Entries Tagged as 'General'

Reading List of 2009

I have been meaning to write this for nearly a month. I have been wanting to share a few of the books I read in 2009 that I have recommended to several different people. These are the ones I really enjoyed, help me think of things in a different light, educated me or some combination of those things. I could try to review each one but really I think Amazon, Good Reads and Shelfari have that sort of thing covered. If they made this list though, I would say you can’t go wrong picking any one to check out. That said, here is the line up:

The Game by Neil Strauss
How to Eat Move and Be Healthy! by Paul Chek
The Gabriel Method by Jon Gabriel
I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi
Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuk
Happy for No Reason by Marci Shimoff
The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
The UltraMind Solution by Mark Hyman

I tend to read a couple of different books at a time. I came up with this order by the time frame in which I read them. I read The Game in January of 2009 and finished the year out with The UltraMind Solution. Question for the day: What books would you recommend?

Chillaxin

I have a feeling today is going to be a chill Saturday. Even though it is just past noon, I have just started to get moving. I just finished my first cup of Sencha Fuka-midori from Den’s Tea. This was my first experience with Sencha and the tea had a surprising flavor to me. I think I need to go back downstairs and re-steep so I can enjoy it again. Den’s Tea has a great green tea sample pack for people who want to try their products. Three bucks, three loose leaf samples, two bagged tea samples and some great info about Japanese green tea. Best tea deal I have ever seen, well other than getting premium loose leaf teas for a gifts. Now I need to find a deal like this for Matcha so I can try it too. Alright, it is time for me to go to go back to listening to Ingrid Michaelson, Jason Mraz and other chill music on the You Tubes.

Prediction for the January 2010 Apple Event

I have been meaning to put this down for a few days. Amidst all of the Apple tablet talk, I haven’t heard many rumored iPhone changes besides an updated OS. My personal Apple prediction for the event scheduled on January 26, 2010 is that iPhone is going to be available to people unlocked and not tied to AT&T. The partnership Apple and AT&T have  will continue but iPhone will be no longer restricted soley to AT&T. Less than three weeks until we know what that One More Thing will be.

A few of my favorite things…

A few of the things I am feeling thankful for this morning:

Cast iron pans and glass canning jars
Hot tea and wonderfully roasted coffee
Old houses that make you feel warm and safe
Great friends and acquaintances from all parts and times of my life
Being fortunate enough to have Thanksgiving leftovers
candles and incense
music and books
hoodies and warm slippers
earthenware mugs and purified water
remembering to breathe

There are so many more things…

Effective Gratitude

I received this from Mike Reining of GratitudeLog.com and wanted to share it with a few people. The longer I thought about it, the more people I thought of that might appreciate it. So I figured the most effective way to share was to post it. Enough with my preamble already. Here is the email…

Did you know that there is an effective and an ineffective way to express gratitude?

Unfortunately, the ineffective way is far more common. It is sort of the default form of gratitude that most people fall into.  I was stuck here for a really long time until I found a far more powerful way to practice gratitude, one that moved me into perfect alignment with abundance and greatly accelerated the Law of Attraction.

First, let me talk about the ineffective way to express gratitude. This is gratitude that you express that is related to what is happening in your life right now.

It is closely related to the gratitude and appreciation we learn to express as children (i.e. to say thanks) and that is probably why it is often the default and why so many people get stuck here.

Ineffective gratitude includes things such as:
* your health
* your relationships
* your material posessions
* your friends and family
* a nice vacation

I am not saying that there is anything wrong with this form of gratitude.  All I am saying is that it is not nearly as powerful as what I am about to show you.

Often the problem with the above form of gratitude is that it comes from a place of lack.  If you have ever expressed gratitude while thinking “at least… I am healthy, or at least I have a great family” then you know what I mean.

This form of gratitude is extremely week because it is based on the present circumstances.  In other words, this form of gratitude is conditional.  It makes it sound that you are grateful “only if you have good health, a great relationship, etc.”

Unfortunately, conditional gratitude fails to activate the law of attraction. The universe does not respond to conditional requests.

The second form of gratitude is complete in that it is a celebration of life itself, for all the experiences you are having. One other key difference is this. Effective gratitude comes from an underlying attitude vs. a temporary focus on one item or thing to be grateful for.

With practice, this holistic form of gratitude can become second nature. When it does, the law of attraction will flow far more easily into your life.

The more powerful form of gratitude includes items such as:

* your life
* this awesome planet
* for being who you are
* for future events
* for problems, challenges, and hardships
* for your mistakes
* for your mind
* for your freedom

In other words, you become grateful for this amazing journey of your life regardless of what happens and where it takes you because you know that it is just right for you and that everything is happening for a reason.

When you are expressing effective gratitude, fear and loss disappear. There is no focus on any lack and when you reach this state, that is when abundance can truly start flowing into your life.

Being grateful for what you have in your life (your health, relationships, etc.) has its place.  But when you start feeling truly grateful for everything that is happening in your life and open your heart, you will be amazed at how quickly the universe will start to answer.

So, start creating these feelings now, even in the most unlikely or unpleasant circumstances and notice how you begin to attract whatever you focus on into your life.

With love and passion,

Mike

If you are interested in starting your own Log of Gratitude, check out GratitudeLog.com. I think I first learned about it from Brian Johnson founder of Zaadz and Philosopher’s Notes.

H1N1 virus a.k.a Swine Flu a.k.a. Mexican Flu

My friend Tonia from Absolute Om Massage Therapy pointed to a couple of interesting articles. Thought I would pass them along to you. If nothing else, it may get you to think before you take a jab.

Ten Things You’re Not Supposed to Know about the Swine Flu Vaccine

Scientist Issues Swine Flu Vaccine Warning

I wish I could find a site that breaks down the truth, the pros and cons, of the Swine Flu vaccine. Until then, I will continue to listen to podcasts and reading articles trying to unravel the truth for myself.

minutiae

Lots going on… little of it being blogged about… much of it being twittered.

I just received two books from Amazon yesterday. I got them from the library first, then I realized I wanted to spend more time with them. They are How to Eat, Move and Be Healthy! by Paul Chek and The Gabriel Method: The Revolutionary DIET-FREE Way to Totally Transform Your Body by Jon Gabriel. Both are extremely interesting. Can’t wait to start re-reading them this weekend.  Anyone interested in getting healthy stands to learn a lot from these two authors.

In other fun news, I received my affiliate code for US Wellness Meats who sells grassland meat products, aka animals that are fed grass instead of grain. Yes, most farm animals bodies weren’t designed to process grains or other animals. Grass is the natural way to go. So if you have a chance try it you might like it.

June

It’s June and I haven’t posted in how many months? Really? I should do something about that.

More fun Twitter folks

 When reading my tweets tonight, I noticed a few links to good articles about Twitter. Thought I would share in one post rather than twittering them out one at a time.

50 Twitter Users to Follow for Your Job Search
Exploring Social Media: LeVar Burton Passionate About Social Media
How to be a better Tweeter

Back in September I made a post about Twitter mentioning some people to follow. As more people I know are using it, I find myself recommending more and more interesting users. So here are a more few accounts you may enjoy if you are a fellow Twitterer… Tweeter… Twitteritte?

twitter.com/Foodimentary - Fun food facts
twitter.com/Equal_Exchange

twitter.com/THE_REAL_SHAQ - Shaquille O’Neal
twitter.com/MCHammer - Hammer
twitter.com/frandrescher - Fran Drescher
twitter.com/lessig - Larry Lessig
twitter.com/paulocoelho - Author Paulo Coelho
twitter.com/richardbranson - Sir Richard Branson

twitter.com/BreakingNewz
http://twitter.com/WSJ - The Wall Street Journal
http://twitter.com/dailyhistory - A history fun fact for the day
http://twitter.com/fwdfwdfwd - Great tech links

twitter.com/NTARC  - National Terror Alert Response Center
twitter.com/HouseFloor - U.S. House
twitter.com/SenateFloor  - U.S. Senate
twitter.com/nprnews - News from NPR

twitter.com/tinybuddha - fun posts that may make you think

Who does a union represent?

Last week I posed a question to both my union steward and the alternate steward. They  agreed that my perspective was correct but we should consult people further up in the union hierarchy to see what, if anything, I might be missing. Since I have not received a satisfactory answer after a week, yesterday I emailed the 9 members of my unionized office hoping to gain any perspective that I am missing.

Knowing that I have a much more diverse group of people who check this blog I have decided to post the email I sent to my fellow AFSCME union members as well. The letter follows…

Since our last union meeting, I have been trying to understand something in regards to the most senior qualified person for a job versus the most qualified person for a job. I am hoping someone can help me. I have discussed this with a couple of people but haven’t really gotten an answer that disagrees with me.

What is wrong with the most qualified person within the office being awarded a position that is up for bid? What incentives are there for anyone to do the best job they can? If the most qualified person is awarded the job, doesn’t that encourage all of us to try to do the best we can and learn as much as we can? It seems to me this would make this a better, more efficient place. The way it is right now, there isn’t much of a reason to do any more that the minimum required.

If I am missing something, please let me know. If you agree with me, we should probably let our union representatives know that too. Thank you for helping me better understand this.

- Adam

I would appreciate any and all perspectives on this situation. I am simply trying to understand why a policy is in place, that from my perspective, isn’t in the best interest of the office, the taxpaying public or even the best interest of the majority of the members of the union.

Leave a comment or feel free to email me. I would love to hear your thoughts.