Do you have a balanced diet?

Are you eating a balanced diet? Find out by taking the following 24-question nutrition test, devised by nutritionist, Angela Dowden, for msn.com: http://msntestyourself.netdoctor.co.uk/interactivetests/nutritionquiz.php.

What size is your carbon footprint?

Here in the UK, Prince Charles has recently announced his plans to cancel his annual skiing trip to Switzerland in order to reduce his carbon footprint.

So what is a carbon footprint and how can you reduce the size of yours? Well, carbon footprint is a measure of the impact human activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of green house gases produced, measured in units of carbon dioxide. You can start off by discovering the size of your own carbon footprint at http://www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.html.

Next, learn how to minimise your Carbon Footprint at http://www.carbonfootprint.com/Minimise_cfp.html and, finally, discover how to offset your Carbon Footprint at http://www.carbonfootprint.com/carbon_offset.html.

Top 10 diet myths by Ross Chainey

There is so much conflicting diet advice in circulation that often the truth gets lost or obscured, making it harder for you to lose weight. Ross Chainey for uk.msn.com sets the record straight on the most frequently reported dieting tips that are, in fact, untrue. See for yourself at http://www.msn.co.uk/health/dietmyths/default.asp?MSPSA=1. (Click on any one of the 10 images and you will be able to access all 10 of the diet myths.)

Google Alerts

Did you know that you can set up Google Alerts to keep you up-to-date on a subject close to your heart? For example, you can set up a Google Alert to monitor a developing news story, keep current on a competitor or industry, get the latest on a celebrity or event or keep tabs on your favorite sports teams. (I have alerts set up for 'retirement', 'aging', 'baby boomers', 'longevity' and 'older workers'.)

Google will send you an email when there are new Google results for your search terms. You can choose to receive these alerts either as they happen, once a day or once a week. Set up your own Google Alert at http://www.google.com/alerts.

How attractive are you?

I first heard about the Law of Attraction during my coach training with Coach University back in 2000 and deliberate attraction plays an enormous part in my life nowadays.

The Law of Attraction, like the Law of Gravity, is one of the laws of the Universe. It states that ‘like attracts like’ and that ‘what we think about is what we attract to us’.

You probably already know that everything in the Universe is made out of energy. Which means that we, ourselves, are made out of energy too. Energy vibrates. Which means that we, too, vibrate. When we are ‘down’ and miserable and thinking negative thoughts, we vibrate at low frequencies and when we are happy, ‘up’ and thinking positive thoughts, we vibrate at high frequencies. Since like attracts like, when we are exuding low frequency, negative energy, we attract more low frequency, negative energy to us. When we are exuding high frequency, positive energy, we attract more high frequency, positive energy to us. It’s as simple as that – we are all just big walking magnets.

The implications for us are that, when we are exuding negative energy, i.e., thinking about everything that is wrong with our lives or focusing on something that we don’t want, this is exactly what we are attracting to us. So, when we are worrying that we won’t have enough money to get through to the end of the month, that our car will break down in a high-crime area or that we won’t get that dream job that we have applied for – this is exactly what we will attract to us.

On the contrary, when we concentrate our time, energy and attention on what we DO want to happen – the good things in life, the prosperity and the abundance – this, too, is what we will attract to us. This implies that we must constantly focus our time, energy and attention on the things that we want to have in our lives, rather than concentrating those resources on what we don’t want in our lives.

This stuff works. Whether you are aware of it or not. You owe it to yourself to find out more about it. You can make a start by checking out the following websites:

http://www.attractionville.com/ for free resources and articles
http://www.lawofattractionbook.com/ for articles and teleclasses on Attraction

If you want to find out more about becoming deliberately attractive, I can recommend the following books:

The Attractor Factor by Joe Vitale

Excuse Me, Your Life Is Waiting by Lynn Grabhorn

Ask and It Is Given by Esther and Jerry Hicks

Remember, the Law of Attraction is at work all the time, whether you are aware of it or not. Better to be aware and using it to your advantage to attract the things you want in life, rather than a whole load of the things you don't want.

Happy New Year! - Part 3

When you have your written-down goals for the year, you need to chunk them down into monthly targets. For example, if you have written down that you (intend to) weigh 140 lbs on 31.12.07 and you currently weigh 164 lbs, then, if you divide the weight you need to lose (24 lbs) by 12 months, you can see that you need to lose 2lbs per month in order to make that desire a reality. That's not so difficult is it?

If you are starting with no savings and you want to have £5,000 in your bank account by 31.12.07, then you need to save £416.66 per month in order to make your goal a reality.

You can then go on to chunk this down even further into weekly and even daily targets - this makes your £5000 savings goal just £104.16 per week or £13.69 per day! What could you do to save or earn an extra £13.69 per day? And doesn't that sound much more manageable than £416.66 per month?

Put your daily, weekly, monthly and yearly goals or targets somewhere you can see them regularly - how about the wall above your desk or your kitchen noticeboard? If you want your goals to remain private, get some postcard-sized cards, write your targets on them and carry them around with you. Read them often. Write about them in a daily journal. Make up a treasure map - get yourself a pile of magazines, find pictures, headlines and other illustrations that relate to the things you want and stick them to a large sheet of paper or card. They could be pictures of places you want to visit or that car you want to own. You could have a picture of your dream house up there. Group them in a way that's meaningful to you. Then, put the treasure map where you will see it often - it helps imprint your goals into your subconscious.

Find ways to rehearse and emotionally enjoy the experience of achieving your goals before you actually achieve them. Do you want a new car? Something really special that feels to be out of your reach at the moment? Get yourself down to the car dealership and take a test drive of your dream car. Smell that new car smell. Get the feel of the steering wheel under your hands and the feel of the seat under your bottom. Hear the clunk of the door as you close it.

Then think of all the reasons why you should achieve this particular goal. Think how you will feel when you have achieved it. Think what a difference it will make to your life. Keep your focus and attention on what you want - not what you don't want. Be aware of The Law of Attraction - it's at work whether you are aware of it or not. Better to be aware and using it to your advantage.

Come back tomorrow if you don't know about The Law of Attraction and want to find out more...

Happy New Year! - Part 2

Setting goals in the way I described in Part 1 enables you to:

1. Gain clarity about what it is that you want
2. Begin to focus your attention and energy in that direction
3. Set yourself a big vision for the year - one that will pull you forward and motivate you.

During the act of writing down your goals, a part of your brain called the Reticular Activating System (RAS) is triggered which determines what you will notice and what you will pay attention to.

Think for a minute about all the stimuli that are constantly bombarding your brain via your senses. How does your brain know what it needs to pay attention to and what it can ignore? This is where the RAS comes into play - it gives you a 'heads-up' and tells you to pay attention to something that could be important for you. You know how, when you make a decision to buy a specific make and model of car, all of a sudden, the roads seem full of that particular make and model? They are everywhere you look? Of course, these cars haven't just appeared on the road - they were always there, but because, previously, they held no particular interest for you, your brain just screened them out. Now that you have a particular interest in this type of vehicle, your RAS has been activated and your awareness of them is heightened.

Another example of the RAS in action is when you are at a noisy, busy party with lots of people chattering all around you and music playing on the stereo, and then someone, across the other side of the room says your name and you hear them, despite and through all the other background noise that is going on.

The RAS works as a filter for your conscious and unconscious mind, sorting and evaluating incoming data and filtering out the urgent and important stuff from that which is unimportant.

By writing down your goals, the RAS is triggered - it receives the message: 'Wake up. This is important stuff. Pay attention and don't miss it'. Your brain can then go to work on your goal, alerting you to the appropriate signs, signals and opportunities and helping you get what you want. As Henriette Anne Klauser, author of 'Write it down, Make it happen' says: 'Writing down your dreams and aspirations is like hanging up a sign that says 'Open for Business'.

More tomorrow...

Happy New Year!

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year and are looking forward to everything that 2007 brings. How are you doing with the New Year's resolutions? Wavering a bit? How successful have you been, traditionally, with keeping the resolutions you've made? Most people fail with theirs before January is out...

Are you willing to try something different this year? Can you spare an hour or so to sit down with a pen and pad? It's quite simple, really. All I want you to do is imagine that it's 31 December 2007 and you are looking back over the year and everything that you have achieved during 2007. Then I want you to make a list of all your achievements during the course of the year.

What would you like to be writing on your pad? How would you like to have spent your year? What would you like to have learned? How fit would you like to be? Where would you like to have been? How successful would you like your new retirement business to have been?

Use the following categories to help you:

Health
Money/finance
Retirement career/work
Relationships/family/friends
Personal Development
Fun/recreation/spare time/hobbies
Environment (home/garden/car/office)
Spirituality

Decide what you want to achieve this year in each category and then write it as if you have already achieved it, for example:

I had a brilliant time in Florida in March, in Ireland in August and ski-ing in Les-Deux-Alpes last week. I continue to exercise for an hour, 4 times a week and I have achieved my ideal weight of (you insert the figures) through a combination of exercising, healthy eating and portion control. My social life goes from strength to strength - I enjoy the cinema, theatre or meals out with friends at least twice a week and I am never short of invitations. My belly-dancing course has done wonders for my flexibility and my new internet-based business is starting to show a profit of (you insert the amount) each month.

Have fun with your list. What do you really, really want to be, do and have this year? Be as specific as you can. Then, come back tomorrow and I'll tell you more...

With this bone I thee wed...

It's not my idea of a romantic gift, but couples are now being given the opportunity to exchange rings made from their own bones. It's not quite as gruesome as it sounds - you don't actually have to remove any of your bones to make the ring. Bone cells are extracted from wisdom teeth and samples of bone are then grown in a laboratory. One lucky recipient of such a ring described it as being 'like ivory but more ethical'. If you're reading this and considering buying me jewellery, I think I'd prefer to stick to the more traditional gold and silver if you don't mind...

Read the full story here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6215702.stm.

Christmas - the season to be jolly? by Margaret Collins

Here's a timely article by Margaret Collins, one of the wealth coaches at The Money Gym. Their blog, http://www.wealthcoach.typepad.com/ is one of my favourites and always worth checking out.

Christmas can be many things - a great family occasion, a time to celebrate or something to endure. For many it is an opportunity - or an excuse to escape to sun or to snow.

With each Brit spending an astonishing £2,200.48 - that's the average spend over the festive season last year, it can also be a financial nightmare.

Cornhill Direct's survey of 4,000 people revealed that £693.05 a year is spent on presents for loved ones, £337.27 on presents for friends, whilst £45.45 on people such as neighbours, tradesman and the postman.

Now while it's great to be generous, a third of people go into debt for Christmas in a bid to make it the best year ever. Personally I have different definitions and aspirations for my best year yet!

Twenty per cent of people are still trying to clear the debt by March and 10% are still in debt by the next Christmas. Does this sound familiar???

We're also pretty good, on average, of eating and drinking our way into debt spending £269.48 on food and £180.24 on alcohol - that's a collective total of £449.72 a year but all within a couple of weeks! (Thank goodness nobody has yet calculated the calorific content of our consumption or I'd be really scared.)

I've no intention of "doing a Scrooge" here. In the middle of winter there are pretty good reasons for wanting to celebrate something and have a good time - just try to make sure you don't have to live with unpleasant consequences for months afterwards. Whether it's debt on the credit card or inches on your hips - it can be so easy to put on and so difficult to lose!

As sure as the sun rises at dawn, the sales will be upon us as retailers try desperately to part us from our money. By now you've missed the boat so far as shopping early goes so wait until you get the bargain. Shop online so as to get the best price - and be tempted less by the impulse buy. I can't imagine a friend worth having who would wish you going into debt to fund their flashy Christmas present.

If you're looking for something different why not try that ethical Christmas gift - a dozen ducks or two small goats can make a world of difference to a family in the developing world - really the difference between life and death - and you still get a really great card to give to your friend. (Apparently someone has used my Christmas gift to feed 30 schoolchildren???!!!)

Remember enlightened millionaires live in integrity - and still have fun.

Here's hoping you attract all you need and most of what you want!

Learn how to levitate for the holidays!

Keep everyone spellbound during those family get-togethers. Levitate your nieces and nephews, push a cigarette or rolled-up bank note through a coin or cough up a playing card. Learn to do all this and more at http://www.squidoo.com/beginningmagic/. (And just think how useful the ability to levitate would be if you ran out of seats around the dinner table...)

Free hugs...

If you're feeling a little bit down or grumpy this Monday morning, have a look at the following film and I defy you not to smile:

Impress your kids...

Steve Watson at The Money Gym has blogged about this really clever site that lets you send e-cards like the one on the right. I bet your kids would love to receive one - and just think how cool you'd look in their eyes...

The only problem is that the site is German - which means that it's written in German, so, if like me, you don't speak a word of the language, you'll have to fiddle around with it for a while until you get the hang of it.

You can find the site at www.letterjames.de. Have fun!

How roughage 'keeps you regular' - BBC News article

I'm a great believer in eating fibre-rich foods and I wouldn't dream of starting the day without my bowl of branflakes with fruit and skimmed milk.

The benefits of a high-fibre diet are well known - but now US researchers have found out just how roughage keeps people 'regular'. Read all about it here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/5274420.stm.

How to get published

The Squidoo 'Lens of the Day' for today is The Perfect Pen: How to Get Published by best-selling author, Connie Briscoe. Connie's lens has information about getting your first novel published, advice about whether to submit your novel to a literary agent or direct to a publisher, and even resources to help you find that agent or publisher. Visit http://www.squidoo.com/howtowrite/ if the urge to write that book is still burning away inside you... (And you will send me a first edition copy won't you? :-))

Good quotes

Life is like a box of chocolates. Sometimes you take a big bite out of something that you just have to spit out.

Author Unknown

Does what you want to do with your life seem too silly and irresponsible?

Regular readers will know that I often recommend coach Michael Neill's radio show, 'You Can Have What You Want', on Hay House Radio. This week's programme looks interesting. Here are the details:

This week on 'You Can Have What You Want'!

Thursday, August 24 at Noon pacific/3pm eastern/8pm UK:
(Internet radio at (http://www.hayhouseradio.com)

*****FEAR MASQUERADING AS GOOD TASTE*****

Does what you want to do with your life seem too "silly" or
"irresponsible?"

If so, you may be suffering from a condition Michael calls "fear
masquerading as good taste." Tune in as Michael helps you
uncover your hidden fears and step boldly into the life of your
dreams!

To get coaching live on air, use these numbers:

Inside the US (Toll free)
1-866-254-1579

From the UK/Outside the US
001-760-918-4300

You can also e-mail your questions for me to
questions@geniuscatalyst.com.

To listen to the show each and every Thursday, go to
at Noon pacific/8pm UK and click on
the button marked 'Listen Now'.

Coming Next:

August 31 - Thriving on Change

If you missed last week's show on finding ways to feel better in
the midst of whatever is going on in your life, please visit
http://www.hayhouseradio.com/ and click the button for the
'Listen Again' archives!

Wise words

"Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling five balls in the air. You name them - work, family, health, friends, and spirit - and you're keeping all of these in the air. You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls - family, health, friends, and spirit - are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged, or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for balance in your life."

Brian Dyson, CEO of Coca Cola Enterprises from 1959-1994

Mid-life crisis? Check out LifeTwo.com

Wearing my other, retirement coach's hat, I put out a request for guinea pigs to test my new eCourse - the Retirement Detox Programme which was picked up by Wesley Hein of LifeTwo.com. LifeTwo is a fantastic resource, packed full of articles relevant to baby boomers, middle-agers and retirees. Here's what Wesley has to say about the site:

'Life Two is many things and will certainly create a different experience for different people. In short Greg and I want to create a place that helps people make better decisions with their lives. Of course the scope of this task is ridiculous, how can we even propose to do such a thing. Well, a couple of ways.

First, there is an old saying that goes something like "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time." We aren't going to solve everyone's problems in one day. But we hope that this site is a catalyst for people improving their lives one bite at a time.

Second and more importantly, we will likely have very little to do with whatever benefits people will get form the site. Our part is to put up the plumbing and do what we can to attract the early visitors, but after that it is going to be community members helping community members. This is not a novel concept and recently a number of web companies have launched to help new parents (Minti) or to help people make travel decisions (RealTravel). We applaud these efforts and hope that they succeed. But if one wants parenting help or travel suggestions there is no shortage of good online/offline sources for this information. But for the more complex life decisions (such as "what do I want to do with my life") there are places to turn. Furthermore, these are sometimes the types of topics that people have trouble having with people they are close--making the anonymity of the Internet a plus.

Life Two is a long-term project and you will see us add new features and functions over-time based on reactions that we get from other community members.'

Definitely well worth a look!

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...

I hope that you're enjoying the Summer and that the global heatwave isn't causing you too many problems. I'm not really a Summer person myself - I find that the heat saps my energy and make me cranky, and, personally, I much prefer Spring, Autumn and Winter. I take a perverse comfort in the fact that the Harrods store in London has already opened its Christmas department.

Only 139 shopping days left to Christmas... :-)