It isn’t easy keeping your sense of peace when everyone and everything around you is going crazy. Short of completely isolating yourself from the whole world, within a perfectly peaceful environment, what do you do? This article is going to explore quite a few tools that will help you formulate your very own Stress Reduction Plan. This plan will help you keep your cool even when those around you are losing theirs, and quite possibly blaming it on you!

If you’re like me, you work hard at maintaining a desired level of peace and serenity within your life. Then, it can easily be blown in one incident of having to deal with other stressed out people or places. You might find yourself blowing your cool over something inconsequential such as an irate driver, or a longer than preferred line at the store.

When your stress levels soar, you could end up resenting other people or yourself for losing that nice peaceful feeling you were just starting to enjoy. On top of that, it can be frustrating to have to start over again in getting back the serenity you worked so hard to maintain in the first place. Now you’re stressed about being stressed. It can be a vicious, hard-to-break cycle. Luckily, there are positive steps you can take to change all that!

Let me first assure you it’s perfectly natural to find yourself getting stressed out along with the people you’re around, or the environment you’re in. Studies show that one negative person can bring down a whole room full of positive people. The same holds true for how one stressed-out person can raise the stress levels of those around him/her. There is also the energy in an environment, caused by people or the environment itself, that is a very powerful force to deal with. The more sensitive you are to energy, the more susceptible you will be to energy given off by other people and places. We will talk about how to deal with that in a little while.

I feel the first thing we need to do is put it firmly in our minds that Stress Happens! In all of our efforts to remain calm and peaceful, it’s easy to forget that stressful events in and of themselves are not what does the damage to us. Whether its good or bad stress, coming from within yourself or from other people and places, it completely depends on how you process the stress that ultimately determines how it will end up affecting you. Cultivating acceptance can help immensely. That is the first, and very important, part of our Stress Reduction Plan.

The next step of the Stress Reduction Plan is to practice staying in the Right Here, Right Now, present time. Staying with the immediate will dramatically decrease feelings of anxiety and fear. You will be aware of the energy going on around you, so you can be alert to stressful energy and deal with it accordingly. You will also be able to face the stress head on before it turns into another tension headache or sleepless night.

One thing that helps me stay mindful of focusing on the present is to practice, practice, and practice some more! Be mindful of how your body moves, feel how your eyes are moving as they read this article, how you are sitting in your chair, how the air around you feels on your body. Listen to what is going on around you, the hum of the computer, or outside traffic, birds singing; whatever you can hear, really take time to hear it. Use all of your senses to experience everything that is around you at all times. Practice these things throughout the day as you accomplish your daily tasks and see if it helps you, too.

The third step we are going to take in creating our Stress Reduction Plan is to make a list of your Stress Hot Spots. Perhaps it’s trying to get ready for your day, especially if you’re getting kids to school and significant others off to work. Maybe it’s rush hour, or suppertime, or the end of the workday where things are the most chaotic and apt to take you out of your Happy Place. Really take some time to create a list of all the different areas of your life where stress is going to be inevitable.

Once you have a list of your “Stress Hot Spot” times, ask yourself these questions for each item listed:

· Are there ways you can lessen the impact of that stress for yourself and others? Maybe it’s as simple as waking up 10 minutes earlier to avoid the morning rush).

· Can you ask others for help?

· Can you allow other people to keep their own feelings of stress in this situation without feeling you’re abandoning them if you don’t join in by getting stressed out yourself?

· Are there any items that you are procrastinating about that might make stressful times even more stressful for yourself or others? How can you correct that?

· Can you find any humor in it at all? There’s usually a lighter side of every situation and looking for that can really help when things start getting too heavy.

· Do you have time for a quick break, before, during, or after the stressful event?

· What others strategies might help Stress Hot Spot times go as smoothly and enjoyably as possible?

Part of creating your list might be to request a team or family meeting to help brainstorm suggestions to alleviate the stressful areas you all share together. This will help improve everyone’s stress level and peace of mind!

After you answer all the questions, add the suggestions you came up with to your Daily To-Do list. It also might be helpful to post some reminder signs around your house or office to keep you aware of what you’re working towards.

Another important part of keeping your cool is to release being judgmental. For example, that excruciatingly slow driver probably isn’t really a bum out to ruin your life. They might be having any number of personal crisis situations going on. You never really know what’s going on in other people’s lives, and most likely they’re not thinking about what’s going on in your life either. Think about when you have been the most challenged in your own life and how wonderful it would feel if others gave you patience and understanding. Maybe you can teach those others a lesson by being the patient, understanding one first. You will feel more control of yourself and your day as well!

Speaking of being in control, Free Will offers us the wonderful blessing of being able to consciously accept or reject stress coming from others. For example, if your boss or life partner is exhibiting high stress symptoms, you can allow them to keep their own stressed energies without becoming attached and absorbing those energies yourself. Allow other people to own their own negative feelings or stress, and allow yourself to stay attached to your own feelings of peace and serenity. You can still be there for the person without experiencing their negative or stressful emotions with them. I can guarantee that you will be a bigger help to them, and to yourself, when you are coming from a center of peace than if you are a stressed out wreck waiting to happen!

Another wonderful thing about Free Will is it gives you the ability to consciously create your environment. If you walk into a room that has negative or stressful energy, imagine positive and peaceful energy filling up the room as well. This will help you from being overcome with the bad energy and help others in the area by drawing out more of their positive energy. It’s a simple scientific equation that like attracts like. In keeping with that equation, the more positive feelings you give out, the more will come back to you. Play with this idea for a while and see how effective it can be.

Of course, unless you are completely enlightened, there will be times that stress gets the best of you. When you get anxious or afraid, allow the feelings to flow through you without fighting with yourself over them. It really is okay to have those or other not-so-pleasant emotions from time to time; it’s how you act on them that determines if they are going to be beneficial or harmful to you. Always remember that you have Free Will and can make choices from a place of serenity no matter what situation you find yourself in.

I hope these ideas help you keep your cool even in the most challenging of times. If you would like more specific tools in regard to your own unique lifestyle, I would be more than happy to talk with you about it. Also, I would love to hear from you if you would like to share how these tools I’ve mentioned work for you in your life, or have any other suggestions or questions. Please contact me anytime.

Everyone’s been burned, cheated on and totally deflated by their loved one at some point. It’s not a fun thing to go through, and sometimes it causes the person to become disillusioned with the whole idea of romance, relationships or beginning anew.

They retreat into a shell, vowing to never allow anyone to penetrate this invisible shield of protection to their heart because, after all, they don’t want to be hurt again. And do you blame them?

These people whose hearts have been crushed to the point where they just say “no” to relationships are in what I call “relationship remission.”

As a relationship expert focusing on the soul mate relationship in particular, you would think that I would discourage closing off your heart for awhile, but there comes a time in one’s life when it’s often necessary to take a step back and find out who you are and what you want out of life.

At the tender age of four, Molly envisioned what her husband was going to look like and that they’d have two boys, two girls and all the puppies and kittens they wanted. She had a “pretend” marriage with Alfred, the little boy next door, and while the adults thought it was cute, Molly knew, even back then, that she wanted a fairytale marriage and was going to live happily ever.

Fast forward thirty-nine years later, and Molly has been divorced three times and never found the fairytale marriage she was looking for. She became disillusioned with the whole dating scene after two attempts of rape, relationships that never lasted and several therapy sessions in which she felt she was the reason her life had turned out so horrible.

Had she not grown up to believing that life was one Cinderella story after another, maybe she would have been prepared for the frogs along the way. But then, who is to know what the future has in store?

No matter how hard you try, the relationship factor has baffled everyone. Since time began, man has always looked for that magic key that would open the lock to that fulfilling and lifelong relationship, without any problems or grief. So far, no one has been able to find that magic key.

Until now.

That magic key lies within you and by entering relationship remission, you’ll find out what it is you need to do to unlock that door to your heart and find the Cinderella life that’s been eluding you.

By taking a time-out and examining yourself closely, you’ll hopefully discover:

1) The only person who can make you happy is yourself

2) In order to be the person someone would want to love, you have to love yourself first

3) Being a queen instead of a pawn guarantees self-confidence and self-satisfaction

4) Self-love comes first and relationships naturally follow

5) You are queen of your own destiny

When you have had time to regroup, you discover things about yourself that you might have been ignoring, and it’s a perfect time to fix those things that are making you unhappy. What is life? Is it is a continuous pattern of hardships and mistakes?

In my relationship e-class, I teach that self-love is the most important thing. If you don’t have self-love, you have to go back to square one and fix it. It’s not hard to do, and if you don’t at least make an attempt, your relationships will go nowhere.

Taking a break from relationships when the need arises is very necessary. It’s the time when we can sit back and evaluate our past lives and try to figure out how we went off our intended path and how to get back on it.

The irony of this is that this is when your soul mate does appear—when you least expect it!

So, take time off when the need arises and listen to your intuition, which will guide you to make the right decisions. Follow your gut instincts when things don’t feel right and when things do feel right, it just means that it’s meant to be.

The soul mate relationship isn’t hard to figure out. But, sometimes, we need to regroup within ourselves to realize why our knight in shining armor just never seems to be within our reach. Fairy tales are fairy tales, but why not turn your life into your own fairy tale and live happily ever after?

While no relationship is perfect, you have the power to make it into anything you want it to be. After all, you are the queen of your own destiny and hold that key to your future happiness and well-being. Use the power.

UGARIT
By Carol Miller*
"A shady business can never
lead to a sunny life."
Chinese Proverb


A friend recently recommended a book by a former forest ranger named Roger Jewell, who describes an astonishing traffic in pure copper ingots, extracted from the mines along the shores of Lake Superior, and administered, he says, by enterprising Minoans or possibly Canaanites, or both, who mixed with the local populace while they tended their business, across the lakes and rivers of the northeastern United States, island-hopping out across the North Atlantic, down through the British Isles and across the Mediterranean to, among other Levantine ports, legendary Ugarit (Ras Shamra), nestled in the shadow of the Jebel al-Aqra (Mount Sanpanu). (See: Ancient Mines of Kitchi-Gummi, A Case Study, Fairfield, Pennsylvania, Jewell Histories, 2000).

"Metals, both precious and industrial, were extremely common trade goods," says Shelley Wachsmann (see: Seagoing Ships & Seamanship in the Bronze Age Levant, London, Chatham Publishing, 1998). Wachsmann goes on to describe enormous ingots of copper and tin regularly unearthed in Bronze Age shipwreck sites and depicted, as well, on Egyptian frescoes portraying maritime trade. Later, during the Hellenistic period and afterward, under Rome, these ingredients for the precious trade in bronze were so highly valued that commercial cargo extended to scrap tin and copper destined for recycling.

Long distance trade on seagoing vessels was indeed a verifiable reality, often extending to the establishing of colonies. The Phoenicians were especially given to guaranteeing portage by settling their numbers in a chain of communities around the entire Mediterranean basin, as links to complement their colonies in Carthage in North Africa, Utica in Italy, and Cadiz in Spain. These included nuclei of traders and craftsmen integrated among local cultures, for example at Teke on Crete or Lefkandi in Greece.

The Jewell book, however, refers to between 20 and 50 million pounds, or perhaps kilos or even tons, of copper, mined between 2400 B.C. and 1200 B.C., deemed essential, furthermore, to the massive quantities of weaponry and artisanship produced during the Bronze Age throughout Egypt and the Near East. Traces of such staggering amounts of copper vanished from the area of Lake Superior (Kitchi Gummi), but reappeared in the eastern Mediterranean, and along the caravan routes through Syria and Mesopotamia. The clues to the connection are many, says Jewell, and include both religious relics identical in North America and Western Asia, and linguistic references.

Linguistics was indeed a specialty of Ugarit, and complemented its reputation as a naval power. One text, a message from "The Sun" or Lord of the Realm, in Ugarit's revolutionary alphabetic script, is a plea: "The enemy is over us [and] there is no copper… Purify copper, search [for it], wherever you can obtain this and send it to me."


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The city-state of Ugarit was located just ten kilometers to the north of present-day Latakia, still Syria's principal port. Correspondence from Amarna, confirmed in the annals of Thutmose III and his ninth campaign, c. 1445 B.C., suggested the diplomatic ties between Egypt and the prosperous port, certainly one of many along the Syrian coast, until at least the end of the Late Bronze Age. A tin inventory from Mari during the reign of Zimri-Lim, in a text dated to 1780-1760 B.C., confirmed Ugarit as a major port of entry for Aegean merchants and suppliers to the Syro-Canaanite coast, as well as trans-shipment point for a wide range of merchandise bound for the Euphrates.

Ugarit and Mari were in any case well known to each other. Zimri-Lim's legendary palace had inspired other monarchs of the region to extend themselves in the designing and furnishing of their own palaces. The splendor of the royal residences was constantly subject to revision. "I tell you, there is no mayor's residence that can compare with that at Tyre. It is like the residence at Ugarit. Extraordinarily large are the riches there." This was a commentary by Rib-Hadda, prince of Byblos and subject of the Egyptian monarch, Akhenaten (1364-1345 B.C.). Says Amelie Kuhrt, "To alert the pharaoh to the power of the neighboring ruler of Tyre and warn him of his ambitions, he compared Tyre's wealth and splendor to that of Ugarit", which, she goes on to say, lay beyond Egypt's empire and was probably at this point an independent domain.

The detailed texts in the various archives elaborate on the history, society and culture of a typical Canaanite state in the period from c. 1400 B.C. to just after 1200 B.C. They establish that about 1330 B.C. Ugarit came under Hittite domination and in fact - confirmed in repeated treaties and pacts between them -- was long an ally of the land-locked Hittites, purveyors of goods to and from Carchemish and Emar, and -- in support of Jewell's hypothesis -- "capable of raising large quantities of copper and other metals necessary for craft and industry". Ugarit was also the Hittites' most effective support against the coastal pirate raids and inland plundering of the mysterious "Sea Peoples", by this time a serious threat to Syro-Canaanite stability.

It was precisely the long-time political stability in Syria that had guaranteed Ugarit's prosperity through trade, especially during the reign of Niqmaddu II and afterwards, that of his son, Arkhalba, in total nearly a century of relative peace and luxury, brought to an abrupt end around the beginning of the twelfth century B.C. by the definitive invasion of the "Sea Peoples", who literally annihilated the Syro-Canaanite coastal cities. Texts in the Ugarit archives describe the last days of what appear to have been a brilliant culture.


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Texts dealing with international affairs and trade were stored separately from those containing administrative documentation. The royal palace on Ugarit's wooded knolls, overlooking the soft eastern Mediterranean coastline, covered nine to ten thousand square meters, and included elaborate drainage and an ablutions slab. It was entered from a fortified gateway in the city ramparts, up steps that led to a two pillared-porch. Dozens of rooms included reception areas, audience halls, throne rooms, courtyards with shallow reflection pools and fountains, gardens, stairways to the royal apartments on the second level, a large burial vault under the paved floor; and, significantly, five separate archives. The administrative lists were mostly devoted to landowners, citizens who received doles or paid taxes, and were enumerated by category: "food rations", "provisions", "summary" or simply "list". The "Central Archive", for example, was abrupt. It described the regulation of the transfer of land inside the city precincts. The "Southern Archive", on the other hand, pertained to Ugarit's foreign relations.

A text dealing with trade refers exclusively to merchandise, and includes what amounts to a bill of lading discovered on a cargo ship that sank off the coast, its manifest still intact: milk, fish, dried fruit, wool, clothing, slaves, animals (both for husbandry and consumption), olive oil from the Orontes valley, cedarwood from Lebanon, grains from Carchemish in the heart of the Fertile Crescent.

The documents were written in both Ugaritic and Akkadian languages, the latter the diplomatic idiom of the time. Linguists J. Hoftijzer and W.H. van Soldt describe Ugaritic as a cognate to Hebrew, in turn a branch of a western Semitic language that was written according to a linear alphabetic script of thirty signs, still employing the cuneiform of the time but reading left to right. The format was more flexible than the previous blocks of characters, and so lent itself to the languages - Phoenician, Greek and Latin-that would follow. Normally, as with Akkadian, Ugaritic was inscribed on moist clay tablets that were later baked, and then stored, thus facilitating their preservation over the centuries, despite fire, flood, invasion, even earthquake.

The king reigned supreme, according to the texts, and after him the prefect, who was responsible for the day-by-day affairs of state. Then came the overseers, including an "overseer of the harbor" and an "overseer of the seamen". A military sector was negligible. The texts, at least, indicate a rather simple social structure, based on two distinct groups, the "people of the king" employed by the palace, and the free citizens, called "sons of Ugarit", among them the craftsmen and members of the guilds. These included specialists in gold and silver smithing, scribes, soldiers, priests, domestic contractors, cartwrights, bowmakers, and shipbuilders. The population in the towns and villages under Ugarit's jurisdiction would appear to represent the non-specialized segment of society, including farmers and herders, though seamen might have been recruited from among their numbers.

Ugarit's strength, judging from all sources, was derived specifically from trade. In addition to locally built craft, Ugarit purchased ships from Tyre and Byblos, as described by Diodorus Siculus. Furnishings and equipment were contracted separately and often planks and beams for hulls and decks, as well. Ugarit was uniquely celebrated for its "gigantic" anchors. These weighed up to half a ton each, giving an idea of the size of the ocean-going vessels. Both "weight-anchors" and "composite anchors" appeared in three principal shapes: an elongated rectangle, a rhomboid and a triangle.

Ships sailed among the city-states on the Syro-Canaanite coast and on to Egypt, Cyprus, Cilicia, and throughout the Aegean, in an exchange that especially favored the Minoans, considered to be the outstanding marine explorers of the Late Bronze Age. These routes are patent in the list of personal effects recorded in a wreck of a ship loaded at Ugarit's harbor: scarabs, a lamp, mace heads, whetstones, an astragal, a cylinder seal, weights and traces of food. A description of such a wreck was found in a text still in the kiln: "As to a ship of yours that you sent to Egypt, that (ship) is in Tyre. Serious damage happened to it in a torrential rainstorm. The crew was found and their grain taken from them. But I recovered the grain (and) the crew and all their belongings, and I have returned everything to them."


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The foundations for the Bronze Age city-state and its maritime supremacy originated in the second millennium B.C. when Ugarit was capital of a kingdom, probably Amorite, that extended across a tel or artificial hill only about twenty meters in height, that spread over approximately thirty-six hectares. The beautiful setting was completely surrounded by lemon groves and stands of Mediterranean cypress, juniper, boxwood and pine, around slopes covered with long grasses and wildflowers where flocks of sheep now graze at their leisure, down to the edge of the original opening to the sea, Ma'hadu, or Minat al-Baidaa, the "White Port". The present-day name, Ras Shamra, refers to the abundance of fennel that scents the sweet air.

The site, long since ruined, abandoned and forgotten, was accidentally discovered in 1928 when a peasant's plow hit the stones of a vaulted tomb, which eventually yielded important indications of a privileged Late Bronze Age society. Excavations were initiated in 1929 under the direction of Alsatian archaeologist Claude Frederic-Armand Schaeffer (1898-1982), one-time curator of the museum in Strasbourg, and reknowned authority on the Bronze Age cultures. His work in time, using stratographic soundings, revealed five separate archaeological levels. The uppermost corresponds to the Late Bronze Age, 1600-1200 B.C. and the time of Ugarit's demise. The second dates from the Middle Bronze Age, 2100-1600 B.C. References in the Mari archives, for example, describing the Babylonian word for "ugara" or "field", date from the Third Millennium. Level three dates from the Early Bronze Age, 3000-2100 B.C., and shows evidence of contact with the Halaf and Ubaid cultures. Level four dates from the Chalcolithic age of stone and copper, 6000-3000 B.C. Level five corresponds to the pre-pottery Neolithic, 7500-6000 B.C., from the first sedentary groups with their domestic animals and capacity for agricultural production, rudimentary shelters and grain storage. Yet while excavations continue to the present, only about a fourth of the city's area has been explored.

Underneath the various palaces of the nobles and the residences of wealthy tradesmen a number of vaulted tombs have yielded rich finds of effigies, votive offerings, jewelry, golden bowls, figurines, vases of faience and alabaster, stone stelae, locally made plain pottery, cylinder seals of local manufacture imitating the seals of the Euphrates cultures, along with bronze weapons and even furnishings. Yet little remains of the stone architecture that covered the acropolis, the orderly lanes that separated blocks of buildings, or the warehouses where production surpluses of grain, wine, salt, and olives were carefully stored in stacked amphorae, along with the most coveted wares of a lively crafts industry, including fine, purple-dyed linen or woolen garments, the color derived from the coastal murex shell.

The ruins of two principal temples still occupy the acropolis. Baal ("Lord" or "Master") was associated with the storm deity, proprietor of thunder and lightning, ubiquitous among the western Semitic pantheons, initially an expression of the Aramean Hadad and later identified with the Greek Zeus.

Baal appears in many references dating from the Third Millennium, but especially in the texts in the Ugarit archives, amounting to at least 500 mentions, which identify his origins in the nearby Jebel al-Aqra (Mount Sanpanu). This makes him, for purposes of the monarchy and the general population of Ugarit, a specific local deity. The "Baal Cycle", an epic-length text, extends to 1830 lines, the only saga to survive that describes the god as a son of Dagan.

Baal reigns in Ugarit with his sister and consort Anath. He struggles for supremacy, according to the regional mythology, against two brothers, Yam ("The Sea") and Mot ("Death"), foretelling, according to the texts, not only the decline of Ugarit but destruction that comes from the sea.

Dagan is also a western Semitic deity, revered throughout the Near East, though he presumably originated in the Middle Euphrates. The name, associated with "rain" and "grains", implies a fertility god, although in Mari, c. 2500 B.C., Dagan was also a lord of death and the underworld. If the inference is death and resurrection, it is implicit in the cycle of planting and reaping, and the "wheel of life", venerated throughout the region. In Ugarit, however, by 1300 B.C. Dagan's cult had made him father to Baal, therefore elevated his hierarchical significance, and established him as second in importance only to the Supreme God "El". In Ebla, nevertheless, c. 2300 B.C., Dagan was the outright king of the gods, so reigned supreme. He was also the principal deity of the Philistines, a fact that takes on further meaning in light of the association of the Philistines with the "Sea Peoples".

It is possible, says Amelie Kuhrt, that Ugarit suffered an earthquake and a tidal wave, followed by rampant fires. The deadly combination surely ruined its port and destroyed almost half the city, including the densely built acropolis, the lavish palace and its fortification walls. "Recovery from this disaster was swift, yet during the reign of Ammishtamru there was a conflict between Ugarit and its neighbor Amarrù in the region of Shiyannu, Ugarit's client state." After 1210 B.C., however, letters and texts, preserved in Ugarit, reveal that the city was suffering extensive pirate raids, ostensibly from groups described in Egyptian archives as "a massive horde of looting vandals, destroying all in their wake." Within a few years the magnificent palace, the harbor, its warehouses and much of the city of Ugarit lay in ruins. The former "summer palace" at adjacent Ras Ibn Hani, though destroyed, was soon reoccupied, but the days of Ugarit as the flourishing center of an important Syro-Canaanite maritime and mercantile state were over for all time.

The end of Ugarit is coincident with the onset of the Iron Age. The city, in effect, was never able to adapt to the new technology. Yet the last known reference to the site occurs in 1185 B.C. By this time Ugarit had been verifiably overpowered in the pirate attacks and coastal raids of the "Sea Peoples", of whom the Biblical Philistines were one group, and in which neighboring vassal states may have played a part, but all this was surely aggravated by earthquakes, a number of which have been recorded around those dates. Only this would explain the extent of the damage, and the stones of the proud and prosperous city, tossed across the green knoll in such fierce abandon. Ugarit was nonetheless, according to most sources, one of the most distinguished sites in the Levant, indispensable for its contribution to the history of the Semitic languages and its revelation of life in a Late Bronze Age culture.

What has any of this to do with five thousand copper mines around Lake Superior, 4500 years ago, emptied of at least 20 thousand kilos of pure metal and its ore? Did this and other trade contacts propitiate the native American language diversity? Or the otherwise inexplicable religious monuments with dedications directed at Baal? Could "a rich city like Ugarit", as Michael Wood proposes (see: In Search of the Trojan War, New York, BBC-Facts on File Publications, 1985), and verified in texts unearthed in the "Southern Archives", have been capable at any time, for example, to man 150 ships with 7000 fighting men, just to defend the Hittites under attack by marauding Greeks from Lycia, and had enough left over, as Roger Jewell suggests, to maintain a trans-Atlantic fleet of three to five ships apt for high density cargo, making a round trip every three years, over a 400-year period? And why did the flow of copper in the Lake Superior mines end coincidentally with the destruction of Ugarit? Will we ever know?

Carol Miller is a sculptress and journalist who has devoted her recent years to the research of ancient cultures, as well as cultural convergence and comparative mythology. She has traveled extensively in Syria to prepare the articles for Syria Gate, which are soon to appear in book form. For a look at bio and abstracts of other books see www.xlibris.com/CarolMiller.html, or Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com

Oh, what is BLOG?
To Blog or not to Blog?
Is it contaminating?
I want to Blog you, you Blog to me
Whole world is now on Blogging...
But still I think...
Be Loyal Open Good!

Plov Uzbek national dish!!!!

Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly
process, gradually changing opinions,
slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building
new structures.
wish a peaceful anew Year to All

I designed this poster 2 be the gate for the truth
hope to feel that like me.

السياحة في سوريا.. عبق التاريخ وسحر الطبيعة




تتوافر في الربوع السورية جميع عناصر الجذب السياحي، تناغم رائع بين الماضي والحاضر والسهل والجبل والبر والبحر والتاريخ والجغرافيا.

فها هي دمشق إحدى البوابات الرئيسية في التاريخ البشري تستقبلك بترحاب وهي متربعة بإعزاز وإكبار في أحضان جبل قاسيون، وفيها وحولها عدة خيارات للتنزه ما بين غوطة دمشق ومتنزهات بلودان والزبداني وبقين وعين الفيجة.

وإذا تاقت نفسك للتجوال في الأسواق التقليدية أو الحديثة فيمكنك تحقيق ذلك في أسواق الحميدية والبزورية والصالحية والحمراء وغيرها وشراء ما تشاء من المشغولات اليدوية المطعمة بالصدف والسيوف الدمشقية والنحاسيات والحلويات والأجبان والمكسرات إضافة إلى الملابس التقليدية والحديثة، وكلها بأسعار مناسبة لجميع المستويات.

وبإمكانك زيارة قائدين تاريخيين متجاورين في المكان، أولهما الوليد بن عبد الملك باني المسجد الأموي، وثانيهما صلاح الدين الأيوبي بطل حطين.

ومن عاصمة الأمويين يمكنك الانطلاق -وبجميع سبل المواصلات- إلى مدن ومنتجعات سورية عديدة، ولكل واحدة منها مذاقها الخاص وطعمها المميز.

يمكنك زيارة زنوبيا ملكة تدمر التي ما برحت فاتنة للبادية السورية، وباستطاعتك زيارة ضريح البطل خالد بن الوليد في حمص، والسلام كذلك على السيد المسيح عليه السلام خلال زيارتك لكنيستين في معلولا، هما كنيسة القديس سركيس وكنيسة القديسة تقلا، وستجد في معلولا من يتكلم لغة السيد المسيح السريانية الآرامية.

أما حلب الشهباء فتوفر لك فرصا كثيرة من بينها زيارة قلعة الفارس الشاعر الأمير سيف الدولة الحمداني الشهيرة وهي الأضخم في العالم، وزيارة بقية المعالم السياحية الفاتنة فيها، والتجوال في أسواقها التاريخية التي يزيد طولها على سبعة كيلومترات.

وفي نهاية تطوافك ستسعد بتناول أشهى المأكولات التي يعمر بها المطبخ الحلبي الشهير. ولعل من العسير على المرء أن يؤكد نجاح زيارته للربوع السورية إذا لم يتوجها بزيارة الساحل السوري الناطق بأبلغ اللغات الجمالية.

http://www.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/2D43232C-B41E-44A9-BB55-54DEF0DB3C6D.htm

تاريخ دمشق
يعود نشوء دمشق إلى تسعة آلاف سنة قبل المسيح، وقد اختلفت الروايات التاريخية في تحديد معنى تسميتها، والأرجح إنها كلمة ذات أصول كلدانية قديمة تعني الأرض الزاهرة أو العامرة. هي واحة على أطراف البادية، اشتهرت بغوطتها المرويّة بمياه نهر بردى، واكتسبت أهميتها من موقعها الجغرافي على طريق القوافل التجارية.

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التاريخ القديم و صدر الاسلام
كانت موطنا للأراميين في أواخر الألف الثاني قبل الميلاد، تعاقب على حكمها الأشوريون والكلدانيون والفرس، ثم جاء الغزو المقدوني ليشكل نقطة تحول كبير في تاريخ المنطقة عامة وتاريخها خاصة. وفد ارتبط تاريخ دمشق بالعالم اليوناني لفترة تقدر بحوالى عشرة قرون، عرفت المدينة خلالها ازدهار الحضارة الهلنستية، حيث تمازجت عناصر الثقافة اليونانية مع حضارة الشرق وثقافته. دخلت الجيوش العربية الإسلامية دمشق في القرن السابع، وتحولت المدينة في العصر الأموي من مركز ولاية إلى عاصمة امبراطورية تمتد إلى حدود الصين شرقا والى مياه الأطلسي غربا. ارتفعت قصور الخلفاء في العاصمة الأموية وامتدت فيها مساحة العمران، وكان من أهم مبانيها في ذاك العهد جامع بني أمية الكبير الذي تم بناؤه في عهد الخليفة الوليد بن عبد الملك، وهو الصرح الذي يبقى واحدا من أجمل المباني العربية الإسلامية في العالم. على مثال المسجد النبوي الشريف في المدينة، يتألف الجامع الأموي من قاعة كبيرة للصلاة وصحن خارجي فسيح. وتتكون قاعة الصلاة الداخلية من ثلاثة أروقة متوازية تفصل بينها أقواس متناسقة مرفوعة على أعمدة أثرية من الرخام تعود إلى العصور التي سبقت العصر الأموي. ولهذا المسجد ثلاث مآذن تعود إلى ثلاث حقب مختلفة، الأولى تتوسط الجدار الشمالي وتعرف بمئذنة العروس، الثانية في الناحية الشرقية وتعرف بمئذنة عيسى، أما الثالثة فهي في الناحية الغربية وتعرف بمئذنة قايتباي، السلطان المملوكي .

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القرون الوسطى
في النصف الثاني من القرن الثامن، اتخذ العباسيون من مدينة الكوفة في العراق عاصمة لهم، ودخلت جيوشهم دمشق لتقضي فيها على خصومهم من رجال بني أمية. يبدأ الفصل الثاني من الكتاب، وقد اختار له المؤلف عنوان "القرون السوداء: السلاجقة، الفاطميون، الصليبيون، المغول". في زمن تضعضع السلطة العباسية، ارتبطت دمشق بالدولة الطولونية قبل أن تخضع للخلافة الفاطمية، وقد تعرضت في تلك الحقبة لغزوات القرامطة الذين احتلوها مرات، مما أحدث فيها الكثير من الخراب والدمار، ففقدت الكثير من بريقها، وقلّ عدد سكانها، وانتشر فيها الفقر والعوز. بعد الفاطميين، بسط السلاجقة سلطتهم على دمشق التي حكمها بعض الأتابكة في شكل شبه مستقل. قاوم معين الدين أنر الفرنجة وصد الحصار الذي فرضته قواتهم في داريا، وجاء من بعده نور الدين محمود زنكي، فوحّد المشرق ومد نفوذه إلى مصر بفضل ابن أخيه صلاح الدين الأيوبي. وبموت الخليفة الفاطمي العاضد سنة 1171، انتهى الحكم الفاطمي وغدت مصر والشام دولة واحدة، فاستعادت دمشق بريقها واحتلت مركز الصدارة في الميدان السياسي والعسكري في المشرق العربي. إلا أنها لم تنعم طويلا بهذا المجد المستعاد. فبعد وفاة صلاح الدين فيها عام 1193، تصدعت الدولة الأيوبية، وأصيبت دمشق بالبلاء العظيم قبل أن تسقط في أيدي المغول. أهم معالم تلك الفترة البيمارستان النوري، وهو اليوم متحف العلوم والطب العربي حيث تعرض أجمل نماذج الخطوط التي استعملت للمرة الأولى أثناء حكم نور الدين. نزور حمام نور الدين في البزورية، وهو أقدم حمامات دمشق، ولا يزال يعمل إلى اليوم. أيضا تبرز مدرسة نور الدين حيث يرقد الحاكم الكبير في تربته وسط صالة مربعة تقتصر زينتها على الآية القرآنية: "وَسيق الذين اتقوا ربهم إلى الجنة زُمرا حتى إذا جاءوها وفُتحت أبوابها وقال لهم خزنتها سلم عليكم طبتم فادخلوها خالدين" (الزمر 73). قلعة دمشق ذات الأبواب الأربعة، التي اتخذها الكثير من الحكام مسكنا لهم: نور الدين الزنكي وصلاح الدين الأيوبي والملك الظاهر بيبرس.

[تحرير]
العصر المملوكي و العثماني
كانت ولاية دمشق من اكبر ولايات السلطنة المملوكية وأهمها حيث عُرفت باسم "نيابة الشام"، وقد امتدت حدودها إلى الفرات والرستن شرقا وشمالا، والى البحر المتوسط غربا، والى غزة والكرك جنوباً. في عهد السلطان الظاهر بيبرس والسلطان قلاوون، شهدت المدينة حركة عمرانية كبيرة، وشيِّد فيها عدد كبير من المساجد والمد ارس. وقد انتهت تلك الحقبة مع دخول قوات تيمورلنك وما حملته من دمار. إلا أن هذه الكارثة لم تمنع دمشق من النهوض من كبوتها في أقل من ربع قرن، فعادت حركة العمران إليها وازدهر فيها النشاط الصناعي من جديد، في زمن احتدم الصراع بين الفئات المتصارعة حول الحكم في العهد المملوكي الأخير.

إثر الهزيمة التي مني بها المماليك في معركة مرج دابق عام 1516، تحولت سوريا إلى جزء من أمبراطورية العثمانيين الشاسعة وغدت "ضاحية" من أكبر ضواحيها وأهمها. أولى الحكّام العثمانيون دمشق أهمية كبرى، فقد حافظت المدينة على مركزها التجاري في الشرق، كما أنها كانت محطة تتوقف فيها قوافل الألوف من الحجّاج الذين كانوا ينطلقون منها إلى الديار المقدّسة. وقد حرص الولاة على ضمان الأمن في المدينة، وشيّدوا فيها صروحا جديدة، كما أنهم اهتموا بترميم الجوامع والحمّامات والأسواق القديمة. من أشهر المعالم التي تعود إلى تلك الحقبة التاريخية الطويلة، التكية والجامع اللذان يحملان اسم السلطان سليم الأول، والتكية المعروفة بالسليمانية، وهي من تصميم المعماري سنان الذي ارتبط اسمه بتشييد أروع صروح اسطنبول. وينتهي العهد الحضاري العثماني مع تعاظم "أهوال التغريب". تتراجع دمشق وتفقد ريادتها، فيما تزدهر حلب التي تستقطب السفراء الغربيين لتغدو المدينة الثالثة في الامبراطورية العثمانية بعد اسطنبول والقاهرة. وقد شهدت حركة البناء في المدينة آخر تجلياتها الشرقية في القرن الثامن عشر عبر ما يُعرف بالبيوت الدمشقية، وأشهرها بيت خالد العظم، وبيت أحمد السباعي، وبيت النابلسي، وبيت القوتلي، وبيت دحدح، وبيت المعلم. وقد سحرت هذه البيوت الراقية الرحالة الذين تدفّقوا على المشرق، ومنهم الأسباني باديا الذي زار شبّهها بالقصور. كتاب جيرار دوجرج الفخم رحلة في عوالم دمشق عبر العصور تزينها مجموعة كبيرة من مئتي وثمانين صورة التقط المؤلف بعدسته القسم الأكبر منها. يصوغ الكاتب بحثه العلمي بلغة أدبية جميلة، مستشهدا بكبار المؤرخين العرب ومشاهير الرحالة الغربيين الذين زاروا المدينة قبله ووقعوا مثله في هيامها. كتابه قصيدة حب في دمشق، الواحة التي وصفها المستشرق الفرنسي بيار لوتي بـ"لؤلؤة الشرق وملكته"، والجنة التي نعتها نزار قباني بـ"شامة الدنيا ووردتها".

هنالك المزيد من الملفات في ويكميديا كومونز حول :
دمشقتضم دمشق العديد من الأحياء. أهم احياء دمشق هي: دمشق القديمة و تضم العديد من الأحياء القديمة التي تتموضع داخل اسوار المدينة القديمة.







أحباء دمشق الأخرى هي: الميدان, الشاغور, الصالحية, الجسر الأبيض, المزرعة, المهاجرين, المالكي, ركن الدين, المزة

17.05.2006 kuni Marg'ilon shahrining 9- maktabida o'quvchilarda orasida yana bir o'zgarish ya'ni yangilik kiritildi.
UNISEF bilan hamkorlikda Maktabimizning 8 -7 sinf o'quvchilari bilan birgalikda olib borilgan seminarda maktabda o'zini o'zi boshqarish markazi tuzildi.
Seminarda 30 nafar ishtitirokchi qatnahib, ular uch guruhga ajratib olindi. Har uchala guruh ham guruhiy ish ishlab chiqib o'z sardorini saylab, uni nomzodini maktab prezidentligiga tavsiya etdilar. Nomzodlar o'zlarining ixtiyoriy tanlagan mavzulari bo'yicha taqdimot marosimini tayyorlab, uni jamoalarga taqdim etdilar. Uchala nomzodning taqdimot marosimidan so'ng navbat ovoz berishga keldi. Nomzodlarning prezintatsiyalarini tinglab, ishtirokchilar o'zlari uchun maqul bo'lgan nomzodni belgiladilar.
Nomzodlar ichida maktabning eng faol o'quvchilaridan biri 8 sinf o'quvchisi Madrahimov Umidning yig'gan ovozlari ustunlik qildi va u ko'pchilik ovozi bilan maktab prezidenti qilib saylandi. Endilikda maktabimiz o'quvchilari o'zini o'zi boshqarish markazini UNISEF hamkorligida tashkil etib uning ish rejalarini tuzib oldilar.

Barchamizga ma'lumki, bugungi kunda Giyohvandlik butun dunyoda global muammo bo'lib turibdi. Huddi shuningdek bizning mamlakatimizda ham. Giyohvandlik singari daxshantli illatning yurtimizga kirib kelishga ulgurgani yoshlarimizning jar yoqasiga borib qolish havfini tug'dirmoqda.
Ayniqsa keyingi yillarda bu kabi voqealarning ko'rsatkichi ko'payib borayotgani barchani havitirga soladi. Mana shunday ko'rsatkichlarni pasaytirish maqsadida, yoshlarda giyohvandlikka qarshi nafrat hisini uyg'otish maqsadida maktabimizda "Norkamaniya-asr vabosi" mavzusida yig'ilish bo'libdi. Yig'ilishda 30 nafar o'qituvchi, 400 nafar 6 -11 sinf o'quvchilari qatnashdilar. Unda o'quvchilarga Farg'ona viloyatining Dang'ara timanida tayyorlangan hujjatli film namoyish etildi. Har bir o'quvchini tasirlantiruvchi bu filmda yoshlarni giyohvandlikka ruju qo'yib, endilikda uning zulmiga duchor bo'layotgan yoshlar haqida so'z yuriltildi.
Video lavhadan so'ng har bir o'quvchi ko'rsatilgan lavhalarni bevosita muhokama qilib bunday illatlarni o'z saflarika olib kirmaslik uchun hamisha harakat qilishlarini tayinladilar va shu kabi lavhalarni ko'rsatib borilsa illatga qarshi kurashish kuchi yanada ko'payishini aytib o'tdilar.

lattakia is Syria’s main sea-port on the Mediterranean. It lies 186 km southwest of Aleppo, 348 km north of Damascus. It has retained its importance since ancient times. Latakia was one of the live cities built by Salugos Nikator in the 2nd century B.C. He named it after his mother, Laudetia.

Not many ancient remains have survived in Latakia, but four columns and a Roman arch from the time of septum severus (circa 200 A.D.), in addition to a beautiful Ottoman construction called, Khan Al-Dukhan’, which is now a museum.

Latakia is the sea – gate to Syria. It is well provided with accommodation, and is well placed as a base from which to explore the coastal regions of the country.

Summer resorts and historical spots in the Muhafazet of Latakia: there are beaches, mountains, archaeological sites and many relics of the crusaders, all within a few hours from each other.

Latakia Museum:

Occupies a historical building which was an Inn (Khan) invariably used for sorting goods and as a meeting place for merchants. Later on, in the 18th century, it became a head office of Latakia Tobacco Company. What remains of this ancient monument is the ground floor which is composed of several colonnades and spacious halls which had been used for storing goods. Most of the walls of storehouses have been removed. The first raw of stones still remains. Most of the building composed of big square columns supporting ceiling. These columns are built from sand stones which are still used in Latakia until now.





The Syrian Coast

The Syrian cost consists of long stretches of beaches and green mountains. These mountains are mostly covered with pine and oak trees, and their slopes touch the shore.



This landscape repeats itself from Ras Al-Basit in the north to Tartus in the south. On the mountains, villages and towns are scattered, with springs of clear mineral water.

The Beaches

The Syrian seashore is about 175kms long and its numerous beaches are distinguished by soft sand, unpolluted sea, moderate climate and clear blue sky.

Thoughts cause feelings, and the wrong kinds of thoughts can cause stressful feelings.


We can look at the same event different ways. One is in the optimistic way and the other is pessimistically. It is the age old debate of whether to look at the glass as half full or as half empty.


It helps if you can learn to look at the good things in life rather than the ugly. For example, if you got into a car accident and totaled your car, you can sit there and feel sorry for yourself, or angry for losing the car. These are all self-defeating. On the other hand, you can thank god that you were not killed or, worse yet, maimed in the car accidents. When you look at life's events like that you will have something to smile at every event and that is the power of positive living.


Robert Schuller, the author of "Tough times never last. Tough people do!" gives the following guidelines in looking at problems in the proper perspective:



Every Living Human Being Has Problems.

Perhaps you are unhappy with your work. Isn't it good that you have a job rather than being unemployed? Many people have the mistaken notion that successful people do not have any problems. It is not true. Success tends to breed its own set of problems.



Everyone has problems. A problem-free life is an illusion - a mirage in the desert. Accept the fact that everyone has problems. This will help you to move on with your life rather than sitting and feeling pity for yourself.



Every Problem Has A Limited Life Span

Every mountain has a peak and every valley has a low point. Similarly, life has its ups and downs. No one is up all the time or down all the time. Problems do get resolved in the long term. They don't last forever. History teaches that every problem has a limited life span. Your problems will not live forever; but you will! Storms are followed by sunshine. Winter is followed by spring. Your problems will get resolved given enough time.





Every Problem Holds Positive Possibilities

There are two sides to every coin. What may be a problem for one could be interesting opportunity to someone else. Hospitals are there because people get sick; garages are there because cars do break down; lawyers are there because people get in trouble with the law occasionally. Every cloud has a silver lining.





Every Problem Will Change You

When me meet problems head on in life, they leave their indelible mark on us. The experience could make you better or worse. It is up to you. What is certain is that problems never leave us the same way they found us. We will change.


For example, let us say that you lost your job. You can sit and feel sorry for yourself. Or you can be aggressive and decide to do something about it. You are better than them. You want to show them what a mistake they did in firing you. You have to be fired before you can be fired up. That may be wake-up call you needed before embarking on a successful mission. Again, for every problem, there is a positive and negative side. Look for the positive side and work on it.



You Can Choose What Your Problem Will Do To You

You may not be able to control the problems, but you certainly can control your reaction or response to the problem. You can turn your pain into profanity or into poetry. The choice is up to you. You can control the reaction even if you cannot control the problem. You control the effect of the problem by controlling the reaction. It can make you tough or tender. It can make you better or bitter. It all depends on you.





There Is A Negative And A Positive Reaction To Every Problem

Tough people, according to Schuller, have learned to choose the most positive reaction in managing problems. The key is that they manage their problems. Remember, we have little control on problems, we have control on how we react and manage the problem. Positive people chose to react positively to their predicaments.


Do you automatically interpret silence on the part of your spouse to mean anger when it could just as easily mean fatigue? Do you blame yourself when a sudden downpour drenches your wash on the line? Do you dwell on the few times your boss criticized your performance and ignore the innumerable times s/he's praised you?


We all fall into the negative thinking rut from time to time. We badger ourselves with "should haves" and lose sight of the fact that "good" and "bad" in life is rarely black and white.


All-or-nothing thinking can lead to anxiety, depression, feelings of inferiority, perfectionism and anger. We are our worst enemies. We tend to put a higher standard for us compared to others. We tend to criticize ourselves for our miscues rather than being happy for the accomplishments. Allow yourself to fail now and then. It's all part of being human.

On the very first day, God created the cow. He said to the cow, "Today I have created you! As a cow, you must go to the field with the farmer all day long. You will work all day under the sun! I will give you a life span of 50 years."

The cow objected, "What? This kind of a tough life you want me to live for 50 years? Let me have 20 years, and the 30 years I'll give back to you." So God agreed.

On the second day, God created the dog. God said to the dog, "You are supposed to do is to sit all day by the door of your house. Any people that come in, you will have to bark at them! I'll give a life span of 20 years."

The dog objected, "What? All day long to sit by the door? No way! I give you back my other 10 years of life!" So God agreed.

On the third day, God created the monkey. He said to the monkey, "Monkeys have to entertain people. You've got to make them laugh and do monkey tricks. I'll give you 20 years life span."

The monkey objected. "What? Make them laugh? Do monkey faces and tricks? Ten years will do, and the other 10 years I'll give you back." So God agreed.

On the fourth day, God created man and said to him, "Your job is to sleep, eat, and play. You will enjoy very much in your life. All you need to do is to enjoy and do nothing. This kind of life, I'll give you a 20 year life span."

The man objected. "What? Such a good life! Eat, play, sleep, do nothing? Enjoy the best and you expect me to live only for 20 years? No way, man!....Why don't we make a deal? Since the cow gave you back 30 years, and the dog gave you back 10 years and the monkey gave you back 10 years, I will take them from you! That makes my life span 70 years, right?" So God agreed.

AND THAT'S WHY.... In our first 20 years, we eat, sleep, play, enjoy the best and do nothing much. For the next 30 years, we work all day long, suffer and get to support the family. For the next 10 years, we entertain our grandchildren by making monkey faces and monkey tricks. And for the last 10 years, we stay at home, sit by the front door and bark at people! :)))))