zaterdag 27 november 2010

The Damned Egg

Enjoy your weekend everyone!
A Scotsman and an Englishman lived next door to each
other. The Scotsman owned a hen and each morning he
would look in his garden and pick up one of his hen's
eggs for breakfast.
One day he looked into his garden and saw that the hen
had laid an egg in the Englishman's garden. He was
about to go next door when he saw the Englishman pick
up the egg.
The Scotsman ran up to the Englishman and told him
that the egg belonged to him because he owned the
hen. The Englishman disagreed because the egg was
laid on his property. They argued for a while until finally
the Scotsman said, "In my family we normally solve
disputes by the following actions: I kick you in the
testicles and time how long it takes for you to get back
up. Then you kick me in the testicles and time how long
it takes for me to get up.Whoever gets up quicker wins
the egg."
The Englishman agreed to this and so the Scotsman put
on the heaviest pair of boots he could find. He took a
few steps back, then ran towards the Englishman and
kicked him as hard as he could in the testicles. The
Englishman fell to the floor clutching his groin, howling
in agony for 30 minutes.
Eventually the Englishman stood up and said, "Now it's
my turn to kick you."
The Scotsman smiled and said:
"Ye can keep the damn egg”

dinsdag 23 november 2010

How To Embrace What You Already Have

Today I would like to share a blog post by my dear friend Arvind Devalia.


Can you feel the magic in the air?

It’s thanksgiving week and I can already feel a sense of anticipation and excitement in the air.
This week, as is the tradition in the USA and other countries around the world, people will celebrate with their families and loved ones.
Here in London, over the last few years, thanksgiving is being celebrated more and more. I feel it’s a truly wonderful way of getting reconnected to what really matters in our lives.
For the first time ever, I may even host my own thanksgiving dinner in my home – vegetarian of course:-)
To mark and celebrate this special time, I am writing a series of 5 articles this week, one article a day for the next 5 days.
Today I will start with gratitude.

As you spend time with your loved ones over the coming days, just what are you grateful for in your life?

Gratitude is all about appreciating the things you have in your life. Are you even aware of all the goodness around you?
The fact that you are breathing and reading these printed words is a marvel in itself. How often we take something for granted and then miss it as soon as it has gone. Many a time a loved one has left us, only for us to wish we had told them just how much they meant to us.

Gratitude is a way of reaching back to our natural state of happiness. 

You get to notice what’s right instead of what’s wrong and begin to see every “problem” as an opportunity for growth and development. Is your glass half full or half empty?
I challenge you during this special week to begin to value all the goodness and beauty around you. This can be as majestic as a sunset or as simple as the feel of the clothes you wear.
Be thankful for a gift from a friend, a child’s smile, a stranger’s kindness, having got home safely today and simply to be alive.

Appreciate the weather too wherever you are. Here in the UK it seems to rain a lot and so many people dampen their moods due to this natural phenomenon. I simply suggest to them that they appreciate the rain – after all, it is the rainwater that sustains all the nature around us.
Some of the happiest people I know live with an attitude of gratitude.
Adopting such an approach is a life long commitment and here are my tips to get you started this thanksgiving week:-

1. Count your blessings and create your gratitude list
List the things in your life to be grateful for and which you take for granted, such as your health, home, family, friends, work colleagues, car, and so on. Add all the things that you could not survive without, such as sunlight, air, water and food.
See how many things you can come up with. Keep this list with you, and refer to it anytime you get upset. See how long you remain upset!

2. Do something kind randomly
Do something for someone for no reason other than simply wanting to do it. Have no attachment to the outcome. Pay for someone’s parking, or compliment a stranger.

3. Send a note of appreciation to your loved ones
Post a card of appreciation to someone whom you have not been in touch with for a while.
Go one step further and send cards to five people and tell them how much you appreciate them being in your life.
If you don’t do this during thanksgiving week, when will you?

4. Write a thank you note
Send a thank you note to someone who has done something for you, significant or not.
Get into a habit of sending such notes by post. Most mail nowadays is junk mail or bills.
Light up someone’s day. Create a trail of happiness behind you, as you go forward in your life.
With the advent of email and social media, people have almost forgotten the art of writing thank you notes. But this thanksgiving week, why don’t you reconnect with this traditional way of spreading goodness?

5. See the magic all around you
See things as if for the first time ever. For instance, imagine just how fascinating a dog would look like to a child when seen for the first time.
Slow down and notice the beauty around you. Literally stop and smell the roses.
Remember that you can always choose to live your life as if everything is a miracle.

6. Live in the present and accept where you are
Accept things as they are. No matter how much the situation has turned out differently to your expectations, it is the way it is.
You don’t know how much worse off you could have been, had things gone differently. Savour the current moment and be grateful for what is.

7.
Count your blessings, not your negatives
Since we are so conditioned into noticing the negatives, we often overlook all the good in our life. Count your blessings and be thankful.

8.
Go around thanking everyone
Say “thank you” as often as possible to all the people who make your life what it is. A smile and a simple thank you will do. This will have a magical effect on the person receiving your appreciation. They will feel that their efforts have been noticed and appreciated.

Play the game of living with an attitude of gratitude! 

From today onwards, play a game and count the number of times you say “thank you” – this is where you get to thank the universe and all the people who make your life what it is.
Then increase this number tomorrow. The opportunities to genuinely thank people and the universe are endless.
For example, next time you are at a checkout desk, show your gratitude and appreciation to the cashier. He and his colleagues have probably been up since the crack of dawn to make it possible for you to have your daily groceries and for you to eat.
Acknowledge your postman. Do you even know his name? See how his face lights up when you show an interest in his life. Very few people know the name of the postman who may have been delivering their mail for years. Ask him his name and make his day!
If you work in an office, acknowledge and get to know the cleaning staff. If they didn’t clean up, you would soon know that it is not fun to work in a rubbish tip.
Thank the men who collect your domestic refuse every week.
All the people you acknowledge will be truly touched.
And best of all, you will feel great too.
From this thanksgiving week onwards, learn to always live with an attitude of gratitude.
Appreciating what you have and being thankful isn’t just for this week – make it a life long habit.
Please share below what you are grateful for in your life.


maandag 22 november 2010

Bill Gates speech: 11 rules your kids did not and will not learn in school

Posted by Tea Talk and Gossip op zondag 12 september 2010 om 16:19

Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it! 

Rule 2: The world doesn't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself. 

Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both. 

Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss. 

Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity. 

Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them. 

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room. 

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life. 

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time. 

Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs. 

Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

vrijdag 19 november 2010

Anxiety



Wanted to share an article with you from Ali Brown's blog.

Have you ever been stuck on a project and convinced that you’re NOT making excuses? You really feel like you need to do another week of research or think about your plan a little more? I see this happen when a client has an “a-ha” moment, but can’t get around to taking action. Or another client won’t let go of their pet project and gets stuck instead in an obsessive state of revisions and re-revisions. According to Eric Maisel -- a creativity coach based in the Bay Area -- anxiety is most likely the culprit.
Anxiety is sneaky because it’s hard to detect. It’s a quiet, powerful emotion that can stop your forward progress dead in its tracks. And it’s such a relevant topic that I could easily write 4 blogs on it. But, since I like to keep things simple (and less anxiety provoking!), I will divvy it into a 2-part series. In Part 1 below, I focus on becoming aware of your anxiety triggers (using Eric Maisel’s stages of anxiety). And in Part 2 next week, I’ll close with some tips.
Maisel mostly works with artists, but I find that his stages of creativity apply to entrepreneurs as well. In his insightful book, Fearless Creating, Maisel outlines six stages to a project, which EACH provoke a different type of anxiety:

  1. Wishing – the dream state where you imagine your business, your dream career and lifestyle. It’s a wonderful place to be, but many get stuck here, because let’s face it, it’s fun and safe. 
  2. Choosing – this is where you have to pick one. Will it be the online clothing store, the greeting card company or the fashion blog? I’m not saying you can’t do it all, but you have to start somewhere. And picking the ONE can be a little scary.
  3. Starting – Facing the blank page, the mailing list with 10 people on it (trust me I’ve been there). This is where you fight the feeling (almost always false) that you just don’t know ANYTHING.
  4. Working – Staying focused and committed to your project. Not losing steam, or surfing the web when you should be working (hint, Maisel says that all those distractions are just anxiety getting the best of you).
  5. Completing – This is kind of like a spin on choosing because you have to tie up the loose ends and “live” with your baby. Your logo could have over 20 different color combos, and your ezine could follow 100+ formats -- but you just have to get it done and know your end product. This can be scary. 
  6. Showing – This is the cliff -- the moment you’re about to take a leap and go public. Maybe it means clicking the “publish” button on your blog, or sending off the sales email to a cold potential client. But this is where you expose yourself and your business, and it can cause a TON of anxiety. 

Does any of the above sound familiar to you? Remember, you could feel anxiety at only one phase, or at several phases of the process. Right now, just be aware of where you get stuck. 
Then, once you recognize where you get stuck in your own, individual process, you have the key to moving your projects through from start to finish. Stay tuned for Part 2 next week, where I’ll give you some tips on how to push past these stages.


Lily

That Lily is sooooooo cute I just had to share!
See how much she loves being cuddled...


woensdag 17 november 2010

The Wise Woman


By: Author Unknown

A wise woman who was traveling in the mountains found a

precious stone in a stream. The next day she met another
traveler who was hungry, and the wise woman opened her bag
to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious
stone and asked the woman to give it to him. She did so
without hesitation.

The traveler left, rejoicing in his good fortune. He knew

the stone was worth enough to give him security for a
lifetime.

But, a few days later, he came back to return the stone

to the wise woman. "I've been thinking," he said. "I know
how valuable this stone is, but I give it back in the hope
that you can give me something even more precious. Give me
what you have within you that enabled you to give me this
stone."

Sometimes it's not the wealth you have but what's inside

you that others need.

woensdag 10 november 2010

The Rebellion Against the Stomach



The Rebellion Against the Stomach
By: Author Unknown

Once a man had a dream in which his hands and feet and mouth

and brain all began to rebel against his stomach.

"You good-for-nothing sluggard!" the hands said. "We work

all day long, sawing and hammering and lifting and
carrying. By evening we're covered with blisters and
scratches, and our joints ache, and we're covered
with dirt. And meanwhile you just sit there, hogging all
the food."

"We agree!" cried the feet. "Think how sore we get, walking

back and forth all day long. And you just stuff yourself
full, you greedy pig, so that you're that much heavier to
carry about."

"That's right!" whined the mouth. "Where do you think all

that food you love comes form? I'm the one who has to chew
it all up, and as soon as I'm finished you suck it all down
for yourself. Do you call that fair?"

"And what about me?" called the brain. "Do you think it's

easy being up here, having to think about where your next
meal is going to come from? And yet I get nothing at all
for my pains."

And one by one the parts of the body joined the complaint

against the stomach, which didn't say anything at all.

"I have an idea," the brain finally announced. "Let's all

rebel against the lazy belly, and stop working for it."

"Superb idea!" all the other members and organs agreed.

"We'll teach you how important we are, you pig. Then maybe
you'll do a little work of your own."

So they all stopped working. The hands refused to do

lifting and carrying. The feet refused to walk. The mouth
promised not to chew or swallow a single bite. And the
brain swore it wouldn't come up with any more bright ideas.
At first the stomach growled a bit, as it always did when
it was hungry. But after a while it was quiet.

Then, to the dreaming man's surprise, he found he could not

walk. He could not grasp anything in his hand. He could not
even open his mouth. And he suddenly began to feel rather
ill.

The dream seemed to go on for several days. As each day

passed, the man felt worse and worse. "This rebellion had
better not last much longer," he thought to himself, "or
I'll starve."

Meanwhile, the hands and feet and mouth and brain just lay

there, getting weaker and weaker. At first they roused
themselves just enough to taunt the stomach every once in a
while, but before long they didn't even have the energy for
that.

Finally the man heart a faint voice coming from the

direction of his feet.

"It could be that we were wrong," they were saying. "We

suppose the stomach might have been working in his own way
all along."

"I was just thinking the same thing," murmured the brain.

"It's true that he's been getting all the food. But it
seems he's been sending most of it right back to us."

"We might as well admit our error," the mouth said. "The

stomach has just as much work to do as the hands and feet
and brain and teeth."

"Then let's get back to work," they cried together. And at

that the man woke up.

To his relief, he discovered his feet could walk again. His

hands could grasp, his mouth could chew, and his brain
could now think clearly. He began to feel much better.

"Well, there's a lesson for me," he thought as he filled

his stomach at breakfast. "Either we all work together, or
nothing works at all."