A hilarious look inside the unlikely keyword combinations that landed people on a blog about self improvement and personal development. Would you believe nudity and fishing were both involved??? Link to Full Story
Self improvement defined, personal development, decision making, weight loss, schmoozing, and more! You don't want to miss this edition of the Self Improvement and Law of Attraction Link Love Series! Link to Full Story
This week's edition of the Self Improvement and Law of Attraction Link Love series features loads of great stuff including humor, spawning creativity, odes to happiness, parenting, and more! Link to Full Story
This week's Link Love edition features several powerful truths that can change your life, but that can be read and internalized in under 5 minutes. Doesn't get much easier than that, right? Link to Full Story
Parenting, money, health, laughter - all that and more in this edition of the Doing it Differently Blog Carnival! Link to Full Story
This is Volume 9 of the Self Improvement and Law of Attraction Link Love series.
This series will be published weekly and will be comprised of links to quality blog posts that have
proven to be extraordinary in their ability to assist, inform, or empower the reader. Enjoy!
1) Chief Happiness Officer - In the post Top 10 reasons why happiness at work is the ultimate productivity booster, it is clearly shown that life - and work - are better for the person who actually wants to do whatever it is that they are doing.
2) Christy's Coffee Break - The Importance of Forgiveness is a topic that I have touched on in the past, and Christy does a great job of illustrating the fact that holding a grudge hurts exactly one person - YOU!
3) Evolving Times - Edward Mills and his daughter bring us a valuable lesson not just about having the right attitude at work, but about how doing so will very likely help you when you are NOT at work as well. Check out Lessons I Learned From The Garbage Man.
4) Be Conscious Now - In her post What happens when you shower kittens (or kids) with unconditional love?, K-L Masina - with a little help from Seth and Neptune - brings home the fact that you get what you give when it comes to how you treat the world around you.
5) Breathing Prosperity - Having goals and then buying books or programs that will help you to accomplish those goals is a waste of time if you don't get your head straight first. Shauna does a great job of illustrating why that is in her brief post called Motivation: Are You Looking in the Right Place?
6) Live the Power - Karen brings us yet another bit of wisdom in her post - Only one Elvis. She talks about the fact that you can buy the "expert's" products all day long, but YOU are the only person who brings your unique combination of knowledge and experience to the table - no purchase required!
7) My Self Development - For you Law of Attraction junkies (as well as naysayers), the post The Seven Principles Of Hawaiian Huna demonstrates the fact that contrary to popular belief, not just the creators of 'The Secret' believe in our ability to consciously create our lives.
8) The Positivity Blog -If you read only one story today, make it The Story of the Mexican Fisherman. What a great way to illustrate what is truly important in life!
9) North Star Mental Fitness - Some people swear by affirmations, while some people claim they don't work at all. In his post Why Affirmations Don't Work, Dr. Hal Sommerschield gives us some "under the hood" answers as to why some achieve success, while others don't.
10) Ririan Project - This is a great website that has recently started picking up the pace on their powerful posts. In Ten Commandments for a Simpler Way of Life, they combine some biblical dialect with some of today's common issues for a Top 10 list of success tips that will help make your life a better place to be!
That's it for this week. Have a safe and Happy Easter!
Good-natured Easter humor compliments of Darren Hardy, president of
The Success Training Network:
One of my goals with the Today is that Day website and blog is to help people to realize that success IS something that every single person can attain!
However, a lot of the "how-to" information that is available in the world is just the same old information that has been re-packaged, re-purposed, or simply copied and pasted from information that was already available.
In order to put an end to the constant recirculation of the same data over and over again, I have decided to start a new blog carnival that will be dedicated exclusively to blog posts that detail new and innovative ways to live life!
I'm calling it the Doing it Differently blog Carnival, and this post is both the official announcement about the new carnival, as well as the first Call for Submissions!
My regular readers will be familiar with blog carnivals about personal development and the Law of Attraction that I have hosted in the past, and I will take this opportunity to once again thank both Lyman Reed as well as Edward Mills for the chance to host those blogs here at Today is that Day.
It is my intention to add even more value to the "blogosphere" by adding this new and unique blog carnival that will be hosted here at the Today is that Day blog. One major thing to note, however, is that the Doing it Differently Blog Carnival will NOT be restricted to blog posts about personal development, self improvement, etc.
The whole point of this new carnival will be for people to publicize their methods for living life "outside of the box," and I want everyone to have free reign to write about anything and everything that falls into that category.
Some possible subjects could include - but not be limited to - things such as relationships, making money, recreation, building businesses, exercise and physical fitness, art or other self expression, etc.
I cannot emphasize enough that if you have or come up with a way of doing things that the "average joe" doesn't know about, your information is welcome at the Doing it Differently Blog Carnival!
The very first edition will be posted on April 15th, 2007 (tax day, yikes!), and you can get some more details as well as access the carnival submission form by clicking right here.
I'm looking forward to receiving your submissions and to growing this new blog carnival as a way to help people find new and unique ways to achieve success and to enjoy their lives!
NEWSFLASH: A blow was delivered to the American spirit of safety and security today when superhero Captain America was felled by an assassin’s bullet!
Apparently he was caught with his guard down after gazing longingly at pirated naked pictures of American Idol contestant Antonella Barba.
Clay Aiken will be using his Dell laptop computer to record video interviews about the incident that will be posted on both MySpace and YouTube.
Reality Check!
Okay, whether you are a regular reader, or if this is your first time reading this blog, allow me to assure you that my interest in naked celebrity pictures, American Idol, or Clay Aiken rank right up there with my interest in a tax audit.
I do have a Dell laptop, though!
No, the reason for this post is to demonstrate a point about focus and how it is often influenced by the world around us - often in negative ways.
Most people who are familiar with the blog-ranking site Technorati will undoubtedly recognize many of the keywords in my mock newsflash as being recent entries in the list of popular terms that were being searched for on the date of this posting, March 8, 2007.
I used those terms for the express purpose of luring more people to this blog so I could demonstrate that - although entertainment is well worth your time - keeping your reaction to the world at large in check is more than just necessary.
This blog and my entire website are dedicated to helping people to improve and empower their lives, yet whenever I cruise over to Technorati, it is plain to see that most people aren’t searching for ways to improve their lives, they are searching for the latest “buzz” words and concepts.
Don’t worry - I’m not about to throw in the towel and give up on my niche! I’m all about helping people, and that isn’t going to change.
However, I wanted to risk the link baiting title of this post to remind people that although you should by all means enjoy your life, you also need to remember that you HAVE a life!
But idolize others? No way. YOU are the Idol in your life. Don’t ever forget it!
Go
Awhile ago I started reading a book called ‘Full Steam Ahead‘ by Ken Blanchard and Jesse Stoner.
The basic idea of the book is to teach the reader the absolutely invaluable lesson that if you want to accomplish certain things in your life, you have to have a very clear vision of what you want to accomplish.
It seems like common sense to read it in such simplistic terms, but the truth of the matter is that most people don’t really give their lives a mission or a vision.
Most people tend to look around the next corner for toys or experiences, when in all actuality, your life can represent a lot more than that.
If you have a nice car (or 5 or 6 of them), if you have a beautiful house on the beach, and if you have enough money that you could literally start throwing it away, do you really think that people are going to remember those things about you?
People remember how other people make them feel, not how much money someone had, or if they had a nice car or a big house.
I remember way back when I used to be in the Army, and I was home on leave visiting my family, my friends, and my girlfriend. My best friend had moved into a new apartment since the last time I had been home, and the new place was pretty small, especially when you got 8 or 10 people packed in there.
However, when I remember that vacation, I don’t think about how small the apartment was. I think about the fact that we had SO much fun while I was home! I remember the entire experience as leaving me with “warm and fuzzies” and I was actually upset when I found out that he moved out of there.
My point is that even though most people strive to have financial or material success - and there is nothing wrong with that - you might also think about about what the “bigger picture” in your life is.
In ‘Full Steam Ahead‘, the book opens up with the description of a heart-warming and tear-jerking eulogy that a girl reads about her father at his funeral.
After the funeral, someone comes up to thank her for putting together such wonderful words about her father, and she admits that she didn’t write the eulogy.
It turns out that he had written it - many years earlier!
The man had such a clear vision of what he wanted his life to be like, that in order to live up to his wonderful dreams, he wrote a eulogy about himself, and then spent his life making sure that he was living up to those standards.
When he finally left the physical earth, his eulogy didn’t need to be modified at all, because he had successfully lived up to his own standards, and as a result, everyone who knew him also adored him.
That is not to say that your goal should be the adoration of the masses, or that you should start living your life in such a way so that someone can read a great eulogy about you when you’re dead.
However, it does speak volumes about the fact that by deciding what you to accomplish in life - and never backing down from that decision - that you will empower yourself to have, be, or do anything that you can imagine.
Over at The Marketing Minute, Drew’s “Quought of the Day” (see site for details) was as follows:
“If, on the day of your funeral someone were to walk up to the podium and speak a single word or phrase that captured the essence of your life - what would you want that word or phrase to be and what are you doing today and every day to earn it?”
So, what is YOUR word?
Mine is FUN, and you can bet that I make sure I have some of that every single day!
Are you one of those people who says that you stopped having birthdays after a certain point? Are you the kind who has turned 30 like 15 or 20 times?
Or are you the opposite? Do you celebrate your birthday with gusto? Do you think that ALL the world should sing, just because its your birthday?
I am more of a "gusto" kind of person myself, and since my birthday was this past Sunday, I thought I would share some thoughts on the whole "birthday thing" and also toss out a few pictures from the celebration, starting with this one of yours truly, hanging out with some of my friends who showed up for the party:
Apparently some of my REAL friends decided that we needed some more bodies at the party! :)
Now, as far as whether or not you should celebrate your birthday is - in my humble opinion - a no-brainer for anyone who who practices positive thinking and the deliberate and conscious creation of their life.
Whether you have been exposed to teachings about conscious creation1, the Law of Attraction, and the like, or if you are just a firm believer in positive thinking, then you should be familiar with the concept of treating every moment as a gift.
Every single moment of our time is a glorious gift that we can do whatever we want to do with, and that attitude should permeate your life. By actually living your life that way, you automatically attract things worth living for.
Have you ever known anyone who celebrated their life with a passion, yet had nothing but horrible things continue to happen to them? I know that I never have!
Every single person that I've ever met who truly enjoyed every moment of their life and who were grateful for the opportunity that each of those moments represented was also repeatedly given reasons to continue to be happy and grateful!
Much like these people who showed up at the bar where we were having the birthday celebration:
Apparently these Amish folks were on vacation and decided to enjoy some of the spoils of modern civilization
You see, the secret to being successful is feeling good about your life and having FUN! If you are happy and confident that you are walking the path that truly resonates with you as an individual, then the people and situations that are needed for you to realize success will simply come to you, almost unbidden.
Or, if you are one of those people who just thinks that you are getting old, that you waited too long to get started on a successful career, health, or relationship path, and that birthdays are "just another day," then that is exactly what you will attract. More days in your life that are "just another day."
So, if every moment is a gift (and it is), and you can create success and happiness by cherishing and celebrating every moment (which you can), then imagine what you can accomplish by taking one day - your birthday - and making it extra special!
For me, although I work very hard at the many things that I do in the self improvement community, and although I frequently work 10 to 12 hour days, I also realize the need for balance. Just working hard will not bring you happiness unless you also take the time to enjoy your life in the process. Kind of like these girls, most of whom were part of the birthday bash:
Your birthday is a wonderful opportunity for you to take some extra time to focus on the wonderful people that you have in your life. Whether your circle of influence is huge, or if it only consists of a few very special people, the people that you deem to be a quality part of your life are most definitely something that you should feel gratitude for on a regular basis.
In my case, I am well aware of the fact that the people in my life are a very large part of why I smile so often, and even if I don't call or email as often as I maybe should, the feelings of gratitude that I have because those people are in my life are something that I feel on a daily basis.
In fact, sometimes you'll even put on a dorky hat and let people laugh at you all day long - just because the friends and family asked you to. My wife is no stranger to me looking like a dork, but SHE was the one who remembered to bring the hat that I tried to "accidentally" leave in the car:
So, the answer to the question of whether or not to celebrate your birthday as if you were happy simply to be here on this earth is a resounding YES!
Every day of your life has been and will continue to be a wonderful gift to you. Celebrate your very existence by celebrating each and every birthday - whether you are 9 years old, or 90!
Oh, and if your view through the camera lens looks like this by the end of the night...
...go to bed! :)
Footnotes:
1 - Energy Harmonics
I just got done watching the movie ‘50 First Dates’ with Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore, and I saw a great opportunity to share a lesson with my readers!
The premise of the movie is that Drew Barrymore’s character gets a head injury that causes her to only be able to remember one day of her life at a time. Each morning when she wakes up, she thinks that her life is exactly as it was before her head injury - same date, same job, same things to do that day, etc.
Adam Sandler meets her at a cafe in Hawaii and is immediately smitten with her. They agree to have breakfast at the same cafe the next day, but unfortunately for Sandler’s character, Drew doesn’t remember who he is!
So, the movie goes on with all of these hilarious and heart-warming examples of how he tries to get her to fall in love with him every day. Eventually it gets to the point where they find ways to remind her every morning about her situation, and she realizes that she only has until she falls asleep that night in order to live her life to the fullest. By the next morning she will not remember anything that happened the day before.
A very cute and pretty funny movie, but it is the message that really struck me, and I immediately saw how others could benefit from that message.
Imagine what it would be like to wake up every day, and realize that you only had that one day to enjoy your life. To realize that when you went to bed that night, anything that you wanted to enjoy in the world had to have been enjoyed that very day, because you wouldn’t remember anything the next morning, and you would have to start all over again.
Do you think that you might work harder than you presently do to enjoy each moment of your life?
Do you think that you might spend more time with your family, or your loved ones?
Do you think that you might put forth more effort at having fun, and less effort at working?
Do you think you that you might enjoy that day simply for the sake of enjoying it, rather than because you might be worried about what tomorrow is going to bring?
As human beings doing our time here on planet Earth, we tend to define ourselves in two ways:
1) What we did in the past
2) What we plan to do in the future
When you think about it, that is pretty sad, considering that the only moment that we can totally control is this moment - the moment that we are living in right now.
The past is completely chiseled in stone and can never be changed. Whether you are talking about what happened 60 seconds ago or 60 years ago - it’s done, and there is nothing that you can do about it.
The future, although more in our control than the past, is still in the future, and given the fragility of the human condition, the future may never come at all.
The only period of our lives that is completely, 100% in our control is the NOW.
Do yourself a favor, and consider this:
If you lost the ability to judge yourself on the mistakes that you made in the past, and you knew for a fact that you weren’t going to remember any mistakes that you make today, what would you do today?
I sincerely hope that you answered with nothing less than “I would live my life to the fullest, for these moments will never come again!”
Start living your life with that attitude right now, and you will be amazed at how quickly life starts giving you everything that you need to keep right on doing exactly that.
For any of you Star Trek fans out there, you will undoubtedly agree that the writers for all of the different Star Trek television shows as well as the movies had their thumb as much on the pulse of humanity as they did on the joys of science fiction.
The trials and tribulations of the many different characters in the Star Trek universe certainly had the space-faring, phaser-blasting aspects that people enjoyed, but they also kept the general “message” of many of the shows and movies to be one that either acknowledged or taught about some aspect of simply being human.
In one such episode from the Star Trek Voyager series, Captain Janeway and the crew have a run in with the all-powerful beings from the “Q” continuum.
For you non-fans, the “Q” as they call themselves are a race of beings that have unlimited power to do literally everything and anything that they can imagine.
Readers of this blog, my articles1, or any of the products2 that I have put out there will recognize that same theme as something that I encourage every “mere human” here on planet earth to believe - that their power is limited only by their imagination.
In this one particular episode - and there is a point here, so stay with me - there are two “Q’s” that visit the crew of Voyager. One of them the famous Q played by John de Lancie, and another Q who has decided that he wants to “end it all” and commit suicide.
The members of the “Q” continuum are as well known for their arrogance as they are for their unlimited powers, so the notion that one of their number would want to die is simply beyond their understanding.
So enters Captain Janeway and the crew to act as moderators to this dispute between the two Q’s. Since the Voyager crew are “mere humans”, they play the part of the impartial observers who are charged with making a decision about whether or not the wish of an omnipotent being to end his life should be granted.
Since our human crew on Voyager have no idea what it is like to be all-powerful, the Q played by John de Lancie decides to take a handful of them to the Q continuum itself so that they can see what it is like to be all-powerful, and thereby showing that the idea of giving up all of that power and committing suicide is ludicrous.
At the time of the original airing of the episode many years ago, Star Trek fans around the world waited with baited breath for the next commercial break to be over so that they could see what it looks like to be all-powerful!
So it was that when the next scene materialized (sorry - Star Trek humor!) many people were confused to see the two Q’s, Captain Janeway and the rest of the gang to be standing in a place as non-remarkable as someone could possibly imagine.
They were standing on the side of a long and desolate road in the middle of the desert, with the road stretching off for what looked like eternity in either direction. Directly across from them was an old gas station, a few people sitting around looking very bored and very non-committal, and even an old dog who seemed to share the apathy of the humans at the gas station.
Janeway and the crew are a bit confused as this scene is boring at best, and hardly seems what they had expected from the realm of a species of beings who literally hold power over time and space itself.
Q goes on to explain that this scene was the easiest way to envision the life of a “Q”, where the entire universe is your playground. That you can go anywhere and do anything - represented by the road stretching off in both directions - or you can stay in one spot and play with your power to have, do, or be anything that you can imagine.
The Q who wants to commit suicide goes on to explain that he has done everything that there is to do. He has seen what is at the end of the road in both directions, he has been each of the individuals at the gas station, he’s been the building itself, and, he has even been the dog!
The other Q, who doesn’t believe that suicide should be allowed, says with disgust, “Everybody’s been the dog”!
Truth be told you probably haven’t even fully experienced who you are!
However, here is the moral to all of this (and thank you for the non-S/T fans who made it this far):
You CAN be the dog. Or the road. Or the building. Or the desert. Or the gas pump. Or the…. INSERT WHAT YOU WANT TO HAVE, DO, OR BE HERE.
You ARE a “Q”, and your time here on planet earth is simply a choice that you made to be here. Since you made that choice, the next choice that you can ask yourself is to decide what you are going to do with your time.
Are you going to exercise the power of the universe that is at your fingertips in order to make your life whatever you want it to be, or are you going to just lay there on the sand being the dog, and thinking - quite inappropriately - that your lot in life is to just lay there and be limited by whatever you see around you at any given moment.
Because here is the truth of the matter, my faithful omnipotent reader, the life that you see around you is not what limits you, but rather what you have created.
You are not surrounded by a sea of solid matter that is keeping you restricted to certain rules that will only allow you to have, do, or be certain things.
To the contrary - you are surrounded by a liquid mass of moving energy that you can manipulate in order to create whatever life it is that you want to be living.
Later on down the road, after you have been and done everything - including spending your time as the dog - then maybe it will be time to move on to something else.
Until then…let’s see what’s out there!
One of the most powerful ways to bring the things that you want into your life is to use the amazing power of our imagination in order to visualize the success that we desire.
Some people call this "positive thinking", but truly effective visualization goes way beyond simply holding an image in your head. However, that being said, the easier that it is for you to hold an image in your head, the easier it will be for you to practice the other visualization techniques as well.
The gratitude filled folks over at Tabblo have come up with a very cool (and free) new way to bring together the images of your life into a format that works best for you, and that is very simple to share with other people.
A "tabblo" is basically a blank canvas that you can easily add images and/or text to using several different design templates that they offer, or you can manually create your own.
Think of a collage of pictures, only online, and completely customizable, and you'll start to grasp the idea. Also, all of the tabblo's can be printed in any number of different formats, even in a book!
To see what I'm talking about, click below to go to the tabblo that I created which I have entitled 'Shopping with the Law of Attraction':
Also, for another great example of the type of things that you can do with Tabblo - including the hilarious picture below - click the picture to be taken to this person's tabblo:
The possibilities are endless, and I want to encourage you to use these types of tools in order to make your visualizations effective!
I mean, if putting together an entire book of your desires and then putting it on your coffee table doesn't frequently remind you to deliberately create your life, I don't know what will.
Also, I have put together a Law of Attraction group there on the Tabblo site that you are welcome and encouraged to join.
The basic idea is that everyone who is using the power of visualization in order to manifest their desires can share visual concepts by keeping all of our tabblo's in one spot. By seeing how other people are visualizing, you make get inspired to manifest new or different things into your life, or you may just be inspired by someone else's pictures, text, or visualization concepts. If nothing else, you'll be entertained for a few minutes, so check it out!
When visualizing, practice the following concepts to make your visualizations powerful and effective!
1. Always feel as if what you are visualizing already exists for you. If you think "I am going to have this someday", then it will always be "someday away". Visualize in the NOW, and your goals will manifest in your life.
2. Never NEED the things that you are visualizing. If you are desperately needing the things that you are asking for, then all you are doing is sending out a "I wish I had this" vibration and all you will manifest is continuing to wish that you had it. Want the things that you are visualizing, Believe that you already have them, and Feel the joy that having those things brings to your life. The Universe will deliver!
3. Visualize as often as you like - the more you do it, the faster you'll get what you want. Also, take advantage of the time right before you go to sleep and right after you wake up to practice visualization. Your subconscious mind is most receptive to programming during those times, and you will get the most out of your efforts when you get your conscious AND your subconscious mind working together.
Okay, that's it, that's all. Now go out there and create the world that you want by finding ways to hold the images of that world in your head. Next thing you know, you'll be living in it.
Remember:
"Thoughts become things... choose the good ones!" - Mike Dooley and TUT 's Adventure Club
