text:
Excerpts from
The Magic in Your Mind
by U. S. Anderson
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Book description
This book reveals a mental magic that guarantees increased achievement and assures success. Many people have locked themselves in prisons of their own making because they have been unsuccessful. The Magic in Your Mind teaches the magic by which men become free and begin to grow into the image of the secret self.
Perfect action and perfect works stem from an inner conviction of the mental cause behind all things. A man changes the state of his outer world by first changing the state of his inner world. Everything that comes to him from outside is the result of his own consciousness. When he changes that consciousness he alters his perception and thus the world he sees. By understanding the process and effect of mental imagery, he goes directly along the correct path to his goal.
This book reveals a mental magic that assures success, that absolutely guarantees increased achievement, whether your profession is in the arts or business, in science or sales, in sports, war, or politics. Here you will learn the secret way in which your mind is tied to the source of all power; you will learn how you are capable of becoming anything and doing anything you can visualize.
Every man's consciousness is constantly changing, is trapped at the knife-edge overlap of past and future, reacts rather than acts, is incomplete and partial, eternally seeks itself, for since the mere state of being throws no light on that state, consciousness learns of itself through reaction to outside stimuli. If a man comes to believe he is unsuccessful, it is because he carries the impression he has been unsuccessful, and this conclusion, once adopted, inescapably molds him into the shape of the thing he believes, locks him in a prison of his own making.
The magic by which a man becomes free is imagination. By training himself to cast up mental pictures of the thing he desires, by resisting sensual stimuli, even envisaging the exact opposite, he tends to assume a factual position in accordance with his vision, for his vision then becomes his experience, rather than the sensual stimuli that moved him before. Consciousness always assumes a form to suit its knowledge of itself, and where such knowledge breaks beyond the limits imposed by sensory experience, man begins to grow into the image of the Secret Self.
There is only one mind in all creation; that mind is in everyone, is in its true state of being not confined to anyone, not confined to the body. It is a central, knowing consciousness in which everything dwells, which dwells in everything. In a bodily-confined state it assumes the limitations imposed upon it by the knowledge of itself which it receives through the senses, but when bondage to those senses is broken by development of an inner power to perceive and know directly, then slavery to its embodiment is at an end.
Perfect action and perfect works stem from an inner conviction of the mental cause behind all things. A man changes the state of his outer world by first changing the state of his inner world. Everything that comes to him from outside is the result of his own consciousness. When he changes that consciousness he alters his perception and thus the world he sees. By coming to a clear understanding of the process and effect of mental imagery he is led irrevocably along the correct path to his goal. By working with this cause of all things—his own consciousness—he achieves infallibility in works, for inasmuch as his mental imagery propels him into action, that action is always true to the picture in his mind and will deliver him its material counterpart certainly.
In this
book you will find a program for training the image power of the mind,
so that
a scene or situation cast up in consciousness will arrive in three
with color and sound, pulsing with life, as real for you as the outside
Haven't you ever dreamed such dreams? Haven't you sometimes in
sleep become
immersed in a mental and spiritual world with such solidity and
dimension that
you were certain it was real and the material world a delusion? If ever
have known the overwhelming power of mental imagery to influence your
and perception, then you will quickly see that the salvation of each of
us is
to train his image power to obey him. In this manner it is possible to
free from the promptings and urgings of nature, from death and
disease and
destruction, from ineffectuality and frustration. For the man whose
inner power
of vision transcends the constantly distracting stimuli of the outer
world has
taken charge of his own life, is truly master of his fate.
Chapter 1
SHAKESPEARE'S Hamlet in his famed soliloquy pondered, "To be or not to be," and thus faced squarely the primary challenge of life. Most people only exist, never truly are at all. They exist as predictable equations, reacting rather than acting, walking compendiums of aphorisms and taboos, reflexes and syndromes. Surely the gods must chuckle at the ironic spectacle of robots fancying themselves free, but still, when finally the embodied consciousness rises above the pain-pleasure principle of nature, then the true meaning of freedom is made apparent at last.
We exist in order that we may become something more than we are, not through favorable circumstance or auspicious occurrence, but through an inner search for increased awareness. To be, to become, these are the commandments of evolving life, which is going somewhere, aspires to some unsealed heights, and the awakened soul answers the call, seeks, grows, expands. To do less is to sink into the reactive prison of the ego, with all its pain, suffering, limitation, decay, and death. The man who lives through reaction to the world about him is the victim of every change in his environment, now happy, now sad, now victorious, now defeated, affected but never affecting. He may live many years in this manner, rapt with sensory perception and the ups and downs of his surface self, but one day pain so outweighs pleasure that he suddenly perceives his ego is illusory, a product of outside circumstances only. Then he either sinks into complete animal lethargy or, turning away from the senses, seeks inner awareness and self-mastery. Then he is on the road to really living, truly becoming; then he begins to uncover his real potential; then he discovers the miracle of his own consciousness, the magic in his mind.
Mastery over life is not attained by dominion over material things, but by mental perception of their true cause and nature. The wise man does not attempt to bend the world to fit his way or to coerce events into a replica of his desires, but instead strives for a higher consciousness that enables him to perceive the secret cause behind all things. Thus he finds a prominent place in events; by his utter harmony with them he actually appears to be molding them. He moves effortlessly through the most strenuous action, the most perilous times, because his attunement with the mental force that controls the universe guides him to perform the work that needs to be done.
This mental force that controls the universe may be called anything you like and visualized any way you choose. The important thing is to understand that it exists, to know something about how it works, what your relationship to it is. It might, for instance, be likened to an enormous electromagnetic field. All conscious forms of life then would be tiny electro-magnetic fields within the universal field and finding positions within it, each according to the kind and quality of its field. Where each individual field would wind up within the main field then would be a matter of inexorable law and absolutely unavoidable, as is illustrated by the millions of people who perform the same tasks over and over with absolutely the same results, almost as if following ritual. Perhaps they are always sick, always defeated, "just barely misers," perhaps always broke, always out of a job. If we give just the slightest reflection to our own lives we cannot help but be startled by how we seem dogged by the same situation in all things, year after year, time after time. This deadly recurrence is the source of most frustration and mental illness, is the bottom root of all failure.
Yet it is avoidable. And the way by which it is avoidable brings complete emancipation of the mind and spirit. For the tiny electro-magnetic field has inherent within it the ability to change the kind and quality of its field, so that it will be moved about within the main field with all the power and sureness of the main field until it arrives at the position its new quality of consciousness demands.
The important thing to remember about this illustration is that the tiny electro-magnetic field does not move itself. It is moved by the large field. And behind its movement lies all the power of the large field. Any attempt by it to move itself is obviously futile since it is held in place by a power infinitely greater than itself. And it is held where it is because of what it is. The moment a change occurs within itself, it is moved by a power outside itself to a new position in the field, one in keeping with its new potential.
The foregoing is admittedly an analogy, but nevertheless S.W. Tromp in his remarkable book, Psychical Physics, has proved beyond all doubt that the human being exudes certain electro-magnetic fields, that the earth itself gives off an electro-magnetic field, and his illustrations are so impeccably documented that there cannot possibly be any scientific quarrel with them. We indeed may be on the very threshold of scientific proof of those invisible areas of human aspiration that have hitherto been the province of philosophers, diviners, and priests. Departments of investigation into the paranormal abilities of the human psyche have been established at our leading universities, and it is now surely only a matter of time until we are faced with the final irrevocable proof of our intuitive perception—the power of mind over matter.
It is a mental world we live in, not a physical one at all. The physical is merely an extension of the mental, and an imperfect extension at that. Everything we see, hear, and feel is not a hard and inescapable fact at all, but only the imperfect revelation to the senses of an idea held in mind. Preoccupation with sensory experience has focused attention on effects instead of causes, has led scientific investigation down a blind alley where everything grows smaller into infinity or larger into infinity and walls man off from the secrets that lie behind life. It is not the planets and stars, the elements and winds, or even the existence of life itself that is the miracle that demands our attention. It is consciousness. It is the mere fact of being, the ability to say, "I." Consciousness is an indisputable fact, the greatest miracle of all, and all the sights and sounds of the world are merely side-effects.
To be conscious is to be conscious; there are not different kinds. The "I" that is in your neighbor is the exact same "I" within you. It may appear to be different through being attached to different sensory experience, but that is only because it has allowed itself to be conditioned by such experience. In point of actual fact consciousness is never the result of experience but the cause instead, and wherever we find it, it is primarily aware of existing, of being "I." There is only one basic consciousness in all creation; it takes up its residence in all things, appears to be different according to the things it enters into, but in essence is never changed at all. It is intelligence, awareness, energy, power, creativeness, the stuff from which all things are made. It is the alpha and omega of existence, first cause; it is you.
"Everything in Nature contains all the powers of Nature. Everything is made of one hidden stuff," wrote Ralph Waldo Emerson. He pierced the veil, perceived behind the sense-enamoring dance of nature's myriad forms the workings of the one mind and one intelligence from which all life and aspiration spring. There can be no inner peace or surety of action without this basic spiritual knowledge. The man who lives isolated from the roots of his being has cut himself off from the source of all power and dwells alone and without resource in a hostile and threatening world. Let him once perceive the true nature of life and his relationship to it and he soon sees that the world always reflects his thoughts.
The surface mind or sense-self or ego is the villain of the play that is being enacted on the human stage at present. Man as a form of life is sufficiently evolved so as to understand his separateness and uniqueness. He looks in the mirror and understands that the reflected animal is he. He is concerned with the appearance and welfare of this animal and ponders its relationships with the world and others. He does not truly understand what he is, only that he is conscious and confined within a particular body, and the experience and knowledge he acquires, together with his disposition as to their use, he labels "I," and thus he is deluded into calling a ghost by his own name.
Hidden behind this ghost, obscured by its struggles and fancies, is the Secret Self, which even though hidden, ignored, or misunderstood, nevertheless moves all things on the chessboard of life according to their natures and aspirations. We are never ego or sense-self. These are masks we don as we play at the parts we find in life. What we truly are is not a changing thing, but is whole and entire, powerful and serene, limitless and eternal. It springs from the inexhaustible source of life itself, and when we learn to identify ourselves with it, then we have hitched a ride on a power so far beyond our tiny temporal selves that our lives are changed in the most amazing manner.
"To be what we are and to become what we are capable of being," wrote Robert Louis Stevenson, "is the only end of life." But when we stultify our divine birthright in manacles of mental and spiritual limitations, then we have no alternative but stagnation and pain. As long as we are responsive solely to the stimuli that impinge upon our senses from the outer world, we have no choice but to be victims of every circumstance. Locked to the senses, we reel under each stimulus, now aggressive, now afraid, now joyful, now sad, now seeking death, now life, but always our inner serenity and equilibrium are in the hands of something we neither understand nor control; and so we are puppets, pulled by invisible and unknown strings, swirling in the maelstrom of life like scraps of paper in the wind; and if perchance we garner knowledge enough to perceive our helplessness, then we often are overcome with such depths of sadness as to make effort against our bonds an almost unimaginable thing.
But the moment that we pause long enough in the headlong rush of life to see that we are not moving in accord with or in response to our own decisions but rather in reaction to the world around us, then we have taken the first step toward freedom. Only one who knows his slavery can aspire to be free, just as true freedom is possible only to one who has experienced chains. Our hates, loves, fears, envies, aspirations, deceits are for the most part products of circumstance, of false and limiting codes and mores—more often innate terrors of mountains that are molehills; and the solution to all of them is to stand fore-square before them, daring them to do their utmost, exposing them for what they are, thus foreswearing allegiance to the cupidity of the deluding and blinding ego which forever keeps us thinking we are greater than others and less than we truly are.
It is not necessary to become a mystic, even a philosopher, certainly not a melancholy metaphysician in order to come to grips with the spiritual side of existence, to establish a mental causation in your life that will give you control of circumstance. What is necessary, however, is that you do not immediately throw out the door everything that has to do with spirit simply because it is the established province of religion. You may be a Christian or a Hindu, a Moslem or a Buddhist, a Taoist or Shintoist, but that only increases your individual human responsibility to think through all issues that bear on the world and life and death and your individual being. Only when you come to grips with your own mental essence, only when you arrive at a realization of the ephemeral, ever-changing nature of "I" will it become apparent that everything is in a constant state of growth and development and aspiration, and there are no limits and finalities and defeats, and anything is possible to one who first conceives the image in his mind.
There is within us a power of complete liberation, descended there from whatever mind or intelligence lies behind creation, and through it we are capable of becoming anything and doing anything we can visualize. The mental stuff of which we are made is of such kind and quality that it responds to the formation of images within it by the creation of a counterpart that is discernible to the senses. Thus any picture we hold in our minds is bound to resolve in the material world. We cannot help ourselves in this. As long as we live and think, we will hold images in our minds, and these images develop into the things of our lives, and so long as we think a certain way we must live a certain way, and no amount of willing or wishing will change it, only the vision we carry within.
It is astounding and sad to see the many thousands of people whose mental machinery keeps delivering to them the very effects they say they do not want. They bewail the fact that they are poor, but that doesn't make them richer. They complain about their aches and pains, but they keep right on being sick. They say that nobody likes them, which means they don't like anybody. They aren't bold, they aren't aggressive, they aren't imaginative; mentally they quiver and quake and are bound to negative delusions. It simply doesn't matter what the picture in your mind is, it is delivered nonetheless, with the same amount of faithfulness and promptness if it is a picture of poverty or disease or fear or failure as it would be if it were a picture of wealth or health or courage or success. The law of life is this: all things both good and evil are constructed from an image held in mind.
A tightrope walker edges swiftly out on his elastic and minuscule support. High in the air, wavering, suspended on a thin black line, he seems to transgress all normal laws of behavior. What is astonishing is not that he is able to do this thing so well but that he dares attempt it at all. Yet what he is doing is an inescapable result of mental law. Long before he set his first uncertain steps on the taut wire, he made a picture in his mind. Throughout his early bumbling attempts the picture persisted. He saw himself, agile, balanced, adroitly crossing the swaying wire, and this vision sustained him through all early failures, Now he flaunts his skill and courage in the very face of death, nonchalantly, as the spectators gasp. He is sure, poised, confident, delivered of all fear and mishap by the sustaining picture within.
The image power of the mind is imagination, but just what imagination is and where it comes from nobody seems to know. A famous surgeon is reputed to have remarked that he had sliced open many a brain without ever having seen a picture or found a thought. The imagination certainly is no more exclusive property of the brain than of an arm, a leg, or the stomach. Thinking is performed not by a part of the body or even the whole body but by the inhabitant within. It is that function which enables consciousness to know its surroundings and to know itself. Only one who thinks is able to say, "I". Only one who can say, "I" is able to cast up pictures within his own being, known to no others.
The eternal striving knowledge and capacity, the most apparent thing about life, is resolved always by two principal elements of the strife—the knower and the thing to be known. By definition these appear to be separate, and we observe that a man ordinarily copes with the outer world by tabulating the manner in which it impinges upon his senses. A thing is so long and so wide and weighs so much and is so hard and a certain color. A name is given it, and as long as each subsequent time it is encountered it maintains the majority of its original characteristics, a man recognizes it for what it is and knows it when he sees it. If you ask him if it is near, he is able to answer instantly, simply by glancing around. If its presence produces some particular effect upon him, like fear or anger or love or tension, then the mere presence or absence of this object may be said to materially affect his life. In that case, his state of mind is not a matter of his own determination, but instead is the direct result of the object as he encounters it or avoids it in the outer-world.
Life in animal and vegetable forms is purely a matter of reaction. There is first the organism, then there are the elements that intrude their presence upon it. The conflict thus engendered resolves itself in the process of evolution as each organism attempts to overcome the obstacles it meets, but this influence, through the lower stages of evolution, apparently comes only from outside and is the result of processes and forces beyond the control of the organism. Nature holds the world and life in an iron grip, and lower animal as well as vegetable life is led inexorably along a path it neither understands nor can avoid. A thing is the kind of thing it is through a creative process that appears to be outside it; existence itself, in any shape or form, appears to be beyond the power and scope of the individual being. We are born and we die, and nothing within our known powers or knowledge can aid or stop these events. And insofar as we live in response to the senses, we are automatons only, and the shape of our lives is predestined by the circumstances we encounter.
Imagination is the tool by which we may be delivered from our bondage. We can decide what we will think. We can decide to originate thought from some secret wellspring within rather than in response to the stimuli of the outer world. We can resolve that the images in our minds will no longer be products of the conditions we meet, but instead that our visualization will be the result of our inner resources and strength, in conformance with our goals and desires. Thus the quality of our consciousness will be tempered by our true motivations and we are freed at once of the trap of defeating our purposes through giving credence to every obstacle. The unalterable law is this: only that which takes root in mind can become a fact in the world. Thus the man whose consciousness is influenced only by the goals and purposes he has set within is delivered of all defeat and failure, for obstacles then are only temporary and have no effect upon his inner being. Only that which conforms to his inner vision is accepted home at last and allowed to take root in the plastic, creative medium of the Secret Self.
It is knowledge about and faith in this Secret Self that is the key to correct use of the imagination. No man lives in the dark when he learns where the light is. To understand the Secret Self is to free oneself from bondage to circumstance, to loose within a power compounded upon itself, to provide life with perfect working and perfect serenity. This entity within each of us, not the ego, not experience, not time or circumstance or place or position, but consciousness only, the "I" divested of all accoutrements except pure sense of existence, this is the self that contains all power, whose essence is greater than the individual, greater than ten thousand individuals, for it is the supporting structure upon which all things are built, the evolving self of the universe. It is not confined to the body, to a time or place or condition, but is in all times and places and conditions. It is infinite and eternal and only one, but being so as easily manifests as the finite and temporal and many. All are contained within it, yet each contains it all, for by its very nature all of it is everyplace at the same moment.
The Secret Self is timeless and eternal. It is the self of the universe and it is the self of each of us, the self of you. It was never born and it will never die. It enters into each of its creations and becomes that creation. What is going on in life and the world and the universe is completely its working and the result of its secret purpose and undivulged goal. The nature of its being is mental; its essence is dynamic and creative. It is the eternal stuff that occupies all space and time and within which there is no dimension. It is all ends and middles and opposites and extremes, and it is infinitely creative. The myriad forms of life are but a tiny indication of its vast potential for plastic multiplicity out of its essential oneness.
The Secret Self is within you. It is not visited upon a fortunate few and withheld from others, but is totally existent in the heart of each of us. Insofar as we are able to divorce ourselves from the world and the ego and sensual stimuli we will become increasingly aware of its existence within and consciously strive to identify ourselves with it. It is through this identification that the seeds of power are sown. One who is able to cast off the limitations of ego and improve the quality of his consciousness through disciplinary use of the imagination is able by means of direct identification to become one with the Secret Self and thus attain to a measure of its power for perfection. The potential for achieving this astounding goal lies within each of us. By means of inner mental ascendancy and pictorial definition a man may become one with the purposes of the Secret Self and thus become infallible in his works and his goals.
This is a pretty big capsule to swallow. Our materialistic society with its reverence for the products of science has excised three-quarters of our mentality. We have concerned ourselves too much with the world, what it is, what is in it, how we can use it, and today we know little more of the origins and purposes of life than we did before men were able to read and write. It is difficult when we know something of the principles of the gasoline engine, the generation and transmission of electricity, the refining and tempering of steel, of electronic and radio transmission, to admit the possibility that something radically opposed to the viewpoint of science could have a foundation in fact. Science says, "The laws of nature are supreme, and man must learn to live with them in order to prosper." Now comes this diametrically opposed theory, "Nature is subservient to mind, not the mind of man as we know it, but the Supreme Mind or Secret Self that lies behind life, and this Secret Self is within each of us. We can come to know it and to use it, and thus transcend the laws of nature and free ourselves from bondage to the senses and the material world."
What is going on in life is the evolution of the individual to complete oneness with the Secret Self. The universal being that lies behind creation has differentiated into finite form, taken disguise, so to speak, in order to work out the manifold sides of its infinite and eternal nature. Therefore the man who expands his consciousness is fulfilling the fondest wish of life. It is not necessary that we become saints to understand as much of the Secret Self as is necessary to use its power in our affairs. To know this law is enough: whatever we accept as a permanent mental image in our consciousness must manifest in our world, for we become in life what we are in consciousness, and nothing can alter that fact.
It takes a great deal of courage to admit to yourself that if you are sick, frightened, frustrated, or defeated you have brought these conditions on yourself and no one but yourself can get rid of them. Occasionally someone so afflicted will experiment with the power of his mind to cure him, but will give it only the most cursory trial. If, for example, he is ill and in pain, he might say, "I visualized myself well and happy, but I hurt just as much as ever." What he didn't do above all things was visualize himself well and happy. He visualized himself sick and in pain. The moment he began to visualize himself well and happy, he would become well and happy. This is not a law that works once in a while or part of the time or on auspicious occasions. It works all of the time and it works in the exact same way, and it is returning to you right now in the material world the images you maintain in your mind. You cannot escape them. They surround you, sustain you, or torment you. They are good or evil or uplifting or degrading or exalting or painful according to the vision that prompts them, and as long as you are alive, as long as you think and imagine, you are literally surrounded day and night by the images that predominate in your consciousness.
The startling power of the Secret Self is that it always makes manifest the image it beholds. Nothing illustrates this fact better than the current experiments with hypnosis. A man may be in such excruciating pain that even narcotics will not relieve him, but he can be put under deep hypnosis and told that there is no pain at all, and presto, there is no pain. He may have a deep and abiding fear of crowds, but under hypnosis it can be suggested to him that he likes crowds, and lo and behold, he enjoys them most of all. He can become stronger, healed of disease, smarter, more aggressive, possessed of endurance and indomitableness, all because these things are impressed upon his psyche as facts and the image in his mind grows from them.
"Aha!" the cry goes up, "find me a good hypnotist. I want to be smart and strong and successful and all those good things and to be rid of weakness and pain and failure." And hypnosis can do it too, if you are willing to abdicate as the person in charge of your life. If you are willing that someone else run it every hour of every day throughout the whole of it, then you can turn your life over to a hypnotist and he can remake it in the image you outline. However, it will make small difference to you. You may still be in the vehicle, but you no longer will be driving. If effort and strife and the overcoming of obstacles are the spurs to growth that the Secret Self intends them to be, then surely you will have abdicated from life itself.
You need no hypnotist to put the power of the Secret Self to constructive work in your life. No hypnotist can overcome the negative image making of your mind unless he is with you twenty-four hours a day. You are the only one in constant rapport with yourself, and thus you are the only one able to police the thoughts and images you entertain. If you let the image be prompted by something outside you, then you exercise no control over your life. If you accept images only in accord with your desires, then life will deliver your inner goals. In any case, the magnificent promise of the Secret Self is this: you can change your life by altering the images in your mind, for what comes to you in the end is only that which you have been accepting in consciousness.
Now there are many people who agree with this premise but are quick to point out that the images in the consciousness of most persons are projected there from the subconscious and are not of their own choosing. Most schools of psychotherapy apparently feel this way, for they propose a tedious and time-consuming treatment bent on expurgating from the subconscious memories of painful and bitter occasions which might prompt unpleasant images in the mind. Seven or eight years of this process have not noticeably emptied painful memories from the subconscious of most patients, and in any case, if a treatment is truly efficacious, it cannot possibly consume so long a time. The saddest thing about the modern "put the blame elsewhere" school of psychoanalysis is that the person undergoing it accepts it as justification for his failure to police his consciousness and thereafter expects such policing to be accomplished by having the neighborhood rid of criminals. If he achieves some semblance of a changed consciousness in the hands of the psychiatrist, he soon goes back to a world full of negative thoughts and ideas, and just because he does not police his own mind, they readily find acceptance there. You may not be able to alter the positions of the stars, to stop the earth from revolving, to cause the winds to blow or the sea to calm, but you can choose what you will think. You can think what you want to think. You can think only in response to an inner vision and a secret goal, and if you take your stand with a firm heart and a high resolve you will be successful and you will not be intimidated and you will project your image clear and true and its counterpart will return to you in the world.
In a little village on the western slopes of the Great Divide lived a man whose entire life had followed one ignominious pattern. For thirty-five years he had been an oil well driller and had followed the frontiers of oil exploration throughout the United States. During that time he had drilled forty-four wildcat wells and not one of them had made a strike. He had drilled in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Louisiana, California, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, and still he had not hit. Oil operators wouldn't hire him anymore. He became known as "Dry Hole" Casey, a nice guy, but strictly out of luck. Finally he took a job, in a Colorado mine and eked out his days without hope. He kept his drilling rig, though. It was his first love. Weekends would find him in the backyard, lubricating and cleaning its parts, handling them with ritualistic care.
One day in late spring, when the snow stood in broad glittering fields on the slopes of the mountains and the rivers and streams were high and roily, he wandered up into the woods and sat gazing over the valley. The valley was a basin hemmed in on three sides by precipitous intrusions of granite, and these mountains had been productive of many minerals, lead, zinc, silver, tungsten, manganese. Our friend gazed to the west, to where the basin sloped down to a plateau. Suddenly his mind formed the perfect picture of a faulted anticline, a predominant type of subsurface oil trap. The image seemed superimposed over the scene before his eyes, so that he could almost see the oil below the surface of the ground. He trembled before his vision, could not resist it. It seemed like a sudden visitation from heaven, and he left the mountainside absolutely certain that within the small valley lay a major oil field.
Next day he quit his job in the mine and with his savings managed to procure oil lease options on the land he visualized as being the most favorable. Now he had to raise capital to complete his leasing arrangements and provide funds to drill an initial well, a gargantuan task, since everyone who knew him knew also his history of failure. But the vision in his mind persisted. It led him to take a bus to an eastern city in quest of funds. It led him after a week of discouragement to a park bench and a seat alongside an elderly man who quietly and patiently fed the squirrels.
It was a bright warm day, and the squirrels were active, playing and clowning over the proffered food, and the two men laughed at their antics, and each told stories of other squirrels and other times and agreed that the foibles of humanity were not shared by animals. Warmed at each other's company, they agreed to lunch together at a nearby restaurant. In the course of the luncheon, the oil driller told his new-found friend of his vision and his problem. His friend was interested, questioned him closely about the vision he had had on the mountainside, seemed impressed that it persisted.
"How much money do you need?" he asked.
"Fifty thousand dollars," replied the oil well driller.
"I will provide it," the man said suddenly. "We will be equal partners."
It seemed incredible, but there it was—a chance acquaintanceship on a park bench, and the money was provided. It is almost anticlimactic to relate that the subsequent well discovered a rich oil field. There simply was no alternative. And the man who put up the money knew that it would. He had had sufficient experience with the power of inner vision to manifest in the world to be absolutely sure of his position. He did not dwell for a moment on his partner's previous failures, only on the vision that possessed him now.
What strange alchemy prompted our oil driller to have this clear vision in his mind, a vision that subsequently made him a rich man, when his whole previous life had been one unbroken line of failure? Surely the wells he had drilled before had been drilled in response to a vision too. Why should they have failed?
They failed because the vision he possessed then was one of failure. Sure, he would have denied it, but it was true. Perhaps a sense of the great hazard connected with searching for oil lay at the crux of his subconscious. Perhaps he felt that the odds were against him. Perhaps he was conscious of the fact that there are millions of acres of land without oil under them. In any case, his vision was one of failure, from whatever cause, and he was led into those arrangements that would inevitably cause him to put his drill bit down in barren soil. And in two cases, where he actually had drilled on productive land, he once had ceased making hole only twenty-seven feet above the productive formation and another time failed to make a test of a sand that later produced several million barrels. But he could not help himself. He was only following the dictates of the vision in his mind.
See how different his behavior was in the discovery of the basin field. He saw the oil. He knew it was there. There was not the slightest doubt in his mind, and that is the way he acted. There was no resisting him this time. His vision was for production, and that is what resulted.
Why? Why did he finally have a positive vision after harboring a negative one for so many years? Such a question could not be answered with certainty without making an intensive study of the man, but in all probability the debilitating and crippling factor was fear. Fear more than any other single thing warps and distorts our vision. Our oil driller most likely was afraid of failure, and his apprehension twisted his inner vision from success to defeat. He couldn't win as long as the fear stayed with him. Finally, when he had reached the absolute bottom, when the business he loved had rejected him and the men in it no longer would hire him, fear simply left him. Everything bad had happened already, what more was there to fear? And in this psychologically relieved attitude, the Secret Self was able to get through the mask of vanity, and the ensuing vision inevitably brought success.
"It is computed," wrote Jonathan Swift, "that eleven thousand persons have, at several times, suffered death rather than submit to break their eggs at the smaller end." The resistance of the human mind to change is amazing, especially when it appears so obvious that life itself is nothing more than change. Multitudes of people, many of them very intelligent, argue that all cause is in the physical world and that mentality only observes. They seem determined to go down to their deaths with this frightfully erroneous viewpoint, even though their own inner attitudes belie their stand, even though their slogans extol the power of mind over matter.
On locker room doors and conference room walls the framed and placarded slogans emblazon their messages: "A quitter never wins. A winner never quits." "A team that won't be beat, can't be beat." "Put your heart in it. All else will follow." "Make up your mind, and you make up the future." But these verbal expositions to thoughtful vision are regarded as having precedence only in such matters as team effort, to bind together the group for a purpose, and their tremendous importance to individual creativeness is largely overlooked. From the inner vision all things are done—the bridge is built, the tower constructed, the oil well drilled, the motion picture made, the book written, the picture painted, music composed, outer space probed, secrets of the atom exposed.
There is absolutely no such thing as accomplishment unless it is preceded by a vision of that accomplishment. You simply can't reach across the table and pick up a dish unless you first have the mental image. All things come to all people according to the pictures that form in their minds, and the effort that is expended in this world to escape fates that are inevitable is sufficient to construct a tower to the sun. No amount of movement, of physical energy expended, can prevail against a wrong mental image. Similarly, the possessor of the correct mental image is guided to perform the work to be done, effortlessly, almost nonchalantly. Most of the struggling and striving in the world is done by people who are trapped into unwanted circumstances through incorrect mental visualization, and the fact that they visualize the very thing that they profess to abhor is the contradictory situation that is filling our psychiatrists' couches.
Bernard Spinoza wrote, "So long as a man imagines that he cannot do this or that, so long is he determined not to do it; and consequently, so long is it impossible to him that he should do it." The picture that forms in the mind, whether for good or ill, will deliver its inevitable consequence. The problem is not with the mental or spiritual fact of physical fulfillment of mental visualization, but rather of finding a key that will enable each person to cast up mental images at will, hold them until realization, and not have other images intruded by the recalcitrant subconscious, which so often runs contrary to the wishes of the conscious mind. In the deeper reaches of the human psyche the seeds are formed that motivate a whole life, and a man either accedes to or takes command of these invisible prompters. If he accedes, his life will be run from a source beyond his conscious control. If he takes command, he becomes master of his fate.
Taking command is never as simple as it sounds. It requires a firmness and boldness that only few people innately possess. Most of us live as complete slaves to reaction, absolute victims of the commands of the subconscious, and we seldom if ever even think it possible that we can overcome our feelings and react in an entirely different way than circumstances would have us do. For example, if you participate in a test and defeat seems inevitable, you only make it certain by acceding. But if you keep alive your spirit by a vision of victory, by an absolute resistance to the importunities of defeat and disaster, who knows what miracles may occur? The mental vision that resists all sensual stimuli becomes at length a thing unto itself and its resolution as objective fact in the material world cries out for utterance and will not be stifled. Nature's vast creativity springs from the infinite potentiality of the Secret Self. Anything possible of conception is sure to eventually be created as a solid material fact for all the world to witness. There is no such thing as an idea without a visible resolution, for the great plasticity of the Secret Self shapes every idea contained within it, and whoever is possessed of a thought is possessed of a thing as well, as long as he holds his image clear.
Creativeness is not part of the surface self, of the ego, the conscious mind, the physical or sensual being. It emanates upward through the levels of consciousness from the Secret Self, takes shape and form through a power greatly beyond and infinitely more powerful than the small individual "I." That part of a man which is most powerful of all is invisible, seems apart from him completely, is hidden in the deepest recesses of his being, is not callable by name, is not recognizable through the physical senses, cannot be coerced, but responds innately and completely to image. This is the great plastic Secret Self from which all things are made, the creative self of the universe, maintaining a sameness in all differentiations, being eternally one in the midst of multiplicity; this is the Secret Self within you, which is not different from you, which in final analysis is altogether you. You are not conscious mind or ego or memory or sensual being, but were born directly from the mind that formulated and constructed the universe, and you are not different from that mind but attached to it by a mental and spiritual construction that makes you and it the same.
Abandonment of the surface self and seeking self-balance in the deeper regions of consciousness is the pathway to power and perfection in works. For when a man attunes himself to the life force and mental entity that gives him consciousness and lives within him, then he takes on by a process of identification the effectiveness and potency of the infinite and eternal entity from which his individual life has sprung. His horizons expand, his consciousness widens; there wells up from secret and subterranean springs a constantly increasing and never-ceasing power for perfection and perfect understanding. His faith is placed with simplicity and unfailing trust in the inherent power of the Secret Self to return in material fact those mental images that live within him, and he need not have the key that unlocks the universe in order to use effectively this basic law. It bothers him not that there exist doors in the mental and spiritual realm that thus far have not yielded. He need not know all and understand all to use those truths he thus far has discovered, and he lives in the consciousness that life is a mental adventure and not a physical journey.
We all have seen people achieve great ends effortlessly. We have seen others strive frantically toward some goal only to consistently fall short. We are assured on all sides that hard work makes the successful man, yet we discern almost immediately that hard work sometimes fails of accomplishment while fortune often smiles on the man who seems to make little effort at all. Shakespeare wrote, "There is a tide in the affairs of men which taken at the flood leads on to fortune." The story is told of the man whose furnace refused to work and who subsequently called a repair man. The repair man struck the furnace a blow with his hammer, and it promptly resumed working. He presented a bill for one hundred dollars. "Outrageous," sputtered the irate householder. "I want that bill itemized." "All right," answered the repair man. He scribbled on the bill, "Striking one blow with hammer—one dollar. Knowing where to strike—ninety-nine dollars."
It is not how hard we work that matters, but what we get done. It is not the wailing and gnashing of teeth that is the show, but the things that are built and accomplished. The knowledge of the simple lever six thousand years ago might have saved a million hours of backbreaking labor, and had television existed in the time of Christ a different shape indeed might have been given the Christian Church. Knowing where and when to strike, just as the repair man so aptly illustrated, is the goal to be sought, and not the energy to run a million circles around a field which does not need to be circled even once. Knowledge is the thing, not physical effort; all things exist because of mental causes, have risen in the physical world in response to ideas held in mind. Mind is first cause, and he who is guided by this knowledge discovers the fountain of power.
Your Secret Self is a giant self, dwarfing into nothingness your surface mind and ego. It is a self without limits in space and time, and anything is possible to it. Its manifestations on the human scene sometimes seem supernatural. It outcrops in our geniuses in those with "second sight," in our artists, our explorers, our pioneers, our adventurers. Its presence may be intimately felt in the fields of parapsychology, extrasensory perception, precognition, clairvoyance, thought transference. It stands behind all human endeavor and aspiration as the guiding intelligence of evolution. Life is going somewhere high and lofty and worthwhile, and the path by which the heights are to be scaled is safe and secure and well-known. Only in partial knowledge is there confusion, and only through the separate and incomplete view of the surface self are we rendered impotent and afraid in a world that should be ours. The little mind that sits immediately behind our eyes has not the horizons nor the expanded consciousness to see the larger picture, the worthier and greater goal of the Secret Self. All individual suffering, frustration, and failure stem from the failure of the surface mind to find and properly identify itself with the Divine. In isolating ourselves from the true roots of our being, we are thrown out of kilter with the power and surety of the Supreme. By fancying ourselves to be sense-minded only, we are like the severed tail of a snake, possessed of movement still, but senseless now, without purpose or entity, helter-skelter, scratching out a crazy pattern in the dust.
We are one body only, one mind only, one deep and abiding intelligence. We are not tiny infinitesimal parts of an infinite and incomprehensible whole, but we are that very whole, that entire mind, that great and vast intelligence from which the universe has evolved, and everything contained within the universe is contained within us, and if we truly understand ourselves we understand the world and everything in it.
You can be anything you want to be, do anything you want to do, tread any path you will to tread, become master of your fate, ordain your future, but you will not do these things by railing against circumstance, by throwing yourself frantically against events and persons simply because they do not seem to be in accord with your plans. Only by perceiving the hidden purpose behind events, the true motivations that actuate people, will you be able to attune yourself to life, to act in accord with the gigantic tides that bring the future. This faculty is yours once you have gleaned the existence of the Secret Self and have set about striving to live in accord with it rather than with the surface self that has moved you heretofore.
We all aspire to goals, desire
to improve our understanding and
our abilities. We would not be alive if growth were not inherent in us.
oftentimes our growth becomes calcified through being ringed around
impermeable layers of selfishness and conceit. This selfishness is not
necessarily just acquisitiveness; it may even be exemplified by an
generosity; it is simply primary concern for the ego, a living by and
accordance with the little "I" that constitutes the average person's
of himself. Such conceit makes knowledge of self a constant judgment, a
with others, favorably or unfavorable. It feeds on flattery and
victory, is decimated
by criticism defeat. It has, no true existence, but
depends entirely
upon circumstance and the reactions those circumstances set up within
it. As a
consequence, it is always exultant or sad, for its impression of
itself is
that it is either better than or worse than everything that confronts
it. It
has absolutely no knowledge of equality
through the limiting boundaries of the ego into the unimpaired
vision and
knowledge and joy of the Secret Self is the undoubted goal of
evolution, the purpose
of life. This transformation, truly a transfiguration of the mind
and spirit,
is not an absolute thing but a matter of degree, is partially
achieved at
this moment by thousands of living persons, is possible of limited
by anyone who lives. To exist immersed in the ego is to live a
restricted life,
to realize only a small fraction of your potentiality. Such
subordination to the dictates of nature is a subjection to pain
and suffering
and death and decay. Such subjection is normal to lower forms of life,
part of the plan by which the Secret Self is emerging from matter, but
when consciousness
has reached the point where it recognizes its imprisonment, when
it sees its
subjection to circumstance and pleasure and pain, then it must strive
to be
free, to establish a truer order for its development. It then must
through the barriers of its awareness, cease living in the ego and
attain the
widened horizons and powers of the Secret Self, or it will fall back
into the
inertia of the sensual nature, lose its capacity for growth and
development and
so cease to represent the Secret Self at all. To the person
trapped and
resigned to be trapped in the ego, there is no final end but suffering
and pain.
Only in the Divine lie
the ultimate resources that overcome all obstacles, and only in
seeking to
discover the Secret Self has a man firmly set foot on the one and only
that leads to success, serenity, and joy
Nothing, of course, can be accomplished without a fight. Life itself is a struggle, and each of us enters it daily. It is simply a question of where to expend the effort: pursuing the material wraiths of the physical world that constantly seem to elude us or concentrate on an inner resource that controls the outer world. It is a wise man who expends his energies developing his consciousness. He shortly will find that all the aspects of the world have assumed an order and a benignity he would not have thought possible. All things appear to do his bidding, not because he truly bids them, but because he understands them. It is this knowledge, attained by inner perception, of the potentiality of each thing and circumstance, that leads to beneficent power, that allows a man to move through the most intense conflicts with serenity and surety. He sees the thing to be done because he knows the outcome that must be achieved, and because of this inherent perception of the laws of life and nature, he appears to be modeling each event, shaping each thing, yet it is not he who does this but the Secret Self within him, to which he has entrusted himself completely and which guides his steps and actions with omnipotent assurance.
Will you have the power and
assurance and serenity of the Secret
Self? Then there is something you must give up. You must give up the
ego, that
thing within you that you always have thought to be your very self. You
seek to shed that sense of separateness that is a product of your
surface mind
and to search deep within your consciousness for the pure core of being
that is
the self of all things. It will not be easy. The sensual nature with
constantly distracting stimuli brings daily clarion calls from the
outer world.
But if your life has provided you full measure of pain and
frustration from
chasing these tempters and deceivers, then you will face them with
and resolve to pursue them no more. The path to power lies within you.
things will be found there. The fight is not between the world and you,
but between
your ego and your true self. Simply choose to find your true self, and
in the
end you cannot lose.
Order in Adobe PDF eBook or printed form for $9.95 (+ printing charge)
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text:
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subset: commoncrawl


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Learn about this topic in these articles:
Vendsyssel-Thy island
...of the duneland for use as a wildlife sanctuary and holiday resort. Farming and fishing are limited, especially on and near the North Sea, and Thisted on the Limfjorden is the only sizable town. At Hanstholm on the North Sea, a deepwater port was opened in 1967 to accommodate fishing boats and provide employment, and new town development was projected. Pop. (2003 est.) 306,373.


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Educational services, namely, business seminars providing instruction and inspiration regarding customer service
Business in SCOTTSDALE, AZ
Business in Los Angeles, CA


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April 8, 2016
Burnley v Leeds United
BBC coverage
- How to follow:
- Listen on BBC Radio 5 live and BBC local radio; text commentary on the BBC Sport website
Burnley came through the midweek draw with Cardiff unscathed and have an unchanged squad.
Lukas Jutkiewicz, out since August with a knee injury, is set to play for the development squad. Chris Long is back in training after a hamstring injury.
Leeds have goalkeeper Marco Silvestri back in the line-up after a ban kept him out of the draw against QPR.
Sol Bamba, now back from illness, may feature in defence but midfielder Liam Bridcutt (thigh) is a doubt.
- There has not been a draw between these sides at Turf Moor in the past 10 meetings, with Burnley winning four and Leeds six.
- Leeds have won only one of their past five games against Burnley, losing three.
- Only Bristol Rovers striker Matty Taylor (24) has scored more goals in the top four tiers of English football than Andre Gray (23) this season.
- Leeds have scored a league-low one goal in the opening 15 minutes of games this season, although that goal came after 12 seconds (Doukara against Ipswich), which is the fastest in the Championship this season.
- The Clarets have scored the most set-piece goals in the Championship (24) and also conceded the fewest (6).


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2014 Performances
Sun Jan 19
Maria Taylor
Crescent Ballroom
A Maria Taylor setlist is a compilation of all the songs Maria Taylor has played live in concert. Many Maria Taylor concerts have the same setlist, and sometimes Maria Taylor setlists will vary from night to night. We've gathered together 2017 Maria Taylor tour setlists as well as past Maria Taylor setlists to give you a better idea of what you can expect at your local Maria Taylor show. If you have a Maria Taylor song list you would like to upload, please check back as that functionality will be added soon, as well as setlists for Maria Taylor.


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Year Established:
Business Type:Business Service
Management Certifiation:
Features:1)Compressor: Aspera (Italy famous brand)2)Expansion Valve: Danfoss (Denmark famous brand)3)Counter with lock: calculatate and indicate how much ice cream has been sold, and with a key to reset the number.4)Digital indicators: show the temperture of feed hoppers,the amount of ice cream you sold and the percent value of producing progress5)Overload Protection: stop the machine if overload occurs automatically6)Over pressure protection: protect the compressor from over pressure damage. 7)Lack of material alarm8)Hardness adjusting function9)Wash function10)work normally in high ambient temperature11)Condenser: air-cooling12)Optional Parts/Functions:(double) air pump: get a high Overrun rate, lower cost; Keep-fresh function;pre-cooling: keep the ice cream fresh all day
counter function
Ice cream cone holder
Serving table
Guangli Machinery (Xinhui) Co., Ltd. was established in Xinhui District, Guangdong Province in 1999. We specialize in the manufacturing of new generation ice cream machines, ice makers, slush freezers, dish cabinets and other stainless steel products. Our company is one of the most professional domestic enterprises that integrate research and development, manufacturing and distribution of such products. We have numerous styles of products with consistent quality and excellent performance that fully meet the national quality and sanitary standards. Based upon the principles of "quality first, customer priority and reasonable pricing", we will continue to exert our efforts to develop more excellent quality products and provide better after sales services so as to meet customers' requirements. With considerate services, we are confident to create a bright future with you.


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"Magizhchi", directed by Va. Gauthaman and produced by Manivannan for Athirvu Thiraipattarai, is based on the novel "Thalaimuraigal", written by Neela Padmanabhan. Recently the audio of the movie was launched.
The director himself plays the lead, along with Anjali. The other cast includes Prakash Raj and director Seeman. Director Gauthaman says it took him nearly 12 years to write the film's screenplay.


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Watch Buffs football via ESPN this Saturday
The Colorado at Washington State football game on Saturday, Oct. 21, in Pullman will kick off at 8:45 p.m. MDT and will be televised nationally by ESPN. Other Pac-12 selections this Saturday follow in MDT.
Arizona State at Utah
1:30 p.m., FS1
Oregon at UCLA
2 p.m., Pac-12 Networks
USC at Notre Dame
5:30 p.m., NBC
Arizona at California
6 p.m., Pac-12 Networks


text: Commentary on "Muscle Activation Patterns in Infants With Myelomeningocele Stepping on a Treadmill"Ordorica, Jill DPT; Fetters, Linda PT, PhDPediatric Physical Therapy: Fall 2013 - Volume 25 - Issue 3 - p 290 doi: 10.1097/PEP.0b013e3182984b16 Clinical Bottom Line Author Information Children's Hospital Los Angeles Los Angeles, California University of Southern California Los Angeles, California The authors declare no conflict of interest. "How should I apply this information?" An understanding of the developmental trajectory of muscle activation patterns during early functional movements in infants with myelomeningocele (MMC) provides knowledge of what is to be expected over developmental time. Infants with MMC showed highly variable timing of muscle activation during treadmill stepping across the first year, similar to that seen in infants who are developing typically. However, the overall muscle activation for children with MMC was low, particularly during stance, and with time there was minimal change. This information can be used when promoting and implementing an early intervention program and goal setting, taking into consideration the effects of maturation. Knowing the differences in muscle activation quality and quantity in infants with MMC provides the clinician with knowledge to foresee and prevent secondary orthopedic impairments and compensations, which are a significant issue in this patient population. Importantly, these data provide the idea of a developmental "baseline" to gage the effects of intervention on the possible increase in duration of muscle activations for infants and children with MMC. "What should I be mindful about in applying the information?" Infants with MMC are extremely diverse in clinical presentation, taking into consideration not only the level of lesion but the involvement of secondary impairments such as hydrocephalus, Arnold Chiari malformation, and orthopedic deformities. To obtain "normative" data from such a varied patient population is understandably difficult. The small sampling of patients for this article included infants with high lumbar to sacral level lesions, and does not describe muscle activation between the groups. We would logically expect that the infants with a lumbar lesion would have significantly less muscle activation than those with a sacral level lesion; depending on the subjects in the study, the overall results may be skewed by their sample. Lastly, longitudinal data were provided for only 4 of the 12 subjects; it is difficult to generalize from this heterogeneous and small sample. Jill Ordorica, DPT Children's Hospital Los Angeles Los Angeles, California Linda Fetters, PT, PhD University of Southern California Los Angeles, California© 2013 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins and the Section on Pediatrics of the American Physical Therapy Association.


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The Things They Say
"It was fantastic. It was great. He's a great friend and a great actor, so I got to hang out with my buddy and be inspired by a great actor." Tobey Maguire was in awe of his longtime pal Leonardo DiCaprio as they filmed upcoming drama The Great Gatsby.


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November 22, 23, and 24, 2017
Thanksgiving Holiday
(No school for students and staff)
Discover information as it relates to Liberty Park Elementary's administration, staff, and school by checking out the links to the right.
Read Liberty Park's newsletter, follow our news blogs and view the video gallery
Learn how the district innovates, educates, and inspires its students.
Find information needed to assist students at Liberty Park
Locate information for the parent/guardian at Liberty Park
View resources and benefits designed to aid student achievement and staff wellbeing
Explore extracurricular opportunities at Liberty Park Elementary including athletics and clubs
Jason BrooksPrincipal317.532.1853Email
Kathy HenchDean317.532.1854Email
Donata LuxSecretary317.532.1852
Beverly StephensSecretary317.532.1851


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Was doing a bit of shopping today and decided to drop in at Burger 90210 for a late lunch.
Going in, I knew that the prices were high(er) than most burger joints, so paying $10 bucks for a burger and another $4 (or thereabouts) for fries was not really an issue.
I don't mind paying premium prices for good food. What I do mind is paying premium prices for bad food, which is what happened to me today.
Burger 90210 basically offers something like 6 (or 8?) different burger choices, ranging from the basic burger to a chili burger to a burger with fried eggs and bacon.
I got the basic burger, or the "90210 Royal". Burger was big, and certainly looked good. But I found the meat to be dry, the sauce tinged with a weird metallic taste and the bun too doughy. Sort of reminded me somthing I would get a Denny's.
As a sidenote, the menu says it is a 1/2 lbs patty. Seemed to me at least that it was probably at least a couple of ounces short of that, however.
Also, there is a Veggie burger option ... is that also 1/2 lbs? The menu seems to suggests that to be the case, but 1/2 lbs of veggies?? That's alot of veggies.
Next time I'm in the 'hood, I think I'd probably be better off at Island's down the street or even at BLD or Mako.
Burger 90210
242 South Beverly Dr
Beverly Hills
(310) 271-7900


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You are here : Home > Training > Food Safety > Food Safety HACCP Level 1 & 2
Food Safety HACCP Level 1 & 2This course provides basic food hygiene training in a classroom as a half day or a full day depending on your requirements. The participants interact with the trainer and flipchart discussions are used throughout the course. Handouts, training records and evaluation forms are also used.
Objectives: On completion of this course, participants will be able to:
Course Programme:
Training Methodology:The course is classroom based with overhead/multimedia presentations supplemented with videos, charts etc.
Maximum Number of Participants:12 people
Duration: ½ day or 1 Day
For more information on the Food Safety Course contact Carraig Safety Consultants
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Dasha Neal - Her Favorite Toy
Description:Cute, petite teen has bought a new dildo. She is examining it using her mouth before sitting down on the floor and slowly inserting it inside of her delicious, shaved snatch.
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PreviousHappy Easter everybody! No matter who you are, you need to know that the sacrifice Christ made was for you too. You haven't messed up too bad or gone too far to receive his love. I know way too many people who have been hurt by a "Christian" or by "the church, and I genuinely want to apologize to you for that false representation of Christ... But please don't blame God for what a man may have done to you. We're all messed up and we have all done stupid things... And sometimes "Christians" can be the worst. But that's why we serve a God who cares when man may fail. I'm a living testimony of Gods grace and Mercy. I used to be so messed up and it's actually a miracle I'm alive today. I know the difference between living outside of grace and then living under his love and grace, I can tell you that there's nothing like it in this world. I challenge you to just give him a chance. Feel free to dm me if you want. -Kolt Bridges @kolt45 - via Instagram
NextThese are some good dudes and could use some help right now. Most of us know that the life of most a musician isn't always easy. It's a passion and sometimes you even have negative cash flow to do what you love. And when a tragedy like this comes along, it only makes the struggle harder. If you are able, every little bit could help right now. They have a "go fund me" account, the link is in their bio. @rivalchoir @xlgary - via Instagram


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The Choice Between Charcoal And Gas Grills
Weather is getting warmer and in the cold countries, people find it very relaxing to grill outdoors for their families and friends. You can do this successfully, only when you have a good barbecue grill supporting you. BBQ Bazaar has a massive collection if you have decided to buy a new grill for relishing the most delicious food items. It will give you a clear idea on what kinds of grills to buy. According to homebase.co.uk, the biggest decision to take is whether one will opt for a gas grill or a charcoal grill. Both have their advantages as well as disadvantages.
Pros And Cons of Charcoal Grills
A huge mass believes that grilled food tastes much better. The charcoal gives the meat a smokier flavor that is not possible in case of a gas grill. This is the most important reason why charcoal grills are favored. The people who are in favor of traditional grills often prefer charcoal grilling, as they report that they get an incomparable taste. Charcoal grills are also cheaper. They are also lighter and more portable, so if you have decided to camp, you should opt for a charcoal model.
In the case of these type of grills, setting up takes more time as coals have to be arranged and lighted. When it rains, people find it tough to light up this kind of grills. When cooking is done, there is a lot of mess to be cleared up. You have to wait only for the coal to get cool. Other than this, the entire grilling process in case of charcoal is tougher than grilling done on gas models.
Gas Grills
The ease of lighting up is the biggest USP of this type of grill. As long as there is a source of gas or propane, one can grill in it by just turning on the ignition button. Nowadays, most grills have controls in each burner, so the temperature becomes quite easy to regulate. After cooking is finished on a gas unit, there is very little cleanup involved, compared to a coal one. It has to be just grated off, for the next cooking session. The grill can even be left running on without anything on it. This is beneficial for burning away the excess food particles that were left over. Once it gets cooled, it is very simple to put it back into storage.
There is one negative feature associated with these kinds of grills as well. The flavor which comes out on the meat is not as tasty as the taste with the conventional method of grilling. The costs involved for grilling are also quite higher.
Whenever you are about to decide, the kind of grill you are going to buy, think about the place where you are going to put it. For a large charcoal grill, a small patio or a covered area is not enough. The electric or the gas grills on the other hand can produce fire in safe and small areas.


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I am looking for a place to spend New Year's eve. Want good food, great atmosphere, maybe some music, and fun. Open on cuisine and price. High end dress up or fun and funky, either way.
Definitely don't want just a bar though, want dinner etc. Also, we are 30 and 40 somethings as a point of reference.


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A vision in white and blue, Greece and its islands are the quintessential Mediterranean getaway for a fabulous luxury holiday, honeymoon or family adventure, with fantastic weather, sparkling clear blue water, luxury hotels aplenty and attractive laid-back island life. There's plenty for cultural types too, with ancient ruins, pretty fishing villages and of course Athens - Greece's vibrant capital city is well worth a night or two en route to the beach.
As for her islands, the big quesion is which to choose? For couples or a luxury honeymoon in Greece, we love Santorini (for the best sunsets in Europe) and hip Mykonos - there are lovely Grace hotels on both islands and they come highly recommended.
Top picks for a luxury family beach holiday in Greece would be Crete and Halkidiki, where there are some great hotel options for families with small children.
Greece is the birthplace of democracy. They're in every guidebook and on every postcard, but the Acropolis and Parthenon of Athens really are a must for anyone fascinated by the ancient world. The island of Spinalonga. A dramatic ancient fortress is the centrepiece of mystical Spinalonga, an uninhabited island lying just off the coast of Elounda, Crete.Santorini. Shaped by a gigantic volcanic explosion around 1630 BC, today peaceful Santorini is lined with charming whitewashed villages clinging precariously to steep cliffs, unique dark sand beaches and a spectacular sunsets that are among the world's best.The many faces of Mykonos. Its lively restaurants and bars offer plenty for those looking for nightlife, its northern beaches are great for water sports and those on the south have a buzzing party atmosphere. If you're looking for plenty of action, you'll find it in Mykonos, whether on land or sea.
From £6,750 per person
Best for: Couples, First-timers, Landscapes & Scenery, History & Heritage
From £1,250 per person
Best for: Landscapes & Scenery, Off the Beaten Track, History & Heritage, Repeat
Best for: History & Heritage, Educational, Teenagers, First-timers
From £950 per person
Best for: Landscapes & Scenery, Off the Beaten Track, History & Heritage, Couples
From £2,400 per person
Best for: Honeymoon, First-timers, Spa & Wellness, Food & Wine
Location: Southern Mainland Greece | Greece
Amanzoe derives its name from the Sanskrit word for 'peace' and the Greek word for 'life.' An Aman resort, it is Greece's version of Montenegro's Aman Sveti Stefan. Perched on a hilltop, surrounded by olive groves, the hotel commands panoramic views of the surrounding countryside and the sparkling Aegean Sea, in addition to stunning architecture and interiors.
Best for: Luxury Hotel, Chic Design, Seriously special, Spa & Wellness
Location: Santorini | Greece
Elegantly perched high on a cliff, above Santorini's caldera, lies boutique belle Grace Santorini. Home to the world's most beautiful sunsets and stunning landscapes, Santorini is honeymoon heaven, and radiates charm and sophistication.
Best for: Luxury Hotel, Peace & Quiet, Romantic, Setting & Views
In an area punctured by 800 bastilles, the Tainaron Blue Retreat commandeers a 19th-century watchtower, much like a Scottish castle in the wild Highlands, to create an imaginative and quaint hotel, hemmed in by the sea along Greece's unspoilt Mani peninsula.
Best for: Village Life, Hideaway, Service & Hospitality, Secret / In the Know
Location: Crete | Greece
Looking for a super stylish and charming resort with the finest cuisine and a world-class spa to match? Nestled on the spectacular coast of Elounda, the Blue Palace is the perfect destination for anyone seeking an exceptional stay in a truly stunning area of natural beauty.
Best for: Honeymoon, Family-friendly, Luxury Hotel, Setting & Views
Katikies exudes refined elegance and luxury, from its sumptuous suites to its beautiful infinity pools, and it's no surprise that it's one of the prestigious Leading Hotels of the World. Whitewashed cubist cottages, bridges and terraces with glimpses of pink bougainvillea tumble down the cliffside above the aquamarine waters of Santorini's stunning volcanic caldera.
Best for: Setting & Views, Romantic, Hideaway, Honeymoon
See all Itinerary Ideas in Greece
See all Places to Stay in Greece
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See smouldering volcanoes, cruise around hidden islands where komodo dragons roam, picnic on pristine beaches that you'll have all to yourself and visit beautiful temples at sunrise in Indonesia.
Escape the gloomy weather and warm up in one of our top winter sun destinations, where you can try quirky experiences like radish-sculpting in Mexico and volcano surfing in Nicaragua.
Discover our handpicked selection of seven of the most exotic and unusual beaches around the world.
Hit the open road and discover the freedom of a road trip through the world's great driving destinations.
Exsus is regularly featured by top travel journalists in the travel media. Read press coverage of Exsus arranging exceptional journeys for clients.
Client reviews and testimonials from people who have travelled with us tell the story of their time away and the experience they have had while with Exsus.


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Twilio strongly encourages E.164 number formatting for all phone numbers both in the 'to' and 'from' fields. This format is the internationally-standardized format for all phone numbers, and it includes all the relevant information to route calls and SMS messages globally. E.164 numbers can have a maximum of fifteen digits and are usually written as follows: [+][country code][subscriber number including area code]. Phone numbers that are not formatted in E.164 may work, but it depends on the phone or handset that is being used as well as the carrier from which the call or SMS is being originated. A good reference to find a country's calling code is this Wikipedia page that lists countries and their calling codes.
Dialing using Twilio is a little different than dialing from your personal phone. When dialing from your personal phone from the United States to the Great Britain, for example, you usually have to dial the international call prefix (011) before dialing the country calling code of +44. When using Twilio to dial or send messages, you will not need to enter the international call prefix for E.164.
For example, to convert a US phone number like 415 555 2671 to E.164 format, you need to add the '+' prefix and the country code (which is 1) in front of the number so it will look like +14155552671. In the UK, and many other countries internationally, local dialing requires the addition of a '0' in front of the subscriber number. However, to use E.164 formatting, this '0' must be removed. A number such as 020 7183 8750 in the UK would be formatted as +442071838750.
A great tool to make sure that your number is valid is the free online Twilio Lookup tool. This simple tool will help validate any phone number to make sure it is correctly formatted to send or receive calls as well as other details such as carriers. Additionally, the Lookup Tool is also available as a part of Twilio's API (which will incur a cost). Learn more about the Lookup API here.


text: This listing is no longer available or has been sold. Find Another One Others Looked At... TCA 5437 Venture w/WS Bolt 7mm-08 Reming... SELLER: AnacortesGunShop 1 $492.00 T/C Venture Blued Composite .270 WSM 22"... SELLER: Ammo And Arms 1 $359.99 THOMPSON CENTER VENTURE COMPACT BLUED 30... SELLER: AnacortesGunShop 1 $454.00 Thompson Center Compass Rifle (.300 Win.... SELLER: MID STAR FIREARMS LLC 1 $399.00 Thompson Center Compass Rifle (7mm-08) SELLER: MID STAR FIREARMS LLC 1 $399.00 TC Venture Predator 22" Snow Camo .22-25... SELLER: Ammo And Arms 1 $469.99 Guns Rifles Thompson Center Rifles Venture Thompson Center Venture Compact Win | 1542 | 0 | Lc | 250.0041ms Thompson Center Venture Compact 308 Win 5350 For Sale from Fort Apache Guns | Positive feedback: 100% View | Verified Seller | 114 Completed Sales View Sellers Items This item is no longer available. Description: VENTURE COMPACT 308WIN BL/SYN 5350 Bolt Action Rifle 20 Blue None Read More Condition: New In Box Brand: Thompson Center UPC: 901610477308 Location: GA Trades Accepted: No Read More Shipping Notes: $35 to Continental U.S. Buyer pays all shipping fees. Read More Share Item Item #: 948800534 Stock No.: 5350 Fort Apache Guns Seller Since: Dec. 2015 Seller Level: Trusted + Local Connect This seller is an FFL City: Chambleee State: GA This item is no longer available. Price: Shipping: Arrange local transfer Accepted Payment Methods: Returns: Your Recently Viewed Items


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- First published May 2011.
"Hazard's" was first published in the May-June 2011 issue of "Cliff Notes."
See also, "Return to Carpenters."
Two years ago, we marked the centennial of the Palisades Interstate Park's dedication at Alpine Landing in 1909. Of course, when a park gets into the hundred-year-plus range, lesser milestones come and go on a fairly regular basis. This year, for instance, we mark the golden jubilee of the Hazard's Dock boat launching ramp, directly beneath the New Jersey tower of the George Washington Bridge. First opened in the summer of 1961, and still used by hundreds of boaters, jet-skiers, and paddlers each year, the site has an intriguing history all its own, both before and since its acquisition by the Park Commission.
The ramp takes its curious name from the Hazard Powder Company, a Connecticut explosives manufactory founded by Colonel Augustus George Hazard, which in the 1890s operated a dock for the delivery and storage of high explosives for the massive Carpenter Brothers' quarry just upriver. (Nearby was yet another dock operated by a manufacturer of explosives, this one with a name more familiar to us today: the DuPont dock.)
The newly-formed Palisades Interstate Park Commission acquired the Hazard property in 1902 for $2,100. In 1914, the Commission improved the area by building a "landing beach" for rowboats and canoes and a pair of "ice breakers" (stone jetties to protect the docks and beach in winter). Stairways were built to the top of the cliffs, to make the area accessible to New Yorkers coming by trolley to Fort Lee from the 125th Street–Edgewater ferry, as well as to trolley passengers from Englewood and Tenafly.
In the following year's Annual Report, for 1915, "as bathing has become more popular each season," the Commissioners reported that, as an experiment, "a number of scow loads of crusher screenings [and created by the stone-crushing process] were brought down from the quarries and placed along the rough beaches," including at Hazard's.
In the Annual Report for 1918, the Commissioners reported that, by the close of the previous season, the demand for bathing facilities in the park had become such that plans for a "commodious and well equipped" bathhouse had been drawn up:
"The Hazards bath house* was finished and opened to the public on July 7, 1918. The building is 200 ft. long by 62 ft. wide, constructed of stone in its first story and topped by a rustic pavilion. The lower floor is entirely devoted to dressing rooms, lockers and shower baths. …
"At the beginning of the 1918 season, 500 lockers were installed and these were immediately followed by 500 additional lockers made necessary by the instant popularity of the bath house and the bathing beaches.
"… The average Sunday attendance was 1,563 and on week days 491 persons. … At the end of the season it was seen that additional lockers must be provided if the public demand is to be met next season. The Commissioners have accordingly determined to purchase an additional 1,000 lockers before the summer of 1919 and thus equip the bath house to its full capacity."
A pedestrian-only ferry from 158th Street to the Hazard dock also began operating during the warm-weather months that year, to supplement the big year-round ferries from Manhattan to Edgewater and Englewood Cliffs.
Ten years later, in 1927, "construction of the new Hudson River Bridge from Fort Washington Point … to Fort Lee … which bridge enters and spans the park in the immediate vicinity of Hazzards Dock" led the Commissioners to arrange with the Port Authority, which was building the bridge, "that the Port Authority, in consideration of the temporary diversion from park purposes of the bath house, the dock and the lunch stand at Hazzards Landing, replace these structures with like buildings at Carpenter's Point, some 1,000 feet north of the bridge zone."
Until the new bridge opened at the end of 1931 (when it was christened the George Washington Memorial Bridge) the big stone bathhouse at Hazard's remained closed. It reopened in 1932, but only operated for a few more years, closing in 1938. (See "The 'Mystery' of the Beaches" for a detailed discussion of the reasons why our Hudson River bathing beaches closed during this time.)
In 1941, the big bathhouse was razed by the WPA, the Works Progress Administration.
Twenty years later, in May 1961, the New York Times reported that "boatmen who move their craft around on trailers have something to look forward to … a new launching ramp under the George Washington Bridge." The new launching area had parking for up to a hundred cars with boat trailers.
Fifty years down the road, and on a nice summer day, boaters find they may need to bring a bit of patience along with their PFDs and sun screen. The Coast Guard Auxiliary regularly conducts safety inspections at the ramp, and we now permit car-top boats to use the facility along with trailer-towed boats and jet skis.
Funny to think how beneath all that activity there lies a dock once used to blast the mighty Palisades — and the memories of a big stone bathhouse that saw a generation of Americans come to their new park to cool off for a bit.
*"Hazard's" was spelled both with and without an apostrophe, and with one Z and two, in the Annual Reports; likewise, "bathhouse" was written as both one word and two, capitalized and not. (When quoting the Reports, we reproduce the words as they appeared.) back


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One last summer blast, and one really nice bonus
Everyone else may be winding down, but you're still in a summer state of mind. Luckily, the best of the season isn't over just yet. Hold on to the sun a little longer and get a $50 Visa® gift card when you take a last summer vacation to a Holiday Inn Resort® destination for a minimum of three nights. Now's the time to create those golden memories and use your $50 Visa® gift card for a little extra fun or to use on your next stay. Register and stay August 1 through October 31.
1) Register for the Hold on to Summer promotion
2) Book your minimum three-night stay at a Holiday Inn Resort destination
3) Complete your stay between August 1 and October 31
4) Redeem electronic Visa® gift card via post-stay email
Holiday Inn Resorts® – Hold On to Summer Terms & Conditions
Must be an IHG®Rewards Club member and must register member number in advance to participate in this promotion.
A $50 Visa Gift card will be awarded for every 3 night minimum qualifying stay at any Holiday Inn Resort properties in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean between August 1, 2014 and October 31, 2014. Offer is valid for residents of the United States or Canada only. A digital $50 Visa Gift Card will be awarded via email 2 to 4 weeks after the stay is complete. IHG® Rewards Club members who do not have a valid email address, or who are not opted in to receive email, will receive the $50 Visa giftcard via standard mail 4 to 6 weeks after the stay is complete. The offer is unlimited during the promotional dates. A stay is defined as three or more consecutive nights at the same hotel, regardless of frequency of check-in/out. A stay is qualified when paying qualifying rates, which include most business and leisure rates. Qualifying Room Rates do not include the following reduced room rates: net wholesale individual and group rate, certain package rates, employee discount rate, friends and family rate, crew rate, special discounted contract rates, seasonal worker/crew rate, 50% travel club discount rate, travel industry discount rate, distressed passenger rate, IHG® Rewards Club Nights/Airline Hotel Reward rate, Best Price Guarantee Free Reward rate, complimentary hotel stays and any other rates not defined as a Qualifying Room Rate. Also excluded are opaque rates and "name your own price" rates (where hotel name, location and/or rate not visible until after booking is submitted).
Gift card may have additional terms and conditions for use and will be included in the email or mailing when the gift card is received.
Participating Holiday Inn Resort Properties:
Holiday Inn Resort Bar Harbor - Acadia Natl Park
Holiday Inn Resort Daytona Beach Oceanfront
Holiday Inn Resort Deadwood Mountain Grand
Holiday Inn Resort Lake Buena Vista
Holiday Inn Resort Fort Walton Beach
Holiday Inn Resort Galveston-On The Beach
Holiday Inn Resort Beach House
Holiday Inn Resort Waikiki Beachcomber
Holiday Inn Resort Lake George-Turf
Holiday Inn Resort The Lodge at Running Y Ranch
Holiday Inn Resort Panama City Beach
Holiday Inn Resort Pensacola Beach Gulf Front
Holiday Inn Resort The Lodge at Eagle Crest
Holiday Inn Resort West Bay Beach
Terms & Conditions


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Global Education Policy Statement
|publication pdf
|2006 Global Education Policy Statement
In 1985 the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) issued a policy statement on international dimensions in education. Many, if not most, of the priorities identified in that statement continue to have relevance today. However, over the course of two decades the context and traditional drivers of change have been significantly altered. More than ever before, students from around the globe are learning to adapt to change and to capitalize on expanding opportunities to become multilingual and learn to use mathematics, science, and technological skills in ways that meet or exceed the levels of current American students. We must take a constructive, positive, and innovative approach to prepare our children in a similar fashion, increasing the rigor of our academic standards, and thereby ensuring that all students are prepared to succeed in the global society.
This updated statement identifies five major challenges we face in the 21st century both individually in our state education agencies and collectively as a national organization of education leaders.
- Draft K-12 Common Core State Standards Available for Comment
- CCSSO Statement on President Obama's ESEA Blueprint
- CCSSO Statement on President Obama's Budget Request to Congress
- CCSSO Responds to President Obama's ESEA Blueprint
- Delaware and Tennessee Awarded Race to the Top Phase I Grants
- Forty-Eight States Gather to Collectively Address ESEA Reauthorization and Implementation of ARRA
- Alabama School Chief Testifies before Senate Appropriations Subcommittee
- Forty-Eight States Gather to Collectively Address ESEA Reauthorization and Implementation of ARRA
- Alabama School Chief Testifies before Senate Appropriations Subcommittee
- ProgramPrograms


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Automakers stole the show when it came to Super Bowl XLVI commercials. However, behind the scene FoMoCo was complaining about a Chevrolet Silverado commercial that took a stab at Ford. Apparently, General Motors ignored a request from Ford to cancel the commercial before it made its television debut last night.
The ad, which shows the Chevrolet Silverado being the only truck to survive an apocalypse, takes a stab at Ford when one of the main characters asks about the fate of one his friends. (more…)


text: Media Canada's overall current account deficit narrows Canada's overall current account deficit (on a seasonally adjusted basis) narrowed $4.0 billion in the third quarter to $12.1 billion, largely the result of higher exports of goods. Special Offer!Enjoy Unlimited Access to Tolerance.ca for less than 10 cents/day.To see the complete text of this article, you need to buy a subscription. If you already have one, please open a session.I want to subscribe | Open a session


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Broadcasting since 1953, KOIN 6 News is Portland's CBS affiliate, providing local news, network and syndicated entertainment to viewers in Oregon and SW Washington. KOIN 6 News is Watching Out For You with 35 hours of local news broadcasts each week, featuring award-winning, in-depth investigations, news, weather and traffic.
View from the top of the KOIN Tower:


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It has been announced that Guardian applications for RTX Austin will be going live on Friday, so it's time for me to do my customary "so you want to be a Guardian" post! Your fabulous overlords are @SailorTweek (Mary) and @sirNARVY (Chris), and they are the ultimate resource for your Guardian questions and concerns. Mary is always happy to answer your Guardian queries via a PM here on the site. Keep in mind their jurisdiction is Guardians and only Guardians; your questions or concerns about other parts of RTX are not something they can help with!
(Apologies in advance if formatting is weird. I'm writing the entirety of this on my phone because this is the only free time I'm going to have for the next two weeks!)
I have spent 4 years on the Guardian team (PA specifically), 3 of it as a team lead alongside the magnificent @kriss. Having that consistency from year to year gives me a great frame of reference to tell you RTX is always changing. I don't mean the content of it, but the event itself. It's organic and grows and breathes and has its moments where you question its sanity. No year is the same as the last, and even each day brings a new set of experiences and challenges. What is asked of Guardians is fluid (within reasonable boundaries) and even returning to the same team doesn't mean your weekend will look the same. I say all this to drive the point home that the ability to be flexible is PARAMOUNT. Weird stuff is going to happen. The beautiful part of Guardianship is there are a couple hundred other people there to help along with your team leads.
The second thing to take away from this is that you need to be honest in your application. How you fill it out doesn't just play into your acceptance, but also what team you are placed on. If you play the "answer with what [you] think they want to see" game you're doing yourself a massive disservice. You'd be surprised what they're looking for when they review applications! My first year I had no previous experience working a convention, but talked about my experience working retail and teaching classes when I applied. There are a lot of factors that go into choosing Guardians and placing them on teams, and a lot of care goes into trying to match people with where they will be the most successful and enjoy their time working the show. Honesty is truly the best policy.
If you aren't chosen, please do not take it personally. Guardianship traditionally has around a 25% acceptance rate due to the sheer volume of applications received. They physically can't take everyone they'd like to! That's also the reason why even longtime veteran Guardians have to reapply year after year, including the team leads. Just take it as an opportunity to enjoy the con as an attendee and reapply next year! To that end, regardless of whether you're accepted or not I always recommend saving your answers in a document somewhere so you can expand on it the following year rather than starting from scratch each time.
Being a Guardian is work. Hard work. Like walking 40 miles over the course of the event and having 16 hour days is normal for me. It's physically and mentally draining in a way you have not experienced before (unless you've worked other cons in which case yeah you probably get it). You are there to work, and you're expected to do so. There's no room for deciding to slack off; doing so puts your team at a disadvantage, and you're too cool to be the one who makes things harder for your team, right? Don't worry, you'll get breaks! We're not heartless, we just need to have your breaks planned for is all.
When you complete your application, you'll be asked about your team preferences. These are just preferences, you are not guaranteed anything. Even people who have been on the same Guardian team since RTX started are not guaranteed. Your preferences tell the powers that be what sort of jobs you'd be interested in and what your perceived strengths are. They may read your answers and realize what you're describing would actually make you a better fit for Team C than teams A or B that you've marked. There are also teams that aren't listed on the preferences that you may be selected for. Ultimately people are placed where the event needs them.
TL;DR - Be honest, be prepared to *work*, and be flexible.
I myself have opted to not return to the Guardian team this year. It's something I've put a lot of thought in to, and no one single factor has led me to this decision. I will miss my Guardian family, but I wish all of you good luck in your applications and your adventures as Guardians in 2018!