner who had been vexed by injuries, explores the world of the Tarahumara Indians of Mexico, a tribe known for running extraordinary distances in nothing but thin-soled sandals.

Mr. McDougall makes the case that running isn’t inherently risky. Instead, he argues that the commercialization of urban marathons encourages overzealous training, while the promotion of high-tech shoes has led to poor running form and a rash of injuries.

“The sense of distance running being crazy is something new to late-20th-century America,” Mr. McDougall told me. “It’s only recently that running has become associated with pain and injury.”

The scientific evidence supports the notion that humans evolved to be runners. In a 2007 paper in the journal Sports Medicine, Daniel E. Lieberman, a Harvard evolutionary biologist, and Dennis M. Bramble, a biologist at the University of Utah, wrote that several characteristics unique to humans suggested endurance running played an important role in our evolution.

Most mammals can sprint faster than humans — having four legs gives them the advantage. But when it comes to long distances, humans can outrun almost any animal. Because we cool by sweating rather than panting, we can stay cool at speeds and distances that would overheat other animals. On a hot day, the two scientists wrote, a human could even outrun a horse in a 26.2-mile marathon.

Click here to continue reading >>

While juggling a career, a family, parenting, a social life, etc., "time off" becomes harder and harder to find. It's unfortunate because some of the most ingenious creative sparks have come from taking a lil' time off.

Check out this video of renowned graphic artist (he's designed album covers for the Rolling Stones and Lou Reed) as he describes the best thing he ever did for his career. And yes, it was taking time off.

Our discussion here begins with a discussion of The Truth of who you really are. Who you really are is what I call an “Infinite Being” – a magnificent being who lives in a constant state of infinite power, wisdom, abundance, and joyfulness. Along your journey, you’ve no doubt heard something like this:

"We are Spiritual Beings having a physical experience."

That’s true, but it’s the little-known True nature of our “physical experience” I want to chat with you about here.
Your natural state as an Infinite Being also includes having an unlimited desire to play, explore, and express yourself creatively. As a result, you decided you wanted to play a game called "The Human Game."

We’re all here playing The Human Game!

The Human Game - What is it and why do we play it?

I define the term “game” as anything we do for entertainment, fun, challenge, and to express ourselves creatively. As such, to me, sports and traditional games like checkers, chess, bridge, and monopoly are games. But so is painting sculpting, playing a musical instrument, reading novels, watching plays, movies or TV shows, etc.
For purposes of discussion and using metaphors in this article, however, I’m going to focus 100% on sports games. All sports games have specific structures, themes, “playing fields,” and specific ways of winning.

Like baseball games have 9 innings, golf matches have 18+ holes, soccer games have two halves, and tennis matches have multiple sets, The Human Game was designed to have two phases. I call them “Phase 1” and “Phase 2” to keep things simple

The Goal of the Human Game

The theme of baseball is to score more runs than the other team. For golf, it’s to get the ball into the cup with the fewest number of strokes. For soccer it’s to score more goals than your opponent. The theme of The Human Game is to fully explore the experience of limitation and restriction – to explore what happens when you limit your natural state of infinite power, wisdom, abundance, joy, and ability to express yourself creatively.

Phase 1 Of the Human Game

To take that concept deeper, since your natural state is one of infinite power, wisdom, abundance, and joy, in Phase 1 of The Human Game, the goal is to convince yourself you’re the opposite of that – that you’re not powerful; you’re at the mercy of forces beyond your control; you’re living in a dangerous world; you’re not very “smart” (and/or there’s so much you don’t know and must learn); you’re not very abundant as it relates to money and stuff (or your abundance is unstable and can come, go, shrink, grow, etc.); and you’re unhappy or experiencing “negative” emotions most of the time.

As a result, The Human Game is jam packed with all sorts of limiting and restrictive ideas and experiences. Concepts like death, poverty, loss, fear, pain, shame, struggle, and sorrow were all created exclusively for The Human Game experience.

The Playing Field For The Human Game

Soccer is played on a field, basketball on a court, baseball on a diamond, golf on a course. The playing field for The Human Game is what we call “3 Dimensional Reality” or “The Physical Universe,” which has visible and invisible components.

The playing field isn’t “real.” It doesn’t Truly have any power over us. It’s a cleverly crafted illusion that we create and convince ourselves is real and has power over us in Phase 1 -- as the quantum physicists and mystics have told us.

Once you’re born, the process of forgetting The Truth (about who you really are and what your natural state is), limiting and restricting yourself, and convincing yourself the illusory playing field is real kicks into high gear. In the popular psychology, success and self-help literature, this process is often called programming or conditioning, but it goes much deeper than is generally discussed.

How To Play In Phase 1 Of The Human Game

Therefore, to play in Phase 1 of The Human Game, we must:

1. Create the illusory playing field (3 Dimensional Reality), convince ourselves it’s real and has tremendous power over us
2. Convince ourselves we’re the opposite of who we really are as we play The Human Game on the field
3. Play with and explore limitations and restrictions in a myriad of ways as we play on the field

Living In Phase 1

That was a tremendous achievement – and it’s at the core of what makes The Human Game so much fun and challenging for us as Infinite Beings (even though you and I might disagree about it being “fun” at times from our limited and distorted perspectives). To do it, we used every resource at our disposal – personal experiences, what we see happening to other people, what others say to us, what we say to ourselves, the media, song lyrics, movies and TV shows, books, etc.

As we play in Phase 1, because the name of the game is limitation and restriction, there are so many things we want to change, fix and improve about our lives. We’re encouraged to try all kinds of strategies, techniques, and tools to do it. But we never fully succeed – or the experience of “success” doesn’t last. The reason that happens is because remaining limited, restricted, and convinced the illusion is real is the desired outcome in Phase 1. By design, it doesn’t change and we don’t get to “have it all” until we enter Phase 2 and expand to a certain point. More about that in a minute.

The Self-Created Cloud Of Illusion

Let me share a metaphor with you to hammer this critical and little-known Truth home. Compare the Infinite Being that you really are to the sun. When you think of the sun, you think of tremendous power, energy, light and heat, right? So it’s a good fit for your natural state.

Now, imagine that in Phase 1, you create a very solid, dense, layer of cloud cover that blocks your access to the sun of who you really are. Metaphorically then, on the other side of the cloud cover, as we play in Phase 1 on the illusory playing field called 3 Dimensional Reality, we’re playing in a dark, cold, black and white world – compared to the brightness, warmth, and “color” of our natural state as Infinite Beings.

As long as the cloud cover is in place and access is blocked to your natural state, you may be able change some of the details of what you experience on a daily basis – as it relates to income, net worth, business, career, relationships, health and wellness, etc. (you may not) – but even if you do, you’ll still remain limited, restricted, convinced the illusion is real and you’re the opposite of who you really are within it. Why? Because that’s the whole point, the goal, the “job” of the cloud cover in Phase 1!

This is why none of the self-help, personal growth, or success techniques work consistently or reliably. They’re not meant to in Phase 1!

Achieving True And Lasting Transformation

You must knock out the cloud over if you want to experience what I call “True And Lasting Transformation.” You can’t just have an intellectual understanding of who you are, what your natural state really is, and what’s really going on, you must actually knock out the cloud over.

Most of us spend our lives struggling in Phase 1 (to one degree or another, in one or more areas of our lives), trying to change, fix and improve our circumstances, failing to do it fully, having no idea there’s a Phase 2 of The Human Game, or how to begin playing it. That was my story until 5+ years ago.

Entering Into Phase 2 Of The Human Game

In Phase 2 of The Human Game, the whole game reverses itself. Where Phase 1 was all about limitation, restriction, illusions appearing real, creating and locking the cloud cover into place, Phase 2 is all about expansion, knocking out the cloud cover, and re-experiencing The Truth of who you really are.

Phase 2 has two segments to it. In the first segment, you continue playing The Human Game, but you take an extraordinary journey that enables you to drill holes through the cloud cover, knock out bigger and bigger chunks of it, and expand back into more and more of a direct and consistent experience of who you really are -- with full access to your infinite power, wisdom, abundance, joy, and ability to express yourself creatively in a myriad of ways.

Playing The Game With No Limits

In the second segment of Phase 2, you continue playing The Human Game, you don’t become “enlightened” and leave, but you begin playing for the sheer pleasure of playing -- with no limits or restrictions at all, except those you choose to experience to create games that are fun for you to play.

Moving through the first segment of Phase 2 into the second segment of Phase 2 is how you Truly “win” The Human Game! True Success is not about being “successful” as it relates to money, business, career, relationships, health and wellness, sex, being happy, being of service to others, etc. – it’s about expanding back into a direct experience of who you really are, and being able to play The Human Game for the sheer pleasure of playing – with no “outside” limits or restrictions.

Opening The Gateway To Phase 2

Through a remarkable journey that began for me when I was 12 (I’m 52 at the time of this writing), I discovered how to open a gateway into Phase 2. I developed a set of tools you can use to drill tunnels through the cloud cover, poke holes through it, ultimately knock out huge chunks, and expand as you play the Phase 2 game. I also created a series of maps and guidance systems that support you as you drill and expand. I’ll share more about my discoveries with you in the free gifts described below.

I’m sure this all sounds very exciting to you, but it may also seem impossible, impractical, pie in the sky, or something reserved for a special few. I assure you it’s possible, it’s practical, and it’s do-able -- for you!

To me, the Phase 2 game is the best game in town, and an extraordinary experience that’s beyond words. My first priority and primary focus in life is playing The Phase 2 game myself. My second priority and point of focus is supporting others who wish to do the same. I invite you to join me, and thousands of others worldwide, who are now playing the Phase 2 Game.

As I mentioned in the video above, the words above barely scratch the surface of what I have to share about Phase 1, Phase 2, and winning The Human Game. To allow you to go deeper, I’ve got two free gifts for you. One is a 90 minute audio recording taken from a live event I did, and the other is a 35 page E-book.

Click here to take the exclusive tour of "The Journey of the Infinite" to turn you into a Phase 2 Player for wealth, joy, and wisdom >>

I wish you an ever-expanding experience of True power, wisdom, abundance and joy!

P.S. If you resonated with what you read here or have other things to share, please be sure to leave a comment below – for me, other readers, and the FinerMinds folks to see!