Month: June 2016

[ad_1]

Symbolism of a House in a Dream

The house is a very, very common object in a dream. What does a house mean in a dream? The house has many meanings! Here is a dream I had as a young teen:

House and Tower Dream

I went through a house, climbing higher and higher. A man with a knife chased me the entire way. When I reached the topmost rooms, I realized I had to jump. The man and a gang of demons were pounding on the door to break through to me. As the wood began to splinter, I leapt through the glass, shattering it into hundreds of shards as I exited the room into the air. The man reached for me, but failed.

As I fell, I could see the house- now it was a tower. I fell, fell, fell. Hairy arms ending in sharp animal claws broke the glass to reach for me. They all missed. I was very surprised when I landed comfortably on the sand. I began to walk down a beach. Many people walked past me, or I passed their blanket on the beach. None seemed to know or understand my amazing trial, all the things that happened to me, and my great escape.

The Meaning of the House Dream

That dream was realized. It was my life. The anger of my stepfather, and the violence of my youth ended when my mother divorced him. He did pull a knife once, but, like in the dream, did not cut anyone with it. Later in life, I realized: nobody knows what ordeals other people survived. We are as normal as anyone else.

That home which became a tower represented the years of my youth. At first, I was free and loved. Later, home was like a prisoner's tower. I did take a lot of beatings. But, my step father did some great things as well. I forgave him long ago!

The beach represents the remainder of my life. "Life is a beach" is a common phrase.

Christian Dream Interpretation of a House

I have heard the interpretation of many dreams from Christians involving a house as well. Interpretation belongs to God, after all. (Ask Daniel and Joseph.) The Christian interpretation of a house in a dream seems to be almost always prayer.

Prayer forms a barrier between the prayer warrior and the will of the enemy of God. I have seen a barbed wire fence in a dream. It was a wall of prayer.

I have seen stone fences which also represented prayer.

The walls of a house can represent the protecting prayers of a Christian.

Houses, Generally

Houses have multiple levels. Each of these represents a different aspect of a person. The ground floor represents daily, conscious life. This is the level of life we ​​can plainly see. The attic represents the subconscious and sometimes it can represent an interaction with spiritual issues.

Basement

The basement stores things out of use, or which will be used at a future time. The basement, for most, was not an active part of the life plan (the ground floor). It is a place of storage, or a place to relax and recline (game room).

A dark, scary basement may represent repressed memories, something difficult to process or accept. Undesirable memories are stored in the basement.

Attic

Attics in a dream often represent the subconscious mind. Items here are stored for later use. They are available when necessary.

Third floor

Some dreamers report breaking through the attic to reach a third floor. This floor represents the spiritual life of the dreamer, not the attic. Note carefully the construction and any instantaneous thoughts about the construction, sturdiness, or strength of the third floor. This represents your spiritual life.

When I was a new Christian, I read many books and learned many things which which were New Age (demonic and broken). I dreamed during that time of finding a door at the edge of the attic. I passed through, climbed some stairs, and found myself in a third floor. The walls were mostly burned out on one side. The floor was new boards, nailed at odd angles. Plywood walls were also new. Everything was built haphazard and the fire damage left the roof and the missing wall completely open.

I could see a bright sun from there. Intense light caused me to turn my head and lift my arm to protect my eyes.

Because I was not responsible with my spiritual life, I had built a rickety, dangerous third floor. But, I could see the Son from there!

Rehash from the Basement up:

Basement: Things you do not plan to use, or do not want to use
Ground floor: Daily life, people, and concerns
Attic, things you use somewhat regularly
Third floor: spiritual life
Walls (Christian): Prayer

Remember: These usages are very common. But, the meaning in your dream could be anything. You have to pray about it. Here are some variations:

Dream Meaning New House: Something new is coming into your life. Perhaps your future holds a new life.

Dream Interpretation of a House on Fire: Something in your life requires immediate attention. It is rapidly destroying your life. Could this be less obvious? If there is a fire in your house, immediate action is necessary.

Dream of a Moving House: Your life is going somewhere. Perhaps you will move to a new place- and have a new house there. Some aspect of your life is in transition. Look for other details in the dream that may refine the interpretation and understanding.

Dream Interpretation- Flooding House: This most often represents the Judgment of God. Even Jungian interpreters have to pay close attention to this interpretation. In the history of God and His people, the flood of Noah was God's judgment on the wickedness of mankind. Many dreams in recent years of tsunamis, or three tsunamis in rapid succession, are about judgment coming on the people of the world. And, judgment starts with the house of God. The symbol of a flood as judgment is now part of the "collective unconscious" in the idea of ​​Jung (who really just translated a book on eastern mysticism- his own words). However, for those who pray, you might just be told by the Holy Spirit that flooding waters are judgment. If the waters are into your own household, what does that mean? It could be for just one member of the home. Or, it could mean the entire neighborhood or nation.

Conclusion:

A house in a dream can mean many things, or be used to convey a wide variety of message. Most often, I expect, a house represents your life. However, sometimes a house is just a house.

[ad_2]

Source by Robert Avila

[ad_1]

Shot put history can be found to stretch back thousands of years to the days before the British Isles became Christianized and the land was still governed by chieftains. In modern terms the sport was formalized and became an Olympic fixture in 1896.

Today the sport is done using a heavy metal ball and a special technique is perfected in order to be able to throw the ball as far as possible. In order to be truly successful at this event, the athlete needs to combine technique, form and strength.

Back thousands of years the event was done with stone balls in Scotland. Chieftains would use the event to determine which was the most powerful. They would select one of their warriors to throw the stone ball as far as possible and the winner would be considered to come from the most militarily powerful clan. The event has also become a part of the Highland Games.

The sport underwent changes throughout the Middle Ages through to the 18th century, when it was a popular sport among soldiers who would throw cannon balls. It is from this era of the sport that it gains its name with the "shot" referring to the cannon ball and the "put" part a style of throwing that was used.

Up until the modern Olympics was begun the sport was popular, but it was not formalized. As part of the track and field at the Olympics the sport was finally formalized. It would not become a women's event at the games however until 1948.

The sport today has not changed too much throughout the shot put history. The balls are today made of lead and it tends to be the technique used that varies more. One of the best known shot put athletes was Randy Barnes who introduced the rotational form of throwing in 1976.

[ad_2]

Source by Gillian Laurence

[ad_1]

I was recently doing some research regarding criminal mindset when I stumbled across an article in Psychology Today on bullies. I have seen several news stories over the past few years about children being harassed so much in school that they chose to take their own lives to end the misery. This is terribly heartbreaking. I gained some insight not only into the mindset formation of bully and victim, but interestingly enough, how this behavior gets reinforced over the years and shapes the individuals as adults. Without some kind of intervention, bullies continue to bully into adulthood, and are more likely to engage in antisocial, ie criminal behavior. Equally so, victims tend to get victimized over and over again. This dynamic of predator and prey is created fairly early on, and without something to divert their paths, it is a dance that is perpetuated throughout life.

How and when exactly does it begin? Believe it or not, aggression begins at as early as age 2. Think preschool! The child-parent relationship at this tender age is the most important relationship, and the article argues that bullies are made. A parent may be dealing with a particularly difficult child who acts out and is frequently disobedient. If the parent engages in what is called non-contingent parenting, the adult yells at the child with threats of punishment and only follows through at the point at which his or her hostility has reached a critical point. Then the parent coerces the child into compliance with force. Unfortunately, if this behavior becomes a pattern, the use of ineffective and / or intermittent punishment ultimately rewards the child's defiance. If the parent engages in harsher punishments over time, the child tends to become more and more aggressive. This is a terrible cycle, indeed, and one that can have very bad consequences for many. Other factors play into the formation of bullies, also: not monitoring youth behavior (especially towards other children); children modeling adults' negative behavior towards others (bullies beget more bullies), children using aggression to demonstrate power or control the environment, and lack of verbal fluency. The last one is really interesting; the better the verbal skills, the better children function in the social environment of their peers.

What does bullying entail? It can include physical or mental abuse. Aggressive youths may begin to control specific peers with physical punishment, but compliance may eventually only require a threatening word, facial expression or gesture. Bullies tend to be physically stronger and in turn, select targets who are weaker and smaller, more sensitive and quiet, and who display a fear of confrontation. In other words, bullies pick on more submissive children. In a large percentage of cases, bullies are themselves the victims of bullying, and lash out due to their own hypersensitivity to confrontation or provocation. If they are emotionally sensitive, they may always be looking for a battle. Some bullying types have a very high threshold for stimulation and are motivated by the reward of arousal; these are usually sociopathic in nature. A sociopath is perpetually bored, has no empathy, and can not cooperate because he or she can not relate to others. I am currently reading an interesting book entitled the sociopath next door, by Martha Stout, Ph.D., that will hopefully give me further insight into the psychological aberration of sociopaths, as well. Bullies may use ridicule, and if the bully is a girl (yes, they can be girls), she will use social relationships as a weapon against a target and engage in behavior that isolates the victim from the pack such as social exclusion, spreading nasty rumors, etc. All of this stuff, of course, occurs mostly under the adult radar, at a gathering of peers (like school). The relationship between predator and prey causes a downward spiral for both parties; bully behavior is rewarded and reinforced, and victim behavior causes a child to have less and less self-esteem. Kids usually believe their victimization is their own fault, and bullies believe they have to solve every problem through aggression. The bullied children are often rejected by their peers because their submissive behavior is "unsettling" to other children. The entire peer group gets locked into negative patterns, and without adult intervention, those roles can keep both predator and prey on a very dark path, well into adulthood.

What can be done to prevent bullying? Make no mistake – neither the bully nor the victim is engaged in character-building exercises. Based on several psychological studies (in various countries), some examining kids from an early age all the way into their 30's, the problems associated with bullying do not just work themselves out as many might believe. Adults have to get involved; this not only benefits the lives of the children, but the lives of everyone they come into contact with as they age. Looking at the very big picture, society at large benefits from adult intervention. So, what exactly can adults do? Here is a list of things to try:

* Teaching children avoidance of bullies – this is exactly what we teach adults in self-protection regarding predators on the street.
* Helping children with their social skills – facilitating social groups and social opportunities. Both bullies and their victims are often socially isolated.
* Teaching children self-confidence and assertive behavior.
* Helping children improve verbal skills (a "pro-social" skill). Many bullies are lacking in this area.
* Inquiring how peers are treating children. This may take some work, since children may not readily admit to having problems socially.
* Helping children become more adept in activities that are valued by their peers, including martial arts!
* Controlling consumption of violent programming. This is a big issue – Lt. Col. Dave Grossman talks a lot about the problems associated with violent video games and other forms of entertainment.
* Instilling empathy in children.
* Staying involved in children's lives, but without being so over-protective that it hinders their ability to deal with confrontation.

The criminal mindset begins to crystallize even earlier than I thought. The victim mindset does also! All the more reason we need to be involved in the lives of young people, giving them proper models to shape them into well-functioning adults that respect the rights of others. I also see this article as a great endorsement for the martial arts in helping kids develop confidence, assertiveness, self-respect, and respect for others. Those are the qualities we all need to accomplish our goals in life, right? Instill those things in a child, and you have given them a gift for a lifetime.

References
Marano, Hara Estroff. (1995, Sep). Big. Bad. Bully. Psychology Today, 28 (5), 50-57, 62-69, 73-79, 82.

[ad_2]

Source by Steven Mosley

[ad_1]

A few years back I got one of the greatest short game tips from Dave Pelz. His book the "Short Game Bible" is the classic for golf short game instruction. Dave and almost every "professional" in the world recommends that we know our distance to the flag. This is important so that we can know which club to select and how long to make our back swing to get to the pin. As you watch the professional golfers you will notice that ideally they want to put themselves in a position where they can come into the green with a full swing of the club. The reality is that as weekend warriors we seldom achieve that ideal.

Often we are faced with situations where that full swing will get us in big trouble even with a super high lofted club. This is where short game practice is critically important if we want to improve our short game. On most driving ranges there is a short game practice area, that is marked with some of the distances to the pin. Those distances are usually from the practice tee to the practice green, but what about when you practice from 40 yards out or 25 or you name it. Typically these distances are not marked. The reason you need to know these distances is so that you can develop repeatable short swings with different clubs to give yourself an arsenal of strokes for your memory banks to repeat.

Learn To Visually Judge

When I first heard this idea, I literally took a 100 foot tape measure out to the course on a very slow day so that I could measure the distance to the pin and see what it looked like. After a few holes I was able to tell when I was 50 yards out or what ever yardage in round terms. You can do the same at a practice facility so that you will begin to know what 100, 75, 50, 25,15 yards look like. Very quickly you will get correct the feel for your short distances.

Now that you have the feel for it, you need to develop a swing to match your judging distance. Most of the "professionals" will teach some variation of this method. basically it is this. For each of the wedges you carry and even your 7,8,9 do you know how far they will travel with a quarter or a half or three quarter swing? This is something you might have to take a while to find out but when you know it, the information is very valuable to you.

Armed with the knowledge of how far a ball will travel you can begin making some good decisions when you are close to the green. More in a moment, but first a couple of caveats.

Learn to Execute the Swing

You will find all kinds of opinion on alignment. Arnold Palmer said to stand open, others will say straight. The open alignment is probably better to keep your body from blocking the shot. Next, most of the "professionals" agree that for short shots the hands should lead the club-face. This means that you set up with the ball closer to the back of your stance and you hands will be in front of your target-side leg. (Left leg for the right-handed) With your weight favoring your target side you will then hit through the ball and finish high for the typical pitch shot. This setup will also tend to de-loft the club meaning that the angle of the face (being more upright) will now act like the next lower club number which means more distance.

Now. Imagine you are a clock!

Your head is 12:00, Your feet are 6:00 your target side is 1-5 and your back swing side is 7-11. What you want to know is; how far does a 7: 30-8: 00 swing travel for each of your wedges. (I carry 4) Next, the same information for a 9:00 swing. Finally, the same information for an 11:00 swing. You will discover that some of the different wedges will travel the same distance for different swings but once you are finished you have 12 to 16 shots in your bag that you are confident to make and you know the distances each will go. For those shots that go the same distance there will be a big difference in loft.

Fill Your Arsenal

For instance a 60 degree lob wedge may travel 25 yards with an 11:00 swing, while a 48 degree pitching wedge may travel the same distance with an 8:00 swing. However, the difference of course is loft which gets the lob over the bunker to a close pin and stops versus the pitching wedge which will roll 10 feet after it lands on the green.

When you are armed with all these shots in your golf bag your short game gets to a new level in a hurry. The great thing is that you only really have to learn 3 repeatable swings to have 16 in your arsenal. Hit them straight and seldom!

[ad_2]

Source by Michael D. Brown

[ad_1]

"Emancipate yourself from mental slavery. None but ourselves can free our minds."
~ Bob Marley, The Redemption Song

Many of us are held captive by limitations placed on us by ourselves or others, and we choose to accept these false boundaries. We become mentally enslaved by fear, ignorance, low self-esteem, self-doubt, expectations or negativity.

The path to emancipation from mental slavery is paved through gaining new knowledge, insights, ideas and frameworks-new mental models and new ways of thinking. Liberation is achieved through the ongoing development of your mind, and the choice not to accept the boundaries or limitations created by you or others.

"The mind is a powerful force. It can enslave us or empower us. It can plunge us into the depths of misery or take us to the heights of ecstasy. Learn to use it wisely." ~ David Cuschieri

In thinking about this-how our minds can enslave us-we have to come to terms that for many we have deceived ourselves about our lack of power, free-will and universal knowledge. We have placed chains on ourselves and believe the lies we told ourselves. We essentially became slaves to the false limitations or boundaries created. The challenge is that we do not know that we are in mental slavery, that we created a personal matrix or illusion-becoming stuck in our own "reality" and creating beliefs about ourselves that are really false (not true to our souls). These constraints and limiting thoughts in turn get fueled by the world around us. We simply forget that our minds are but a tool.

How liberating is it to set your mind free and to know that there are no excuses for the mind to become over-powered with pessimism and unhappiness or that we are controlled by others? So how do we step back from this mental slavery? We are all blessed with the ability to reflect and the Universal rights of free-will and choice. We all have the ability to step back from our thoughts and gain a mental position of power.

To start, evaluate whether your thoughts or beliefs are true to you and if they serve you. You can always step back and question a belief or idea. It is true that you can make your own decisions. You do not have to be obedient to others' expectations or belief systems. You can create the reality you desire, take responsibility for your decisions and emancipate your mind!

Freeing your mind is a continuous action that requires understanding, thought, words, action, effort, mindfulness and concentration. Here are some helpful steps to get you started in freeing your mind, and that you can work into your daily life and thought processes:

-Believe In yourself
-Take Responsibility for where you are
-Forgive And let go of the past
-Stop People-pleasing and approval-seeking behaviors
-Don't Constrain yourself by expectations (yours or others)
-Keep An open mind and stop judging and comparing
-Take Ownership of what you desire and take action to realize it
-Be Positive and do not harbor toxic emotions
-Envision Your future and maintain your focus
-Fight For your dreams

Start to pave your path to mental freedom today.

[ad_2]

Source by Rob LaBelle

[ad_1]

Long jump history arches back thousands of years to the ancient Olympic Games in Greece. In those days it was a part of the pentathlon event, and this makes it one of the oldest track and field events and the oldest jumping event in athletics.

The original Olympics were a competition and training ground for warriors. The event was created and included in the Olympics because it was deemed important for warriors to be agile and able to avoid obstacles such as leaping across ditches or streams.

At first the athletes were required to carry a weight in each hand that was between 1 and 4.5 kilos while running. These were called halteres and they were used to gain momentum with when you were at the point of making the leap. The pit that was originally used was not filled with sand as it is today, but was merely a pit of tilled earth.

It is thought due to witness reports of the Olympics in Greece that the longjump was accompanied by music, which was used to give the athlete some rhythm into the jump while running with their weights. It was thought that the representations of long jump at Ancient Greece were in fact a triple jump, but it has been shown that the event was what we know as long jump.

When the modern Olympics were started in 1896, the winner of the first long jump gold medal was Ellery Clark who jumped 6.35 meters. Another milestone in the history of the event was the world record set in 1935 by Jesse Owens who jumped 8.13 meters. This record would stay in place for 25 years until it was broken in 1960. The current longjump world record is 8.95 meters in the men's event and 7.52 meters in the women's. The women's record has been in place for more than 20 years.

Long jump history goes back thousands of years and today it is still a popular track and field event, which is popular for athletes of all ages.

[ad_2]

Source by Gillian Laurence