Ten Principals for Living the Good Life. | elephant journal

We tend to get so caught up in our day-to-day activities that we often lose hope in our dreams and passions.

It doesn’t matter what you want to be: an artist, musician, poet, entrepreneur or activist…life is sometimes hard when pursing our dreams and so here are Ten Reminders for the Good Life.

1. Be totally fearless in going after your dreams.

“When a resolute young fellow steps up to the great bully, the world, and takes him boldly by the beard, he is often surprised to find it comes off in his hand, and that it was only tied on to scare away the timid adventurers.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Every successful person, no matter who they were had to deal with extreme levels of fear; it doesn’t matter if it was Oprah Winfrey or Mother Theresa. Fear is a natural part of who we are. Recognize it and move beyond it.

2. Be Bold as often as you can.

“Be bold, be bold, and everywhere be bold.” ~ Herbert Spencer

Columbus was bold when he went out to discover new lands; Gandhi was bold when he decided to change a nation through a peaceful movement and the Buddha was bold when he left the palace, in search of a better life. Boldness can start with small steps—if you want to be successful in any endeavor—start making bold moves.

 3. Be Compassionate.

 “All major religious traditions carry basically the same message; that is love, compassion and forgiveness…the important thing is they should be part of our daily lives.” ~ Dalai Lama

Life is difficult for many people; you may not know what a person is dealing with when you’re speaking with them, so offer them compassion. All spiritual traditions speak of compassion and forgiveness.

4. Forgive people for what they’ve done to you.

“Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.” ~ Mark Twain

Lets face it: bad things happen in our lives, people will hurt you and you will get upset. The Dalai Lama had his entire country taking away from him by the Communist Government of China. Do you know what he did? He forgave them, even though they took everything from him. How many prior events in our life do we hang on to? It is easier to forgive a person that has harmed us then it is to hang on to that pain for the rest of our life.

5. If you want something—go and get it!

“If one advances confidently in the direction of one’s dreams, and endeavors to live the life which one has imagined, one will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” ~ Henry David Thoreau

No, the world does not owe you anything. If you want happiness, do what makes you happy. If you want a relationship, go out and find it. If you want a better life, go out there and get it.

6. Fail as much as possible.

“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” ~ Michael Jordan

No one will ever remember you failures once you are successful at something. Go out into the world with the attitude of “Who cares if I fail.”  Most people are not thinking about you anyways…they are thinking about themselves.

7. Laugh at everything.

 “A day without laughter is a day wasted.” ~ Charlie Chaplin

Every day, find humor—we tend to get so busy that we forget laugh. Find moments in your day to have fun and crack a joke. And, laugh at yourself.

 8. Get Rejected.

“I was told to avoid the business all together because of the rejection. People would say to me, ‘Don’t you want to have a normal job and a normal family?’ I guess that would be good advice for some people, but I wanted to act.” ~ Jennifer Aniston

If you’re not getting rejected, you aren’t moving forward. Every person who has ever done anything worth doing has been rejected.

9. Be persistent in whatever you are pursing.

“A river cuts through rock, not because of its power, but because of its persistence” ~ Jim Watkins

If you want to change something, you have to persistent. If you want better health, you have to formulate a health plan that you persistently pursue. If you want to have a calm, focused mind, start meditating—be persistent with it.

10. You are not your past.

“Stop acting as if life is a rehearsal. Live this day as if it were your last. The past is over and gone. The future is not guaranteed.” ~ Wayne Dyer

You are not what someone told you were terrible at. If someone told you that you were terrible at something in particular, let go of it. You are not your past failures or successes. You are not your past circumstances.

~

Ha!

food for the door...

The fattest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi.

 I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian.

 She was only a whiskey maker, but he loved her still.
 
 A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class, because it was a weapon of math disruption.
 
 No matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery.

 A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.

 A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart.

 Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.

 A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are looking into it.

 Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

 Atheism is a non-prophet organization.

 Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said to the other:
'You stay here; I'll go on a head.'

 I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.

 A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said: 'Keep off the Grass.'

 The midget fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.

 The soldier who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.

 A backward poet writes inverse.

 In a democracy it's your vote that counts. In feudalism it's your count that
votes.
 
 If you jumped off the bridge in Paris , you'd be in Seine .
 
 A vulture boards an airplane, carrying two dead raccoons. The stewardess looks at him and says, 'I'm sorry, sir, only one carrion allowed per passenger.'

 Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, so they lit a fire in the craft.
Unsurprisingly it sank, proving once again that you can't have your kayak and heat it too.

 Two hydrogen atoms meet. One says, 'I've lost my electron.' The other says 'Are you sure?' The first replies, 'Yes, I'm positive.

 There was the person who sent ten puns to friends, with the hope that at least one of the puns would make them laugh. No pun in ten did.

The other Golden Rule is: "Do unto others as they would have you do unto them."

Happy New Year! You're looking Fabulous and HAPPY! ~A.

Sweet Misery DVD | Aspartame Dangers - Mercola.com

A Personal Journey Uncovers the Medical Horrors of Aspartame

Her condition quickly progressed to the point that she had double vision, slurred speech, and weak limbs forcing her to use a wheelchair. When she read an article about aspartame being connected to many health problems, Cori immediately quit using products that contain aspartame -- like diet soda.

Part documentary, part detective story, Sweet Misery starts with filmmaker and narrator Cori Brackett's poignant story about how she discovered aspartame's ill effect on her health. Brackett had a strange cause-and effect experience with the diet cokes she was drinking and quickly found herself disabled and diagnosed with MS.

As if by magic, many of her symptoms disappeared. Through dietary changes and a host of therapies, Cori's condition improved and continues to do so to this day. After spending a decade in a mental fog, unable to do anything -- today she is medication and symptom free.

Cori Brackett's journey takes us across the United States to learn more about the devastating effects of aspartame from an impressive list of medical experts -- including renowned neurosurgeon Dr. Russell Blaylock. Dr. Blaylock explains how aspartame is a slow neurotoxin that's particularly harmful for diabetics.

Brackett also consults two respected MDs and a psychologist to describe what aspartame does to the body and the brain. All agreed -- aspartame is poison.

Another source of Brackett's inspiration came from Dr. Betty Martini, the director of the nonprofit group Mission Possible. Martini has been searching the globe for over 12 years for every shred of evidence that exists about the dangers of aspartame -- attracting the expertise of principled professionals who have furthered our understanding of aspartame biochemistry to the point where no valid arguments counter claim the absolute conclusion that aspartame is a toxic poison unfit for human consumption.Movie on Hulu....

GrassrootsHealth | Vitamin D Action - D*action Participant Questionnaire - Welcome!

GrassrootsHealth | Vitamin D Action - D*action Participant Questionnaire - Welcome!

When you order your kit from GrassrootsHealth, you will also be participating in the world’s largest vitamin D project to solve the deficiency, D*action.

You may choose to enroll for a 1-time test with your health information or you may even participate in the 5 year project where you provide your health information along with a vitamin D test each 6 months for the 5 year period.

A very special thanks for joining this D*action project to help eliminate the vitamin D deficiency epidemic! Your participation in the testing and sharing your results with your health status over the next 5 years will enable us to inform the public about the status of vitamin D in this population and track health outcomes associated with vitamin D deficiency. The deficiency and its negative health consequences do not need to exist. This project depends on a true 'GrassrootsHealth' movement. We can do it together!

There is a $60.00 fee + $5.00 shipping each 6 months for your sponsorship of the 5 year project which includes a complete new test kit, your new questionnaire entry and reporting of results to you. Or for a one-time sponsorship, the cost is $65.00 + $5.00 shipping. When you finish the questionnaire, you can choose your subscription option.

Why Ohioans Want New York to Ban Fracking « EcoWatch: Uniting the Voice of the Grassroots Environmental Movement

Dear Governor Cuomo:

I don’t live in New York. But your decision to move forward with the extreme method of extraction known as fracking stands to have direct, irreversible impacts in my state and the community where I currently live—impacts from risks that you yourself have been unwilling to assume in New York, but apparently have no problem outsourcing to Ohio.

While New York leadership seems anxious to receive the short-term profits fracking might promise, you are rejecting the waste that would be generated and plan to send it to us—radioactively contaminated drill cuttings, chemically and radioactively contaminated water, even contaminated equipment and solid waste.

The plan I recently discovered in the works for Ohio, even before you officially lifted your ban, sent me reeling.

The plan is to ship this waste to my state (I still have a hard time categorizing previously drinkable water as “waste,” especially in the drought we are experiencing), and haul it (diesel fuel, radiation, hazardous waste components and all) through my drinking water via barge because the trucks the drilling industry has relied upon to haul it up to this point can’t deliver it fast enough to suit them. The plan is to barge it to Ohio and then run trucks at industry’s convenience through our communities for permanent disposal in landfills and class II injection wells that don’t even exist yet.

Two out-of-state companies from Texas and Pennsylvania are moving forward with these plans. One is already operating without even the formality of permits, regulation or enforcement.

If you hear the rumor that Ohio has the best regulations in the nation and are tempted to feel comforted that we will be kept safe from the risks you are unwilling to accept for your own people because of professed strength of our regulatory system, please know that the perspective being propagated is by the drilling industry, and not indicative of what citizens are experiencing on the receiving end.

Even though Ohio has nearly 200 active class II injection wells (how many has New York agreed to accept?), we are being inundated with waste from PA, WV and TX, to the extent that existing wells are leased to and I believe have exceeded capacity. We have received volumes of out-of-state waste sufficient to induce earthquakes in several areas of Ohio.

How many earthquakes have New Yorkers had to wake up to at the hands of this hit-and-run, out-of-state industry?

No homeowner’s insurance in Ohio will cover man-made or induced earthquakes. How does that work in New York?

While you are in the process of approving the generation of even more toxic waste to dump on us, industry is in the process of rushing through 29 more class II injection well permits BEFORE the injection well rules can be passed and BEFORE citizen concerns can be incorporated into the proposed new injection well rules, which would take effect in a few short months.

Why the rush? Pressure to accommodate more fracking waste that all of the states surrounding us are generating and refusing to provide permanent storage for themselves, at the expense of our public health and safety.

I have always held to what I call the “backyard test.” That is, if you generate or create something too toxic or abhorrent to allow in your own backyard, then you need to reconsider. You have no business putting it in someone else’s.

To do otherwise is an injustice. It is a violation of our most basic human and civil rights.

If the strength of the testimony I have read that other citizens have sent to you to warn you of the conditions created in their own communities where fracking has already been committed; if the strength of this letter and others from Ohio based on our concerns about the massive amounts of waste you would outsource to us, are not sufficient to change your mind about allowing out-of-state drilling companies to frack New York, then as an Ohioan I am demanding that you find a way to deal with your own waste.  Don’t haul it through my drinking water to further poison, sicken, and destabilize communities, farmland, friends, and families here in Ohio.

This is not commerce, it’s a crime.

Sincerely, 
Elisa Young

NASA Asks Russians To Stop Filming Porn On International Space Station | Onion News Network

Scientific American September.....

NEAR FUTURE: Industrial civilization continues to pump out more and more greenhouse gases with each passing year, which will result in hotter temperatures, an acidified ocean and weirder weather by century's end.

In Brief.....

The carbon dioxide emitted today will affect the planet for hundreds of thousands of years.

If humanity continues to spew greenhouse gases into the air at the current rate, we will re-create the hot, wet conditions of the Cretaceous era, some 100 million years ago.

At present, humanity is altering the climate 5,000 times faster than the pace of the most rapid natural warming episode in our planet’s past.

Happier employees ...

BRITT ERLANSON / GETTY IMAGES

The ability to motivate employees is one of the greatest skills an entrepreneur can possess. Two years ago, I realized I didn’t have this skill. So I hired a CEO who did.

Josh had 12 years in the corporate world, which included running a major department at Comcast. I knew he was seasoned, but I was still skeptical at first. We were going through some tough growing pains, and I thought that a lack of cash would make it extremely difficult to improve the company morale.

I was wrong.

With his help and the help of the great team leaders he put in place, Josh not only rebuilt the culture, but also created a passionate, hard-working team that is as committed to growing and improving the company as I am.

Here are nine things I learned from him:

1. Be generous with praise. Everyone wants it and it’s one of the easiest things to give. Plus, praise from the CEO goes a lot farther than you might think. Praise every improvement that you see your team members make. Once you’re comfortable delivering praise one-on-one to an employee, try praising them in front of others.  
2. Get rid of the managers. Projects without project managers? That doesn’t seem right! Try it. Removing the project lead or supervisor and empowering your staff to work together as a team rather then everyone reporting to one individual can do wonders. Think about it. What’s worse than letting your supervisor down? Letting your team down! Allowing people to work together as a team, on an equal level with their co-workers, will often produce better projects faster. People will come in early, stay late, and devote more of their energy to solving problems.  
3. Make your ideas theirs. People hate being told what to do. Instead of telling people what you want done; ask them in a way that will make them feel like they came up with the idea. “I’d like you to do it this way” turns into “Do you think it’s a good idea if we do it this way?”  
4. Never criticize or correct. No one, and I mean no one, wants to hear that they did something wrong. If you’re looking for a de-motivator, this is it. Try an indirect approach to get people to improve, learn from their mistakes, and fix them. Ask, “Was that the best way to approach the problem? Why not? Have any ideas on what you could have done differently?” Then you’re having a conversation and talking through solutions, not pointing a finger.  
5. Make everyone a leader. Highlight your top performers’ strengths and let them know that because of their excellence, you want them to be the example for others. You’ll set the bar high and they’ll be motivated to live up to their reputation as a leader.  
6. Take an employee to lunch once a week. Surprise them. Don’t make an announcement that you’re establishing a new policy. Literally walk up to one of your employees, and invite them to lunch with you. It’s an easy way to remind them that you notice and appreciate their work.  
7. Give recognition and small rewards. These two things come in many forms: Give a shout out to someone in a company meeting for what she has accomplished. Run contests or internal games and keep track of the results on a whiteboard that everyone can see. Tangible awards that don’t break the bank can work too. Try things like dinner, trophies, spa services, and plaques. 
8. Throw company parties. Doing things as a group can go a long way. Have a company picnic. Organize birthday parties. Hold a happy hour. Don’t just wait until the holidays to do a company activity; organize events throughout the year to remind your staff that you’re all in it together. 
9. Share the rewards—and the pain. When your company does well, celebrate. This is the best time to let everyone know that you’re thankful for their hard work. Go out of your way to show how far you will go when people help your company succeed. If there are disappointments, share those too. If you expect high performance, your team deserves to know where the company stands. Be honest and transparent. 

Ilya Pozin founded his first company, Ciplex, at age 17. The digital marketing and creative agency caters to small businesses and start-ups. @ilyaNeverSleeps

Read more from Inc.com:

Fix Your LinkedIn Profile: 6 Steps

• What Not to Share on Twitter or LinkedIn

Read more: http://www.inc.com/ilya-pozin/9-things-that-motivate-employees-more-than-money.html?nav=linkedin#ixzz24mMJx5qp