A time comes in your life when you finally get it. When, in the midst of all your fears and insanity, you stop dead in your tracks and somewhere the voice inside your head cries out -- ENOUGH!

 Enough fighting and crying or struggling to hold on. And, like a child quieting down after a blind tantrum, your sobs begin to subside, you shudder once or twice, you blink back your tears, and through a mantle of wet lashes you begin to look at the world through new eyes.

 This is your Awakening.

 You realize that it's time to stop hoping and waiting for something to change or for happiness, safety and security to come galloping over the next horizon. You come to terms with the fact that he is not Prince Charming and you are not Cinderella and that in the real world there aren't always fairy tale endings (or beginnings for that matter), and that any guarantee of "happily ever after" must begin with you; and in the process, a sense of serenity is born of acceptance.

 You awaken to the fact that you're not perfect and that not everyone will always love you, appreciate or approve of who or what you are ... and that's okay. (They're entitled to their own views and opinions.) And you learn the importance of loving and championing yourself; and in the process a sense of new found confidence is born of self-approval.

 You stop complaining and blaming other people for the things they did to you (or didn't do for you) and you learn that the only thing you can really count on is the unexpected. You learn that people don't always say what they mean or mean what they say, and that not everyone will always be there for you; and that it's not always about you. So, you learn to stand on your own, and to take care of yourself; and in the process, a sense of safety and security is born of self-reliance.

 You stop judging and pointing fingers -- and you begin to accept people as they are, and to overlook their shortcomings and human frailties; and in the process, a sense of peace and contentment is born of forgiveness.

 You realize that much of the way you view yourself and the world around is a result of all the messages and opinions that have been ingrained into your psyche, and you begin to sift through all that you have been fed about how you should behave, how you should look, and how much you should weigh; what you should wear and where you should shop, and what you should drive; how and where you should live and what you should do for a living; who you should sleep with, who you should marry, and what you should expect of a marriage; the importance of having and raising children, or what you owe your parents.

 You learn to open up to new worlds and different points of view. And you begin reassessing and redefining who you are and what you really stand for.

 You learn the difference between wanting and needing, and you begin to discard the doctrines and values you've outgrown, or should never have bought into to begin with; and in the process you learn to go with your instincts.

 You learn that it is truly in giving that we receive. And that there is power and glory in creating and contributing; and you stop maneuvering through life merely as a "consumer" looking for your next fix.

 You learn that principles such as honesty and integrity are not the outdated ideals of a bygone era, but the mortar that holds together the foundation upon which you must build a life. You learn that you don't know everything, it's not your job to save the world ... and that you can't teach a pig to sing.

 You learn to distinguish between guilt and responsibility, and the importance of setting boundaries, and learning to say "NO." You learn that the only cross to bear is the one you choose to carry, and that martyrs get burned at the stake.

 Then you learn about love. romantic love and familial love. How to love, how much to give in love, when to stop giving and when to walk away.

 You learn not to project your needs or your feelings in a relationship. You learn that you will not be more beautiful, more intelligent, more lovable or important because of the man or the woman on your arm or the child that bears your name.

 You learn to look at relationships as they really are and not as you would have them be. You stop trying to control people, situations and outcomes.

 You learn that just as people grow and change, so it is with love ... and you learn that you don't have the right to demand love on your terms ... just to make you happy.

 And, you learn that alone does not have to be lonely. And you look in the mirror and come to terms with the fact that you will never be a size 5 or a perfect 10, and you stop trying to compete with the image inside your head and agonizing over how you "stack up." You also stop working so hard at putting your feelings aside, smoothing things over and ignoring your needs. You learn that feelings of entitlement are perfectly okay ... and that it is your right to want things and to ask for the things that you want ... and that sometimes it is necessary to make demands.

 You come to the realization that you deserve to be treated with love, kindness, sensitivity and respect; and you won't settle for less. And you allow only the hands of a love who cherishes you to glorify you with his/her touch ... and in the process you internalize the meaning of self-respect. And you learn that your body really IS your temple, and you begin to care for it and treat it with respect. You begin eating a balanced diet, drinking more water and taking more time to exercise. You learn that fatigue diminishes the spirit and can create doubt and fear. So you take more time to rest. And, just as food fuels the body, laughter fuels our soul. So you take more time to laugh and play.

 You learn, that for the most part, in life you get what you believe you deserve, and that much of life truly is a self-fulfilling prophecy. You learn that anything worth achieving is worth working for, and that wishing for something to happen is different from working toward making it happen. More importantly, you learn that in order to achieve success you need direction, discipline and perseverance. You also learn that no one can do it all alone and that it's okay to risk asking for help.

 You learn that the only thing you must truly fear is the great robber baron of all time -- Fear itself. You learn to step right into and through your fears because you know that whatever happens you can handle it, and to live in fear is to give away the right to live life on your terms. You learn to fight for your life and not to squander it living under a cloud of impending doom. You learn that life isn't always fair, you don't always get what you think you deserve, and that sometimes bad things happen to unsuspecting, good people. On these occasions, you learn not to personalize things.

 You learn that God isn't punishing you or failing to answer your prayers. It's just life happening. And you learn to deal with evil in its most primal state -- the ego. You learn that negative feelings such as anger, envy and resentment must be understood and redirected or they will suffocate the life out of you, and poison the universe that surrounds you. You learn to admit when you are wrong and to build bridges instead of walls.

 You learn to be thankful and to take comfort in many of the simple things we take for granted, things that millions of people upon the earth can only dream about: a full refrigerator, clean running water, a soft warm bed, a long hot shower. Slowly, you begin to take responsibility for yourself by yourself; and you make yourself a promise to never betray yourself and to never, ever, settle for less than your heart desires. And you hang a wind chime outside your window so you can listen to the wind. And you make it a point to keep smiling, to keep trusting and to stay open to every wonderful possibility.

 Finally, with courage in your heart and with Spirit by your side you take a stand; you take a deep breath, and you begin to design the life you want to live as best you can

50 years ago something happened in South Africa which was very significant – it was the year in which the country changed from the awkward and complicated Imperial system of measuring units (such as £sd, pints and gallons, miles) to the much simpler Metric system (such as Rands, cents, litres, and kilometers).

Before that, I fondly remember my dear old dad riding to work from the suburbs on his bicycle to his job the Standard Bank in the city. He used to call it the “Banded Stank.” People were seemingly more dedicated to staying in one job way back then. He stayed on there for 44 years and retired from there.

Quite often as a kid, I visited him at his accountant’s desk. My memory holds the vision of him always poring over mountains of paper – working at finding the totals of endless columns of figures. He never used a calculator – even when they were invented years later. He never needed one. Even when he was close to the day of his retirement he could run through a triple £sd column of figures and accurately add them going down. How many folk can do that today? Ask anybody, let alone a young, fresh brain today, AND USING a calculator to arrive at the correct answer first time.

My wife, Maureen, I think is a crossword whiz – the result is that her knowledge of words borders on being encyclopedic. But not everybody needs or wants to be like that. But, no one can dispute the fact that two basic attributes are critical to our survival in the modern world:

• Being able to manipulate numbers (Add, subtract, multiply & divide)
• Fundamental literary skills.

The horrible truth, even in this modern world, is that there are a dangerous number of people scraping into University life who have both poor literary ability and abysmal math skills. This scenario is playing itself out worldwide.

For now, let us isolate our argument to taking ONE step upward on the academic ladder – with being able to improve our numerical skills. Research has shown that the overwhelming majority of kids (let alone adults) are TERRIFIED of the mere thought of what doing simple multiplication and division entails – let along the murky corridors of mathematics, including trigonometry, calculus, algebra and geometry! This presents a complete mental block, and is a minefield of imagined problems as a result.

Surprisingly, many people really believe that they can get away without ANY knowledge of the principles of maths (called math in the US) – and then they are astounded when their career does not flourish in the cold hard world outside.

What is the problem – and can it be turned around?

Are the already 110 year-old, brain numbing methods still being used to teach basic arithmetic in schools making it difficult for our kids to move on to learn mathematics? Don’t agree with me? OK – here is a challenge for you to handle right now. Can YOU multiply these two numbers together: 6731437102 X 527472967893 in not more than 70 seconds? Some (actually a LOT) of children, who are NOT mathematical prodigies, are actually capable of performing this “feat” without even raising a sweat!

You will recall, as I do, any most others starting in the grades, and needing to remember our “times tables” off by heart. Seem simple today in retrospect don’t they. So why is the problem above so difficult, if not impossible for most people to solve – WITHOUT USING A CALCULATOR? And you may agree that long division was ALWAYS a pain in the butt!

Many people, in fact most, are not aware of the FACT that this can all be turned around in every school across the planet – next year. This is because there is a very simple system which has been around for over 50 years.

The value of a change in approach in teaching arithmetic will be most apparent to those who teach children in the primary grades. What is even more exciting though, is that young, fertile minds will not have their eagerness dulled by simple, mindless, prolonged repetition. The current system forces them to spend several YEARS in just memorising times tables.

A new approach will help to keep the subject alive, and this natural interest will provide the impetus to propel the student forward. The inventor of this deceptively simple approach was the late Jakow Trachtenberg. He maintained that EVERYONE comes into the world with “phenomenal calculation possibilities.”

What do you need to be able to learn this system?

You just need to be able to count!  The approach is based on a series of simple keys, and once you have assimilated them, arithmetic becomes delightfully easy. The system offers the following:

• EASY to learn – saving years wasted the other route.
• Simple to apply
• Faster by far – saving some 80%
• More accurate – 99%
• A complete system

But by far the most attractive and important benefit of the FREE Trachtenberg System is that it makes it possible for people who supposedly have NO “aptitude” for Maths to achive the spectacular results we expect of a mathematical genius.

What is happening on the University Campus TODAY?

In many University Engineering Faculties, nearly 75% of the students were found so inadequate in this field, that they had to take their High School maths course again, before they could qualify for the regular 1^st year University course. What an abysmal waste of time and money for everybody concerned.

Where are all the trained scientists and technicians?

It is scary, because what does it say about our future when in South Africa, where they are looking for people in the trades – just plumbers in this case – where there is a shortage of 500 000, and very few people to install solar water geysers. Yet there is rampant unemployment stalking the land”

So MY purpose in life is to take the gifts that I have been aware of and GRATEFULLY pass them on….FREE… to the next generation. An here is just ONE of them:

YOU, and you children, can benefit from some simple, but excellent software which has been designed to help to understand the basics of the Trachtenberg system, and the man involved - Sherman Keene has made it available for everybody to download.

http://www.shermankeene.com/free_stuff.html