For some of us out there we are coming to that dreaded time of year: Valentines Day or Sad-Times Day as I like to call. In honour of the occasion, I've decided to step into my desired writer persona, Sex and the City's Carrie Bradshaw for the rest of this article.

Sad-Times's Day can bring trauma to many out there (women in particular). Why? Because they  think that there's a stigma to being single. This isn't help by some of those around. Noted stigma name callers include Aunties, work colleagues, all your married / partner friends, parents in denial for those you out there who are gay.

To make matters worse, Valentines Day falls on a Sunday this year so you can't even fake a romance by sending yourself flowers or chocolates to the office so the aforementioned work colleagues think you are have a secret you are holding back from them!

So What To Do?

Bringing it back to basics, Valentines can be seen as one big money making scheme with the love long gone. It gives retailers, hoteliers and restaurateurs a perfect excuse to mark up products and services by 25%-50%.

Being single actually means you are financially better off! Rejoice in your S!

No arguments over where to eat, dead flowers, liquor chocolates and best of all, you can actually get away with forgetting that it is Valentines Day. What more could you want in this GFC crisis we read about all the time?

Expressing Love

If expressing love is the true intent of Valentines, then may be we should live each and every day with love in your heart - for you, your loved ones and mankind. Don't wait for 1 day a year to make someone feel special...

"Being single used to mean that nobody wanted you. Now it means you're pretty sexy and you're taking your time deciding how you want your life to be and who you want to spend it with." - Carrie Bradshaw...

How to Survive Valentines Day as a Single Person- 9 Not Very Useful Tips...!

1. Eat ice cream
2. Delete all profiles and cancel subscriptions to dating websites
3. Eat BBQ chicken (no plate, hands only)
   
4. Watch Bridget Jones diary
5. Eat more ice cream with some vodka thrown in to feel like Bridget Jones
6. Buy Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred to get back in to shape (this DVD works miracles for the waistline)
7. Have 1 last scoop of ice cream
8. Go out with some of your fellow single friends and cool partnered up couples and have some fun!
9. Come home and eat the remaining BBQ chicken followed by another last scoop of ice cream
   

Remember that you are fabulous regardless of whether you are single or married... Have a great Valentines one and all...

Janet 

PS... Before you ask, Yes... I'm being treated to a lovely Valentines Date! Go Carrie!

Nothing else exists when I'm in that place. It is if I've made a special agreement with the ocean that I have permission to let go of everything and just be with this dynamic force of nature. The same permission applies at a spiritual level through yoga when you honor your body by pushing yourself to a gentle limit during each asana and the healing meditation at the end of the session.

http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/yoga_and_surfing_soul_mates

http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/going_organic_the_easy_way

1. Immediately work out your budget - what does it cost for you to live per month?
   
2. From there, work out how long you can afford not to earn - this will then help you decide whether now is the time for you to pursue a career change
   
3. Where can you make cutbacks in your spending? Found some? Implement cutbacks immediately! i.e. that gym membership you never use...
   
4. Who are your mentors? Call them and seek advice
   
5. Who is in your inner circle and your greater network of friends, classmates, colleagues, etc. Who of them can help you? Learn to use to use your network!

http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/losing_your_job_some_how_to_deal_with_stress_tips

1. Antioxidants are supposed to provide protective effects against heart diseases and cancer by removing the damage causing free radicals within your body. In addendum, antioxidants retard our aging process. Prunes, strawberries.....

Power of the Unconscious Mind

Did you know that your conscious mind controls only 10% of your thoughts, emotions and that your unconscious mind controls 90% of your thoughts, emotions, feelings. What does this mean to you? Basically, 90% of everything you do and feel is based on your unconscious hardwiring of how you been conditioned to feel, act or respond.

Therefore, if you are hardwired with low self esteem or doubt, this will win over regardless of how inspired you feel about achieving your New Year's goals, it will rear its ugly head and say "Stop, you are not worthy of succeeding" and guess what, you unconsciously respond and act from that belief.

How Do I Change My Hardwiring

Neural reconditioning has been a practise for many years now. The premise of neural reconditioning is the constant daily practice of rewiring those negative beliefs with positive, forward moving ones though affirmations, visualisation, etc. John Assaraf of The Secret fame is a strong daily user and believer in neural reconditioning. Most of today's thought leaders including Joe Vitale, Sharon Wilson, Abraham - Jerry and Esther Hicks all talk to the successthis practice can bring.

I have seen success not only for myself, but with my clients too. Some of them have had a complete change from negative limiting beliefs and behaviours to mind blowing, positive turnarounds resulting in them finally achieving long desired goals and outcomes. So yes, this can happen for you!

If you want to have amazing results in 2010, then practice neural reconditioning techniques on a daily basis and you will see tremendous results for yourself. I guarantee it!

SMART is one of the best goal formulas I've experienced to date and have used it for many years now.

SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely. Here's a breakdown of what each part stands for:

Specific - A goal that is not specific has no roadmap. Meaning there is no way to plan out how you are going to achieve it. By planning out the details of your goal by asking yourself when it will happen, how it will happen, why you want it to happen, you can begin taking the steps needed to get to your objective. Taking a trip with a vague destination and no roadmap will only get you lost and the same is true of goals.

Measurable - Establish concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the attainment of each goal you set. When you measure your progress, you stay on track, reach your target dates, and experience the exhilaration of achievement that spurs you on to continued effort required to reach your goal.

To determine if your goal is measurable, ask questions such as......How much? How many? How will I know when it is accomplished?

Attainable - When you identify goals that are most important to you, you begin to figure out ways you can make them come true. You develop the attitudes, abilities, skills, and financial capacity to reach them. You begin seeing previously overlooked opportunities to bring yourself closer to the achievement of your goals.

You can attain most any goal you set when you plan your steps wisely and establish a time frame that allows you to carry out those steps. Goals that may have seemed far away and out of reach eventually move closer and become attainable, not because your goals shrink, but because you grow and expand to match them. When you list your goals you build your self-image. You see yourself as worthy of these goals, and develop the traits and personality that allow you to possess them.

Realistic - To be realistic, a goal must represent an objective toward which you are both willing and able to work. A goal can be both high and realistic; you are the only one who can decide just how high your goal should be. But be sure that every goal represents substantial progress. A high goal is frequently easier to reach than a low one because a low goal exerts low motivational force. Some of the hardest jobs you ever accomplished actually seem easy simply because they were a labor of love.

Your goal is probably realistic if you truly believe that it can be accomplished. Additional ways to know if your goal is realistic is to determine if you have accomplished anything similar in the past or ask yourself what conditions would have to exist to accomplish this goal.

Timely - A goal should be grounded within a time frame. With no time frame tied to it there's no sense of urgency. If you want to lose 10 lbs, when do you want to lose it by? "Someday" won't work. But if you anchor it within a timeframe, "by May 1st", then you've set your unconscious mind into motion to begin working on the goal.

T can also stand for Tangible - A goal is tangible when you can experience it with one of the senses, that is, taste, touch, smell, sight or hearing. When your goal is tangible you have a better chance of making it specific and measurable and thus attainable.