tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-43114656497386315002024-03-12T23:44:01.626-07:00Live your truthMotivation. Inspiration. Love year round. -Renwei ChungUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger789125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4311465649738631500.post-70805272108474099672015-01-09T14:11:00.003-08:002015-01-09T14:11:59.766-08:00Blog has been transferred.Blog has been transferred to wordpress: <a href="http://www.renweichung.wordpress.com/"><span style="font-size: x-large;">www.renweichung.wordpress.com</span></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4311465649738631500.post-47168003849571578392014-11-26T07:34:00.001-08:002014-11-26T07:34:14.630-08:00The Moment I Knew I Was Turning Into My Parents<h1 class="title">
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From the time you were a little peanut up until, well, your
last phone call, your parents have dispensed pearls of wisdom and
ushered you into adulthood in their unique way. As a kid, their corny
sayings and strange mannerisms drove you up the wall, and you swore that
you’d never, <em>ever</em> be the same way.</div>
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Until you become an adult and realize that you’re quickly turning into your parents, and … <em>you actually kind of like it</em>.<br />
In
honor of this moment of realization, we’ve partnered with Toyota to
bring you some classic tales of “oh my god, I’m turning into my
mother/father."<br />
<br />
Here are the life lessons we learned along the way.<br />
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<em><br /></em>
<br /><br />
<big><strong>LESSON #1: Put this one in the memory box (and this one…and this one…)</strong></big><br />
<img alt="cute" src="http://i.huffpost.com/gen/2299946/thumbs/o-CUTE-570.jpg?3" /><br />
<a href="http://www.nhmediaspot.com/about/" target="_hplink">Natasha Huang</a>
is a page right out of her mother’s book. While she’s all about fashion
and flashy trends, she’s said that she’s begun to take style cues from
her more conservative mom -- and her mom has even started to borrow her
clothes.<br />
<strong>Natasha Huang</strong><br />
<blockquote>
Another
moment was when I started realizing I was hoarding ‘memories.’ I used to
make so much fun of my mom for keeping absolutely everything as a
memory and I find myself having a walk-in closet and a loft packed with
memories and items of things I can’t let go of that remind me of great
times.</blockquote>
<br /><br />
<big><strong>LESSON #2: Never, ever, <em>ever</em> give up.</strong></big><br />
<img alt="nancy" src="http://i.huffpost.com/gen/2299866/thumbs/o-NANCY-570.jpg?1" /><br />
<br />
In common parenting parlance, the official name for a persistent child
is a “nudge.” But Nancy Guberti, a former executive at Goldman Sachs
turned entrepreneur, has passed on that trait after coming face to face
with her son’s serious illness. Now, her preternaturally mature
children, ages 16 and 18, have started a Teenager Entrepreneur boot camp
at Fordham University to help others find their passions.<br />
<strong>Nancy Guberti</strong><br />
<blockquote>
I
would basically use this phrase: there's more than one way to skin a
cat. if one door is not opening, and someone isn't working with you,
find someone who will help, or go through a back door.</blockquote>
<strong>Michael Guberti, host of Teenager Entrepreneur Bootcamp</strong><br />
<blockquote>
I
learned the importance of persistence as well as well as patience! To
know when to ramp it up and to be extremely determined and know when to
sit back a little bit and let the fruits of your labor take hold. To do
your best always; to fly high but <em>stay grounded</em>.</blockquote>
<br /><br />
<big><strong>LESSON #3: It's just homework.</strong></big><br />
<img alt="nancy" src="http://i.huffpost.com/gen/2299950/thumbs/o-NANCY-570.jpg?5" /><br />
<a href="http://www.theonswitch.com/" target="_hplink">Nancy Shenker</a> is the founder and CEO of New York-based marketing company theONswitch. <br />
<br />
<strong>Nancy Shenker</strong><br />
<blockquote>
I spent one eternal
hellish year -- ninth grade -- in private high school. A straight-A
student, I was always plagued by science. It didn't come naturally to me
and I would stare for hours at the periodic table or at chemistry
formulas as if they were written in Urdu. After a torturous two hours of
plowing through a particularly difficult homework assignment, I came
downstairs in total panic, sobbing hysterically.<br />
''I don't get it!'' I pronounced.<br />
''So, what will happen if you fail science?'' my sage father asked.<br />
''I won't get into a good college,'' I bemoaned.<br />
''So?'' he responded.<br />
''I won't get a good job,'' I pronounced.<br />
''So?'' he continued.<br />
''I won't make a lot of money,'' I went on.<br />
''So?'' he asked.<br />
And
I stopped crying for a moment, thought about it and shrugged, wondering
if that one page of science was, indeed, a predictor of my entire
life's happiness and success. I went back upstairs and finished the task
at hand.<br />
Epilogue: I did fairly well in the class. And I never forget to think ''So?'' when tackling life's homework assignments.</blockquote>
<em>Excerpted from a letter to <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/09/nyregion/l-homework-defined-best-and-worst-if-you-take-a-long-view-067660.html" target="_hplink">The New York Times</a></em><br />
<br /><br />
<big><strong>LESSON #4: Know when to demand perfection, and when to let it go.</strong></big><br />
Crystal Trinh is an NYC native. It turns out that she and her mother share a perfectionist streak, especially in the kitchen. <br />
<img alt="crystal" src="http://i.huffpost.com/gen/2299924/thumbs/o-CRYSTAL-570.jpg?1" /><br />
<strong>Crystal Trinh</strong><br />
<blockquote>
Food is very central in my family. My mom’s always feeding me and giving me way too much food to take home. She has <em>no concept</em> of portions for one person. <br />
As
an Asian family, we always cook all day to prep for family gatherings,
and I have memories of sitting around, rolling egg rolls together, and
my mom would critique my rolls to make sure they’re the right length or
not stuffed too much.<br />
I recently was doing this with my (much
younger) little sister, and she was getting distracted -- making
triangles, playing with the eggroll skins and so on. I caught myself
critiquing her egg rolls (which were far from perfect) and saying to
her, How are you so bad at this?! Haven’t you been raised doing this for
years?! Kids these days! <br />
Anyway, cooking food together and being
a total perfectionist is a tradition in my family. Of course, I was
being a crazy person and projecting this onto my little sister. They’re
just egg rolls!</blockquote>
<br /><br />
<big><strong>LESSON #5: Never settle for less.</strong></big><br />
<img alt="tierranicole" src="http://i.huffpost.com/gen/2299986/thumbs/o-TIERRANICOLE-570.jpg?4" /><br />
TierraNicole
Taylor describes herself as “definitely my mother’s child,” which means
that in addition to sharing the same name, they are nearly the same
height, have the same mannerisms and distinct way of gliding across a
room. She says her mother is “the best thing that has happened to me.”
She continues: "While I was away at college, I experienced a
particularly tumultuous phase with friends, acceptance, and 'finding'
myself. Three years down the line and several emails, phone calls, Skype
dates, care packages, and Facebook statuses later, I've learned that
the value in being away from the ones we love teaches us that distance
is the best teacher of love."<br />
<strong>TierraNicole Taylor</strong><br />
From
my mom, I learned that persistence is key. This wonderful woman decided
to go back to college when I reached high school. She completed her
bachelor's degree in 2008 and even went on complete a master's in
educational technology in 2011 ... all while raising me through high
school and the first two years of my own college career. Settling has
never been an option for her, and what she has achieved so far continues
to show me that persistence reaps far greater rewards than any virtue
in life.<br />
<br />
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/24/family-memories-roundup_n_5772140.html#eyJocmVmIjoiaHR0cDovL3d3dy5odWZmaW5ndG9ucG9zdC5jb20vMjAxNC8xMS8yNi9hcmlhbmEtZ3JhbmRlLWJldHRlLW1pZGxlcl9uXzYyMjQ3NDIuaHRtbD9uY2lkPXR4dGxua3VzYW9scDAwMDAwNTkyIiwiYWRVbml0Ijp7InNlcnZlciI6ImlidyIsImlkIjoiOTM0MTY2MjEiLCJtb2JpbGUiOmZhbHNlfSwibGFiZWwiOiJBcnRpY2xlIFBhZ2UtIFJpZ2h0IFJhaWwgVW5pdCBQSE9FTklYIiwic2VsZWN0b3IiOiIubW9zdC1wb3B1bGFyIiwiY3JlYXRpdmUiOiJmZTgwNjJkODA1M2I0NmQ3YjFjM2Y4MjgwMWZlNTc2NiIsImV4cGVyaWVuY2VUeXBlIjoiaW5ib3VuZCJ9 Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4311465649738631500.post-6116310220675841932014-11-16T19:09:00.001-08:002014-11-16T19:13:55.209-08:00The Pope’s 10 Tips for a Happier LifeIn a recent interview with the Argentine publication <i>Viva</i>, Pope Francis issued a list of 10 tips to be a happier person, based on his own life experiences.<br />
The Pope encouraged people to be more positive and generous, to turn
off the TV and find healthier forms of leisure, and even to stop trying
to convert people to one’s own religion.<br />
But his number one piece of advice came in the form of a somewhat
cliche Italian phrase that means, “move forward and let others do the
same.”<br />
<br />
It’s basically the Italian equivalent of, “live and let
live.” You can check out the full list below.<br />
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The Pope gives a thumbs up to an audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>The Pope’s 10 Tips for a Happier Life</b></span><br />
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1. <b>“Live and let live.”</b> Everyone should be guided by
this principle, he said, which has a similar expression in Rome with
the saying, “Move forward and let others do the same.”<br />
<br />
2. <b>“Be giving of yourself to others.”</b> People need to
be open and generous toward others, he said, because “if you withdraw
into yourself, you run the risk of becoming egocentric. And stagnant
water becomes putrid.”<br />
<br />
3. <b>“Proceed calmly” in life.</b> The pope, who used to
teach high school literature, used an image from an Argentine novel by
Ricardo Guiraldes, in which the protagonist — gaucho Don Segundo Sombra —
looks back on how he lived his life.<br />
<br />
4. <b>A healthy sense of leisure.</b> The Pope said
“consumerism has brought us anxiety”, and told parents to set aside time
to play with their children and turn of the TV when they sit down to
eat.<br />
<br />
5. <b>Sundays should be holidays.</b> Workers should have Sundays off because “Sunday is for family,” he said.<br />
<br />
6. <b>Find innovative ways to create dignified jobs for young people.</b>
“We need to be creative with young people. If they have no
opportunities they will get into drugs” and be more vulnerable to
suicide, he said.<br />
<br />
7. <b>Respect and take care of nature.</b> Environmental
degradation “is one of the biggest challenges we have,” he said. “I
think a question that we’re not asking ourselves is: ‘Isn’t humanity
committing suicide with this indiscriminate and tyrannical use of
nature?’”<br />
<br />
8.<b> Stop being negative.</b> “Needing to talk badly about
others indicates low self-esteem. That means, ‘I feel so low that
instead of picking myself up I have to cut others down,’” the Pope said.
“Letting go of negative things quickly is healthy.”<br />
<br />
9. <b>Don’t proselytise; respect others’ beliefs.</b> “We
can inspire others through witness so that one grows together in
communicating. But the worst thing of all is religious proselytism,
which paralyses: ‘I am talking with you in order to persuade you,’ No.
Each person dialogues, starting with his and her own identity. The
church grows by attraction, not proselytising,” the Pope said.<br />
<br />
10.<b> Work for peace.</b> “We are living in a time of many
wars,” he said, and “the call for peace must be shouted. Peace
sometimes gives the impression of being quiet, but it is never quiet,
peace is always proactive” and dynamic.<br />
<br />
Courtesy of the <a href="http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1403144.htm" rel="nofollow">Catholic News Service</a>.<br />
<br />
http://thehigherlearning.com/2014/07/31/the-pope-just-released-a-list-of-10-tips-for-becoming-a-happier-person-and-they-are-spot-on/ Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4311465649738631500.post-75888706315642420862014-11-10T08:19:00.004-08:002014-11-10T08:19:39.323-08:0066 things to be grateful for With the hustle, bustle, and stress of everyday life, it's easy to
become fixated on big-picture worries and take for granted all the
little facets of life that deserve appreciation and can be a major boost
to your <a href="http://www.popsugar.com/smart-living/Happiness-Manifesto-35967778" rel="nofollow">overall happiness</a>.<br />
<br />
If you're in need of a mindset transformation, here are 66 things to
be grateful for — not only during the holiday season, but also all year
long.<br />
<br />
1. You're alive and breathing.<br />
2. You're able to read this.<br />
3. You have someone (or multiple someones) that you consider a best friend.<br />
4. Your pet(s) love you unconditionally.<br />
5. You have a job.<br />
6. If you're currently unemployed, you have free time.<br />
7. Much-needed vacation days.<br />
8. Those weekends that feel longer than two days.<br />
9. Those workweeks that feel shorter than five days.<br />
1<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">0. Mornings you can sleep in. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">11. Movie marathons. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">12. Cozy fires and hot chocolate. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">13. Maintained connections with long-distance friends. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">14. Holiday memories from past years. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">15. Future life events to look forward to. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">16. Your earliest childhood memory. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">17. The places you have traveled to, and the promise of future travels. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">18. The shoes on your feet. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">19. Your bad days. (They make the good days better. )</span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">20. The people you love. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">21. The lessons you learned this year. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">22. You're not the same person you were this time last year. You've grown. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">23. The food on your table. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">24. The moment you finally see someone you've missed. </span><br />
<br />
<span class="KonaFilter image-container display-table click-to-enlarge"><span><span class="image on-image" data-post-image=""><a class="zoomin" href="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/545d138769bedd5411c26637-960/coffee-98.jpg"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span><img alt="coffee" border="0" src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/545d138769bedd5411c26637-800-400/coffee-98.jpg" style="line-height: 1.5em;" /></a><span class="source"><span><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/starone/50312415/">Flickr/starone</a></span></span><span class="caption">Good coffee is everything sometimes.</span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">25. Good coffee. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">26. The song that always makes you feel better. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">27. The memories with your parents you will never forget. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">28. The people in your life who always make sure you're getting home safely. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">29. The money in your bank account. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">30. Your significant other. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">31. If you're single: You get a period of self-discovery and quality time with friends. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">32. People who have forgiven you. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">33. A soothing cup of tea. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">34. Friendly coworkers. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">3</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">5. Good hair days. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">36. The internet. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">37. Warm whiskey. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">3</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">8. Home-cooked meals. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">39. Seasonal flavors like pumpkin spice and gingerbread. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">40. Books that changed your life. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">41. Cozy sweaters. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">42. Good conversation. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">43. Heating. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">44. People who pick up the tab. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">45. Cuddling. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">46. Good health. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">47. Fresh-baked bread. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">48. That hair grows back after a bad haircut. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">49. Kind people on public transportation. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">50. Kind people in general. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">51. Long overdue hugs from friends and family. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">52. Those voicemails you have saved on your phone. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">53. Warm hands. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">54. Uncontrollable laughter. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">55. Rainy days spent at home. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">56. Hometown spots with a lot of nostalgia. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">57. Happy tears. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">58. Your individual talents. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">59. Old photos with people you've lost. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">60. Home videos. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">61. The teachers you will never forget. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">62. Gifts you didn't expect to receive. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">63. Being able to buy something you've been saving up for. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">64. Friends who have stuck around through your toughest times. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">65. Family traditions. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">66. Everything you have yet to learn but will.</span><br />
<div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">
<br />Read more: <a href="http://www.popsugar.com/smart-living/Things-Grateful-36053829#ixzz3IgQAl8XN" style="color: #003399;">http://www.popsugar.com/smart-living/Things-Grateful-36053829#ixzz3IgQAl8XN</a></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4311465649738631500.post-37775596254339731722014-11-03T07:56:00.001-08:002014-11-03T08:02:56.055-08:005 Things the Death of my Father Made Me Change - by Kevin Green<h1 class="article-title">
<img alt="" class="center" data-loading-tracked="true" height="421" src="https://media.licdn.com/mpr/mpr/p/5/005/091/3b1/31a5221.jpg" width="562" /></h1>
<br />
Exactly one year ago today, my father lost his long battle with
Parkinson's Disease. It was, and remains, the worst day of my life.
However, from that day forward, I finally started doing what he had
asked me to do for so many years.<br />
<br />
My father was an extremely
successful man in both business and life. He had a positive outlook on
almost everything and openly shared his perspective, experience and
wisdom every time we spoke. Like most children, I listened, but rarely
acted or understood the message he was trying to deliver. As a father,
he knew he couldn't tell me exactly what to do, but he did his best to
influence while letting me make my own decisions.<br />
<br />
After he passed,
I kept hearing his words and realized that listening to his guidance
wasn't enough, it was time to act. As a result, I changed everything.<br />
<br />
While
some of this may not be relevant to all, I thought I would take this
opportunity to share 5 life and business lessons posthumously from a man
who never had the tools and technology to deliver them to a broader
audience. May you also find something of value in his advice.<br />
<br />
<b>1) Move to a different part of the country (check) - </b>It's
easy to find comfort in what we know. Change can be terrifying, but it
is also liberating. Don't settle for what life has given to you, take
the right opportunities as they come to you and hopefully you'll find
that what's right for you, may be 2,000 miles away.<br />
<br />
<b>2) Respect is given, then earned (check) - </b>Entitlement
is an easy emotion. We want more, we want it faster, and we want it
exactly the way we imagined it in our minds. We are hard wired to think
we know what's best and often ignore those that paved the road before
us. Respect the guidance and wisdom of others. Even those younger than
you and holding entry level positions. Respect the ideas, emotions and
needs of others and they will in turn respect yours.<br />
<br />
<b>3) Be open about how you feel (check) - </b>I've
often been blamed for being too emotional when it comes to things I am
passionate about. Many previous managers have advised me to control
those emotions vs. letting them control you. It's not about controlling
your emotions, it's about expressing them the right way. Do not hesitate
to communicate how you feel, but do so in a way that fosters a
discussion, strengthens a relationship and creates the opportunity for
people to see your point of view.<br />
<br />
<b>4) Talk to Everyone - as your equal (still working on this one) - </b>My
father spoke to everyone as if they were the CEO of their company. From
the waitstaff at a restaurant to the guy bagging groceries (if he
actually ever made it to the grocery store). He genuinely wanted to know
about them. Did they like their job? How was business? He was a natural
conversationalist and people loved him because he took interest and
time. Something we all claim to have less and less of. A senior
executive at a Fortune 50 company and he'd spend 15 minutes talking to
the waitstaff during a business lunch because he felt they were equally
as important as the people around his table.<br />
<br />
<b>5) Give of yourself often (still working on this as well) - </b>Need
a job? Talk to my dad. Need financial advice? He's your guy. Want to
help improve childhood illiteracy? You have his attention. It's
important to be involved in things beyond what pays you. Beyond things
that benefit just you. The most rewarding experiences of my fathers life
were not those found around the boardroom table, they were making
material changes in the lives of others. From volunteering with dog
rescue programs, bringing toys to underprivileged children, building
programs that help children learn to read, or guiding people through
their careers. He was a mentor in the truest form.<br />
While this post
may be a little unusual for LinkedIn, I felt compelled to share as the
world we live in today is more complicated, distracting and evolving at a
pace we're just not used to. We are asking our employees to do more,
with less everyday and often forgetting that they are people, with real
challenges, emotions and issues that prevent them from doing things the
way you want them done.<br />
Since he died, I vowed to change that
mindset. My mindset. I finally started to see what it meant to be
"People First." To be a true leader, you need to be people first. Put
people in scenarios where they can succeed. Where they can explore and
find their passion. Enable them to find the time vs. consistently asking
for more, if not all, of it. Be open to the ideas of others, as
brilliance exists at all levels and everyone has the ability to surprise
you. Listen. Listen with intent. Help.<br />
So, while the world keeps
trying to "Lean In" and chase dollars, remember that no amount of money
or title will make you well rounded. "Lean Out" as often as you "Lean
In" and when you become a leader...<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Help your team grow, even though they may leave the nest eventually
and move 2,000 miles away - Their success is equally important as your
own</li>
<li>Make time for the interns and entry level folks. They need it more than anyone and could someday be your boss</li>
<li>Communicate effectively and openly. Encourage your team to be open
when they are about to break or burn out. Fix the problems together,
before you lose someone for reasons that have simple solutions</li>
<li>Talent is everywhere. Ask people what they think. Listen more than
you speak and you may just find out what your people are capable of</li>
<li>Be accessible and open to ideas. Just because you like something
done a certain way, doesn't mean it's the right way. Just because that's
the way things have always been done, doesn't mean that's the way they
should still be done. This applies in work and changing the way we teach
children to read. Use what you learn in the office in places that
desperately need your perspective</li>
</ul>
<br />
<ul>
</ul>
I hope you find some value in these words and guidance. I waited
too long to make these changes and know now just how valuable they are.
I've seen these traits in the leaders around me. I look for them in my
current mentors and find that those with these traits are not only
helping me make the right career choices, but amazing friends.<br />
<br />
It was one year ago that I stood by his bed as he left us. It was when I said goodbye, that I finally promised to change.<br />
<br />
(Photo used is my father's last watch - He made the time... and believe it or not. It hasn't kept time since he died.)<br />
<br />
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20141017140635-5175770-5-things-the-death-of-my-father-made-me-change?trk=object-title Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4311465649738631500.post-15252571817727897452014-10-13T11:28:00.001-07:002014-10-13T11:28:20.293-07:0033 Awesome Quotes to Inspire Positive Change By David Van Rooy @dlvanrooy <img height="185" src="http://www.inc.com/uploaded_files/image/970x450/leaves-changing-colors_pan_24685.jpg" width="400" /><br />
<br />
Organizations and people that don't embrace change are bound to lose
ground and stagnate. When you are anxiously anticipating a change--or in
the midst of a challenging one--grab one of these quotes to help you or
your team plow through it.<br />
<ol>
<li>The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking. <strong>~ Albert Einstein</strong></li>
<li>Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts. <strong>~ Arnold Bennett</strong></li>
<li>Change is inevitable. Change is constant. <strong>~ Benjamin Disraeli</strong></li>
<li>When you're finished changing, you're finished. <strong>~ Benjamin Franklin</strong></li>
<li>The price of doing the same old thing is far higher than the price of change. <strong>~ Bill Clinton</strong></li>
<li>It
is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most
intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to
change. <strong>~ Charles Darwin</strong></li>
<li>The world hates change, yet it is the only thing that has brought progress. <strong>~ Charles Kettering</strong></li>
<li>If you don't like change, you will like irrelevance even less. <strong>~ General Eric Shinseki</strong></li>
<li>Change means that what was before wasn't perfect. People want things to be better. <strong>~ Esther Dyson</strong></li>
<li>Resistance at all cost is the most senseless act there is. <strong>~ Friedrich Durrenmatt</strong></li>
<li>If we don't change, we don't grow. If we don't grow, we aren't really living. <strong>~ Gail Sheehy</strong></li>
<li>Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything. <strong>~ George Bernard Shaw</strong></li>
<li>When
people shake their heads because we are living in a restless age, ask
them how they would like to life in a stationary one, and do without
change. <strong>~ George Bernard Shaw</strong></li>
<li>I cannot say whether things will get better if we change; what I can say is they must change if they are to get better. <strong>~ Georg C. Lichtenberg</strong></li>
<li>He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery. <strong>~ Harold Wilson</strong></li>
<li>Change before you have to. <strong>~ Jack Welch</strong></li>
<li>People can cry much easier than they can change. <strong>~ James Baldwin</strong></li>
<li>Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future. <strong>~ John F. Kennedy</strong></li>
<li>Faced
with the choice between changing one's mind and proving that there is
no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof. <strong>~ John Kenneth Galbraith</strong></li>
<li>Be the change that you wish to see in the world. <strong>~ Mahatma Gandhi</strong></li>
<li>Never
doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change
the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. <strong>~ Margaret Mead</strong></li>
<li>Your
success in life isn't based on your ability to simply change. It is
based on your ability to change faster than your competition, customers
and business. <strong>~ Mark Sanborn</strong></li>
<li>If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. <strong>~ Maya Angelou</strong></li>
<li>I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples. <strong>~ Mother Teresa</strong></li>
<li>The first step toward change is awareness. The second step is acceptance. <strong>~ Nathaniel Branden</strong></li>
<li>Change your thoughts and you change your world. <strong>~ Norman Vincent Peale</strong></li>
<li>People don't resist change. They resist being changed. <strong>~ Peter Senge</strong></li>
<li>You
never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change
something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete. <strong>~ R. Buckminster Fuller</strong></li>
<li>Our
dilemma is that we hate change and love it at the same time; what we
really want is for things to remain the same but get better. <strong>~ Sydney J. Harris</strong></li>
<li>It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory <strong>~ W. Edwards Deming</strong></li>
<li>There is nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction. <strong>~ Winston Churchill</strong></li>
<li>To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often. <strong>~ Winston Churchill</strong></li>
<li>And just for fun... "Change is inevitable--except from a vending machine." <strong>~ Robert C. Gallagher</strong></li>
<li><strong>By David Van Rooy @dlvanrooy http://www.inc.com/david-van-rooy/33-awesome-quotes-to-inspire-positive-change.html?cid=sf01001 </strong></li>
</ol>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4311465649738631500.post-33722792240453055372014-10-08T09:13:00.000-07:002014-10-08T09:13:11.125-07:00Dear 30-Somethings, I Hope You Won’t Make These Mistakes In Life<br />
<div style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;">
<img alt="IMG_5787" bgcolor="#9c88a2" class="lazy-img attachment-full animated fadeIn" data-bttrlazyloading-lg="{"src":"http:\/\/cdn-media-2.lifehack.org\/wp-content\/files\/2014\/09\/IMG_5787.jpg","width":5184,"height":3456}" data-bttrlazyloading-md="{"src":"http:\/\/cdn-media-2.lifehack.org\/wp-content\/files\/2014\/09\/IMG_5787-1024x682.jpg","width":1024,"height":682}" data-bttrlazyloading-sm="{"src":"http:\/\/cdn-media-2.lifehack.org\/wp-content\/files\/2014\/09\/IMG_5787-380x253.jpg","width":380,"height":253}" data-bttrlazyloading-xs="{"src":"http:\/\/cdn-media-2.lifehack.org\/wp-content\/files\/2014\/09\/IMG_5787-380x253.jpg","width":380,"height":253}" data-lh-image-id="203433" height="266" src="http://cdn-media-2.lifehack.org/wp-content/files/2014/09/IMG_5787-1024x682.jpg" style="display: block;" title="life mistakes in 30s" width="400" /> </div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Dear 30-Somethings,<br />
<br />
I am writing this to help you change your life around for the better.
I want you to live a long and prosperous life without looking back with
regrets. You have many years ahead of you, and I want to make sure that
you live them to the fullest. There’s nothing like waking up one
morning and having a meltdown because you didn’t do what you wanted to,
so I want to make sure that doesn’t happen to you. Read this with an
open mind and think about your life at the moment; are you living a
happy life? If the answer is no, you won’t be living a happy life when
you’re older either. No matter how much you’re saving for retirement.<br />
<h2>
1. Making Work a Priority</h2>
You’re a newbie at your job, and you want to make a good impression
on your boss. I get it, it’s a natural feeling. You can’t just put work
before everything else in your life though. If you respond to every call
you receive from your boss or coworkers, even on your days off, you
will never take the time to enjoy the present moment. You will soon
become so obsessed with work that your life will only be about that…
work. Your friends will start drifting away, and your relationships will
be affected. I get that you want to work hard now and have fun later,
but work will never cuddle with you when you are sad. Find a balance
between work and fun that works for you. Work can come second on
weekends and special occasions. Turn off your phone while you’re at the
restaurant with your friends and make it clear to your boss that you
will not answer calls or texts on specific days.<br />
<h2>
2. Forgetting Your Passion for Money</h2>
Money controls everything in today’s world. If you want a luxurious
life, you need more money; it’s just how it works. Which is why you
might consider putting your passion behind in order to make more money.
Let me tell you something about this type of thinking: it will make you
miserable. If you go to work unhappy about what you do, or not
passionate about your everyday tasks, you will be miserable. You will
groan when you wake up in the morning, and you will sigh in relief when
it’s time to punch out. You will find yourself in a mediocre routine
where your feelings will be pretty much inexistent, because there will
be no passion or excitement in your life. Of course though, we’re
humans, so we need to feel something to not be depressed, which is where
shopping splurges will come in. The money you make will pay for your
happiness in things like shoes, dresses, suits, or cars. It might seem
like you’re happy for a few minutes, but the feeling will fade very
quickly. After a while, your boss might even think of letting you go
because he can see that you’re miserable on the job. I write from
experience. My advice? Follow your passion. When you’re passionate about
something, the money will follow. Your excitement and love will allow
you to create something amazing, something that sets you apart from
others. If you’re passionate about writing, become a writer. It won’t
always be easy, but you will wake up in the morning happy about what
you’re doing of your day. You will create content that will make your
readers want to read more. That’s what passion does and that’s why money
always follows it. To find your passion, think back to when you were a
little kid. What did you love doing more than anything? If it was
playing video games, can you become a video game creator? If it was
painting, can you become a museum curator? Think about it, and follow
it. There’s a career for every passion.<br />
<h2>
3. Not Taking Care of Your Body</h2>
You might think now that you don’t need too exercise or eat healthy
in order to look good, but your future self will think differently.
You’re young, take care of your body! The food you eat today will start
affecting your body later, by adding more wrinkles to your face or
increasing your chances of getting ill. Go to the gym now, even if you
don’t think you need it. If you exercise and eat healthy now, your skin
will be tighter and your body will be slimmer later. Not only that, but
you will also feel better about yourself. You’re already young and
beautiful, so why not enhance this beauty of yours through a healthy
lifestyle?<br />
<h2>
4. Neglecting Your Family</h2>
Family should always come first. You probably left the nest a few
years ago and don’t plan on looking back, which is fine. But, you should
never neglect your family. If you live in the same area, make time for
all of them and catch up on their stories. You don’t want to be so
caught up in work or adulthood that you forget to call your mother for a
month or two. If you are living in a different Country, you can Skype
to talk to your parents, siblings, or other close relatives. You might
think that you’re above it all right now and that your friends are your
new family, but it’s false. When you’ll be older, it’s a guarantee that
you’ll regret not spending time with your family when you had the
chance. You’ll regret forgetting to call your sister on her 30th
birthday, or going to that lunch date with your parents. Your family is
precious. Hold on to it and let them know regularly that you love them.
They’re the ones who will be by your side no matter what happens. If you
had a fight with a close family member, let go of that anger. Call your
sibling or your parents and set things right, you’ll be happier.<br />
<h2>
5. Being Negative</h2>
Negativity will kill you. Simple. If you spend your thirties thinking
negatively, you will not blossom the way you should. Not only will you
become a grumpy old person in the future, but you will also lose your
entourage. People around you will slowly stop talking to you, because
they know how negative you are. Your negativity will also take a toll on
your relationships and career, as no one will want to spend time with
you. It may sound harsh, but it’s the truth. Negativity will kill you.
Instead of victimizing yourself and thinking negatively all the time,
change your thoughts. Say affirmations every morning to start your day
on a positive note. If you catch yourself being negative, shake it off
and force yourself to think positive again. If your entourage is the one
who’s negative, let go of them. It will make you feel better and
a whole new life will open up before you.<br />
<h2>
6. Thinking You’re Too Old</h2>
You’re mistaken if you ever think that you’re too old to do
something. Not only will you miss out on a lot of fun, but you will also
age more quickly than you should. You don’t want to turn 50 one day and
look back at your 35th birthday, when you passed up going to DisneyLand
with your friends and just had a quiet dinner at home. You don’t have
to be serious all the time, and you most definitely don’t have to act
like you’re in your thirties, whatever that looks like. Take Richard
Branson for example, he’s in his sixties and still lives like he’s in
his thirties. Age is just a number, it shouldn’t define what you can or
cannot do. You will live a much happier life if you stop thinking that
you’re too old for this or for that. You’re never too old to ride the
roller coasters or dance on the table! You have one life, make the most
of it until the end.<br />
<h2>
7. Forgetting Yourself</h2>
If you are spending too much time pleasing others and forgetting
about yourself, you will regret it later. Allow yourself the right to
say no to certain invitations or certain requests from your significant
other. When you’ll be older, you’ll regret not putting yourself first in
certain situations, especially if you put aside your hopes and dreams
to let someone else have the spotlight. If you put your needs first
every once in a while, you’ll be much happier. It doesn’t matter if your
friends and family don’t approve of your change of career, if you love
it and know that it’s what you want to do, do it. You know yourself
best.<br />
<h2>
8. Living Too Safely</h2>
There’s no regret like the regret of living your life too safely. If
you live too safely right now, you will never accomplish the things you
could’ve accomplished, period. If you’re always so afraid of taking
risks, you will pass up on job offers, promotions, relationships,
friendships, and dozens of other opportunities. The time will never be
right for taking a risk, but if you know what you’re getting yourself
into, take the risk. Take the risk of failure or rejection and see what
happens. Even if that guy at work doesn’t like you romantically, at
least now you know. You won’t always go home overthinking every eye
contact you’ve had with the guy, because you’ll know that nothing can
happen. The best way to embrace risk is by testing new foods. Go to a
Mexican restaurant and try hot dishes, see what happens. Go on a
spontaneous trip with your best friend, see what happens. Worst case
scenario? You’ll have hilarious stories to tell your grandchildren.<br />
<h2>
9. Not Traveling Enough</h2>
This is one of the most common regrets people have when they’re
older. You might be extremely busy with work or adulthood right now, but
you should <strong>alway</strong><strong>s</strong> make time to get
out of the country and visit new cities. When you get older, you won’t
have the energy to travel around the world, so do it now. Traveling will
help you find yourself by breaking away from the routine and thinking
of only one thing: yourself. Even if it doesn’t seem like it, you now
have the time to travel. Take two weeks off and visit Paris or London,
see what everyone is talking about! See for yourself if Italians are
real charmers or if French macarons are the best dessert on earth. Many
people take a gap year before University to travel around the world, why
not do it now? Grab a luggage and head out into the world, that’s where
the real opportunities lie.<br />
<h2>
10. Leaving Feelings Unspoken</h2>
A lot of you today think that feelings should just be bottled up,
mostly because you’re afraid of getting hurt. This fear will create a
lot of regret in the future as you look back and wonder if that person
at work really liked you. You can’t leave your feelings bottled up for
fear of being rejected or of ruining whatever is going on between the
two of you. If you think that the other person likes you, make a move.
What if your best friend likes you as much as you like him? Imagine the
regret you will have if you both like each other, but no one has the
courage to speak out. You’ll get married one day and still wonder if
your best friend likes you the way you like him. I mean, haven’t you
seen <em>Maid of Honor</em>? Talk to your crush about your feelings or
ask that cute waiter out. Worst case scenario, they don’t like you
romantically but still want to be friends with you. At least you will
know for sure that the person doesn’t like you. You can move on to the
next person without regrets, because you did what you could to find out
if the feelings were reciprocal.<br />
<br />
Good luck, and remember to stay true to yourself!<br />
<br />
<br />
SOURCE: http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/dear-30-somethings-hope-you-wont-make-these-mistakes-life.html Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4311465649738631500.post-10311572019882195572014-10-08T08:49:00.004-07:002014-10-08T08:54:48.953-07:0010 Navy SEAL Life Lessons You Can Use Every Day <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="shutterstock_84309556" bgcolor="#747570" class="lazy-img attachment-full animated fadeIn" data-bttrlazyloading-lg="{"src":"http:\/\/cdn-media-2.lifehack.org\/wp-content\/files\/2014\/07\/shutterstock_84309556.jpg","width":1000,"height":667}" data-bttrlazyloading-md="{"src":"http:\/\/cdn-media-2.lifehack.org\/wp-content\/files\/2014\/07\/shutterstock_84309556.jpg","width":1000,"height":667}" data-bttrlazyloading-sm="{"src":"http:\/\/cdn-media-1.lifehack.org\/wp-content\/files\/2014\/07\/shutterstock_84309556-380x253.jpg","width":380,"height":253}" data-bttrlazyloading-xs="{"src":"http:\/\/cdn-media-1.lifehack.org\/wp-content\/files\/2014\/07\/shutterstock_84309556-380x253.jpg","width":380,"height":253}" data-lh-image-id="180868" src="http://cdn-media-2.lifehack.org/wp-content/files/2014/07/shutterstock_84309556.jpg" height="265" style="display: block;" title="navy seal" width="400" /> </span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">In his <a class="tracker-binded" href="http://www.lifebuzz.com/10-lessons-from-navy-seal/" target="_blank">2014 commencement speech</a>,
former Navy SEAL Admiral William H. McRaven offered 10 lessons to the
University of Texas at Austin graduating class. He outlined the lessons
of the bed, paddle, heart, cookie, circus, obstacle, shark, dark moment,
song, and bell. Each one was a metaphor for an important life area.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">The Admiral offered this wisdom to encourage the class of 2014 to
change a world of eight billion people — 10 people at a time. He
reasoned that after five generations of change, 800 million people’s
lives would have been changed by the 8,000 people sitting in that room.
However, the video of his speech has already been viewed by over 2.2
million viewers!</span><br />
<span class="skimlinks-unlinked" style="font-size: large;">http://youtu.be/pxBQLFLei70</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">But let’s start with one person: <i>you!</i> Use your imagination
and look in the mirror. Who do you see? Are you there yet? Is the world
defining you or is it the other way around? What is <i>your</i> bed, paddle, heart, cookie, circus, obstacle, shark, dark moment, song, and bell?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">So are you ready to learn these lessons from the Navy SEALs? Here is how we can apply each lesson to our daily lives.</span><br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">
1. The lesson of the bed.</span></h2>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>“If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.” </b>Making our
bed seems simple, but if we don’t do the simple things right … well …
you know how that goes! Bed making is strictly enforced in the military
for this reason. After we all get up in the morning, we look at
ourselves in the mirror and decide how to “make our lives.” So
if we can get the bed part of our day right every morning, maybe we can
get our lives right too!</span><br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">
2. The lesson of the group.<b> </b></span></h2>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>“If you want to change the world, find someone to help you paddle.” </b>Are
we changing “my” world or “our” world? Humans tend to do stuff
together. Getting along with each other takes time and patience and
perseverance but in the long run, it’s worth it. So paddle away and ask
for some companionship. Get some more Navy SEALs! The more paddles the
better!</span><br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">
3. The lesson of the heart.<b> </b></span></h2>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>“If you want to change the world, measure a person by the size of their heart, not the size of their flippers.”</b>
I have a theory about height and size. Seems like the shorter folks I
know tend to put more effort into everything they do. They have a bigger
heart inside their smaller body. I never ever want to cross a person
who is shorter than I am. And two-year-olds can eat my lunch if I am not
careful. Motivation seems to trump intelligence and if we work at
strengthening both, we <i>can</i> change the world.</span><br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">
4. The lesson of having a bad day.<b> </b></span></h2>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>“If you want to change the world get over being a sugar cookie and keep moving forward.” </b>Some
days no matter what you do, no matter how hard you try, things will
not turn out as planned. Failure will be experienced, and because we are
not perfect as human beings, we need to prepare for that situation. The
“sugar cookie” exercise in Navy SEAL training is designed to put the
trainee into this environment to learn how to push through to the end of
the day and survive the ordeal. So when we have a bad day, push through
it and look forward to having a better day tomorrow.</span><br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">
5. The lesson of doing the extra work.</span></h2>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>“But if you want to change the world, don’t be afraid of the circuses.” </b>When
you fail a daily physical training event, the Navy SEALs’ “circus” is
having to do two hours more of additional calisthenics — designed to
wear you down, to break your spirit, to force you to quit. But that
extra training actually can help build strength and stamina if you don’t
quit. We all live though our own “circuses” in life and they can be
exhausting, confusing and sometimes downright depressing. Many times, we
can glimpse insight and perspective during those trials, <i>if</i> we
are looking for them. When you do the extra work, you become stronger,
more experienced, and more confident. Doing the minimum is sometimes not
enough, so practice the maximum! Go the extra mile. That pivot to a
more committed and prepared approach can sometimes be life changing!</span><br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">
6. The lesson of overcoming your fear.<b> </b></span></h2>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>“If you want to change the world sometimes you have to slide down the obstacle head first.” </b>Twice
a week an obstacle course was required for McRaven’s SEAL training. One
of the most feared obstacle course challenges was the “slide for life.”
It was dangerous and it put the SEALs at risk. In the movie “<a class="tracker-binded" href="http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=dune+trailer&FORM=VIRE1#view=detail&mid=B07948ACE35631667DDEB07948ACE35631667DDE" target="_blank">Dune</a><i>,”</i><i> </i>the
character Paul says to himself, “Fear is the mind killer.” It’s true,
because while it’s good to be wary, if fear paralyzes our intellect and
our motivation, then we are truly lost. Sometimes we have to take that
chance and “risk” it. But it needs to be with purpose, resolve, and
awareness.</span><br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">
7. The lesson of confronting “your daily shark.”</span></h2>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>“So, if you want to change the world, don’t back down from the sharks.” </b>Like
it or not, we will be living our lives “swimming with the sharks.”
McRaven’s lesson #6, above, reminds us that fear can diminish our
capacity. But if we prepare for the “shark” encounter, our response may
surprise us. <a class="tracker-binded" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxlFHKD1pLQ" target="_blank">Top survivalists</a>
know something about the predator’s mindset. Attackers prefer to attack
the weak not the strong: “Don’t ever behave like prey and run unless
that is your last resort.” Your shark could be a physical attacker, so
self-defense classes (personally I prefer <a class="tracker-binded" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aikido" target="_blank">Aikido</a>)
can give you some confidence so you can avoid being easy prey. But your
more common “shark” attack is likely to be verbal. Now here is where
you can adequately prepare your response. Lock in on your values and
ethics. The “<a class="tracker-binded" href="http://sidkemp.hubpages.com/hub/The-Seven-Habits-A-Practical-Summary-Habit-4-Win-Win" target="_blank">Win-Win</a>”
response is a good place to start, particularly if you are in a group
setting. Getting ahead at the expense of someone else needs to be
examined, so take a stand for yourself and others may follow suit.</span><br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">
8. The lesson of being your best while experiencing your worst.<b> </b></span></h2>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>“If you want to change the world, you must be your very best in the darkest moment.” </b>Some
of the Navy SEAL training missions require them to perform dangerous
underwater operations in complete darkness. All of their training needs
to carry them through that moment. No one knows when we will take our
last breath. We may not have SEAL training but we do have our values,
our spirituality, and our relationships to pull us through these darkest
moments. It’s not how you start but how you finish that counts!</span><br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">
9. The lesson of raising your voice.<b> </b></span></h2>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>“So, if you want to change the world, start singing when you’re up to your neck in mud.” </b>The
ninth week of McRaven’s SEAL training (a.k.a. Hell Week) consisted of
six days without sleep, continual physical and mental harassment, and a
hellish day at the Mud Flats between San Diego and Tijuana. This was one
of the most difficult Navy SEAL exercises of their training. Often,
many SEALs quit right here, but some find a way to get through it.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">While McRaven’s group were up to their necks in mud, one such SEAL
started singing through the ordeal and others joined him in chorus. It
was something that gave them hope. It was an affirmation of what <i>can</i> be not what <i>is</i><b><i>.</i></b> So
you can use your voice in music (no matter how bad it is) to
transform a dark moment into hope so long as you seize it. So shout it
now: <a class="tracker-binded" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpe_diem" target="_blank">Carpe diem</a>!</span><br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">
10. The lesson of ringing <i>your</i> bell.<b> </b></span></h2>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>“If you want to change the world don’t ever, ever ring the bell.” </b>Any
time a Navy SEAL wants to quit their training and leave, all they have
to do is go up to the bell and ring it. The question is, “What is our
bell?” Let it be our last breath and let each of us have a life worth
living … <i>again!</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>SOURCE: http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/10-navy-seal-life-lessons-you-can-use-every-day.html </i></span>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4311465649738631500.post-71605353317513096352014-10-07T13:16:00.000-07:002014-10-08T09:09:35.282-07:00Simplest ways to stay Enthusiastic (even when you are drowning at work!)<blockquote>
<a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/VMCIwULWDe16sI4J8s9hha3E92Tm0tAy2ZJ57D7wZNHwXk9oLdirTIPxp7tbgZ9GSOAd02xXjzI_wxF5Ls1kro9J52lkwBL2TE_NX1eknZGwDSx5cUUqV56s1b8BuEtLtYvHVvzjUlD759ypyIEe6g" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img bgcolor="#6e6867" border="0" class="lazy-img animated fadeIn" data-bttrlazyloading-lg="{"src": "http://cdn-media-1.lifehack.org/wp-content/files/2014/07/6950398461_1b66a9c28d_b-370x208.jpg", "width" : 370, "height" : 208}" data-bttrlazyloading-md="{"src": "http://cdn-media-1.lifehack.org/wp-content/files/2014/07/6950398461_1b66a9c28d_b-370x208.jpg", "width" : 370, "height" : 208}" data-bttrlazyloading-sm="{"src": "http://cdn-media-1.lifehack.org/wp-content/files/2014/07/6950398461_1b66a9c28d_b-370x208.jpg", "width" : 370, "height" : 208}" data-bttrlazyloading-xs="{"src": "http://cdn-media-1.lifehack.org/wp-content/files/2014/07/6950398461_1b66a9c28d_b-370x208.jpg", "width" : 370, "height" : 208}" src="http://cdn-media-1.lifehack.org/wp-content/files/2014/07/6950398461_1b66a9c28d_b-370x208.jpg" height="224" style="display: block;" width="400" /></a><span style="font-size: large;"></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“Every
man is enthusiastic at times. One man has enthusiasm for 30 minutes,
another for 30 days, but it is the man who has it for 30 years that
makes a success out of his life.” — Edward B. Butler</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;">Here are 13 tips I’ve
learned in the past decade-plus that really help me stay enthusiastic in
life, even when I’m crazy busy.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">
1. Act enthusiastic</span></h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">Back in the early 1900s, there was a major league baseball player
named Frank Bettger, who was demoted to the minors (the story goes)
because his manager thought he lacked enthusiasm.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Instead of lamenting his bad luck, Bettger took his manager’s note to
heart and determined to establish a reputation as one of the most
enthusiastic ball players in the league, even if he had to fake
it. People began to take notice, and before long Bettger landed a
position with a better team, shout-outs in the papers and a dramatic
increase in his income, too.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">It’s worth noting that Bettger’s <i>playing</i> hadn’t improved; it was simply the power of his enthusiasm that led to his change of fortune.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Bettger’s baseball career only lasted a few years, but he went on to
become one of the most successful salesmen of his day, and a
best-selling self-help author. “Force yourself to act enthusiastic, and
you’ll become more enthusiastic,” was his number one rule. He challenged
people to try this for just 30 days, because this one change could
easily revolutionize your life.</span><br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">
2. Take 15 minutes a day to do something you love</span></h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">I used to complain regularly that I “never had time” to pursue my
passions, until I heard an artist I admired say, “If you can’t put
fifteen minutes into doing what you love, you’re making an excuse.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">I’d been nailed. That very day I determined to paint for at least 15
minutes every day for the next month. I was astonished at how my
enthusiasm for life soared, just from 15 minutes a day of doing
something I loved.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Try this yourself. Make a list of everything you love to do. What’s calling to you right now?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">No matter how busy you are, take 15 minutes to do something that gives you joy, and watch your enthusiasm return.</span><br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">
3. Get enough sleep</span></h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">There’s a prevalent notion in our “go-go-go” culture that sleep is
for wimps. “You can sleep when you’re dead,” goes a popular saying.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">In fact, chronic sleep loss not only drains energy and enthusiasm,
but can contribute to serious health problems. Learning and memory,
metabolism and weight, cardiovascular health, and immune function all
suffer when you don’t get enough sleep, <i>and so does mood</i>.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Getting enough sleep can be so hard, but making it a priority makes everything in life go so much better!</span><br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">
4. Feed yourself well</span></h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">The typical American diet is not just terrible for the heart, bones,
and belly. Big spikes and drops in blood sugar levels also wreak havoc
with the way the brain uses energy. When your body doesn’t get the
nutrients it needs, it affects brain chemistry, which impacts mood,
memory, and cognitive function.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Shifting to a plant-based, low-glycemic diet actually changes how the
brain functions, which can boost your mood, help you deal with stress,
and make it easier to stay enthusiastic.</span><br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">
5. Move your body</span></h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">Face it, we were not designed to sit eight (or more!) hours a day.
Our bodies are made for movement. Exercise is not just essential to keep
obesity at bay and keep our muscles, hearts and bones healthy; research
has shown that it’s a powerful mood booster.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">In his book, <a class="tracker-binded" href="http://smile.amazon.com/Spark-Revolutionary-Science-Exercise-Brain/dp/0316113514/ref=smi_www_rcolv2_go_smi?_encoding=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i>Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain</i></a>,
Dr. John Sarno shares study after study that demonstrate the power of
exercise to improve thought processes, attention, and creativity, and
even eliminate depression more effectively than prescription drugs!</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">When you’re feeling unenthusiastic, you may <i>want</i> to head for
the couch, but instead of lying around in the dumps, go do something
that will make you sweat. Take a walk, swim, dance, go throw a football
around with a friend. Anything that gets your body doing what it was
made for (i.e., moving!) will make it easier for you to find your
enthusiasm again.</span><br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">
6. Practice self-compassion</span></h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">Self-compassion is the practice of <i>noticing</i> what you’re feeling, remembering that <i>you’re human</i> (and therefore fallible, just like everyone else on the planet), and treating yourself with the same <i>kindness</i>
you’d give to a beloved friend. Unfortunately, few of us have been
trained to respond to ourselves in this way. Much more often our
response is to beat ourselves up when we stumble, but research has shown
(and your own experience may echo) that self-flagellation is
counterproductive.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">If you practice responding to yourself with self-compassion rather
than aggression, you’ll discover it’s a much more pleasant way to live,
and when life is better, it’s so much easier to stay enthusiastic.</span><br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">
7. Meditate</span></h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">Meditation (or any kind of mindfulness training) affects the brain in
powerfully positive ways. In fact, studies have shown that mindfulness
training actually <i>increases grey matter</i> in brain regions
involved in learning and memory, emotion regulation, sense of self, and
perspective taking — all important for keeping your enthusiasm up!</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Even just 10 minutes a day can spur these kinds of positive changes, <i>and</i> because meditation is the practice of continually — <i>and self-compassionately</i>
— redirecting your attention (and redirecting your attention, and
redirecting your attention … ) when you notice it becoming absorbed in
thought, it’s the perfect way to strengthen your self-compassion
muscles, too!</span><br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">
8. Flex your “what’s going well” muscle</span></h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">Human beings seem to be wired to focus on what’s not going well. It’s
important to notice this, of course, so we can make adjustments, but
it’s equally important to notice what’s going <i>well</i>.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Yes, I wanted to smack my boyfriend whenever he preached “attitude of
gratitude” at me, but he was right: the more attention you put on
what’s going well in your life <i>right now</i>, the better life goes,
and the easier it is to stay enthusiastic. Instead of focusing on all
the things you wish were different, write down everything you can think
of that you’re grateful for, and make a practice every day of noticing
what’s going well.</span><br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">
9. Clear out clutter</span></h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">It’s hard to be enthusiastic when you’re weighted down with stuff
cluttering up your space. You can’t find things (where did that overdue
cable bill go?), you’re ashamed to have people over, and it’s hard to
even think!</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">If clutter is a big problem for you, it may feel overwhelming and
impossible to start. Just pick one small area where you’ll really notice
a change, and you’ll be amazed at the fresh supply of energy and
enthusiasm (and motivation to keep at the clutterbusting!) that will be
your reward.</span><br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">
10. Spend time with enthusiastic people</span></h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">Enthusiasm is contagious. Since your time and energy is limited, pay
attention to how you feel after spending time with people in your life,
and seek out those who fill you up, energize and inspire you.</span><br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">
11. Avoid energy drains</span></h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">Negativity is also contagious. If you notice certain people or
relationships causing you to feel drained, depressed, or badly about
yourself, stay away from them!</span><br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">
12. Learn to say no</span></h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">Notice where your time is going. Write down everything that takes up
time in your life, and ask yourself who you are doing it for. Is it
nourishing you, or are you acting out of a sense of false guilt or
martyrdom? The happiest, most enthusiastic people I know are those who
have learned to be ruthless with their time and energy, and to say no to
things — and people — who suck them dry.</span><br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">
13. Practice spontaneous acts of kindness (but <i>not</i> sacrifice)</span></h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">Have you ever noticed how good it feels to say or do something kind
for someone else? Performing random, spontaneous acts of kindness — even
just a kind word or a genuine smile — has been shown to boost
self-image, lead us to perceive others more compassionately, promote a
greater sense of connection with others, and feel grateful for our own
good fortune. All of these things make us happier, and when we’re
happier, it’s easy to be more enthusiastic.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Be careful, however, not to get sucked into acts of kindness out of a
sense of obligation. Acts of kindness must be offered spontaneously —
not as an act of martyrdom — in order to have a positive effect.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Each of these tips has helped me keep my own enthusiasm up. Let us know if you have any to add!
</span><br />
<span class="credit no-highlight-share">Featured photo credit: <a class="tracker-binded" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/carbonnyc/4318504691" target="_blank">David Goehring via flickr.com</a></span><br />
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written books on forming habits and being content with yourself and
being a minimalist and more.<br />
I fail at all of that stuff, and it feels just as horrible for me as it does for anyone else.<br />
I get down on myself, feel guilty, try to avoid thinking about it, would rather hide it from everyone else.<br />
Failing at things can really suck.<br />
And yet, I get back up and try again.<br />
I fail at eating healthy on a regular basis, but I keep trying again.
I’m pretty good these days at sticking to an exercise plan, but I
failed and tried again, regularly, for years and years.<br />
I’ve made several attempts at writing the book I’m writing now, and
scrapped it all each time because it didn’t feel right. And yet, I
started again, and I’m almost done now.<br />
I fail at loving myself. But I don’t give up on that.<br />
I fail at being a good dad, seemingly multiple times a day. But I continue to try, and sometimes I succeed.<br />
When I try over and over again, once in awhile I succeed.<br />
So what’s the secret? Well, there isn’t any. You just have to keep trying.<br />
That said, here’s what I’ve found to work:<br />
<ol>
<li><strong>I learned a more flexibile mindset</strong>. When you are
rigidly trying to stick to a plan or achieve a goal, and things don’t go
according to plan, then you feel like crap and things can get derailed.
But if you have a more flexible mindset, and think, “I might not be
able to go according to plan but that’s OK because things change,” then
it’s not a disaster when you get off track. There’s no single track that
you have to stay on.</li>
<li><strong>I came to realize that every attempt is about learning</strong>.
When you fail, that’s actually really good information. Before you
failed, you thought that something would work (a prediction), but then
real-world information came in that told you it didn’t work. That means
you now know something you didn’t know before. That’s excellent. Now you
can adjust your plan, figure something new out, try a new method. Keep
learning.</li>
<li><strong>I ask for help</strong>. When I’m struggling with something,
I know that I can either give up, or I can figure out a better way. But
it’s not always easier to figure out a better way, so I reach out to my
wife, friends, trusted family members, and I ask them. They might give
me simple, obvious, why-didn’t-I-see-that advice that I need, or
brilliant tips, or accountability. Whatever happens, my friends and
loved ones never seem to fail me.</li>
<li><strong>I give myself a break</strong>. If I’m struggling, sometimes
my mind or body just needs a break from the discipline. So I’ll take a
day or two off, or a week, or even more. There’s no set time that’s
right for every situation, so I’ve been learning to go by feel. For some
things, I’ve taken a month or two off from trying to learn something.</li>
<li><strong>I remind myself why it’s important</strong>. It’s easy to
give up on something, because not doing it is always easier. But giving
up means you’re losing something important, like helping someone, and so
if my reasons for doing something aren’t just selfish (pleasure,
vanity), then I will renew my vigor for the struggle. This alone is
often enough to get me going again, especially if I’m doing it to help
someone important, like my kids.</li>
</ol>
I realize that I’m far from perfect, and that the guilty secrets I
hide inside myself are no different than anyone else’s. You guys are
just like me, in the inside, and while we all share the commonality of
failing to live up to our better nature, we also share the bond of being
able to start again.<br />
So start again.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4311465649738631500.post-70307798973207324302014-09-02T20:09:00.002-07:002014-09-02T20:09:17.130-07:00Beware of Destination Addiction...<img src="http://lovedrives.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Destination-Addiction.jpg" />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4311465649738631500.post-70436973761013958782014-08-31T15:47:00.001-07:002014-08-31T15:47:33.941-07:0025% of the world lives on a $1.25/day (exteme poverty)....Extreme poverty: life on a $1.25 a day.<br />
<br />
Living on $1.25 a day . . . You are a member of a household dependent on casual laboring in South Asia or subsistence cropping on a small plot of rain fed land in Africa. When times are good you eat two meals a day of rice or maize flour with a little chili or vegetable. When times are bad you eat one meal a day. Sometimes, when there is no work or the rains fail, you do without food or make do with leaves from the bush or scavenging. Meat and fish are rarely eaten - only at celebrations and feasts. The children in your household probably do not attend school - if they do, they will probably have to drop out before completing primary level. If someone gets sick then usually you wait until they get better . . . and pray. If someone is really sick then you sell assets (the spade, pans, title to you rhome plot) or borrow money to pay for a hospital visit. At the hospital you are made to feel a non-entity - made to wait in long queues, treated as an idiot, nothing is explained to you. You are accustomed to death - brothers, sisters, cousins, parents died when you were young - it just happens. You get to vote every few years in elections - but, you do not expect much of politicians. These people often pay violent gangs to help them get elected and they are known to be corrupt. What can you do? When you look out of the doorway in your leaky shack you worry about the unpaid rent and your outstanding emergency loans from relatives and traders. Your shack does not have electricity or sanitation - water comes irregularly from a communal pump 200 meters away provided by an NGO. If you could just get a job (as a poorly paid maid or a security guard) or just get control of the land your father mortgaged to a moneylender or just marry a good man, life would be so different - a pair of shoes, clothes for the baby or a savings deposit so you could join a micro-credit group. In the distance you see the vehicles flashing past on the newly tarmaced road - lucky people in overcrowded buses, off to do poorly paid but regular work in factories and offices in town; and important people, in business or related to politicians, in air-conditioned BMWs and Mercedes - wearing flashy clothes, eating pizza . . . thinking of going on a diet.<br />
<br />
25% of the world, 1.377 billion people live in extreme poverty - $1.25/day <br />
47% of the world, 2.562 billion people live in poverty - $2/day<br />
<br />
"When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a Communist." -Helder Camara, Former Bishop of Olinda and Recife, Brazil<br />
<br />
Excerpt from: Global Poverty, How global governance is failing the poor ~David Hulme<br />
http://www.amazon.com/Global-Poverty-Governance-Failing-Institutions/dp/0415490782Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4311465649738631500.post-72506106922957887162014-07-11T12:09:00.001-07:002014-07-11T12:11:50.429-07:003 Things Everyone Should Know Before Growing Up<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 86.6pt; margin-top: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">With peak graduation
season just behind us, we've all had the chance to hear and learn from
commencement speeches —<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.npr.org/2014/05/19/311861694/what-we-learned-from-the-b" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-select: none; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #4774cc; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">without even needing to
attend a graduation</span></a>. They're often full of useful advice for the
future as seniors move on from high school and college. But what about the
stuff you wish you'd been told long<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><em style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #111111; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">before</span></em><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";"> </span></span><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">graduation?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<img alt="We take it for granted that children should play. Why not adults?" height="358" src="http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2014/06/30/istock-42196406-woman-swing_wide-e74d34e314f7853759176b4ea499c7e0ebfb735f-s40-c85.jpg" width="640" /></div>
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">Here are just three
of the many things I wish I'd known in high school, accumulated at various
points along the way to becoming a professor of psychology.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">1.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #111111; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">People
don't judge you as harshly as you think they do</span></strong><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">In a 2001<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.81.1.44" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-select: none; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #4774cc; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">study</span></a>, psychologists Kenneth Savitsky, Nicholas Epley and
Thomas Gilovich asked college students to consider various social blunders:
accidentally setting off the alarm at the library, being the sole guest at a
party who failed to bring a gift or being spotted by classmates at the mall
while carrying a shopping bag from an unfashionable store. Some students
imagined experiencing these awkward moments themselves — let's call them the
"offenders" — while others considered how they, or another observer,
would respond watching someone<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><em style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #111111; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">else</span></em><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";"> </span></span><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">do so. We'll call them the "observers."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">The researchers
found that offenders thought they'd be judged much more harshly than the
observers actually judged people for those offenses. In other words, observers
were more charitable than offenders thought they would be.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">In another study,
students who attempted a difficult set of anagrams thought observers'
perception of their intellectual ability would plummet. In fact, observers'
opinions hardly shifted at all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">Why do we expect
others to judge us more harshly than they do?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">One of the main
reasons seems to be our obsessive focus on ourselves and our own blunders. If
you fail to bring a gift to a party, you might feel embarrassed and focus
exclusively on that single bit of information about you. In contrast, other
people will form an impression of you based on lots of different sources of
information, including your nice smile and your witty banter. They'll also have
plenty to keep them occupied besides<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><em style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #111111; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">you</span></em><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">: enjoying a
conversation, taking in the view, planning their evening or worrying about the
impression that<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><em style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #111111; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">they</span></em><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #111111; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;"> </span></i></span><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">are</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #111111; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;"> </span></i></span><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">making. We don't
loom nearly as large in other people's narratives as we do in our own.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">Now, it isn't the
case that others are always charitable. Sometimes they do judge us harshly.
What the studies find is that others judge us<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><em style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #111111; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">less harshly than we think they
will</span></em><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">.
But that should be enough to provide some solace. We can take it as an invitation
to worry less about what others think of us and as a reminder to be generous in
how we judge them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">2.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #111111; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">You
should think of intelligence as something you develop</span></strong><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">Is a person's
intelligence a fixed quantity they're born with? Or is it something malleable,
something that can change throughout the lifespan?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">The answer is
probably a bit of both. But a large body of research suggests you're better off</span><em style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #111111; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">thinking</span></em><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";"> </span></span><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">of intelligence as something that can grow — a skill you can
develop — and not as something set in stone. Psychologist Carol Dweck and her
colleagues have been studying implicit theories or "<a href="http://mindsetonline.com/whatisit/about/" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-select: none; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #4774cc; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">mindsets</span></a>" about intelligence for decades, and they find
that mindset really matters. People who have a "growth mindset"
typically do better in school and beyond than those with a "fixed
mindset."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">One reason mindset
is so important is because it affects how people respond to feedback.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">Suppose George and
Francine both do poorly on a math test. George has a growth mindset, so he
thinks to himself: "I'd better do something to improve my mathematical
ability. Next time I'll do more practice problems!" Francine has a fixed
mindset, so she thinks to herself: "I guess I'm no good at math. Next time
I won't bother with the honors course!" And when George and Francine are
given the option of trying to solve a hard problem for extra credit, George
will see it as an attractive invitation to grow his mathematical intelligence
and Francine as an unwelcome opportunity to confirm she's no good at math.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">Small differences in
how George and Francine respond will, over time, generate big differences in
the experiences they expose themselves to, their attitude toward math and the
proficiency they ultimately achieve. (The gendered name choices here are not
accidental: Girls often have a fixed mindset when it comes to mathematical
ability;<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.growthmindsetmaths.com/uploads/2/3/7/7/23776169/mindset_and_math_science_achievement_-_nov_2013.pdf" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-select: none; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #4774cc; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">mindset probably accounts
for some of the gender gap</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>in
girls' and boys' performance in mathematics in later school years.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">The good news is
that<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2007.00995.x" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-select: none; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #4774cc; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">mindsets are themselves malleable</span></a>.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.75.1.33" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-select: none; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #4774cc; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Praising children's<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit;">effort</em><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>rather than their intelligence</span></a>,
for example, can help instill a growth mindset. And simply<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.spspblog.org/changing-mindsets-to-raise-achievement/" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-select: none; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #4774cc; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">reading about the brain's
plasticity might be enough</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>to
shift people's mindsets and generate beneficial effects.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">That's enough to
convince me that whether or not<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><em style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #111111; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">intelligence</span></em><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";"> </span></span><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">is malleable, our skills and achievements — the things we<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><em style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #111111; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">do</span></em><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";"> </span></span><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">with our intelligence — certainly are. Let's do what we can to
"grow" them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">3.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #111111; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">Playing
isn't a waste of time</span></strong><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">We take it for
granted that children can and should play. By adulthood, that outlook is
expected to give way as we make time for more "mature"
preoccupations. In her recent book<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Overwhelmed-Work-Love-Play-When/dp/0374228442/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=8-1&qid=1404100598" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-select: none; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #4774cc; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Overwhelmed: Work, Love, and Play
When No One Has the Time</span></em></a>, Brigid Schulte takes a close look at
how American adults spend their leisure time. She isn't too impressed: We don't
have much of it (especially women and especially mothers), and we don't enjoy
it as much as we could.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">Young adults are
somewhere in the transition: too old for "child's play" and not yet
into adulthood. But the lesson from psychology is that there's a role for play<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/can_we_play" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-select: none; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #4774cc; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">at all ages</span></a>,
whether it's elaborate<a href="http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/let-the-children-play-its-good-for-them-130697324/" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-select: none; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #4774cc; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">games of make-believe</span></a>,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn/200810/the-varieties-play-match-requirements-human-existence" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-select: none; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #4774cc; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">rule-based games</span></a>,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/06/for-better-school-results-clear-the-schedule-and-let-kids-play/373144/" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-select: none; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #4774cc; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">unstructured summer
playtime</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>or<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn/200906/play-makes-us-human-i-ludic-theory-human-nature" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-select: none; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #4774cc; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">forms of "higher
culture,"</span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>like
art, music and literature. Playing is a way to<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/23/science/zeal-for-play-may-have-propelled-human-evolution.html?pagewanted=all" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-select: none; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #4774cc; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">learn about ourselves and
about the world</span></a>. Playing brings with it a host of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn/201206/free-play-is-essential-normal-emotional-development" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-select: none; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #4774cc; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">emotional benefits</span></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; box-sizing: border-box; float: none; font-size: 1.6rem; margin: 0in 86.6pt 0.0001pt 0in; max-width: 690px; min-height: 1px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">Play is joyful in
part because it's an end in itself</span><em style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #111111; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">.</span></em><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #111111; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;"> </span></i></span><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">It's thus perhaps
ironic (but fortuitous) that play is also a means to greater wellbeing and
productivity, even outside the playroom. So make time for play; it's not
something to outgrow.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; box-sizing: border-box; float: none; font-size: 1.6rem; margin: 0in 86.6pt 0.0001pt 0in; max-width: 690px; min-height: 1px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">Finally, if you're
in search of more advice, check out NPR's<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://apps.npr.org/commencement/" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-select: none; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #4774cc; font-family: "inherit","serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">collection of more than 300 commencement addresses</span></a>, covering
1774 to the present.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4311465649738631500.post-38662099969790685402014-07-11T10:12:00.005-07:002014-07-11T10:14:04.447-07:00I'm coming home, Lebron JamesLEBRON JAMES I'M COMING HOME<br />
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<img src="http://cdn.fansided.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/190/files/2014/07/lebron.jpg" /><br />
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Before anyone ever cared where I would play basketball, I was a kid from Northeast Ohio. It’s where I walked. It’s where I ran. It’s where I cried. It’s where I bled. It holds a special place in my heart. People there have seen me grow up. I sometimes feel like I’m their son. Their passion can be overwhelming. But it drives me. I want to give them hope when I can. I want to inspire them when I can. My relationship with Northeast Ohio is bigger than basketball. I didn’t realize that four years ago. I do now.</div>
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Remember when I was sitting up there at the Boys & Girls Club in 2010? I was thinking, This is really tough. I could feel it. I was leaving something I had spent a long time creating. If I had to do it all over again, I’d obviously do things differently, but I’d still have left. Miami, for me, has been almost like college for other kids. These past four years helped raise me into who I am. I became a better player and a better man. I learned from a franchise that had been where I wanted to go. I will always think of Miami as my second home. Without the experiences I had there, I wouldn’t be able to do what I’m doing today.</div>
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I went to Miami because of <a href="http://www.si.com/nba/player/dwyane-wade" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; color: #d8272d; cursor: pointer; font-weight: 900; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">D-Wade</a> and <a href="http://www.si.com/nba/player/chris-bosh" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; color: #d8272d; cursor: pointer; font-weight: 900; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">CB</a>. We made sacrifices to keep <a href="http://www.si.com/nba/player/udonis-haslem" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; color: #d8272d; cursor: pointer; font-weight: 900; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">UD</a>. I loved becoming a big bro to <a href="http://www.si.com/nba/player/mario-chalmers" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; color: #d8272d; cursor: pointer; font-weight: 900; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Rio</a>. I believed we could do something magical if we came together. And that’s exactly what we did! The hardest thing to leave is what I built with those guys. I’ve talked to some of them and will talk to others. Nothing will ever change what we accomplished. We are brothers for life. I also want to thank Micky Arison and Pat Riley for giving me an amazing four years.</div>
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I’m doing this essay because I want an opportunity to explain myself uninterrupted. I don’t want anyone thinking<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">: He and Erik Spoelstra didn’t get along. </em>… <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">He and Riles didn’t get along</em>. … <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The <a href="http://www.si.com/nba/team/miami-heat" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; color: #d8272d; cursor: pointer; font-weight: 900; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Heat</a> couldn’t put the right team together</em>. That’s absolutely not true.</div>
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I’m not having a press conference or a party. After this, it’s time to get to work.</div>
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When I left Cleveland, I was on a mission. I was seeking championships, and we won two. But Miami already knew that feeling. Our city hasn’t had that feeling in a long, long, long time. My goal is still to win as many titles as possible, no question. But what’s most important for me is bringing one trophy back to Northeast Ohio.</div>
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I always believed that I’d return to Cleveland and finish my career there. I just didn’t know when. After the season, free agency wasn’t even a thought. But I have two boys and my wife, Savannah, is pregnant with a girl. I started thinking about what it would be like to raise my family in my hometown. I looked at other teams, but I wasn’t going to leave Miami for anywhere except Cleveland. The more time passed, the more it felt right. This is what makes me happy.</div>
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To make the move I needed the support of my wife and my mom, who can be very tough. The letter from Dan Gilbert, the booing of the Cleveland fans, the jerseys being burned -- seeing all that was hard for them. My emotions were more mixed. It was easy to say, “OK, I don’t want to deal with these people ever again.” But then you think about the other side. What if I were a kid who looked up to an athlete, and that athlete made me want to do better in my own life, and then he left? How would I react? I’ve met with Dan, face-to-face, man-to-man. We’ve talked it out. Everybody makes mistakes. I’ve made mistakes as well. Who am I to hold a grudge? </div>
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I’m not promising a championship. I know how hard that is to deliver. We’re not ready right now. No way. Of course, I want to win next year, but I’m realistic. It will be a long process, much longer than it was in 2010. My patience will get tested. I know that. I’m going into a situation with a young team and a new coach. I will be the old head. But I get a thrill out of bringing a group together and helping them reach a place they didn’t know they could go. I see myself as a mentor now and I’m excited to lead some of these talented young guys. I think I can help <a href="http://www.si.com/nba/player/kyrie-irving" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; color: #d8272d; cursor: pointer; font-weight: 900; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Kyrie Irving</a> become one of the best point guards in our league. I think I can help elevate <a href="http://www.si.com/nba/player/tristan-thompson" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; color: #d8272d; cursor: pointer; font-weight: 900; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Tristan Thompson</a> and <a href="http://www.si.com/nba/player/dion-waiters" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; color: #d8272d; cursor: pointer; font-weight: 900; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Dion Waiters</a>. And I can’t wait to reunite with <a href="http://www.si.com/nba/player/anderson-varejao" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; color: #d8272d; cursor: pointer; font-weight: 900; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Anderson Varejao</a>, one of my favorite teammates.</div>
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But this is not about the roster or the organization. I feel my calling here goes above basketball. I have a responsibility to lead, in more ways than one, and I take that very seriously. My presence can make a difference in Miami, but I think it can mean more where I’m from. I want kids in Northeast Ohio, like the hundreds of Akron third-graders I sponsor through my foundation, to realize that there’s no better place to grow up. Maybe some of them will come home after college and start a family or open a business. That would make me smile. Our community, which has struggled so much, needs all the talent it can get.</div>
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In Northeast Ohio, nothing is given. Everything is earned. You work for what you have.</div>
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I’m ready to accept the challenge. I’m coming home.</div>
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<span style="color: #2f343b; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.5px; line-height: 26px;">http://www.si.com/nba/2014/07/11/lebron-james-cleveland-cavaliers</span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4311465649738631500.post-81481177079265921792014-07-08T07:39:00.002-07:002014-07-08T07:50:40.853-07:00Elephant Raju cries, tears<div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Raju the elephant" src="http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9589859.ece/alternates/w1024/presspeople_raju_21.jpg" height="300" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Raju being set free</td></tr>
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<b><span style="color: white;">For 50 years, Raju the elephant was abused, held shackled in spiked chains and forced to live off scraps from passing tourists. All that changed when he was rescued last weekend by wildlife conservationists who said the animal cried when he was finally set free.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: white;"><a href="http://www.wildlifesos.org/" sl-processed="1" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_hplink">Wildlife SOS</a>, a group established in 1995 to protect endangered wildlife in India,<a href="http://www.wildlifesos.org/blog/rajus-journey-freedom-photo-journal" sl-processed="1" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_hplink">set out to rescue Raju</a> on the night of July 2. Raju is around 50 years old and was likely captured as a baby and bought and sold many times over the course of his life. He was forced to work as a begging elephant in Allahabad. His legs were bound in spiked chains that made walking difficult and left him with chronic wounds. He was also beaten.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: white;">Wildlife SOS found out about Raju's story through India's Forestry Commission. When the group attempted to rescue Raju on the night of July 2 in the Uttar Pradesh region of India, his owner and mahout -- an individual who rides elephants -- apparently attempted to dismantle the effort with a standoff, Nikki Sharp, the executive director of Wildlife SOS-USA, told The Huffington Post Monday.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: white;">Raju's captors layered tighter chains on him and attempted to confuse him by shouting commands, but their efforts proved futile. A team of 10 veterinarians and experts from Wildlife SOS along with 20 Forestry Commission officers and two policemen <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/cry-freedom-elephant-chained-up-3817365" sl-processed="1" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_hplink">managed to rescue the abused elephant</a>, according to the Mirror, a British tabloid.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: white;">“Raju was in chains 24 hours a day, an act of intolerable cruelty. The team were astounded to see <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2682388/Incredible-sight-elephant-cried-Raju-held-chains-beaten-abused-fifty-years-day-released-tears-rolled-face.html" sl-processed="1" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_hplink">tears roll down his face during the rescue</a>," Pooja Binepal, a spokesman for Wildlife SOS, said, per the Mirror. "It was incredibly emotional. We knew in our hearts he realized he was being freed. Elephants are majestic and highly intelligent animals. We can only imagine what torture the past half a century has been for him."</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: white;">Sharp echoed Binepal's statement while speaking with HuffPost.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: white;">"They [the rescue team] went in to rescue him and they [his captors] had bound him up so tightly that he was in a lot of pain," she said. "The vet and our team came with fruits and just started speaking softly to him and to reassure him that we were there to help, and it was at that time that tears flooded down his face. The founder of Wildlife SOS, who was there are the time of the rescue, said .... that really caught him off guard. They've done a lot of elephant rescues and the fact the the tears were just coming down ... he was weeping. It was an emotional moment and everyone was more motivated to get him on the truck and to safety."</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: white;">Raju was taken to the Elephant Conservation and Care Centre in Mathura. On July 4, the same day Americans celebrated their independence, Raju took his first steps of freedom. Sharp said he is doing "fabulously." The Wildlife SOS team is prepared to help make Raju comfortable in his new life and to rehabilitate him by treating his physical wounds and introducing him to other elephants at the center.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: white;">Elephants can live up to 70 years. Sharp says they hope Raju has another 10 years or more ahead of him.</span></b></div>
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<em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b><span style="color: white;">Visit <a href="http://www.wildlifesos.org/donate" sl-processed="1" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_hplink">Wildlife SOS to donate to Raju</a>.</span></b></em></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif;"><i><b>http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/07/raju-elephant-cries-rescue_n_5564543.html</b></i></span></span><br />
<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span></span>
<span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: white; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b><i>http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/elephant-cries-while-being-rescued-after-50-years-of-abuse-in-india-9589665.html</i></b></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4311465649738631500.post-30711121640317656962014-07-07T14:40:00.001-07:002014-07-07T14:41:51.397-07:00Maurice Sendak: "Live your life, live your life, live your life."<div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; line-height: 21.599998474121094px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">"I'm not unhappy about becoming old. I'm not unhappy about what must be. It makes me cry only when I see my friends go before me and life is emptied. I don't believe in an afterlife, but I still fully expect to see my brother again. And it's like a dream life. I am reading a biography of Samuel Palmer, which is written by a woman in England. I can't remember her name. And it's sort of how I feel now, when he was just beginning to gain his strength as a creative man and beginning to see nature. But he believed in God, you see, and in heaven, and he believed in hell. Goodness gracious, that must have made life much easier. It's harder for us nonbelievers.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">"I'm finding out as I'm aging that I am in love with the world. And I look right now, as we speak together, out my window in my studio and I see my trees and my beautiful, beautiful maples that are hundreds of years old, they're beautiful. And you see I can see how beautiful they are. I can take time to see how beautiful they are. It is a blessing to get old. It is a blessing to find the time to do the things, to read the books, to listen to the music. You know, I don't think I'm rationalizing anything. I really don't. This is all inevitable and I have no control over it. "Bumble-ardy" was a combination of the deepest pain and the wondrous feeling of coming into my own and it took a long time. It took a very long time, but it's genuine. Unless I'm crazy. I could be crazy and you could be talking to a crazy person. I don't know anymore and I don't care!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">"I cry a lot because I miss people. I cry a lot because they die and I can't stop them. They leave me and I love them more. ... I'm a happy old man. But I will cry my way all the way to the grave."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21.599998474121094px;"><i style="background-color: black;">http://sojo.net/blogs/2011/09/21/maurice-sendak-live-your-life-live-your-life-live-your-life</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21.599998474121094px;"><i style="background-color: black;">http://www.npr.org/2011/09/20/140435330/this-pig-wants-to-party-maurice-sendaks-latest</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21.599998474121094px;"><i style="background-color: black;">http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=3&islist=true&id=13&d=09-20-2011</i></span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4311465649738631500.post-64963514012673784122014-06-13T11:22:00.006-07:002014-06-13T11:24:32.683-07:00Full Commencement Address by Jim Carrey <div style="font-family: verdana; line-height: 20px; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>Official Commencement Address Graduating Class of 2014<br />from Maharishi University of Management, May 24th, 2014<br />by Jim Carrey</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>Thank you Bevan, thank you all!</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>I brought one of my paintings to show you today. Hope you guys are gonna be able see it okay. It’s not one of my bigger pieces. You might wanna move down front — to get a good look at it. (kidding)</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>Faculty, Parents, Friends, Dignitaries... Graduating Class of 2014, and all the dead baseball players coming out of the corn to be with us today. (laughter) After the harvest there’s no place to hide — the fields are empty — there is no cover there! (laughter)</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>I am here to plant a seed that will inspire you to move forward in life with enthusiastic hearts and a clear sense of wholeness. The question is, will that seed have a chance to take root, or will I be sued by Monsanto and forced to use their seed, which may not be totally “Ayurvedic.” (laughter)</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>Excuse me if I seem a little low energy tonight — today — whatever this is. I slept with my head to the North last night. (laughter) Oh man! Oh man! You know how that is, right kids? Woke up right in the middle of Pitta and couldn’t get back to sleep till Vata rolled around, but I didn’t freak out. I used that time to eat a large meal and connect with someone special on Tinder. (laughter)</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>Life doesn’t happen to you, it happens for you. How do I know this? I don’t, but I’m making sound, and that’s the important thing. That’s what I’m here to do. Sometimes, I think that’s one of the only things that are important. Just letting each other know we’re here, reminding each other that we are part of a larger self. I used to think Jim Carrey is all that I was...</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>Just a flickering light </b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>A dancing shadow </b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>The great nothing masquerading as something you can name</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>Dwelling in forts and castles made of witches – wishes! Sorry, a Freudian slip there</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>Seeking shelter in caves and foxholes, dug out hastily</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>An archer searching for his target in the mirror</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>Wounded only by my own arrows</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>Begging to be enslaved</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>Pleading for my chains</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>Blinded by longing and tripping over paradise – can I get an “Amen”?! (applause)</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>You didn’t think I could be serious did ya’? I don't think you understand who you're dealing with! I have no limits! I cannot be contained because I’m the container. You can’t contain the container, man! You can’t contain the container! (laughter)</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>I used to believe that who I was ended at the edge of my skin, that I had been given this little vehicle called a body from which to experience creation, and though I couldn’t have asked for a sportier model, (laughter) it was after all a loaner and would have to be returned. Then, I learned that everything outside the vehicle was a part of me, too, and now I drive a convertible. Top down wind in my hair! (laughter)</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>I am elated and truly, truly, truly excited to be present and fully connected to you at this important moment in your journey. I hope you’re ready to open the roof and take it all in?! (audience doesn’t react) Okay, four more years then! (laughter)</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>I want to thank the Trustees, Administrators and Faculty of MUM for creating an institution worthy of Maharishi’s ideals of education. A place that teaches the knowledge and experience necessary to be productive in life, as well as enabling the students, through Transcendental Meditation and ancient Vedic knowledge to slack off twice a day for an hour and a half!! (laughter) — don’t think you’re fooling me!!! — (applause) but, I guess it has some benefits. It does allow you to separate who you truly are and what’s real, from the stories that run through your head.</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>You have given them the ability to walk behind the mind’s elaborate set decoration, and to see that there is a huge difference between a dog that is going to eat you in your mind and an actual dog that’s going to eat you. (laughter) That may sound like no big deal, but many never learn that distinction and spend a great deal of their lives living in fight or flight response.</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>I’d like to acknowledge all you wonderful parents — way to go for the fantastic job you’ve done — for your tireless dedication, your love, your support, and most of all, for the attention you’ve paid to your children. I have a saying, “Beware the unloved,” because they will eventually hurt themselves... or me! (laughter)</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>But when I look at this group here today, I feel really safe! I do! I’m just going to say it — my room is not locked! My room is not locked! (laughter) No doubt some of you will turn out to be crooks! But white-collar stuff — Wall St. ya’ know, that type of thing — crimes committed by people with self-esteem! Stuff a parent can still be proud of in a weird way. (laughter)</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>And to the graduating class of 2017 — minus 3! You didn't let me finish! (laughter) — Congratulations! (applause) Yes, give yourselves a round of applause, please. You are the vanguard of knowledge and consciousness; a new wave in a vast ocean of possibilities. On the other side of that door, there is a world starving for new leadership, new ideas.</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>I’ve been out there for 30 years! She’s a wild cat! (laughter) Oh, she’ll rub up against your leg and purr until you pick her up and start pettin’ her, and out of nowhere she’ll swat you in the face. Sure it’s rough sometimes but that’s OK, ‘cause they’ve got soft serve ice cream with sprinkles! (laughter) I guess that’s what I’m really here to say; sometimes it’s okay to eat your feelings! (laughter)</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>Fear is going to be a player in your life, but you get to decide how much. You can spend your whole life imagining ghosts, worrying about your pathway to the future, but all there will ever be is what’s happening here, and the decisions we make in this moment, which are based in either love or fear.</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>So many of us choose our path out of fear disguised as practicality. What we really want seems impossibly out of reach and ridiculous to expect, so we never dare to ask the universe for it. I’m saying, I’m the proof that you can ask the universe for it — please! (applause) And if it doesn't happen for you right away, it’s only because the universe is so busy fulfilling my order. It’s party size! (laughter)</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>My father could have been a great comedian, but he didn’t believe that was possible for him, and so he made a conservative choice. Instead, he got a safe job as an accountant, and when I was 12 years old, he was let go from that safe job and our family had to do whatever we could to survive.</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>I learned many great lessons from my father, not the least of which was that you can fail at what you don’t want, so you might as well take a chance on doing what you love. (applause)</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>That’s not the only thing he taught me though: I watched the affect my father’s love and humor had on the world around me, and I thought, “That’s something to do, that’s something worth my time.”</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>It wasn’t long before I started acting up. People would come over to my house and they would be greeted by a 7 yr old throwing himself down a large flight of stairs. (laughter) They would say, “What happened?” And I would say, “I don't know — let’s check the replay.” And I would go back to the top of the stairs and come back down in slow motion. (Jim reenacts coming down the stairs in slow-mo) It was a very strange household. (laughter)</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>My father used to brag that I wasn’t a ham — I was the whole pig. And he treated my talent as if it was his second chance. When I was about 28, after a decade as a professional comedian, I realized one night in LA that the purpose of my life had always been to free people from concern, like my dad. When I realized this, I dubbed my new devotion, “The Church of Freedom From Concern” — “The Church of FFC”— and I dedicated myself to that ministry.</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>What’s yours? How will you serve the world? What do they need that your talent can provide? That’s all you have to figure out. As someone who has done what you are about to go do, I can tell you from experience, the effect you have on others is the most valuable currency there is. (applause)</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>Everything you gain in life will rot and fall apart, and all that will be left of you is what was in your heart. My choosing to free people from concern got me to the top of a mountain. Look where I am — look what I get to do! Everywhere I go – and I’m going to get emotional because when I tap into this, it really is extraordinary to me — I did something that makes people present their best selves to me wherever I go. (applause) I am at the top of the mountain and the only one I hadn’t freed was myself and that’s when my search for identity deepened.</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>I wondered who I’d be without my fame. Who would I be if I said things that people didn’t want to hear, or if I defied their expectations of me? What if I showed up to the party without my Mardi Gras mask and I refused to flash my breasts for a handful of beads? (laughter) I’ll give you a moment to wipe that image out of your mind. (laughter)</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>But you guys are way ahead of the game. You already know who you are and that peace, that peace that we’re after, lies somewhere beyond personality, beyond the perception of others, beyond invention and disguise, even beyond effort itself. You can join the game, fight the wars, play with form all you want, but to find real peace, you have to let the armor fall. Your need for acceptance can make you invisible in this world. Don’t let anything stand in the way of the light that shines through this form. Risk being seen in all of your glory. (A sheet drops and reveals Jim’s painting. Applause.)</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>(Re: the painting) It’s not big enough! (kidding) This painting is big for a reason. This painting is called “High Visibility.” (laughter) It’s about picking up the light and daring to be seen. Here’s the tricky part. Everyone is attracted to the light. The party host up in the corner (refers to painting) who thinks unconsciousness is bliss and is always offering a drink from the bottles that empty you; Misery, below her, who despises the light — can’t stand when you’re doing well — and wishes you nothing but the worst; The Queen of Diamonds who needs a King to build her house of cards; And the Hollow One, who clings to your leg and begs, “Please don’t leave me behind for I have abandoned myself.”</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>Even those who are closest to you and most in love with you; the people you love most in the world can find clarity confronting at times. This painting took me thousands of hours to complete and — (applause) thank you — yes, thousands of hours that I’ll never get back, I’ll never get them back (kidding) — I worked on this for so long, for weeks and weeks, like a mad man alone on a scaffolding — and when I was finished one of my friends said, “This would be a cool black light painting.” (laughter)</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>So I started over. (All the lights go off in the Dome and the painting is showered with black light.) Whooooo! Welcome to Burning Man! (applause) Some pretty crazy characters right? Better up there than in here. (points to head) Painting is one of the ways I free myself from concern, a way to stop the world through total mental, spiritual and physical involvement.</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>But even with that, comes a feeling of divine dissatisfaction. Because ultimately, we’re not the avatars we create. We’re not the pictures on the film stock. We are the light that shines through it. All else is just smoke and mirrors. Distracting, but not truly compelling.</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>I’ve often said that I wished people could realize all their dreams of wealth and fame so they could see that it’s not where you’ll find your sense of completion. Like many of you, I was concerned about going out in the world and doing something bigger than myself, until someone smarter than myself made me realize that there is nothing bigger than myself! (laughter)</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>My soul is not contained within the limits of my body. My body is contained within the limitlessness of my soul — one unified field of nothing dancing for no particular reason, except maybe to comfort and entertain itself. (applause) As that shift happens in you, you won’t be feeling the world you’ll be felt by it — you will be embraced by it. Now, I’m always at the beginning. I have a reset button called presence and I ride that button constantly.</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>Once that button is functional in your life, there’s no story the mind could create that will be as compelling. The imagination is always manufacturing scenarios — both good and bad — and the ego tries to keep you trapped in the multiplex of the mind. Our eyes are not only viewers, but also projectors that are running a second story over the picture we see in front of us all the time. Fear is writing that script and the working title is, ‘I’ll never be enough.’</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>You look at a person like me and say, (kidding) “How could we ever hope to reach those kinds of heights, Jim? How can I make a painting that's too big for any reasonable home? How do you fly so high without a special breathing apparatus?” (laughter)</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>This is the voice of your ego. If you listen to it, there will always be someone who seems to be doing better than you. No matter what you gain, ego will not let you rest. It will tell you that you cannot stop until you’ve left an indelible mark on the earth, until you’ve achieved immortality. How tricky is the ego that it would tempt us with the promise of something we already possess.</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>So I just want you to relax—that’s my job—relax and dream up a good life! (applause) I had a substitute teacher from Ireland in the second grade that told my class during Morning Prayer that when she wants something, anything at all, she prays for it, and promises something in return and she always gets it. I’m sitting at the back of the classroom, thinking that my family can’t afford a bike, so I went home and I prayed for one, and promised I would recite the rosary every night in exchange. Broke it—broke that promise. (laughter)</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>Two weeks later, I got home from school to find a brand new mustang bike with a banana seat and easy rider handlebars — from fool to cool! My family informed me that I had won the bike in a raffle that a friend of mine had entered my name in, without my knowledge. That type of thing has been happening ever since, and as far as I can tell, it’s just about letting the universe know what you want and working toward it while letting go of how it might come to pass. (applause)</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>Your job is not to figure out how it’s going to happen for you, but to open the door in your head and when the doors open in real life, just walk through it. Don’t worry if you miss your cue. There will always be another door opening. They keep opening.</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>And when I say, “life doesn’t happen to you, it happens for you.” I really don’t know if that’s true. I’m just making a conscious choice to perceive challenges as something beneficial so that I can deal with them in the most productive way. You’ll come up with your own style, that’s part of the fun!</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>Oh, and why not take a chance on faith as well? Take a chance on faith — not religion, but faith. Not hope, but faith. I don’t believe in hope. Hope is a beggar. Hope walks through the fire. Faith leaps over it.</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>You are ready and able to do beautiful things in this world and after you walk through those doors today, you will only ever have two choices: love or fear. Choose love, and don’t ever let fear turn you against your playful heart.</b></span></div>
<div style="font-family: verdana; line-height: 20px;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>Thank you. Jai Guru Dev. I’m honored. Thank you.</b></span></div>
<div style="font-family: verdana; line-height: 20px;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div style="font-family: verdana; line-height: 20px;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>https://www.mum.edu/default.aspx?RelId=694468so </b></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4311465649738631500.post-91711046087852807602014-06-05T10:50:00.002-07:002014-06-05T10:51:35.360-07:00Festival of Arts is going on in Grand Rapids<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;">Hey ya’ll,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;">Hope everyone is having a great summer. For
those who are looking for something fun to do this weekend, Festival of Arts is
going on in Grand Rapids. It’s a foodie’s dream, tons of different food stands
and art.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;">You can read more about it here: <a href="http://www.festivalgr.org/about/">http://www.festivalgr.org/about/</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;">For those who have never been to Grand
Rapids, you can read more about it in the following links.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;">29 Things To Know About Grand Rapids Before
You Move There - <a href="http://www.movoto.com/grand-rapids-mi/moving-to-grand-rapids/">http://www.movoto.com/grand-rapids-mi/moving-to-grand-rapids/</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;">10 Things Only People From Grand Rapids
Understand - <a href="http://www.movoto.com/grand-rapids-mi/only-people-from-grand-rapids-understand/">http://www.movoto.com/grand-rapids-mi/only-people-from-grand-rapids-understand/</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;">These 15 Grand Rapids Restaurants Will Blow
Your Taste Buds Out Of Your Mouth - <a href="http://www.movoto.com/grand-rapids-mi/best-restaurants-in-grand-rapids/">http://www.movoto.com/grand-rapids-mi/best-restaurants-in-grand-rapids/</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;">-Renwei</span><span style="color: #1f497d;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4311465649738631500.post-47851634325004302842014-06-05T10:27:00.001-07:002014-06-05T10:29:31.954-07:0045 Life Lessons Written by a "90-Year-Old Woman"<br />
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People often tell Regina Brett how great she looks for her age. Turns out, she is actually 54 years old — not 90. She wrote down these life lessons the night before her 45th birthday after being diagnosed with breast cancer. Over that past decade, these lessons have gone viral on the Internet amid claims that she is 90 years old. Luckily, she finds humor in this misrepresentation, knowing how many lives she has touched.</div>
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Whatever her age might be, these universal lessons are relatable to anyone who needs a little reminder of what’s important in life.<br />
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<br />
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<ol style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: AvenirNext-Regular, ProximaNova, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px; padding: 14.546875px 58.234375px;">
<li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">Life isn't fair, but it's still good.</li>
<li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">When in doubt, just take the next small step.</li>
<li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.</li>
<li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.</li>
<li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">Pay off your credit cards every month.</li>
<li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.</li>
<li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.</li>
<li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">Save for retirement, starting with your first paycheck.</li>
<li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.</li>
<li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.</li>
<li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">It's OK to let your children see you cry.</li>
<li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about.</li>
<li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.</li>
<li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">Life is too short for long pity parties. Get busy living, or get busy dying.</li>
<li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">You can get through anything if you stay put in today.</li>
<li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">A writer writes. If you want to be a writer, write.</li>
<li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">It's never <a class="ss_inline_link auto_link_filter no_shopsense_url_rewrite" href="http://www.shopstyle.com/browse/Too-Late" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #ee0066; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="Shop for Too Late">too late</a> to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.</li>
<li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.</li>
<li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">Burn the candles; use the nice sheets; wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.</li>
<li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">Overprepare, then go with the flow.</li>
<li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.</li>
<li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">The most important sex organ is the brain.</li>
<li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">No one is in charge of your happiness except you.</li>
<li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">Frame every so-called disaster with these words: "In five years, will this matter?"</li>
<li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">Forgive everyone everything.</li>
<li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">What other people think of you is none of your business.</li>
<li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">Time heals almost everything. Give time time.</li>
<li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">However good or bad a situation is, it will change.</li>
<li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.</li>
<li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">Believe in miracles.</li>
<li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.</li>
<li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">Growing old beats the alternative — dying young.</li>
<li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">Your children get only one childhood. Make it memorable.</li>
<li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.</li>
<li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.</li>
<li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.</li>
<li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.</li>
<li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.</li>
<li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.</li>
<li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">The best is yet to come.</li>
<li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">No matter how you feel, get up, dress up, and show up.</li>
<li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.</li>
<li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">If you don't ask, you don't get.</li>
<li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">Yield.</li>
<li style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px;">Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.</li>
</ol>
<div>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: AvenirNext-Regular, ProximaNova, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 24px;">http://www.savvysugar.com/45-Life-Lessons-Written-90-Year-Old-Woman-34209890</span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4311465649738631500.post-32868218977146916442014-06-04T14:15:00.002-07:002014-06-04T14:16:36.296-07:00Dear Dad, Letter 01...Dear Dad,<br />
<br />
You've been gone since March 23, 2014. Sometimes I am in disbelief that during our last conversation you were in so much pain from the chemotherapy. It's been a little over two months since you went to Heaven, but I still think about you everyday. I am picking up a puppy (yellow lab) I purchased this Friday. She is 8 weeks-old. Her name is Izza, in tribute to Coach Izzo. You would have loved her, she is so docile. The summer has been beautiful here in Michigan thus far. I am sure you would have enjoyed many walks and bike rides by now. I just wanted to say hi, I miss you, and know you are smiling down on all of us from Heaven.<br />
<br />
Love,<br />
Your Son<br />
<br />
Here is a pic of her from last week:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PBddtkdHBjI/U4-MpfxUrgI/AAAAAAAAD_A/vlfBlawnodk/s1600/izza+pic.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PBddtkdHBjI/U4-MpfxUrgI/AAAAAAAAD_A/vlfBlawnodk/s1600/izza+pic.jpeg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4311465649738631500.post-48397169882683806662014-05-06T10:30:00.004-07:002014-05-06T10:39:33.331-07:0030 of the best quotes ever<br />
<h2>
30 of the Best Quotes Ever</h2>
<a class="tracker-binded" href="http://quotes.lifehack.org/quote/coco-chanel/how-many-cares-one-loses-when-one/" target="_blank"><span class="lazy-div alignnone size-full wp-image-68627" style="max-width: 1000px;"><span class="lazy-div-placeholder" style="padding-bottom: 55.4%;"><img alt="quote-Coco-Chanel-how-many-cares-one-loses-when-one-103207" class="lazy-img alignnone size-full wp-image-68627" src="http://cdn-media-2.lifehack.org/wp-content/files/2013/06/quote-Coco-Chanel-how-many-cares-one-loses-when-one-103207.png" data-original="http://cdn-media-2.lifehack.org/wp-content/files/2013/06/quote-Coco-Chanel-how-many-cares-one-loses-when-one-103207.png" height="353" style="display: block;" width="640" /></span></span></a><br />
<blockquote>
“How many cares one loses when one decides not to be something but to be someone.”<br />
-Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel</blockquote>
<a class="tracker-binded" href="http://quotes.lifehack.org/quote/dr-seuss/be-who-you-are-and-say-what/" target="_blank"><span class="lazy-div alignnone size-full wp-image-68628" style="max-width: 1000px;"><span class="lazy-div-placeholder" style="padding-bottom: 55.4%;"><img alt="quote-Dr.-Seuss-be-who-you-are-and-say-what-89126" class="lazy-img alignnone size-full wp-image-68628" src="http://cdn-media-2.lifehack.org/wp-content/files/2013/06/quote-Dr.-Seuss-be-who-you-are-and-say-what-89126.png" data-original="http://cdn-media-2.lifehack.org/wp-content/files/2013/06/quote-Dr.-Seuss-be-who-you-are-and-say-what-89126.png" height="354" style="display: block;" width="640" /></span></span></a><br />
<blockquote>
“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.”<br />
-Dr. Seuss</blockquote>
<blockquote>
“Imitation is suicide.”<br />
-Ralph Waldo Emerson</blockquote>
<a class="tracker-binded" href="http://quotes.lifehack.org/quote/oliver-james/do-your-own-thing-on-your-own/" target="_blank"><span class="lazy-div alignnone size-full wp-image-87871" style="max-width: 1000px;"><span class="lazy-div-placeholder" style="padding-bottom: 51.2%;"><img alt="quote-Oliver-James-do-your-own-thing-on-your-own-147345_1" class="lazy-img alignnone size-full wp-image-87871" src="http://cdn-media-2.lifehack.org/wp-content/files/2013/09/quote-Oliver-James-do-your-own-thing-on-your-own-147345_1.png" data-original="http://cdn-media-2.lifehack.org/wp-content/files/2013/09/quote-Oliver-James-do-your-own-thing-on-your-own-147345_1.png" height="327" style="display: block;" width="640" /></span></span></a><br />
<blockquote>
“Do your own thing on your own terms and get what you came here for.”<br />
-Oliver James</blockquote>
<blockquote>
“Flatter yourself critically.”<br />
-Willis Goth Regier</blockquote>
<blockquote>
“Do what you feel in your heart to be right, for you’ll be criticized anyway.”<br />
-Eleanor Roosevelt</blockquote>
<blockquote>
“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”<br />
-Mark Twain</blockquote>
<blockquote>
“I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet.”<br />
-Mahatma Gandhi</blockquote>
<blockquote>
“Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self.”<br />
-Cyril Connolly</blockquote>
<blockquote>
“We must not allow other people’s limited perceptions to define us.”<br />
-Virginia Satir</blockquote>
<blockquote>
“Don’t look for society to give you permission to be yourself.”<br />
-Steve Maraboli</blockquote>
<blockquote>
“If things go wrong, don’t go with them.”<br />
-Roger Babson</blockquote>
<blockquote>
“Wanting to be someone else is a waste of who you are.”<br />
-Kurt Cobain</blockquote>
<blockquote>
“Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are.”<br />
-Chinese Proverb</blockquote>
<blockquote>
“Where’s your will to be weird?”<br />
-Jim Morrison</blockquote>
<blockquote>
“Some people say you are going the wrong way, when it’s simply a way of your own.”<br />
-Angelina Jolie</blockquote>
<blockquote>
“Remember to always be yourself. Unless you suck.”<br />
-Joss Whedon</blockquote>
<blockquote>
“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”<br />
-Theodore Roosevelt</blockquote>
<blockquote>
“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”<br />
-Oscar Wilde</blockquote>
<blockquote>
“I took a deep breath and listened to the old bray of my heart. I am. I am. I am.”<br />
-Sylvia Plath</blockquote>
<blockquote>
“There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”<br />
-Anaïs Nin</blockquote>
<blockquote>
“To find yourself, think for yourself.”<br />
-Socrates</blockquote>
<blockquote>
“If you seek authenticity for authenticity’s sake you are no longer authentic.”<br />
-Jean Paul Sartre</blockquote>
<blockquote>
“If you cannot be a poet, be the poem.”<br />
-David Carradine</blockquote>
<blockquote>
“When one is pretending the entire body revolts.”<br />
-Anaïs Nin</blockquote>
<blockquote>
“Be there for others, but never leave yourself behind.”<br />
-Dodinsky</blockquote>
<blockquote>
“Do what you must,<br />
And your friends will adjust.”<br />
-Robert Brault</blockquote>
<blockquote>
“Just let awareness have its way with you completely.”<br />
-Scott Morrison</blockquote>
<blockquote>
“We must be our own before we can be another’s.”<br />
-Ralph Waldo Emerson</blockquote>
<blockquote>
“This above all: to thine own self be true.”<br />
-William Shakespeare</blockquote>
<b><i>Which quotes stand out to you as being the best quotes ever?</i></b><br />
<b>Can’t get enough? <a class="tracker-binded" href="http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/20-encouraging-quotes-to-level-up-your-life.html" target="_blank">20 Encouraging Quotes to Level Up Your Life</a></b><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4311465649738631500.post-83398860003756340262014-05-04T08:41:00.001-07:002014-05-04T08:41:34.637-07:00Hard copies of my book are now available on Amazon $5.55<span class="userContent">Hard copies of my book are now available on Amazon $5.55<br /> <br /> Pick it up, it's a quick worthy read <br /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Golden-Rule-Inequality-Capitalism/dp/1499173318/ref=sr_1_1_bnp_1_pap?ie=UTF8&qid=1398273694&sr=8-1&keywords=golden+rule+inequality" rel="nofollow nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.amazon.com/The-Golden-Rule-Inequality-Capitalism/dp/1499173318/ref=sr_1_1_bnp_1_pap?ie=UTF8&qid=1398273694&sr=8-1&keywords=golden+rul<span class="text_exposed_show">e+inequality</span></a><span class="text_exposed_show"><br /> <br />
#11 Amazon Best Sellers Rank ( #11 in Kindle Store > Kindle Short
Reads > 45 minutes (22-32 pages) > Politics & Social Sciences )
<br /> <br /> Also available at Barnes & Noble: <br /> <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-golden-rule-renwei-chung/1119321250?ean=9781499173314" rel="nofollow nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-golden-rule-renwei-chung/1119321250?ean=9781499173314</a><br /> <br /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/author/renwei" rel="nofollow nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.amazon.com/author/renwei</a></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4311465649738631500.post-65955929102530001532014-05-03T10:38:00.002-07:002014-05-03T10:39:05.228-07:00Top 10 Things I Learned From Dealing with Death<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Top 10 Things I Learned From Dealing with Death</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Tomorrow is promised to no one.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Be thankful for today.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Be present in the moment.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Enjoy your life.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Your parents are human too.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>It’s okay to cry.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">7.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Celebrate your relationships.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">8.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>No one is perfect.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">9.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Make more time for family.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Let people know how much you love them.<br />
<br />
-Renwei <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
- <br />
<br />
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4311465649738631500.post-31784538178876746452014-05-03T08:44:00.003-07:002014-05-03T08:44:41.765-07:005 Regrets of The Dying<div id="content-area">
After many years of feeling unfulfilled at her job, Bronnie
Ware set out to find something that resonated with her soul. She ended
up in palliative care where she spent many years helping those who were
dying. Some time later, she compiled a list of the 5 most common regrets
expressed by the people she cared for.<br />
The list she collected gained huge popularity, and we are sharing it
with you here today because it’s something all of us should keep in
mind. Even though it can be hard to think about, this stuff is really
important for your happiness right here and now!<br />
<strong>1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.</strong><br />
“This was the most common regret of all. When people realise that
their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see
how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honoured
even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to
choices they had made, or not made. Health brings a freedom very few
realise, until they no longer have it.”<br />
<strong>2. I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.</strong><br />
“This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their
children’s youth and their partner’s companionship. Women also spoke of
this regret, but as most were from an older generation, many of the
female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed
deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a
work existence.”<br />
<strong>3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.</strong><br />
“Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with
others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never
became who they were truly capable of becoming. Many developed illnesses
relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result.”<br />
<strong>4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.</strong><br />
“Often they would not truly realise the full benefits of old friends
until their dying weeks and it was not always possible to track them
down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let
golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets
about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved.
Everyone misses their friends when they are dying.”<br />
<strong>5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.</strong><br />
”This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realise until the
end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns
and habits. The so-called ‘comfort’ of familiarity overflowed into their
emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them
pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content, when
deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their
life again.”<br />
<div id="link-source">
Credit: <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bronnie-ware/top-5-regrets-of-the-dyin_b_1220965.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">huffingtonpost.com</a></div>
This is really truthful and beautiful advice,
even though it's a bit hard to think about. Take it from the people
that have been there, and don't make the same mistake! Share these 5
points, as everyone could use a reminder from time to time.<br />
<br />
http://www.lifebuzz.com/5-regrets/ <br />
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4311465649738631500.post-81133288868623839352014-05-01T14:58:00.001-07:002014-05-01T14:58:05.889-07:00Top 15 Power of Positive Thinking Quotes<h1 class="art-postheader">
Top 15 Power of Positive Thinking Quotes</h1>
<h1 class="art-postheader">
<span style="font-size: small;">As seen on http://www.movemequotes.com/top-15-power-of-positive-thinking-quotes/</span> </h1>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="Top 15 Quotes on the Power of Positive Thinking" class="lazy aligncenter size-full wp-image-8737 data-lazy-ready" data-lazy-src="http://movemequotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/dancing_in_the_rain1.jpg" data-lazy-type="image" height="400" src="http://movemequotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/dancing_in_the_rain1.jpg" style="display: block;" title="Top 15 Quotes on the Power of Positive Thinking" width="322" /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
…And how a change in thoughts can lead to a change in life.</h2>
<span id="more-8700"></span><br />
<h3>
<span style="color: #ff6600;">#15</span></h3>
<blockquote>
<span style="color: black;">“The day is what you make it! So why not make it a great one?” ~ Steve Schulte</span></blockquote>
<h3>
<span style="color: #ff6600;">#14</span></h3>
<blockquote>
<span style="color: black;">“Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson</span></blockquote>
<h3>
<span style="color: #ff6600;">#13</span></h3>
<blockquote>
“Being miserable is a habit; being happy is a habit; and the choice is yours.” ~ Tom Hopkins</blockquote>
<h3>
<span style="color: #ff6600;">#12</span></h3>
<blockquote>
<span style="color: black;">“You cannot tailor-make the situations in life but you can tailor-make the attitudes to fit those situations.” ~ Zig Ziglar</span></blockquote>
<h3>
<span style="color: #ff6600;">#11</span></h3>
<blockquote>
“Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.” ~ John Wooden</blockquote>
<h3>
<span style="color: #ff6600;">#10</span></h3>
<blockquote>
“We can’t escape pain; we can’t escape the essential
nature of our lives. But we do have a choice. We can give in and relent,
or we can fight, persevere, and create a life worth living, a noble
life. Pain is a fact; our evaluation of it is a choice.” ~ Jacob Held</blockquote>
<h3>
<span style="color: #ff6600;"> #9</span></h3>
<blockquote>
“Each problem has hidden in it an opportunity so powerful
that it literally dwarfs the problem. The greatest success stories were
created by people who recognized a problem and turned it into an
opportunity.” ~ Joseph Sugarman</blockquote>
<h3>
<span style="color: #ff6600;"> #8</span></h3>
<blockquote>
“The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude.” ~ Oprah Winfrey</blockquote>
<h3>
<span style="color: #ff6600;"> #7</span></h3>
<blockquote>
“Optimism is the most important human trait, because it
allows us to evolve our ideas, to improve our situation, and to hope for
a better tomorrow.” ~ Seth Godin</blockquote>
<h3>
<span style="color: #ff6600;">#6</span></h3>
<blockquote>
“I have for many years endeavored to make this vital
truth clear; and still people marvel when I tell them that I am happy.
They imagine that my limitations weigh heavily upon my spirit, and chain
me to the rock of despair. Yet, it seems to me, happiness has very
little to do with the senses. If we make up our minds that this is a
drab and purposeless universe, it will be that, and nothing else. On the
other hand, if we believe that the earth is ours, and that the sun and
moon hang in the sky for our delight, there will be joy upon the hills
and gladness in the fields because the Artist in our souls glorifies
creation. Surely, it gives dignity to life to believe that we are born
into this world for noble ends, and that we have a higher destiny than
can be accomplished within the narrow limits of this physical life.” ~
Helen Keller</blockquote>
<h3>
<span style="color: #ff6600;"> #5</span></h3>
<blockquote>
“Nothing truly stops you. Nothing truly holds you back.
For your own will is always within your control. Sickness may
challenge your body. But are you merely your body? Lameness may impede
your legs. But you are not merely your legs. Your will is bigger than
your legs. Your will needn’t be affected by an incident unless you let
it.” ~ Epictetus</blockquote>
<h3>
<span style="color: #ff6600;"> #4</span></h3>
<blockquote>
“Beliefs have the power to create and the power to
destroy. Human beings have the awesome ability to take any experience of
their lives and create a meaning that disempowers them or one that can
literally save their lives.” ~ Anthony Robbins</blockquote>
<h3>
<span style="color: #ff6600;"> #3</span></h3>
<blockquote>
“Each morning when I open my eyes I say to myself: I, not
events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose
which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn’t arrived yet. I
have just one day, today, and I’m going to be happy in it.” ~ Groucho
Marx</blockquote>
<h3>
<span style="color: #ff6600;"> #2</span></h3>
<blockquote>
“Man often becomes what he believes himself to be. If I
keep on saying to myself that I cannot do a certain thing, it is
possible that I may end by really becoming incapable of doing it. On the
contrary, if I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire
the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning.” ~
Mahatma Gandhi</blockquote>
<h3>
<span style="color: #ff6600;"> #1</span></h3>
<blockquote>
“Welcome every morning with a smile. Look on the new day
as another special gift from your Creator, another golden opportunity to
complete what you were unable to finish yesterday. Be a self-starter.
Let your first hour set the theme of success and positive action that is
certain to echo through your entire day. Today will never happen again.
Don’t waste it with a false start or no start at all. You were not born
to fail.” ~ Og Mandino</blockquote>
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
Bonus: 5 Positive Thinking Quotes in Pictures!</h2>
<br />
<h3>
<span style="color: #ff6600;">#5</span></h3>
<img alt="I am in charge of how I feel and today I am choosing happiness." class="lazy aligncenter size-full wp-image-14051 data-lazy-ready" data-lazy-src="http://www.movemequotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/59524a465c4e8ba17757ba951b598486.jpg" data-lazy-type="image" height="705" src="http://www.movemequotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/59524a465c4e8ba17757ba951b598486.jpg" style="display: block;" width="500" /><br />
<h3>
<span style="color: #ff6600;">#4</span></h3>
<img alt="An amazing analogy by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer:" class="lazy aligncenter size-full wp-image-12979 data-lazy-ready" data-lazy-src="http://www.movemequotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/21366_560737483983401_2017972483_n.jpg" data-lazy-type="image" height="411" src="http://www.movemequotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/21366_560737483983401_2017972483_n.jpg" style="display: block;" width="550" /><br />
<h3>
<span style="color: #ff6600;">#3</span></h3>
<img alt="Choosing to be positive and having a grateful attitude is going to determine how you're going to live your life." class="lazy aligncenter size-full wp-image-13838 data-lazy-ready" data-lazy-src="http://www.movemequotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/tumblr_ms1zqhoX591qjm9bpo1_500.jpg" data-lazy-type="image" height="750" src="http://www.movemequotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/tumblr_ms1zqhoX591qjm9bpo1_500.jpg" style="display: block;" width="492" /><br />
<h3>
<span style="color: #ff6600;">#2</span></h3>
<img alt="This is you..." class="lazy aligncenter size-full wp-image-12293 data-lazy-ready" data-lazy-src="http://www.movemequotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/tumblr_m7p0k280Vv1rzxnwvo1_500.png" data-lazy-type="image" height="615" src="http://www.movemequotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/tumblr_m7p0k280Vv1rzxnwvo1_500.png" style="display: block;" width="500" /><br />
<h3>
<span style="color: #ff6600;">#1</span></h3>
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<img alt="If you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely. ~ Roald dahl" class="lazy aligncenter size-full wp-image-13628 data-lazy-ready" data-lazy-src="http://www.movemequotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/tumblr_mp3wf07poU1sob00to1_500.jpg" data-lazy-type="image" height="750" src="http://www.movemequotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/tumblr_mp3wf07poU1sob00to1_500.jpg" style="display: block;" width="500" />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0