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"Personal Development is my passion. I believe that life holds a specific purpose for you; and the most important thing you can do is ... find it." White Dove Books exists to help people develop their own unique talents, abilities and passion in order that they may lead more meaningful, joyful and fulfilled lives.

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What is Personal Development?
[Self-Improvement] When I first became interested in self growth, there were hardly any books on the subject at my local bookstore. Today, there is a large section full of personal development material and dedicated to this most fascinating subject. However, despite this fact, when my friends discover that I run the leading personal development website - White Dove Books - they will still often ask me the question: what exactly is personal development? So, in this article, I want to provide an answer.

Helpful Time Management Tools
[Self-Improvement:Time-Management] Time management is very much a product of effective planning and balancing of your life activities, but there are also plenty of tools and resources that can help you in your quest for a more peaceful life. Below are a few simple ideas that can help you save time and get more focused: Planner or date book. Sometimes getting focused is a simple matter of having a clear system to organize the activities and tasks you need to get done each day.

Affirmations - A Series - Part 2
[Self-Improvement:Affirmations] Affirmations work by sowing seeds, in your conscious mind, that filter downward into your subconscious and have the power to change your beliefs about what is possible for you. When you make use of affirmation, you are dealing with something that is not within your current reality - it is your future reality. You are therefore exercising faith by making such an affirmation and you are also using the 'I AM' statement so personally, I like to think of an affirmation as a kind of prayer.

Affirmations - A Series - Part 1
[Self-Improvement:Affirmations] A great method of working with the subconscious is by making use of affirmations because by repeating a particular phrase over and over again, you can effectively change your beliefs about yourself; and, as we all know, our results flow from our expectations and beliefs. A simple illustration of the process was provided by the great Muhammed Ali who used a particular affirmation over and over again until he became famous the world-over for saying it.

Fast Weight Loss
[Health-and-Fitness:Weight-Loss] In this article, we are going to consider how you can lose weight quickly, effectively and permanently. The key to fast weight loss is to convince your brain that you have had actually enough to eat - that you have actually consumed your daily allowance of calories when in fact you have not. If you can fill your stomach before you consume that allowance, then you are well on the way to shedding those extra pounds.

To Be Or Not to Be - That is the Question
[Self-Improvement:Inspirational] Well, it turns out to be a very interesting question! Which Do You Choose In Life?

Interconnectedness - The Power of Oneness
[Self-Improvement:Spirituality] Do you think of yourself as an individual, separate from everyone around you? Most people in our modern world do have that perception. However, centuries old spiritual texts from many cultures tell a different story; and quantum physics is beginning to confirm the same truth: that we are all interconnected, with each other and the universe around us. If this is indeed true, how come we can't see it? Why do we appear to be separate beings? The answer lies in our perception of who we are.

Three Simple Ways to Start Believing in Yourself
[Self-Improvement:Techniques] If you've spent much of your life dismissing your talents and doubting your capabilities, it can seem like an impossible goal to begin believing in yourself. Since believing in yourself is such a vital part of goal achievement, overcoming your doubt and disbelief is crucial if you want to improve your life. Believing in yourself is a simple matter of changing the way you think about yourself and your capabilities. Remember that negative thinking is a habit, whether it applies to you or the circumstances of your life.

Three Simple Ways to Be More Optimistic
[Self-Improvement:Techniques] If you've ever found yourself expecting the worst without clear reasons why, you were probably the victim of a negative-thinking habit. Rampant pessimism can be annoying at the least and chronically destructive at worst. It can take over your mood, mind-set, career, relationships - and life in general - making it impossible to hope for anything good. The good news is that pessimism for most people is nothing more than a habit - a habit that can be broken with a little conscious effort.

Improving Your Self Confidence
[Self-Improvement:Self-Esteem] Let's face it, we all need Self Confidence to cope with the trials of modern life, but what many people don't realise is the extent to which our lives are governed by this simple attribute of personality. Self-confident people are winners: things go right for them; people like them; and they get the results they want more often than not.

Women in Management and Why We Need Them
[Business:Management] Here we are just about forty years after the first women burned their bras and yet still - we don't have complete equality in the modern workplace. Let's face it: that situation is just not good enough! Our places of work are essentially, despite everything, still male-dominated hierarchies based on the old command and control model of management that is generally acknowledged to be so outdated.

Does the Law of Attraction Work?
[Self-Improvement:Attraction] For years self-help guru's have taught about The Law of Attraction - the idea that you can get what you want simply by creating a clear mental picture of what you desire and using your imagination to see it with your mind's eye. It all sounds very tempting doesn't it - but is there really any such thing as the Law of Attraction? Well, I would like to share with you a little about my own experience learning about and then using this principle.

Until You Succeed
[Self-Improvement:Goal-Setting] So there you are with your Goals staring at you from the fridge and you are left wondering - what next? Well, first, you did set your goals didn't you? You did make them SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-Tabled). And you did put them on the fridge or somewhere you will be regularly confronted with them. If you didn't, then that's what you need to do before you go any further.

Jacobsen Relaxation Technique
[Self-Improvement:Stress-Management] The Jacobsen relaxation technique - also referred to as progressive muscles relaxation - is a technique to manage stress. It was developed in 1920s by Edmund Jacobsen. He proposed that muscle tension goes hand-in-hand with anxiety, and by reducing the muscle tension, anxiety can be reduced as well. This famous method of stress control is used by many therapists.

The 7 Spiritual Laws of Success
[Self-Improvement:Success] One of the most interesting discoveries of my life has been the fact that there are, indeed, laws of success which operate in much the same way as scientific laws such as the law of gravity. It may be difficult at first to really accept that the principles of success are really 'laws' and that if we can reproduce the causes of success, then we can also reproduce the effects. But, if we can take the time to understand and make use of these laws, the results we are seeking are certain to follow.

The 7 Laws of Attraction
[Self-Improvement:Attraction] Many people have been aroused by the idea behind 'The Law of Attraction' as it was brought to public awareness by the popular movie, The Secret. The idea that you can 'order' the universe to deliver whatever it is that you want is indeed very seductive, but is it true?

3 Ways Organization Can Benefit Your Health
[Self-Improvement:Organizing] Being disorganized can affect much more than your surroundings; it can have a large impact on your level of health and well-being also. Besides the obvious hazard of creating a higher likelihood of household injuries, clutter can also negatively impact the state of your mind and body in more subtle but equally damaging ways.

The Fear Factor - Is It Holding You Back From Living?
[Self-Improvement:Motivation] We all have fears of some kind. Some have fears of heights, some fear of water. There are many who have fear of spiders, flying, being alone,dying, mice, thunder and lightening,and the dark. It is human nature to have fears; this is something that we have developed during our childhood for one reason or another. These fears seem real, so they are not easily dispelled.

How Well Do You Prioritize?
[Self-Improvement:Time-Management] Prioritization is a skill that often takes practice before you can truly master it. When you've got a long list of things that need to be done, figuring out which ones take precedence can be difficult to say the least! Here are 5 simple steps to becoming a whiz at prioritization...

How to Live a Sacred Life
[Self-Improvement:Spirituality] Sacredness usually refers to something that is revered or worshipped, but it can also refer to a state of being or living. Would you consider your life to be sacred? Of course, the fact that you are alive is probably sacred to you, but I'm referring more to your every waking moment. Do you live with reverence and awareness, or do you rush around blindly day after day, missing out on many of the beautiful moments of your life?

How to Interpret Your Dreams
[Self-Improvement:Spirituality] Have you ever had a dream that scared or confused you? Perhaps you dreamed of a terrible accident, death of a loved one, or even a natural disaster and awoke with your heart pounding, wondering if the dream was supposed to be a premonition or message of some kind? Have you ever had a dream that was so bizarre that you woke up laughing and wondering why on earth you would dream something so crazy?

How to Have a Lucid Dream
[Self-Improvement:Spirituality] Have you ever had a dream in which you suddenly became aware that you were dreaming? If so, you were lucid dreaming. Whereas most of the time we are not consciously aware in our dreams, lucid dreams offer the possibility of a richer dream experience - or sometimes even the ability to control our dreams however we want. Some people seem to have no problem inducing a lucid dream at will, while others have them spontaneously or not at all. If you fall into the latter category and would like to try having a lucid dream, there are simple techniques you can use to induce them. It may take time before they work, however, so be prepared to make this an ongoing process until you see results.

Fitting Spirituality Into the Rest of Your Life
[Self-Improvement:Spirituality] If you're like the majority of people today, you barely have time to catch your breath, let alone devote endless hours to spiritual practices. Finding time to connect with your spiritual self can be challenging, but you may be surprised to learn that it doesn't necessarily require a large time investment. In fact, a little goes a long way when it comes to peace of mind and spiritual vitality!

Embarking on Your Spiritual Journey
[Self-Improvement:Spirituality] When you think of a spiritual journey, what do you envision? A monk in a monastery? A nun in a convent? A shaman or medicine person from an ancient tribe? These individuals are certainly on spiritual journeys - but when you really think about it, we all are. A spiritual journey doesn't have to mean giving away your worldly possessions and leaving your current life to give your full attention to spiritual matters. Rather, a spiritual journey can mean consciously striving to learn, grow and develop your spiritual self - even while in the context of your life as it is today.

Activities to Boost Your Spiritual Power
[Self-Improvement:Spirituality] Do you consider yourself to be spiritually powerful? Or are you still trying to find and connect with your own inner power? Exactly what your inner power is can be debated, but I like to think of it as the spark of divinity within you. It's the part of you that is always connected to Source (no matter what name you apply to that Source), and it's the part of you that is uniquely "you." In other words, it's the ESSENCE of who you are on a spiritual level; the core of your being.

Achieving Spiritual Balance
[Self-Improvement:Spirituality] In a world geared toward excess, it can be challenging to achieve balance in our spiritual lives - not to mention the rest of our lives. However, an unbalanced spiritual life has the potential to seep disharmony into the other areas of our lives, no matter how ordered they may be initially. Just as your health and well-being depend on balanced nutritional habits, your spiritual practices must be in balance to promote total harmony through all areas of your life.

Gratitude and New Beginnings
[Self-Improvement:Positive-Attitude] Few things in life can bring up a sense of sadness and loss than endings. Whether the ending involves the dissolution of a marriage, the termination of a job, a forced residential change or anything else, we are thrust into a state of disconnection and emptiness. Part of this feeling is caused by the disruption of our normal routine, but the biggest part of it stems from our reliance on the lost situation(s) as part of our identity. We don't know who we are without them, and we struggle to find a foothold in our lives again.

Gratitude and Challenges
[Self-Improvement:Positive-Attitude] Is it possible to feel grateful for the challenges you face on a daily basis? Yes, if you get into the habit of recognizing the benefits the challenges offer to you! What benefits, you ask? We tend to think of challenges as big mountains that stand between us and our goals. That seems like a bad thing at first glance. But ask any mountain climber what benefits they gain from conquering such rough terrain and they would probably talk your ear off about overcoming fears, sharpening focus, physical strength and building character. Mountains don't seem like such a bad thing to them.

Counting Your Blessings
[Self-Improvement:Positive-Attitude] You may have heard the phrase, "count your blessings" before, but how often do you actually do it? Do you pause to feel grateful when something good happens? How about when you need an emotional boost? Counting your blessings is one sure way to develop a constant mind-set of gratitude, which can turn a mundane life into a miraculous life. You may have tried keeping a "gratitude journal" by recording the things you are grateful for each evening before bed, and that is one effective method, but there are other ways of focusing on gratitude if that didn't work well for you.

Choosing Gratitude
[Self-Improvement:Positive-Attitude] How often are you grateful? Like many people, you probably focus on gratitude when something great happens in your life, and maybe once a day on Thanksgiving. If you are part of a rare group of people, you might actually keep a daily gratitude journal and take time to reflect on your blessings regularly. These are beneficial habits, but you can also use gratitude in a more proactive way to transform your life. The way to do this is as simple as making a series of choices throughout the course of your day.

Your Heart's Desire
[Self-Improvement:Attraction] "Allowing," in relation to the Law of Attraction is a difficult thing to describe because it's a state of being, rather than a state of doing. It's a process of letting go any effort to control what happens around you and instead letting the universe work on your behalf. Staying in a state of allowance can be challenging for some people because they are so used to taking action in order to get what they want. Allowing your heart's desires may seem contrary to this approach, but it's really just a matter of taking different actions and choosing the right mind-set.

Action and the Law of Attraction
[Self-Improvement:Attraction] When you begin working with the Law of Attraction more proactively, you may wonder whether you need to take physical action in addition to your mental and emotional exercises. The answer to this will vary according to who you ask. There are people who claim that no action is needed; just directing the right frequency of thought and emotion toward a desired outcome is enough. Then there are those who believe that action is always necessary, because action is the vehicle through which all desires are manifested.

Three Simple Ways to Motivate Yourself
[Self-Improvement:Techniques] When you feel unmotivated, changing your mind-set can seem as strenuous as hauling yourself out of a sticky pit of mud. Not only do you feel unmotivated, you feel unmotivated about trying to GET motivated! Luckily, the mind is very susceptible to persuasion - if you use the right stimulators. Here are 3 simple ways to motivate yourself:

Three Simple Ways to Lift Your Spirits
[Self-Improvement:Techniques] When you've got a case of the blues it can be difficult to see an easy way out of them. By nature, emotions tend to feed off of each other. You might start with a mild sense of sadness when you first wake up in the morning, only to find yourself spiraling down into a full-blown case of doldrums as the day progresses. Before you know it, you're focusing in on every possible worst-case scenario, putting a negative spin on everything people say to you, and otherwise spreading misery wherever you go.

Three Simple Ways to Have More Fun
[Self-Improvement:Techniques] Life can often turn into an endless procession of mundane obligations if we're not careful. Besides the never-ending household chores, we consistently carry the burden of work duties, family responsibilities, personal goals, and commitments to our community, neighbors and friends. With all of these burdens resting on our shoulders day after day, it's no wonder we end up feeling like we're stuck in a rut of tedious repetition.

Three Simple Ways to Boost Your Confidence
[Self-Improvement:Techniques] Low self-confidence has the power to limit you in all areas of your life. It can hold you back in your career, prevent you from having healthy relationships, and even keep you disconnected from your inner power. Boosting your confidence is often a simple matter of changing the way you see yourself. If you hold a negative self-image because of painful experiences from the past or constant negative reinforcement, creating a more positive self-image will help you to begin rebuilding your confidence.

Three Simple Ways to Be More Disciplined
[Self-Improvement:Techniques] Lack of self-discipline can often be an annoying "catch-22." You find that you need a certain measure of self-discipline in order to become more disciplined, and not having it can cause you to go around in circles trying to make positive changes in your life. If you are struggling to build up your level of self-discipline, it may not be as difficult as you think - provided you start with these 3 simple steps...

Conversion - PDF eBooks in the Blink of an Eye!
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:E-Books] Very many people have latched on to the idea of creating eBooks to sell their original ideas and information on the internet. Websites such as eBay are literally teeming with these digital books - and it has reportedly become an $8 Billion industry. In this article, we will take a look at how easy it is to create an eBook from scratch.

Binaural Beats for Meditation, Stress Management and Creativity
[Self-Improvement:Stress-Management] The basic principle in the use of binaural beats concerns the human brain's ability to appropriate, process and sometimes merge source sounds into a single working sound. For example, if you were to take two different tone samples and feed those samples into each of your ears, you'd actually hear a combination of the two that would produce what amounts to a humming noise inside of the head.

Napoleon Hill's Awesome Secret
[Self-Improvement:Success] Have you heard of the movie The Secret? It has been an amazing success on the internet. It is mainly concerned with convincing people that there is indeed a secret - one that many successful people have used since time immemorial to produce outstanding results in their lives. Many people have claimed to have applied it to their lives to create astonishing wealth.

How to Make Money OnLine - Quickly!
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Internet-Marketing] This is a straight-to-the-point article that outlines a simple strategy for making money online. Anyone can do it if you just follow these simple steps. There are very many ways you can make money on the internet but when you boil it down, there are a few basic methods that really work. This strategy can get you rolling very quickly - by Selling Digital Products on eBay!

My Million-Dollar Idea!
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Internet-Marketing] Some time ago, I remember someone asking for a Million-Dollar idea on a popular Internet Marketing Forum. The replies were interesting - a lot of people didn't think anyone would reveal a Million-Dollar idea for free. Well here I have decided to outline a strategy that could make you a million dollars. It is a strategy that certainly generates income & if you choose your subject well ... who knows?

You Cannot Fail
[Self-Improvement:Success] Recently, I came across the story of Pete Gray which is quite amazing and inspirational. Pete lost his right arm in a childhood accident. However, despite this, he still managed to fulfill his boyhood dream of playing major-league baseball. Pete succeeded because he didn't give-up! He simply refused to quit - and it is true that you cannot fail if you too determine that you will not quit.

5 Top Tips for Staying Motivated
[Self-Improvement:Motivation] Today I have two tasks that I absolutely need to get done before the end of the day. They are both important. One of these is quite a mundane task; the other is something I will quite enjoy. Now if I think about it, the motivation to do the pleasant task is already there.

Mix Your Own Enthusiasm Potion
[Self-Improvement:NLP-Hypnosis] This morning when our Post-Person greeted me with her usual cheery 'hello', I was struck by the thought that I should write to the Post Office to let them know what a good representative of the company this person is; but then I realized that I couldn't remember her name.

Fake It Till You Make It - The Short-Cut to Success
[Self-Improvement:NLP-Hypnosis] A short-cut to success - wow - that sounds interesting doesn't it? So listen-up - if you would like to achieve success really quickly -in any field of endeavor - you might consider taking a little short-cut which is known in NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) as 'modeling'.

Resistance is Useless
[Business:Change-Management] If you are responsible for any kind of change initiative in business, you are going to meet a phenomenon that is well-recognised in management circles – it's called "resistance to change". Frankly, human beings are change-resistant – it's a simple fact of life. Ken Blanchard wrote about it in his lovely little book "Who Moved my Cheese" which deals with stereo-typical reactions to change.

Just Singing And Dancing In The Rain
[Self-Improvement:Success] There was once a tribe that invented a rain dance that worked - what they did was this: they danced and danced and danced - until it rained. And it actually worked- every time! This principle is sometimes hailed as a magic recipe for success in anything you attempt.

Daily Affirmations for Positive Living
[Self-Improvement:Affirmations] Once, I knew a person who suffered from panic attacks. Whenever he needed to stand up and speak in front of a group of people, his nerves just seemed to get the better of him and, they were so bad that eventually he would be completely unable to speak. Well, he first learned how to control the inner panic with the use of affirmations. Then eventually, he was able to completely free himself of the problem. The affirmation technique can be very powerful indeed, so let’s take a closer look at how to make use of it.

Time Management & The Crocodile Principle
[Self-Improvement:Time-Management] Do you remember the movie Cool Hand Luke? It stars Paul Newman as an anti-hero who has been jailed for committing some felony; and is sentenced to a term of hard labour. The hard labour, which consists of building a road as I seem to remember, is occasionally interrupted by crocodiles. Well I suppose they would actually be alligators because the movie is set in the American south.

Top Three Books for Personal Development
[Self-Improvement:Personal-Growth] A while back, my daughter asked me to name three must-read books in my field – which is, of course, Personal Development. It didn't take much thinking – right away, I answered that my top three recommendations would be: How to Find Your Real Self by Mildred Mann The 7 Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey In this article, I am going to outline why I think these books are essential reading for any student of the subject.

The 7 Keys to Success
[Self-Improvement:Success] When I was quite young, someone told me, "If you want be really successful, find out what God wants to you to do with your life and then dedicate yourself to achieving it".

Self Hypnosis for Weight Loss
[Self-Improvement:NLP-Hypnosis] Weight loss through hypnosis - it sounds so appealing doesn't it - the whole idea of listening to a few words through your MP3 player and then watching the pounds simply drop off? But can you really lose weight through hypnosis?

Rich Jerk Review
[Writing-and-Speaking:Copywriting] The Rich Jerk is, without doubt, one of the most successful campaigns in Internet Marketing history, but is the book actually worth buying – or is it yet another one of those infamous scams that seem to pervade the web?

NLP & the Art of Listening
[Self-Improvement] In the early seventies, about 1973, Bandler and Grindler are generally credited as having developed Neuro-Linguistic programming (NLP) in collaboration with Gregory Bateson. John Gridler was a professor of Linguistics and Richard Bandler was a student at the time. They defined NLP as: the study of the structure of subjective experience.

What Can You Do to Stop Smoking - Now?
[Health-and-Fitness:Quit-Smoking] You have probably heard people passing comments like, "My grandfather smoked 20 a day and lived until he was 96." But, we all know really, that does not mean that you will live until you are 96 if you smoke as many cigarettes. If you smoke cigarettes, you are actually reducing your life expectancy by around 5 years on average - now that's fact.

The Master Key System
[Self-Improvement:Success] The Master Key System deals with what has become widely known as The Law of Attraction. This is the notion that the world in which we live-our subjective reality-is a reflection of an inner world that we fashion for ourselves, from our thinking.

Writing a Personal Mission Statement
[Self-Improvement] If you don't yet have a mission statement of your own, it's a great time to be thinking about producing one for yourself. The reason is simple: it will help to give you clear focus on what is important.

How to Set and Achieve a Goal
[Self-Improvement:Goal-Setting] The human mind and autonomic nervous system can be thought of as a goal-achieving mechanism. All you need to learn is how to utilise it - and that is done through the process of goal-setting. This article outlines the process many successful people have used to achieve their goals.

Stephen Covey & A Summary of The 7 Habits
[Book-Reviews:Self-Help] Stephen Covey is best known, for his self-help book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. which was first published by Simon & Schuster in 1989 and has sold around 12 million copies word-wide. This article provides a useful summary of the 7 Habits.

Copywriting - How to Write a Winning Sales Letter
[Writing-and-Speaking:Copywriting] Do you know what is the toughest click or, in other words, do you know which click is the hardest one to get your visitor to make? The toughest click is the one that leads to your payment processor!