Showing posts with label money. Show all posts
Showing posts with label money. Show all posts

Friday, September 2, 2011

Money and Contentment




Money and happiness
I'd rather focus on money than people...  Paul verbalized as he led a seminar for building savvy financial choices.  His words stuck and I couldn't let go of them. Interestingly, money - even the thought of it - reduces satisfaction from life's simple pleasures...  

Studies show that a person's ability to savor experiences predicts their degree of happiness.  Savoring leads to emotions of joy, excitement, wonder, contentment and gratitude.  You can develop an emotional attachment to money, as much as you might for relationships you hold most dear.  Your brain rewires for more of what you do and focus on. Because of the emotional pleasure connected to savoring money, it creates a strong pattern for more such pleasure.

"The rich really are different, and not in a good way," explains psychologist and social scientist, Dacher Keltner. "Their life experience makes them less empathetic, less altruistic, and generally more selfish."

In fact, he says, the philosophical battle over economics, taxes, debt ceilings and defaults that are now roiling the stock market is partly rooted in an upper class "ideology of self-interest."

Unlike the rich, lower class people have to depend on others for survival, Keltner argued. So they learn “prosocial behaviors.” They read people better, empathize more with others, and they give more to those in need.

In video recordings of conversations, rich people are more likely to appear distracted, checking cell phones, doodling, avoiding eye contact, while low-income people make eye contact and nod their heads more frequently signaling engagement.

Momentary Happiness

Higher income women have more momentary happiness and less overall life satisfaction, according to statistics.   To determine the level of contentment in lower versus higher income women, the two were compared in data from a Bureau of Labor Statistics survey.  Alan Kruger, an economist from Princeton and his research colleagues found that those with higher incomes had more chores and less fun.  For example, higher income women "devoted more time to working, commuting, childcare, and shopping and were under more stress and tension than those in lower income brackets."

Men making more than $100,000 a year spend about 20% of their time on passive leisure activities such as watching television and socializing.  Meanwhile, men whose annual income were less than $20,000 spent more than 34 percent of their time dedicated to passive leisure.

Contentment


What brings you real contentment anyway?

Gratitude Thankfulness is essential to achieving well-being.

Relationships Family and friends bring large measure of psychological wealth.

Creativity Exploration and discovery makes us feel open and alive and boosts resilience and satisfaction with life.

Faith Opens a window to the meaning of life and by embracing God we find inner contentment.

Nature Relaxes and refreshes mind and soul.

Learning Leaping to meet new intellectual challenges and using gifts and talents in new ways.

Laughter A lighthearted attitude often brings aha moments when you need them most.

Courage Inner strength to stand up for what is best for yourself and others.

Empathy Caring about and helping others.

What would you add to this list?

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Uncharted Waters For Casino Capitalism


Financial english idiom. The comin of the new dark age

Tommorow, the global stock market will have to ''price in'' following facts and new realities:

- S & P's downgrade of USA top-notch credit rating

- European soverign debt crisis - Italy and Spain bonds

- First signs of global economic slowdown, possible signs of the new recession

- the dollar is, de facto, no longer reserve currency

- China becomes officially the mightiest global superpower

- The reality of the full multi-polar geopolitical order


If you're in uncharted waters, you are in a situation that is unfamiliar to you, that you have no experience of and don't know what might happen. ('Unchartered waters' is an incorrect form that is a common mistake.)

Source: english dictionary

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Top 10 - Highest priced paintings [pics]

I present you a list of the 10 highest priced paintings.10°- Portrait of Dr. Gachet (1890), Vincent Van GoghPrice / sold for: $82.5 million9°- Triptych (1976), Francis BaconPrice / sold for: $86.3 million8°- Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II (1912), Gustav KlimtPrice / sold for: $87.9 million7° – Dora Maar au chat (1941), Pablo PicassoPrice / sold for: $95.2 million6° – Eight Elvises (

Monday, June 27, 2011

Euro - Game Over !


Deutche Mark - Welcome !

Don't tell me it wasn't predictable ?
European Monetary Union is dead as ''dead chicken ''.

It is still not clear will there be another collosal financial collapse aka Lehman-style ( only worse ).


Anyhow, time is running out for all those Bruxelles's fuckers and politicians. Party is over.

How to play markets in the coming months ?

- buy dollar/ sell Euro
- buy German Bunds
- sell Dax Index
- sell Swiss Franc
- sell Belgium share index
- buy European travel companies
- sell US banks

Yes, that's rock n' roll.

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Mobile Payment Tools Which You can Use for Business


Mobile payment systems look to be the future of commerce. Here are five of the premier mobile payment tools your business can start using right away.

READ MORE>>>

Monday, April 18, 2011

MAKING MONEY WITH YOUR BLOG - 5 MOST PROFITABLE METHODS


Making money from your blog is bit difficult but not impossible. Many bloggers always looking for money making methods by blog. But they can't find it. So, I tell you How To Make Money With A Blog- Most Profitable Methods.

READ MORE>>>

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Ultra Cheap Property In Florida

Property slump

Location: Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA.
This property sold for $145,000 in 2006 and is now priced at $26,900.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

The Day Dollar Died

It's not anymore question of ''if'', but ''when''.

Nobody knows exact timing. Nobody knows exact consequences. Everyone who says he's smart enough to know about this, is a liar.

Why I care about all of this ? Well, the effect of this unfortunate event in USA will be felt all around the World. Immediatly. Remember October 2008 ?

This time will be worse. Here's a movie about one of those scenarios :



Most Americans are naive enough to believe that because the U.S. has survived for so long with such a huge national debt and continuous budget deficits, the country will be able to continue down this path forever without any consequences because after all, this is America we are talking about.

The truth is, US national debt has grown by 70.7% over the past five years, compared to 41.8% during the previous five years, and 14.3% during the five years before that.

Meanwhile, US GDP has grown by 17.9% over the past five years, compared to 27.5% during the previous five years, and 32.9% during the five years before that.

Americans gone from their GDP growing more than twice as fast as their debt, to debt growing at nearly quadruple the speed of US GDP.

A train wreck is getting ready to happen and this train wreck is literally unstoppable.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Money Collection – Have You Seen Them Before?

Money is not everything, but it is, definitely, most of the things. Course I’m not here to discuss its value but the money itself. Have you observed your money before? Are you sure that you are clear about the objects featured on the notes? Do you know what kind of notes foreigners take out when shopping? If no, how about view the money collection with me. Have fun!U.S. DollarChinese

Friday, July 30, 2010

Hedge Fund Holdings



Network map of some stocks which are held by at least two hedge funds.

The red nodes are the fund managers for each hedge fund. The bigger the size of the node of a stock (blue nodes) means that the stock are held by more hedge funds.

* Appaloosa Management (David Tepper)
* Baupost Group (Seth Klarman)
* Berkshire Hatheway (Warren Buffett)
* Blue Ridge Capital (John Griffin)
* Bridger Management (Roberto Mignone)
* Conatus Capital (David Stemerman)
* Fairholme Capital Management (Bruce Berkowitz)
* Greenlight Capital (David Einhorn)
* Harbinger Capital Partners (Phil Falcone)
* Lone Pine Capital (Stephen Mandel)
* Maverick Capital (Lee Ainslie)
* Pabrai Investment Fund (Mohnish Pabrai)
* Paulson & Co (John Paulson)
* Pershing Square Capital Management (Bill Ackman)
* RBS Partners (Eddie Lampert)
* Shumway Capital Partners (Chris Shumway)
* Soros Fund Management (George Soros)
* Third Point LLC (Dan Loeb)
* Tiger Global (Chase Coleman)
* Tiger Management (Julian Robertson)
* Viking Global (Andreas Halvorsen)

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Vivid Money Sculptures You Never See

Justine Smith is a paper artist in London. For her, a banknote is just a piece of paper, but it is what a banknote actually represents that is central to her practice. Through her collages, prints and sculptures,Justine examines our relationship with money in a political, moral and social sense, whilst also exploiting the physical beauty of the notes.She has exhibited in galleries and museums

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Gadget: Waterproof Wallet

Do you want keep your money safe from water?So use this waterproof wallet.Waterproof Wallet - Picture:Source: Dosh.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Money art - Money dress [Picture]

A dress made with money, great creativity.Source: Meme - Yahoo.

Money Nail Art [Pic]

American money covering nails using glue and a clear topcoat.Picture - Money nail art:Source: Link.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Prayer and the Co-creation of Reality


Excerpt CXXIII from In Memoriam by Lord Alfred Tennyson

There rolls the deep where grew the tree.
O earth, what changes hast thou seen!
There where the long street roars, hath been
The stillness of the central sea.
The hills are shadows, and they flow
From form to form, and nothing stands;
They melt like mist, the solid lands,
Like clouds they shape themselves and go.
But in my spirit will I dwell,
And dream my dream, and hold it true;
For tho’ my lips may breathe adieu, I cannot think the thing farewell.


This giant mound of land and water rolling through space finds no peace in the pitch of night. Round and round it goes, illuminated by a ball of burning hydrogen. The consciousness of earth, expressing itself through man, is entangled in a web of illusion. The financial crisis rounds the herd into a ghetto of depression. Rogue flu strains creep into every corridor of space. War looms on every edge of the earth. Every waking moment is spent in terror of what plague God will caste upon us next. What is taking place in minds and hearts of men is that which threatens to destroy us. We must take our attention back and direct it in any way that we can use it to create a future for ourselves that is independent of central control. We don’t need legislation or even an army to do this. All that we need is our hearts, minds, and the will to act.

I am regretful to hear people have given up on prayer. These scarred and tattered souls have lost touch with the mystical roots their ancestors had worked so hard to preserve for the future generations. There is a general lack of enthusiasm for the spiritual realms in pop culture. The old truths have lost relevancy in a routine of redundant work, errands, and stress. The minds of the youth are so dominated by popular media that one can often find the moral of last night’s South Park episode dictating the philosophical medium of the average high school teenager.

Some manage to break through the sphere of local consciousness and relate to the free thinkers of the day. “God is dead,” declared Nietzsche. Many people seem to take this as an exclamation of the vacancy of spirit in the physical experience. Darwin’s theory portrays a random sequence of events leading to an existential existence where instant gratification is purpose. Still, others attempt to explain God through the rational faculties of the intellect, citing prayer as a selfish endeavor: “ One could not possibly change the will of God through prayer.” If God knows every atom at every place at every time in the Universe, then how could the individual dictate their will to God (a philosophical contradiction)? Others tell me that they have no use for prayer any more. Maybe it was due to the fact that they did not achieve the results they were seeking.

There has been a loss of heart in our generation. Technology, modern comfort, and socializing have taken the place of contemplation, meditation, and the search for ultimate truth. We don’t even have time to think anymore. Families disintegrate all around me, including my own. Families that can maintain the congenial binding, have little time to pay attention to the development of the soul and creation of a loving community. Most of free time that we have falls prey to shallow entertainment and consumerism.

Enter stage right, the new paradigm: 2011, the year before the Mayan end date. According to late Ian Lungold, 2011 signals the beginning of our next great lesson in the classroom of cosmic consciousness: co-creation.

The calendar can be visualized as a pyramid, with each cycle promoting an overall lesson. Each lesson is proportionally smaller than the proceeding lesson, forcing consciousness to experience the volume of the cycle in a smaller time frame. You can see by the diagram that we are currently in the Galactic Cycle in the lesson of “ethics”. Ethics is not a contract that you sign in school to guilt trip you out of cheating; it is the understanding of karma, unity, and civility. For the ruling Anglo-American civilization, this lesson will be an especially hard lesson to learn and will result in pain and upheaval. Not only will conspiracy come to light in this time period but the intentions of the controllers will be exposed and confronted. The ugliness and pain of this experience will be eclipsed in the year 2011 when man learns that he/she is a co-creator of the Universe; a living, breathing tapestry that responds and aligns to every thought and emotion we generate. Daniel Pinchbeck cites Rudolf Stiener in his book, 2012: The Return of Quetzecoatl, with the following prediction: the entire population of earth would be completely enlightened by the end of 2010. When I first read of this “prediction”, I was astounded. There is no way, even half of earth’s population could be anywhere near enlightenment by 2011. After researching the Mayan calendar, and having teachers such as Ian Lungold, I am beginning to think differently.


As the economy continues to collapse and the overlords make their final asset grabbing free for all, more and more people turn towards prayer. It is likely that most of the prayers whispered in the lonely night of material disintegration will be directed more toward intervention and less toward creation. One might say, “Oh Lord, Jesus, please pay my mortgage…I need a miracle. I will do anything if you get my mortgage paid this month. I’ll never stare at a woman’s ass again. I’ll never eat Twinkies. I’ll help my mom clean her garage…anything, Lord!!!” These sorts of people have a skewed vision of who or what God is and will have very little luck getting anyone to intercede on their behalf. The mystic understands that God is not a person that is there to throw us a bone in times of need or smite us under his thumb. Thankfully we have true champions of spirit such as Gregg Braden blazing the torch of enlightenment for us to follow suit and create a world of our own.

In his book, The Isaiah Effect: Decoding the Lost Science of Prayer and Prophecy, he explains the quantum connection between the self and the exterior world and that our thoughts and emotions play an important part in the experience that we create for ourselves. He also tells of his miraculous experiences such as witnessing the healing of physical wounds right before his eyes, missing space and time, and Native American rain dances.

We are literally connected with our external world. There is no difference between what is inside your head and what is going on around you. The mind is projecting a hologram of fluxuating energy that is designed to respond to every thought and emotion that the individual can create. Scientist have recently discovered that we can change reality by mere observation.


Dr. Quantum, The Double Slit Experiment
What the Bleep Do We Know!

Mr. Braden hypothesizes a new model of prayer. This model is new in a sense that it is unknown to the west, but in reality has slipped through the reflections of antiquity and safely landed in the present. The four suits of modern playing cards, the Tarot, and the four lettered name of God encompass this model for prayer. The formula follows as such:

THOUGHT + EMOTION = FEELING
FEELING + ACTION = DESIRED RESULT
(Thought + Emotion) + Action = Result

I have stated in earlier blogs the connection between Tarot and the ancient formula for prayer. Fire is thought, water is emotion, air is action, and earth is the final outcome

Gregg tells a story of traveling into the Himalayan mountains to find a monastery where he could learn secret teachings to bring back to the world. Finally arriving at the monastery, he begins to petition a meeting with the abbot. After winding down halls of chanting monks and wading through puddles of yak butter, he meets the abbot. He asks, “if you had one thing to tell the modern world, what would it be?” The abbot responded, “You must feel your prayers.” Feeling? Really? That’s it? That’s what I have been missing all this time? Yes.

"Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. " Mark 11:24

Usually, our prayers consist of thoughts assigned to some arbitrary emotion. We may unknowingly couple our prayers with fear, worry, anxiety, etc. These emotions consist of lower vibrations and even though they do strengthen the power of the prayer, we may be unknowingly attracting outcomes that inconsistent with our desires. The single most powerful emotion that one can attach to any prayer is gratitude. The vibration emitted by the emotion of gratitude signals the universal energy to shape into the picture that we have formulated. It is like creating a mold for the future, and the Universal energy flows into the mold, solidifying into your own creative intention. In everything we do, we must be grateful. When we wake up in the morning, we must be grateful to live to see another day unfold. We must be grateful when we put on our cloths, grateful when we eat our breakfast, and when we get into our cars.

When we practice prayer and gratitude, the aura is bathed in light streaming from the chakras opening crown, heart, and root chakras to create a flow. When our energy flows, we are healthy, happy, and content. Stagnation causes disease and emotional problems. The ability to maintain a center of gratitude will also increase our ability to manifest destiny. Some may have difficulties maintaining any level of gratitude due to the severing of the emotional body from waking consciousness.

Connecting to the emotional body is easier said than done. From the time we are born, we learn to repress our emotions just to be able to function. Bright lights, cold air, strange people, being ripped from our mother and smacked on the ass violate everything we have known to be. These catastrophic events are repressed in the psyche, initiating a cycle of habitually detaching from emotion; debilitating our ability to see the self as it is. We live in a patriarchal paradigm that values pride, patriotism, sacrifice, and the masculine display of power. By reconnecting to our emotions in a healthy way, we change the paradigm from within, manifesting a world in balance of male and female.


Reconnecting to the right brain is embracing the feminine aspect of our being. Honoring the feminine has more to do with being nice women and girls. It is an acknowledgement to the female within, the right side of the brain, the emotional experience. The Return of the Divine Feminine prophesied by so many indigenous tribes and pagan systems of faith is none other than the return of right brain thinking, balancing the dominating left half and initiating an understanding of co-creating reality.

Though many people say “grace” over their food, they neglect the single most important element to our survival: water. Why say grace over water? Water is a symbol of the feminine, emotional energy. The Star card from Crowley’s Thoth deck depicts the energy of the star spiraling energy out as water flows from a cup. This card is representative of the Aquarian age, a water sign with water as its identifying symbol. Maybe this indicates that the study of emotion and how it affects our future time lines may become very important in the years to follow as we enter the Aquarian age. Understanding water as a metaphor for emotional energy, we can visualize the thought of our prayers as the form into which the liquid emotion flows and solidifies.

According to Dr. Emoto, water is the most receptive of the elements. He conducted a study on the effects of thought/emotion on water. Water that is structured well forms hexagonal liquid crystals. Dr. Emoto found from hundreds of trials of independent experimentation that when the crystal freezes, the form developed is dependent on the thought/emotion projected onto it.


The structure of water dictates your body’s ability to use it in ways that benefit normal functioning and longevity. Danny Vitalis and Dr. Leonard Horowitz give much more background to this science and the practical application. ( http://technorati.com/videos/youtube.com/watch?v=V_hvLvS2dgY, http://www.drlenhorowitz.com/) Connecting to water is to connect to the emotional body. “As above, so below. As within, so without.” –Hermes “Thoth” Trismegestis

Dr. Phil says, “The Universe rewards action!” (Don’t persecute me for quoting Dr. Phil, he’s not half bad) When we act on our prayers, the Universe (the inner self) will go out of its way to bring us opportunities and situations that will manifest our desired result. Although the outcome is usually different than we imagined, it will more often than not, exceed our expectations doing everything it can to bring us abundance and prosperity. The Universe doesn’t want us to be miserable, living in a day to day struggle to feed our children. It wants us to be full of joy and wonder at creation. We live in heaven, but our collective psychological underdevelopment perpetuates a living hell: a prison. Our technology continues to advance at an exponential rate enabling us to travel into space, yet we cannot solve the riddle of unhappiness.

Taking all of these points into consideration, a simple prayer would go something like this, “Thank you (Jesus, God, Allah, the Universe, self) for my new job. I am thankful for the ability to maintain financial independence, care for my family, and purchase a new house”. Repeat the prayer often so that it sinks deep into the unconscious. I am not the type to formulate my prayers into words, so experiment, research, and gather your results. It only takes a few successes to convince the subconscious of a new reality pattern and open the flood gates of personal creation. Now take action! Your new job could very well land on your lap, but it would have a much better chance if you search for the job, schedule an interview, and then show up. Baby steps…baby steps…


Accessing the 5th Dimension

As far out as this may seem, it is not impossible. In fact, you access the 5th dimension on a regular basis in your dreams and day dreams. We live in a three dimensional world and perceive a fourth dimension of time so that we may pinpoint a place in space-time with four coordinates: x, y, z axis’s and time. The fifth dimension lies right outside of time: the realm of thought. This mind is a powerful template of creation, communication, and problem solving. How many times have you been trying to solve a problem, or remember the name of a particular someone and you just can’t seem to grasp that which is just beyond the reach of your cognition? Then during some completely unrelated activity, the thought suddenly jumps into your head with no effort. This is because the mind works in a non-linear (outside of time) fashion as a hologram of information and experience. It is much more than it seems being that the unconscious (that functioning that you are unaware of) makes up for 99% of the total mind.

This exercise was written by Dr. Bruce Goldberg as a relaxation technique (functioning no different from shamans and wizards of old) and can be found on his website: http://www.drbrucegoldberg.com/Exercise1.htm .

Dr. Goldberg is one of the world’s leading authorities on past and future life regression, time travel, and the super conscious mind tap. All of his books are excellent and available on the website. You may use this exercise by reading through and quickly memorizing the major points to the technique and then meditating in silence or to some soft music. If you are not comfortable doing this, you can record yourself reading the script on the computer and play it back to yourself in a meditative state.

Sanctuary Exercise

Sit back, breathe deeply, and send a warm feeling into your toes and feet. Let this feeling break up any strain or tension, and as you exhale let the tension drain away. Breathe deeply and send this warm feeling into your ankles. It will break up any strain or tension, and as you exhale let the tension drain away. Breathe deeply and send this feeling into your knees, let it break up any strain or tension there, and as you exhale let the tension drain away. Send this warm sensation into your thighs so any strain or tension is draining away. Breathe deeply and send this warm feeling into your genitals and drain away any tension.
Send this warm feeling into your abdomen now; all your internal organs are soothed and relaxed and any strain or tension is draining away. Let this energy flow into your chest and breasts; let it soothe you and as you exhale any tension is draining away. Send this energy into your back now. This feeling is breaking up any strain or tension and as you exhale the tension is draining away. The deep, relaxing energy is flowing through your back, into each vertebra, as each vertebra assumes its proper alignment. The healing energy is flowing into all your muscles and tendons, and you are relaxed, very fully relaxed. Send this energy into your shoulders and neck; this energy is breaking up any strain or tension and as you exhale the tension is draining away. Your shoulders and neck are fully relaxed. And the deep relaxing energy is flowing into your arms; your upper arms, your elbows, your forearms, your wrists, your hands, your fingers are fully relaxed.

Let this relaxing energy wash up over your throat, and your lips, your jaw, your cheeks are fully relaxed. Send this energy into your face, the muscles around your eyes, your forehead, your scalp are relaxed. Any strain or tension is draining away. You are relaxed, most completely relaxed.And now float to your space, leave your physical body and move between dimensions and travel to your space, a meadow, a mountain, a forest, the seashore, wherever your mind is safe and free. Go to that space now. And you are in your space, the space you have created, a space sacred and apart. Here in this space you are free from all tension and in touch with the calm, expansive power within you. Here in this space you have access to spiritual information and energy. Here is the space where you can communicate with your spirit guides. Your flow is in harmony with the flow of the universe. Because you are part of the whole creation you have access to the power of the whole of creation. Here you are pure and free. This is your personal sanctuary.

Stay here for a few minutes and when you are ready let yourself drift up and back to your usual waking reality. You will return relaxed, refreshed, and filled with energy. And you will return now, gently and easily. Open your eyes.

Creating Reality from the Sanctuary

The sanctuary is now your access point to a stable environment in the 5th dimension. This sanctuary is as every bit as real as the world around you. The more practice you put into accessing this space, the more the energy will stabilize and create a conduit of spiritual power for you to use at your disposal.

New age philosophy has been making mainstream ripples with the publication of The Secret. The Secret suggest that if you want something bad enough, you will physically attract the like. Although this is a good start to understanding the mechanics of intention, it is not an absolute formula for success.

The book explains the phenomenon as the Law of Attraction. Although there is a spiritual law that says, “Like attracts like”, there is no such Law of Attraction. This pseudo-law is actually part of a broader concept called the Law of Abundance, which takes more than whimsical wishes into account. Karma, literally translated as action, has an equal and opposite reaction (thank you Newton). By creating good karma, one can start a flow of positivity in their direction. The more good karma is created, the stronger and speedier the flow of abundance. Remember, once this flow is created, bad karma flows back just as fast and sharp. You can create good karma by having grace on people less fortunate than yourself. This includes volunteer work, donating to a charity or church (I would suggest you make sure you know exactly how your money is being used), or just helping someone in need. Helping people without telling them where the help came from can also be a very rewarding pursuit. If you are worried about doing good deeds for the sake of good karma, get over yourself. Just start helping out the people around you without expecting anything in return (money, recognition, or even a thank you) and let your new positive emotions do the work for you.

Here, we will learn how to create the “like” in the fifth dimension and let the Universe attract the physical equivalent while sowing good karma in this dimension.

Before entering a meditative state and journeying into the sanctuary, list a few adjectives and characteristics of the person/place/thing that you wish to attract into your life. This could be physical appearances, personality traits, job descriptions, pay range, color, shape, etc. Now that you have an idea of exactly what you want to attract, you may enter the dimension of the spirit world. It is not necessary to go through the deep relaxation techniques on every visit to the sanctuary. Your mind will become familiar with the routine and automatically go into a relaxed alpha wave state with little effort after practicing the relaxation technique a few times. Just begin meditating, take a few deep breaths , go to your sacred space of peace and meditate there for a few minutes.

Journey to your shamanic sanctuary and proceed with the following. Begin to visualize the physical appearance of your desired object. Try to really bring out the details of all the senses, how does it feel, how does it smell, etc.? Imagine this object as having all the attributes that you desire. After you have built the form of the desired object, fill the form with an emotion of gratitude. Feel gratitude for having this special object in your life and how it has enhanced your health and happiness. Really try to feel the energy flowing from your heart and surrounding the object. Hold this sensation/visual for a moment or two. Now shrink down this image and place it in your heart. Imagine the object in your heart turn to light and then slowly seep into every cell of your heart. and begin to radiate throughout your body. It encompasses your whole body, then bleeding into the aura and then the entirety of the Universe. The light is now radiating from your heart out to the furthest corners of the Universe, pulsating and breathing with life. After a moment or two of pulsing light from your heart, slowly return to the sanctuary. Thank your guides (God, Jesus, Allah, Universe) for helping you manifest your desires and guiding you through the dense earth plane.

Stay here for a few minutes and when you are ready let yourself drift up and back to your usual waking reality. You will return relaxed, refreshed, and filled with energy. And you will return now, gently and easily. Open your eyes.

This is a new day in your life. You can take control. You can change the channel. You are creating reality.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

What Makes You Happy?

While some folks think a raise can make them happy at work, that might not be the case... You see, research shows money isn't what makes people happiest.

"A bar of chocolate, a long soak in the bath, a snooze in the middle of the afternoon, a leisurely stroll in the park" are the kinds of things that make us the most happy, according to research from The University of Nottingham.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t flashy cars or diamond jewelery that jacked up jackpot winners’ contentment. But rather, reading a book, listening to music or enjoying a bottle of wine bestowed true pleasure. At the end of a work day, it's taking pleasure in the labor of your hands or people you've helped or influenced in positive ways forward.

On the other hand, "modern-day pressures take their toll on everyday happiness," according to Richard Tunney, who led this research. "As a result we try to make ourselves feel better and happier through personal rewards and treats. We’ve all heard the saying ‘a little bit of what you fancy does you good’, and treating yourself is the ideal way to keep spirits lifted when you’re down in the dumps."

So what do you do, if change isn't on the horizon?

Giving money away can buy happiness

It's possible to buy happiness after all: when you spend money on others, say researchers at the University of British Columbia and the Harvard Business School.

Oprah set the pace when she built schools in South Africa...

Brooke Astor, a member of New York high society died at 105. But what a mark she left on the people of New York City... When she inherited a fortune, she determined to make a difference by alleviating human misery. In the process she gave away nearly $200 million.

A few people find pleasure through compassion and empathy for others. In some ways it's related to the brain. The medial section of the brain's prefrontal cortex has been associated with empathy and regulation of negative emotion. Researchers are learning more...

Have you tried giving money away or volunteering time for others?

Is Happiness Having What You Want, Wanting What You Have, Or Both?

"People can grow accustomed to their possessions and thereby derive less happiness from them, researchers Jeff Larsen and Amie McKibban find.

On the other hand, they also suggest that people can continue to want the things they have and that those who do so can achieve greater happiness.

Hmmm... What happens when I see an an ad for a digital camera with more megapixils and greater zoom lens? I'm very tempted to get a new one! Hold on...

“Simply having a bunch of things is not the key to happiness,” Larsen claims. “Our data show that you also need to appreciate those things you have. It’s also important to keep your desire for things you don’t own in check.” To cut down my desire for a new camera, then, I would do well to concentrate on the fact that I'm taking the best pictures ever! What do you do to tame your desire for bigger and better?

Money - have you achieved freedom from being driven by it? Thoughts...