I’ve noticed a common thread running through new business owners: they feel guilty charging for services that actually help people. Oh, they may charge something small, but charging something that allows them to pay their own bills can become gut-wrenching.

Pretty ironic, isn’t it?

That’s why spiritpreneur or heartpreneur business owners often fail to thrive. If their service helps people, they’ve somehow gotten it into their heads that they should be doing it for free, that it should be volunteer work, that it’s not spiritual or nice to ask for the money.

Kind, caring business folks, you need to get over that. It makes no sense when you really think about it. If anything we need more businesses doing work that truly helps people or the planet or both. If that kind of work can only be done on the side, we’ll just get more of the same.

People working for others seem to have less problems pushing products, whether these products help folks or not. It’s as if the corporation acts as a conscience buffer between them and what they sell. Yet, if one of those folks leaves a corporation to start their own business, a business that leaves people in a better place then where they started, emotional pandemonium can ensue.

Why do we raise people to think this way? It makes no sense. And since life is all invention, why not change it?

If charging for your services bothers you on some level, try and figure out the underlying why. Keep digging until you find it. Once you know what it is, it will be easier to confront whatever myth holds you back.

There are many well-read Biblical Scholars and they of course, are devout Christians. Many of these folks would like to figure out how to make money, and some of them over the years have become pretty excellent writers. So, the question of the say is; “Can a Biblical Scholar or can a Devout Lifetime Christian Follower make money selling Christian stories and essays?”

Well, there is a market for these things, and there are whole rows of Christian Books at the bookstores. Some bookstores exist that are only Christian Books, the entire store! Still, what about the lowly writer who wants to write Christian essays and short stories? Are these types of writings marketable?

Indeed, there are folks interested in such things. A devout Christian obviously already has a lot to choose from, so the stories or works must be good and refined. If they are stories that have Jesus in them, many Christians may not like them, due to their version of historical accuracy of the original (Biblical Story and Text), therefore they may not want their children confused.

Personally, in my humble opinion, if it makes people think, the stories are marketable, but it is not so easy to much these types of works. Why you ask? Well, another issue with such things is that, there are a ton of folks writing such stories and giving them away, thus, a bit of competition of such things and a low price point.

Indeed, good Christian short stories must teach a lesson of sorts, and I must say, I am not one to judge really, I am not a religious follower of any type. Although see the value in such stories, and I know that the reading public does buy these books, short stories and works and like you I’ve seen them walk out of the bookstores smiling.

If the story grabs at their belief system, gives them hope, and shakes them up a little, then it might make sense in trying to market it. And yes, people need to be “shaken, not stirred,” every once in a while, so please consider all this.

Freelance sites like Upwork or Freelancer have perpetuated a ridiculous belief that there are only some people in the world to whom the English language is native, while to most others, it is not.

Typically, the reference made is to people from countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, or South Africa (at best). Folks from practically all other countries are dismissed as being “non-native” to English.

As an Indian myself, I find this belief thoroughly obnoxious.

I can’t help but wonder how has this belief come about?

After all, off these freelance sites, such a falsified belief does not quite exist. Then, why is it there on them?

Non-Whetting of Professionals on-board Freelance Sites

The answer, to quite an extent, lies in the fact that freelance sites miss out whetting folks who come on-board. For instance, Indians or other South Asians readily sign up as “content creators”, even though they may not have the skills to serve as such professionals.

Now, these same folks, when hired by overseas clients, unsurprisingly fall short of expectations. Every such instance then goes onto perpetuate a belief that Indians or South Asians are incapable of writing coherently in the English language. Therefore, I genuinely believe that it is freelance sites who have stemmed the falsified notion of Indians in general being linguistically challenged in English.

Blinded by Nationality

Particularly annoying is the way prospective clients on freelance sites are simply blinded by nationality. Essentially, if there’s a professional geographically located in any of the countries I mentioned in the beginning, that individual is automatically presumed to be “native”. This is true even for Indian-Americans for instance; change of location suddenly grants them English language proficiency that was missing in their home country. Such beliefs are simply bizarre!

I, personally, know Americans and Britishers (among others from the countries I mentioned in the beginning) whose English language expertise is practically non-existent.

I especially want to emphasize on the fact that writing is a skill that is not bound or limited by nationality.

So, do not be blinded by nationality when considering hiring professionals for crafting English language content. Instead, look at factors such as experience and expertise.

Remember that among many other skills in the world, English language expertise is also not limited to specific countries or nationalities.

Conclusion

STOP presuming that Indian – as well as other supposedly “non-native” folks cannot write quality content in the English language, simply based on where they come from.

Instead, assess based on factors such as prior experience as well as expertise (which can easily be determined).

DON’T be blinded by ridiculous prejudices and stereotypes; each time you do so, you only perpetuate such unwanted human tendencies.

I’ve said elsewhere that hypnosis is a tool or resource, like any other.

Iron can make a bridge or a gun… and it can make them well or poorly.

It can end up in the hands of predators, goofballs or heroes with equal ease.

But the analogy isn’t quite right.

Hypnosis curves towards the good.

If you want to use it for evil, you’re less likely to succeed.

If you mean well but you’re clumsy with it, it’s the same story.

I’m not saying this is a law of physics or anything. People contradict it every day.

But most tools are entirely passive. How many skew themselves so skilled, experienced people with good intentions can use them better?

Not many, if any.

Here’s how hypnosis’ built-in goodness amplifier works:

Hypnosis works off the relationship between hypnotist and subject. Not what you think the relationship should be or what you hope it is – what it really is.

Your unconscious monitors your social reality all the time. If someone is more popular than you or is suddenly faking their friendship to you, it’s easy to spot – generally, at least.

Some folks are better actors than others, but everyone displays these unconscious signals all the time.

Everyone gives off a ‘vibe’ or sorts. You can fake confidence as much as you want, but your inner insecurities will still leak through.

Someone’s conscious mind might be impressed by your cool suit and good posture, but their unconscious reads you better than you’d hope.

Lots of folks have stories where they went into business with someone, even though something ‘felt off’ about them. They ignored that feeling… only to regret it later.

We’re social animals. We evolved to read each other’s inner mental state.

It’s not always perfect, but it’s far better than most folks realise. The tiniest body language cues or choice of words can speak volumes to your unconscious.

All that’s vital for hypnosis.

If you intend to do someone harm, your body screams it.

If you don’t know what you’re doing, your body screams that, too.

Consciously, someone might agree for you to hypnotise them out of politeness or whatever.

Unconsciously, they say, “this person? Really? Nuh uh, no way.”

You only go into a trance around people you trust.

And you only trust people who are caring and competent.

Again, it’s not a perfect system. Someone malicious can learn enough hypnosis to overcome this. And someone incompetent might be so arrogant that you mistake it for confidence.

It’s not flawless.

But it’s great enough to eliminate scores of folks who really shouldn’t be hypnotising anyone.

Hypnosis has, built in, reasons to be hopeful. A classic fantasy trope is a weapon only the worthy can use, like Excalibur or Mjolnir. Hypnosis isn’t quite like that, but it’s more like that than most other powerful tools.

Colonialism refers to the action of taking command over a nation politically and exploiting in economically. The people that have power are actually labeled as colonists whereas the indigenous folks make up the colonies. In the 16th century, the European states took advantage of the technological advancements of theirs and colonized the weaker areas of the community. Areas as Asia, America, Australia, and Africa were underdeveloped and the European states exploited them with raw materials and cheap labor. Additionally, it provided the colonizers with a chance to exercise the power of theirs and open up fresh market segments. There are broadly 2 kinds of colonialism, specifically, settler colonialism where there’s large scale immigration of foreigners in the colonies as well as exploitation colonialism – the places where there are actually less colonists in the colonies but massive amounts of everything is exported.

As negative as it may sound, colonialism has a merits. Let us talk about them in brief.

Positive Effects of Colonialism

The European nations benefited a great deal from colonialism. Nevertheless, the colonies likewise learned a great deal from the advanced nations. For example, education watched a totally new light when the advanced nations got over the underdeveloped lands. The method of 3Rs was created that centered on checking, publishing, and arithmetic. Literacy levels saw an increase in a sense of nationalism as well as intelligence was created. Additionally, with the spread of training came a consciousness about the land of theirs. The colonies discovered what gems they were living on. Additionally, they discovered the art form of defense. The colonies were helped by the colonists to protect themselves against some other enemies.

The infrastructure of the colonies also underwent a radical change. To be able to facilitate luxurious living and trade of officers posted, the colonies were developed by the colonists. That lead to the betterment of living requirements of the colonies as well as taught them means of the civilized folks.

Health was another segment which discovered a significant transformation. With the intrusion of Western folks arrived the Western lifestyle as well as health care. This led to much better life expectancy of the indigenous folks by bounds and leaps. Sanitation improved as well as the infant mortality rates went down. Along with medications, the Europeans also brought brand new technologies with them which included tools and weapons.

Apart from everything this, Christianity rose. The colonists had a brand new market to push towards the religion of Christianity. The colonization even highlighted the colonies in front of the community. A feeling of forbid dance was abolished.

Damaging Effects of Colonialism

Only one of the main adverse impacts of Colonialism was slavery. Right from India to Africa, folks had been enslaved as well as used to the mother country. They were being pressured to leave their work and families with no pay. All of this deteriorated the psychological and also physical independence as well as ailments of the colonized places.

Apart from being pulled to the European nations, colonized folks had been being created working on the own land of theirs as slaves. The Europeans acquired lands in the colonized places and also forced the indigenous folks to focus on them without pays.

The traditions and countries of the indigenous folks had been trampled and berated. Sometimes the clothes of the indigenous folks was belittled. They had been forced to go along with Christianity and also talk the dialect of the mother country. Paganism and the beauty connected with it had been lost. They had been forced to purchase the goods of theirs and also consume the foods they supplied them with. In addition to all this, overseas invaders brought along a number of brand new diseases with them. The unprepared systems of the natives could not bear several of them that resulted in untimely deaths.

The Europeans, particularly the British employed the divide and rule policy. For this reason, they made a number of new boundaries which divided the natives. People had been uprooted, kids and females harassed. The colonists never gave administrative articles to the indigenous folks. Nevertheless, several lower posts were given to a couple of selected ones. This made the chosen people think better and led to community conflicts and also rifts.

The colonies had been ripped off the natural beauty of theirs and gems offered to them by God. Diamonds, spices, rubber, essential oils, ivory, gold, etc had been removed off the colonies and exported to the mother country. The colonies had no means of survival and earnings right now. They had been rendered helpless a totally reliant on the wretched colonists.

To conclude with, it’s quite apparent that colonialism did much more bad than really good, though it was an important stage for the improvement of a great deal of regions. Quoting Ashis Nandy from The Intimate Enemy: Loss and Recovery of Self under Colonialism, “Modern colonialism won its great victories not so much through its military and technological prowess as through its ability to create secular hierarchies incompatible with the traditional order.”

Building and maintaining friendships demands a number of important skills. A frequently overlooked one involves telephone etiquette. By making mistakes in this area, you could be inadvertently annoying existing friends and chasing away new ones. Here are the five worst offenses:

1. Forgetting to “clear” the call

When a friend answers the phone in response to your call, remember to first identify yourself and ask about your timing. Callers often zoom ahead to their own agenda, failing to think they might be disturbing their friends.

Example: “Hi Bill, this is Ron. I just called to chat and catch up. Is this an okay time to talk?”

Make sure to identify yourself because some folks aren’t good at recognizing voices–especially if you’ve just met–and they may feel uncomfortable having to guess. More problematic, when you don’t ask if friends are free to talk, you’ve put them in the awkward position of having to interrupt and explain that they can’t stay on the phone.

2. Abusing call waiting

No one likes to feel discounted, but call-waiting users often make folks feel that way. When the friends of an acquaintance of mine ask him to hold for call waiting, he responds: “Hey, what am I, chopped liver?” I agree. I believe that if you reached me by phone, you got there first, and I owe you a completed call.

If you feel you must use call waiting, do two things. First, limit the number of interruptions. I know folks who leave the phone three and four times during a conversation to check incoming calls. As I sit twiddling my thumbs, I fight the urge to hang up in disgust.

Second, inform the person already on line with you that you’re waiting for an important call and you’ll have to interrupt when it comes in. That way, your friend is forewarned and hopefully will not feel dismissed.

Some folks use call waiting for valid reasons. A relative may be in poor health, or an ongoing crisis may demand their immediate availability. They may be expecting a guest who will be calling about arrival times or asking for directions.

Other people, I suspect, respond obsessively to the call-waiting beep out of fear they’ll miss something. I sometimes tease a friend who can’t ignore the beep, “You better hurry–you don’t want to miss out on that 200 million dollars from Publisher’s Clearing House!”

3. Talking nonstop

Some people have difficulty ending a phone call. We often dread hearing from them, particularly when we have things to do. I occasionally talk to acquaintances who simply do not know how to put a period at the end of a sentence. They connect every statement to the next with the word “and,” thoughtlessly preventing an equal exchange. The answering machine’s screening option was invented for such folks.

Typically, marathon talkers ignore hang-up cues. When we try to end the conversation, they often disregard our efforts, failing to recognize the generally accepted signals people use when they want to get off the phone. Here are a couple of examples:

“So, okay, Karen, I’m really glad you called. It’s been a treat hearing from you.”

“Well, Steve, this was fun! Let’s talk again soon.”

Notice the phrases in bold. Using the past tense is the most common way to let others know you want to end a call.

I feel trapped whenever someone ignores the cues and continues to broach new topics. It’s a tough dilemma because I don’t want to be rude, but I do want to get off the phone.

People are marathon talkers for various reasons, including feeling lonely or bored, wanting to ventilate or gossip, or needing an audience to entertain. Whatever the reason, they predictably leave numerous voice mail messages for folks who are, mysteriously, almost always out of the house.

4. Multitasking

Many people pride themselves on their ability to do additional “productive” things while on the phone. Some can pull it off and their phone partners don’t notice their split focus, but most can’t.

Here are the giveaways: They don’t always track conversation points appropriately, have an intermittent vague or distant tone of voice, and make noise doing whatever it is they’re doing. I’ve heard paper ripping (going through their mail), water running (doing dishes), babies crying (changing diapers or feeding), and–I kid you not–the sound of tinkling (sitting on the pot).

Most of us prefer chatting with people who can give us their undivided attention.

5. Misusing voice mail

Without doubt, voice mail is a great convenience, but many people unknowingly annoy the heck out of their friends by abusing it. Here are a few guidelines:

As with person-to-person calls, always begin your message by identifying yourself, and then be brief. Most people don’t want to hear long, droning messages. They want a quick one they can write down and act on.

Also, do your best to structure your message to avoid unnecessary return calls. For example, if you want to change the time of an appointment, say the following: “Kathy, I’d like to change our seven o’clock appointment to seven-thirty. If that’s OK, don’t call back. If not, call me at 555-4343 and we’ll figure something out.”

Leave your phone number every time–not everyone has memorized it–and state it slowly. Be sure to leave the correct number if you’re somewhere other than your home and you don’t have your cell phone.

Since most folks already know how voice mail works, use a short greeting. I once returned a call to a client whose greeting consisted of her five-year-old snapping his fingers and humming the entire theme to the Partridge Family TV show–twice. I was trapped in phone hell.

For years, my Uncle Tony offered a brief, reassuring message: “You know what to do. Do it.”

My all time favorite, however, is the phone message of a musician friend. He wins the brevity prize when he says, “Your solo!”

When folks move out to the rural countryside, they leave behind them the convenience and ease of municipal sewer systems. One does not think twice about flushing a toilet, taking a long shower or using phosphate-containing detergents to do the laundry. Once you are the owner of one of the septic tanks used by those in the country for handling wastes, these will be items you will consider important to its proper function.

If you are having a new system built, you may want to keep in mind that a family of three consumes in one way or the other about one hundred fifty thousand gallons of water a year. Installers of septic systems will be able to help you determine how large of a tank you will need based on your size of family and other things. You will also need to decide what type of tank you want, whether it be of concrete, fiberglass or plastic. For most folks, the concrete one lasts longest and they choose that. It is a personal choice, however.

These waste tanks work on the principle of anaerobic activity. No air is exchanged inside of this container and that is how it works, without air. Microbes and so forth are activated and do all the work of digesting solids and such. No bulky stuff like sanitary pads, tampons or cotton tipped swabs should be disposed of down the toilet. Be careful to avoid letting cooking oils and grease go down the kitchen sink as well. These are not friendly to the workings of a septic system. It is also important not to put paints and other solvents in the tank.

For this system to function properly, there needs to be adequate space for the leach or drainage field to work. Avoid any area with a lot of trees, as their roots will eventually cause problems by clogging up the pipes or creeping into the tank and causing leaks to occur. Some folks pour a canister or box of salt down the drain once a month or so to try and keep small roots at abeyance. Feeding the liquid a septic aid will also help to keep the environment good, to keep the little anaerobic critters happy.

If you are lucky enough to own a garbage disposal, be careful not to use it excessively as all those solids could disturb and overpower the ability of the microbes and such to function correctly. Too much water from, perhaps, the laundry being done too much, could also add more water to the tank than may be advisable. Using a bio-degradable toilet tissue would be advised as well.

Locating the tank a certain distance from the house and from your well would be a good thing to be discussed with your county health department, in conjunction with your installer. They will both have the expertise you may not have in these matters. There are legal limits to the distance for the tank as well as the leach field. If they are not done according to code, you will be required to remedy the problem by moving it all. That would be expensive and easily avoided by asking the right questions of the right people in the first place.

Maintaining the tank is crucial. Many experts give conflicting information on how often a tank needs to be pumped out. The time is well past for doing so when you begin to have back-ups in floor drains or even toilets. If your family is large you may want to consider every three years or so. You may be able to go a little longer if there are just two of you most of the time.

There have been folks who have bought well-developed farms that already have a septic tank system in place. The leach field was located in what was the garden area, where there were cherry and pear trees. These trees were very old and very productive, the pears reaching a huge size in comparison to normal-sized pears. They did not appear to have any ill-effects on folks, so the folks left it all as it was.

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Meaningful meetings are possible, desirable, and should be the aim of every executive. Many people say meaningful meetings is an oxymoron, and they have a point. Research shows consistently that most meetings waste time and cost significant sums. Some studies show over 75% of meetings waste time. Get a Klu, a corporate coaching and training consulting firm found that professionals lose 31 hours monthly to unproductive meetings. Besides, they show that of the eleven million meetings held in the U.S.A. daily, half are wasteful meetings.

Curtailing wasteful meetings boost personal effectiveness and morale and improve company-wide productivity. I estimate that at least half of the hundreds of meetings I attended at work, church, and elsewhere, were unnecessary. We could have achieved better results without a meeting while not impeding relationships.

We must strive to hold meaningful meetings and stop the meaningless meetings epidemic. Always err in the direction of not holding a meeting. Still, as I show below, sometimes we need to meet. Meanwhile, here are six elements needed to hold meaningful meetings. Although they are not exhaustive, when followed, the chances of positive outcomes will improve significantly.

Meaningful Meetings Ingredients

These few basics will create the foundation for attendees to be effective at the meeting and following, and will aid the productivity of the group:

1. Convener
2. Purpose
3. Agenda
4. Targeted invitees
5. Start & End Times & Meeting Etiquette
6. Air Traffic Controller

Convener

Conveners have a responsibility for making meetings meaningful to produce specific results graciously, and compassionately. Conveners or their delegates arrange the meetings-including developing the purpose, agenda, and expected outcomes, with relevant persons. They ensure the right people record highlights and take needed actions, but they do not perform these activities themselves-they merely ensure others do them.

The convener needs someone to assist her to look at the process during the meeting. Without concern for the process, a few people will dominate, and discussions go off topic. It is crucial folks understand that the process determines the outcome.

Purpose

Not all meetings have the same purpose. However, each meaningful meeting must have a purpose. There are at least three meeting categories: information sharing, accountability and or reporting, and problem-solving. Why would anyone call a meeting without an explicit purpose? Often, a meeting is the ideal way for some folks to procrastinate-defer a tough decision. Then again, the convener, and maybe a few other folks, know the purpose, but do not articulate it to others in advance because that’s the way things happen in that firm-poor communications is the norm.

Sometimes people call meetings out of habit. They hold weekly and other meetings because that’s been happening for years. And nobody asks, why. I recall being invited to be an elder at a church. The pastor said they had weekly elders’ meeting, and I asked why. My response shocked him. Why wouldn’t I know? Still, I said, why do we need to meet weekly? The answer: That’s what we have always done. I declined the invitation.

Measningful Meetings in Japan

I saw two differences between business meetings there and in the West. First, most of those meetings were meaningful, but long, unlike here where meetings are meaningless and long.

Second, often in Asia, they tell you the purpose before problem-solving meetings. Then, they invite folks who plan to present at the meeting. Here in the West, many people come to meetings unprepared, but ready to give their views.

Third, the group paid attention when each person spoke, likely because of respect for elders and hierarchy. Participants listened to each other and built on each other’s contributions. In the West, when one person speaks, others don’t listen but plan his and her statement, which might be unrelated to what was just said.

In the West, sometimes you don’t know the aim of the meeting until after it starts. Many times the invitation does not mention the nature of the meeting. Then again, in the meeting, we compete for airtime. People don’t listen to another person’s view with an open mind. Instead, we interrupt one another in mid-sentence to add our views, even when it does not build on the speaker’s point.

In Japan, we defined and agreed the purpose of the meeting at the outset. Then we focus on solving the problem. Each person did not compete for airtime. However, I found this system weak in information sharing and accountability meetings. For instance, I was on the board of two Japanese public firms and the dearth of data given to shareholders and the brevity of shareholders’ meetings amazed me.

Meaningful Meetings Have Agendas

The ideal vehicle to define the meeting’s purpose is a carefully crafted agenda, with a starting and ending time. It should be comprehensive and indicate clearly items for discussion: ideally, with a starting and ending time for each agenda item. Besides, it should show a person or persons responsible for each item and the expected meeting outcome. Often we spend time on the first few items, especially if they are non-controversial, and rush the remaining, irrespective of their importance.

Targeted Invitees

Folks who attend meetings need a reason to attend. If the session is to share data or receive reports from others, only those folks relevant to those matters should attend. When the session is to solve problems, the size and invitees will vary based on the issue. These sessions need careful planning and a skillful convener to make sure each person explains his view without interruption. Folks must listen, hear, and consider what the speaker says before giving their ideas. It is crucial that folks know others’ views before debating and dismissing them.

Here are procedural matters to help us stay focused during a problem-solving session.

1. Explain fully, specific proposals before debating them.
2. Differentiate clarification discussions from challenges to substance.
3. Finish one proposal before moving to another.
4. Convener should encourage out-of-the-box approaches that challenge the status quo; never suppress discussions until each person understands the issue. Unusual proposals may be the basis for the solution; don’t restrain them just because they are unfamiliar.
5. No one should monopolize discussions.
6. Convener should be sensitive to different personalities: some folks will need encouragement to present their views.
7. Meeting should agree action items: Someone should record key developments and specific follow up activity for each proposal including the following:
   • Who – responsibility for specific action
   • What – nature of action
   • When – timing of next feedback
   • Cost – source of resources necessary until next feedback

Although many of the above items apply to all meetings, they are particularly essential during a problem solving meeting.

Start & End Times & Meeting Etiquette

When the convener or other person call the meeting, the invitation should show the start and end times, and time and responsibility for each agenda item. The meeting should not last longer than 45 minutes to an hour-and should stick to the allotted times.

Do not allow late attendees. Advise all invitees that the meeting will start at the appointed time, so each person needs to be there a few minutes before to ensure an on-time start-and stick to the allotted times. The most offensive thing I see happening in meetings and events is when the convener says she will wait on more people to arrive. That’s an affront to those who arrived on time and merely encourages a sloppy, lateness culture.

Meaningful meetings mean proper time-keeping and the following meeting etiquette:

• No latecomers allowed
• No talking on cell phones or side discussions in the room
• If someone leaves the room to take a call or to talk with a colleague in the corridor, she is not allowed to return
• No extraneous discussions: time spent must focus on agenda items under discussion
• Meeting will end on time and each topic will get its planned time
• No interruptions-each person must finish his thoughts and no one must interrupt. Further, the next comment must refer to the most recent statement unless the convener decides to move to a different topic.
• Each person present is valuable and her views are welcomed and encouraged-nobody will be allowed to monopolize the discussions.

In my “on-going meetings” (my classes) I insist that my students be in the classroom five minutes before the start time. Students who can’t be on-time can enter during a break period, but not while the class is in session. My students get it and are on time 99.99% of the time.

Meaningful Meetings Need An Air Traffic Controller

One person trying to take over discussions is the most difficult but crucial to prevent. Often the convener or chair does not focus on the process, so people get off topic. A few folks control discussions, and the meeting ends without attaining its aim. It’s vital the convener picks someone to help to ensure fair air-time for those with needed knowledge. An “air traffic controller” or process consultant (consultant) is the person to do this.

Process Consultant

When the focus is only on the result, shy folks and others who do not want to vie for air-time won’t speak. Others will talk, but will offer little. A process consultant who sits beside the convener to focus on the process and informs the convener, with no distraction, about deviant process issues is vital for a meaningful meeting. While the convener deals with the outcome, the consultant looks at the process to ensure ample air-time for folks needing to contribute. The consultant will look at body language, non-verbals, folks talking too much, people trying to speak but unable, and so on.

The consultant’s role is tough because that he or she is not part of the discussions, but is he or she tries to promote, through the convener, maximum sharing in the group. A well-versed consultant will watch the flow of discussions and ensure folks who would be reluctant to speak, but who wish to speak, offers his and her views on central issues. My experience is that these reserved folks have the most notable positive impact on the meeting’s outcome.

When Do We Need To Meet

Today, we have many different ways to meet electronically. We must be careful we do not meet because it is convenient, and we don’t have to leave our offices. Essentially, as I mentioned before, there are three broad categories of meetings, beyond needed face-to-face, one-on-one meetings: information sharing, accountability or responsibility reporting, and problem-solving. Still, before meeting, folks should ask the following questions:

1. Why do we need to meet?
2. Do we need interaction?
3. Will we merely be telling people what they can read conveniently?
4. Do we need to work together to come up with ideas?
5. Will being together be valuable?
6. Do so many people need to interact with each other?
7. What if we didn’t meet?
8. Is this the best use of people’s time recognizing that reducing the number of attendees saves time for everyone-attending and not attending?

Zero Electronic Devices Except For Note-Taking

To increase the probability of a meaningful meeting, we should not allow electronic devices in the room except for note taking. People who are “expecting calls” should not attend. The rule should be simple: If you are invited to the meeting, we need your complete attention. If you expect someone to contact you during the meeting, we will excuse you from the meeting and meet with those willing and able to be present.

To increase the probability of a meaningful meeting, we should not allow electronic devices in the room except for note taking. People who are “expecting calls” should not attend. The rule should be simple: If someone invites you to the meeting, they need your complete attention. So, if you expect someone to contact you during the meeting, excuse yourself from the meeting and ask someone else to brief you on the result. Only folks willing and able to be present, should attend.

Meaningful meetings help firms become more dynamic. These sessions can inspire employees. Every CEO should support them. The converse is true. People getting together with no real aim except to meet, create waste, expense, and crush morale.

To be sure, we need many face-to-face meetings because of the need for human interaction. However, we should question whether we need all meetings we plan to hold. Also, we should question the need for meetings others arrange and invite us to attend, always suggesting appropriate alternatives.

In the world of witchcraft and the occult, there are two divisions in the use of magical practice:

1) Folk Magic, which is also called Low Magic, and

2) Ceremonial Magick, which is also called High Magick.

Folk Magick is used in witchcraft and has been referred to as witches’ prayer. It certainly is the most popular form of magic because of its connection to many forms of Paganism. Correctly, Folk Magick practitioners utilizes meditative and visualization techniques in spellcraft to focus the mind, collect energy, and direct energy to achieve their intended results. The Trad Witch, one who practices Traditional Witchcraft (which should NOT be confused with Wicca) might also ask friendly spirits for their assistance. These spirits could be Spirit Guides, family spirits, or local spirits.

To the public, magic is seen as within the realm of the supernatural, outside the physical world. However, in reality, magic is not supernatural at all, because it works within the physical world, within the laws of physics. Therefore, it is “natural” and not “supernatural.”

There is another way to look at it. If the universe is the creation of God and was not created by chance, then that which the Creator created is completely natural. While the methodology of how magick works is not scientifically understood, this lack of scientific understanding does not make magick supernatural. It just means that magic is a natural phenomenon that is not presently understood.

Trad Witches believe that with the expansion of scientific understanding, one day the principles of spell craft and magic phenomena will be understood and appreciated by the scientific community.

Ceremonial magick is quite different. This is the type of magick derived from the Western Occult Tradition through such organizations as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the Freemasons, and other occult, or “secret”, societies. This form of magic is very highly ritualistic and ceremonial with some elements believed to date back to the high rites of ancient Egypt.

Ceremonial Magicians will enter an altered state of consciousness in order to perform spell craft and force change on the astral plane and some part of the physical plane. Ceremonial Magicians will also also use astral travel and other techniques to gain knowledge and to communicate with the more powerful spirit entities that are considered too dangerous to use by most witches.

Summary:

While Folk Magick and Ceremonial magic are both used as viable approaches in a desire for change, to alter the present, these two different approaches are not the same and are not compatible. Traditional Witchcraft (or Trad Witchcraft) utilizes friendly spirits and uses spell craft for intended goals. But Ceremonial magic takes this a step beyond and uses forces that are best not used except under careful supervision.