In the early days when my parents began a weekly paper in our small town, cash flow was a constant concern. Their lifeline was a line of credit at the local branch of a national bank.

My friend Mary Johnson of [email protected] recently had the privilege of introducing Amanda Lindhout at a speaker series presentation during the Certified Professional Accountants Elevate celebrations. I was so impressed with Mary’s story of Amanda’s message that I asked Mary if I could use her story in this newsletter. I’ll let Mary take it from here…

A few weeks ago I had about a two-week run of technical difficulties.

First it was spam. Over the past year, one of my e-mail addresses has gone from getting an occasional spam message to literally hundreds every day.

Three quick stories, and then I will make a point!

Many cultures and spiritual traditions include some form of meditation. Go online and you’ll find thousands of sites with more information.

A definition of meditation. When I say “meditate” I mean any practice that enables you to find a still and quiet place within where you feel calm and open to inner wisdom. When I say “meditative state” I mean a mental and emotional condition in which you feel calm and are open to experience inner wisdom and higher intelligence.

Brain research adds credibility to advice that sports coaches, business mentors and manifestation gurus have been recommending for decades: to visualize or imagine a desired experience as one way to help bring that desired experience into physical reality.

Many years ago, I was told that when the indigenous people of North America were making a decision for the tribe, they considered how their decision would affect the next seven generations.

Last week I wrote about a sunlamp experience that started out grumpy and ended up happy. I received a delightful note from a reader. Here’s what she said:

I have low expectations of large companies. In the past week, I had experiences with a telecom and an airline that made me think that, whatever these two large companies value, it’s certainly not their customers. It’s good that a few weeks ago I had a happier experience with a large national company.

I’ve had a ton of “input” in the past week and a half. Here are just a few examples.