Hide Your Goat!

November 17, 2011 by 5 Comments

If you don’t want anyone to get your goat, don’t let them know where you have it tied.

One of the very early lessons we determined to teach our daughters was how to be teased. Yes, I know that might not rank high on the typical;list of priorities, but we knew that is they see their parents teasing each other in a positive way and laughing at ourselves, and if we tease them and let them tease us, they would enter school tease-proof. Let’s face it, the worse a child reacts to teasing, the more she will be picked on.

I wrote about this in The Daily Dose of Happiness eight years ago, and based on how freely they will tease us, we haven’t totally failed. They keep chasing our goats.

Teasing does not go away as an adult; it just gets subtler. It is never to late to hide your goat. (For those who have read Climb your Stairway to Heaven, you may be thinking of hiding your goat with a sheep down a well, but that’s another story.)

The next time you are teased, try laughing with the teaser. It can be a very liberating experience.

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November – The Most Depressing Month of The Year

November 10, 2011 by 1 Comment

A few reasons why November is the most depressing month of the year:

  • It is getting colder, not as much fun being outdoors. Bleugh.
  • The green of the trees has left.  The leaves have fallen.  All that’s left are bare sticks. Bleugh.
  • Grass and ground plants are turning brown.  Bleugh.
  • There is no white snow yet to brighten up the landscape. Bleugh.
  • Days are getting shorter, so there is less light. Bleugh.
  • Cloud cover makes the shorter days and the browner barren landscape, making it all even bleughier.

We are in the final stages of setting up a solar power generation system on our land (You can read about it at http://www.solarontarioblog.ca)  Until we saw the month solar radiation stats, we did not realize just how cloudy November is.

See this graph:

Consider that December 21 is the Winter Solstice – the shortest day of the year.  That means that December should have the least hours of sunshine, weather excluded.  Because the 21st is closer to January than to November, January should have the second-fewest hours of sunlight, and November should have the third-fewest hours of sunlight.

November is the perfect time to do purposeful things to add some uplift to your days.  In our household, that has meant some games of air hockey, trips to the library and board games – family things we can do together that encourage laughter and smiles.

How do you plan to blow away the clouds of November?

Note: I have cross-posted this (sort of) over at November – Solar Power’s Doldrums.

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Muhammad Ali’s Lessons for Life

November 7, 2011 by 4 Comments

Ali was not only one of the greatest boxers the world has ever known but he is also known as an incredibly inspiring human being. He was also known for his pre-match hype, where he would “trash talk” opponents on television and in person some time before each match, often with rhymes. These personality quips and idioms, along with an unorthodox fighting technique, made him a cultural icon. Below I will list some of his most inspiring quotes and how important they can be to the person who takes heed.

1… Fake it until you believe it.

 

“I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was”

I’m sure you have heard the “fake it till you make it” phrase before. How you hold yourself and what you say to yourself has a dramatic affect on how others see you and how your mind perceives your environment.

 

When you are out and about in the world today, hold your head up, pull your shoulders back and speak with clarity. By purposely and consciously acting how you would like to feel, your body and mind will begin to follow the lead you set out before hand. Also, the people you meet will treat you the way they perceive you, thus, reinforcing into your mind the outcome you set out to from the start.

If you want to feel more confident, in control and you want others to see you that way, then fake it. Inside, you might be nervous at first but others will not notice this as they will only be focused on what their eyes can see.

“I figured that if I said it enough, I would convince the world that I really was the greatest”

2… Short term pain for long term gain.

“I hated every minute of training, but I said, “Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.”

Everything we do in life has consequences and more often than not we tend to opt for the easiest solution ahead of persevering in the face of resistance. Our bad habits are a perfect example of this lesson because they give us instant gratification and yet we never focus on the long term effects they may cause.

It becomes very easy to choose between what makes us feel good now as opposed to what will make us feel good in the future. Take a look at the choices you make each day and ask yourself if you are simply choosing instant gratification over long term pleasure. Most don’t want to put in the effort today because the results may take some time to manifest.

I am all for living in the moment but there are certain seeds that need to e planed today for the to harvest tomorrow.

3… Nobody knows you better than you know yourself.

“I know where I’m going and I know the truth, and I don’t have to be what you want me to be. I’m free to be what I want.”

 

No one can accuse Ali of being a person who lived his life on others terms. What about you? Are you living your life on your own terms? Have you made choices in the past because of what others expected of you and continue to do so?

I made the decision some time ago to live my life on my own terms. I left an extremely well paid  job after 12 years because I simply didn’t enjoy it anymore. It was a big decision at the time and I had to listen to my friends and family tell me how I was making a huge mistake in doing so. If I would have listened to them then I would be as miserable now as I was then. It was the best decision I ever made and I couldn’t be happier with my decision.

Most often the time is never right and you just have to go for it. I truly believe that things will always work out for the best in the end if you are willing to fly in the face of adversity, make a decision that feels right and stick with it.

4… You are so talented.

“It’s lack of faith that makes people afraid of meeting challenges, and I believed in myself”

 

Nothing is impossible if you have faith in yourself…nothing. I have found the biggest problem that people have is doubting themselves and their abilities. I have also realized that your mind is the great trickster. How many times have you doubted your ability to accomplish something and avoided the task altogether. Stop listening to useless thoughts created in your mind that limit your growth. You are not your mind, and doubting yourself is absolutely useless because it is absolute lies.

You have enough ability to last you 100 lifetimes but you may never believe it if you give power to the thoughts that limit you. Believe me when I tell you this, you have the power to either entertain or dismiss any thought that enters your mind. Your mind is always thinking, remembering, fantasizing and forever creating stories based upon the information you subject it to. Start to believe in your abilities and begin to discard the negative useless thoughts that limit you.

“It’s the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen”

 

5… Does life just happen to you?

“The man who views the world at 50 the same as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life”

If we do not consciously create the life we want for ourselves then we are doomed to repeat the same mistakes over and over until the lesson is learned. Your life will change as the years go by but will it be because you took control and made the effort to consciously change your life, or will you leave it up to life to do the changing for you.

I have met many people who are not living up to even close to what they are capable of. The worse thing is that they don’t make any effort whatsoever to change their circumstances. They obviously want to have a better life, but it’s as if they’re hoping things will magically get better for them further down the line.

Take an inventory of your life up till this point and ask yourself if you are in the same situation, physically, mentally and emotionally as you where last month, year or even decade. Then ask yourself if your life is being played out on automatic pilot.

*  *  *

This was a guest post written by Delcan at zenmed reviews where he discusses zenmed scar treatment reviews as well as many other natural treatments.

 

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Individuality Explained

October 31, 2011 by 2 Comments

Everybody is different.  We each have our own values.  We each have our own tastes.  We each have our own preferences.

And sometimes it is not enough to “be” an individual and “have” our own preferences.  Sometimes we need to express our individuality.

The most common way people express their individuality is through fashion (and much less socially disruptive than graffiti or vandalism or public disturbances).  While following the whims of fashion is probably the way people show the most lack of individuality – everybody’s tastes changing in unison – rejecting a fashion norm or breaking out one’s own fashion trend is one of the best ways to say, “Hey, I’m me.”

My elder daughter brought this home to me a few months back when I noticed that she was no longer capable of finding two socks in her drawer that matched.  It seems that if a matching pair was found, she would hunt it to extinction.  Wearing two non-matching pairs became her small way of saying, , “Hey, I’m me” without being too disruptive to those people around her.

She kindly agreed to model some of her choices over a two-week period for this post.  As you can see, variety is not something she lacks.  If I tried mixing up my socks, chances are that nobody would know the difference.  But here the difference is plain to see.

 

READ ALSO: Do you personalize?

This post was featured in the Carnival of Creativity.

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Got Guilt?

October 27, 2011 by 3 Comments

It’s time to let go of some baggage.  It is time to get rid of the guilt.

“Who, me?  Guilty?  I don’t feel guilty.  I don’t have anything to feel guilty about.  Hey, what are you implying?…”

Relax.  Most people feel guilty.  Yes, even all the innocent people feel guilty. We feel guilty about not spending enough time with our kids or our spouse, and if we spend more time with them we feel guilty about not spending enough time with our friends or our work, and if we spend more time with them we feel guilty about not spending more time on church or community projects, and if we spend more time with them … STOP!

There are only 24 hours in the day.  There are only seven days in a week.  You cannot simply dispense with the laws of arithmetic, nor can you suspend time. Portion the hours you have been given as best as you can.  If you do that, please do not feel guilty.  You have nothing to feel guilty about.

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A Quick Guide to Happiness

October 24, 2011 by 1 Comment

To acquire happiness you don’t have to do anything, because happiness cannot be acquired. Does anybody know why? Because we have it already. How can you acquire what you already have? Then why don’t you experience it? Because you’ve got to drop something. You’ve got to drop illusions. You don’t have to add anything in order to be happy; you’ve got to drop something. Life is easy, life is delightful. It’s only hard on your illusions, your ambitions, your greed, your cravings. Do you know where these things come from? From having identified with all kinds of labels! ~ Anthony De Mello

Happiness is an incidental happening when we are in harmony with life itself. It is something we become aware of whilst pursuing other things instead of pursuing happiness itself. Happiness will not stand still long enough for you to reach its destination. It will always be an elusive pursuit if you are looking to acquire its presence, it will always be the goal or project you cannot complete, it will always be hidden from you in plain sight, and it will always be lying on the grass on the other side of the fence if you believe the grass you lay on is not as bright, vivid, brilliant or intense.

Happiness is the thing you can never enjoy or appreciate if you think you have found it, because happiness is not anything you can find, it is a thing that finds you whilst you are looking for something else. May your happiness find you living in peace and harmony, dancing in the rain and sailing within the stormy seas of life itself.

“If you think sunshine brings you happiness, then you haven’t danced in the rain”

Being happy is not about whether we are alone or not. Truly happy people find their happiness within themselves, not in others. They may still prefer not to be alone, but do not measure their happiness by whether they are, or are not alone. Take some time out to get to know who you really are, whether that’s done through meditation, contemplation or facing your fears. If we want to BE ourselves we must know who we truly are.

I think life is wonderful because I decided to see it that way. I made the choice to see the world that way. We know life is nothing more, or less, than what we perceive it to be. What if we made a decision to see the good before the bad, the positive before the negative, the good seed in every bad situation, and the chance to grow with every obstacle we face?.. I believe anything can be achieved with enough practice.

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

I write about a lot of things from personal development to natural health remedies. At the moment I’m writing reviews on baby products such as the Razor Rip Rider 360. If you are looking quality reviews, why not pop on over to the Razor Rip Rider website for the perfect gift for your little one.


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How Does Feng Shui Work?

October 21, 2011 by Leave a Comment

For many people, the ancient Chinese study of Feng Shui seems shrouded in mystery. From “Chi” to the Ba Gua and its graceful yet impenetrable Chinese characters, many feel they have no hope of understanding how Feng Shui works, and give up on pursuing its many benefits.

But the power of Feng Shui lies not in what FengShui does, but in how the student of Feng Shui perceives his or her surroundings. In that sense, Feng Shui works not because it does something, but because its practitioners perceive aspects of surroundings that many people don’t perceive. Once the practitioner understands the surroundings, he or she consults the established texts and methods to determine how to alter that environment in an auspicious manner.

The practice of Feng Shui was developed in ancient times and has been carefully refined over the millennia. In the most ancient times, Feng Shui practitioners used knowledge of the stars and, later, the compass, to orient homes in propitious manner for the well-being of the occupants.

Often, this orientation took advantage of several benefits that, upon modest reflection, seem obvious: orienting the home to receive the most sunlight in the winter, or the greatest shade in the summer. However, in the modern world, few of us would recognize these benefits without and explicit effort to do so, so even on its simplest and most ancient level, Feng Shui provides what is for us a “new” understanding of our environment.

As ancient practitioners deepened their understanding of their natural surroundings, they developed what is now known as the “five elements theory.” The five elements, Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water, are connected through and interact with “Chi.”

English translations regularly use the term “life force” as a translation for chi, but there is no term in English that captures the meaning of chi well – this may be one reason Feng Shui seems so mysterious to westerners. Chi is a vital element or an energy field that expresses or captures the relationship between the energy of living things and the energy of the inanimate world.

A last important concept underpinning Feng Shui is the concept of Yin/Yang. This concept is founded in the recognition that almost everything we can experience can have either a positive or a negative effect. Yin yang theory recognizes, in essence, that opposites cannot exist without each other, thus they are inseparable.

Feng Shui, in so far as it is used today, is used for two purposes. Both require analysis of the environment with respect to understanding the interaction of the five elements and chi, and balance with respect to yin and yang. First it is used, as it was in ancient times, to find the most auspicious site, portion of a site, or orientation of a building on a site. Second, and more commonly, it is used to maximize positive flow of energy and the best balance of opposing forces of yin and yang in a room, office, or home.

So, while Feng Shui may seem mysterious, the concepts that underlie it are ancient, tested again and again, and, often, easily understandable.

Michael Schnippering is the founder of Feng Shui at Work. He is committed to the true art and science of Feng Shui. Over the years his Feng Shui practice has taken him to various parts of the United States, Germany, France, Spain, Colombia and Argentina. If you’d like to learn more about Feng Shui, read Michael’ blog and follow him on Twitter @fengshuiatwork

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The Swiss Cheese Theory of Life

October 17, 2011 by 5 Comments

How to Get Through Life’s Holes and not Get Stuck in Them!

The Swiss Cheese Theory of Life is about resiliency. One of the most consistent characteristics of people who report high levels of life satisfaction and happiness is resilience: having the ability to bounce back from life’s setbacks, grow from challenges and transform stress into success.

The Swiss Cheese Theory of Life is a self-help book that will be released in mid October. This whimsical yet informative self-help book uses Swiss Cheese as a metaphor for life itself. Life is not predictable and smooth like cream cheese. Our lives are really more like Swiss with all its distinctive holes, and without the holes, there would be no Swiss! Our lives, likewise, have inevitable “holes,” and “imperfections,” yet these holes give us our unique character and depth.

It’s a fact that the larger the holes of the Swiss, the sweeter and more distinctive the cheese. What an analogy to our lives! We develop resiliency by overcoming challenges and obstacles. By moving through life’s holes rather than getting stuck in them, we become stronger.

Besides, the holes of the cheese are called eyes, so it is the holes in our lives that allow us to “see more clearly” and develop insight. Swiss Cheese with no holes is called blind Swiss – and you wouldn’t want to live with your eyes closed like this cheese in denial!

There are ten takeaways from “The Swiss Cheese Theory of Life” that can empower you and help you build resiliency skills:

  1. Fondue Can Never Turn Back into a Block of Cheese. Give up the habit of looking back with regret – there are no do-overs and by focusing too much about the past and what can’t be changed will keep you stuck in a hole!
  2. There is No Such Thing as a Perfect Slice of Cheese. Give up the need for perfection. Besides, the road to success is paved with mistakes and failures.
  3. No “Whine” with the Cheese, Please! Pity Parties are over-rated. Strive to look at things more rationally and positively. The Swiss Cheese Motto is: Think Straight and Feel Great!
  4. If the Cheese is Ripe, Dig In! Be Proactive, not Reactive! The more you feel in control of your actions and reactions, and do not “wait” for things to happen, the more empowered and effective you will be.
  5. Live ‘Whole’ Despite the Holes.  Focus on developing mindfulness and spirituality with the intent of being present-focused.
  6. Enjoy the Wine and Cheese Party! People who connect with others, give and receive social support, are happier than people who are isolated. As the old Bell Telephone commercials said: Reach out and touch someone!
  7. Be like Cheese-Lite! Develop health and wellness through exercise, healthy eating, and good lifestyle habits. Welcome wellness for a healthier YOU!
  8. Slice the Cheese Wheel of Life. Get organized, prioritize and delegate so that you can achieve a healthy lifestyle balance. Don’t let time divide you – learn to divide your time and energy in a way that makes you feel balanced.
  9. Master the Cheese Wheel of Change.  Embrace change, be flexible, and strive to be a Stress Manager and not a Stress Carrier!
  10. Smile and Say “Cheese”!

Focus on developing a positive outlook and healthy optimism, while you work on healing resentments, focusing on forgiveness, and striving to replace negativity with gratitude.
These ten areas of resiliency are important in every aspect of our lives, and embracing these delectable takeaways from The Swiss Cheese Theory of Life will give you the pungency and flavor of a complete and meaningful life!

Psychotherapists and wellness speakers Judy Belmont and co-author Lora Shor offer videos and self-tests, and book information on their website, http://www.theswisscheesetheoryoflife.com, where you can download the first two chapters of their upcoming book. Judy can be reached at JABelmont@theswisscheesetheoryoflife.com

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Is your marriage heating up or cooling off?

October 14, 2011 by 1 Comment

What I remember most vividly from our marriage preparation course (yeah, that’s a long time ago by now) is learning that in most parts of the world and most times in history marriages were arranged.  You did not marry for love, you loved for marriage.  We are used to hearing horror stories about arranged marriages and how people are forced to marry someone they do not even love.  But we rarely hear about how successful most arranged marriages are.  I guess that is not newsworthy.

Recently I read a statement to the effect that in modern society we jump in with a red hot passion, and after the wedding day we slowly let it cool down, whereas in more “traditional” cultures, a marriage starts out cool and the couple spends their life making it grow hotter each day.

Of course not all arranged marriages end up growing hotter, just as not all “true love” marriages last a lifetime.

What are you doing in your marriage?  Are you making it hotter or cooling it off?  A marriage doesn’t have to be arranged to grow hotter – it simply has to have a spark and two people feeding the fire.  So keep feeding it.

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