Sunday 30 March 2008

How to Buy Happiness

Source: Reuters


Money can buy happiness, but only if you spend it on someone else, researchers reported on Thursday.

Spending as little as $5 a day on someone else could significantly boost happiness, the team at the University of British Columbia and Harvard Business School found.

Their experiments on more than 630 Americans showed they were measurably happier when they spent money on others -- even if they thought spending the money on themselves would make them happier.

"We wanted to test our theory that how people spend their money is at least as important as how much money they earn," said Elizabeth Dunn, a psychologist at the University of British Columbia.

They asked their 600 volunteers first to rate their general happiness, report their annual income and detail their monthly spending including bills, gifts for themselves, gifts for others and donations to charity.

"Regardless of how much income each person made, those who spent money on others reported greater happiness, while those who spent more on themselves did not," Dunn said in a statement.

Dunn's team also surveyed 16 employees at a company in Boston before and after they received an annual profit-sharing bonus of between $3,000 and $8,000.

"Employees who devoted more of their bonus to pro-social spending experienced greater happiness after receiving the bonus, and the manner in which they spent that bonus was a more important predictor of their happiness than the size of the bonus itself," they wrote in their report, published in the journal Science.

"Finally, participants who were randomly assigned to spend money on others experienced greater happiness than those assigned to spend money on themselves," they said.

They gave their volunteers $5 or $20 and half got clear instructions on how to spend it. Those who spent the money on someone or something else reported feeling happier about it.

"These findings suggest that very minor alterations in spending allocations -- as little as $5 -- may be enough to produce real gains in happiness on a given day," Dunn said.

This could also explain why people are no happier even though U.S. society is richer.

"Indeed, although real incomes have surged dramatically in recent decades, happiness levels have remained largely flat within developed countries across time," they wrote.



Friday 28 March 2008

Fitna the Movie: Geert Wilders' movie about Koran

I think he is free to express his feelings and his point of view. I don't understand why the Muslim World is so against it!!???

Wednesday 26 March 2008

Monday 24 March 2008

Joe Vitale and his new video - Healing Method

Joe Vitale, of The Secret, speaking in Maui about clearing manifestation blockages through the amazing Hawaiian healing method, Ho'oponopono.
Watch his new video
http://www.secretsofthesecret.com/vitale_video.htm

Saturday 22 March 2008

"How Becky and Gerard" by Glenn Dietzel

I found this post on the blog of Glenn Dietzel. And I thought it was an excellent piece of work.

Here they are: the article and the link to his blog: http://authorandgrowrich.com/blog/

How Becky And Gerard Overcame This Disease That Plagues Millions Today.

There are only two things you can do with time.

You can waste or you can invest it.

Let me share with you a young woman who contacted our office this week. Her name is Becky. Becky is a woman that resembles you and me. For years she has dreamed of authoring a money-making book around her passion.

For years she has known that her ticket to her freedom has been authorship.

For years she has known that she has a million dollar story tucked away from her life experiences, but she has done something that plagues tens of millions of people all over the world.

Let me share with you another person.

His name is Gerard and he knows he is only one action step away from being noticed by the key connections in Hollywood that would make his dream come true.

Gerard has been putting off authoring his book and has been wasting years doing everything the hard way to earn the right to be noticed–to be the expert in his niche.

Both Becky and Gerard represent the hundreds of people just like yourself who have contacted our office this past month and whose hopes and dreams have been crushed by external forces.

The first lesson I want to let you in on right now, is that now is the perfect time to go for your dream—your legacy. Tough economic times mean unbelievable opportunities for those who know the new rules of the Recommendation Age.

Let’s look at a disease that has not yet been quantified in DSM IV and how it has played out in Becky’s and Gerard’s life. This disease ran rampant in my body for way too many years.

By the way, DSM IV is the Diagnostic And Statistical Manual used by doctors to diagnose diseases. Many doctors that I talk to today believe that well over half of the symptoms they see in their patients are really psychosomatic.

Before I share with you the disease that Becky and Gerard had until this past week…and a disease that I had for almost 30 years, I want to share with you the first rule of investment in the new era that we now live.

The first rule of investment in the Recommendation Age is that you must look in your heart, for out of it proceeds the important issues of life. One of our legacy statements found in Author And Grow Rich is the following: “you look within for value and you look without for perspective” when you want to sell your writing.

The reason most people who take the time to acknowledge their dream of authoring a money-making book fail to make it happen is because of one of the “deadly characteristics of resistance.” This will require you to ignore immediate gratification in favor of long term commitment to author a money-making book.

Successful people focus on the future and on the reward of accomplishing a difficult task (made easy when you have a system like that found in Author And Grow Rich).

For too long Becky, Gerard and myself, when I was a Vice Principal, focused on the present moment refusing to move out of our comfort zones to challenge ourselves to accomplish our dreams.

Let’s examine this resistance as it really exemplifies a powerful disease that was so prevalent in my life for too long.

The power of resistance is that it is perceptional. It is psychological. It looks for external circumstances to validate the fact that you really don’t deserve success. And the power of this resistance is that it leads to a psychosomatic symptom that I will reveal below.

This is why the tough economic times that are upon us are really a massive opportunity for those who position their minds and take action right now.

Just a few weeks ago, while I was speaking in Orlando, I heard Robert and Kim Kiyosaki (Robert is co-author of the New York Times’ best selling series, Rich Dad Poor Dad) exclaim that they love ‘tough economic times’! Why? They both revealed that they do much better financially during these times. Both Kiyosakis told Larry King that most people give up when even just a slight amount of pressure enters their lives.

So if you are like Becky and Gerard–if you are like this former Vice Principal!– here is your homework.

Let’s start by understanding that success is NOT easy. But success in conjunction with a system that will position yourself as the noted expert in your field will fast forward your effort thru leverage.

Remember the first statement at the beginning of this post had o do with time: you can either waste time or you can invest it. One principle of human nature is that we do not value anything we get for free. The second principle of human nature as it pertains to time is that to live a fulfilled life, you should be authoring a book and building a business around a dominant talent. Talent can be defined as your natural way of thinking, feeling or behaving. A dominant talent can become a quantified strength through the investment of practice and knowledge.

To turn a talent into a strength that uniquely separates you in the market place requires diligence, persistence, and a willingness to do what you need to do one step at a time, every day, whether you’re “in the mood” or not.

Resistance comes in forms like, “I’m so busy today,” or “I’m too tired to work on my book,” or “I just have too much going on in my life right now,” or “I’ll start tomorrow.”

We become too accustomed to getting things fast. Microwave ovens deliver dinner in minutes. Fast food is available all over town. The Internet means we can do business any time of the day or night. This isn’t all bad, but it can lead to an over-reliance on instant results and ‘quick rich schemes’ that lead so many hard working people like Becky and Gerard down the wrong paths for so many years.

Author And Grow Rich is a system for you to follow so you can be successful. Yes, you do have to apply yourself, but all you have to do is follow the path that is set before you one step at a time. This book is about decreasing the time it will take you to personally experience the gratification of a completed book. Immediate gratification in this case is about the feeling you will experience once your money-making book is completed.

But Becky and Gerard have to deal with one ugly reality in order to make their dreams a reality. In order to step over the abyss that lies between wasting time and investing it–between immediate gratification and authoring a book to make their dreams come true.

Here is the genius about resistance: it does not exist outside oneself. It exists as a wall that lies between where you are currently and where you see yourself…as a money-making author. The subtle power of resistance is the fact that it lies not outside of you, but within you! It really is a psychosomatic condition and its condition is magnified by our tough economic times.

The strength of resistance is in direct proportion to the busyness of life. Another way of seeing your legacy, is this: the more you desire a legacy, often the more internal “junk” you have to overcome to make it happen. As stated in Author And Grow Rich, everyone has a desire to leave a written legacy. Benjamin Franklin recognized this long ago. And since this hard-wired desire is such an intimate activity that involves your very self, the conflict is enormous.

The ugly face of resistance is procrastination. Author Steven Pressfield in his book, The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles, defines procrastination “as the ease to which we tend to rationalize our lack of taking action.” This makes it all the more seductive. We don’t tell ourselves, “I’m not going to write my money-making book.” No, instead we state, “I am going to write my money-making book; and I am going to do it tomorrow.”

I am happy to say that in the case of Beck, Gerard they are now joining the select group of insiders who are playing by the new rules of the Recommendation Age and fast tracking their success. And it all begins with your book!

They have overcome the new disease called ‘tomorrow’.

Remember, one of the laws of the Recommendation Age is Zipf’s Law. The market place requires that 90% of businesses fail to make a profit with their products and services. Celebrate the fact that you feel resistance to going for your legacy. The stronger the resistance will assure you of two things. 1. You must begin today to really go for it. And 2. only those who act on these principles will celebrate the tough times as it will ultimately facilitate your success.

To Your Legacy!

Glenn :-)

P.S.

Don’t put this off until tomorrow. Stop being the victim of this disease! Phone our International Office in Canada at 519.542.3043. As a former educator and someone who could have taught your children, my over-riding desire is your success!

Fiction or Non-Fiction, by Art Ramsay

"Love is the only interaction with another that consistently works, no matter what." From Art Ramsay's new book, Seven Stones of Wisdom.

"Since the 1970's a plethora of self-help books have emerged, giving us information about why things are happening in our lives and what to do about it. Their range of interests is striking and cover almost every aspect of lives. We have been given, for example, guidance for more healthy, athletic, and beautiful bodies, handling our emotions, or how to be successful.
All of the millions of books that have dealt with the thousands of issues we may face in life have been written as non-fiction. Why? Because non-fiction deals with "real life" issues, and sets out to explain the why of it, and how to fix it either in the moment, or over a period of time.

But what if fiction could help us deal with the situations in our lives that are sabotaging us and guide us to better way of seeing things? Wouldn't it be great to read a intriguing story about people and learn something about ourselves, our issues, as well? There have been fiction books that have done that and have even been made into movies. Two are Dan Millman's Way of the Peaceful Warrior, and James Redfield's The Celestine Prophecy.

The difference between how a non-fiction book helps us deal with something in our lives that we want to "fix", and how a fiction book does that is in the way the situations are approached. Essentially, the non-fiction, self-help book works on a micro level, whereas the fiction book mostly works at the macro level.

So what does that mean? On the micro level we deal with a method to lose fat, a process to move past a barrier keeping us from succeeding, or a way to bring more peace into our lives. On the macro level, we look more to the 'inner' aspect of what is keeping us stuck or causing situations to occur repeatedly in our lives. Granted many non-fiction books go there also, but not in the same way. In the fiction book we stand back and look at the big picture, macro, while in the non-fiction we deal more with a specific thing, micro.

They both have their place in our lives, and used as is appropriate for each situation that occurs. I have read, and have on my bookshelves, hundreds of non-fiction books over the years. They have all served me well and helped me get to where I am today spiritually. But I am moved more to action when I become immersed in an intriguing, even mysterious, story of how a character, or characters have moved through their own issues and come out the other side victorious."

Tuesday 18 March 2008

Top 10 Rules of Success by Donald J. Trump

Top Ten Rules of Success by Donald J. Trump

The complete top 10 list:

1. Never give up! Do not settle for remaining in your comfort zone. Remaining complacent is a good way to get nowhere.

2. Be passionate! If you love what you're doing, it will never seem like work.

3. Be focused!Ask yourself: What should I be thinking about right now? Shut out interference. In this age of multitasking, this is a valuable technique to acquire.

4. Keep your momentum! Listen, apply and move forward. Do not procrastinate.

5. See yourself as victorious! That will focus you in the right direction.

6. Be tenacious! Being stubborn can work wonders.

7. Be lucky! The old saying, "The harder I work, the luckier I get" is absolutely right on.

8. Believe in yourself! If you don't, no one else will either. Think of yourself as a one-man or one-woman army.

9. Ask yourself: What am I pretending not to see? There may be some great opportunities right around you, even if things aren't looking so great. Great adversity can turn into great victory.

10. Look at the solution, not the problem. And never give up! Never never never give up. This thought deserves to be said (and remembered and applied) many times. It's that important.

Saturday 1 March 2008

Australia's apoloy to the Aborignial

Australia's apology in full.


I have seen the movie "Rabbit-Proof Fence" and I couldn't believe that this genocide was really happened in Australia. I went to read lots of article about this subject. This law, this human rights abuse idea has been practised till 70th.

"The earliest introduction of child removal to legislation is recorded in the Aboriginal Protection Act 1869. The Central Board for the Protection of Aborigines had been advocating such powers since 1860. This Act gave the colony of Victoria a wide suite of powers over Aboriginal and 'half-caste' persons, including the forcible removal of children and, especially, of 'at risk' girls.[19]

By 1950, similar policies and legislation had been adopted by other states and territories[citation needed], and it has been alleged that this resulted in widespread removal of children from their parents and exercise of sundry guardianship powers by Aboriginal protectors over Aborigines up to the age of 16 or 21. The alleged aim was to culturally assimilate mixed-descent people into Australian society.[20] Policemen or other agents of the state (such as 'Aboriginal Protection Officers') were given the power to locate and transfer babies and children of mixed descent from their mothers or families or communities into institutions. In these Australian states and territories, half-caste institutions (both government and missionary) were established in the early decades of the 20th century for the reception of these separated children.

(this fragment is from Wikipedia)

This article was first published on guardian.co.uk on Tuesday February 12 2008. It was last updated at 11:49 on February 12 2008.
Kevin Rudd with Aboriginal leaders

Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd with Aboriginal leaders at parliament house in Canberra. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

"Today we honour the indigenous peoples of this land, the oldest continuing cultures in human history.

"We reflect on their past mistreatment.

"We reflect in particular on the mistreatment of those who were Stolen Generations - this blemished chapter in our nation's history.

"The time has now come for the nation to turn a new page in Australia's history by righting the wrongs of the past and so moving forward with confidence to the future.

"We apologise for the laws and policies of successive Parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians.

"We apologise especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities and their country.

"For the pain, suffering and hurt of these Stolen Generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry.

"To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry.

"And for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry.

"We, the Parliament of Australia, respectfully request that this apology be received in the spirit in which it is offered, as part of the healing of the nation.

"For the future we take heart; resolving that this new page in the history of our great continent can now be written.

"We today take this first step by acknowledging the past and laying claim to a future that embraces all Australians.

"A future where this Parliament resolves that the injustices of the past must never, never happen again.

"A future where we harness the determination of all Australians, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, to close the gap that lies between us in life expectancy, educational achievement and economic opportunity.

"A future where we embrace the possibility of new solutions to enduring problems where old approaches have failed.

"A future based on mutual respect, mutual resolve and mutual responsibility.

"A future where all Australians, whatever their origins, are truly equal partners, with equal opportunities and with an equal stake in shaping the next chapter in the history of this great country, Australia."

Scent of a Woman - Ending Speech

More Al Pacino: a great scene about the spirit and the choices in our life

Any Given Sunday - Peace by Inches - Pacino

This is great and I love Al Pacino, he is great too.