Create a Life Story the Way You Want It

By Miami Phillips

If you could start your life all over what would be different? What would you change now if you were able to wave a magic wand and start from a scratch? Just imagine you have no ties, no burdens, no limits, no memories, and no past.

What would your life look like? If the answer that comes to your mind is different than what you are doing, why is that? Is it because of someone else’s opinion? A spouse, a parent or maybe your children?

The ultimate test of your life is to close your eyes and think of yourself on your deathbed. Lying there, preparing yourself to leave, look back at your life as you are currently living it. How do you feel? Are you satisfied you lived completely? Or do you wish you had done differently? Very few of our senior citizens look back on their life and say, “I sure wish I had spent more time at the office!” Nobody says, “I wish I had watched more TV!”

This is what they say, “I wish I had been bolder. I wish I had given more. I wish I had tried harder to see more, do more and feel more.” People wish that they had lived more. I, for one, have to admit to a certain amount of holding back on dreams and goals because of our two boys. As my life progresses I realise there is no reason to hold back.

We have not been exactly standing still either. We have done our best to live our dreams. We built a sailboat and sailed for seven years travelling on the open ocean. We lived in the snow in Aspen Colorado, and on the beach in South Carolina. An old brick mill was our home in Long Island, versus a boat dock in Palm Beach Florida. We are writers of books and music, actors in the theatre, and we have built a horse farm, and businesses! Yet, there is so much more we want to do!

It is a balancing act. We all must have sufficient finances to support a comfortable lifestyle (although most of us tend to spend excessively much on that)! Part of this balancing act is understanding what we are passionate about doing so that work becomes a joy instead of a job.

Is this not a major reason of lost dreams and goals? Many people find work, call it a job and make a living at it. But they begrudge every minute of it, going as far as using the job as a reason for playing the martyr. Find something else!

There are many, many teachers of the attraction philosophies of ‘making a life’. With as many opportunities today in every field imaginable, somewhere, something is calling to you. Another part of the balancing act is to include those around you in frank and open discussions in what it is you want. I find some of my coaching clients have kept their wants and needs bottled up inside them forever! They had already decided for the other person in their lives there was no interest in whatever it was they themselves wanted to do! How absurd! How can we possibly know what someone else wants!

Would it not be tragic to spend your life in a big city for 40 years, working at a job you despise because you thought your spouse liked it, even though you wanted to live in the country and be a farmer? Then one day you overhear your spouse tell her best friend all she ever wanted to do was live in the country? 40 years! Sure this is a bit far fetched — but you would be amazed at what I hear!

Make an attempt today to start with a brand new page of your life. Create your life story how you want it. If there are others in your life to be involved, have them do the same exercise. Then compare with your notes. If this matches your current life, congratulations! You are one of the few. Now make it better. However, if your written life stories sound like someone completely different, then you are living a life of conflict.

Here is the good news. Your life is your life. No one can take that away from you. You are not indentured. You are not a slave. You are free to go, do, and be whomever you wish. It might not be easy, but it sure might be worth it.

Be a Successful Juggler

Life is like a game in which you are juggling five balls in the air. One ball is work, one family, one health, one friendship, and one spirit. It is surely no easy task to keep them all in the air.

Work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls — family, health, friends and spirit are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they may be scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered. They may never be the same.

In order to be successful as a juggler, it is important to strive for balance in life. Remember your unique value and celebrate it by not comparing yourself with others. It is because we are different that each of us is special.

Set your goal by what you know is best for you and not by what other people deem is important. Hold dear the things closest to your heart. Cling to them as you would your life, for without them, life is meaningless.

Live life fully in this moment, it can slip through your fingers by living in the past or for the future. By living your life one day at a time, you live all the days of your life. Keep going, you will always have something to give. Nothing is really over until the moment you stop trying.

Be yourself, even if you are less than perfect. Imperfection is a fragile thread that binds us together. Be courageous, it may be necessary to encounter risks. It is by taking chances that we learn how to be brave.

Have faith, find love by believing it is possible to find. The quickest way to receive love is to give it; the fastest way to lose love is to hold it too tightly; and the best way to keep love is to give the freedom to be generously shared. Slow down, walk peacefully through life so as not to forget where you’ve been, and also where you are going.

Be grateful, forget not that a person’s greatest emotional need is to feel appreciated. Love to learn. Knowledge is weightless, a treasure you can always carry easily. Use time and words wisely. Neither can be retrieved. Cherish life, for it is not a race, but a journey to be savoured each step of the way.

Image: Simons Foundation

Believe in Yourself

By Eduardo Dominguez

You are super special! Believe in yourself! Certainly you can take action to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills and therefore to produce the desired results. You certainly can produce all the necessary results to reach your full potential, to fulfil your goals, and to build foundations under your dreams to make them a concrete reality.

Believe in yourself. Definitively, you can take actions and produce results. You can do it! Don ’t worry about being successful. Just do it! You are already a star since the day you were born. The real success is experienced during the process of doing, with passion and love, the task you commit to achieve. The rest is arrogance and vanity — don ’t play this game; it is not real and causes unhappiness and insecurity.

Do your best, with passion and love. Put your heart in everything you do, but don ’t ever worry if you make mistakes, miss, fail or fall on the road. No problem. That ’s OK! You are not better or worse than the rest of the people in the world, in reality nobody is!

In the beginning, no challenge is easy to cope with or else anybody would do it. If worthwhile things were easy to do, life would be meaningless and senseless. Mistakes or failures are there, and ever will be, to teach us, make us stronger, and help us to mature even more. Nobody is perfect. Mistakes or failures are part of the many teachers we will have during our short journey in the ‘university of life ’.

Have a blind faith and never, ever lose your hope because faith and hope are the energies that move our souls. Without faith and hope our lives are meaningless, gloomy, and painful. Inspire yourself by knowing, recognising, valuing, and embrancing your own greatness. You are special as you are, and you don ’t need to be like, or compare yourself with anybody else since you are perfectly unique.

You are super special! Yes you! Believe in yourself, Everybody has his or her own opinion about you and the world, but the most important opinion that you have of yourself. Nothing else matters but how you see yourself. The image you have about yourself is the image you are going to acquire and the life you will live; nothing more, nothing else.

If you don ’t believe how special, capable, intelligent, valuable, and blessed you are nobody else will. Love yourself and believe in yourself without being consumed by arrogance and greed because who ever is full of himself or herself leaves no room for anybody else in his or her heart.

Don ’t let anybody decide who you are and how far you can get by taking full control and responsibility of your life. Live your life with integrity — be honest and responsible for absolutely all your thoughts, all your actions, and all the consequences of such actions.

Do only what is right and fair. Take action based on your integrity because nothing tells more about who we are and what moves us inside but our daily actions. Our real personality is not expressed in words but in the quality of the actions we take and decisions we make. And only when we face difficulties is when we expose who we really are — our true personality.

It is a fact that nobody can change anybody. Our freedom, happiness, and peace depend on accepting people and life as they are, as well as accepting everything that expresses in life itself. Being honest and responsible gives us freedom, happiness, and peace; being honest provides us with emotional fulfilment and stability.

Instead of choosing to be right, choose to be happy, free, and peaceful. Freedom is being able to choose to do exactly what you want to do, without thinking what the rest of the world will think about us. A human being will only be able to make the right choice when he is in control of himself.

Remember that the quality of your thought determines the quality of your life — that the correct attitude is everything, and that love is the answer.

Image: The Life Fit

For Happy, Content Life

While thinking about life there are some things we should take into accounts. Here are sayings by Dalai Lama on what one should do for happy and content life.

• Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.

• When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.

• Follow the three R’s: Respect for self, Respect for others and Responsibility for all your actions.

• Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.

• Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.

• Don’t let a little dispute injure a great friendship.

• When you realise you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.

• Spend some time alone every day.

• Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.

• Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.

• Live a good, honourable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll be able to enjoy it a second time.

• A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.

• In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past.

• Share your knowledge. It’s a way to achieve immortality.

• Be gentle with the earth.

• Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.

• Remember that the best relationship is one in which you love for each other exceeds your need for each other.

• Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.

• Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.

Let It Be

One day, Buddha was walking from one town to another with a few of his followers. While they were travelling, they happened to pass by a lake. They stopped to rest there and Buddha asked one of his disciples to get him some water from the lake.

A disciple walked up to the lake. When he reached it, he noticed some people were washing clothes in the water and, right at that moment, a bullock cart started crossing through the lake. As a result, the water became very muddy. The disciple though, “How can I give this muddy water to Buddha to drink?”

So he came back and told Buddha, “The water in the lake is very muddy. I don’t think it is suitable to drink.”

After a while, Buddha again asked the same disciple again to go the lake and get him some water. The disciple went back to the lake. This time he found that the mud had settled down and the water was clean so he collected some in a pot and bought it to Buddha. Buddha then looked up at the disciple and said, “See what you did to make the water clean. You let it be and the mud settled down on its own. It is also the same with your mind. When it is disturbed, just let it be. Give it little time and it will settle down on its own.”

Planting Positive Thoughts

By Rajyogi Brahmakumar Nikunj ji

In school we all studied in Physics about ‘Newton’s Third Law Of Motion’ which states — For Every Action, There Is An Equal And Opposite Reaction. This principle is very important in humans as well, as it affects every area of our lives. It’s a natural thing that one can get back only those things s/he gives out. For example, if we plant mangoes we can’t expect oranges! If one reaches a level of success in his/her career, it’s because of years of hard work and continuous effort. It means whatever we are experiencing today in our life is the consequence of our previous actions.

The most important thing about this law from human point of view is — it is about choosing to create a brighter future since the ‘seeds’ are in our hands. The law is fair and just, it only requires that we pay in advance to the mother nature because one cannot reap the fruit if one has not sown the seeds in right way. We first have to give to the nature, only then it would reward us with a bounty as mother nature is very generous. The practical proof of it is that when we plant one seed of pumpkin, in return, we get many pumpkins over several years.

Hence, the need of the hour is to till the soil of our minds, to remove the weeds of unwanted feelings and undesired outsomes, because we are the masters of our minds and thus we can choose to create the results we seek.

So, let us all plant seeds of positive and powerful thoughts to reap fresh fruits of peace and happiness.

The author is a writer at www.brahmakumaris.com. He can be reached at nikunjji@brahmakumaris.in.

Image: Web, BrowardPrevention

The Psychology of Entrepreneurship

Being an entrepreneur can feel like a rollercoaster ride. One with steep highs and lows, moments of intense adrenaline, exposure, and occasionally the sense that you have somehow arrived back where you started.

If your experience of being an entrepreneur includes moments of vulnerability, doubt, guilt, fear, and anxiety, the good news is — you are doing it right. It should feel like this. Why? Because many of the challenges that entrepreneurs face tap into some of the core psychological challenges that we all face.

Take identity, a person in employment is given a job specification, a piece of paper that says: “This is who we would like you to be.” In contrast, the entrepreneur gets a blank piece of paper. They need to operate without boundaries, guidance, or feedback on progress. They need to choose and create their business and themselves as business owners. That kind of choice comes with inevitable doubt, responsibility, guilt, and a strong desire for someone to reassure you that you are “Doing the right thing”.

These are challenges that all of us face in life. We can choose to create ourselves by making conscious choices about the kind of person we want to be. Or we can avoid the discomfort of making those kinds of choices by letting someone else tell us who we are. Identity is just part of the story; there is also vulnerability, risk, passion, failure — all human challenges and all part of the process of being an entrepreneur.

The ride that the entrepreneur is on feels intense because it is harder to avoid these human challenges when you choose to set up your own business. How can entrepreneurs survive the ride? The difference between someone who loves rollercoasters and someone who hates rollercoasters is their relationship with the experience. The very thing that one person doesn’t enjoy — a lack of control, the speed, the height, the disorientation — is exactly what the other person loves. It is the reason they queued up to go on the ride in the first place. — The Guardian

A New Beginning

Just when I found it unberable to fight
The flow of the saltly water made me feel light
Washed away all my frustration
Wiped out the feeling of humiliation
Erased one by one, all the confusion
Prepared to embrance devil and angel with arms open
The priceless emotion, rolling down
From the most sensible organ
It is called the tear
For me it is very near and dear
Which helps blow the heavier feelings into thin air
It is the new dawn today
Forgotten are the developments of the night yesterday
I am a bit excited at this point in time
Today I have a new task, a new level to climb
A new hope emerged beneath the core of my heart
It is the new beginning, yes! I am ready to restart
Restart the things I have experienced
Learning from the mistakes I have made
And to start a new day with bright twinkling light
Being able to see things differently
And it's the tear that wiped away all the vagueness
Making me clear on how to begin.

Words of Encouragement

When things go wrong as they sometimes will, we all need words of encouragement. To spring back again to complete our fight and move on towards the path of our life. And here are some words of encouragement you never know how can they affect your life.

• “When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.” — Henry Ford

• “One has to remember that every failure can be a stepping stone to something better.” — Col Harland Sanders

• “When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the place and time that the tide will turn.” — Harriet Beecher Stowe

• “A diamond is merely a lump of coal that did well under pressure.” — Unknown

• “I am grateful for all of my problems. After each one was overcome, I became stronger and more able to meet those that were still to come. I grew in all my difficulties.” — James Cash Penney

• “A bend in the road is not the end of the road... unless you fail to make the turn.” — Unknown

• “Use what talent you possess: the woods would be very silent if no birds sang except those that sang best.” — Henry Van Dyke

• “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do that by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbour, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” — Mark Twain

Are We Being ‘Stupid’ Too?

A butcher watching over his shop is really surprised when he sees a dog coming inside the shop. He shoos him away. But later, the dog is back again. So, he goes over to the dog and notices he has a note in his mouth. He takes the note and it reads, “Can I have 12 sausages and a leg of lamb, please. The dog has money in his mouth, as well.”

The butcher looks inside and, Io and behold, there is a $10 note there. So he takes the money and puts the sausages and lamb in a bag, placing it in the dog’s mouth. The butcher is so impressed, and since it’s about closing time, he decides to shut up shop and follow the dog.

So off he goes. The dog is walking down the street when he comes to a crossing. The dog puts down the bag, jumps up and presses the button. Then he waits bag in mouth, for the lights to turn. They do, and he walks across the road, with the butcher following him. The dog then comes to a bus stop, and starts looking at the timetable.

The butcher is in awe at this stage. The dog checks out the times, and then sits on one of the seats provided. Along comes a bus. The dog walks around to the front, looks at the number, and goes back to his seat.

Another bus comes. Again the dog goes and looks at the number, notices it’s the right bus, and climbs on. The butcher follows him onto the bus.

The bus travels through the town and out into the suburbs. Eventually the dog gets up, and moves to the front of the bus. He stands on two back paws and pushes the button to stop the bus. Then he gets off, his groceries still in his mouth.

Well, dog and butcher are walking along the road, and then the dog turns into a house. He walks up the path, and drops the groceries on the step.

Then he walks back down the path, takes a big run, and throws himself against the door. He goes back down the path, runs up to the door and again, it throws himself against it. There’s no answer at the house, so the dog goes back down the path, jumps up on a narrow wall, and walks along the perimeter of the garden. He gets to the window, and beats his head against it several times, walks back, jumps off, and waits at the door.

The butcher watches as a big man opens the door, and starts abusing the dog, kicking him and punching him, and swearing at him. The butcher runs up, and stops the man.

“What in heaven’s name are you doing? The dog is a genius. He could be on TV, for the life of me!” to which the man responds, “You call this clever? This is the second time this week that this stupid dog has forgotten his key.”

Reflection: Looks like some people will never be satisfied with what they’ve got. When it comes to the workplace, employers do not kow to appreciate people who have served them loyally through the years. I’ve seen companies lose good people for the simple fact their leaders failed to show appreciation.

Employers with big egos enjoy the fact that they have more power and authority than others. They show, in the way they give orders and directions, that they think they are superior. They get a kick out of displaying this superiority. People who do this are fools. They are never satisfied because they could not be saisfied even if their people perform well. They don’t listen to the opinion and ideas of their subordinates. Why? Because of their stupid pride and insecurity!

Such will never be satisfied. Why? Because they are so busy wrapped up in themselves and, fact is, the self can never be satisfied. Happy and productive people are always those who are “others-centered” rather than “self-centered.” The greatest idea of leadership is not someone who throws his weight around. His joy is derived from delivering a job others benefit from his contribution. Aim for service and success will follow.

How to Break Bad News to Your Team

Delivering news about organisational change and redundancies is never easy. But how the process is managed can have a long-lasting impact on individuals and the organisation as a whole.

So, if you have got to break the news to the staff, it is vital you communicate well. Here are some tips on how best to talk to your team, sustain performance and keep staff motivated.

1. Develop a clear communication strategy: Have a clear and consistent message based on the business rationale for change. In a difficult situation, you might feel under pressure to move away from the corporate line to sound less formal, but it is crucial to stick to the leadership message.

2. Keep it simple: People need clarity and understanding about what the current situation is, how it affects them and what the next steps are. Be concise and stick to the facts.

3. Prepare and practice: If you are giving a speech to your staff, prepare a script and practice delivering it. Take time to become confident and comfortable with the words.

4. Listen: Delivering bad news can be stressful. When they are trying to stay in control, people often speak too much and do not listen enough. This is usually due to nerves, so practicing what you want to say can really help here.

5. Timing is critical: Let the people who are being made redundant know before the rest of the world. Make sure your internal and external communications are joined up.

6. Be compassionate: Some people think they cannot be compassionate because they have to remain professional. But telling somebody that they are about to lose their job always demands compassion. — The Guardian

What Your Sugar Rush Says About You

Nothing compares to the rush you get from a bunch of sugar! The sugar rush may not last long, but is there any yummier way to get some energy? Pick the sugar rush you like the best, and see what it says about you.

Ice-cream

You are inventive, creative, and completely ingenious. You are extremely gifted. You're not just a thinker, you're also a doer. You can put almost any idea into action. You are intensely curious and always exploring. You are understanding and perceptive. You get where others are comping from, even if you don't agree.

Milky/chocolate bar

You enjoy the path not taken. You are a natural strategist. You always like to formulate a plan of attack. You are brainy and you love difficult intellectual challenges. You don't shy away from difficulty. You are original and independent. You're making your own trends and carving your own path.

Jelly gummy bears

You see things how they are, and luckily, things are pretty great. You are an optimistic realist. You are honest, even if it costs you a friend. You want to live an authentic life. You are a good humoured and straightforward person. You can laugh at any situation, and you love to laugh at yourself. You're very blunt and honest, even if it means risking someone's feelings. You prefer to be straight with people.

Dark chocolate bar

You provide direction and leadership for others. People are looking to you to see what you'll do. You focus on goals rather than people. You've always been happiest looking out for yourself. You welcome new challenges without fear. You're ready for whatever comes your way. You are a very ambitious person.

Candy cane

You pride yourself on being easy to read. You think it's best to take the honest approach. You love to win for everyone, and your favourite successes are the ones you can share with your friends. You are a people's person. You are a total extrovert, and others energise you. You appreciate organisation and thrive under structure. You like to understand exactly what's going on.

Choco bar

You believe things need to change in this world. And you've got the guts to make those changes happen. You function well with heavy workloads. You like being and staying productive. You are an extreme risk taker. You love the rush that taking a gamble gives you. You do things your way, and you always get results. You'll work as hard and long as it takes.

Be Gentle

Pray, don’t find fault with the man that limps or stumbles along the road.
Unless you have worn the shoes he wears or struggled beneath his load
There may be tracks in his shoes that hurt through hidden away from view.
Or the burden he bears placed on your back might cause you to stumble too.

Don’t sneer at the man who’s down today unless you have felt the blow.
That caused his fall or felt the shame that only the fallen know.
You may be strong but still the blows that was his if dealt to you.
In the selfsame way, at the selfsame time might cause you to stagger too.

Don’t be too harsh with the man that sins or pelt him with word or stone.
Unless you are sure — yea, doubly sure — that you have no sins of your own.
For you know if the temper’s voice should whisper as soft to you.
As it did to him when he went astray it might cause you to falter too.

7 Tips for Becoming an Entrepreneur in College

Looking to start your own business? Have a dream or vision you want to pursue? Do not wait until after graduation to put your plans in motion. These tips will help guide you on your way to becoming a student entrepreneur.

1. Find something you are passionate about

Sit down for 20 minutes and brainstrom a list of everything you like to do. It can be silly, ridiculous and only half-interesting, but work on developing a comprehensive list of anything that brings you joy or happiness. Consolidate your list into a top few passions and figure out if there is anything you would want to pursue full time.

2. Brainstorm ideas for your start-up

Think about how you can incorporate your interests. Most innovative companies and successful start-ups differentiate themselves from the market with a special niche-combining interests is a great way to create specialisation. Make sure your idea is not too narrow, though. Then, consider the market. Is there room for your business? How are current companies within the same industry structured? How can you stand out?

3. Look for funding

Look into community-oriented sites, which allows visionaries to crowd fund money for their project or idea. One drawback is that for this particular site, it’s an all-or-nothing contribution — you either meet your funding goal entirely or lose out on the money people have pledged. But there are other sites that offer other options, of course.

Explore a local angel investor network. Most universities have connections to these types of resources and information can most likely be found on a university’s office of corporate relations site.

4. Check out university incubators

Often hosted through the university’s business school, student business incubators have many advantages. First, they offer free or cheap space to launch a business idea. Second, they usually have business experts available to work with you to develop a business plan. Third, it fosters a collaborative environment and allows you to work with other student entrepreneurs, often on your own campus.

5. Utilise local mentorship organisations

Many college towns have established professional start-up communities that house mentorship programs. These organisations exist simply to pair emerging entrepreneurs with recognised and respected mentors. This is a key step in ensuring longevity for your busienss that many student entrepreneurs overlook. Having a mentor is essential to a successful business launch and often can be the start of a lifelong friendship.

6. Promote your company

Be active on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Google+, Pinterest and other social networking sites. Do not forget to start your own website, too. WordPress is a popular, inexpensive choice. Decide how you are going to advertise your company and put together a solid marketing plan. An overarching public relations strategy should include your marketing plan and your social media strategy. Also consider blogging, press releases and other media outreach to promote your brand and business.

7. Stay informed about the start-up community

Make sure you are reading industry news. Bookmark sites such as Entrepreneur Inc, Business Insider, TechCrunch and Technori. If you want your business to keep growing, make sure your mind is too. Challenge yourself to keep learning and consider taking a free courses.

Lastly, do not forget to keep networking. Attending business events to socialise and spread your message. Also, through industry conferences, local meet-ups and start-up groups, you can stay inspired to keep creating and dreaming, which, after all, is the core of a thriving start-up. — USA Today

Live the Moment

By Bob Stoess

Always keep faith, have a sense of humour, and do good deeds at random in your life. God always has your back, if only you’ll let Him. Don’t take everything so seriously. Keep levity in your daily life, as it really is the best medicine. Give aid to strangers, because the blessings will come back to you tenfold, impacting their life and yours in a positive way. It might only be a smile, opening a door for someone, or giving guidance along the way but it will leave you with a positive affirmation for your good deeds.

It’s a matter of validation of one person to another that we see them, that we care, and that they matter. We all need that sense of worth. Too often we fail in acknowledging one another as we should. Make a concerted effort to day “Hi, Hello, and Thak You” whenever you can, because it’ll make a difference in keeping a positive attitude.

You don’t need to worry about what others have or don’t have. You don’t need to keep up with the “Jones” or your friends, because you are living your life, not theirs. Be you. Find what you enjoy doing and be that in your living.

Enjoy your work, for one-third of each day is spent in your partner, for your joy and happiness in life depends upon it. Live an exemplary life, for you are an influence to others who are looking for guidance in life.

Don’t wait until you are on your deathbed, talk about your coulda-woulda-shouldas, and regret what you have or have not done. Be prepared to meet your Maker with a smile, reflecting the accomplishments of your life. I’m thankful to have enjoyed what I always wanted — a fulfilled and joyful life. You can’t ask for any more than that.

Slow Down

Have you ever watched children, On a merry-go-round?
Or listened to the rain, Slapping on the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly’s erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?
You better slow down. Don’t dance so fast.
Time is short. The music won’t last.

Do you run through each day, On the fly?
When you ask How are you? Do you hear the reply?
When the day is done, Do you lie in your bed
With the next hundred chores, Running through your head?
You’d better slow down. Don’t dance so fast.
Time is short. The music won’t last.

Ever told your child, We’ll do it tomorrow?
And in your haste, Not see his sorrow?
Ever lost touch, Let a good friendship die
Cause you never had time, To call and say, ‘Hi’
You’d better slow down. Don’t dance so fast.
Time is short. The music won’t last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift... Thrown away.
Life is not a race. Do take it slower
Hear the music, Before the song is over.

Love Over Everything Else

By Rajyogi Brahmakumar Nikunj ji

Love and Anger are two extreme emotions in human lives which rule us, both poles apart and lead us to totally different destinies. In the present milieu, pure and divine love is the best gift we can give to this world. Today, in this selfish and chaotic world, a word of care, a word of selfless love can create wonders. An act of kindness, however small, can never go waste, taking us to new heights of inner happiness, peace and satisfaction that probably cannot be expressed in words.

Anger, on the other hand, can destroy almost everything that we have or earned in life. An angry man is not in a stable state of mind and, hence, cannot be expected to act sensibly. He can never be at peace. However, some people argue that it is necessary to get angry sometimes to get things done or to change people’s attitude towards us. But, one must never forget one important lesson we have been taught by the Supreme — that we are not here to change others. Our goal is to change ourselves; work for our mental and emotional uplift. Others will change as per their time and destiny; we cannot force anyone. But our destiny lies in our own hands.

We can choose to make our life beautiful by inculcating the virtues of love, peace, purity, happiness or can make it miserable by remaining engaged in vices.

Remember, God does not give us happiness; He only shows us the path to happiness.

Hence, it is up to us to make happiness a way of life, leaving behind past experiences that had a negative impact on our mind.

The author is a writer at www.brahmakumaris.com. He can be reached at nikunjji@brahmakumaris.in.

Savour Life

Don’t undermine your worth by comparing yourself with others, it is because we are different that each of us is special.

Don’t set your goals by what other people deem important, only you know what is best for you.

Don’t take for granted the things closest to your heart, cling to that as you would your life, for without them life is meaningless.

Don’t let your life slip through your fingers by living in the past or the future.

By living your life one day at a time, you live all the days of your life.

Don’t give up when you still have something to give, nothing is really over... until the moment you stop trying.

Don’t be afraid to admit that you are less than perfect, it is the fragile thread that binds us to each other.

Don’t be afraid to encounter risks, it is by taking chances that we learn how to be brave.

Don’t shut love out of your life by saying it’s impossible to find. The quickest way to receive love is to give love.

The fastest way to keep love is to hold on too tightly, and the best way to keep love is to give it wings.

Don’t dismiss your ‘dreams’. To be without dreams is to be without hope. To be without hope is to be without purpose.

Don’t run through life so fast that you forget where you’ve been, but also know where you’re going.

Life is not a race, but a journey to be savoured every step of the way.

Smartphone Usage Statistics Highlight Its Importance In Our Lives [INFOGRAPHIC]

Have you ever been thinking about how important the smartphones are in our lives? How many people are using smartphones, how many applications are in the different stores we use, or what we had used before iOS and Android started their unstoppable rise?
Did you now that nowadays an average family spends $48 less on food, but $67 more on smartphone entertainment than before? Interesting, right?

Milan Aryal co-produced an infographic with Coupon Audit to share these insights with you. It will truly highlight the smartphones’ importance in our life through some well known and less known statistics.

iPhone 5S Versus iPhone 5C

The similarities are in many ways as exciting as differences between them

By Ken Subedi

Recently Apple launched the iPhone 5S and the iPhone 5C, and announced the retirement of iPhone 5. No doubt, you can still buy the iPhone 4S and iPhone 4, but Apple releasing two brand new iPhones at the same time is a first. So a question whirls arises regarding the difference between iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C.

To find out real differences we compared the specifications of both. The iPhone 5C comes in five different colours: green, white, blue, pink, and yellow wheres the iPhone 5S comes in four different colours, gold, silver, space and gray.

Software and display

Both smartphones will start with iOS7, and can be upgraded for free to all new versions of Apple’s OS. One of the areas iPhone 5C and iPhone 5S look too similar is the screen. Both have four inch widescreen multi-touch display, with a 1136x640-pixel resolution that make for a pixel density of 326ppi.

Battery

Both phones have built-in, non-swappable lithium-ion batteries. As per the company, both batteries will give backup for the same time. The iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C will last for up to 250 and 10 hours on standby and talk time. Web surfing is eight hours on 3G, and 10 hours on LTE and Wi-Fi. Apple declares 10 hours for video playback and 40 hours audio playback, for the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C.

Camera

Both iPhone 5C and 5S have a front-facing (FaceTime) and a rear-facing (iSight) camera. The modus operandi of the specifications is as follows.

Having eight megapixel sensors, iPhone 5C iSight camera comes with ƒ/2.4 aperture and LED flash. With video stabilisation it supports 1080p HD video recording at 30 fps and 3x zoom in it. The same phone’s FaceTime Camera takes 1.2Mp photos at a resolution of 1280x960 offering up to 720p HD video recording.

On the other side, the iPhone 5S iSight camera has eight Mp sensor, listing it as eight megapixels with 1.5µ pixels. It has aperture of ƒ/2.2 and a true-tone flash. The video capabilities and the FaceTime Camera are like that of iPhone 5C.

Processor

The first smartphone to have 64-bit is iPhone 5S. With 64-bit architecture it comes with a brand new A7 chip. Apple also has M7 coprocessor that means it possesses uncountable apps that uses motion-tracking, for example fitness apps.

On the other hand, iPhone 5C comes with an A6 chip which makes the difference. It can be called as the iPhone 5 with a new appearance. Well, we can’t fairly comment on the level of performance it makes. But one thing is sure that if iPhone 5C’s performance is like that of iPhone 5 it be less valued as a smartphone. We hope that iPhone 5S is an improvement. However, Apple does not talk about the RAM it has put into its new smartphones.

Storage and dimensions

Another marker that makes them different is storage. The iPhone 5C comes in 16 GB and 32 GB ambience, but the iPhone 5S agrees all and goes up to 64 GB. The iphone 5S’s dimensions is 123.8x58.6x7.6mm and weighs 132g.

The similarities between the iPhone 5C and iPhone 5S are in many ways as exciting as differences between them. The battery life, display and software offered by them are more or less the same. But the iphone 5S is faster with a better camera and some additional features.

The writer is associated with Braindigit IT solutions and can be reached at kengb1@gmail.com.

Image credit

Keep on Going

The current obstacles are the foundation of your future success. There are some persons who didn’t give up no matter what. Thus, if you are failing, keep on going

Albert Einstein, physicist: Most of us take Einstein’s name as synonymous with genius, but he didn’t always show such promise. Einstein did not speak until he was four and did not read until he was seven, causing his teachers and parents to think he was mentally handicapped, show and anti-social. Eventually, he was expelled from school and was refused admittance to the Zurich Polytechnic School. It might have taken him a bit longer, but most people would agree that he caught on pretty well in the end, winning the Nobel Prize and changing the face of modern physics.

Walt Disney, founder of The Walt Disney Company: Today Disney rakes in billions from merchandise, movies and theme parks around the world, but Walt Disney himself had a bit of rough start. He was fired by a newspaper editor because, “he lacked imagination and had no good ideas.” After that, Disney started a number of businesses that didn’t last too long and ended with bankruptcy and failure. He kept plugging along, however, and eventually found a recipe for success that worked.

Isaac Newton, scientist: Newton was undoubtedly a genius when it came to math, but he had some failings early on. He never did particularly well in school and when put in charge of running the family farm, he failed miserably, so poorly in fact that an uncle took charge and sent him off to Cambridge where he finally blossomed into the scholar we know today.

Thomas Edison, inventor: In his early years, teachers told Edison he was “too stupid to learn anything.” Work was no better, as he was fired from his first two jobs for not being productive enough. Even as an inventor, Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb. Of course, all those unsuccessful attempts finally resulted in the design that worked.

Henry Ford, founder of ford Motor: While Ford is today known for his innovative assembly line and American-made cars, he wasn’t an instant success. In fact, his early businesses failed and left him broke five times before he founded the Ford Motor Company.

Soichiro Honda, founder of Honda Motor: The billion dollar business that is Honda began with a series of failures and fortunate turns of luck. Honda was turned down by Toyota Motor Corporation for a job after interviewing for a job as an engineer, leaving him jobless for quite some time. He started making scooters of his own at home, and spurred on by his neighbours, finally started his own business.

Akio Morita, founder of Sony Corporation: You may not have heard of Morita but you’ve undoubtedly heard of his company, Sony. Sony’s first product was a rice cooker that unfortunately didn’t cook rice so much as burn it, selling less than 100 units. This first setback didn’t stop Morita and his partners as they pushed forward to create a multi-billion dollar company.

Orville and Wilbur Wright (Wright Brothers), airplane inventors: These brothers battled depression and family illness before starting the bicycle shop that would lead them to experimenting with fight. After numerous attempts at creating flying machines, several years of hard work, and tons of failed prototypes, the brothers finally created a plane that could get airborne and stay there.

Winston Churchill, politician, UK: This Nobel Prize-winning, twice-elected Prime Minister of the UK wasn’t always as well regarded as he is today. Churchill struggled in school and failed the sixth grade. After school he faced many years of political failures, as he was defeated in every election for public office until he finally became the PM at the age of 62.

Vincent Van Gogh, artist: During his lifetime, Van Gogh sold only one painting, and this was to a friend and for a very small amount. While Van Gogh was never a success during his life, he plugged on with painting, sometimes starving to complete his over 800 known works.

Being Enterprising

Here to strengthen our spirit! Yes we can!

By Jim Rohn

Have you ever wondered how elite people think? Through a short, inspiring speech below, Jim Rohn leads us into the spirit world of highly successful entrepreneurs. Here to strengthen our spirit! Yes we can!

An enterprising person is one who comes across a pile of scrap metal and sees across a pile of scrap metal and sees the making of a wonderful sculpture. An enterprising person is one who drives through an old decrepit part of town and sees a new housing development. An enterprising person is one who sees opportunity in all areas of life.

To be enterprising is to keep your eyes open and your mind active. It’s to be skilled enough and disciplined enough to seize opportunities that present themselves... regardless of the economy.

A person with an enterprising attitude says, “Find out what you can before action is taken.” Do the research. Be prepared. Be resourceful. Do all you can in preparation of what’s to come.

Enterprising people always see the future in the present. Enterprising people always find a way to take advantage of a situation, not be burdened by it. And enterprising people aren’t lazy. They don’t wait for opportunities to come to them, they go after the opportunities. Enterprise means always finding a way to keep yourself actively working toward your ambition.

Enterprise is two things. The first is creativity. You need creativity to see what’s out there and to shape it to your advantage. You need creativity to look at the world a little differently. You need creativity to take a different approach, to be different.

What goes hand-in-hand with the creativity of enterprise is the second requirement: the courage to be creative. You need courage to see things differently, courage to go against the crowd, courage to take a different approach, courage to choose activity over inactivity.

And lastly, being enterprising doesn’t just relate to the ability to make money. Being enterprising also means feeling good enough about yourself, having enough self worth to want to seek advantages and opportunities that will make a difference in your future. And by doing so you will increase your confidence in your future. And by doing so you will increase your confidence, your courage, your creativity and your self-worth, your enterprising nature.

Cast Away Boredom

Some tips to re-frame the moment, even if you can’t escape a situation, by re-framing your emotions about it, you can transform it.

By Jobs.AOL.com

One thing that can be a source of unhappiness is boredom. And there might be situations and activities at your workplace at that might bore you. Here are some tips to re-frame the moment, even if you can’t escape a situation, by re-framing your emotions about it, you can transform it.

• Put the “mediation” after the activity that’s boring you. If you’re impatient while waiting for, say, a bus, tell yourself you’re doing “Bus waiting mediation.” If you’re waiting for the response of your client, you’re doing “Waiting for reply meditation.”

• If something is boring for two minutes, do it for four minutes. If it’s still boring, do it for eight minutes, then 16, and so on. Eventually you discover that it’s not boring at all.

• Take the perspective of a journalist or scientist. Really study what’s around you. What are people wearing, what do the interiors of buildings look like, what noises do you hear, what do the documents show? If you bring your analytical powers to bear, you can make almost anything interesting.

• Find an area of refuge. Have a mental escape route planned. Think about something delightful or uplifting. Review photos of your children on your phone or listen to an audiobook.

• Look for a way to feel grateful. It’s a lot better to be bored while waiting for a meeting to being than to be in an agony of suspense about whether your team failed to meet goals. Maybe your competitor is having an even tougher time.

• And of course, always bring something to read.

Moving Ahead

By Marv Hardin

Some folks ride the train of life, looking out the rear,
Watching miles of life roll by, and marking every year.
They sit in sad remembrance, of wasted days gone by,
And curse their life for what it was, and hang their head and cry.

But I don’t concern myself with that, I took a different bent,
I look forward to what life holds, and not what has been spent.
So strap me to the engine, as securely as I can be,
I want to be out on the front, to see what I can see.

I want to feel the winds of change, blowing in my face,
I want to see what life unfolds, as I move from place to place.
I want to see what’s coming up, not looking at the past,
Life’s too short for yesterdays, it moves along too fast.

So if the ride gets bumpy, while you are looking back,
Go up front, and you may find, your life has jumped the track.
It’s alright to remember, that’s part of history,
But up front’s where it’s happening, there’s so much mystery.

The enjoyment of living, is not where we have been,
It’s looking ever forward, to another year and ten.
It’s searching all the byways, never should you refrain,
For if you want to live your life, you got to drive the train.

Choose What You Want to Believe

By Abiola Alatishe

Whatever you do in life,
Try to remember that nothing is too big to achieve
And nothing is too small to ignore,
Hang in there, even if it's with the last thread
It is well.

You may be on life's path
Not having an idea how and when you'll get there,
The most important thing is that you have a sense of direction,
All you have to do is to take each step one at time,
And you'll get there.

The idea behind life is about meeting people,
The beauty of live is loving people,
The essence of life is about making impacts,
The joy of life is leaving footprints in the sands of time.

Have a wonderful relationship with God,
And know where he wants to place you in life to function,
For without him,
You are nothing.

On your journey through life,
Absorb everything you hear,
But choose what you want to believe.

For a Reason

People always come into your life for a reason, a season and a lifetime.

By Brian A

People always come into your life for a reason, a season and a lifetime. When you find which it is, you know exactly what to do.

When someone is in your life for a ‘reason’, it is usually to meet a need you have expressed outwardly or inwardly. They have come to assist you through a difficulty, or to provide you with guidance and support, to aid you physically, emotionally, or even spiritually. They seem like a godsend to you, and they are. They are there for a reason, you need them to be there. Then, without any wrong doing on your part or at an inconvenient time, this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end. Sometimes they die. Sometimes they just walk away.

Sometimes they act up or out and force you to take a stand. What we must realise is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled; their work is done. The prayer you sent up has been answered and it is now time to move on.

When people come into your life for a ‘season’, it is because your turn has come to share, grow, or learn. They may bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh. They may teach you something you have never done. They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy. Believe it! It is real! But, only for a season. And like Spring turns to Summer and Summer to Fall, the season eventually ends.

‘Lifetime’, relationships teach you a lifetime of lessons; those things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation. Your job is to accept the lesson, love the person/people (anyway), and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas in your life. It is said that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant.

Selfless Friendship

By Baxter Black

Friend is a word that I don’t throw around
Though it’s used and abused, I still like the sound.
I save it for people who’ve done right by me
And I know I can count on, if ever need be.

Some of my friends drive big limousines
Own ranches and banks and visit queens,
And some of my friends are up to their neck
In overdue notes and can’t write a cheque.

They’re singers or ropers or writers of prose
And others, God bless them, can’t blow their own nose!
I guess being friends don’t have nothing to do
With talent or money or knowing who’s who.

It’s a comfortable feeling when you don’t have to care,
About choosing your words or being quite fair.
Cause friends will just listen and let go on by
Those words you don’t mean and not bat an eye.

It makes a friend happy to see your success.
They’re proud of your good side and forgive all the rest.
And that ain’t so easy, all of the time,
Sometimes I get crazy and seem to go blind!

Your friend just might have to take you on home,
Or remind you sometimes, that you’re not alone.
Or ever so gently pull you back to the ground,
When you think you can fly, with no one around.

A hug or a shake, whichever seems right
Is the high of giving, I’ll tell you tonight,
All worldly riches and tributes of men,
Can’t hold a candle to the worth of a friend.

Staying Positive

Happiness can boost your productivity, motivation and ambition

With increasing pressure to achieve results, understaffed teams and uncertainty about the future, happiness at work can be hard to sustain. But there are a number of things that managers can do to stay positive, perform to the best of their ability and deal with new challenges as they make their way up the career ladder.

Avoid the two-year itch

Managers are at their happiest and performing best, during the first two years at an organisation, and after that their performance and positivity tends to drop significantly. Managers can avoid this danger zone by seeking out new challenges and taking on new responsibilities to keep them stimulated and motivated.

Develop skills for the future

Before you reach the two-year mark in your organisation, find out training or qualifications are on offer and talk to your boss about how these may help your career progression.

Develop a vision

To develop a vision, you need to analyse the environment in which you work, forecast how it will develop, and you are to where you want to be.

Find your optimum stress level

While too much stress can have a negative impact, a certain amount is actually a key ingredient for the happy manager and their team. The challenge for managers is to keep stress at the right levels.

Master your workload

Focus on developing the skills you need to break down your tasks and conquer your to-do list. Softer skills, such as goal-setting and delegation, will help you to get things done in an efficient way.

Keep an eye on your team

The happiness of your staff is a reliable indicator of their performance, so be sure to act on any signs of unhappiness amongst your team. — The Guardian

9 Google Search Tricks

Use these cool shortcuts to find things better and faster

Not many users know the little tricks that can be used to get more out of a simple Google search. Following are the top nine Google search tricks:

1. Use the ‘site:’ operator to limit searches to a particular site. It is particularly handy because many sites’ built-in search tools do not return the results users are looking for, and some sites do not even have a search feature. If you are looking for Google related posts from UltraSpectra blog, for example, try this search: Google site:ultraspectra.com.

2. Search within numerical ranges using the ‘..’ operator. Say, for example, you want to look for information about Nepali blogs and their progress 2009 till 2010, you could use this search: ‘Nepali Blogs’ 2009..2010.

3. Use Google to crunch numbers by using its built-in-calculator — try entering a calculation like 110*(654/8+3). Yes, your computer also has a calculator, but if you spend most of your day inside a browser, typing your calculation into the browser’s search box is quicker than firing up your calculator app.

4. Get quick currency conversions through Google, simply by typing in the two currencies. For example: Type 5,000 Pakistani rupees in dollars to get the result. However, it only has the more mainstream currencies.

5. Use Google as a spelling aid. Entering a word into Google is a quick way to see if you have the right spelling. If it is incorrect, Google will suggest the correct spelling instead. Additionally, if you want to get a word’s definition, use the ‘define:’ operator to return definitions from various dictionaries (for example, define: blogging).

6. Use the ‘or’ operator. This can be useful when you are researching a topic but are unsure which keywords will return the information you need. It can be particularly handy in conjunction with the ‘site:’ operator. For example, Google Or ‘Google X’ site:ultraspectra.com.

7. Find out what time it is anywhere in the world. This one is really handy if you want to make sure that you are not phoning someone in the middle of the night. Just search for ‘time’ and then the name of the city. For example, try: time Islamabad.

8. Exclude specific terms with the ‘-’operator. You can narrow your searches using this operator. For example, if you are looking for information about UltraSpectra but do not want any discussion related to Google, you could try: ‘ultraspectra.com’ – google.

9. Search for specific document types. Google can search the web for specific types of files using the ‘filetype:’ operator. If you are looking for PPT files about blogging, for example, you could try: ‘blogging’ filetype:ppt.

Some Interesting Google Tricks

If you search "Who's the cutest" using Google's "I'm Feeling Lucky," it will say "YOU ARE"

— Milan Aryal (@MilanAryal) October 20, 2013

If you type "Google gravity" and then hit "I'm feeling lucky" on Google the entire page will lose it's gravity and you can play with it.

— Milan Aryal (@MilanAryal) October 16, 2013

You can use Google as a timer by typing "Set timer (x) minutes" into the search bar.

— Milan Aryal (@MilanAryal) October 11, 2013

If you search "askew" in Google search, the page will tilt slightly clockwise. Try it now.

— Milan Aryal (@MilanAryal) October 10, 2013

If you type in any flight number into Google you can see exactly where the plane is.

— Milan Aryal (@MilanAryal) October 8, 2013

When you search for 'Tilt' on Google, it will make the search results page tilt slightly to the right.

— Milan Aryal (@MilanAryal) May 14, 2014

Post by Milan Aryal.

Right Now is Okay for Happiness

The truth is, there’s no better time to be happy than right now. If not now, when?

We convince ourselves life will be better after we get married, have a baby, then another. Then we are frustrated that the children aren't old enough and we’ll be more content when they are.

After that, we’re frustrated that we have teenagers to deal with. We will certainly be happy when they are out of that stage. We tell ourselves that our life will be complete when our spouse gets his or her act together, when we get a nicer car, are able to go on a nice vacation, when we retire. The truth is, there’s no better time to be happy than right now. If not now, when?

Your life will always be filled with challenges. It’s best to admit this to yourself and decide to be happy anyway. One of my favourite quotes come from Alfred D Souse. He said, “For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin — real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time to be served, or a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life”.

This perspective has helped me to see that there is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way. So, treasure every moment that you have and treasure it more because you shared it with someone special, special enough to spend your time... and remember that time waits for no one.

So, stop waiting as it is time to decide that there is no better time than right now to be happy. Happiness is a journey, not a destination. So as Randall G Leighton says, “Work like you don’t need money, love like you’ve never been hurt and dance like no one is watching.”

Candy Crush Life Lessons

There are so many lessons for our lives in random candies falling in a game.

By Marianne

If you have a smartphone, tablet or Facebook, you’ve probably played the game Candy Crush Saga. I fell prey to it about a month ago using it to relax at the end of a long work day. It’s fun, it’s relatively easy (or it was), it’s often frustrating and it has hidden rewards when you least expect it. That’s if you play it mindlessly. Once you begin to understand the game, everything changes. As I was playing the game, it reminded me that life is the same way. It’s fun at times, often frustrating and has hidden rewards when you least expect it. Once you understand the game of life, the strategies that help you design your life the way you want it, everything changes.

There are so many lessons for our lives in random candies falling in a game. Here’s what I learnt —

• Just like the candy falling, events good or pad, people happy or otherwise, fall into our lives right from the start. We can’t control what or who shows up. We just have to keep playing the game of life. What we can control is how we react to them. We can get frustrated and give up, or figure things out and keep playing.

• As we start to play (grow), we learn. Three of a kind forms a row and it drops out. If we want to win the game, we must be looking to eliminate those things that stand in the way of success, whatever that means to us.

• Jelly means stuck! For many levels of the game, the goal is to remove the jelly. In life, we need to come up strategies to help us get unstuck too. We just need to gather the ones that work for us.

• As we go through levels (grow up), life gets tougher. The good news is we get smarter — if we practice. If we keep noticing what works, if we learn. Learning is the key. It always has been. If we stay mindless we can still play the game and occasionally win, but we don’t get as far as we could and it can be a very stressful journey.

• Those special rewards can be repeated over and over once we figure out how to make them happen. Some give you great power in the game hust as in life. They’re like great strategies. You come into life without knowing the best ones for dealing with stress, relationships, health and money. You can stumble on great ones every now and then and feel lucky. Or you can learn them from books, TV shows, from someone who’s figured them out and use them in your life so that you take charge of how to make your life easier and more successful.

• You can ask for help. After you’re played a certain amount of time, the game has beed designed to stop you. Now their goal is to have you so hooked, you’ll pay to go to the next level. Or you can ask friend, usually on Facebook. I love that. I’ve never paid. I can wait till it lets me play again. I choose to be patient. In fact, I’m grateful that it stops me so I don’t spend too long playing games no matter how much fun or additive they are. I have a business to run and while I can justify a few minutes distraction, I certainly can’t let it use up too much time. I haven’t asked a Facebook friend for help yet but I like knowing I could. People would help me — at first. As long as I helped them when they needed it and didn’t constantly pester them with requests. Same as life. Help a friend when you can, but don’t take advantage of that friendship.

• Don’t forget the goal. In the game you’re looking for three of a kind, for special candies but if you forget the goal of the game, you lose. And you lose quickly. Whether it’s to remove all the jelly the candies are stuck in or to bring all the fruit home, you’ve got to keep your eye on the finish line. You can play the game of life with no goal but you won’t get where you want to go. You’ll be blown about like an airplane without an autopilot or GPS. You life will be an endless game of maybe, an often frustrating one.

But if you know your goal, if you learn and use strategies along the way, if you’re patient as obstacles pop up — and they will both in the game and in life — you can really enjoy the process as you go along the journey.

A Personal Relationship

"for every step we take closer to God"

By Claude Pitout

In life we are all searching for something and in life there is something we all need and may be lacking, we live our stressful lives in search of wealth for temporary comfort and worldly desires in search of pleasure, yet there is something we all need and are lacking. The thing I feel we all search for and may be lacking is love, the greatest command was to love God and I say be loved by Him in return, we all search to love and be loved, through a personal relationship with God we come to find love, not only is God love but we begin to love God and God loves us in return, finding the highest form of love.

In order to have an experience with God one does not necessarily need to live a religious lifestyle or have to go to church but that rather through talks, prayers and communion with God one can form and have their very own personal relationship with God their dad.

“A personal relationship” is based around and rooted in belief, faith and love and helps one to learn to trust and rely on God on a day to day basis in your life. In order to be in right relation with God and to live and experience the fullness of God’s favour and blessings “A personal relationship” teaches one the wisdom of the importance of a path of goodness, to be a good person and to always give out and do good, it then takes you into the principle to love one another as we wish to be loved in order to be in right relation with God. A personal relationship with God does not matter what religion, faith or path you are from as all the streams of a river but lead to the ultimate source God and as a personal relationship should be the base to any religion, path or faith as “are you just religious” or do you truly have a relationship with your God.

In the above picture I have used the two wolves to show you the relationship that we have with our father, the older wolf I relate to being God and the younger wolf I relate to being us, the older more wise wolf rests his chin on his sons neck which to me shows the protective nature of God over us while the younger more innocent and curious wolf looks on into the wilderness with a playful nature, the picture to me symbolises the relationship that we have with God our father, a relationship of father is to son, while we go out into life “the open wilderness” God our father who is more wise protects us from the open wilderness “the dangers in life that we have to face and may also come across”.

A personal relationship with God is a one on one personal experience that we have with God our father and dad and can be done in a quiet moment where we find the space and time or even when we find a peaceful moment like watching the sun set over the ocean, there in this space and time, there in a peaceful moment we enter talks and prayers with God where we get to know and experience God on a close and personal level and God likewise gets to know and experience us on this same level in the comfort of our own home, not in any congregation or gathering.

The book “A personal relationship” by Claude Pitout is now available to purchase from the various online bookstores like Amazon, Barnes & Noble or it can be bought directly from the publishers site at a reduced rate FeedARead.com, the book can also be bought from your local bookstore given the title, author and ISBN code, the ISBN code for the book is 9781782992875, there is an ebook available to purchase from Amazon, Kobo or Scribd.

You are welcome to like my books Facebook page “A personal relationship” for more information or you can also join me on Twitter @ClaudePitout, If you would like to view your opinions and experiences you can join my group on Facebook “Spirituality, A personal relationship” devoted to the root of spirituality being and devoted to a personal relationship with God. My website is : claudepitout.wix.com/spirit.

About The Author

Claude Pitout found he had a close connection with God from a young age whom he likes to call his dad giving him the strength to cope with his troubles in life, through his difficulties and in his relationship with God finding not only a father but friend in God. Claude grew up in an abusive home with a father who drank excessively and which his drinking often resulted in rages and outbursts, yet Claude held strong to his faith in God, trusting in Him always bringing Claude this friend and father in God. Today Claude has been delivered by the hand of God from many of his life’s challenges and would like to share with others who may be going through similar difficulties in life or whom simply may be seeking an experience and relationship with God. Claude would like to share through his writing the lessons he has gained through the wisdom of personal experience in order to help others to cope with the difficulties in life and then to seek a relationship with their father and dad, God

May God always be with you

This is a guest post by Claude Pitout. He can be contacted through ghostinusa@msn.com, claudepitout.wix.com/spirit.