The Beauty Denominator

Older individuals are choosing to go to college now a days. It seems to be a modern trend that we’re seeing a higher number of mature students wanting to attend lectures and obtain a degree than ever before. It is no surprise considering the educational opportunities that are available now and were probably not available to them when they left high school ten, twenty or even thirty years ago. Going to university is not a novel concept but it may seem that way to individuals that never had the opportunity. Now that they do have the opportunity, they want to make the most of it!

A mature student may apply to go to college for any number of reasons. It may be that they feel a career change is in order, or that they want to do something for themselves now that their children are old enough to fend for themselves. These are the two most popular reasons why individuals apply to college in their twenties, thirties, forties and even fifties, but what about the financial wrench that their families will experience as a direct result of one less income to deal with when they do attend a campus based university or college? Education would then be their full time pastime, but what of the lost income?

There is financial aid available for mature students, and only for mature students. This means that you do not have to compete with the general public for grants and scholarships, only people over the age of twenty-five. Some may actually stipulate that the minimum age is thirty, but they are in the minority. There is national, state and college funding available for mature students because the government is dedicated to getting a high number of individuals over a certain age into education as part of their initiative to bring education to the masses. Most colleges and local governments have followed the federal government initiative and recognized that a massive section of the workforce would be neglected if older individuals were not encouraged to apply.

Applications from older individuals usually depend on whether or not the potential student’s family can survive without his or her wage coming in. In the vast majority of cases, the answer would be no, unless of course that individual was not working in the first place or they had some sort of funding behind them. As we all get older, it becomes harder and harder to afford to live without a wage coming in. As soon as this was brought to the attention of governmental officials, more funding became available.

Grants are offered by local governments and individual schools to encourage mature students to apply. This can actually be as much as needed to cover tuition fees or just a small supplemental income, because it is largely based on the family annual income following the deduction of the applicant’s salary. However, you can apply to more than one source for funding and low-income family grants may also be available to you too.

In terms of scholarships, there are those dedicated to financing the mature student, most of which can be found via a quick search at www.scholarships.com by inputting your date of birth. However, you would also be eligible to apply for all funding and scholarships open to younger students too.

Personal mastery is about approaching life from a different perspective.  Sometimes people refer to it as a journey towards continuous improvement.  Personal  mastery is guided with key principles like vision, personal purpose, creative tension, commitment to truth and understanding the subconscious mind. Applying personal mastery in a person’s life can make dramatic and great changes.

Personal mastery helps a person develop themselves and be able to interact effectively with other people. It could actually help you become successful in life.  The great thing about personal mastery is that it helps an individual develop  healthy communication with their inner self and at the same time reflect this change in how they interact with others.

They say that communication is the most important source of power.  Many businesses and organizations have all but collapsed because of many failures due to poor communication between business executives and employers. Employees show high burn-out and stress levels, dissatisfied and disengaged employees.

To achieve effective communication, it is important to increase and attain personal mastery.  To increase personal mastery would mean change in attitude and perspective.  It is important for leaders and organizations to maintain openness to engage their colleagues, employees and customers.

Communication is an important part of relationship building.  The most important relationship is our relationship with our inner self.  Therefore, communication with the inner self should be maintained.  How we communicate with our inner self determine how we communicate with others.

Positive thinking and reinforcement would help us deal with difficulties better.  For example, if we believe something then those beliefs can either limit or be beneficial for us.  A positive inner dialogue would project a more positive and supportive communication with others.

Personal and career mastery can help a person improve their growth and development and succeed in their chosen field. Effective communication is not determined how well we speak in front of many people or how well we write documents, effective and good communication relies on how well people have understood us and how we expressed ourselves.

An example of maintaining effective communication is giving feedback or constructive criticism. We should be able to give and receive criticisms openly.  Aside from that, when giving feedback we should take into consideration our emotions.  Dealing and taking care of emotions is one of the methods that personal mastery can achieve.  Aside from that, personal mastery also helps an individual to look at things objectively.

Effective communication with the help of personal mastery can assist with the following:

• Effective problem solving. Since you would be able to communicate to your employers and co-employees about the real issues and problems, this can lead to a deeper understanding of the problem.  A deeper understanding could lead to quicker and more effective problem solving.

• Effective leadership. For a leader to set direction and influence the team and the organization, he or she should be able to develop better communication with them.  Criticisms should be given as a form of suggestion and should serve as support not as chastisement.

• Effective planning. Planning involves understanding the mission, vision, and the goal of an individual, department or organization.  Planning should be guided by the guiding principles of the group. However people may have a different approach to everything, it is important to properly communicate with each other to create and draw up an effective plan.

• Effective organizational development. Personal mastery is not only about  personal and professional development and growth.  An improvement in the personal and professional path of a person can have significant effects on the improvement of the group or organization.

Spiritual awakening is not tied down to a religion as some people might think. People read the word spiritual and they immediately conclude that this is something for the religious or for the highly spiritual people. The spirituality of the self through spiritual awakening refers not to the religion of a person but to the consciousness or awareness of being, the realization that one exists.

Various religious beliefs do have their own versions of spiritual awakening. Most are rooted on their own sets of religious doctrines and principles. Some have come to a spiritual enlightenment through meditations and self actualization. To them spiritual awakening is the removal of whatever layers or walls we have that cover or hide our true selves. It is having the experience of peace, the calmness, the fulfillment, and completeness. One person has so eloquently put it as waking up through a big bump to head. That of course is a too simplistic way to describe the experience.

Spiritual awakening is not the end of the end. It is in fact can be seen as just a stepping stone where you can provide change to other people and the environment you live in. In some religions, spiritual awakening is the pre-requisite to spiritual healing. If spiritual awakening is the finding of your true self, the spiritual healing part is the part where you collect all the positive physical, emotional and spiritual elements and use them to live a happy, healthy, and fulfilling life.

Its important that this person pass to other people these positive energies to promote spiritual healing to all. There are religions that would suggest or even require people to accompany spiritual healing with prayers and going to their church. They insist that prayers will provide or reinforce the guidelines they need to reach, repeat and maintain spiritual awakening.

For Christians, spiritual awakening is also attained upon realization that they are sinners and begin to repent. They have this enlightenment that God is the only true path and going back to him and being faithful to the doctrines of the Church is the way to spiritual healing. This is, of course, only one religion interpreting the essence of spiritual awakening. One cannot say that their interpretation is wrong for the experience is really a subjective one based precisely on interpretations of what should and should not be.

Now those who are far less attuned to religious influences believe that spiritual awakening can be achieved through meditations. Through proper meditation, inner peace and serenity are attained. Healing can be achieved as well. But meditation is only a step towards spiritual awakening. One has to go deeper into the process to achieve the true enlightenment as some people would rather believe.

Meditation can come in different forms and techniques. There’s the mantra meditation where you need to repeat a certain sound which appeals to your mind before you reach that meditative state. There’s the trataka meditation technique where instead of sound, one has to focus his attention or mind on a particular object. This technique has been used in the past by a number of religions. Chakra meditation on the one hand is more of energy based mediation where the goal is to open the chakra points in the body to achieve a higher level of awakening of the consciousness.

Religion and spiritual awakening are connected but depending on the religion as well as the approach and techniques, the interpretation of spiritual awakening varies. But one thing is certain, achieving spiritual wakening results to having a positive outlook in life making living in this world happier and more content.