Carousel — 02.05.10

Hello Dear Readers! Welcome to the first Carousel of February. I am really excited this morning because this blog is about to go through some big changes! I will be making an important announcement early next week. (My Twitter followers may even get a sneak-peek shortly!)

For now, I am happy to share with you this week’s link round up of the best stuff I found on the web to help you live the life of your dreams today. Here we go!

1. Less than Perfect is a Perfect Start: Lovely advice if you are starting out on a new adventure or even if you just need an extra bit of motivation to get you through today.

2. How To Be Extremely Productive – Total Immersion: Wow, this extreme hands on approach to learning & living sounds amazing. I’m not certain how practical it would be in some circumstances, but I would love to give it a try.

3. By Any Means Necessary: Amazing article from Chris Guillebeau about Black History Month & the life of Malcolm X. His insights are truly inspirational and can teach us all something about compassion & acceptance.

4. Ever Evolving: The author of Epic Self shares her challenges with nutrition during her 8 month nomad adventure. She talks about how to find what works for your body & ignore the incessant nonsense from everyone else (which can be quite difficult on the road). Good stuff.

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” —Aristotle

5. Taking Control of Your Life Once and For All: Excellent post by JD at Wage Slave Rebel. He teaches us how to stop using our circumstances as a crutch to justify failure and to start creating the lives of our dreams through positive thinking.

6. Feelings about Yourself Should Come From Yourself:
Jared talks about why the way that others view us is not nearly as important as they way that we view ourselves.

7. Nineteen Tips for Cheering Yourself Up — from 200 Years Ago: Oh, I just love this advice from the past! It amazes me how certain things — the basics of happy living — will never change. “Don’t be too severe upon yourself, or underrate yourself, but do yourself justice.”

8. Quitting Time: I have mixed feeling about this topic, as I’ve written previously. While there are certainly ways to survive & thrive when you hate your job, it is also necessary to identify your quitting point and stick to it.

9. How You Give Your Power Away: Steve Pavlina has a tendency to push people’s buttons. His recent decision to publicly discuss his divorce (and his subsequent exploration with domination/submission), ruffled many feathers. However, he is an undeniable genius at what he does. His personal development advice is always spot on and that is why he is a thought leader in his field.

This post about how we give our power away is absolutely worth the read.

10. The End of Negativity: “Complaining makes for a crap state of mind.” ENOUGH SAID!

“There is not enough negativity in the entire world that can eclipse the power of one pure, positive thought.” —Unknown

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What are your big plans for this weekend? Forecast calls for lots of snow here in New Jersey. I might be house-bound with hot chocolate. Not such a tragic fate…

Adieu, adieu… until we meet again.

photo credit

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  • Carousel — 03.26.10

    Every Friday, I post my favourite links, posts, & resources from around the Web. Expect to learn, grow, & be inspired.

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    1. burning questions with Patti Digh: poetic choices: If you read nothing else from this week’s Carousel, read this post. This is honestly one of the most moving & profound interviews that I’ve ever read.

    2. UPDATE ON THE JOURNEY TO EVERY COUNTRY: Incredible! Talk about an incredible journey…

    3. Why I Quit My Job to Travel Around the World: This seems to be “the dream” of so many in my generation. I love to read the stories of those who go out & make it happen.

    4. Be Your Own Guru: Because, in the end, no one else can stand in my shoes. No one else can live my fears, dreams, love, relationships, desires, intellect, challenges, life and lifestyle. No one else can enjoy or suffer the outcome of my decisions or actions. No one else is better equipped to know me. No one else can act but me.

    5. Staying out of Starvation Mode….: Crucial information if you are trying to maintain a healthy body weight & optimal fitness.

    6. Paying it WAY Forward: I discovered Colin and his blog a couple of weeks ago when he did an interview at Untemplater. I developed an e-crush on him & his lifestyle immediately thereafter. I really like this post that he wrote about paying it forward & the idea of “karma.” Great stuff.

    7. How To Find Balls: Hehe… I’ll let this post’s title speak for itself. 😉

    8. what i learned at couples counseling: I love this post—not just because I think counseling is always a good idea—but also because the advice contained within is so fantastic.

    9. The Mindfulist: The Concept—Each day, meditate or think on a new topic. Slow down and focus! How to participate—1. Meditate or create with each daily prompt 2. The prompts come in two flavors. Work/tech-related, found here at The Mindfulist. 3. If you’re public and want to be social, tag what you create #mindfulist

    I like it.

    10. How to Master the Art of Mindful Eating: Fantastic advice about how to eat, the way that food is meant to be eaten. (Bonus = a delicious recipe!)

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    Happy Spring, my loves! ♥♥

  • Carousel — 02.19.10

    sunset, lake

    Oh, what a week! I’ve been busy catching up after my recent trip to South Carolina last weekend. (Thanks for all of the positive energy that sent my way—the presentation was a great success.) For the past two days, I’ve spent 14 hours participating in new database training, so that’s been… interesting. On the bright side, I learned a lot and it’s been exciting to see my company transform as we implement this big change.

    I couldn’t be happier that it’s Friday. I have lots of lovely adventures planned with family, friends, & loves this weekend. So let’s get the party kicked off with this week’s Carousel then. Shall we?

    1. self hatred: beneath sugar-coated criticism + self improvement: Danielle lays it all on the line in the post about how we degrade ourselves with little insecurities. The first step to stopping it, is admitting that you do it.

    2. Phoning It In, The hidden power of a gift, and Frightened, clueless or uninformed?: Three excellent posts from Seth Godin. How have I not discovered this brilliant man sooner? A couple of months ago, I won Seth’s book, Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us in a Twitter contest. I finally made the time to read it this past weekend during my flights to & from South Carolina. OH. MY. GOODNESS. The book was brilliant. Now I am head over heels for Mr. Godin and of course, have since subscribed to his blog.

    I’ll be posting a review of Tribes in the near future.

    3. Nine Things You Can Do Every Day – Even When You Can’t Do Anything Else.

    4. The Only Problem Standing in Our Way: I loved this post by Marc. It teaches us why sometimes the only problems standing in our way are the ones that we create in our heads.

    5. A panorama of tea: At Vagablogging, Colleen Wilde explores the drink of philosophers—tea! Her lovely descriptions of delicious tea across beautiful cultures warmed my heart.

    6. Giving Up TV and 8 Changes I Experienced After Giving Up TV: A few years ago, I moved out of my parents house & out on my own. One of the first decisions I made at that time was to opt out of cable television. There are a lot of things that I dislike about modern television: glamorization of sexism, violence, addiction; in-your-face ridiculous marketing, etc. I find that I am much more productive without the distraction of television—I read, write, create, love, and live more without it.

    In these posts, Steve talks about his initial decision to take a break from TV and his subsequent decision to give it up altogether. I think it is something that we should all consider. Currently, my partner & I have basic cable which is great because I only watch it once in awhile for programs that enrich me (cultural documentaries, environment/wildlife, home &garden, etc). And it’s a good compromise because he can still tune into his favorites, like Family Guy, while I graciously opt out… most of the time.

    7. “The View” of What’s In a Name?: Dr. Oz talks all about names. Why do some names evoke images of strength & beauty? What things should we keep in mind when naming children, or even pets? What does your name say about you? (I now this isn’t exactly self-improvement; but I’ve always been a fan of names. We’ve all got one!)

    8. be inspired: the “special problem” of strong women looking for love: Sarah Wilson writes about dynamics in man/woman relationships and how it is often necessary for men to be the “stronger” ones. I thought it was interesting & it made me ask questions about the dynamics/expectations within my own relationships.

    9. 8 Helpful Ways To Deal With Critical People: Lucky for me this isn’t much of a problem. I genuinely like criticism— be it constructive or even harsh. Criticism serves as a catalyst for me to be better myself or remove unkind people from my life. For me, criticism is a win-win. However, it hasn’t always been this way & there have been instances in my past where I could have used the good advice in this post.

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    That’s it for this week’s round up. Have a great weekend, friends. Remember to spread love & light wherever you go.

    P.S. I am super sore (in a good way) from a fitness class I took at New York Sports Club last night—Will Power and Grace—I highly recommend it if you have an NYSC in your area!

  • Carousel — 03.05.10

    Oh, why hello my gorgeous readers! It is so wonderful to see you here on this beautiful Friday afternoon (or whatever day/time it is where you are). This week came in like a lion and is heading out like a lamb… typical March weather in the North Eastern US. Last week received over three feet of fluffy white stuff (snow!). Currently the temperature is on the rise and it’s beginning to melt. Is this a sign that Spring is on its way? I sure hope so!

    And now on to this week’s charming Carousel. I do hope you enjoy…

    1. Quick easy tips for travel health and Living in the now: Two awesome posts from Vagablogging this week. One contains common sense tips to keep you healthy while on the road and the other talks about the importance of fleeting moments in time. Lovely.

    2. This is So Inappropriate!: “Your choices always carry tremendous weight, even when you feel like you have no choice in the matter. We don’t need enormous reserves of skill or advantage to make big differences to what happens to us — and to the manner in which we ‘happen’ to the world.”

    3. The Sure Fire Way to Sabotage Any Relationship: In this post, Jared explains why trying to “get back to the way things were” is like signing your relationship’s death certificate. Do you agree?

    4. 5 Travel Lessons You Can Use at Home: This post is far & away, one of the best that I’ve read on the topic. Can you take travel lessons and apply them to your life? Can you use these lessons to live the life of your dreams 100% of the time? Yes, you can! This post will tell you how.

    5. Avatar’s Impact: How To Train Like A Na’vi: Have you seen Avatar yet? I saw it once in 2D and then again in 3D—yes, it was that good! I love Amber’s take on the movie in this excellent post. “While the special effects and imagination behind the film are awe inspiring enough, what excited me the most was the vital ecological message that’s reaching millions. The fact that people from around the globe are beginning to see the significance of our connection to all organisms is incredible.” Yes, yes, yes! Exactly. She’s hit the nail on the head.

    6. What Are Values?: Many people pay Tim Brownson good money to help them define values; but in this post, he’ll show you how to do it for free! I absolutely love (& agree with) the way that he introduces the post: “So what I’m really saying is this is some heavy personal development shit that needs your total concentration and commitment if you’re going to get the most out of it. And make no mistake, it’s the single most powerful thing you can do if you genuinely want to understand yourself.”

    7. how to: focus in batches: “Limited resources force you to focus on your creativity.”

    8. Coping with Major Life Changes: Excellent tips to help get you through some of life’s most challenging moments.

    9. The War Over Wolves: One topic that I haven’t written too much about yet is wildlife & environmental conservation. It is one of the things that I am most passionate about. This post from the National Geographic Blog broke my heart a bit. Despite my inclination to preserve as many creatures as humanly possible, there are always two sides to every story. I’ll be making some posts on this topic in the near future.

    10. Olympians’ daily food choices as important as their rigorous training: Want to learn to eat like an Olympian? Is the food that you put in your body really that important? After reading this, I say YES!

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    That is it for this week’s round up. I loved all of these great posts and I hope that you will, too. Perhaps just the burst of inspiration you were needing to get your weekend off to a great start?

    Have a lovely weekend. Spread love & light!

3 Comments

  2. @Karen – I am so glad to hear that! The week really does get hectic so having a little space that sorts out the good stuff is a definite plus. Glad you enjoy it. ;o)

    Reply

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