Echo was a flea-bitten gray horse, with brown speckles everywhere, and crystal clear hairs in her mane and tail. We met in October, 1976, when she was a broodmare on an Arabian farm in New York State. A beginner at riding doesn't usually start out with a novice horse, but I fell in love at first sight of her. Somehow, over the years, we learned how to have great times and not get in trouble. We enjoyed trail riding and had fun doing dressage, too. Echo loved to be ridden and to gallop across field. She was always as eager for my companionship as I was for hers.

Wouldn't it be really cool if all you had to do is ask for something and then it is yours? Well, you can. Let me show you how.

Humanity's interpretation of Unconditional Love is based on personal bias. In a world of contradictions and opposites, one decides how conditional he/she will experience love by applying unconditional love to conditional love.

The reasons for keeping a journal. Excerpts from other's ideas about journal keeping.Be in tune with yourself.

For the past several years I have struggled with getting (and staying) fit. Ok I admit it, the struggle has been longer than just a few years. As a kid, instead of playing nicely with the girls, I fought with the neighborhood boys. I attempted to join their fun and received new scars weekly in bloody games of soccer. I was always the last one picked to play on the kickball team and, as the catcher of my 5th grade softball team, I pummeled the pitcher in the head with a fast ball. Uncoordinated in team sports, I succeeded only at baton twirling which was fun but I barely broke a sweat. After failures in group sports I thought I'd try running so, a few years ago I attempted to train for a half marathon. I ended up limping home in tears and thought I’d never exercise again. (I couldn't even MOVE after that, much less exercise!)

Do you grind your teeth at night? Have headaches or eye twitching? Would you like to stop the fight or flight responses that occur daily to your body? Alpaca ranching can help remove stress hormones from your body and calm overactive neurons.

True inner peace, confers tranquility, inner harmony and inner balance, and is an inner condition, which is independent of external conditions and circumstances. It can be acquired through proper training, resulting in the ability to remain calm, undisturbed and unhurried in difficult and unpleasant situations.

Well, it’s the start of the second period, I mean article on facing off against your fears. Let me recap the highlights from the last article. We delved into the first three steps of our seven-step game plan in dealing with our opponents: fear, anxiety and worry. The first step was to change our attitude about facing fear in realizing that you can do something about it, if you believe in yourself. The second step was to identify our most prevalent fears that are holding us back in life. The third step was to learn how to incorporate two calming skills into our daily routine.

Very few of us go through life without encountering a crisis. Whether the crisis is big or small, we have choices about how to handle it. Here are six skills that can help anyone manage a crisis more effectively.

Open space, open mind. When your physical space is open, clean and full of light, it allows your spirit to mirror that zen-like state. Imagine what being able to easily find necessary items, take care of tasks and breathe deeply in your own physical space could do for your state of mind.

Meditation is an ancient tradition which enables the practitioner to reduce stress and increase his- her sense of inner well being. Meditation works by reducing our attachment to our thoughts. By being able to switch off from our daily activities and thoughts we can reduce our stress levels and over time experience a sense of inner peace.

To use the stress management tools to the fullest you first need to understand what stress is? Stress is caused when you are thinking too much about a particular thing or situation.

Just about all the friends I know do not like spiders but my dislike goes deeper. There are many things we do not know about each other.

Everybody thinks California living is stress-free. You and I know that is not true, but some time at San Jose spas can make it seem like it is.