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Sometimes a house or office can feel uncomfortable and there's no real reason you can put your finger on to explain your uneasy feeling. Other times, it's easy: someone has been there that was negative or died or was ill. Homes and spaces often take on the energy of the previous occupants as well. There may be instances when you moved into a space and just felt like someone else was there or that the space just didn't feel right.

If this sounds familiar, just remember you are not alone. Many people feel uncomfortable in spaces and they can't explain why. The "why" is not important, though. What is important is that you find a way to make your space feel more comfortable so you can feel more at ease. A first step would be to perform a space cleansing.

Unlike "space clearing," space cleasing doesn't rely on getting rid of clutter. However, if you have a bunch of old items and junk from previous residents or others, it is possible that some of the energy is coming from these old items. If that's the case then you should definitely take some of these things to the trash.

What's more, if you have had a spate of bad luck and find that life has just been a constant struggle, it's possible that you have some negative energies hanging around. This is another good instance when it might be a good idea to do a space cleansing. Space cleansing will help you feel more comfortable in your home or office and let you move on in your space comfortably and in a positive state of mind.

Regardless of why or how you feel, if your space doesn't feel quite right, consider these tips to help you clear out the negative energy in your house and invite the good energy back inside!

1. Clear stale energies from prior residents.
If you have recently moved, you might be feeling some of the residual energy from past residents. If that's your case, then consider using a simple bell. Walking from the front door and in a clockwise pattern, circle each room and go into the next while ringing a bell. Be sure to ring the bell in corners and in closets where negative energy can remain trapped.

2. Use salt to cleanse an area.
Another tip is to use salt to remove negative energies. You can wipe the walls with salt or sprinkel salt into the corners of the room. Be sure to sweep up the salt and throw it into the trash outside of your house.

3. Feed your ghosts rice.
If you feel extreme negative energy, you can also try sprinkling rice around the perimeter of your home beginning at the front door. The rice will draw the energy outside and away from the interior of your home.

4. Scent the air to rid negative energies.
Smoke from incense or from herbs such as lavender for transcending problems or eucalyptus for healing or mint for prosperity. The scents of incense or herbal essential oils are all excellent ways to introduct beneficial energy.

5. Light and sound.
Light and sound are two very effective "yang" treatments that help to dispel negative energies. Tinkling windchimes and bright crystal rainbows or lit chandeliers are both excellent ways to introduce beneficial -- and cleansing -- energy to your space.

6. Take a salt bath for yourself.
In the process of cleansing your home, it might also be a good idea to cleanse yourself as well. It is possible that you are bringing negative energy home from work or from the outside world. Soak in a tub with sea salt or make your own sea salt scrub and wash your body in the shower with salt. Salt will purify you and remove negative energies from your person. This is especially helpful if you work in a hostile or gossipy environment and will help you rid the energy from your body.

Kathryn Weber is the publisher of the Red Lotus Letter feng shui e-zine and the ebook APPLIED FENG SHUI, The Science of Determining and Applying Authentic Feng Shui to Your Space In 9 Easy Steps. For more information, logon to http://www.redlotusletter.com and receive this special report "16 Feng Shui Secrets for Greater Prosperity" FREE.

kweber@redlotusconsulting.com

Every businessman knows that the key to turning customers into raving fans is to give exceptional customer service, to provide not only for the customer's needs but for their every want and desire even before they know that they have a want or desire. What eludes many business owners is how to provide that level of customer service. Literally hundreds of books have been written and seminars sold on how to improve customer service. Experts have employees imagining everything from mailboxes to Caribbean beaches all in the hope of improving customer service.

Walt Disney World Resorts creates raving fans because they provide a vacation beyond your imagination. They accomplish this not through the miracles of animatronics or the amusement park atmosphere, these things can be found at hundreds of vacation destinations worldwide. Walt Disney World Resorts creates raving fans by infecting their employees (known as cast members) with epidemic enthusiasm and pandemic pride.

So how do you start an epidemic in your business?

The key to creating an epidemic of enthusiasm is to turn your customer service inward. To create for your employees a career experience beyond their wildest imagination. Epidemic enthusiasm comes from an experience of the relationship between your employees and you. When employees feel that they are truly appreciated as your everyday hero and that by coming to work they leave invigorated and their life is enhanced rather than leaving tired and their life diminished then your employees become infected with enthusiasm for their work. When they see their careers, their employer in comparison to those of their peers elsewhere they cannot help but catching pandemic pride because their employer treats them so well.

There are two simple steps to enriching your employees' lives to the point where they know that they are valued and the infection of epidemic enthusiasm takes hold. Appreciation is the first of these two steps.

Robert is the CEO of a mediumsized company in South Central Florida. Every morning when Robert arrives at 9:40 a.m. he walks through the entire building greeting every employee from janitor through the managers with a genuine eyeglinting smile and a hardy good morning. If an employee appeared down, upset, or distracted he would take a moment to ask them if they were all right, if there was anything that he could personally do to make their day just a little bit brighter and if there was he would do it. It was not unusual to see Bob, as he encouraged his employees to call him, carrying coffee or water or hot tea to somebody's desk just to make them feel a little better. Bob regularly said thank you for being here even though nothing special had been done yet. The day had just begun. His genuine enthusiasm and appreciation was warm, enveloping, and infectious. And it cost him nothing but a brief 20 minutes before his day began.

Robert is a living example of the first step to infecting your organization with epidemic enthusiasm and pandemic pride. The second step is to encourage resilience. There are six basic areas of human function:

* Physical

* Emotional

* Intellectual

* Social

* Behavioral

* Spiritual

Resilience has been described as mastery against adversity and by fostering the ability of your employees to show this mastery in the face of adversity either in the workplace or in their family or personal lives. You create an experience in their career that enriches their entire life. You make them masters not just of adversity but of their own destiny.

Resilience is built by filling six "canteens of resilience":

* Physical resilience

* Emotional resilience

* Intellectual resilience

* Relationship resilience

* Functional resilience

* Spiritual resilience

Physical resilience is exactly as the name would imply. It is the physical capacity to continue working in light of physical and even emotional stress. Physical resilience is enhanced through the maintenance of good health and a healthy lifestyle. Eating a balanced diet both at home and at work; regular exercise; and adequate rest, even during the disaster, are essential to "filling" your canteen of physical resilience and maintaining that resilience.

Emotional resilience deals directly with what we feel and how we respond to it. The old saying "attitude counts" was never more true than when filling your canteen of emotional resilience. Loving and being loved, including loving yourself; enjoying the everyday joys of life and ensuring that you have the opportunity for boundless joy and genuine happiness fill your canteen with the sweet emotions that counterbalance the bitterness of adversity. On the other hand, if you have filled your emotional canteen with despair; selfloathing; angst and animus then you will have nothing but bitter drags from which to drink when in the midst of a challenge.

Intellectual resilience is bolstered by the very act of learning and practicing the skills which you have learned. It is as we gain experience and knowledge we slowly imprint new patterns which we may later use to compare and ultimately recognize as familiar situations and events that unfold during an event. The more of these patterns that we have in our intellectual canteen the more quickly we can recognize and adapt to the ever changing business environment. When we can recognize these patterns quickly we can respond quickly thus bolstering our intellectual resilience.

Relationship resilience bolsters our social functioning. It is through our relationships with those that we hold dear, spouses and significant others; children and grandchildren; parents; relatives; friends; coworkers that we fill our canteen of relationship resilience with memories and comforting mental images that carry us through our times of separation. It is also these relationships that safeguard our lives and our emotions. It is through these relationships that we not only fill our canteens but keep them full and keep watch on each other.

Functional resilience bolsters our behavioral function. The skills that we have practiced in our day-to-day lives as we have moved through our careers are that with which we fill our canteen of functional resilience. Like the patterns in our canteen of intellectual resilience the skills of our functional resilience are no different at times of adversity than they are at times between challenges. We need only be able to access those skills more quickly and perform them more calmly.

Spiritual resilience is somewhat different because the canteen of spiritual resilience is not filled by what we believe, but rather by the fact that we believe. Research in the area of resilience has shown that the very act of believing enforces an even intelligence beyond ourselves, a higher purpose for higher power, bolsters our resilience, and improves our function and our likelihood to master adversity.

By assisting your team in developing resilience and maintaining that resilience they are not only better able to perform at work but in every other aspect of their lives.

Pam was the president of a small public relations firm and had an intimate understanding of the need to maintain full canteens of resilience. She had begun her professional career selling sports club memberships to highend clients and quickly learned that it was through demonstrating the benefits of health that she made the most sales. When she started her own company she maintained a treadmill in her office setting a visual example to employees and clients alike of the importance of personal health. She took a tremendous interest in her diet and her health care maintaining both at their peak potential.

She filled her life with positive affirmations and chose to allow negative emotional events and negative feelings to flow past her like water past a riverbank.

Her life was rich with friendships both personal and professional and if Will Rogers never met a man he didn't like, then Pam never met a person that she did not have a smile for. Always learning Pam invested time in both personal and professional readings as well as audiostudy programs and an everexpanding range of intellectual interests and selfstudy. Her full intellectual canteen paled in comparison to her canteen of relationships which was always full to overflowing as she would make new friends even during the mundane activities of going to the store or traveling on an airplane. She encouraged her employees to do the same reserving a part of one day a week to play games, brainstorm, and just enjoy each other's company in the office.

Pam also maintained her skills in all aspects of her business. Professional speaking and oneonone sales were part of the "personal touch" that allowed Pam to maintain some of the most soughtafter clients in the public relations world. Pam paid for her managers to travel with her to several key events each year so that they could maintain their skills in all aspects of the business as well as maintaining relationships with outoftown clients.

Pam's spiritual canteen was filled by her belief that there was a higher power in the universe, a greater consciousness which was both benevolent and allpowerful. Never one to impose her beliefs on others, she maintained space within the company for the free personal expression of belief within the confines of each employee's personal space.

By both leading by example and providing the template for success Pam imbued in her employees pride which became pandemic not just among those who worked for her but her people infected her clients, each of them as proud to say that her company represented them as she was to say that she represented each client.

Thus we see that epidemic enthusiasm and pandemic pride are infections created by those who own, operate, and lead the most successful businesses. It is this leadership and this attitude of employee service equal to customer service that creates employees that go on to turn loyal customers into raving fans that then spread the reputation and the name of your company.

Dr. Maurice A. Ramirez is co-founder of Disaster Life Support of North America, Inc., a national provider of Disaster Preparation, Planning, Response and Recovery education. Through his consulting firm High Alert, LLC., he serves on expert panels for pandemic preparedness and healthcare surge planning with Congressional and Cabinet Members. Board certified in multiple medical specialties, Dr. Ramirez is Founding Chairperson of the American Board of Disaster Medicine and a Senior Physician-Federal Medical Officer for the Department of Homeland Security. Cited in 24 textbooks with numerous published articles, he is co-creator of C5RITICAL and author of Mastery Against Adversity.

Dr. Ramirez invites comments at: http://www.disaster-blog.com

The story broke in the international press on October 4th, 2004. Scientists in Japan announced that laboratory rats lost large amounts of organ fat, and increased muscle strength, when a portion of their diet was replaced by a new fruit extract.

Could this new discovery be "Exercise in a Pill?"

These unexpected results left the researchers puzzled. No drug or food had ever shown the ability to target and dramatically decrease dangerous organ fat, also known as visceral, or "belly" fat. In fact, only one thing is proven to reduce it... exercise.

The New American Epidemic- Obesity.

And the unsightly bulge of stubborn belly fat isn't the only problem. Controlling this fat is important, say researchers at Duke University Medical Center, because increased levels have been associated with diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and the alarming rise in obesity rates in the United States, where presently two out of three adults are overweight or obese. Visceral fat is located around the organs inside the belly and is deeper in the body than ordinary fat, and much harder to get rid of.

In the Japanese study, conducted at the Nippon Sport Science University graduate school, lab rats were fed a chemical extract from apples as 5% of their diet. The animals lost an average of 27% of organ fat in only 3 weeks. Even more baffling to researchers was a 16% increase in muscle strength observed in the test animals.

Proven Health Results from Apple Chemicals

Chemical extracts from apples have been extensively studied for years for their health benefits in cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and other chronic diseases. Recently, apple extracts have been shown to protect the brain against nerve damage associated with Alzheimer's Disease. But this is the first evidence that these phytochemicals- termed apple polyphenols- have been shown to reduce belly fat deposits.

The Japanese researchers have now turned their attention to confirming these results in human subjects, and one Japanese company announced plans to market health drinks containing the extract in the U.S. later this year.

Too Early to Tell?

Although it will likely be some time before human weight loss trials are reported, some consumers aren't willing to wait. Since November, a small group of people in the U.S. have had access to these apple chemicals in pill form. You can track their intriguing results, which are now being reported on our web site, where you can also follow the latest news and research about apple polyphenols.

David Kern is a health researcher and publisher of New Health & Longevity, a newsletter devoted to the latest advances in nutritional science. Contact him through http://www.applepoly.com/bellyfat/ . You can find a link there for current medical studies and breaking news on apple phytochemicals.

Furniture for outdoor use spans the designs made popular through the centuries. You can select benches similar to those used in Versailles, Adirondack chairs, antebellum wrought iron inspired by Victorian New Orleans, and myriad other choices. A word of caution: just as decorative birdhouses won't last outdoors, some furniture with outdoor looks may not stand up to weather. Check warranties, and read directions on the furniture for care and maintenance. Then match your choices to the possible weather exposure of the furniture itself. It may be made of one or more materials.

Wood: Naturally weather-resistant woods, such as cypress, teak, or redwood, require little upkeep and don't need staining or preservative coatings. Treated wood is decay resistant and may have a greenish-brown color; it can be painted, stained, or left natural and protected with a clear water-resistant finish. Other wood should be treated with a moisture-resistant preservative, either clear or pigmented.

Wicker and Rattan: Check that the frame is weather resistant, such as aluminum with a baked-on finish. If the location is protected, some bamboo frames are porch-suitable. Synthetic wicker and special finishes on natural wicker materials offer various levels of resistance to sun and rain.

Iron: Its weight makes iron a good choice for windy areas, but it is heavy and difficult to rearrange. Either cast or wrought iron will rust unless treated with special rust-retarding paint and touched up or repainted over the years.

Aluminum: From budget tubular furniture to wrought or cast frames, aluminum is rustproof and lightweight. Pieces designed to look like ironwork often have a baked-on enamel or textured finish. Look for finishing details such as smooth seams on welded parts. Cast-aluminum pieces and those of thick, heavy-gauge alloys are top of the line in aluminum.

Plastic and Fiberglass Furniture: Buy the best quality you can afford, because inexpensive polymer pieces that break easily will decorate the dump for decades to come. Warranties are a guide, but test pieces by sitting on them and rocking around. Tubular parts made of PVC (polyvinyl chloride) can sometimes be disassembled for storage, depending upon how they are joined. Resin pieces are molded into a variety of shapes. Both come in a range of colored plastics; some are not able to withstand direct sunlight without discoloring.

2007, Kathy Burns-Millyard. Want more great Indoor and Outdoor Home Decorating ideas, tips, and advice? Visit the Do It Yourself Home Decorating Network http://www.diyhomedecorating.com now to see what's new, plus be sure to get signed up for our free Home Decorating Tips Letter Too!