budgeting mistakes so that you can help them to figure out a way to handle the financial stresses that misjudging expenses can cause.

If you suspect your teen is involved with drugs and alcohol do not wait to get outside help. It's usually after they have developed a problem that parents discover their teen's involvement with drugs and alcohol, so your efforts to seek outside intervention are much likelier to be later than they should be, rather than too early.

Do not let your child drive your car if you suspect he or she is using drugs or alcohol. While a teen in trouble might drive another person's car, you should never give your permission to drive your vehicle to a teen you know is using alcohol or drugs.

If you discover your teen is engaging in a particular behavior and they tell you that they will continue the behavior whether you like it or not, do not threaten to terminate your relationship with the teen over the behavior if it is not jeopardizing their freedom or safety. You still have the opportunity for positive input when you maintain contact.

Never threaten what you are not willing to do when you are dealing with your teen. In order to avoid escalating the problem and making threats you'll regret, you will have to try to stay thoughtful during arguments in order to avoid making threats that you are not willing to carry out.

Managing to survive the teen years and maintain a relationship with your child is difficult at times. Try these suggestions to incorporate some boundaries in your interactions so that you and your teen can navigate through the challenges of being a teenager. Ultimately, it will help lead to a better relationship for the two of you.

"The Ventriloquist"

A young ventriloquist is touring the clubs and one night he's doing a show in a small club in a small town in Arkansas. With his dummy on his knee, he's going through his usual dumb blonde jokes when a blonde woman in the fourth row stands on her chair and starts shouting: "I've heard enough of your stupid blonde jokes. What makes you think you can stereotype women that way? What does the color of a person's hair have to do with her worth as a human being? It's guys like you who keep women like me from being respected at work and in the community and from reaching our full potential as a person, because you and your kind continue to perpetuate discrimination against, not only blondes, but women in general...and all in the name of humor!"The ventriloquist is embarrassed and begins to apologize, when the blonde yells, "You stay out of this, mister! I'm talking to that little idiot on your knee!"

Passion: Fire In Your Soul

Many people try to hold a raging fire within themselves, but it restlessly and relentlessly gnaws at their core. Some have tried to cover it up with alcohol, numb it with drugs, hide it with shopping, kids, work, or religion, or fuel it with sex. The Baby Boomers looked for eternal youth and to change the world. They thought they would never grow up, but they did. They thought they would change the world and they did.

The previous generation looked for the American Dream. Some found it. Many did not. The present generation seems to be seeking success. Yet, the gap between the "haves" and the "have nots" widens. Each generation and each individual, in turn, searches for something, but it often slips from their grasp.

The fire carries both energy and discomfort. The key is to use the discomfort as a motivator and the energy as fuel.

Redfield in the "Celestine Prophecy" talks of the need for a historical perspective. The first man or woman met his/her physical needs. Then he or she explored and conquered the world and put it to their collective service. Now we seek something and we don't seem to know what it is.

When we are connected to our roots and our souls, passion rises quickly and pushes us to the next level of life or learning or love. It does not have to be love of a mate. It could be creative passion, fueling what we do for ourselves, work, community, or family. Anything where the totality of who you are is absorbed in the doing, requires passion. To lose it, is soul death, or at least deep sleep. It will cry to be heard when it sleeps.

I've sometimes been afraid of my passion. It seems so fierce at times. I guess I fear it will consume me and nothing else will matter. I know that can happen. I've had a small taste of it when I work for hours into the night, so absorbed by my work that I forget time, sleeping, and eating. But, I also know that I must have time in my life to live the every day life of doing the mundane things that must be done. Balance is probably still the key, but you must not lose your passion all together. Your life will be too dry and dull without it.

Remember your first love? Nothing else mattered. You felt as if you would walk to the ends of the earth for that love. Remember that? While that first passionate, all consuming love does not last, it gives us a taste of a force within ourselves that carries tremendous energy. Look for your passion and it will find you.

Improve Your Sleeping Habits

One of the best things that everyone can do to improve their well-being is to moderate their sleeping patterns. Unfortunately, poor sleep is a habit learned by nearly everyone during the teenage years. It is critical to allow your body the time it needs to wind down and relax so that you can be rejuvenated. If you feel tired during the day, when you awaken in the morning or exhausted before bedtime it is a sign that you are not getting the right amount of sleep. This could be too much, or too little. Try setting aside eight hours for sleep each night, getting into bed no less than half an hour prior to the time that you want to be asleep. If you do this for a few weeks, you will find positive improvements in your overall health and productivity.

While the money is obviously nice to save, there are huge benefits to your health as well. For example, research tells us that as little as 20 minutes after you stop smoking you will be able to see a difference in your health. If you consider that quitting smoking can help you reduce your risk of heart problems, stroke, high blood pressure, lung cancer, and even breathing complications you have just located a plethora of reasons why smoking really is good to avoid. The research that tells us smoking is bad has proven that just a short period of time after quitting, is able to reverse many of the harmful effects that cigarettes have caused, no matter how long you have been a smoker.

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Creating romantic moments is so easy it's a wonder every man in the world doesn't "get" this. All you have to do is think of an activity built around something she likes to do. Does she like shopping (not something men even like to think about much less do), fine dining, walks on a beach, watching movies, the list goes on.

It's all about doing something she likes with her. What will make such activities seem even more romantic to her is if you choose to do something she likes to do with her when a ball game is on TV that you could be watching with your buddies. She will feel chosen... and that, sir, is VERY romantic indeed.

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