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We kick off the New Year with another bumper Blog Carnival on Personal Power. Enjoy the read.

We start with:

It doesn’t really matter if you own a billion dollar corporation, a small business, hire yourself out or work at a gas station for minimum wage; you are a self-employed individual.  Shaun Connell presents Why You Already Own Your Own Business posted at Free Financial Planning.

With the holiday season upon us, sometimes along with the merriment comes an overdose of certain folks who grate our nerves or cause us just a bit too much inconvenience. David B Bohl presents Emotional Vampires, Time Suckers, and Other Characters to Avoid During the Holidays and Always posted at Slow Down Fast Personal Coaching and Lifestyle Design.

It may be the season to be jolly but kids can feel quite insecure at Christmas times as moms and dads have more errands to run, more shopping to do, gifts to wrap, people to visit and parties to attend. Here is a technique costs no money and takes no time that will give your child a stronger sense of security and bring more jolly into Christmas this year for your family.  Vicki Jardine presents ‘Tis the Season to be Jolly’ posted at TalkBack To Vicki Jardine.

Get good quality sleep with Progressive Muscle Relaxation, and proper matress + pillows. Relax presents How to Become a Sleeping Winner posted at The Wise Curve.

When we criticize someone, we’re actually revealing something we don’t want others to see about ourselves. Because we judge some part of our personality as wrong or unacceptable, we try to convince ourselves and the world that someone else has it, not us. This article discusses how we can learn about ourselves from the ways we find ourselves judging others. Chris Edgar presents How Our Judgments Of Others Can Teach Us About Ourselves posted at Purpose Power Coaching.

Times are tough. And that means that there are loads of things that can get you down. Wally Bock presents Quick Pick-Me-Ups posted at Momentor.

When I was in intermediate school, I got shoved into therapy under the assumption that my mediocre grades probably meant there was something wrong with me.  Scott Lee presents 10 Reasons to See a Therapist (Even When You Don?t Need Therapy) posted at ScottLee.Name.

Have you ever stopped to think how important is your gender? Do you know how strong of an influence gender has on your identity? Roberto Montanez presents What is the Difference between Sex and Gender? posted at Psychbits.

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours. . . omguy presents The Butterfly Effect posted at Ordinary Miracles.

This article has good information about a real method for achieving happiness. Andrew Smit presents How selflessness has brought me happiness. | raidz.net - a perspective posted at raidz.net - a perspective blogs.

These days it seems that most people are focused on what they don’t have. There is this mindset and emphasis on not having enough or “not enoughness”. I know it’s crazy. Why would you want to be stuck in a lake of lack? If you want to develop the abundance mindset, you’ve got to send the right signals - you’ve got to be giving. Giving signals to the Universe that you have more than enough. Give away what you don’t have and you’ll create the abundance mindset. To learn more see, 7 Ways to Create the Abundance Mindset. Stephen Martile presents 7 Ways to Create the Abundance Mindset posted at FreedomEducation.ca by Stephen Martile.

Here are 8 things you can do on a weekly basis to improve your performance and achieve more success in life. Simon Stapleton presents How To Improve Your Performance With 8 Weekly Events | SimonStapleton.com posted at SimonStapleton.com.

There’s a great deal written on life purpose in self development literature. Burak Bilgin presents Life Purpose: How to Discover it? posted at Distiller’s Corner.

World class athlete. College star. Professional athlete. It is not only a state of being, but it is most definitely a state of mind. What brings me to think about this is the conviction and sentencing of O.J. Simpson for murder. Did I say murder? Michael Haltman presents Athletes, Privilege and the Law posted at The Political and Financial Markets Commentator.

It’s the Holidays kiddies, and I’ve got Holiday Fever! Any other time of year, if I am busy at work, that’s what I do, and then I collapse in front of the television or curl up to read a good article or book in order to recuperate. Not so during the holidays. Ms. Cheevious presents Holiday Fever! posted at Ms. Cheevious.

I always find epidemiological studies very interesting because they can give you a snapshot of the prevalence of certain conditions. Have you ever wondered about the prevalence of psychiatric conditions and alcohol use disorders among college students? This is a topic that has been studied extensively by many different research groups. Brain Blogger presents Psychiatric Conditions and Alcohol Abuse in the College-Aged posted at Brain Blogger.

When I took account of what I was doing, I realized that I had a physical and mental dependence on a drug. Any substance that could affect me like this was making me weak. I resolved to quit caffeine immediately. Tony Huynh presents Why and How I Broke My Addiction to Caffeine at LimitlessUnits.com posted at LimitlessUnits.com.

Having lived in zen monasteries in Europe and Japan, has offered me unique first-hand experiences of the zen approach. axel presents Zen-Like Living posted at axel g.

JE Gonzalez presents Personal Deconstruction, by JE Gonzalez posted at JE Gonzalez.

Many years ago I had this odd mentality about money and wealth. I thought that rich people were all greedy, and that most of them had probably sold their soul to the devil in order to attain their wealth. Erin Pavlina presents Are You Afraid to Be Rich? posted at Erin Pavlina’s Blog.

Matthew Paulson presents Figure Out Your Magic Number: The Amount You Need Savedt o Live Your Ideal Life posted at American Consumer News.

This article helps you to focus on your best thoughts and attract the outcome you desire. Dianne M. Buxton presents Let Your Manifesting Miracles Simmer in Delicious Anticipation posted at manifestingsuccess.

John watts is traveling to a fair on a special bus and thinking how the day would be perfect if only his wife Martha and their dog Bindlestiff were still alive. The bus gives a frightening lurch and comes to a stop…Rational Anarchist presents The Man Who Traveled in Elephants posted at The Rational Anarchist.

Gal Josefsberg presents Who Am I? posted at Questing Soul.

Del Jackson presents Del Jackson: Believe posted at Del Jackson.

scott presents Scientist Confirm the Power of Happy! posted at Spirit Happy.

Clark’s number one way to trigger instant personal development. Clark presents The Number One Way You Can Improve Yourself Today posted at Clark Faint .com.

Failure is one most single factor responsible for frustration and stress personally and professionally.What is your definition of failure? This is a legitimate concern that a lot of people have as they progress through the corridors of life. Richard Onebamoi presents Anatomy of Frustration: What is your definition of failure? posted at THE ANATOMY OF FRUSTRATION.

Brandon Gilbert presents How to become a millionaire in 5 minutes or less posted at Brandon Gilbert’s blog.

Peter Murphy presents How to Stay Motivated After Rejection posted at Get Motivated Stay Motivated.

Rich Vosler presents It Takes A Lifetime To Master Time posted at Sales Training Tips.

Have you ever been in a situation where you do not know what step to take next? Do what Chinese general Xiang Yu did - limit your options. Chase Stowers presents Limiting Options posted at Super Duper Blog-O-Rama!.

Merry Christmas and happy first Christmas with a baby or toddler! Children add their own magic to the already intoxicating feelings of the holiday season. As new parents you are trying to create your own family traditions and spoil your toddler just a little bit. Tushar Mathur presents Keeping Yourself and Your Child Healthy for the Holiday Season posted at Travel - Eat - Sleep.

Good morning! Isn’t it a glorious sunrise? Just see! - not alone one sun is showing its golden rim above the world’s edge, but ten million suns are rising upon…Applying the Law of Attraction presents A Good Morning in Two Worlds posted at Applying the Law of Attraction Membership Library.

Debbie Dragon presents It’s Not About The Money posted at Share Your Number.

JRickG presents Personal Deconstruction, by JE Gonzalez posted at JE Gonzalez.

For many women, the quest to find a husband is just as important as their career. Whether you realize it or not, in the same way you have a career resume, you have a marriage one too! Wife Wizard presents Improving Your Marriage Resume posted at Find Love.

Celes presents 6 Reasons Why Being a Perfectionist Leads You to Failure (And What To Do About It) posted at EmbraceLiving.Net.

The biggest revelation came when I realized my anger was at my self. The peace came when I realized it was ok to be angry no matter what the anger or at whom it originated. The real peace came when I realized that even though it was ok to be angry that the anger had to be funneled into a productive process. Will Edwards presents Amazing but true… posted at White Dove Books

Interview with Dr. Andrew Newberg, a scientist focused on how brain health is associated with spiritual experiences. Alvaro Fernandez presents Meditation on the Brain: a Conversation with Andrew Newberg posted at SharpBrains.

The thing is, if you procrastinate, you’re doing it for good reasons, and because you think its the best thing to do. I discuss these reasons, expose their weak-link, and give you a way around them. Asmoday presents How to Really Stop Procrastinating posted at The Asmoday Experiment.

Felix presents End of Year Magic? posted at Fulfilled Dreams.

Drugs and alcohol have the capacity to provide short-term solutions to many of life’s problems.There are some major problems though…Bill Urell presents If Drugs And Alcohol Are The Solution, Then What Is The Problem? posted at Addiction Recovery Basics.

The quality of your life is determined by your ability to influence and persuade. Now think about that sentence for a moment. Where would you be today without your ability to persuade others to your point of view and influence them to take the actions you desire? Joshua Seth presents The Importance of Persuasion and Influence posted at Joshua Seth Blog.

Do we own our own minds? How much of our thinking is created for us? In George Orwell’s famous novel 1984 the thought police patrolled and reprogrammed anyone whose thoughts were not in line with Big Brothers, the unseen leader. Sean Reynols presents Mind | Creativity posted at Creativity.

Mike McCutchan presents Who Is Rick Warren? posted at Squidoo: Mindguru.

Brian Terry presents Create Your Elevator Speech posted at Integrity Business Blog by Terry Dean.

Key for setting goals for 2009. Alex G presents Setting Goals for 2009 posted at Cutting Out the Unessential. The Journey of Becoming the Best in the World.

Is gratitude something we get from what we have or is it something more? Find out where gratitude comes from and how to have more. Kathleen Gage presents 21 days to a life full of gratitude posted at Daily Awareness.

Spiritual insights and astrological predictions of what is to come. Ella Moss presents PLUTO - THE GREAT LEVER OF POWER « Zodiac Times posted at Zodiac Times.

From my own experience in counselling people over the years I would suggest that New Year’s Resolutions don’t work.  Dr Martin Russell presents The Top 5 New Year Real-Solutions For 2009 posted at Self Help Blog.

A new Carnival on Personal Power! Great reading material again for all those interested in Personal Power. With other words using your own power to make you life what you want it to be. You can chose to be happy, or sad, or hung up about past mistakes or deeds that were done to you. Or you can change all of that and decide you want to be happy and have a fabulous life. Your choice.

So read what other people have to say on the topic!

Let me share a story with you that had a profound affect on me recently. Jason Koeppe presents Devloping A Positive Attitude - It?s All How You CHOOSE To See Things posted at Z-Synergy Zurvita Reps Team Blog.

Who is really giving you your advice?  Trevor Watkinson presents The Law of Attraction: Advice from demons? posted at SaveYourSweat.com Blog.

I’m sure you’ve heard about it. The Mayan calendar ends in 2012, and there are signs in so many places … the world is going to end in 2012. Erin Pavlina presents 2012 and the End of the World posted at Erin Pavlina’s Blog.

The Best jobs aren’t advertised in the newspaper or on the web. Much like real estate, the best of the bunch are snapped up before they ever hit advertisements. Simon Stapleton presents How To Search The Invisible Job Market | SimonStapleton.com posted at SimonStapleton.com.

The mental means to get over a negative body image that actually work and how a person can employ them. Richard Johnson presents Dealing with a Negative Body Image posted at Reaching A Better Place.

Thinking well of yourself is a goal that can be reached. The only one you control is you and the choice is yours. Robin Skeen presents I AM Worthy posted at Robin’s Reflections on Law of Attraction and Personal Growth!.

Chemo brain is an emerging topic that relates to memory loss or cognitive dysfunction in those that have under gone chemotherapy for cancer. Is chemo brain relevant to addiction recovery? Bill Urell presents Chemo Brain And Addiction Recovery posted at Addiction Recovery Basics

Everything and anything is possible. It’s just that people limit themselves into believing that they can’t change. Coatlicue presents Live your dreams posted at Raw Fitness Online.

Coatlicue presents Live your dreams posted at Raw Fitness Online. Chris Edgar presents Do You Have The “Right” To Pursue Your Goals? posted at Purpose Power Coaching.

I didn’t sleep very well last night. It sounded like someone had turned a hose – a fire hose - on the hostel room window. Vanessa Wolf presents Forget running. I think we should consider building an Ark. posted at Wide Awake in Wonderland.

There are shelves full of books about personal development. In the end the process is pretty simple. It’s not necessarily easy, but it’s simple. Here’s my idea of how it works. Wally Bock presents Personal Development Made Simple posted at Momentor.

Food addiction is simply out of control eating. It’s characterized by eating beyond the satisfaction of physical hunger. As a matter of fact a big part of food addiction treatment is learning to differentiate between real hunger and emotional hunger (which leads to emotional eating). AndrewB presents Food Addiction Treatment posted at Overcoming Food Addiction.

Adolf Hitler was a monster. The revolution he spawned changed the world landscape forever. But have you ever wondered how he did it? How did Hitler convince 70 million rational people to engage in horrible atrocities and wage war against the world? Brain Blogger presents Hitler?s Guide to Propaganda - The Psychology of Coercion posted at Brain Blogger.

Of all the things one might find when trying to quit smoking, whoda thunk you might find a liquid method of getting your fix? Wayne John presents How to Quickly Quit Smoking? posted at Stop Smoking with Wayne.

When you are deciding on a path in life you need to utilize the law of attraction give it the opportunity to help. You must think about the things that are important to you and cause you to be happy. Applying the Law of Attraction presents Using the Law of Attraction to Choose a Path in Life posted at Applying the Law of Attraction Membership Library.

Stress is bad, right? Or is it good? Well, if you talk to the experts, they’ll say both are true.  Peter presents The Ultimate Guide to Stress Relief posted at The Change Blog.

One million good things. That is the goal. Good Thing presents A Million Good Things posted at A Million Good Things.

Imagine you are giving a speech today. Are you already feeling nervous? Is your heart racing? Public speaking is one of the most dreaded tasks we all encounter at one point in our life. Regardless if you are in school, college or work, Public Speaking is a task we all have to undergo. Roberto Montanez presents Overcoming Public Speaking Anxiety posted at Psychbits.

If your mind is behaving like a kid in a waiting room and is really having trouble keeping still and quiet, you need to learn to distract it with mindfulness.  ananga presents How to Use Your Breath to Relax Your Mind posted at Ananga Sivyer’s Living by Design Blog.

What are the diseases causing your stress? The current economic “crisis”? The political race? The politics in your office? Your son’s report card? Making your next credit card payment? You hold the power. David B Bohl presents Economy Survival Tip: Treat the Disease, Not the Symptoms posted at Slow Down Fast Personal Coaching and Lifestyle Design.

Ms. Cheevious Presents - Friends with Benefits - One woman’s view of free love… Ms. Cheevious presents Friends with Benefits posted at Ms. Cheevious.

Most people don’t get what they want because they keep doing the same old thing. They keep taking the same actions in hopes of creating a different result. And the reason they do that is because their actions are rooted in fear. They fear taking on new actions. And that is their biggest problem. Stephen Martile presents Are you bigger than your problems? posted at FreedomEducation.ca by Stephen Martile.

The worst possible dating mistake a guy can make is to act as if he is not good enough for the girl. Baller King presents Worst Possible Dating Mistake posted at Men’s Advice.

The stereotype that men aren’t emotional creatures is far from the truth. Make progress in a relationship by learning how to support a man’s emotional needs. Wife Wizard presents How To Emotionally Support A Man posted at Find Love.

The most significant experience with the practise of sodarshan chakra kriya,that i have experienced is the heightening of intuition. rateek presents Sodarshan Chakra Kriya-My Experience posted at sodarshan chakra kriya & revolution.

Sometimes, a little perspective is all we need to realize how lucky we are! Arun presents A Matter of Perspective posted at Arun is Bringing You…Your Daily Remedy.

I discuss the founding of Byteful Travel and how everything you’ve ever created, every experience, every object, every relationship, started in your imagination first.  Byteful Travel presents My Dent in the Universe – You Exist to Share posted at Byteful Travel.

Post Summary: Why do some people just seem to have it “figured out”? They just seem to have a gift for living well. omguy presents The real smart posted at Ordinary Miracles.

For many book lovers, it’s hard to resist adding new volumes to a personal library, especially if they’re at a bargain.  Erika Collin presents 100 Tips and Tools for Managing Your Personal Library posted at PhD American History Online.

A week ago I was having dinner with a group of friends and we went around the table quoting our favourite quote or a special piece of advice that was given to us. Louise Manning presents Pearls of wisdom posted at The Human Imprint.

As we know, Public Speaking causes more worry, fear and sleepless nights than almost anything else. Yet getting it right can be easy…if you ignore all the Public Speaking Rules. Here’s how…Great Management presents Public Speaking – How To Make Your Next Presentation The Best Ever posted at The GreatManagement Blog.

Every authority that is “outside” you, not you—in other words, any authority in your life that is manifested in something or someone who is not you—is a product of your own mind; it is your choice. Robert Walker presents Authority Is An Illusion posted at Robert Walker Online.

This is such a fun and very simple way to flick away those unwanted thoughts once and for all. Its also perfect if negativity is happening around you, or being projected onto you from the media, work colleagues, friends or family. Carole Fogarty presents Cancel, Clear, Delete Negativity: posted at THE HEALTHY LIVING LOUNGE.

I guess the first point to understand is what is productivity?  While productivity as a definition is simply producing readily and abundantly, that itself leaves a huge gap for what you are producing.  Mike King presents Maximum Productivity: Perspective posted at Learn This.

People remember the silence of their friends more than the words of their enemies.  Mike Salara presents How To Stick Up For Someone Else posted at Mike Salara

In review of the great work conducted by Daniel Goleman who gave us Primal Leadership, Emotional Intelligence and now Social Intelligence. greg group presents Types Of Leadership posted at Associated Content.

Rather, a LACK of motivation to improve one’s self, or one’s living conditions, other than to give up and line up for handouts. Wenchypoo presents One Nation Underachieving posted at Wisdom From Wenchypoo’s Mental Wastebasket.

There is a great scene from The Stuntman, one of my favorite films, where Steve Railsback and Barbara Hershey have made a pact to escape and she is to hide in the trunk of a car he is to drive away.  Char presents Using Hummor at Exam Time: With guest blogger Dan Brantly posted at PSI Tutor: Academic Mentor.

Usually the months of November, December and January are my “slow” months as a freelance writer.  DebbieDragon presents Connecting the Dots posted at Empowering Mom.

(I dedicate this post to Bruce from The Thinker’s Podium–who doesn’t know me in the least for I have never yet, until this very sentence, spoken up to him.) Dereck presents This is the Greatest Week of My Life posted at I Will Not Die.

Disability makes the traveling difficult but this does not mean that disable people cannot travel easily. Nowadays due to modernization and improvement in technology disable find it easier to travel even to far places. Disability can be of many types but all types of facilities are available to provide the sophistication to the disable travelers. Tushar Mathur presents Best tips to Make Traveling with a Disability Easier posted at Travel - Eat - Sleep.

I can’t claim myself to be a hugely successful person by any stretch of imagination. srini saripalli presents Priorities..Goals..Achievements posted at Internet Marketing | Information Marketing | Blog Marketing | Business Success.

Remember, no one else has to live with the results in your life except for you. Accept this truth, and you will find that manifesting the results you desire is much easier. No longer will you constantly sabotage your efforts by relinquishing responsibility for your results to someone else. Rahul Bhambhani presents Accept Responsibility for Your Results posted at Take-20.com.

In ITIL V3, we constantly come across references to both Goals and Objectives in the guidance; and often people will ask what the difference is between these things. I did a bit Googling around the subject; and found a consensus that the difference is that Goals are broader, longer-term aims; whereas Objectives are specific, quantifiable, realistic targets that measure the accomplishment of a goal over time.  Will Edwards presents Goals and Objectives posted at ITIL V3 Talk.

I try and read a book a week. It doesn’t always happen, but I have a long list of books I want to get through.  Joshua Dorkin presents How To Overcome Your Fear of The Telephone! posted at Real Estate Dispatch | BiggerPockets.com.

People will allow themselves to be pushed around and bullied in order to remain comfortable. People will act in a painful situation to ease the pain or remove the source of that pain. Security and comfort is not afforded by a job, it is provided by your ability to produce.  Tony Huynh presents 8 Ways to Make Your Goal a Certainty posted at LimitlessUnits.com.

My good friend Justin Kredible from the Rachael Ray show stopped by to do a quick interview recently. In part one of this video he asks “What’s the difference between using hypnosis for weight loss and just going on a diet?” You can see for yourself in the video clip below. Joshua Seth presents Why Diets Don’t Work posted at Joshua Seth Blog.

We’re getting close to the time of year when we begin to think about resolutions we’ll make to bring about life long change. Implementing and maintaining life long change is extremely challenging. Nadege presents How to be fully committed to life long change posted at Clearly Envision.

Existence has purposefully made us different from each other – but why? Because no other joys are comparable to the ones by being your own true self. Only through your own originality, you can experience the eternal joy of life. This article highlights some crucial factors behind our inability to accept the way we are, and also presents key remedies to those factors. Naren Ghimire presents The Joy of Being Yourself | How to be Yourself? posted at Spiritual Pub.

Once upon a time, I used to be the messiest person alive. Peter Murphy presents The 6 Ways Winners Plan For Success posted at Get Motivated Stay Motivated.

When talking about productivity, we often talk about how to do things efficiently to save time.  Donald presents How to Save Time in the Long Term posted at Live Life to the Fullest.

There are people around the world who would give more to charities, make more donations to causes they believe in, and just generally “give” more - if only they had the means to do so.  Matthew Paulson presents Finding Ways to Give When Times Are Tough posted at American Consumer News.

New Free News Online Building Self Esteem and Self Worth Skills for Self Improvement Building Self Esteem Do you truly know yourself? Do you like the person you see?  Surfer Sam presents Building Self Esteem. Skills for Self Improvement and Self Help ! Surfer Sam posted at Surfer Sam and Friends.

There is probably a fair amount of advice floating around in cyber space dealing with the recession and how to survive it. Do you need more, you might ask yourself. Well, maybe you could do with this one. Because it’s for ordinary folk. The ones that are rarely spoken to or about.

Tip 1 - Don’t Panic
The very first tip, which I have to constantly remind myself about, is not to panic. It’s hard not to when the newspaper headlines scream disaster, when the TV news is full of shops closing and jobs being lost. Slowly it seeps into your conscious mind. When you find yourself thinking about it all the time, stop reading the media. Switch off when the news comes up.

You will not be able to think through your options, plan for contingencies or function properly if you are in a panic. Besides that it’s a horrible feeling and should be avoided at all costs. And it’s not actually going to help you achieve anything. It’s totally counter productive. Do whatever it takes to stop the panic, whether yoga, meditation, watching funny movies or playing sport. Fill you mind with good things rather than allow panic to take hold.

Tip 2 - Diversify
With other words spread your risk. If you think you might get retrenched, then plan alternative money sources. Of course you can just sit back and expect the worse. But wouldn’t it be better if you were prepared and had some money coming in, just in case. Not only that, but if you don’t lose your job, the extra bit coming in can help hugely with paying off credit card debt, putting a bit more into a bond, or saving towards a deposit for a house.

So how do you do this? It’s a matter of changing your thought process. Have a look at what you are good at. This could be as basic as fixing a lawnmower. Or even being able to mow a lawn. Do you enjoy planting seedlings or painting furniture. What about a basic idea as taking your kid to little league practice. Maybe you can offer a service of picking up kids, or supervising kids so other parents don’t have to go.

You love watching TV and are mad about wrestling? Then start a niche blog on wrestling, talking about your favourite fights, and selling advertising on the blog. You can’t write? Then post photos or search for video that you can put up. There’s loads of content out there, just always acknowledge where you got it from.

You are a stay at home mom with limited time? Have a look around you to see what other mom’s are battling with. What could you do to make their lives easier, and design a service or product around that.  This could be as a special birthday cake maker, making healthy but tasty cookies for school lunches, homework helping service or as a jersey knitter.

When I was a mom with small kids, I used to have great difficulty in finding entertainment for the birthday parties. I would have loved an online resource - no internet in those days - to provide me with info on local clowns, games, treats and any other service for these special events. Add a rating feature to that and you have a winner.  In a recession people will not spend on themselves but they will certainly still spend on their kids.

If you have a small business already making widgets diversify. Offer more than one service. See whether you can also offer a widget fixing service, or a widget recycling service. Paint a widget, rework it or introduce a widget training service.  If you are consulting, then see whether you can offer your service to different audiences in different formats.

With other words, think outside the box. When I first got married, I had just finished at University and was in my first job, teaching at high school. My husband was studying law and was completing his clerkship also called articles in some countries. As a clerk you earn slave wages.

During those first years we added to our regular jobs. My husband lectured in law at the local technical college, I gave recorder lessons to kids and we both continued with our student jobs over the week-end working at the onsite tote at our local horse racing venues. Diversify. Read this article for more ideas on this.

Tip 3 - Pricing
If you are already offering a service or selling a product and have a small business, you will come to realise one thing and that is in times of recession, it is all about the price. If you are looking at supplementing your income by diversifying, then make sure you can provide the widget or service at rock bottom pricing.

People will still need to buy goods and services. They will just be incredibly price conscious. You need to be as well. The mom and pop stores closed down allowing huge supermarket chains to take over. It was all about pricing. It wasn’t about the mom and pop stores not providing the right goods or a friendly service. It was necessity that drove people into supermarkets.

These could also be the right times to go back to old-fashioned trading.  See who you can trade with. You will be surprised how easy that is. You might need an accountant to do your tax returns. The accountant might need his garden replanted. Always ask.

Bonus tip- Don’t go it alone
In difficult times it is vitally important you don’t go it alone. Put a group of people together. Whether you find other moms with toddlers to band together or some work colleagues. Or talk to people you know from your sport club, the pub, the church or your community choir. Talk to people and create a support base.

It is always so much easier when you can cry on somebody’s shoulder or have somebody there to encourage you when the going gets tough. And of course it’s fabulous to celebrate with folk when things actually go well.

Article courtesy of Marketing Fundi.

At what stage will our support of freedom of speech have gone too far? This question was asked by Anja on her blog. Is there a limit to this idea, in fact idealism possibly, that is so sacred to the western world. At what stage would one suggest that enough is enough?

An article in Spiegel got me thinking about this very topic. For non-German readers the picture series on the page is informative too.  The story goes as follows, briefly. On Saturday a group of neo-Nazi demonstrators took part in an organised march through Berlin to demand the establishment of a youth centre. The demonstrators had permission by the authorities to hold this protest.

Considering how sensitive Germany is still about the second world war and the holocaust it is surprising that this group would have been able to get permission to hold this march. But one would probably presume that the authorities in Berlin believed in freedom of speech and thus gave the go ahead.

What the authorities might not have anticipated was the reaction of the general population, one would imagine, led by the fear of and distaste for anything Nazi. After all Germans are taught from an early age how dreadful, terrible, despicable the whole nation is because of what their forefathers did in the war.  This is not overstated. Schools teach this guilt to young kids.

Germans on the whole, except for a small fringe element, are petrified that an organisation such as the neo-Nazis could become prominent again and cause another world war or holocaust.  One can understand this kind of paranoia.

Taking this sensitivity into consideration it should be fairly easy to predict that there could be some counter demonstration taking part. This indeed is what happened. What is noteworthy however, is that the demonstrators against the neo-Nazis were in fact the people that got dragged away by the police and beaten back.

Of course police action could have been in response to violence started by the anti-demonstrators. This is not about police brutality or even whether there was any. The question in this instance is whether a group of people who believe in the doctrine of the Nazis should even be allowed to demonstrate and if they are, whether ordinary people should stand back and allow this to happen.

Is it any different to the fact that we allow websites to remain up that teach people how to make bombs from household products, sell weapons, show people how to commit suicide in private or even allow online viewing of the act, how to become a cannibal or easy ways to be anorexic or self-mutilate amongst many more bizarre and horrific topics.

There is so much information available on how to do the most bizarre things. There are interest groups for all of the kind of things that ordinary people would consider strange if not outright bizarre. It’s all allowed under the title of freedom of speech. Is that really healthy for us? Do we really wish for a world without boundaries. More importantly, do we really trust humans to be able to establish their own boundaries and remain within them.

It is always said that you can do anything provided it does not harm anyone else. And the same should apply to belief systems then. But what if that person manages to influence others and talk them into harmful activities. What if one person started the neo-Nazi movement again and managed to influence disaffected young men to join up.  Some person did, and suddenly there is a movement.

When Hitler first started speaking, he was seen as a saviour to a German people who had lived through many years of economic turmoil as well as political ostracism from a fall-out consequence of the first world war. Over a short period of time people could afford a Volkswagen, a Volksradio or a Volksskitrip. The ordinary folk had only dreamt about this. And then there was Volksgenocide.

Should we not be more vigilant then? And one way of being that would surely be to add a caveat to the concept of freedom of speech. Do no evil! But then who controls that? And who determines what is evil or not. Answering that question could open another can of worms altogether. No easy answer is there?

So, I’m going to admit this right up front. I spent the whole day yesterday reading news, watching videos, checking graphs and stats and wiping away the odd tear. Never mind that I only switched off the light late (or rather early morning) the night before after the first results showed Obama was probably going to win. I never thought the US election result would touch me so much.

This is especially embarrassing after I have been ranting on about the length of this campaign that has seemed to be going on for ever. Let’s face it, it is one incredible achievement that this man and his support team have managed. If that’s a sign of Obama’s skills in picking good people, the government of the USA is going to have a top notch team. And is it going to need that, or what.

But it was reading another blog today that made me rethink Obama’s victory. John Unger writes about some major life experiences that he has had and what he made of them. It’s a great article and worth reading if you can relate to what it’s like to stumble and continue regardless.

Obama’s arrival at the White House could be seen as a fairy tale come true. But as with all good fair tales, there are always major hurdles to overcome before the hero gets to kiss his princess or in this case, gets the job as president of the USA. I particularly remember an occasion when he lost to Hillary Clinton with a fair margin. It was right at the beginning of their battle for the Democratic nomination.

Obama looked somewhat surprised when asked what he would do next. With absolute calm he said that he would of course continue the fight. There never seemed any doubt in his mind that he would carry on his campaign. There was no other option for him at that moment.

It certainly reminds one of the saying that when the going gets tough the tough really get going. But how does that apply to us ordinary people? The not so tough, that give up when the going gets too hard?

What really struck me was what John Unger says about himself. As he was struggling with huge debt and no cash after the dot com bomb he decided to pursue his passion, a career in art, rather than re-qualify for another job he would hate. With his back to the wall it was a matter of make or break.

At what stage does one give up on one’s dreams? Or do we give up on them far too easily. When it gets tough and it appears to be the end of the road do we give up with a shrug of relief and go back to the salt mines of working for a boss? It seems so much easier to give up than to suffer the stress and anxiety of worrying about not being able to pay the rent.

When you start up your own business there will be numerous times where it might seem that you have reached the end of the road. You could be finding it difficult to attract sufficient clients to make the business viable. Your money and or access to funding could be running out. You’ve been let down by other suppliers or even had your office burgled.

So when the moment comes when you think you are going to shut the doors to your business, throw away the keys and go and find a job or claim benefits, just remember that fabulous smile on Barack Obama’s face as he walked with his family onto the stage at Chicago’s Grant Park to speak to his supporters. At the start of his campaign, what were the odds he was going to achieve that and what if he had given up when it looked hopeless?

Presenting another excellent collection of articles focused on the theme of personal power and self-improvement enjoy the articles!

Our ability to see is literal and figurative, in that our brains can generate images regardless of whether or not we are physically seeing an object with our eyes. Britannica Blog presents Mental Imagery: The Power of the Mind’s Eye posted at Britannica Blog.

Everyone has some kind of foundation for their beliefs.  Each of the things you believe in came about from some experiences, some actions, some relations or thoughts that led you to consistently thinking a certain way about a particular subject.  Mike King presents The Foundation of Beliefs posted at Learn This.

Each of us has a tendency to believe that “whatever I feel is morally right and justified.”  Chris Edgar presents What’s Really Holding You Back: “Morality” Or Anxiety? posted at Purpose Power Coaching.

At work, I often hear “It is easier to ask for forgiveness then for permission.”  Phil for Humanity presents It is easier to ask for forgiveness then for permission. posted at Phil for Humanity.

The vacation time is one of the most productive time. And I don’t mean “recharging” your battery. Akemi presents Overcome the Fear to Reinvent Yourself | Yes to Me posted at Yes to Me.

The financial crisis means there will be lots of layoffs. There will be mergers, too. What do you do if you’re in one of the companies that gets “merged.” Wally Bock presents Help! I’ve been merged! posted at Momentor.

Elizabeth Kubler-Ross was a Swiss born psychiatrist who spent much of her career writing and speaking about illness, death and dying.  Michael Miles presents The wisdom of Elizabeth Kubler-Ross posted at Effortless Abundance.

With so many people seeking happiness in external values, it begs the question, are we all just missing the point? Kate Saltfleet presents Strive to be happy posted at Experiments in Living.

“Do I even have a life purpose?” I still remember the first time I asked myself the ever-present question.  Shaun Connell presents Life Purpose 101 posted at Personal Development.

There’s a lot of people out there, wishing they looked like Scarlett Johansen or Patrick Dempsey or had the curves of Halle Berry. Thinking their lives would be so much better if they weren’t them.   Mac presents The Reality Check posted at Actorlicious.

I spent a few days in Aspen, Colorado on business a couple of weeks ago. Ms. Cheevious presents How I Met Mr. Tall, Dark and Handsome posted at Ms. Cheevious.

Shawn Driscoll presents What Should I Do For The Rest Of My Life? posted at Shawn Driscoll.

When most people think of personal development we think about self help tapes, Tony Robbins, motivational speakers and so on.  Joshua Houghton presents Why Taking Action, Makes it Happen posted at Hypnosis Information & Articles Blog by Joshua Houghton - Hypnosis Information, Articles, Training, Thoughts and More.

Even though our lifestyle is changing, it’s good to know our approach to life doesn’t have to change. Alex Blackwell presents The Price of Fueling Our Lives: 15 Abundantly Free Ideas posted at The BridgeMaker.

Some of you will have seen me raving about the best self-development book ever written: The 4 Hour Work Week. As a direct result of this book, I have started to outsource my life and gain some valuable hours back every day. Great Management presents Gain Extra Hours Every Day By Simply Outsourcing Your Life posted at The GreatManagement Blog.

Your marriage is on the rocks. You lost your job. Your best friend isn’t talking to you. You hurt your back. You are one month away from foreclosure on your home. Your child is sick. Your father died. It is really important that you can look deep into yourself and see that some of these things are beyond your control — while others are completely in your power to fix. David B Bohl presents What To Do When Your Life is Falling Apart posted at Slow Down Fast Personal Coaching and Lifestyle Design.

The key to reaching your goals, both business and personal, is closer than you think. Jason Koeppe share’s a simple idea/concept that even though is extremely simple, is extremely effective at transforming your business and personal life. Jason Koeppe presents How To Think Positively - Your Individual Development Plan posted at Z-Synergy Zurvita Reps Team Blog.

Last evening I had the privilege of speaking to a group of people in the Eugene, Oregon area about The Law of Achievement. Kathleen Gage presents Can you avoid complaining for 24 hours? posted at Daily Awareness.

What does it mean to follow your bliss? How do you know if you are doing it? Dawn Abraham Life Coach presents How to Follow Your Bliss so it Translates into Abundance! posted at Qualified Life Coach.

Do you need to find a new job? If so, stay tuned because in today’s post we’ll be looking at some very effective strategies you can use to get a great job.  Chris presents Looking for a Job? Here are 4 Steps to Find a Great One posted at ProsperingServant.com.

The Law of Attraction states that you attract what you think about. Stephen Martile presents Law of Attraction posted at FreedomEducation.ca by Stephen Martile.

In this book I teach you how to beat the 7 most common roadblocks to success when it comes to losing weight, making more money or building more satisfying relationships. ndrewB presents FREE E-Book: 7 Roadblocks To Success posted at Personal Productivity.

There is so much misinformation around about the benefits of exercise, particularly in regard to weight loss. Dr Martin Russell presents Exercise For Weight Loss posted at Self Help Blog.

Lets start with history. For over a hundred years in this country, women and girls have been encouraged to self-medicate for emotional and physical symptoms of the hormonal cycle, which were labeled hysteria in the nineteenth century. Bill Urell presents How Women Become Addicted | Addiction Recovery Basics posted at Addiction Recovery Basics.

If you’ve recently been the victim of an unfaithful spouse, you’ve probably been inundated with stories of couples who have reconciled and moved on with their lives. Surviving Infidelity presents Why Some People Choose Divorce After Infidelity posted at Infidelity.

If you knew that your husband was twice as likely to be unfaithful in your marriage than another man, would you still marry him? Brain Blogger presents Cheating Husbands - What His Genes Tell Us posted at Brain Blogger.

When do we say no, and when do we say yes? Is saying no a sign of selfishness or a sign of strength? Is saying yes a sign of weakness, or a sign of generosity and compassion? Albert Foong presents The Importance of Setting Personal Boundaries » Personal Development - UrbanMonk.Net posted at Urban Monk.

Question:  How do you raise your energy when you’ve been stepped on and emotionally trounced by another person, and your self esteem is so low that you can’t even imagine ever being happy again?  Erin Pavlina presents How do you recover after an emotional setback? posted at Erin Pavlina’s Blog.

When Life’s challenges seem to come at us at a fast and furious pace, it’s easy to get bogged down by a very limited view of things. Carole Gold presents The View From Above posted at Gold Post-it.

How do you get what you want?  It’s simple, all you have to do is ask!  That’s right, it’s not that much more complicated than that. Frederic Premji presents The Power Of Asking posted at BlogMotivation.com.

With the law of attraction, you will come to see that you can do anything. You can focus on the family aspect, you can focus on yourself, you can focus on your career, but you can also work on anything else that you desire to.  Applying the Law of Attraction presents Can the Law of Attraction Bring the Family Closer Together? posted at Applying the Law of Attraction Membership Library.

ITAKEOFFTHEMASK presents I Dream of a Better World posted at itakeoffthemask.com.

10 valuable and key tips for helping you to turn your ideas into reality. A great read for anyone interested in achieving their highest potential in life. Anmol Mehta presents 10 Keys for Turning Ideas Into Reality posted at Mastery of Meditation, Enlightenment & Kundalini Yoga.

Everything we are and the world we live in found its beginning in thought. From the house you live in to the car you drive, your mobile phone, the computer screen you’re looking at. All these very real and physical things we created by human thought. You should know that you are a powerful being. Your thoughts are things that affect other things in the world. Stephen presents Take Hold of Your Birthright posted at Balanced Existence.

Within a few years, when the history if this time will be written from a distant perspective, it is highly probable that the most important event for historians will not be technology, neither Internet or e-commerce, but a change that has never taken place in mankind. Stephan presents The Next Chapter: The Age of Wisdom posted at Stephan’s.

Daily entries to do 1 act of generosity, one act that pushes my comfort zone, one act of proactivity, and one act of wisdom/control. Justin Duval presents www.DarkGrin.com - The Quest to Wealth posted at The Dark Grin.

The key points which you need to think, are as follows: (these points are dependent and inter-related with each other and should be read in the order presented, make sure you don’t miss anyone). Wakish presents Secret to your success! Do you have a vision of who you are & who you want to be ? | Wakish Wonderz posted at Wakish Wonderz.

Wednesday I did a vegetable juice fast. Kind of as a mind game for myself. Dawn presents Deny Yourself Food And You’ll Start To Taste Poverty … posted at Iowahippiechicks Talking ….

Not too long ago I came across the concept of raising your consciousness. Any habit or behaviour is a subconscious action, which means you basically do it without thinking about it. James presents Raise Your Consciousness: The Best Habit Building Tip Ever? posted at Organize IT.

Recently I traveled to Cleveland which sits beside Lake Erie in Ohio state. This major Midwestern city bustles with activity. There are lots of tourist attractions, festivals and events. Tushar Mathur presents Why You Should Travel posted at Travel - Eat - Sleep.

Have you ever been in a bad relationship? Are you in one now? Roberto Montanez presents 3 Keys to a Good Relationship? Do you have them? posted at Psychbits.

Some people come across difficulties in finding their passion and many more have trouble living their passion as a career.  Nicholas Powiull presents Conscious Flex: How to Find Your Passion and Make It Your Career: by Nicholas Powiull posted at Conscious Flex.

One of the things I consistently see people doing is presupposing problems. Louis Burns presents Presuppose Greatness posted at NLP Marketing Blog.

I told you last month (when writing about “How to Grow Outside Your Comfort Zone”) that I was going to send out five magazine pitches every week. Peter presents The Winding Path: How I Started a Lifetime of Personal Growth posted at The Change Blog.

Not-So-Stylish Limerick: By Madeleine Begun Kane Madeleine Begun Kane presents Not-So-Stylish Limerick posted at Mad Kane’s Humor Blog.

Every word we utter carries power. By paying attention, and only using words that reflect the truth we wish to create… we tap into our internal power as Creators. Kara-Leah Grant presents On the power of paying attention to your words posted at Prana Flow NZ.

How prayer and fasting can change your life. Trevor Watkinson presents Prayer and Fasting posted at SaveYourSweat.com Blog.

Some tips on searching for jobs when you’re getting out on your own. David Wilson presents Job Search Tips posted at Leaving The Folks.

There is in all of us a void that cannot be filled by big houses, shiny cars or great personal achievement. This void can only be filled by mastering the art of giving and receiving love. omguy presents Love, laugh and live posted at Ordinary Miracles.

Public speaking is a necessary skill. The silent treatment is a weapon you can use to hone that skill. Read further to find out more. Marcus Smith presents The Silent Treatment Works Every Time posted at MarcusASmith.com.

If you want to excel in life, self motivation is essential. You must know how to motivate yourself.  Donald presents Self Motivation: How to Motivate Yourself posted at Live Life to the Fullest.

So you want to be a millionaire? Well you know what? Me too - and I’m determined to get there in the near future, MBB presents How To Become A Millionaire and Get Rich In 10 Steps posted at Money Blue Book Finance.

There was a poor man who wanted some money; and somehow he had heard that if he could get hold of a ghost, he might command him to bring money or anything else he liked; so he was very anxious to get hold of a ghost.Vish presents The Illusion of Great Work posted at The Power To Realise God Through Self Enquiry..

A bureaucrat from with the Province of Ontario, Canada, social service system offers words of advice to clients on how to fend for themselves again the bureaucracy. OW Bureaucrat presents We’re Here To Document YOU! posted at Ontario Works?.

The path to success is typically a long string of tough decisions, chance meetings, lucky breaks, and risky maneuvers. We asked three big-time execs to retrace their steps — and stumbles — to the top. Khan presents The Road to the Top posted at Higher Education and Career Blog.

Sooner or later you’re going to experience your own personal “dark night of the soul”… that time when you realize some defining part of you must be removed.  Monique Rio presents Dealing With the Dark Night of the Soul posted at LaVieConsciente.com.

Shyness is a psychical state in which we experience feeling of fear, lack of confidence and awkwardness. Kacper Wrzesniewski presents Overcome Your Shyness posted at KacperWrzesniewski.com.

It is important to know how to find self motivation when you are dealing with unstructured timetables and deadlines that can change from one moment to the next. Peter Murphy presents Stay Motivated Despite Movable Deadlines posted at Get Motivated Stay Motivated.

We’re all familiar with the natural high of buying a new cellphone or winning the lottery. axel presents Stillness Is Happiness posted at axel g.

While I was reading Ari’s book review of Steve Pavlina’s Personal Development for Smart People, Ari said that he felt something was lacking in the book because he was a polar opposite of Steve’s personality type.   Dereck presents Your Comprehensive Guide to the MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) Personality Test posted at I Will Not Die.

How you were mothered is the central issue in your emotional and spiritual growth as a woman and as a mother. Becca Glouzstein presents How You Were Mothered posted at Inspiration for Mothers . Com.

Everything and anything is possible. It’s just that people limit themselves into believing that they can’t change. But why? blogger2012 presents Live your dreams posted at Raw Fitness Online.

Just recently I have come across some age defying people. And it has again made me wonder why the current young generation living in the developed world is so intent on sidelining the older folk. What’s with that, I wonder? It never used to be like that.

The first one was during an evening of playing bridge. I haven’t played bridge since my University days. Those days we would sit in the student refractory, or ref it was called, playing cards for hours.  It was the area where one could get food and was mostly a common room space for students not living in a residence or halls as it is called in the UK.

We would sit there and play bridge all day. Every now and then somebody would have a lecture to attend and we would pick straws to see who would go and make notes for everybody else to copy. It was a great time and we certainly enjoyed the card game.

Many many years later I joined our local branch of the University of the third Age. The U3A is a really nice idea. Older people get together and share their expertise. Bridge playing is one of the fun activities available. So I signed up. My bridge playing skills are very rusty, to put it mildly.

However, last week, I ended up playing bridge in a foursome - as one does in bridge - where one of the four had just turned 100 years old. And boy, could she play. Much better than I could. Her bidding was spot on and when it came to playing she remembered exactly what cards had gone down.

In fact, she was excellent. Not only that, she is physically still well able to move around and does her own shopping. As I was driving home I thought to myself, I could have another forty plus years of active, intelligent life. Did that put a new perspective on things, or what!

Today something else came to my notice, along the same lines. It’s a blog called Margaret and Helen. It’s basically two people chatting to each other. They are voicing their opinions, talking about issues that affect and interest them. And they don’t mind calling a spade a bloody spade.

What is different about these folk is that the two girls involved are in fact senior citizens. These are the ones that the developed world is writing off as invisible. Or at least invisible until they need some help. Groan, how inconvenient..

The Helen part of Margaret and Helen is 82 years old. Helen and Margaret have been friends for sixty year. Helen’s grandson taught her how to run a blog. And the blog stats are 760, 420 hits. Since starting this article last night, the hits have gone up to 771, 876  and increasing at a rate of 1 000 every time I check the numbers. Alright people. How many of you clever young bloggers can boast that kind of stat.

Here we have two examples of amazing older folk.  These are people who are alive and well and participating in life. So why is our current younger generation so intent on ignoring the older people, I wonder.

Maybe, somewhere along the line, the media has decided that young is good, young sells more advertising space, young is more appealing, only young is worth considering. Out of all of that list, don’t forget to add the number one reason.  Only young people have disposable income worth targeting with advertising.

Aren’t we losing out on a whole bunch of people who could contribute to society? As an aside to all those clever young marketers, the baby boomers that means folk born between 1947 and 1965 have over $1 trillion in disposable income available - annually.

It is such a short sighted way of approaching the whole situation. After all, by sidelining these older people, you end up having to support them. Why not rather bring them back into the community, make them part of it, give them a purpose and focus again.  By that I mean back into the mainstream community and not just arranging their own senior communities.

If that were to happen it would not surprise me that the number of people suffering from old age diseases such as dementia would decline and society would become a lot more balanced again.  Each age we pass through has something to offer to the other ages. Why don’t we reap the benefits of these offerings rather. We’ll all be the richer for it.

Another wonderful blog carnival is posted here for your enjoyment. There are many uplifting posts interspersed with educational and very thoughtful writings on a large variety of subjects. There is sure to be something you will enjoy.

We start this carnival off with: - Do you want to make changes to the way you look? Amit Sodha presents Beginning the journey?Weight loss and fitness posted at Amit.

Rigdha Acharya presents 10 Best Firefox Plugins to Increase Productivity posted at Get Your Success Now.

Abraham Lincoln said, “I cannot tell a lie” and although most of us know this is the correct way to behave, we often make excuses and fudge the truth or worse yet, outright lie.  Metaliphe presents Do You Lie? posted at Chandra Unplugged - No nonsense, Straight-up blogging from a Life Coach.

Here’s an examination of a situation when one can’t even do what he/she loves. And talking about solutions and rewarding activities leave you overwhelmed and unmotivated. Ari Koinuma presents Why You Can’t Do What You Love posted at Our Best Version.

Every day is a piece of this puzzle called life and it’s great when we succeed in placing a piece right were it should be. Razvan Dobre presents How To Live A Better Life - 13 Ways To Live A Better Life Today! posted at RazvanDobre.com Blog.

Fully realizing the amount of freedom we have in how we can live our lives, Jean-Paul Sartre wrote in Being And Nothingness, can be frightening. Chris Edgar presents Are You Really “Trapped,” Part Two: Facing The “Fear Of Freedom” posted at Purpose Power Coaching.

The ability to take action strategically is perhaps one of the most important single skills of achieving personal and professional success.  Richard Onebamoi presents Three Essential Keys for Success posted at SELF-IMPROVE-BLOG.

As with happiness, that feeling of ‘let’s do this!’ has different names to describe different nuances of the psychological state. Richard Johnson presents Inspiration, Motivation and Drive posted at Reaching A Better Place.

When taking a vacation, a break away from home or just making a short journey.  Do you feel ill whilst traveling to your destination? Tushar Mathur presents 5 Tips to Avoid Travel Sickness posted at Travel - Eat - Sleep.

We have all heard the old adage before: laughter is the best medicine. But, it might just be among the oldest medicine. Brain Blogger presents Laughter is the Best - and Possibly Oldest - Medicine posted at Brain Blogger.

In my opinion, our worst enemy as humans is our own mindset. It’s our very selves that hold us back from taking what we really want in life and keep us locked up within ourselves.  AndrewB presents How far do your horizons expand? posted at Personal Development.

When you try to attract abundance and prosperity into your life, you probably focus on techniques like affirmations and visualizations, as well as staying receptive to opportunities on a daily basis. Applying the Law of Attraction presents Three Sure Ways to Create Lack in Your Life posted at Applying the Law of Attraction Membership Library.

What is hypnosis? Master Hypnotist Daniel Olson from Orlando Florida gives his answer here. Caterina Christakos presents What is Hypnosis? Ask an Expert | tranceyouout.com Blog posted at tranceyouout.com Blog.

A multi-coloured kite picks up in the wind. You flounce down a grassy slope in a white dress. Above you there’s a magnificent sun. The kite soars higher. You drink in clean spring air and allow it to expand in your chest. Kristen McCarthy presents Menstrual Suppression is the New White posted at this-sustainable-life.com.

To manifest your own miracle and contribute to a new earth, how simple can you keep your everyday spirituality? Dianne M. Buxton presents Everyday Spirituality and Your Miracle on a New Earth posted at manifestingsuccess.

“If you’re working in a big group, you’re fighting human nature.” So says Nathan Zook in a recent article for 37 Signals.  David B Bohl presents Are Your Projects Failing Because of Group Dynamics? posted at Slow Down Fast Life Coaching and Lifestyle Design.

Question:  How do you raise your energy when you’ve been stepped on and emotionally trounced by another person, and your self esteem is so low that you can’t even imagine ever being happy again?  Erin Pavlina presents How do you recover after an emotional setback? posted at Erin Pavlina - Spiritual Wisdom for Conscious People.

An addictive relationship is no fun, though many, many, people are in dysfunctional relationships that are not in their best interests.  Bill Urell presents Addictive Relationships: Are You Aware Of Theses 7 Signs of An Addictive Relationship? posted at Addiction Recovery Basics.

I used to be scared of thunderstorms. I can remember being about nine years old and visualizing a lighting strike, and our house instantly engulfed in flames. lovelustandlife presents Hard Times posted at Love Lust and Life.

Some people come across difficulties in finding their passion and many more have trouble living their passion as a career. Let us start by defining passion so we can lay a foundation. Nicholas Powiull presents Conscious Flex: How to Find Your Passion and Make It Your Career: by Nicholas Powiull posted at Conscious Flex.

Procrastinating may feel good in the short term because you get to do what you want to do right now, but in the long term it can keep you from getting things done. Joshua Seth presents Stop Procrastinating and Start Getting Things Done | posted at Joshua Seth Blog.

We live in a society where there’s no shortage of people who want to force what they think and their way of doing things upon us. Dr. Norm Williams presents Utilize your creative power posted at Dr. Norm.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was a captain in the Red Army during World War II, when a letter to his friend was intercepted. In the letter, he was critical of Stalin, referring to the Russian tyrant by an obvious codename, thinking that would be enough to protect him. Glowing Face Man presents Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: A Man of Courage, Passion, and Freedom posted at Glowing Face Man.

Recent studies indicate that a person who regularly sleeps less than seven hours per night maintains the same level of functioning as someone who has not slept in 1-3 days! Mike Solara presents Sleep Better, Live Longer posted at Mike Solara.

I gotta admit I love all three. I love food, drinking, and watching tv. And if I had to guess these are probably the 3 most common addiction today. AndrewB presents Why we are Addicted to Food, Alcohol, and TV « Binge Eating Forum posted at Binge Eating Forum.

I had the opportunity a few weeks back to go sailing near Marina Del Rey, California with a group of people I’d never met. Ms. Cheevious presents Trippin’ the Fifth Dimension posted at Ms. Cheevious - Enjoying Every Moment.

Beginning in 1958, the International Paper Company ran a series of classic ads with the tag line: “Send me a man who reads.” The premise was that people who read would be better workers and more successful, driving results in organizations. Wally Bock presents Send me a person who reads posted at Momentor.

It was the end of a long, difficult day that was at the end of a long difficult week that was at the end of a long difficult year.  Carole Gold presents Finding The Light Within posted at Gold Post-it.

You are a salesman whether you know it, believe it, want it or not. Every day you have to sell everyone you meet on everything you have to offer as a person. Daniel Roach presents How to Sell Yourself, or “How to Look Like a Duck” posted at Daniel Roach.Org.

It usually starts with one or two bad quarterly reports. Your company is experiencing slower sales and higher costs. Next come the rumors. Chris presents Being Laid Off - 4 Steps to go From a Layoff to an Amazing Job. posted at ProsperingServant.com.

I love seeing people who are enthusiastic and passionate about life! Ross G presents Get excited about life! posted at Will it change you: portal for personal growth.

Clover (a cocker spaniel/poodle mix) is an incredible dog, she’s a rescue and Lindsey and I have had her for about 9 months now. SeanBissell presents Even Dogs Get De-Motivated posted at Yummy Fitness | Fitness For Fun People.

Everyone wants to have a fulfilling life. Unfortunately, many people miss a key ingredient to have it: finding their life purpose. Donald presents A Guide to Finding Your Life Purpose posted at Live Life to the Fullest.

Love - it means a lot. There is no one in this world is going to be missed out of this thing. deepak presents Perpetual Changes » Blog Archive » Teach Love posted at Perpetual Changes.

No matter what line of work you’re in, or what you do in your free time, we all need to rely on creative solutions. Dan Kretschmer presents 10 Ways To Boost Your Creativity posted at vince’s ear.

Buddha said “Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.”  Phil for Humanity presents Past, Present, and Future posted at Phil for Humanity.

“I am entitled!” “I have every right to express myself and convey what is bothering me.” “You wouldn’t believe what ***** said to ME!” Should this person be surprised that their relationships and work life are suffering?!   Ginsburg presents Kabbalistic Speech & New Year posted at Live Immune.

“Make your goals crystal clear and clearly they will become crystallized — provided life doesn’t have something better in mind.” Sally Huss presents Crystal Clear Goals by Sally Huss posted at Sally Huss - Addicted to Happiness!.

Do you feel pulled in too many directions? Can your life sometimes feel like it is spinning out of control? Dawn Abraham Life Coach presents How do You Achieve Work Life Balance? My Simple Formula! posted at Qualified Life Coach.

Dr Covey explains: “proactive people focus their efforts in the Circle of Influence. They work on the things they can do something about. The nature of their energy is positive, enlarging and magnifying, causing their Circle of Influence to increase. ananga presents Terrifying iPhone Applications posted at Ananga Sivyer’s Living by Design Blog.

Last week on “Growing Your SELF! with Bob Crawford” I talked about the amazing success that you can achieve simply by changing your perspective on a particular situation or person or event. Bob Crawford presents Aligning with Success posted at Growing Your SELF Blog - Bob Crawford Online.

There’s no secret to why some people are successful and others are not. They all more or less, share the same characteristics. Here’s the quick formula, plain and simple: Mac presents Actorlicious: 10 Qualities of Successful People posted at Actorlicious.

Sure, I—like most people, I suppose—have things about my life that I would like to change. I cannot say that all my grandest dreams have come to pass just yet. CG Walters presents Whose life would you like to be living? posted at Into the Mist.

The passion that burns in our souls helps to sustain us through difficult times. This fire creates the energy necessary to overcome obstacles and solve problems. Alex Blackwell presents Seven Powerful Techniques to Ignite the Fire Inside posted at The BridgeMaker.

Some people are a great interview. They’re bright, attractive, articulate, charming and so doggone irressistable you can’t help but like them. They make a great first impression, so you hire them. Great Management presents Sarah Palin and Job Interviews posted at The GreatManagement Blog.

Whenever I think of the differences between efficiency and effectiveness, I tend to think about a coworker of mine.  Nadege presents How to become a more effective person posted at Clearly Envision.

A great deal has been written about whether the recent ads by the McCain-Palin ticket are “factually accurate,” “highly misleading,” or “just plain lies.” Britannica Blog presents Sex Ed for Kiddies? posted at Britannica Blog.

Years ago, I discovered something startling. As I pulled out of a gas station, the rearview mirror fell off the windshield of my car. Charles Euchner presents Time Passages posted at START SIMPLE.

Often times when I am brainstorming, I come to the conclusion that my idea has been done. Even if I feel that it is a brilliant idea, I convince myself that it m