Autobiography in Five Short Chapters by Portia Nelson

I

I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk
I fall in.
I am lost ... I am helpless.
It isn't my fault.
It takes me forever to find a way out.

II

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don't see it.
I fall in again.
I can't believe I am in the same place
but, it isn't my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.


III

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in ... it's a habit.
my eyes are open
I know where I am.
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.


IV

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.


V

I walk down another street.

101 painless ways to detoxify your mind, body and home

If you're looking for ways to feel good this summer, have a look at '101 Painless Ways to Detoxify Your Mind, Body, and Home' by Laura Milligan. (It'll take you all summer to check out all the useful resource links that the article contains.)

Act to Create It by Jack Canfield

If you want to live a dream life, not only must you decide what you want, turn your dream into measurable goals, break those goals down into specific action steps, and visualize and affirm your desired outcomes -- you must start taking action!

I recommend making the commitment to do something every day in at least three different areas of your life that moves you in the direction of your goal.

If one of your goals is physical fitness, make a commitment to do some sort of exercise -- aerobics, weight training, stretching -- four to five times a week for a minimum of twenty minutes.

I read recently that if you simply go for a 30 minute walk four times a week, that would put you in the top 1% of those people getting physical exercise!

If your goal is financial independence, start saving and investing a portion of your income every month with no exceptions.

If your goal is to write a book, write for a minimum of one hour every day.

DON'T LET FEAR STOP YOU

Most people never get what they want because they let their fears stop them. They are afraid of making a mistake, looking foolish, getting ripped off, being rejected, being hurt, wasting their time, and feeling uncomfortable.

Fear is self-created by imagining catastrophic consequences that have yet to happen. It is all in your mind. In fact, you can actually scare yourself by imagining negative and harmful images. But simply stop the catastrophic thoughts and images, and the fear goes away.

REJECTION IS A MYTH

One of the biggest fears that stops people from asking for support, guidance, advice, money, a date, a job, the sale, or anything else is the fear of rejection.

In fact, it's been known to literally paralyze people. They become tongue-tied and refuse to reach for the phone or get up and walk across the room. They break out in a sweat at the mere thought of asking for what they want.

I have come to realize that the whole concept of rejection is false -- that rejection doesn't really exist. Think about it for a moment. If you asked someone to join you for dinner, and they said no, you could tell yourself that you had been rejected. But think about it. Did you have anyone to eat dinner with before you asked them? No! Did you have anyone to eat dinner with after you asked them? No! Did your life really get worse? No. It stayed the same!

ACT AS IF

One of the secrets of success is to start acting like a success before you are one. Act as if.

If you had already achieved your dream, what kinds of clothes would you be wearing? How would you act? How would you treat others? Would you tithe a portion of your income to your church or favorite charities? Would you have more self-confidence? Would you take more time to spend with your loved ones?

I suggest that you begin to do those things now.

When I decided that I wanted to be an "international" consultant, I immediately went and applied for a passport, bought an international clock that told me what time it was anywhere in the world, printed business cards with the words "International Self-Esteem and Peak Performance Consultant," and decided I would like to first go to Australia. I bought a poster of the Sydney Opera House and placed it on my refrigerator.

Within one month, I received an invitation to speak in Sydney and Brisbane. Since then, I have spoken and conducted trainings in over 30 countries and continue to expand my business around the globe.

Start acting as if you already have everything you want.

Most people think that if they have a lot of money, they could do the things they want to do, and they would be much happier. In fact, the reverse is true.

If you start by creating a state of happiness and abundance, then do the things you are inspired to do from that state of being, you will end up having all the things you ultimately desire.

You may not be able to fill your closets with expensive Italian suits and designer clothing, but why not invest in one or two really great outfits, so that when you do need them, they are there. When you dress like you have already made it, you will look the part, and successful people will naturally be attracted to you and invite you to participate with them.

The Law of Attraction states that you will attract to you those things that match your state of being. If you focus on having gratitude for what you do have, you will feel rich, and you will attract more abundance into your life. If you focus on what you don't have, you will send out a message of lack and you will attract more lack into your life.

BE, DO AND HAVE EVERYTHING YOU WANT... STARTING NOW!

Remember, the proper order of this is to start now and be who you want to be, then do the actions that go along with being that person, and soon you will find that you can easily have everything you want in life--health, wealth and fulfilling relationships.

© 2008 Jack Canfield

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Jack Canfield, America's #1 Success Coach, is the founder and co-creator of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul and a leading authority on Peak Performance. If you're ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: http://www.jackcanfield.com/

What's on your bucket list?

Did you see the recent film, 'The Bucket List', starring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson? It's about two men who meet in a hospital cancer ward after each has been given only six months to live. The "bucket list" of the title refers to a list that one of the men has been advised to compile of the things he wants to accomplish before he 'kicks the bucket'. Which leads me to a question...

What do you still want to be, do and have in life?

Could you come up with a list of 100 things that you still want to be, do and have before you get too old to be, do and have them? Try it. (You may need to leave your notebook and pen somewhere handy so that you can jot down ideas as they occur to you over the course of the next week or so.)

Once you have compiled your list, it can then be helpful to categorise the items on it. So, for example, you might have a category of things that need to be done fairly soon, whilst you're at your youngest and fittest.

Then you could have another category for things that can wait until you get older because they won't take as much energy. Another category would be things that are so important to you that you would really regret it if you didn't do them. You could have further categories such as 'things than can be done in a spare day' and 'things that can be done in a spare week' and 'longer projects' which need considerably more time and attention.

Have a go at categorising your own list and then decide how many items you want to tackle each year. It's not meant to be a stick to beat yourself with, though - even if the list only helps you to identify the things you'd regret not doing and the things that need to be done whilst you're still young and healthy, that's valuable enough in itself.

Then, the next time you have a spare 5 or 10 minutes, do some research that will help put you on the road towards achieving some of the items on your list. For example, if you've always wanted to take a trip in a helicopter, do an Internet search to find out where you can take a local flight, or, if you're about to head off on holiday, see if you can arrange to take a trip once you arrive at your destination. If you've always wanted to compile a record of your family history for your grandchildren, buy a suitable notebook or open a Word file on your computer and make a start.

Don't give yourself any excuses for procrastinating - you'll never be this young and fit again and none of us know what's waiting around the corner.

Buy The Bucket List from Amazon.com

Buy The Bucket List from Amazon.co.uk

What's your relationship recovery rate?

The Dating Goddess who writes for the LifeTwo website poses an interesting question: What's your relationship recovery time?' and offers a rule of thumb that states that it takes 25% of the length of your previous serious relationship to recover and be ready for the next one. Check out what she has to say here.

Living in the raw

I love the idea of incorporating more raw food into my diet - no, I'm not talking about raw meat or anything like that - I'm talking about more fruit, salads, smoothies, nuts and seeds, etc. Would you believe that you can even get raw chocolate cake and apple crumble? Or flapjacks, cookies and ice-cream?

Karen Knowler is The Raw Food Coach. She is also an author, presenter, former MD of The Fresh Network (The UK's raw and living foods organisation), founder of The Fresh Festival and creator of Get Fresh! magazine. Karen has appeared on LK Today (GMTV), Channel Health, The Wellbeing Channel, Rude Health, LBC radio and Radio 4, as well as appearing regularly in the press in her capacity as raw food expert and food/life coach. She really knows her stuff and she makes the idea of raw food seem an absolute 'no-brainer' (without appearing to be the slightest bit 'crusty' or 'cranky').

This week Karen posted four different YouTube videos on her blog which, together, answer the following questions:

Q1: So what is raw food?

Q2: Why do people choose to eat more raw food or begin a raw food diet?

Q3: What does a typical raw food diet or menu plan look like?

Q4: How much of a difference would it make eating half your diet raw and going all raw?

Q5: What about eating out?

Q6: What are the biggest potential pitfalls of following a raw diet?

Q7: How do you get started?

Q8: How long does it take to start feeling and seeing a difference?

Q9: What do you consider "must know" information that anyone new to raw foods should have?

Q10: Where do you see the concept of raw foods going in the future?

To view the clips with the answers to all these questions click here.

How to beat the fraudsters

At least once a week I receive an email purporting to be from a bank or credit card company, claiming that they are updating their records and requesting that I click through to their website and provide them with items of personal information such as a PIN number, password or account number. And, of course, I immediately press the 'delete' key because, as we all know, the email is likely to be a con. It will send us to a clone of a genuine website where, if we provided the information they are asking for, we would be providing criminals with all the information they need to commit some form of identity fraud.

If you're worried about identity fraud (and you probably should be...), check out How to beat the fraudsters by MSN money (and click on the links at the bottom of the page for even more information, including an article about celebrity victims of identity fraud - Steven Spielberg, financial guru George Soros, Oprah Winfrey, Oracle computer boss Larry Ellison, Robert de Niro, Tiger Woods, Will Smith and Jennifer Lopez have, apparently, all been victims of identity crimes costing tens of millions of pounds.)