“When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” – Buddhist proverb

At various times during our lives we will be the student waiting for our teacher to appear. At other times, we will be the teacher who appears for the student when we are needed to depart some of our knowledge.

I’ve been in too many situations in my life for this proverb not to be true. Just when I didn’t know which way to turn, I would read some information (usually some book) which would make me think in a new way and I would apply it to whatever was causing me issues. Or, other times people would enter (or re-enter) my life during circumstances which only they would be able to help me.

What about you? Have you had any situations where it seemed like all of a sudden, the exact information that you needed was presented to you in such a way that it seemed like magic? Sometimes you didn’t even know what you were looking for until it suddenly appeared in your life.

It may seem like magic when this happens, but there is a lot of things going on behind the scenes.

For when we are the student:

When we are ready as students, the mind shifts to being open to receiving new information. The information was always there, but we weren’t able to see it. We were not ready.

Once you are ready and are prepared to accept help, it will be as if the floodgates are opened. Information will be coming at you in all directions. You’ll notice things that you haven’t ever noticed before.

Our subconscious mind is always working and it will be looking for the people, relationships, experiences, books and resources that we need. Your job is to make yourself ready to receive the information. Don’t discount what you have read or what someone has said to you.

Be receptive to new avenues and new ways of thinking. You never know in which direction your teacher will appear. Talk to many different people, read new books, check out new blogs, network with people from various industries, and be open to new experiences.

It’s not only the old grey-haired people who have gathered knowledge and wisdom either. Many times I have been surprised at the wisdom young people in my life have. They are not jaded by life and often provide a fresh perspective.

For when we are the teacher:

When we are ready as teachers, the mind also shifts to be aware of what is going on in our lives, our communities and in the world around us.

Where can we find students who need our knowledge and wisdom? Whom can we help today? Whom is ready to receive the information that we have to give?

All of us have our own life experiences and wisdom to draw upon. We all have a unique voice which will resonate with some people, and not others. That’s okay. No two people think exactly alike and no two people learn exactly alike either.

We also have to be prepared with the tools to depart our knowledge. Most of you who are reading this article have blogs where we write about things that we have learned, or our experiences, or our dreams and hopes, or we provide valuable resources.

Are we hoping to have students all of a sudden appear?

Or are we actively looking for our students so that we are able to help them? Are we actively looking for problems to solve?

When you write your articles, I suggest you keep in mind both sets of students – those who are ready right now to hear what you have to say to them for their current situation and those who are not yet ready.

That is to say, don’t be discouraged by what you have written if no one appears to be taking action – maybe they are not ready right now for your knowledge. That’s okay because there will be other people who are ready and who desperately need to hear what you have to say to them.

Those students are the ones who you should cultivate and nurture because they are ready right now for you to be their teacher. The other ones may rediscover what you have written later on in their lives and take what they need then.

There is something of an echo chamber on the net where people write about the same topics over and over again. But, I think that’s perfectly fine in certain situations because as I said, not everyone is ready at the same time for the piece of information and everyone has their own unique voice that they use to depart that information.

To recap: As students open your mind to receiving new information and believe that your teacher will appear when you need them. As teachers, don’t be discouraged to write about what other people are writing about because your knowledge, life experience and wisdom is different than everyone elses.

Who can help you today? Who can you help today?

Related Posts:

1. Are Books Worth The Money?
2. Book Review: Crush It: Why Now Is The Time to Cash In On Your Passion
3. One Sure-Fire Way You Can Start Your Emergency Fund Today
4. Do You Need To Let Go and Forgive?
5. Are You Being Your True Authentic Self?

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This is the first time that I’ve participated in Blog Action Day, and I’m very happy to contribute my voice to the thousands of bloggers from all over the world who are drawing attention today to the importance of ensuring people have access to clean water. Water is a global issue and deserves a global voice today.

Many people in the developing world do not even have access to clean drinking water, but how many bottles of water have you bought this week?

Did you know that:

• Almost a billion people on the planet do not have access to clean, safe drinking water.
• The US, Mexico and China lead the world in bottled water consumption, with people in the US drinking an average of 200 bottles of water per person each year. Over 17 million barrels of oil are needed to manufacture those water bottles, 86 percent of which will never be recycled.
• Of the 50 billion plastic water bottles used by Americans in 2006, 38 billion of them were thrown away, unrecycled. The 1.5 million barrels of oil it takes to produce 50 billion bottles could fuel 100,000 cars for a year. And that does not even include the oil used for transportation.
• More than 60 million plastic water bottles are thrown away every day in the United States. This is a growing problem—it takes up to 1,000 years for disposable water bottles to decompose.
• Communities around the world are taking steps to reduce water bottle waste by eliminating bottled water.
• There is a growing backlash against bottled water companies by people who don’t believe that it’s moral or ethically responsible to sell something that is a basic human right, the same as it’s a basic human right to breathe air.
• A third of bottled water is actually from the same source as tap water. Actually, 24% is purified muncipal water.
• The cost of bottled water is increasing every year, resulting in less money in your wallet. Just by buying a convenience.
• Water is being taken from springs and streams, which is harming communities reliant on those water sources.

Check out this video from Annie Leonard (the woman behind the hit internet video “The Story of Stuff“) about the Story of Bottled Water:

What you can do:

• Don’t buy water bottles. Period. Save your money, and the planet.
• If you really have to buy bottled water, make sure that you recycle the empty bottle.
• Raise your awareness of the ramifications of all the water bottles that are not recycled.
• Join the FilterForGood pledge at http://www.filterforgood.com/ and use a re-usable bottle and fill it up instead of buying water bottles.
• Drink from the tap.  Or do what I do and buy a Brita.
• Check out organizations like charity: water and it’s Canadian partner, Water for People and see how you can make a meaningful difference in the world. 

Your parents and grandparents wouldn’t even think about paying for something so basic as water. They lived without buying bottled water and so can you. It really can make a difference.

Related Posts:

1. 50 Inspirational Quotes
2. Small Ways to Make a Big Difference
3. 10 Things You Can Do Right Now To Improve Your Life
4. The Five Keys to Happiness
5. This Is Your Life

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to my feed to have all the future articles delivered to your feed reader. Thanks!

Often we are wanting to make a change in our lives, but we don’t know what to do. Or, we feel overwhelmed. We’re only one person, after all. What can we do that will make an impact? Lots!

Raam Dev of Raamdev.com has brought together the wisdom of over 40 bloggers (including me!) who offer their best tips so that you can make small changes in your life that will make a big difference. He’s organized all this wisdom into a FREE ebook, appropriately called Small Ways to Make a Big Difference.

These are practical steps that you can take in your life that will benefit not only you and your family, but also your community, the environment and more.

The ebook is FREE to download. You don’t even have to sign-up to anything.

There were 40 contributors such as Farnoosh Brock of Prolific Living, Hulbert Lee of From Bottom Up, Sandra Lee of Always Well Within, Angela Artemis of Powered by Intuition, Everett Bogue of Far Beyond The Stars, John Bardos of JetSetCitizen, Henri Junttila of Wake Up Cloud, Katie Tallo of Momentum Gathering, Jeffrey Tang of The Art of Great Things, Chris Guillebeau of The Art of Non-Conformity, Ali Hale of Aliventures, Colin Wright of ExileLifestyle, Dragos Roua, Jonathan Mead of IlluminatedMind, Cody McKibben of ThrillingHeroics, and many more contributors submitted various ways that we can all make small changes in our lives that will make a big difference.

I contributed my small part of the ebook in helping people realize the value of money and that they don’t need to spend it every day. There are so many people going without and we often forget how wealthy we really are.

There are over 100 ways described in the ebook that shows you how you can make small changes in your life that can positively affect your health and happiness, to be more motivational and inspirational, to live a more meaningful life, to be a better you. We have a responsibility to the rest of the planet, as well. These small changes will benefit more than you – they will help your fellow (wo)man, too.

There’s such a diverse amount of wisdom shared in this ebook that there’s something to fit anyone’s needs. You can be the change that you want to see in the world.

Please download this great FREE ebook resource here: Small Ways to Make a Big Difference 

We want to spread the word around to as many people as we can so that they, too can make small changes in their lives that will make a big difference in the world.

Please feel free to send the link or the actual ebook to your friends and family or anyone who would benefit from making small changes in their lives. I know that as you read over the ebook that there are many changes that you can make easily in your life but that will have a huge impact.

It would be great if you can use the icons below to Retweet, Stumble, Digg and otherwise spread the word about this great resource.

Also, please visit the sites of the contributors to this great resource as all of us are trying to help as many people as we can from our sites by sharing our knowledge and experiences. There are a lot of fantastic articles written by these writers that offer even more ways that you can make a difference. Thank you.

Related Posts:

1. Are Books Worth The Money?
2. Book Review: Crush It: Why Now Is The Time to Cash In On Your Passion
3. Seth Godin’s ‘What Matters Now’ Ebook
4. Book Review: The Leap
5. Book Review: The Alchemist

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to my feed to have all the future articles delivered to your feed reader. Thanks!

Happiness is a choice and we all deserve to be happy. At any moment in our lives, we can change our mindset and choose to be happy.

One way that we can use to be happy is by creating a list of things that make us happy. This is a great motivational tool that we can use when we are feeling down. Just pick something from your list when you need to feel happy or just need a pick-me-up.

Of course, what makes me happy will not be the same as what makes you happy. Only you can answer the question of ‘What Makes You Happy?”

I thought that I would share with you my own personal list (in no particular order).

Here are 100 Things That Make Me Happy.

1. Chocolate. I am a woman, after all

2. Having a sense of purpose in life.

3. Having a family that loves me no matter what and knowing that they will be there for me when I need them.

4. Knowing that my Mom is being taken care of.

5. Knowing that I can afford to support myself and be independent.

6. Having friends who put up with me, even though I drive them crazy sometimes

7. Being able to write articles that touch other people.

8. Buying any book that I want, whenever I want to.

9. Taking the time to read my favourite books over and over and over again with no interruptions.

10. Taking up writing again and publishing articles on my own site.

11. Publishing an article that I worked really hard writing.

12. Learning something new.

13. Helping someone solve a problem in their life, especially if it’s something that has been an issue for a long time.

14. Being given a compliment, particularly when I’m feeling down.

15. Having someone say Yes to me when I was sure that they would say No.

16. Being debt-free and not owing any money to anyone.

17. Going to see a movie with my best friend.

18. Being asked for advice because someone respects my opinion.

19. Sleeping in on a Saturday morning and not having any firm plans for the day.

20. It makes me happy knowing that I’ve travelled to some places in the world that others haven’t.

21. Going for a walk with no destination in mind.

22. Knowing that I have invested in my future and my retirement funds are growing daily.

23. Watching HDTV on my big screen LCD TV.

24. Receiving money in the mail or my Paypal account unexpectedly.

25. Watching The Mummy and The Mummy Returns back-to-back. They are two of my favourite movies.

26. Getting an email from a reader telling me how something I’ve written has helped them.

27. An unexpected hug from a family member.

28. Smelling freshly-mown grass and feeling it under my bare feet.

29. Being pleasantly surprised by someone special.

30. Doing what I want, when I want to.

31. Travelling to Las Vegas every year makes me happy and it gives me something to look forward to.

32. Going out to dinner with friends.

33. Receiving flowers, particularly my favourites – tulips.

34. Getting an unexpected bonus at work.

35. Working on my site and knowing that I’m making a difference.

36. Receiving a phone call from a friend out of the blue and talking to them for hours.

37. Looking out my balcony and just enjoying the street scene below.

38. Knowing that I graduated university and that no one can take my credentials away from me since I accomplished them.

39. Going on a picnic on a nice warm summer day.

40. Being responsible for my own happiness. It’s kind of circular, I know. But, it’s also true.

41. Knowing that I am not just sitting around, but am actively working on creating a better future.

42. Going outside and enjoying nature.

43. Calling someone who I’ve been thinking of and making their day.

44. Listening to some jazz music on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

45. Being asked to guest-post on other sites. It makes me happy to be asked.

46. Attending a concern of one of my favourite singers.

47. Going swimming and feeling the water all around me.

48. Attending birthday parties and celebrating with friends and family.

49. Being appreciated at work and feeling that what I do makes a difference.

50. Having supportive friends who give me great advice when I particularly need it.

51. Having clean, crisp sheets on my bed.

52. Being inside when there’s a thunderstorm outside. Being able to watch thunder and lightning and seeing the majesty of mother nature.

53. Recognizing some Spanish phrases from my two Spanish night-courses and being able to speak it a little bit.

54. Getting a letter in the mail from a friend.

55. Having a guest-post published on my site and it receiving a great response.

56. Being appreciated for who I am and not what I can give.

57. Going on a long bike ride.

58. Knowing that I can book a plane ride back to Toronto and stay with friends any time I want to.

59. Looking at the posters that I brought back from Rome, Paris, and Boston hanging on my walls.

60. Reliving some of the moments I spent travelling with my friends.

61. Going on a road trip with my friends.

62. Decorating my home the way that I want it decorated and painted.

63. Being with my friends, just enjoying each other’s company.

64. Making dinner for people that I love.

65. Going camping for a long weekend.

66. Going to my favourite sushi place for lunch.

67. Three and four-day long weekends.

68. Having all my bills paid.

69. Having money in my chequing, savings, and investment accounts.

70. Eating ice cream, particularly Haagen Dazs.

71. Having a clean apartment.

72. Attending night school and learning something that I’ve always been interested in.

73. Realizing that what I thought was so hard years ago, didn’t turn out to be so hard after all.

74. Having the courage to move cities and jobs and not be stuck or settle.

75. Knowing that no matter what, I will figure things out.

76. Being able to give things to my family.

77. My new MacBook Pro computer and knowing that it’s paid for.

78. Going through my digital pictures and remembering all the great memories associated with the pictures.

79. Laughing with my friends and just being silly.

80. Seeing fireworks live, rather than on TV.

81. Writing on my next ebook and knowing that it can help so many more people.

82. Having a fully-funded emergency fund and being prepared, just in case.

83. Doing something that I thought I would never get the courage to do.

84. My online friends and the support they give me.

85. Dressing up and making an effort on my appearance makes me feel confident, which makes me feel happy.

86. Working out and feeling my sore muscles the next day. Knowing that I’m doing something for my health makes me happy.

87. Looking at my vision board and knowing that I’ve already accomplished some things that are on there.

88. Going to the grocery store and buying my favourite foods, and not caring what they cost.

89. Coming up with the perfect word when I’m struggling with my writing.

90. Getting great feedback from the readers of my site.

91. Seeing people share my articles with others.

92. Watching my favourite cartoons, especially episodes that I haven’t seen before.

93. Reading a new book and being wonderfully surprised at good it was and then sharing it with my friends.

94. Walking to work through the grounds of the Legislature Building with the water fountain, green grass, and beautiful statues every weekday.

95. Learning from my past mistakes and growing as a person.

96. Giving what I can to other people who are less fortunate than I am.

97. A good night’s sleep.

98. Being creative and making something crafty with my hands.

99. Getting out my paints, brushes and easel and just starting to paint.

100. It makes me happy knowing that I don’t have any major health concerns, unlike so many others.

This is my personal list of what makes me happy.

Create your own list and share with us one or two things that make you happy.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to my feed to have all the future articles delivered to your feed reader. Thanks!

I’ve been thinking a lot about my friends and the people that I attract into my life. I don’t know about you, but when one friend leaves my life invariably someone else will take their place that will remind me of the older friend.

I think it’s pretty important to have close friends throughout your life, particularly at different life stages. I’ve really been blessed with some of my friends who have been very fantastic to me for many years. But, I’ve been great to them, too.

It’s true that you have to be a great friend to have a great friend. And, I have some pretty darn fantastic friends!

You meet people who forget you. You forget people you meet. But sometimes you meet those people you can’t forget. Those are your ‘friends.’– Author Unknown

With that in mind, here are 7 Friends That You Should Have In Your Life:

1. The Cheerleader

You need that friend who is your cheerleader and will support you no matter what. This is the friend that you go to when you’re feeling down. They’re most likely to give you a pep talk when you’re feeling really down and just need someone to remind you what a fantastic person you really are. They might even come over and give you a cheer with their pom-poms, if you ask nicely.

In everyone’s life, at some time, our inner fire goes out.  It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being.  We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit. — Albert Schweitzer

2. The Hipster

This is the friend who is younger than you and can tell you what’s new and hip and trendy today. This friend doesn’t make you feel old, but tells you what you need to know to keep up and be cool in today’s society. They’ll tell you that MySpace is Out, Facebook is In (for now) and that you desperately need to update your wardrobe from the ’90s. This is also the type of friend that you can tell stories about the time you wore leg warmers (when they were in) and that you had the Rachel ‘do’ for months and they’ll know exactly what you mean.

The most I can do for my friend is simply be his friend.  — Henry David Thoreau

3. The Mentor

If you were a gentle mentor to your Hipster Friend, then your Mentor Friend is someone that you go to when you need solid advice. This friend always seems to know what you need to hear and when you need to hear it. They’ll guide you through the pitfalls of life because they’ve been there and done that. They have your best interests at heart and don’t want you to go through the trials and tribulations that they did. They have some things figured out and are happy to share with you their wisdom.

Some people go to priests; others to poetry; I to my friends.  — Virginia Woolf

4. The Comedian

The Comedian is the friend that you go to when you need a good belly laugh. She’ll brighten your day with the craziest story that happened to her that day and will have you hugging your sides from laughing so hard. Everyone needs a friend that just ‘gets them’ and this friend gets you. They can make you laugh no matter what happened. Even if your pet died that day. They’ll find something funny about every situation. And, since laughter is the best medicine, after being your Comedian Friend, you feel a lot better just by being with them.

Life is partly what we make it, and partly what it is made by the friends we choose. — Tennessee Williams

5. The Pusher

We all have doubts about our abilities and what we should do with our lives. The Pusher friend is the one who tells us to stop waffling and apply for the job or go for the guy because ‘darn it, we’re hawt!’.  There’s a little bit of tough love because The Pusher knows that we will come up with all sorts of excuses, but they see right through our B.S. and makes us go for things in life. Without the Pusher, we wouldn’t have gone for that promotion or asked that girl out or made you take up salsa dancing or told you to just get on with it.

6. The Translator

This is the friend who’s of the opposite sex who only has the best platonic intentions for you. They’re able to translate the opposite sex with you when you have no idea what to make of that date you had last night. They’ll tell you not to sit by the phone because he’s just not that into you. They’ll tell you that she was just being nice so that she didn’t hurt your feelings and that you are firmly on the friend ladder. Because they are of the opposite sex, they’ll translate for you the men- and woman-speak for you. They help you navigate the waters with the opposite sex.

A good friend is a connection to life – a tie to the past, a road to the future, the key to sanity in a totally insane world.  — Lois Wyse

7. The Best Friend

Everyone needs a Best Friend in their life. This is the friend that sticks by you no matter what. They’ll go with you on that double-date because they know you need the moral support. They’ll even take the pottery workshop with you and give up every Saturday for weeks, just because they want to be in your company. Your Best Friend is the first person you call when you just got dumped and the person you call to bail you out of jail. They’ll help you move, pick you up at the airport, remember your birthday every year and are always there for you. They’re on your speed dial. And, you’re on theirs. Your Best Friend knows you and you know them. Silences don’t need to be filled and you don’t have to explain why you’re crying or why you called. They’ll just know.

Remember:

In order to have a friend, you have to be a friend.

You are one of these friends to someone in your life. And, if you’re not – why not!?

The best time to make friends is before you need them.  — Ethel Barrymore

Related Posts:

1. Are Books Worth The Money?
2. Book Review: Crush It: Why Now Is The Time to Cash In On Your Passion
3. One Sure-Fire Way You Can Start Your Emergency Fund Today
4. Do You Need To Let Go and Forgive?
5. Are You Being Your True Authentic Self?

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to my feed to have all the future articles delivered to your feed reader. Thanks!

The days are flying by! It’s Friday again and this is the day that I get to share some of the articles that I’ve read during the week that are particularly thought-provoking and made me stop and think.

You know that there are so many sites that rehash the same few topics over and over again? Well, these sites don’t and they offer something fresh to read.

I hope you enjoy this week’s offerings:

I’ve been getting sick of all the chest-thumping, fist-waving bromances out there in the blogoshere lately. Apparently, I haven’t been alone as Maria over at Maria Muir felt the same way and wrote a fantastic rebuttal called Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves – Move Over Fellas. I’m including this article not because I’m mentioned along with a couple of other wonderful women, but because Maria had the courage to write what I’ve been feeling. Based on  it’s response, I know many other women have felt the same, too. Go check it out and provide some support to us.

Tim at A Daring Adventure made me think when he questions whether we should Lower Your Standards. Having such high standards sets up for failure, in my opinion. We obviously have to have some standards, but are we setting them too high? Check out Tim’s article and be your own judge.

I discovered Luciano and his Litemind site recently. What a find! I particularly enjoyed reading this article:  The Relatively Mind Trap: How Comparisons Can Lead Us Astray. We can’t get away from making comparisons, but we can we become cognizant of judging ourselves and others using unfair comparing variables. Check out the article and let me know if it made you think as much as it did me. He has written some very thoughtful articles, so check out his Archives, too.

Paul over at Diary 4 Life shows up on my Friday’s Links series frequently. That’s because he writes articles that stand out and make me think. This week was no exception. I enjoyed reading his Just Do It Anyway article because that’s what I need sometimes. I need the kick in the pants to Just Do It Anyways when I’m feeling unmotivated or frustrated. Paul offers some great ways in the article so that we can Just Do It Anyways. Go read the article. Just Do It

For those of you who prefer to watch videos for your dose of personal development, Justin over at Ignite Your Essense has a treat for you. He gathered 10 inspirational videos from around the net on his site and offers 10 Must See Personal Development Presentations. I haven’t seen most of these videos and I’m glad that they are all in one place. Fair warning that you can be watching the videos for a while, but I think they’re worth it, particularly as the videos are from people like Jack Canfield, Les Brown, Wayne Dyer, Tim Ferriss and other great speakers.

Those are just 5 of the great articles that I’ve read this week. I wish I could include them all, but I have to pare down the best for this week. Enjoy!

As always, have a great weekend!

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to my feed to have all the future articles delivered to your feed reader. Thanks!

It’s that usual time of the week where I get to share with you some of the great articles that I’ve read this week.

The only criteria that I have is that they must make me think in some way.

I’m not interested in sharing with you the same thing that I have read over and over again from various bloggers. There’s enough of those kind of articles on the net.

I like to read articles that get me thinking or that have a unique spin on personal development topics.

Here’s the cream of the crop for this week:

Jonathan from Illuminated Mind gives us Seven Weird Habits That Will Change Your LIfe. I think his Time Travel suggestion is a great way to talk to your future self. Project yourself into the future and see what your Future You has to tell your Present You. What do you think your Future You would be proud of? What would they tell you to do differently in your life? Have a heart-to-heart conversation and see what You have to tell You. I hope you will be pleasantly surprised, but if not, maybe this conversation will motivate you to make some changes in your current life.

Bud from PluginID gives us another 7 – this time it’s 7 Truths You May Be Running From, which I particularly enjoyed reading as it not only gave us some hard truths about what we may be running from, but also gives us some action steps to examine what we can do to stop running. The first truth about being unhealthy is the one that caught my eye. I can be a lot more healthy than I currently am and the tips suggested to stop running from this are ones that I have heard before, but this time they really hit home with me. I need to start walking more and with the warm weather, I have no excuse not to walk to and from work anymore. I really need to incorporate small amounts of exercise into my day.

There must be something in the air this week regarding the number 7 because another I have another very thought-provoking article for you. Matt Gartland guest-posted at Free Pursuits and wrote what I thought was a very unique article about The 7 Deadly Sins of Designing Healthy Lifestyle. Do you recognize any of your sins of Apathy, Sloth, Spite, Selfishness, Impatience, Conformity, and Fear?

Another guest-post. This time it’s Mark Harrison’s turn over at Pick The Brain who wrote what I thought was a great article called 6 Myths That Stand In Your Way, but it turned out to be very controversial. I admit that I’m really surprised at some of the negative comments that the article generated, but I guess some people were put off by what he wrote. I personally agreed with every one of the points he brought up. Check out the article and let me know what you think. Do you agree or disagree with him?

There were a plethora of great articles written about Change this week, but I’m picking Steven Aitchison’s article from Change Your Thoughts – Change Your Life who wrote How To Change Your Life to highlight. What I particularly liked about this article was the concept of everyone having two sides – their ‘core self’ and their ‘ideal self’ and how we can change aspects of our core self to match our ideal self. Steven provides 7 (yes, 7 again) steps that we can follow to do this. A very interesting and thought-provoking article.

In case you didn’t know, I’ve started a weekly guest-post every Monday at The InfoPreneur. In my first article as guest blogger there, I wrote about 10 Ways To Stop Doubting Yourself and I think it turned out to be a pretty good article. I hope you think so, too. Make sure that you check out the other guest bloggers as James has put together a great team of 7 diverse bloggers who are writing a new article for each day of the week.

That’s it for this week. I hope you realize how hard it was to choose just 5 articles to highlight for today. There are so many great writers out there who are providing so much value.

If you think I missed one that is particularly share-worthy, let us know by leaving a comment so that we can check it out and benefit, too. Thanks!

Oh, and if you can Retweet, StumbleUpon or Digg these articles, that would be appreciated.

As always, have a great weekend!

Related Posts:

1. The Number One Shortcut To Be Successful In Life
2. From Homeless To The InfoPreneur – Guest Post
3. The Only Words You Need to Overcome Your Fears
4. Do You Need To Let Go and Forgive?
5. Stop Lying To Yourself

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It’s Friday and my favourite day of the week.

Why, you ask? Because not only is Friday the start of the weekend, it’s also the day that I get to share with you some of the articles that I’ve read this week and that have either made me stop and think or were particularly share-worthy.

It’s hard to come up with only 5 articles each Friday, but I try.

I hope you like this week’s offering;

First up is Maria from MariaMuir.com who wrote a very creative article about taking a journey called What’s Your Destination – Regret City or Starting Again?  I just loved this article – so imaginative. I quite like how Maria was able to weave the story of taking a journey into one we can all relate to. I’m sure that you’re going to enjoy reading it as much as I did.

Next is Adrian at his site Ideas for Business Growth who wrote a story about a lion finding its roar. Go read Leadership: Have You Found Your Roar? and see if you get goosebumps. I sure did reading this great story. It sounds like a very simple story, but has a very powerful message contained – one which I think a lot of people can relate to.

No more stories for now. It’s time for a thought-provoking article, which Jeffrey from The Art of Great Things provided us when he wrote The Change Mindset. The one constant in life is that nothing ever stays the same, except for change. Knowing that and using it to our advantage to make a difference in our lives, our communities and within the world is so important. I quite liked this quote from the article;

Before you become a changemaker, you need the change mindset. You have to decide that something’s wrong, and that it’s worth fixing, and that you should be the one to do it.

This is a great reminder that when something needs fixing, you could be making a real difference in the world if you decide to fix it yourself.

Hulbert has been writing a wonderful series concerning well-known people and what we can learn from them at his site From Bottom Up. I really enjoyed reading all of the series, but particularly enjoyed this week’s article called Howard Schultz and Trust. In case you don’t know, Schultz is the founder of Starbucks and has a very inspirational story. Oops, we’re back to stories again.

Because I trust Justin to always provide me with thought-provoking articles and videos, I visited his site Ignite Your Essence and watched a 21 minute and 32 second video from Cameron Herald who gave a thrilling presentation on entrepeneurship at TEDxEdmonton last month. Yes, it’s a long video, but like most TEDx videos, it’s well worth your time. If you have children, you should definitely carve out some time to watch this video. You know, if you start them off early on the path to entrepreneurship, maybe they will allow you to take an early retirement. You never know…

That’s it for this week. I hope you do check out the articles (and video) and that you enjoy them. I know that I sure did.

As always, have a fantastic weekend!

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Every Friday I get to share with you 5 articles that I’ve read this week that have either touched me or that I found to be very thought-provoking. I hope you enjoy reading this week’s offerings;

First up is Dave Navarro at his site Rock Your Day who wrote a very thought-provoking article on limiting beliefs called Give Up. I particularly enjoyed reading this article because he provided some great steps on progressing past our limiting beliefs. This is one message that I, for one, need to be constantly exposed to so that I can move past what’s hindering me in my own life.

I quite liked this quote from the article:

But here’s the thing: Whatever seems ludicrous, whatever you say “I could never do that …” to, that’s the limiting belief that you are absolutely committed to. In fact, you’re so committed to it that you’ve got a ready-made collection of reasons excuses to support it – and you’ll fight me like hell before you give it up. – Dave Navarro

I think there’s a theme going on, because the next article is a guest post by Henri Junttila called How to Deal With Rejection: 5 Fresh Ways to Look at Getting Rejected at Dragos Roua’s site Brillantly Better, who also talks about our beliefs and how we attach labels to what happens to us in our lives. Henri provides 5 great ways that we can remove the fear of being rejected. I don’t know any on the planet who has not been rejected at something at least once in their lives. This is a great article to keep in mind the next time we face rejection.

The next article that I think you should definitely check out is one by Yaro Starak at his site Entrepeneur’s-Journey who continues to wow me with his series on Positive Change. Fair warning that this article is very long, but it’s worth reading until the end. Go read How I Realized My Sense Of Self And Why It Changed Me Forever and let me know what you thought about it.

It was very insightful when he writes about the incident that bought about lasting change in his life and, in particular, this part:

You see most of the problems I had, although resulting in physical symptoms, where actually a result of my broken mind. At least that’s what I chose to believe, because then I knew I could repair myself. Of course you can’t control what you are born with, but I could choose how I dealt with it, reacted to it and thought about it. – Yaro Starak

Like James’ recent guest-post on this site, From Homeless to The InfoPreneur, we can’t control with what we are born with or our circumstances, but we do have a choice on how you deal with what you have been given in life.

Next up is Ash at The Middle Finger Project who wrote an article called 18 Ways To Avoid Becoming A Human Robot (And Why Circles Are Better Than Lines) who made me stop and think about how we categorize people and draw lines between different groups. She provides 18 great ways that you can start to erase the lines between people in your own life so that  “we can start to erase some of the lines that could be boxing us in, and keeping us from connecting on a meaningful level with the people we share this planet with.” I think that you will find this article as insightful as I do. Go check it out and let me know what you think.

I write articles about personal development on this site so I read with interest Jonathan Wells’ article called 67 Personal Development Pitfalls to Avoid at his site Advanced Life Skills. Jonathan has managed to write 67 attitudes that we should avoid doing when it comes to personal development. Great list, Jonathan!  As I wrote on his site, I particularly like his advice concerning:

Don’t…

2. Get caught up in competition. Strive for cooperation.
10. Forget to be grateful.
28. Make lame excuses, just take responsibility.
67. Try to convince yourself that the things on this list don’t matter.

What do you think Jonathan should add to his list? What’s missing?

What have you read this week that was particularly thought-provoking or insightful? Let us know by leaving a comment. Thanks!

As always, I hope you have a fantastic weekend. Spring is here so go out and enjoy the weather.

Related Posts:

1. Top 5 Reasons To Leave Your Job
2. My Top 5 Secret Success Factors
3. Invest In Your Most Important Asset – Yourself
4. 10 Things You Can Do Right Now To Improve Your Life
5. Are You Being Your True Authentic Self?

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to my feed to have all the future articles delivered to your feed reader. Thanks!

Are you stuck in a rut? Does every day seem the same ole, same ole?

When we’re busy doing the same thing every day without anything new happening in our lives it can seem like life is for other people.

Other people are enjoying themselves and having adventures and here we are doing the same thing that we did last week, last month and last year.

Can you say BORING?

It doesn’t have to be that way though.

We can take steps to get out of our comfort zone and shake up our lives. Being comfortable in our rut is nice, after all no one bothers us and we’re used to doing the same things over and over again.

That’s no way to have a meaningful life, so do something new so that your brain has to think and you’re not living on automatic pilot. There’s a whole world out there for you to explore and experience.

Here are 5 Tips To Get You Out Of Your Rut

1. Create a list of what you want to do accomplish in life.

Just the act of writing down your goals and things that you want to experience in life can help shake you up and motivate you to go after them. Knowing that  our time on the planet is short means that you don’t have time to waste.

Create your list of 101 Things To Do Before You Die and start making plans to cross items off. Figure out what you can accomplish this week, this month, and this year and then make it happen. 

Write down things that really excite you. Use that excitement to force yourself out of your rut. Get excited about your life again. 

2. Try a different food every day this week.

If it’s Monday, then it must be meatloaf night. Tuesday means that it’s chicken while Friday means that it’s fish. Are you having the same coffee and toast for breakfast every day? Stuck at your desk eating your brown bag lunch every day so that you can save money? Same ole, same ole.

Shaking things up with your food is one of the easiest things you can do to get out of your rut.

I know, we all like certain foods and dislike others, plus we’re tired when we come home from work to cook some gourmet meal. You don’t have to go crazy with this, but how about actually eating your lunch away from your desk? Can you and a few friends go down to the cafeteria and eat your lunch there? Or why not ask someone new to have lunch with you?

Get out of your routine and eat somewhere new. Why not shake things up? Who says that you have to have scrambled eggs for breakfast? We’re all adults, you can have chocolate cake for breakfast if you want. Check out a new ethnic grocery store and buy something different for dinner tonight.

Also, why not open a cookbook to a random page and try making that recipe, regardless of what it is. Most of us eat 3 meals a day. That’s 21 chances for you to shake up your life this week and eat something different. Expand your palate. You may surprise yourself by actually enjoying introducing some new foods in your life.

3. Take steps to increase your social network.

Make a point of meeting new people so that you are exposed to new ideas and have new experiences to get out of your rut. Do you hang around with the same people every day? Are they in the same social group as you? Look around at your peer group. If everyone is at the same level as you, how do you expect to grow? 

Do you even have a social network? It can get pretty lonely if you don’t have any friends with which to just hang out with or vent with. Being with people who have common interests is one way to increase your social network.

Why not try to see if there is a Meetup group in your area? There is a meetup group for practically anything that you can think of. Browse the groups in your area to see what’s interesting and then go to one.

You can also just try talking to new people every day. Be friendly to those you meet during your normal day. No one wants to be around a gloomy person. Put a smile on your face and talk to stranger. You might be pleasantly surprised at who you meet while waiting in line at the grocery store or the bus stop or who you you’re standing beside while admiring a picture at your local art gallery.

Go out to new places and meet some new people. Of course this will take time, but it will happen the more you try. Be open to meeting new people.

Another great way to meet like-minded people is to join a club or take a course. You don’t have to enroll in full-time study either. Why not take a weekend workshop in something you’ve always wanted to do?

4. Change your schedule and try something different.

When we’re stuck in a rut, we’re coasting along in life. It seems like we are just on automatic pilot.

In order to shake ourselves out of the rut, try changing your routine and try something different.

How about taking a different route home from work? Can you walk part of the way home, if you normally take the bus?

Instead of getting up at your normal time, get up an hour earlier and go for an early morning walk. Change the time you go to bed – if you’re a night-owl why not try going to be earlier and getting a full night’s sleep. If you go to bed at 9:00 PM, why not try staying up and doing something different during that hour.

Do something that breaks you out of your normal schedule and routine. Wear different clothes than you normally would. Get a haircut and change your appearance while you’re at it. Take more time during the morning and really make an impression today. Notice the difference that it makes in how people see you and how you see yourself.

5. Get out and volunteer your time.

When we’re stuck  in a rut there is the tendency to think that no matter what we do, it will always be the same. Instead of getting mired in the same negative thoughts about our lives, try getting out and volunteering your time with those who are less fortunate than yourself. Being around people who really appreciate you and your skills is a great way to shake up your life and not take things for granted.

There are so many worthwhile organizations that you can volunteer with. Why not check out your local soup kitchen to see if they can use your help. Just being around people who are in worse situations than yourself can result in you gaining appreciation for what you do have in life.

You can volunteer at great organizations like Habitat for Humanity, the United Way, the Salvation Army, or similar organizations. Check your local paper for volunteer opportunities.

You don’t have to join organized organizations either. Why not see if your local community center or library can use your skills? Maybe you can teach a skill to kids who can learn something from you. The idea is to get out and volunteer your time and skills. Help someone who needs it. You’ll be surprised at how much you get back from volunteering.  

Are you currently in a rut? It’s safe and comfortable being there, isn’t it? But, you know that you have to take action to get out of that rut. Warning, trying the above tips may actually get you out of your rut. You’re forewarned.

What did you do to get out of your last rut? Let us know by leaving a comment. Thanks for sharing with us what worked for you.

Related Posts:

1. Top 5 Reasons To Leave Your Job
2. Book Review: Crush It: Why Now Is The Time to Cash In On Your Passion
3. Book Review: 100 Ways To Improve Your Life
4. 10 Things You Can Do Right Now To Improve Your Life
5. Are You Being Your True Authentic Self?

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to my feed to have all the future articles delivered to your feed reader. Thanks!