Self-Definition Is a Must

We're already in the second month of a brand new year. Can you believe it? The first few months of a new year are always seen as the time to set goals and create resolutions. However... I propose something a bit different to start this year.

Over the holiday I was with my family and raised my glass to toast my being cancer free for three years. My aunt turned to me and said "Oh my gosh, I completely forgot that you had breast cancer." She really did. She commented on my positive outlook on life and said it had completely slipped her mind that I had gone through that. She didn't identify me with cancer.

At first I was mad. How could she forget such a horrible circumstance in my life? How could such a life-changing event be forgotten? But in that same moment I also thought, "Well, does it really define me anyway?"

Identity. Self-definition. At our core who are we?

In the beginning of December I took an audition class with Caryn West. (One word about Caryn: BRILLIANT!) She said, in acting we need to use both our left brain and our right brain. All the business stuff, the marketing, branding and script analysis uses our left brain, the analytical thinking part of ourselves. In the audition room, rehearsing or performing we need the right brain, our creative center. The left brain doesn't function well in the audition room and the right brain resists doing those mailings.

We're doing ourselves a disservice if we bring our left-brain in the audition. That's the time where you need to show them your soul, your passion, who you are at your core. The left brain can't do that. The ability to switch between these two parts of yourself is key.

Once you set your goals, plan your projects and tasks, develop and define your Brand, create your marketing and sales strategies - you need to let it all go a bit. Let the left-brain go. And live. Live presently in the audition room, be present in the moment, conscious of the world of opportunities coming your way everyday. No second-guessing, doubting or feeling self conscious about your choices. Let the right brain ground you. Have faith that you've done the work.

That faith will come if you understand who you are. Your identity.

As we all move forward and jump wholeheartedly into a new year, I think it's also important to take a step back. Step back and rediscover once again who you are, what you want and where you're going. This year for all of us is The Year of Rediscovery.

My personal struggle is about constantly living in the left brain. I teach and coach and analyze branding and business everyday. I'm a do-er. I'm always on the go. It has become harder to switch to the right brain for my own auditions, personal life and relaxation time. To breathe and not do anything and know I am enough just as I am. That's my rediscovery this year. I also want to rediscover my relationship with my cancer. How much does that define me? I want to rediscover my friendships, my relationship to this business, my family. How do I define those?

Take the time in 2012 to rediscover you. If you start with your core of who you are, I know the rest of the year will fall into place. You will be coming from a place that matters most.

Instead of just setting goals, ask yourself:

What defines me? What is my passion? Why did I pursue the goal I did last year? What is my must? What are my strengths as a person and an artist? What is my relationship with the business? With the world?

Let's rediscover together. Let's look inward. Let's once again tap into what makes you, you and me, me. Life should be a journey, an exploration. Let's continue to learn from our past as we move forward. Let's continue to be fulfilled by our own identity.

I'm proud to say that I am an actor, a business owner, a wife, a breast cancer survivor, a dog owner, a friend, a coach, a confidante, a student, an achiever and an empath. All of that is who I am. All of that is part of my brand. All of that helps define me.

Now go rediscover you.

The Savvy Actor mission is to empower actors to think like small business owners by creating and implementing an effective business plan, branding their unique product, and developing marketing strategies that get them noticed and in the door; ultimately merging career and life into one of abundance and success!

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Strip Clubs: Special Features to Watch Out For

If you're tired of the same old strip clubs, it might be time to take your adult entertainment to the next level. If you think these establishments are nothing more than a few drinks and some decent-looking women half-heartedly dancing on a dimly lit stage, you've been going to the wrong places. Look around, and you might find that there is another level when it comes to this form of entertainment. The difference can be as stark as seeing a local garage band play in their backyard and sitting front row at a Pink Floyd arena show. Here are some special features to look out for.

Featured Dancers

The best strip clubs will often have celebrity dancers come and perform on special nights. These are magazine centerfolds, adult entertainment stars, and dancers who have built a reputation from their beauty, sexual appeal, and ability to put on an unforgettable show. To the uninitiated, it may seem silly to put one dancer above another, but there is a world of difference between a woman who is working her way through college and someone who has truly made this her profession. There is excellence in all walks of life, and you can't know the gulf that exists in skill and performance level until you've seen one of the best in action.

Entertainment

If the local dive you frequent plays only 80s hair metal out of scratchy speakers and you have to squint to see the stage, you probably scoff at the notion that strip clubs can offer a great deal more. But they can and do. A really good establishment will put on a light and music show that will be almost as entertaining as the dancers you're there to see. They will hire professional DJs that have the skill necessary to enliven the crowd and keep the party going. You don't need to pull your jacket up over your head when you walk into these places, because there's nothing embarrassing about enjoying a show that the owners have taken a lot of time and money to put together.

Private Suites

Don't want to hang around with the unwashed masses? Excellent strip clubs will offer private suites so you can enjoy the entertainment with your group and no one else. If you're taking clients to the best place in town, this may be an option you would be interested in. It can also be the perfect setting for a bachelor party or any other occasion where you want to be treated like a king for the evening.

New Orleans strip clubs offer more than the standard fare found elsewhere. Find the right one to stop by next time you're in the city by visiting http://penthouseclubneworleans.com/.

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If You Can't Watch TV On The Go, Here's What You're Missing

Believe it or not, you can actually pack more fun in your day by watching TV on the go. In these busy times, everyone is trying to pack as much as possible into their hurried schedules. Frequently, the opportunity to enjoy TV entertainment is put off until the end of the day, or a few hours on the weekend if there is room to squeeze it in at all. That is exactly why so many people now watch TV on the go and tune in to their favorite shows from portable devices.

How TV On The Go Works

A new technology called a Slingbox connects your DVR to your home internet connection so you can connect back to it with a laptop, tablet PC, cell phone or other mobile device that's connected to a high speed internet connection. All you need is a slingbox converter attached to your Wi-Fi connection and you have mobile television at your fingertips and have the ability to navigate program guides and even schedule DVR recordings

Any Time, Anywhere, Mobile Television Technology

We all knew it would happen sometime and we are just thankful it happened in our lifetime—truly mobile television technology. Now, no matter where we are at or what we are doing, we can tune in to our shows in real time and DVR recorded favorites and watch in those snips of downtime found in our day without being tethered to the living room. With play and pause features, you do not even need a whole block of time to enjoy a program, but integrate our entertainment into our day in exactly the way you desire, picking up right where you left off.

New Freedom

Watching TV on the go provides users the ability to use their time their way, instead of being bound by circumstance. With TV on the go, you don't have to find ways to entertain yourself when waiting at a dentist's or doctor's office, you can watch your TV right in the waiting room. That means no missing out on special history making events or overpaying for movies you have already seen while traveling by plane, or TV schedule that do not match your schedule. The power is in your hands and you deserve it.

Regardless of whether you're simply looking for a quick way to entertain yourself for a few minutes or you simply want to get more out of your day, mobile television is a great way to do it.

Landon Christian found great DISH Network deals and specials so he could get everything he wanted at a great price. With the latest on technology, the best satellite DISH deals and packages and much more, AllSat.com has the information you need.

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A Page From My Writing Life: How Intuition Helped Me Save a Child

How can we sense danger before it occurs? How do we attract total strangers who appear, out of the blue, when we need help?

Mystics say we're all connected. Quantum physicists agree.

I started working with Intuition as a lark: a bunch of us Romance writers piled into a hotel room during a regional writers conference. We were giddy and giggling, because we'd volunteered to have our fortunes told by a fantasy writer who was studying Tarot cards.

Several years later, I started working as a marketer for a psychiatric hospital. Over lunch one day, one of my therapist friends assured me that everybody has Intuition. I couldn't imagine a more exciting concept.

"How do I learn how to work with my Intuition?" I asked him eagerly. "Can it help me be a more creative writer? Can it help me stretch my Imagination?"

He shrugged. "Sure. Go to the book store. Read up on the connection between Intuition and Imagination."

The book store. I grinned. Of course!

When I set out to develop my Intuition, I wanted to get better at tapping my Creativity. I never imagined that I would wind up saving a child's life!

But I'll let you draw your own conclusions. Here's a true story from my "writing life:"

The day I met Charlie, I had sneaked out for a 90 minute lunch and was worried that I would be missed at my full-time marketing job. I had no business book shopping, and yet my Intuition was urging me to take a driving detour and turn my car into the parking lot.

I thought this hunch was strange. I was already 40 minutes late. Surely I would be missed at my desk! Why visit a book store and risk the wrath of my boss? She considered timeliness next to Godliness.

My Intuition had been this persistent only once before: on the day that it had saved me from being lured to my car by a mugger. I had learned to differentiate between Intuition and Imagination, and my gut was telling me -- literally -- that another life-changing event was about to occur.

Uneasy but curious, I climbed out of my car and walked past the various stores that surrounded the book store. I tried to imagine all the positive reasons for my gut feeling's urge to go book shopping at that exact time.

Maybe I would meet an old friend, a new business contact, or a reader who would profess to be my biggest fan. Better yet, maybe I would bump into a gorgeous bachelor who would invite me to the caf for coffee and a not-too-distant happily-ever-after!

I wandered through the aisles. Few people were in the store that Thursday afternoon, and even fewer of them were men. Instead of bumping into a gorgeous bachelor, I stumbled across a young mother.

She was sprawled upon the floor with a half-dozen gardening books. Behind her, and clearly bored, a tow-headed toddler was climbing the shelves. He was well on his way to the "D" section when I heard his mother call, "Charlie, get down!"

Sighing, I strolled to the next aisle. Had I misinterpreted my gut feeling? Intuition and its hunches could be so tricky. I recalled my many misfires, the early days when I'd tried to guess who was calling me on the phone, or how fast the pizza guy would deliver my dinner.

Meanwhile, the clock was ticking, and my boss was surely wondering where I was. I felt like an idiot.

Suddenly, Intuition seized my feet. I don't know how else to explain it. I had no conscious intention to walk to the front of the book store, but there I was, responding to some magnetic pull.

At first, I assumed that I was being released from my Wild Goose Chase, that I'd received some Higher Blessing to leave the building. Then I heard giggles. A blond bullet whizzed past me and barreled out the door.

I recognized Charlie, dashing gaily for the parking lot and the freeway on the other side. No one was at the cashier's counter to stop him. I was the only witness.

My heart stalled.

"Charlie!" I shouted, running out the door.

The driver never saw him.

It all happened so fast. There I was, calmly grabbing on to a child I didn't know. And there he was, throwing himself into the arms of a stranger, putting his utter trust in me as I dragged him out of harm's way.

If I'd hesitated in that split second, if I'd refused to follow my Intuition's urging to walk to the front of the book store, Charlie's mad dash into the parking lot would have ended very differently. There were no other pedestrians on the sidewalk -- no other bystanders who might have saved him from that car.

My knees were quaking when I took Charlie's tiny hand in mine and led him back inside the store. I found his mother exactly where I'd left her, pouring over the gardening books.

She'd never noticed that her son was missing.

As I develop my Intuition, I can't help but wonder. How can we know that an event will occur before it happens?

Mystics say we're all connected in miraculous ways. Even scientists are starting to agree.

Maybe that's how I received the intuitive S.O.S. that turned me into Charlie's guardian angel that day.

Award-winning Romance novelist, Adrienne deWolfe, ardently believes in the Law of Attraction (thanks to Charlie). She writes about her adventures with Intuition, Imagination, Creativity, and the Writing Muse at http://writingnovelsthatsell.com/. Follow her at http://Twitter.com/AdriennedeWolfe.

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Ballet Workout for Adults

Beneath the fluffy tutu's and the stretchy pink tights, ballet dancers are some of the world's fittest people. They obviously workout and work hard to achieve those Lycra encased abs and thighs of steel, and have probably been working on getting that type of body ever since they were kids, but that doesn't mean that as an adult you can't shape up using the same principles that ballet dancers do.

Ballet, apart from being an art in itself, is a great way to workout both your body and mind at the same time. Starting with the physical benefits, ballet can help increase your cardio level, tone up, and build muscle at the same time. Your cardio level improves due to to the ongoing movement and change of pace of the movement that is being conducted. You will tone up simultaneously, because whilst you are moving your muscles have to adequately be placed in order for the movement to be done correctly. This way, you don't need to have separate time slots for cardio based training and muscle tone training, because ballet achieves both in one practice. With some additional dietary changes you would also be liable to lose weight with frequent practice. Simultaneously, you get to learn an art form and listen to beautiful music whilst you move!

The mental benefits that come with the practice of ballet are several. Dancing requires a fair share of co-ordination between your body and mind, and practicing ballet has proven to improve co-ordination. It helps you in structuring your thoughts efficiently in the shortest time possible, because you usually are not given much time in between being given instructions, and transferring those instructions into movement. Another major benefit is that of improving your visual and kineasthetic memory. Several steps and exercises have to be remembered, and because dance is a visual art, you primary have to remember what it looked like or how the movement felt like. It also helps you to escape from your daily work, primarily because you're too busy focusing on what your body is doing to think of anything else in between!

You don't have to have prior experience or be a long term practitioner to practice and enjoy ballet as a meaningful workout. I will not promise that all of the above benefits will become visible quickly; your body requires time to digest what it is being given, particularly so if you haven't previously done much physical work. What I can promise though, is that through the long-term practice of ballet, (whether recreational or not), your body will keep those benefits for long after they have been achieved, helping you in other ares of your life in the process.

Starting classes as an adult may be off-putting to some. Perhaps you don't have enough time in your schedule for extra ballet classes, or perhaps you might be intimidated to join a class as a total beginner. Lucky for you, we're in the 21st century where you can start learning and practicing ballet in the comfort of your own home by means of dvd's or other technological software. There are so many guides and videos to help you get started, whether you want to learn some things before you join a class, or whether you just want to practice at home, you will definitely find resources online that can help you workout through ballet. It does sound better than going to the gym right?

Valentina Azzopardi, dance practitioner, believes that ballet is a highly beneficial practice, for recreational practitioners and professionals alike. Weather as a hobby, or as a workout, so many people of different ages could benefit from the practice of ballet. More articles are to be found on my website: http://www.balletworkoutdvds.com/

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