Dakar Delices » Knowledge Management

Learning English Will Help You Gain Skills and Enhance Your Knowledge

admin — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 00:52:55 +0000

One of the best possible things you can do to improve yourself and make you more appealing to your current and future employers is to learn a second language. Learning any second language can and will have many benefits, but learning English as a second language could have benefits that are far beyond any other possible choices, possibly far beyond what you can even imagine learning a second language would do for you.

Completing the difficult task of learning English as a second language will not only make you more capable of connecting and communicating with millions and millions of people worldwide, but it will also open up many more opportunities for you to continue to further you education. If the saying, “knowledge is power” is true, than your true key to power could be learning the English language.

When you finally have a good grasp of the English language, you’ll have access to almost unlimited resources for learning anything imaginable, on just about any topic that you can think of. Books, magazines, newspapers and trade publications can all offer incredible amounts of information but most of these valuable resources may only be published in the English language.

The amount of information that you could amass from the above mentioned sources on any given topic could take you years of study to get through, but that amount of information probably pales in comparison to the information available on the same topic located on the internet. There are millions of personal, professional and educational websites on the World Wide Web and many have tremendous amounts of valuable information to share, but as was the case with books and magazines, many of the internets resources are also only available in English.

If you’ve got the motivation and persistence that it will take you to gain mastery of the English language, the doors of learning are so wide open to you that there is really nothing that you won’t be able to accomplish if willing to apply that same amount of hard work and dedication to other areas.

Learning English will also open wider the doors to understanding the world of computers. There are very few jobs out there today that don’t at least require some computer skills and there are many jobs that are totally dependant on your level of proficiency with a computer. The majority of computer programs today are available only in English, so if you have had any intention of pursuing one of the many careers that involves the use of computers or if working in the computer field has any interest for you, than learning English as a second language could very well be a must for you.

There are very few things that you can do that will enhance your education, build knowledge and open new doors for you as much as learning English as a second language. So very many people worldwide are speaking English already, and a good majority of the rest are either already learning it or considering learning it. Whatever your current situation is, there is likely an option for learning English out there that will fit into your schedule and your budget. There are even several options available for you to learn English as a second language online, from the comfort of your very own home that are very reasonably priced.

With all of the opportunities that learning English will open up for you in the area of your career alone – possible promotions at your current job and potentially more exciting and higher paying jobs with future employers, can you really afford not to find a way to learn English as your second language?

Shamanism and Divination

admin — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 00:00:55 +0000

Shamanism is not a system of belief or faith, it is a system of knowledge, and divination is one of the paths to gain direct knowledge. Direct knowledge can be defined as that which is experienced first hand by the senses. Divination is not ‘fortune telling’, it is a way to a deeper understanding of events and influences surrounding a situation or person. Divination has always been an integral part of shamanism. One of the most important roles of the shaman has been to seek revelatory knowledge from visionary sources, which may be for healing purposes, “why has this person become ill?” “what medicine does this person need?, or important communal needs “where are the herds of caribou?”, divination is also often used to get meaning from dreams and visions.

Divination is as old as humanity, but unfortunately in mainstream Western society it has been regarded as something primitive, irrational, and pandering to superstition. Divination is simply a way of revealing the truth. The diviner reveals or uncovers to their client hidden truths about themselves, or the circumstances surrounding them. In societies outside the West, divining continues to play an important role, revealing that which is hidden, easing anxiety, and helping in coming to terms with challenging circumstances that may demand the implementation of difficult decisions.

In divination, the role of the shaman is to act as a mediator or ‘middle-man’. The shaman by exploring and providing the initial reading and interpretation allows the seeker of this information to avoid projecting personal wants, desires, and wishes if the question or situation is emotionally charged.

The Multi-dimensional Cosmos of the shaman

In shamanism, there is another kind of time, not linear or sequential but a time which is one single moment. This vast ever moving moment has no boundaries which separate the past, present and future. This is a time in which anything which has ever happened to anybody anywhere, somewhere it is still happening. The shaman travels ‘outside’ of linear time into this vast unending ever-moving moment to seek the information at the place where this event is happening.

One of the main gateways to this vast moment of time or universal consciousness is our own powers of imagination coupled with the three fundamental principles of expanded perception;

1.Intention All actions begin with an intention, a desire for a specific outcome. The principle of intention operates on two levels, the obvious , ‘this is what I want to do’, and the subtle level , i.e. it is a signal or alert to energy to be prepared to move to a certain destination.

2.Trust Trust is an ineffable quality, it is experienced in the body, not the mind. Trust takes time, and to get trust we need feedback which either directly or indirectly validates our experience. With trust our experiences and confidence in our actions increase significantly.

3.Attention This is about the application and focus of energy and intention. Attention is not ‘hard-work’ yet it needs consistency, to place your awareness at the interface of events or places….. Energy flows where Attention goes.

Divinatory methods

The shamans used many diverse methods for divination, either ways seeking patterns in natural objects and events, or using techniques to directly obtain hidden knowledge. An example of the former could be the practice of divination with rocks.

Rock Divination To do this the traditional practice is for the seeker looks for a rock whilst holding the question in the mind, eventually there will be a rock which stands out or ‘metaphorically’ shouts out “me, me!”. Here is an opportunity to practice the principle of trust!. As a helpful tip the more faceted and inner forms the rock has the better as more facets and patterns mean more detail will be available to the reader. The seeker should then give the rock to the shaman or practitioner and state the question. The shaman (who knows as little as possible about the questioner or the circumstances regarding the question) will gently focus on the rock and allow patterns to form within the imagination. The shaman may ask the seeker to state the question a few times as this helps to deepen the trance state of awareness, to the place where the shapes and patterns in the rock become a ‘gateway’ directly into the universal field of energy, and images, pictures, words, feelings will start to form within the shaman’s being. Each rock face represents a different aspect of the question, and the initial response is generally “where the questioner is at this moment”, and this leads to other rock faces, each rock face exposing and presenting an expanded view of the answer. To me personally this work is awesome, mysterious and poetic, and I have found that is as if a person’s life story is contained in a rock.

Sunbeam Divination Journey An example of a specific technique to discover hidden knowledge is the Sunbeam divination journey of the Labrador Naskapi shamans. This journey has a single specific purpose to find out the physical location of a person, object, or place where an event will take place. In this practice no information will be given about the object, person etc only it’s location. One can see the usefulness and practicality of this technique, for example to help hunters locate game animals, or the to find out and rescue a lost member of the tribe and so on. I have used this practice many times often to locate lost keys or the wallet of a client!

An Exercise – Naskapi Sunbeam Divination Journey.

First meditate or reflect on what you want to locate or know the whereabouts of, remember the first principle of Intention. When ready, find a place where you will not be disturbed for half hour or so, darken the room, and lay down and relax. Note: It is best if you have tape for shamanic journeying drumming (which will smooth the transition into expanded states of awareness). In the imagination, the launch-pad into multi-dimensional perception, go to a place where you can visualise, perceive, or sense being in the open landscape. Sense being fully in this place, experience your feet on the ground and the ground pushing up against the soles of your feet, experience the air and the wind on your face, become fully present in this landscape, and when ready look up to the sky where the sun will be, with the question firmly in your mind, ask the sun to show you the location or whereabouts of what it is you are searching for. Typically a particular sunbeam will either shine brightly or capture your attention in one way or another, follow this beam of sunlight, you may even experience yourself flying over the landscape, and where this specific sunbeam touches the ground, that is where the location is. When you recognise the location, and can correlate it to an actual physical place, it is then time to return. So turn around and go back to the place where you started from, and when you have returned, gently feel yourself back in the physical world, and gently open your eyes.

Remembering the second principle of trust, check the information out, try and get verification of the validity of the journey, keep on doing this until you have developed trust and the confidence will then follow.

Shamanic Trance Postures.

Another form of specific techniques is the body of work known as Shamanic Trance Postures. They take the form of certain precise bodily postures. These postures are gateways to an altered state of consciousness, and visionary experiences. This body of knowledge originates from ancient civilisations and many indigenous cultures throughout the world. Rediscovered in the 1970’s by the renowned anthropologist Felicitas Goodman, these postures are a piece of living history from our heritage of spiritual tradition.

It involves holding non-strenuous, but precise physical positions together with an accompanying rhythmic sound eg. Shamanic drumming or rattling. There are a number of specific postures for divinat

ory purposes, for example the Nupe people in sub-Saharan Africa, use these ritual postures, and in the one that their divinatory shamans work with gives the experience of detachment and a dispassionate persepective of the question.

An Exercise – Nupe Divination Posture

Once again meditate or focus on your question, as with this work it really helps if the question is sharp, no ‘ifs’, ’shoulds’ , ‘but’ and so on, get your question as razor honed as possible.

Sit on the floor, leaning toward your left and supported by your left arm. Hold your left arm rigid, with your hand at a right angle to your body. Place your left hand at a spot three to five inches to the left of your body and just behind a straight line drawn along the back of your buttocks. Bend both legs at the knees with both feet pointing to the right, positioned so that your left foot is resting just to the left of your right knee. Place your right hand on your lower left leg, where the muscle indents about halfway down your calf. Move your head slightly to the left, so you are looking over your left knee, and close your eyes.

If possible listen to a shamanic drumming or rattling tape, as this will enhance the visionary potential and makes the experience smoother, and more powerful. Allow the visionary imagery , or just simple ‘knowing’ to take place, when you have a sense of an answer (even if you do not understand it rationally) just gently release yourself from the posture, and come back fully into the present. If an answer is not immediately understood, incubate it, play with it, draw or paint it, this is important as the answer is not always addressed to the rational mind. Being with the imagery or vision will often lead to a deep and profound revelation.

To conclude there are many other ways of divination in shamanism many which underlie well known practices eg; divination with quartz crystals, casting of objects, Scrying.

As the Tungus shamans of Siberia say “we are all connected, we are all one”. So is it no wonder that we can discover ourselves through the natural world.

Houston Craigslist Cars, Knowledge is Power

admin — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 00:22:59 +0000

If you are in the market for a used or a new car, then you are reading an article that would prepare you to take the best decision, or at least one that won’t make you feel bad the next morning. Houston Craigslist cars is included in the title due to the rapid increase in it’s popularity, but even if you are intending to buy through the traditional channels, Houston Craigslist cars is a good tool to provide with an idea of the fair market value for the car.

Whether you are buying through Houston Craigslist cars, or the traditional channels, you will feel only better about your final decision after the completion of this article. Hence, knowledge is Power. The more knowledgeable you are about the deal, the more power you would enact on the salesperson. If you are familiar with numbers involved in the deal, believe me, it would be almost impossible for salespeople to have you pay more than you are supposed to.

Suppose you go to a furniture store, and see a nice couch for $200, later that day you walk into another furniture store, and a salesperson tries to sell you an identical couch for $300. It is in the salespersons’ vested interest to sell you the couch for $300, which ultimately means more commission for him or her. Think about the different facts that the salesperson is going to say to you to convince you that their higher price is justified? Will you do it? I hope not, because you saw the exact same couch sitting at the other store for $100 less.

Lets apply this example to car buying. If you were to walk into a car lot with very limited information of what the car should cost, then there is no way you can know if an identical is waiting for you at a different lot, and of course, salespeople will try their best for you not to leave the lot until you make a decision. Never be rushed, if the car is not willing to wait for you for 24 hours, then you were not supposed to buy it. Watch out for salespeople that try to get you excited about the car, this leads to disabling the rational side of your brain. To end this article, it is to your best interest to find out the amount the dealer paid for the car. Allow them to make profit, but not excessive. The price the dealer paid for the car is very easily found by looking up the trade in value of the car on Kelly Blue Book, or the loan value on NADA.

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