I was painting and felt inspired to paint a flame up close and personal. It has many colours and textures of gaseous flames. It is creating heat and it rises up higher and higher into the atmosphere.
It reminds me of “My Undying Love For You.” It is all about emotion that joins us all together in one glorious moment in time. It is about love that binds the world together and, in fact, the Universe.
In all sincerity, I send out my love to you now and wish you the best that life has to offer. May you enjoy the flames of love in your life!
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The Wim Hof Method: Activate Your Full Human Potential”
Book: “The Wim Hof Method: Activate Your Full Human Potential,” Wim Hof, Sounds True, 2020
Book Review by Mary Mikawoz
Book available: October 20, 2020
This is quite an interesting book starting with the point of view of Wim Hof’s life beginning as a forgotten twin in the uterus of his mother. It is extraordinarily special that she knew something was different and that there was another being inside of her still. It is amazing that she spoke and pleaded, “Oh God, let this child live! I will make him a missionary!” He has, in essence, become a missionary in real life.
Wim Hof has turned out to be an incredible person who has set numerous Guinness World Records by defying medical doctors and scientists with his personal feats. He has been able to override his autonomic nervous system and control his body which was thought to be not achievable. He has done amazing things such as run a full marathon in the Namib Dessert without water and then to the other extreme, he ran a half marathon about the Arctic Circle in his bare feet and climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in shorts.
Wim Hof has had many other accomplishments despite his personal tragedies. He credits his Wim Hof Method with the ability to do many great things that he says anyone else can be taught to do. They are basically three main concepts and training of Breathing, Cold Exposure and your Mind Set.
This book gives you examples and leads you through the processes with exercises and examples. He has actually taken many people who were not functioning at their personal peak to climb a number of mountains despite their physical conditioning after proper training with the Wim Hof Method.
Personally, I have implemented the cold showers at the end of a warm one. I have also swam or dove into Lake Winnipeg which has turned cold already as it is north of the 91.5 degree parallel latitudinally. In the winter time, it ices over completely although it is huge and was once an ancient inland ocean such that there are winter roads across the ice where not only cars and trucks but semi-trucks cross the ice highway.
Also, Winnipeg has been colder than Mars on December 31, 2013 when temperatures including windchill factors dipped down to -53 degrees Celsius which is -63.4 Fahrenheit for my American friends. I think living in Winnipeg is a good way to implement Wim Hof’s method of colder temperatures for the body.
I have been doing the breathing method with Wim Hof’s app that I downloaded off of his website and have been improving daily. Finally, I have been working on improving my mind set for over 40 years + as I journey along a spiritual pathway.
I highly recommend this book as it is reflective of a man who is determined to make a difference in the world and teaches us how to do it.
“The Iceman” will not disappoint you. “We are limited only by the depth of our imagination and the strength of our conviction.” I give this book a 4.25 out of 5 as a rating.
He has a website online that you can access for more information which I highly recommend. You can pre-order the book at major book distributors.
As a side note, I have been practicing many of the things that Wim Hof has been teaching and as a consequence of more time and hindsight, I would like to change my rating from 4.25 to 5 out of 5 as the impact of his breathing technique alone is absolutely incredible. Thank you Wim Hof for all your hard work and self-discoveries.
From years of spiritual pursuit and personal reflection, I have come up with these 5 insights.
These are “Insights” by Mary Mikawoz
“Anger is about unmet expectations.”
“Depression is anger turned inwards.”
“Anxiety is worrying about the future.”
“We all need goals – mini steps in life.”
“Live in the present – that is all we have.”
Book: “Choose to Win: Transform Your Life, One Simple Choice at a Time” Tom Ziglar, Harper Collins, 2019
Book Review by Mary Mikawoz
Book available: March 5, 2019
Tom Ziglar is the son of Zig Ziglar, an influential speaker over 40 years time. Tom has essentially followed in his father’s footsteps. He has written a book called “Choose to Win.” In it, he recounts the Wheel of Life which Zig Ziglar has used but not exclusively to him. I heard of the psychological concept about 20 to 30 years ago and many people have used it to balance life’s priorities and seven areas of life from the mental, the spiritual, the physical, the family, the financial, the personal and the career. The seven spokes are evaluated based on how well you are doing in each area. If you are well balanced in all areas, your spokes and tire pressure will be the same and all inflated to a good height level.
He reviews the areas in quite a bit of detail with individual chapters. He, however, repeats the same thing at the end of each chapter and so it is repetitive. He essentially says to replace a bad habit with a good habit. The premise of the book is basically this which to me is not a novel concept and is only common sense. I do not know how this is a new and exciting concept. Of course, you change a bad habit with a good habit and of course, you do it in incremental baby steps. Tom says you should do something for 66 days, but I have heard of 28 days, one month and so forth as other optimal times to make a habit habitual. James Clear agrees with Tom Ziglar but according to the Phillipa Lally’s study, it can take anywhere from 18 days to 254 days to form a habit depending upon a number of factors.
The other predominant concept in the book is to leave a legacy behind because you are already are either intentionally or not. This reminds me of another book I reviewed which deals in entirely with leaving a legacy by Terrie Davoll Hudson called “Leave a Legacy that Counts: Create One at Any Age.” It is quite a bit shorter but the messages between these two authors are similar.
Finally, the steps necessary to fulfilling a goal are as follows:
“Step 1 – Identify your goals
Step 2 – My benefits to reaching this goal
Step 3 – Major obstacles and mountains to climb to reach this goal
Step 4 – Skills and knowledge required to to reach this goal
Step 5 – Individuals, groups, companies and organizations to work with to reach this goal
Step 6 – Plan of action to reach this goal
Step 7 – Completion Date”
Overall, this book has some good information in it. I found it heart-warming to hear of the last few days of Zig Ziglar’s life from the family perspective. As well, Tom Ziglar asks some very good questions throughout the book to help the reader along and has some good tips added in.
His trust and belief in God and Jesus Christ is paramount and not so different than the spiritual books I normally review.
I give the book a 3.5 out of 5 stars. I have changed my mind since and now give the book a 3.75 based on the very good questions he asks.
Tags: Business, Self-improvement, Self-development.Individual, Goals, mental, spiritual, physical, family, financial, personal, career, legacy, Tom Ziglar, Zig Ziglar, Attitude, Effort, Skill, Transformation, Religious, God, Jesus Christ, Bible, Mary Mikawoz, Mikawoz, Book Review
I was inspired to write this poem because of the inspiration that George D. Mestral received in developing Velcro from the concept of thistles in how they work and how they cling to you by observing how burdock and bur seeds attached themselves to his dog’s furs and to his clothing. He examined them under a microscope discovering all the little hooks and then put it into action.
This Swiss electrical engineer thought of the idea in 1941 and invented the idea of Vclcro in 1948. Did you also know that Velcro fasteners made of Teflon loops, polyester hooks, and glass backing are used in Space Stations in outer space?
From a personal point of view, my family went to Poland when I was 6 years old. That summer we visited a relative’s farm. I remember running through some normal fields and then realizing that I had beautiful little flowers stuck all over and on my skirt when my sister pointed them out to me. I thought they were pretty until I tried to take them off and they stuck firmly to my clothing and pierced my fingers. Then I thought they were nasty but now I just see them for the beauty that they are in this photograph that I took.
Mary Mikawoz Creative Pursuits Blog 