Literature Reflections: Lord of the Rings
Figures in history and literature can have a great resonance with who we think we are and who we wish to be (and not be!).
5 Easy Ways to Deal with Anger
Anger can be a natural response when we feel that our safety or personal space has been violated. But, if you are quick to anger and do not deal with inner conflicts, you probably need better ways to manage your anger. It is important to deal with your anger properly, so you can grow as an individual and maintain healthy relationships.
Mar 09
31
Personal Development
When you focus on acheieving your goals you can begin to attain greater personal development. We must continually work on ourselves and try to improve as much as possible.
Here are some questions to ask yourself to get on the right track:
Identify Where You Are: What are my strengths? Weaknesses? What positive things do others say about me? Negative? What acheivements have I made? What areas need the most work?
Identify Where You Want To Be: What are your goals? How do you want to better yourself? Why do you want to acheive those goals or improve yourself? What do you receive if you acheive your goals or improve? What are your short term goals? Long term goals?
Identify Steps to Make Towards Acheiving Goals: What steps will I have to take to acheive my goals? What do I need to learn? Experience? Improve? What resources can I take advantage of to meet my goals? What is my timetable for my goals? What time during the day can I set aside to meet my goals? Who or what stands in your way? What can you do to eliminate obstacles?
Your plan should pave the way to bridging the gaps between where you are and where you want to be. Creating such a plan will help to make sure that you are constantly growing and becoming the person that you desire to be.
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Posted in Personal Development by .
Figures in history and literature can have a great resonance with who we think we are and who we wish to be (and not be!).
I was reading one of my old favorites, The Lord of the Rings, by J. R. R. Tolkien, and it occurred to me that we can find many of the different characters within ourselves. For instance, oftentimes we feel great burdens, great power, the desire to study history (lore), or fight for a cause. How do we handle these? Sometimes it can help to look to literature for assistance:
- Look to Frodo and Sam when you feel burdened… It will help you realize the value of friendship and purpose.
- Look to Gandalf when you feel powerful… It will help you realize the value of wisdom.
- Also look to Saruman, for that will help you realize the danger of relying on it to serve selfish purposes.
- Look to Gimli and Legolas when you feel angry with someone… It will help you realize that even bitter enemies can become the closest friends: Race and discrimination can be overcome!
Look to The Lady Eowyn when you feel threatened or helpless… It will help you realize that there is strength to be found in unexpected places: Both from allies abroad, and within yourself.
I’m sure there are others that could reflect important states of being in instructive ways… I’m interested to hear others’ thoughts:
- What characters in literature resonate?
- How can they teach us to live better lives in our own worlds?
[image courtesy of Flickr: The Lady Eowyn ]
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Posted in General Updates Personal Development by .
Mar 09
25
Why not live longer?
I was reading this article on CNN regarding meat consumption. Essentially, the findings of the study demonstrated that people who ate red meat (both beef and pork – 4 oz portion per day) over a 10 year period have a 30% higher chance of dying from cardiovascular disease and cancer. Researchers found that 11% of the male deaths and 16% of the female deaths in that period could have been prevented by reducing the consumption of red meat.
The article even highlights that America’s high consumption of meat is contributing to a number of global concerns – global warming, disease, high commodity prices, etc. Surprisingly, this article does not even mention eliminating meat entirely from the diet as a viable solution. It would seem that the most socially responsible & health oriented choice would be to eliminate meat consumption and make healthier choices to eat more fruits, vegetables and whole grains.
Is anyone else a vegetarian? Why do you choose to be or not to be vegetarian? Does the environment, health, or commodity prices play into your choice?
A great book for those new to a vegetarian diet or who are just interested in eating healthier is this book:
The New Becoming Vegetarian: The Essential Guide To A Healthy Vegetarian Diet
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Posted in Food Health & Wellness by .
Mar 09
18
Challenge Question #2
Life is painful in many ways. Some of this pain is physical, such as when you injure yourself or become ill. Some of this pain is mental, such as when you think negatively about yourself or feel ashamed or guilty of some behavior. Some of this pain is emotional, such as when a loved one is hurt, or you are attacked by someone you care for.
Of course, these sources of pain are not independent of one another. If you’re hurt emotionally, you can feel physically ill, and certainly think unpleasant thoughts; if you’re hurt physically, you will also feel bad, and your plans for the day or even the rest of your life can take a turn for the worse.
However, when we are hurt, we often fail to differentiate the different sources; and, this can be problematic because it is going to be difficult to fix an emotional problem if it is really a pattern of thinking that is hurting you. Now, the question is: What are the sources of your pain physically, emotionally, and mentally, and what steps can you take to better identify them and overcome them?
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Posted in General Updates by .
Entrepreneurs often have a difficult time operating a business during a good economy between juggling heavy workloads and trying to meet deadlines to satisfy customer demands. When the economy turns sour, things start looking grim, and bad news surrounds you, it imperative that you focus on your business and not on the state of the economy. Instead, focus on improving your company’s situation in the marketplace by creating multiple opportunities for growth. How you respond to the current marketplace and consumer demand will determine if you are still standing at the end of this economic crisis.
Market your business creatively and inexpensively by distributing press releases, blogging, and writing helpful articles on your website that help address a problem that concerns your customer base. You can also offer to teach classes or give a speech on a topic related to your business. While most people are cutting marketing and advertising budgets, you should take advantage of lower advertising rates and increase your marketing efforts. Cutting essential costs in marketing and providing poor customer service is not going to increase your business prospects in the short or long-term.
You should invest a large portion of your efforts in maintaining current customer relationships rather than trying only to gain new accounts. While new customers are important, current and former customers are more likely to purchase from you. It is important to remember to follow-up with customers after purchases.
Try not to allow fear and paranoia get to you. You have to tune out all of the doom and gloom and focus on what is best for you, your business, and your employees. Do not sit idly by and wait for the economy to change. You must change your part of the world by being brave, spending money on your business to make it grow and by hiring the right people to do the job. Cutting costs as a knee jerk reaction has never been proven to save a business in the long-term. You must be frugal where appropriate and extravagant when needed to succeed in any market. Do not sacrifice who you are or what your company represents just to make a few dollars. People will remember how you and your organization reacted to these stressful times. To survive in this economy, thrive even, requires immense inner strength and a unyielding resolve to succeed.
Remember: The poor economy is temporary, your reputation is not…
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Posted in Business by .
Mar 09
8
Against Surrender
“It’s fate”
“What can you do?”
“It’s out of my hands”
“It’s the will of God / Allah / Buddha / Fate / Jesus / Whatever”
How many times have we heard sayings like this, which are nothing more than the surrender of individual will? Why do people wish to consider themselves as helpless as leaves floating in a stream?
We all have the capacity to enact change in our environments! OF COURSE we are all influenced by others and physical reality, but we also have the power to control our own lives if we are brave enough to use it!
…and through the wise use of this *individual* power, we will all be better off in the end.
We make our fortunes, and we call them fate.
Earl of Beaconsfield
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Posted in Coaching Personal Development by .
Mar 09
1
Challenge Question
Every once in a while, I consider a question that will improve my understanding of self and interaction with the world. It is in the form of a bit of a muse, but I thought I would share it in this posting as a challenge for others:
Look around, and think about the place that you’re living now. Think about your home or apartment. Think about the neighborhood, and the others living around you. Think about the city that you’re in—it’s climate and culture. Think about your nation. Realize that all of these groups are sources of belonging and make you unique as a person.
But remember: You are also a source of uniqueness and value in each of these cases. You bring a uniqueness to your home, your neighborhood, your city, your country, your culture.
Now, the question is: What will I do today to recognize this value?
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Posted in Coaching Personal Development by .
Feb 09
14
Gurdjieff: One Mind-bending Tale
On a whim, I decided to re-visit the work of G. I Gurdjieff. It is relevant here, especially as facilitating the conscious life was the main goal of “The Work” he proposed for all of us.
His masterpiece series of writings “All and Everything” is written not only to instruct, but also to expand the limits of your consciousness–partially by the effort required to comprehend the complexity of his verbiage (he explicitly points out that he avoids “bon ton literary language”):
“In trying first to understand the basic thought and real significance hidden in this strange verbal formulation, there must, in my opinion, first of all arise in the consciousness of every more or less sane-thinking man the supposition that, in the totality of ideas on which is based and from which must flow a sensible notion of this saying, lies the truth, cognized by people for centuries, which affirms that every cause occurring in the life of man, from whatever phenomenon it arises, as one of two opposite effects of other causes, is in its turn obligatorily molded also into two quite opposite effects, as for instance: if “something” obtained from two different causes engenders light, then it must inevitably engender a phenomenon opposite to it, that is to say, darkness; or a factor engendering in the organism of a living creature an impulse of palpable course also palpable, and so on and so forth, always and in everything.” (First Series, p. 11)
Wheeew! If that sentence doesn’t stretch your ability to comprehend written material, I’m not sure what will…
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Posted in Personal Development by .
Feb 09
9
Katy’s Introduction
Hi, I am Katy! I am thrilled to begin posting on this new and exciting web venture. I hope to bring a new and unique perspective on a variety of issues. My primary interests are human rights, women’s issues, economics, philosophies of life, the environment, and exploring ways to better oneself. I look forward to interacting with those that read the website so that we can all share knowledge and experiences gained through interacting with the world around us.
This week, I think everyone should ask themselves these questions:
What gift do you give to the world? How can you use your gift to better your corner of the world?
Image from my-culture.com
I believe we all have something to contribute to this global community. Find out what your contribution is and start sharing it with others!
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Posted in General Updates by .
Feb 09
8
Steriod-ball, anyone?
Well, another baseballer has been found out for juicing on steroids. One of the many stories/commentaries can be read here, and there will be more, so much more to come. I think by this point, I have less of an issue with Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds or any particular player, or even baseball as a whole; it is more about the culture of professional sports celebrity-hood that has developed over the last few decades: Do anything to get ahead, be famous, make millions. Generally, a sad commentary on a number of different aspects of our society…
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A-Rod & Drugs — created at www.wordle.net
A-Rod & Drugs — created at www.wordle.net
How much are we fans to blame for tolerating and supporting this behavior? …by spending millions of dollars, not just on tickets, but other paraphernalia, including supporting the sponsors of MLB? Is observing this sort of behavior the best return we can get on our earnings? It would seem that our entertainment dollars shouldn’t be going to support the cult-of-personality machine that is the world of professional sports. There are plenty of other leagues where the athletes demonstrate infinitely greater sportsmanship, though there is a 12-and-under age limitation on most of these. The bottom line is that I find that our money would be better spent on more honorable endeavors, especially in these economic times…
Then, perhaps we would wonder why in the world the behavior of a ‘professional athlete’ would be newsworthy at all.
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Posted in General Updates by .