Alcoholics Anonymous, Step 4: Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

Using the tree metaphor, this is like looking at the tree and pruning and cutting off the dead branches. This is where we start the healing process.

When an alcoholic or addict thinks about something they “can’t believe they have done”, they drink or use to cope with the depression and guilt associated with remorse. We need to get past the remorse of what we have done in the past.

“Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves”.

This doesn’t say “make a list of all the bad things you have done” it says make a moral inventory. Unfortunately, as we make a list of what we have done, we alcoholics and addicts tend to have a lot more bad then good.

The term “searching” is important because it doesn’t allow you to simply ponder for a few minutes or hours and come up with your list. You have to actually search your recollection, you need to dig deep, deep down into those things that you have buried in the far reaches of your mind.

I believe the term “fearless” to be important on several different levels. Ultimately, you need to have faith that this is part of a healing process and not a hurting process. “You can live in fear or you can live in faith, but you can’t live in both”.

It is hard, when you are making an honest effort to better your life and become a better person, to look back at the horrible things that you have done. But this is necessary if we alcoholics want to continue the healing process. It is important to recognize the nature of our wrongs and accept that they were bad choices we made when we were drinking or using. We need to be able to accept that all we have done, good or bad, has led us to where we are now.

As a recovering alcoholic, we do not want to regret the terrible things we have done in the past, we just don’t want to repeat them. We need to learn from them.

Please visit: alcohol rehab and drug treatment centers for information on Rehab Centers.

Please visit: alcoholism and drug addiction for more information and more articles on alcohol and drug addiction.

Bill Alexander, Jr. is a recovering alcoholic who was fortunate enough to turn his life around. He has worked as an instructor, manager, and Director of Operations of a prominent Alcohol and Drug Rehab for three years. Bill is currently working on an alcohol rehab directory to assist those who are looking for information on how to find an alcohol or drug rehab or information on alcohol and drug addiction.

Wildly popular in all the blogs and a hot topic in those social networking forums I love to hangout in, everyone seems to be thinking about getting a Brazilian Keratin Hair Treatment (BKT). Wait! I type. Before you call your stylist to book your salon appointment, make sure you have all the info you need to make your choice. Silky hair is good, but with a Brazilian Keratin Treatment you might be getting more than you planned.

What you and your stylist may not know is that the active ingredient in these BKT “wonder” treatments is formaldehyde, which is a dangerous chemical, especially if you breathe it in. Hence the protective equipment - face masks, gloves, ventilation fans - as a safety precaution when giving or getting a treatment. Is straight hair worth wearing a gas mask? Now THAT’S something to consider.

According to Allure Magazine (we love them!) “some of the most popular BKT treatments contain at least ten times more formaldehyde than the .2 percent considered safe by the Cosmetic Ingredient Review Expert Panel. The FDA doesn’t currently regulate cosmetics, but they are investigating the safety of escova progressiva treatments.” Now, I’m no expert, and I have considered a BKT when I originally heard about them, but ten times more formaldehyde really sounds like a bad idea. Very bad. There’s no way that’s good for you.

The best, or I should say worst part about the Allure Magazine expose? I’ll loosely paraphrase here, but the gist is: “Keratin has nothing to do with straightening. Nada. There is nothing in Keratin that will change the structure of the hair, it’s the formaldehyde that makes the treatment work. Keratin is window dressing and provides a good marketing story.” Sounds like a sham to me. And really, who wants that kind of toxic treatment?

I’ll opt for my own straightening treatment - a super smoothing shampoo and conditioner combo, followed by a silky straightening lotion, a great flat iron and a strong thermal protectant. And maybe a trip to Brazil!

Shelley Nicoletti, Beauty Editor for StyleBell
http://www.stylebell.com

There are some fun ideas you can play around with in Photoshop and text. Here is a great way to make imac text in just a few easy steps: 1. Type some text. I used: TG using the font “Lucida console” the font color doesn’t matter so just pick one. 2. Now go to Blending Options (Right-click on text layer). Select (and modify) the following: Dropshadow, color to #4B6B95 Innershadow, color to #304B98 Outerglow, color to #44CAFE Innerglow, color to #314E9A Bevel and emboss Contour, now just double click on the little box and you’ll see something like this: 3. Create 2 more points to have a total of 4 points and give them the following input-output values: Point 1: input: 0% output: 0% Point 2: input: 27% output: 4% Point 3: input: 59% output: 56% Point 4: input: 100% output: 99% You’ll see something like this: 4. Select satin, change the color to #60ACFF and change the contour to “ring”. And finally select color overlay and change the color to #B7E1F7. Its this easy to create your own awesome text formats.

Want to learn how to create angled lines? Having fun with photoshop there are tons of different types of angles and grids. Pulling together resources and tutorials that are correct and easy to follow can be quite awesome looking. Check out this easy way to create angled lines over your picture: 1. Open Photoshop. Open an image to apply angled lines effect. 2. Create New file with 3 pixel width, 3 pixel height and transparent background. 3. Select some foreground color. Draw angled line using Pencil Tool. 4. Select All using CTRL + A 5. Create a pattern by Edit > Define Pattern. Name the pattern. 6. Close the Pattern file and go back to image file. Create new layer. Keep it selected. 7. Edit > Fill (Choose “Pattern” from “Use” drop down menu and again in “Custom Pattern” you will find newly created pattern) 8. Select newly created pattern and fill the layer. Change the layer mode to “Multiply”

Having fun with graphics is one of the best things to do if you enjoy playing with numbers and fading things in and out of focus. It is easy enough to do, creating a lightning bolt should be like this: start by creating a new image and then right away create a new layer. Also set the background color as black, (the image size I used here is 350X500). Now make a selection one pixel wide and make it cover the whole length. Fill this selection in with white. Next you have to go to Filter > Distort > Wave. The settings are as follows, [Generators - 5], [Wavelenth - 225/299], [Amplitude - 5/35], and [Scale - 100/100]. Now you have a wavey line, Apply an outer glow and transform and duplicate it a bit (Or experiment, I am just giving you an idea of how this is done.) I made the light balls with the gradient tool set to “radial.” You can now start to add detail, smaller particles and some dodges. This effect is easy, but it really depends on how much time you want to spend doing it. It really starts to look good on 3D explosions in abstracts. I went ahead doing a little more detail using the same techniques and styles.

Interfaces are around us everyday, they look different for some really fun sites. Some find that is really entertaining is creating a skin for a media player, you can make them look really cool with different fun colors. They can be metallic, hunter like anything you want really. First you want to start with the base: 1. The Base With a new file in blank, make a new layer and in this, create an oval and fill it with black. Center it, and add the soft metal style. 2. Internal shape Make a selection of the oval, reduce it 15 pts. Now take out some parts, making the image more interesting. Copy the entire layer, and paste this into a new alpha layer. 3. Blur In the alpha layer, apply a Gaussian blur of 15 px 4. Levels Then hit Ctrl+L, and in the levels box, use the settings I show here in the image. Copy the alpha channel, and paste the image into a new layer ( standard layer). 5. Round corners The trick with the alpha results in an image with some rounded corners, very nice and with this style, better! Well, we need to select the shape again (Ctrl + mouse click) contract the selection a bit and create a new shape in a new layer. 6. New shape In the new layer, we need to fill the selection and apply the same style of the “base” but only changing the direction of the gradient fill to inverse. This change increases the effect of bevel here. 7. Screen Now, in a new layer we draw a shape for our screen and make it more rounded using the “alpha trick”. Again, I fill this one with a gradient, inverse to make more effect. 8. Color screen One more layer to create the screen: A gradient (I like this green tones) and an inner shadow. I’ve added here some little lines to give the “scan effect”. 9. Screen details And the rest of the screen details: The text, some lines for the volume and equalizer… Whatever you want. We are almost done… 10. Details Well… Now, the rest are add some details like buttons, screws and stuff like that… And of course, a logo if you want. Remember the use of the “alpha trick” and the styles that give the cool final effects.

Changing your photos can be just as time consuming as creating them, why don’t you have some fun doing it? For this step by step know how you will learn to shade your skies different colors. This is because in pictures the sky can look a little faded and fade the rest of the image. Sharpening your sky is pretty easy, start by opening the image that you want to edit. File > Open > Image name. Then go to Image > Adjust > Selective Color and apply the following settings: - Colors = Blues - Cyan = 0% - Magneta = 0% - Yellow = 0% - Black = 100% - Method = Relative (Change color settings to your liking if you want) Press OK. Now you should create a luminosity selection by hitting the Ctl + Alt + ~ . Then create a duplicate copy of the image (Ctl+J) or Layer > New > Layer Via Copy. Now select the new layer and set the new layer’s Blending mode to color burn. In the new layer erase the parts that you don’t want darkened. It is this easy and now your entire picture was touched up, instead of looking faded out you can sharpen you photo.

Airbrushing can be really fun sometimes, you can create spectacular photos using shading, airbrushing and mixing these techniques. Here is an airbrush technique right here: Set the brush as above and brush across the canvas until you have a similar look to the one below. Apply the filter > Distort > Ripple Effect with the standard settings repeat a further four times. Apply the Filter > Blur > Radial Blur Zoom 50% click Edit > Fade Radial Blur > 75%. Set the eraser as above and brush lightly across the canvas until you have a similar look to the one below. Apply a Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Set the radius so you get the required detail of airbrushing Apply Edit > Transform > Distort to create the required shape depending on the blur applied it should come out something like below.

Now for some really fun stuff, ever wondered how to create those really awesome images that people use on their sites all time, well here is a step by step way to do it. Layer 1 Create a normal gradient fill. Layer 2 Duplicate the gradient layer and apply filter > Render > Difference Clouds 5 times. Set the layer to soft light. Layer 3 Duplicate the gradient [layer 1] and set to multiply. Layer 4 Now on to the render, Apply Filter > Distort > Radial Blur Zoom 100%. Apply Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast: Brightness -100, Contrast -100. Layer 5 Another render copy. Apply Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur: Radius 10. Apply Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast: Brightness -100, Contrast -100. Move the layer slightly to offset the shadow. Layer 5 Another Render copy. This time simply as standard, Normal. Layer 6 Duplicate layer 5 and set to screen.Layer 7, 8, 9 Create 3 areas of exploding pixie dust. For light background areas set the layer to overlay. For dark backgrounds keep on normal. Layer 10, 11, 12 Create 3 areas of simple airbrushing.

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