Smile: [smahyl]  verb – to express amusement, pleasure, moderate joy or love and kindness, by the features of the face; to laugh silently.

Why is it so hard for people to smile? Even if it’s a fake smile, researchers have proven that a smile, fake or not, will automatically boost your mood. Why? Humans associate emotions with phyiscal activity or contact. If you are walking around sluggish and angry, you emit a negative energy around you. So what do you think would happen if, let’s just say, you smile? Duh! Positive energy all around.

So, I have  a social experiment for everyone this month: smile at a stranger. Scenario: you’re taking your dog for his morning walk. You are about to cross paths with a someone you don’t know who is also walking their dog. For some people this is awkward so they look away, or may even whip out their cell phone to pretend to look busy (I may be guilty of this one). Try and fight these urges and just offer a quick and harmless smile. Chances are you will receive a smile back. Now was that so hard? Smiling is contagious, it takes little effort and it’s free! What’s better than a free gesture? A smile can turn someone’s bad day into a slightly happier one.

Don’t just think of this as helping others. Think of this as helping yourself. By smiling you are sending yourself the message that you are a positive individual. And remember, “smile and the whole world smiles with you.” You can thank me later.

2.Get up and do something! Go for a walk and check out your neighborhood, window shop at the mall, take your dog for a jog at the park or join a gym and take advantage of their exercise classes. It doesn’t matter where you are or what you do, just get active. Get your heart pumping for at least 45 minutes each day.

3.Everyone needs time to wind down, especially after a stressful day. Find a hobby! Try learning to play a new instrument, cooking an unfamiliar dish, knitting, bird watching…etc. The possibilities are endless!

4.Laugh and smile! Laughing increases the levels of endorphins in your body making you less stressed and with a healthier immune system. Pop in a funny movie that will get you laughing in no time. Studies have shown that with just 15 minutes of laughter (even fake laughter) will burn 10 to 40 calories, depending on weight. Ever heard of laughter yoga? Pretty interesting.

5.Be positive. Living your life with the, “Why me?” attitude will only weigh you down. Life is a beautiful and precious thing. Don’t sweat the small stuff! Instead of questioning yourself and your self worth, question what you can do to make it better? There is always room for improvement.

6.Cut out the toxins – smoking, drugs and excessive alcohol consumption.

7.Adopt a pet! I can’t think of another way to get active. Pets are wonderful and loyal companions and they will show you unconditional love 24/7. Plus, you will always have an excuse to get out of the house to take them for walk. It’s a win-win situation!

8.Avoid these 5 ingredients as much as possible.

9.Track your ticker! 8.6 million women die from heart disease each year, worldwide. Get your blood pressure checked regularly and follow a heart healthy diet. Just by reducing your sodium intake and exercising everyday, you are on your way to a healthier heart.

10.Get those ZzzZzz! Try to sleep 6-8 hours every night. Everyone is busy, but your body needs time to recharge. By getting the recommended hours of sleep you will feel refreshed and energized in the morning. This will set your mood for the whole day.

“You know the feeling. You’re walking to the market, to the store, to meet a friend, all caught up in the plodding forward of your day…and then suddenly, you take notice of where you are. The light on a wall, the expressions on people’s faces, the feeling of the weather. A distinct sense of place creeps over you, and for a moment you feel like a traveler.

And yet sometimes, the desire (Overwhelming! Insatiable! Get me on a freaking bus to Belize!) for that novelty and spark of travel is overwhelming. Sometimes a sense of …” Continue reading

The innovative Fellowes SB-87CS with Safe Sense Technology features an active sensor that stops shredding immediately when paper entry is touched. Designed for frequent shredding needs, the Fellowes Powershred SB-87CS delivers a high level of performance that’s ideal for small business or home office use. This heavy-duty personal shredder reduces documents to higher security confetti particles, and shreds up to 15 sheets per pass, 50-100 times per day, for a total daily capacity as high as 1,500 sheets. Equipped with a 9-inch wide front feed paper entry, the SB-87CS easily accepts standard letter or legal-size documents. SB87CS shreds CDs in a designated safety slot and the durable steel cutters also accept credit cards, staples and small paper clips. Electronic auto start/stop ensures quick & easy automatic shredder operation. Shredder automatically shuts off and alerts operator when a jam occurs, door is ajar or 7-gallon pullout wastebasket is full. Sheet capacity gauge helps prevent paper jams. Door offers convenient holder for oil, manual and shredder bags. Cabinet-style stand includes casters for portable ease.

Note: You can also throw this into your kitty’s litter box for extra absorption.

Get your Fellowes Powershred Sheet Confetti Cut Shredder now

From rd:

“When you think “millionaire,” what image comes to mind? For many of us, it’s a flashy Wall Street banker type who flies a private jet, collects cars and lives the kind of decadent lifestyle that would make Donald Trump proud.

But many modern millionaires live in middle-class neighborhoods, work full-time and shop in discount stores like the rest of us. What motivates them isn’t material possessions but the choices that money can bring: “For the rich, it’s not about getting more stuff. It’s about having the freedom to make almost any decision you want,” says T. Harv Eker, author of Secrets of the Millionaire Mind. Wealth means you can send your child to any school or quit a job you don’t like.
According to the Spectrem Wealth Study, an annual survey of America’s wealthy, there are more people living the good life than ever before—the number of millionaires nearly doubled in the last decade. And the rich are getting richer. To make it onto the Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans, a mere billionaire no longer makes the cut. This year you needed a net worth of at least $1.3 billion.

If more people are getting richer than ever, why shouldn’t you be one of them? Here, five people who have at least a million dollars in liquid assets share the secrets that helped them get there.

Set your sights on where you’re going
Twenty years ago, Jeff Harris hardly seemed on the road to wealth. He was a college dropout who struggled to support his wife, DeAnn, and three kids, working as a grocery store clerk and at a junkyard where he melted scrap metal alongside convicts. “At times we were so broke that we washed our clothes in the bathtub because we couldn’t afford the Laundromat.” Now he’s a 49-year-old investment advisor and multimillionaire in York, South Carolina.

There was one big reason Jeff pulled ahead of the pack: He always knew he’d be rich. The reality is that 80 percent of Americans worth at least $5 million grew up in middle-class or lesser households, just like Jeff.

Wanting to be wealthy is a crucial first step. Says Eker, “The biggest obstacle to wealth is fear. People are afraid to think big, but if you think small, you’ll only achieve small things.”

It all started for Jeff when he met a stockbroker at a Christmas party. “Talking to him, it felt like discovering fire,” he says. “I started reading books about investing during my breaks at the grocery store, and I began putting $25 a month in a mutual fund.” Next he taught a class at a local community college on investing. His students became his first clients, which led to his investment practice. “There were lots of struggles,” says Jeff, “but what got me through it was believing with all my heart that I would succeed.”

Educate yourself
When Steve Maxwell graduated from college, he had an engineering degree and a high-tech job—but he couldn’t balance his checkbook. “I took one finance class in college but dropped it to go on a ski trip,” says the 45-year-old father of three, who lives in Windsor, Colorado. “I actually had to go to my bank and ask them to teach me how to read my statement.”

One of the biggest obstacles to making money is not understanding it: Thousands of us avoid investing because we just don’t get it. But to make money, you must be financially literate. “It bothered me that I didn’t understand this stuff,” says Steve, “so I read books and magazines about money management and investing, and I asked every financial whiz I knew to explain things to me.”

He and his wife started applying the lessons: They made a point to live below their means. They never bought on impulse, always negotiated better deals (on their cars, cable bills, furniture) and stayed in their home long after they could afford a more expensive one. They also put 20 percent of their annual salary into investments.

Within ten years, they were millionaires, and people were coming to Steve for advice. “Someone would say, ‘I need to refinance my house—what should I do?’ A lot of times, I wouldn’t know the answer, but I’d go find it and learn something in the process,” he says.

In 2003, Steve quit his job to become part owner of a company that holds personal finance seminars for employees of corporations like Wal-Mart. He also started going to real estate investment seminars, and it’s paid off: He now owns $30 million worth of investment properties, including apartment complexes, a shopping mall and a quarry.

“I was an engineer who never thought this life was possible, but all it truly takes is a little self-education,” says Steve. “You can do anything once you understand the basics.”

Passion pays off
In 1995, Jill Blashack Strahan and her husband were barely making ends meet. Like so many of us, Jill was eager to discover her purpose, so she splurged on a session with a life coach. “When I told her my goal was to make $30,000 a year, she said I was setting the bar too low. I needed to focus on my passion, not on the paycheck.”

Jill, who lives with her son in Alexandria, Minnesota, owned a gift basket company and earned just $15,000 a year. She noticed when she let potential buyers taste the food items, the baskets sold like crazy. Jill thought, Why not sell the food directly to customers in a fun setting?
With $6,000 in savings, a bank loan and a friend’s investment, Jill started packaging gourmet foods in a backyard shed and selling them at taste-testing parties. It wasn’t easy. “I remember sitting outside one day, thinking we were three months behind on our house payment, I had two employees I couldn’t pay, and I ought to get a real job. But then I thought, No, this is your dream. Recommit and get to work.”

She stuck with it, even after her husband died three years later. “I live by the law of abundance, meaning that even when there are challenges in life, I look for the win-win,” she says.

The positive attitude worked: Jill’s backyard company, Tastefully Simple, is now a direct-sales business, with $120 million in sales last year. And Jill was named one of the top 25 female business owners in North America by Fast Company magazine.

According to research by Thomas J. Stanley, author of The Millionaire Mind, over 80 percent of millionaires say they never would have been successful if their vocation wasn’t something they cared about.

Grow your money
Most of us know the never-ending cycle of living paycheck to paycheck. “The fastest way to get out of that pattern is to make extra money for the specific purpose of reinvesting in yourself,” says Loral Langemeier, author of The Millionaire Maker. In other words, earmark some money for the sole purpose of investing it in a place where it will grow dramatically—like a business or real estate.

There are endless ways to make extra money for investing—you just have to be willing to do the work. “Everyone has a marketable skill,” says Langemeier. “When I started out, I had a tutoring business, seeing clients in the morning before work and on my lunch break.”

A little moonlighting cash really can grow into a million. Twenty-five years ago, Rick Sikorski dreamed of owning a personal training business. “I rented a tiny studio where I charged $15 an hour,” he says. When money started trickling in, he squirreled it away instead of spending it, putting it all back into the business. Rick’s 400-square-foot studio is now Fitness Together, a franchise based in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, with more than 360 locations worldwide. And he’s worth over $40 million.

When extra money rolls in, it’s easy to think, Now I can buy that new TV. But if you want to get rich, you need to pay yourself first, by putting money where it will work hard for you—whether that’s in your retirement fund, a side business or investments like real estate.

No guts, no glory
Last summer, Dave Lindahl footed the bill for 18 relatives at a fancy mansion in the Adirondacks. One night, his dad looked out at the scenery and joked, “I can’t believe we used to call you the black sheep!”

At 29, Dave was broke, living in a small apartment near Boston and wondering what to do after ten years in a local rock band. “I looked around and thought, If I don’t do something, I’ll be stuck here forever.”

He started a landscape company, buying his equipment on credit. When business literally froze over that winter, a banker friend asked if he’d like to renovate a foreclosed home. “I’m a terrible carpenter, but I needed the money, so I went to some free seminars at Home Depot and figured it out as I went,” he says.

After a few more renovations, it occurred to him: Why not buy the homes and sell them for profit? He took a risk and bought his first property. Using the proceeds, he bought another, and another. Twelve years later, he owns apartment buildings, worth $143 million, in eight states.

The Biggest Secret? Stop spending.
Every millionaire we spoke to has one thing in common: Not a single one spends needlessly. Real estate investor Dave Lindahl drives a Ford Explorer and says his middle-class neighbors would be shocked to learn how much he’s worth. Fitness mogul Rick Sikorski can’t fathom why anyone would buy bottled water. Steve Maxwell, the finance teacher, looked at a $1.5 million home but decided to buy one for half the price because “a house with double the cost wouldn’t give me double the enjoyment.”

It’s not a fluke: According to the 2007 Annual Survey of Affluence & Wealth in America, some of the richest people “spend their money with a middle-class mind-set.” They clip coupons, wait for sales and buy luxury items at a discount.

No kidding! Talk show host Tyra Banks calls herself the Queen of Cheap and keeps perfume samples from magazine ads in her purse for quick touch-ups.

Sara Blakely, founder of the $100 million shapewear company Spanx, gets her hair trimmed at Supercuts.

And Warren Buffett, the third richest person in the world, according to Forbes, lives in the same Omaha, Nebraska, home he bought four decades ago for $31,500.”

^[source]

1. Change yourself.

“You must be the change you want to see in the world.”

“As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world – that is the myth of the atomic age – as in being able to remake ourselves.”

If you change yourself you will change your world. If you change how you think then you will change how you feel and what actions you take. And so the world around you will change. Not only because you are now viewing your environment through new lenses of thoughts and emotions but also because the change within can allow you to take action in ways you wouldn’t have – or maybe even have thought about – while stuck in your old thought patterns.

And the problem with changing your outer world without changing yourself is that you will still be you when you reach that change you have strived for. You will still have your flaws, anger, negativity, self-sabotaging tendencies etc. intact.

And so in this new situation you will still not find what you hoped for since your mind is still seeping with that negative stuff. And if you get more without having some insight into and distance from your ego it may grow more powerful. Since your ego loves to divide things, to find enemies and to create separation it may start to try to create even more problems and conflicts in your life and world.

2. You are in control.

“Nobody can hurt me without my permission.”

What you feel and how you react to something is always up to you. There may be a “normal” or a common way to react to different things. But that’s mostly just all it is.

You can choose your own thoughts, reactions and emotions to pretty much everything. You don’t have to freak out, overreact of even react in a negative way. Perhaps not every time or instantly. Sometimes a knee-jerk reaction just goes off. Or an old thought habit kicks in.

And as you realize that no-one outside of yourself can actually control how you feel you can start to incorporate this thinking into your daily life and develop it as a thought habit. A habit that you can grow stronger and stronger over time. Doing this makes life a whole lot easier and more pleasurable.

3. Forgive and let it go.

“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”

“An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind.”

Fighting evil with evil won’t help anyone. And as said in the previous tip, you always choose how to react to something. When you can incorporate such a thought habit more and more into your life then you can react in a way that is more useful to you and others.

You realize that forgiving and letting go of the past will do you and the people in your world a great service. And spending your time in some negative memory won’t help you after you have learned the lessons you can learn from that experience. You’ll probably just cause yourself more suffering and paralyze yourself from taking action in this present moment.

If you don’t forgive then you let the past and another person to control how you feel. By forgiving you release yourself from those bonds. And then you can focus totally on, for instance, the next point.

4. Without action you aren’t going anywhere.

“An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching.”

Without taking action very little will be done. However, taking action can be hard and difficult. There can be much inner resistance.

And so you may resort to preaching, as Gandhi says. Or reading and studying endlessly. And feeling like you are moving forward. But getting little or no practical results in real life.

So, to really get where you want to go and to really understand yourself and your world you need to practice. Books can mostly just bring you knowledge. You have to take action and translate that knowledge into results and understanding.

You can check out a few effective tips to overcome this problem in How to Take More Action: 9 Powerful Tips. Or you can move on to the next point for more on the best tip for taking more action that I have found so far.

5. Take care of this moment.

“I do not want to foresee the future. I am concerned with taking care of the present. God has given me no control over the moment following.”

The best way that I have found to overcome the inner resistance that often stops us from taking action is to stay in the present as much as possible and to be accepting.

Why? Well, when you are in the present moment you don’t worry about the next moment that you can’t control anyway. And the resistance to action that comes from you imagining negative future consequences – or reflecting on past failures – of your actions loses its power. And so it becomes easier to both take action and to keep your focus on this moment and perform better.

Have a look at 8 Ways to Return to the Present Moment for tips on how quickly step into the now. And remember that reconnecting with and staying in the now is a mental habit – a sort of muscle – that you grow. Over time it becomes more powerful and makes it easier to slip into the present moment.

6. Everyone is…

Read the rest

1. Be present – I don’t just mean be there in attendance, I mean make yourself fully present in a mindful way. A “present” state of mind will mean that you are focused on the now. You are committed to the present moment and that means that when you’re interacting with people, you are more absorbed in what they are saying right now. You need to be present to be a good manager or employee. You give meaning and purpose to those around you. In business, if you are “present” you will usually get what you need. If you aren’t present, you miss your task or you miss what someone is saying – and those things could be very important.

2. Give full attention to your activities – This is also a state of mindfulness. Concentrating on tasks gives meaning to that task. It helps you get your task done in an efficient way because you are focused on it, even on the smallest task – This activity requires very focused attention and when you are mindful of your concentration to your work, you cannot be more efficient with your task. This ends up with the best work you can offer.

3. Make sure your state of mind is optimal before entering a meeting – This point is very important. How can you assess your state of mind? Before your meeting, go to a quiet place so you can determine your state of mind. You need to be aware of what is happening and how you feel; you need to be in a state of mind where your emotions are calm and positive. You should be in a positive state but if you’re not, try to divert your negative feelings and thoughts aside by focusing your thoughts on happy, wonderful things. Words are powerful, so say to yourself, “I am calm, positive and will have an efficient, productive meeting.”

4. Be aware of your relationships with colleagues – Say, for instance, you are a manager and you don’t get along with your employee. Figure out why, and try to change it to a more positive relationship. Once you can see possibilities of problematic issues between the two of you, you can go from there. If you are mindful, you will realize the weaknesses, the conflicts and the differences in personalities. These things shouldn’t prevent you from having a decent relationship. When you are mindful and fully aware of all aspects involved in employee/manager relationships, you can work it out so that you have the relationship that is necessary to have an efficient and happy office environment. Listen to your colleagues and employees and be in the present. Give them value and value what they have to offer. Try to understand where they’re coming from. The results of this behavior will astound you.

5. Laugh – Try not to take yourself so seriously. Have fun when you can. While laughing and goofing around may not be appropriate for some circumstances, at the right moments, it’s the best thing an office can have for morale.

6. Know Yourself – Knowing yourself helps you to make the right choices about how you respond to people and situations.

Mind Training, The Great Collection (Library of Tibetan Classics) is an English adaptation of the first anthology of techniques for cultivating altruistic thoughts and coping with the inevitable challenges of everyday life. Presenting 44 of the original texts — including seminal works such as “Leveling out All Preconceptions” and “Eight Verses on Training the Mind” — Mind Training combines eloquent translations and historical commentaries to demonstrate how anyone can learn to exude love, compassion, and perseverance.

Click here for more information

If you simply take time to be aware of breathing in and breathing out, a wonderful thing happens: You stop thinking, particularly about all the chaos that is swimming around in your head. Whether you’re thinking about what you have to do or what you will do, or what someone said or did to you, etc. you have a tendency to lose yourself. You get a bit lost in the outside world. What that mean is if you are conscious of your breathing, you forget about the superficial, and then focus on the Now. You are living in the present moment and that is very important.

When you are not living in the present moment, you are either living in the future or the past and when you are in those places, you can not see clearly or deeply. You miss everything because you are not “here” in the Present. When you concentrate on breathing in and breathing out, you begin to be where your body is in the present moment. The body and mind are no longer separated from each other. When your mind and body are unified, you begin feel calm, relaxed, composed and aware; you’re on your way to becoming truly yourself.

1. When you find yourself having a terribly negative attitude leading to grumpville, slap yourself with a large trout. (figuratively speaking, of course) Just stop yourself. It’s you who has control over your emotions. If you cannot control your own emotions, seek professional help.

2. During these times of unpleasant thoughts, try to examine WHY you feel that way. What is the evidence and proof that you should be able to feel this way. If you can find vast reasons to substantiate your negative feelings and attitudes, try to beckon your compassion. Try to laugh. Try to smile and even force yourself to think the opposite. How? Just understanding you’ll feel better, should be a great incentive.

3. When jumping into negative attitudes, try to conjure up different scenarios for why something is happening. Try to envision that all is happening for a better future outcome. Imagine that things will get better. Example: You break your leg on the ski slope. No one is immediately around to help you so help is delayed. Don’t jump into the conclusion that you’ll die. Don’t jump to the conclusion that your leg won’t heal correctly. Look for reasons that will help you not to do that again! Maybe you need ski lessons. You know that won’t happen again. That’s positive, right?!

4. Think about a positive attitude as much as you can, if not all the time. Even say out loud, “I have a positive attitude!” Words are powerful and you’ll be amazed at how that can change your life.

5. Remember that a positive attitude makes you feel good. ‘Nuf said.

What Joseph Campbell says may shock some: These shattering moments of your life are exciting. They feed you. They are your sustenance. You need them to grow and so you should be happy about your suffering.

Usually when I’m suffering, I’m so not happy about it.

But I understand what he means by that. When you reach your lowest points, you cannot but wonder why these things are happening. You wonder what is the point? How can you live your life to the fullest? How can you grow personally? Who are you? Why are you here?

While the bad times are some of the most miserable times of your life, I encourage you to celebrate them. They are these moments that push you toward that personal transformation that will ultimately lead you to happiness and peace with yourself.

Nothing is exciting
if you know
what the outcome is going to be.
~ Joseph Campbell from Reflections on the Art of Living

Kick off the new year by just remembering what Frankie Goes to Hollywood sang, and live by those words. (If you don’t know the song, “Relax” check out the lyrics here.)

Ok, do I have to spell it out for you? M-a-s-t-u-r-b-a-t-i-o-n. Most guys (if not all of them) will happily admit they do it, but for some stupid reason, women either don’t do it or won’t admit to doing it. Whatever. I suppose in the end it doesn’t matter if you admit to it or not, but the essential thing would be to…just do it. Why the hell not?

Sooooooo…. you really don’t need any reasons TO do it but if you were wondering, “Why do it?” Besides the obvious “because it feels good,” I offer you the following 20 benefits of masturbation:

1. For men, it’s a good way to keep their prostate healthy. (reduces chances of getting prostate cancer)
2. It gets the imagination working.
3. You get to explore and know your body better. (Especially great for women who haven’t experienced an orgasm. This helps them learn what they need to achieve one.)
4. Once you know your body better, you can tell your partner what you really like.
5. Relieves menstrual cramps! Yay!
6. For teens, it can reduce spontaneous (and oh-so embarrassing) erections.
7. Reduce unwanted wet dreams. A guy thing.
8. An orgasm releases mood lifting hormones (endorphins). Yes!
9. Having insomnia. Masturbating can help you sleep. Or at least keep you busy while you’re awake
10. Helps stimulate the immune system.
11. It gets your heart pumping; consider it a mini-workout.
12. It’s a natural stress and tension reliever. (Relaxes the muscles)
13. Men who suffer from premature ejaculation can use masturbation to practice control.
14. It’s known to relieve migraines.
15. Try mutual masturbation; it’s a turn on and a learning experience.
16. Gives you confidence and raises self-esteem.
17. Orgasm causes muscular contractions in the uterus that can tone muscles.
18. Having orgasms on a regular basis has been reported to give you a more youthful appearance.
19. Improves blood flow in the body.
20. Relieves depression.
***************************

DIGG IT!

The holidays are here, ready or not. For some, it’s a festive, merry time of year and all is neato and chill, in an endless happiness. For others, unfortunately, it’s the dreaded time of the year filled with sugar plum psycho madness with a ginormous slice of hell and anguish and a side of stress attack.

This post is for the latter group, those of you who find this time of year the Grumpy Solstice, the “I’d rather be under a rock” holiday season and well, “I wish I wish I wish it was over!” kind of folks.

Many things can lift your mood so here is a quick suggestion:

Mood Lifting Gift Basket contains tasty organic and natural treats (popcorn, ginger chews, fruit leather, chocolate chip granola bar, vegetarian chicken flavored noodle soup, peppermint water), Yogi Calming herbal medicinal tea, Kava Kava and Ginko Biloba supplements, organic lemonade lip balm, tissue to wipe away the tears, and a teddy bear. How can this NOT lift your mood? Get this gift for yourself or for someone you know, who might appreciate its purpose.

Eco Gift Expo

Eco Gift Expo
Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, 1855 Main St., Santa Monica
Sat., Dec. 15, 9 am – 8 pm and Sun., Dec. 16, 9 am – 5 pm
($10 online, $15 at the door; free for seniors and children under 12)

When someone you care about hurts you, you can hold on to anger, resentment and thoughts of revenge or embrace forgiveness and move forward.

Why do we hold grudges and become resentful and unforgiving?
The people most likely to hurt us are those closest to us — our partners, friends, siblings and parents. When we’re hurt by someone we love and trust — whether it’s a lie, betrayal, rejection, abuse or insult — it can be extremely difficult to…”

Read the full article

What do Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein and Thomas Edison all have in common? They’ve all made considerable contributions to the advancement of mankind, they’re all distinguished in their respective fields, and they were all avid power nappers.

Conversely, if you’re getting eight hours of sleep each night yet still feel the need to nap, that might be the sign of a sleep disorder, or another health problem, so check with your physician.

Be You TV

You may think this is a TOTAL waste of time but if you do, you’re an idiot. Oops! Sorry for being rude and calling you an idiot. heehee. Anyway, any small gesture that puts a perk in your step, is good for you – so take as many opportunities as you can to feel good. Try not to browse too much at work. You may get fired, and then you might feel really, really bad.

Situated in france’s southwest…”

Read the whole article about Plum Village in France

Recommended Reading of Works by Thich Nat Hanh: Fragrant Leaves (Journals 1962-66) – Journal entries from America and Vietnam in the ’60s-a portrait of the Zen master as a young man; Call Me by My True Names – is awe-inspiring, one of the most powerful texts on interconnection; Anger – We all need to know how to deal with our anger; The Miracle of Mindfulness – The essential teachings of mindfulness; Peace is Every Step – “Every morning, when we wake up, we have twenty-four brand new hours to live…”; The Art of Mindful Living – How to bring, love, compassion and inner peace into your daily life; Teachings on Love – Love is more than an emotion; Breathe! You are Alive – Sutra on the full awareness of breathing; Zen Keys – A guide to zen practice.

[Photo Courtesy of Plum Village Practice Center, France]