Rising from a cosy bed piled high with wool blankets, a thick quilt and flannelette sheets, I notice the light in the room is different.
As I peek through the slatted blind covering the window nearest the bed, my heart softens to see a white and beautiful world where everything has a muffled tone and peace abounds.
Slowly, slowly a feeling starts to envelop me once more.




It's a familiar feeling and a very welcome, comforting one. The Christmas spirit has found me once more.

I suppose it began the day before when, bundled up in a furry hood and cashmere scarf, I walked to the end of my street to watch the annual Burlington Santa Clause Parade go by.
It had been an unusually cold and brisk day and my fingers had froze in my leather gloves each time I took them out of my pocket to take another picture of a passing float.

Children sat bundled in small chairs with barely a small red nose visible beneath the scratchy scarves that were wrapped around their chubby faces. Parents waved from the sidelines at all the parade participants as they found themselves unable to resist the convivial spirit of the parade and the welcoming in of the Christmas season once more.

Thinking of the blog I wanted to write for my Active Rain real estate website, my attendance at the parade was more utilitarian than something I had really looked forward to doing; however standing near those people who were already well imbibed with Christmas spirit, I found my homesick heart lifting and the odd time I noticed my own arm raising as it waved at the happy souls who manned the floats.

Feeling my heart beginning to swell, I found myself reciting, in my mind, the old familiar Grinch Who Stole Christmas' thoughts about how, perhaps, Christmas does indeed mean more than all the glitter and materialism that bombards us this time of the year.
I imagined he must have felt the same feeling overcome himself that I was now beginning to feel.
It probed at my soft inner core for points of entry, points that hadn't been bolted and locked to keep the outside world safely out.

The parade had ended with Santa himself waving his usual jolly, red-sleeved wave at one and all, and I found myself softly smile in the realization that Christmas goes on, no matter what.

As I walked swiftly home in the stark winter air, I found myself humming the song the Whos had sung on that Christmas morning in Whoville when they had awoken to nothing after having had all of their Christmas preparations taken away by a grizzled old Grinch.

The song was an uplifting one declaring to all that Christmas Day will always go on, just as long as we all have one another.  Yes, I quietly thought to myself, it's true.

The Christmas spirit will descend and Christmas will come, just as it has always done, no matter what our life circumstances or the difficult times we are going through.
All we have to do is acknowledge and accept.

Acknowledge and accept that no matter how bad life may appear, or how much stress we are undergoing, things will always turn around and a brighter day will find itself in our midst, gently surrounding us in light and warmth.
Just as long as we have 'we', things will be fine.

We have friends, family and even strangers who seek to know us better. Underneath all of the faces that we find ourselves coming across during this peaceful season, we are all the same.

We each seek love, acceptance and gentleness.
We seek it for ourselves and we long to give it to others, if they will only open up and accept it from us.

This is what the Christmas spirit is all about, it's what it has always been about, and, as long as we have 'we', will always be about.

Wishing you and your loved ones and those who surround you a peaceful holiday season filled with genuine smiles, warm hugs, open hearts and acceptance for one and all.

~Jo

I awoke to a beautiful, winter wonderland and a soft blue sky where cottony, white clouds drifted serenely across.
Winter doesn't bother me the way it used to...in fact, I love the contrasts of the seasons more with each passing year of my life on this breathtaking planet we call home.

My to-do list for today is comprised of a lot of errands here and there....taking 43 wine bottles to the Beer Store for recycling (no, I'm not a wino, I just had this very good intention once upon a time on a long ago Frosty Friday, of making a few batches of wine and just never got around to it), visiting my Mother to return her carpet steamer and hook up her bedroom television (since she is now home from the lake for the winter months).

Then it's to the office to pick up a waiver and fax an offer to a lawyer. Then it's off to the library to return the most amazing collection of books that I've taken out in a very long time!

If you're looking for some magnificent books that will help you in life and business, here they are:

Life's Missing Instruction Manual~The Guidebook You Should Have Been Given at Birth by Joe Vitale.
You MUST read this book! I can't emphasize enough how amazing and satisfying this book is. I've devoured it at least three times now over the past 3 years and I now realize I need to buy it. It deserves a permanent place on already overstacked bookshelves.

The 8 Best Practices of High-Performing Salespeople by Norm Trainor.
Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to completely finish this book as I've been so busy with my move, however what I have read is right on and I know I'll be taking this book out again, this time from the Burlington Library once I move. So much to digest and implement here.

Ziglar on Selling by Zig Ziglar.
Well, what can say? It's Zig, the name says it all.

Entanglement~The Greatest Mystery in Physics by Amir D. Aczel.
My inner scientist will just not let me STOP reading these books on quantum physics and the state of the universe. I'm fascinated with this stuff and can't get enough of it.
If you wonder how we're able to communicate long distances with those people we're bonded with (without even picking up the phone or sending an email), then I recommend you read this book.
It's highly scientific, so unless you have the brain of a physicist or at least the interest in many things 'physics', you might find it a tad overwhelming, however, I guarantee that once you read even a fraction of this book, you'll never look at our lives here or the physical world around us the same again.
This is another book I HAVE to buy and add to my physics books collection. Gasp, life here is so incredibly interesting and never ceases to amaze me. The Genius of it all!!

Ok, for a quintessential marketing book, you have to pick up Marketing Your Services For People Who Hate to Sell by Rick Crandall, Ph.D.  I'm ordering this book from Chapters this afternoon so that I'll always have my own copy to refer to. It's so crammed with useful info for anyone running their own business, that you'll never lack for fresh ideas and things that will make your business take off like a prize race horse straight out of the starting gate.

Last, but by no means least, since it is written by none other than the two greats themselves, Jay Levinson and Seth Godin, is The Guerilla Marketing Handbook.
Doesn't the title just say it all? And since you all know Seth, you know this book is light years ahead of it's time.

Guess I better get a move on here....so many places to go, people to see and things that cry out to be done. Just wanted to leave you with this quote which struck me so strongly this morning that I know it will be one of those ones that I'll be quoting now and then out loud, most likely mid-conversation with someone:

"The meaning of things lies not in the things themselves, but in our attitude toward them."~Antoine de Saint Exupery

~Jo  (written early this morning, however my cable has had a widespread outage most of the day and I could only post now!)

©2008JoSmith

'Time outs' for me these days involve  sitting amongst packed boxes and piles of 'giveaways', 'for sales', 'recyclables', 'for the shredder' and 'for the curb' items.

I never realized that preparation for moving can be so emotionally taxing.
I'll now have much greater empathy for my clients as they prepare for their moves and sort through the years of their lives deciding what to keep and what should be let go of.

Our lives are like shooting stars. They go by so fast.
It's strange how the static objects in our lives, those things that don't change, serve as guideposts to where we've been and what's been lost along the way.

They say you can never go back and I'm beginning to understand that more and more as I prepare to leave the life I have here behind and begin anew elsewhere.

Daily I am approached by people who come up to me with sorrowful faces who say things like:

"I hear you're leaving us."

"Yes, at the end of the month."

"Well that's great for you but not so great for us. We're going to miss you."

and

"So you're moving away! I'm devastated to hear this. I've had my two hour cry and consulted my therapist over the fact that you're moving."

"I'm really feeling sad over the fact that you're moving away. In fact, I'm feeling sadder every day about this."

"You're what!?! You're moving away? WoW! I'm going to miss you terribly."

"I'm very disappointed to hear that you're moving. We're going to miss you."

and so on.

At these times, I begin to realize that the old 'cup in a bucket of water analogy' is really false afterall.
We all DO matter and we all do make a difference in the lives of others. And no, we are not replaceable.

We are each unique and fill a place in the lives of others that only we can fill.
Once the cup of our lives is taken out of their bucket, that bucket will never be the same again.

There's one problem though.
It slowly becomes very apparent to me that the bucket of my life is being severely depleted as I am losing the cups that represent so many people all at once, and this can become very overwhelming as it rips an ever deepening tear in the very heart of my being.

If you're not careful to say goodbye slowly and adjust to the loss of each person from your life, all of these goodbyes can become immobilizing.
Sure, you'll stay in touch. You'll visit, you'll email and you'll sometimes call; however no matter what, you know in your heart that things will never be the same.

Somewhere, in and around the Burlington, Ontario area, there are many people who will soon be adding a unique and beautiful cup 'of their life' to the new bucket of my life that I'll soon be filling.
Even this knowledge though, does not compensate for those I'm leaving behind.

As I experience this slow disentangling from my life here, an old post I wrote comes to mind and these words I wrote ring loud and clear deep within the raw and saddened places of my being:

"Your soul is a child. It is the first to wander off and trust. The first to fall in love with an idea, a view or a person. The last to forget. It is the part of you that tags behind and pulls with a steadiness as it cries to you ‘no, wait, wait, I am not ready to say goodbye . Can’t we just stay a bit longer?’

Your soul is innocent. It lives in a different world than you. A different dimension. It will never understand the harsh events of your life nor the negative character traits of the people you come across. This is not a part of your soul’s vocabulary.

Your soul is blind. Your soul is only love. It is the dancing child within you. The one who calls to you to look up and see that last mauve cloud move briskly across the clearing sky after a downpour.

It is the one who understands what an old dog is saying as his eyes gently and humbly meet yours and something within you softly moves.

Your soul will feed itself. It only asks that you prepare a small corner table in a quiet courtyard where flower petals fall softly to the stones below and your face can be caressed by the shifting whimsy of a gentle breeze.

Then it asks that you take a seat in the remaining old wrought iron chair and listen to what it has to say."

Lately I've been drinking a lot of that old, mellowed brew that my soul serves up each time I sit down to lend an ear to what it wants to tell me.

The stories it tells me these days are often sad ones for you see, it longs to linger behind with those people and days it's grown attached to, while the rest of me moves on.

Well, I guess I better finish this last drop of tea my soul served up this morning and get back to sorting through those tangible pieces of my life.
The intangibles my soul yearns to deal with will have to wait for another day.

Perhaps tomorrow.

©2008JoSmith

As I gazed out on the burnished orange and soggy maple leaves that still clung to the sugar maple outside my window, I began to reflect on the concept of blogging, not pseudo-blogging, as in ghost written blogs, but real, live, written by the blog-owner, blogging.
Peeling back the layers of who we are, we bare our souls to all those who care to cast a glance our way.

Sometimes things happen in conjunction and it's at these times you just know that the universe is trying to tell you something.....usually it's a big something, or the conjunction wouldn't have happened.
Of course, there are those who believe in coincidences, however just like my friend Carole Provenzale, the master of Feng Shui on Long Island, I'm not one of them.

So  here I find myself, on a rainy, grey, late October day in southern Ontario, in deep contemplation over blogs and how real blogs are an extension of ourselves, like our right arm or a bony knee.
They reach out and touch people, brushing them lightly or sometimes jabbing them sharply and striking a chord or a feeling that's hard to shake.

Sometimes we leave a blog feeling bruised, although there are those writers who leave us feeling as though we've just been gently caressed or sat down to tea in a small, friendly cafe.

How do we explain the feeling that some bloggers just naturally leave us with whenever we visit their blogs?

Are they expert writers or imparters of information?

Or is it something more?

I have a strong suspicion it's something much, much more.

The blogs that touch me the deepest and leave me wanting more, are those that are written from deep within the blogger, from the heart, and the very best are written from the soul itself.

The words come from a far-off place that we all know of and, in our hearts, remember.

As they bridge the gap between the writer and the reader, they leave us feeling warm and cuddled and like life is really a wonderful place to be, afterall.

Why does one blogger have the ability to reach deep down within themselves into that magical place where time and space do not exist, and therein find just the right words that have the ability to touch those places within each of us and another can't seem to get there?

Is it a commitment to being real and honest and open or is it something else?

My friend Kathy Clulow, an amazingly warm and caring REALTOR from Uxbridge, Ontario is partly responsible for my thoughts being in this place today.

A few minutes ago I was reading a post of hers to do with this subject and it was at that moment that I had also begun to leaf through one of the library books I had just taken out this morning called Naked Conversations, by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel.

Naked Conversations is an excellent book that expounds on the importance of blogging in today's business world and how blogs are changing the entire landscape of marketing.

Naked Conversations, the maple leaves clinging to the wet, lead-coloured branches and Kathy's post  worked together in some strange, synaptic junction of my brain to bring me to the realization of just how important blogging really is in today's business world.

In a world that is moving faster all the time, and where information overload assaults all of the senses at every turn, people have a deep empty chasm where things 'of the soul' should be and yet, few of these things can ever be found.

Those bloggers who blog from the soul have the ability to reach out and fill a tiny part of this empty chasm.

They write with passion and transparency and like the entanglement of tiny photons, they are connected with you in mystical, invisible ways.

These connections tickle your cells as you read and leave you with a feeling that has you saying 'ahhhhh' or brings a soft smile to your face.

We are reminded that we are all human and as humans we have a desire and need for warmth, connection, genuineness, honesty, empathy and familiarity.

When writing from the soul, keep the following tips in mind:

• Highlight the positive aspects of whatever your subject matter is.
  Readers become regular visitors to a certain writer due to the feeling that the writer left them with.
  

• Always put yourself in your target audience's shoes when you are writing in order to inspire a feeling of trust and further interest.
  
  
• Don't use lingo or trade-talk  when writing your articles if you are writing for a general readership. Using trade-talk will put up an emotional barrier between you and your reader and create discomfort.
  
  
• Offer to give further resources on the subject if the reader would like to contact you.  Indicate that if they would like brochures, packages, personalized service, etc, to feel free to contact you and you will provide the service/information for them.
  
  
• If you find your brain is on overload with a million thoughts and you are unable to relax into writing mode, try gazing out the window at the clouds or take short walk in a natural environment.
  I find playing classical music also motivates and opens up my writing channels.
  Sometimes there are so many things going on in our lives that we become bogged down and can barely think clearly enough to write.
  Taking a break from it all not only refreshes your creative spirit, it will open up the channels and give you fresh ideas.
  

• Keep a thesaurus handy or use the online thesaurus and insert less commonly heard words into your articles to spice them up and add interest.
  
  
• Practice discipline.
  Writing is something you are doing for your business and if you decide that it must be a regular part of your business activity, you will make the time to do it.
  
  
• Summed up in a quote from Charles "Tremendous" Jones, "There are essentially two things that will make you wiser-the books you read and the people you meet.".  In short, if you are planning an article on a particular subject, read anything you can find on that subject and talk to people who are in the know.
  
  
• Ask questions.
  People love to be helpful when it is something that they are knowledgeable about and if they give you the ok to quote them in your article, it lends your post greater credibility and interest.
  
  
• Add pictures to your article to make it more visually appealing and to break up the words. Photos add warmth and depth to an article and help the reader to visualize what you are saying.
  
  
• When choosing something to write about, choose something you are passionate about  or find something about that subject that you are passionate about and go from there.
  
  
• Try not to be too structured  as you write. Just write what you feel and when you are finished your 'rough draft', you can go back and make revisions or corrections.
  
  
• Avoid having paragraphs that are too long. Break your thoughts up by making your paragraphs short and adding appropriate images or links.
  Vary the kind of text you're using by bolding some lines, italicizing others and perhaps underlining the more pertinent points in your post.
  Using the bullet or number feature to help outline a series of pertinent points.
  
  
• Plan your article and what you would like to say in it by making a point form 'skeleton'  and build  from there. As Napoleon Hill once said "Every well-built house started with a definite plan in the form of blueprints.".
  
  
• Use plenty of adjectives  in your sentences. This allows the reader to more fully experience what you are telling them. Try to use adjectives that cover more than just the 'sight' sense. For instance, if you are describing a park, you could use adjectives like 'fresh', 'serene', etc.
  
  
• If you have writer's block, try picking a specific subject to write about and focus on it. This will get your brain working and your writer's block will dissipate as you begin to tell about the subject you're writing about.
  
  
• Don't start with a headline/title.   Instead, write about your subject and while you're writing, you may notice a certain string of words jump out at you as being ideal for the title of your article.
  
  
• If you're having a problem writing about a certain subject, pretend you are telling your best friend or a family member about the subject  or answering a question they've asked you about it.
  
  
• Try to write in the morning when your mind is fresh and uncluttered  from the day's activities/events. Put a do not disturb sign on your door, and work away.
  If someone is upset that you're spending this time writing and need privacy in order to do it properly, explain to them that it is part of your business activity and is a necessary part of your marketing and prospecting for business success.
  Alternatively, sometimes writing at night when the world is at peace will enable you to focus more and reach that place deep down inside where thoughts and words come more easily.
  
  
• Project 'feeling' into your descriptions. For instance, rather than saying a meeting is held on the second floor of a certain building every second tuesday, say something like 'as you ride the elevator up to the second floor meeting hall, you might be fortunate enough to meet the guest speaker!'
  
  
• Interview someone who is directly involved with what you are writing about  and ask their permission to quote them directly and/or to include their picture. Readers love this personal approach and who knows, you just might meet some new potential clients while doing your interviews!
  
  
• If you're stuck somewhere in the middle of your article,  put it in draft mode and leave it for later  in the day or some other time during the week.
  You'll find a fresh approach will remove the writer's block and you'll likely have mulled some bright new ideas to include that you hadn't thought of before. The subconscious mind loves to be given a task to work on and you'll often find that when you come back to your article, much of it has been written for you.
  
  
• Allow yourself to relax and don't be afraid to reveal who you are through your writing.
  Napoleon Hill, one of the wisest men I've ever come across, has this to say about 'fear', "The absence of fear, and not formal education or brilliance of mind, is the major cause of individual success."

Readers want to feel that you understand them, that you care and that you are just like them in more ways than not.
Only then will they reach out and bare their own soul to you,  entrusting you with their hopes and dreams.

©2008JoSmith

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation has requested that I let you know about their upcoming Housing Outlook Conferences to be held soon in various locations across the country.

This year's agenda looks very exciting and this is an excellent opportunity to stay abreast of new trends, markets, investment opportunities, and consumer preferences.
The insights provided will assist you in making sound business decisions for both you and your clients.

Each conference will apply specifically to the local market it is being held in and you may also be eligible to earn an education credit.
The conference is an excellent opportunity to network with your peers in the housing and investment industry.


The conferences will be held in the following locations:

Montréal, November 14

Québec City, November 18

Hamilton, November 13

Kitchener, November 4

London, November 18

Ottawa, November 20

Toronto, November 6

Edmonton, November 5

Calgary, November 18

Vancouver, October 30

This year's agenda looks particularly exciting and will provide much needed information in light of the current economic situation.

For more information, please visit Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation's website.

Mark your calendars and submit your registration today!

The high pitched squeals of children playing outside at recess echo across the green expanse of field strewn with the richness of copper-coloured maple leaves.
As I ponder on the richness of nature, a part of me harbours a tiny shard of shame that I am human; part of that race which has the ability to bring poverty to anything it touches, even to the natural world that supports it.

Where ever mankind has settled, nature has suffered and become less diverse, less beautiful, less harmonious and less able to follow it's own intrinsic cycles of birth, renewal and natural death.

We are a species of destruction, even unto ourselves.
In exploiting all that surrounds ourselves, we inevitably destroy the only thing that can possibly bring us a richness, both to our body and our souls.

At no time more than today, as we survey the vast reaches of this fragile planet we call 'home', has poverty of our own kind been more evident.
We only see this if we truly look beyond our own doorsteps, beyond our own towns and cities, beyond our own countries and, sometimes, we do not even have to look beyond our own communities before we are struck with evidence of suffering due to the poverty of both bodies and souls.

When we think of poverty, we envision starving children in third world countries and vast dust bowls where the erosion of soil and the loss of natural water bodies have wreaked their devastation upon the land and it's sentient creatures.

We envision 'lack' in all it's forms. We find no evidence of beauty left, no interaction of life forms and no respite from the discomforts of our everyday lives. These places of 'lack' are places we would rather avoid; places we don't want to think about, places we would rather forget even exist.

Insulated by our warm and spacious homes, we stare mindlessly at television commercials where celebrities hold tiny, large-eyed children on the brink of starvation. We are urged to donate through organizational bodies in order to send a child to school, provide a vaccine or enable a village to drill a new well.
We can barely even imagine the life they must be leading and before changing the channel, we tell ourselves that any money we donate would likely never reach those impoverished places.
Instead, we believe, that our meagre contributions would be filtred out by overhead and red tape and in the end, nothing we do would ever change anything.

In this way, we assuage our discomfort and guilt that we have so much, more than we need, and they have so little. And so, the imbalance grows.

We live in a society that consumes beyond reason, not because we are cruel or insensitive, but more because we are insulated from the true cost our consumption is placing upon the earth and our fellow beings, including those of our own species.

We have the ability, just by changing some of our own habits, to feed the entire globe and then some.

Meat production in North America alone, requires over 540 million tons of food every single year and yet, just 40 million tons of food would put an end to a large majority of world hunger.
The animals we raise for consumption require MORE THAN 80 percent of the plant products we grow.

At no time more than the present, with the world food stores being dangerouusly low, are the ramifications of this more evident.

Jacques Diouf, head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, has stated that the agency's food costs have risen by more than 40% in 2007. He cites the following reasons for this frightening trend:

• the early effects of global warming which have caused a decrease in crop yields in some areas
  
  
• increasing demand of plant products for biofuels and livestock feed
  
  
• increasing numbers of humans who consume meat and animal products placing a larger demand on the very grains that the world's hungry require. These grains are now being diverted to furnish the production of meat to meet these demands.

Those societies who are consumers of large quantities of meat are the same ones who are able to afford their lifestyle and, with little consideration for those who their lifestyle is affecting, continue to do so at an unprecedented rate.
We live on a planet which, by our own doing, has become entirely monetarily based. Those with the money control the earth and the flow of her resources to the detriment of the poor and the struggling.

The decrease in world food stores is but one small aspect of animal product consumption and how it is affecting the poverty stricken of the world.

We are all aware that fresh, clean water is at a crucial shortage world-wide at this point in time, and once again, animal production is a major cause.
In developing countries, one of the most crucial needs is fresh water; water which has been there for as old as mankind himself, is no longer there.
Rivers and lakes have disappeared, leaving the inhabitants of the lands destitute and without the most basic needs of life itself, water.

In razing forests for meat and dairy production throughout both developed and undeveloped countries, soils have been eroded and vast deserts have resulted. These lands are no longer able to produce food and the cycles of nature have been totally obliterated.

We have none other than our own heavily laden tables to thank for this. Every pound of animal flesh requires 16 pounds of grain to be produced.
How many people could be fed with the 4 pounds of grain it takes to produce a single quarter-pound beef burger?

We have choices.
Refusing to change our lifestyles is nothing short of living without conscience and maintaining a false belief that we have more right to the earth's resources than our neighbours in the 34 countries of our globe who are currently facing critical food shortages.

The next time you visit the supermarket, or go out to your favourite restaurant, stop and consider the impact of your choices.
Putting an end to the impoverishment of the earth and it's people starts no further than what you are putting into yours and your family's mouths.

Our daily choices bring upon each one of us a share in the suffering of the hundreds of thousands of people who die yearly of hunger and hunger related diseases.

Only you, the individual, can begin to bring about the changes that are necessary to bring our planet to one of peace, sustainability and 'enough' for all.

~Jo

"88 Ways To Do Something About Poverty Right Now"

Sometimes we come across a way to make a difference in the world just by sharing
knowledge. It doesn't happen that often, and rarely does it happen twice in just as
many days.

Seth Godin and Megan Casey, founding members of Squidoo, have announced

The $80,000 Squidoo Charity Giveaway !

Hoping to give away $80,000 to charity by October 15th, Squidoo has chosen a
wide list of charities that you may vote on and each vote will give that particular
charity $2.00.
It only takes a few minutes of your time and one little click to help make a difference so please visit the link above today and cast your vote.




  How much have books influenced your life? Do you remember one particular book that you read as a teenager that somehow helped to illuminate the path for you?

The Success Foundation is giving away 5 million copies of it's book, Success for Teens,
to organizations and individuals for distribution to teenagers and you can help facilitate this.



Visit The Success Foundation to learn more about this widereaching initiative that has the potential to help millions of young people on their road to a successful and happy life and  could benefit the entire globe in years to come.

We as REALTOR®s have a temendous opportunity via our sphere of influence to distribute this book to the families we know who have children and teenagers, as well as getting the word out to youth organizations in our areas.

   On a last note, please don't forget about this years Blog Action Day which falls on October 15th.
This year's subject is POVERTY and with our widespread voices and blogs, we have the ability to make a great difference the world over.


Here at Active Rain we have a group for Blog Action Day 2008, where all posts relating to Blog Action Day 2008 are welcome and encouraged to be posted. Register your blog and your voice today!

~Jo

'When you're in a hole, don't dig it deeper.' 
How many of us are well aware of that saying and yet, when the universe is screaming at us in every way it can to notify us we're on the wrong path, we continue down it anyways?

I know I've been guilty of doing this exact thing many times in my life and it's usually been because I didn't want to face realty.
The image that I had painted of the situation in my mind's eye or that someone else had painted for me, was far more appealing than the cold hard facts that were staring me in the face, and so I chose to continue to dig the hole deeper all the time convincing myself that the hole was only a figment of my imagination.

I've gone down many wrong roads because of this way of thinking, and when I reflect back, it usually came down to a failure to acknowledge the warnings the universe was setting out in front of me.

In the end, I not only ended up hurting myself, I ended up indirectly hurting others as well.
All of this could have been avoided had I been willing to not only listen to the various warning messages, but also been willing to heed them.

I read an interesting quote today, and as I reflected on it first thing this morning, it struck me as how true this really is.

"We are given the gift of sight to test us as to whether or not we have the wisdom to rise above that which we observe."~James Arthur Ray

Think about that. Really think about it.
I interpret this 'gift of sight' to be not only our physical eyes, but also our intuition, gut instinct and reasoning powers.

How often do we receive a loud message via one of those 'gifts of sight' and yet choose to ignore it or pretend we didn't see it?  This can apply to anything in life that affects us or those around us in any way.

We see or sense or reason something wrong is happening, and yet we choose to turn the other way rather than doing something about it. In the end, more people or we ourselves, are further damaged or affected negatively by the thing that is wrong.

What if the universe has put the true sight of a particular situation in our path for a reason? What if we're the only one to have been shown the 'truth' and yet we've chosen to ignore it or disregard it as something that we're not willing to get involved with?

What are the repercussions down the road for ourselves and others? Are we then just as guilty for allowing this thing to go on without taking a stand against it or without altering the course of our own actions even though we've been given a warning?

©2008JoSmith

Remember the AIDA principle?
AIDA is an acronym which stands for 'attention, interest, desire, action'.

It was coined by  E.K. Strong  in an article he wrote in 1925 called "Theories of Selling"~ Journal of Applied Psychology.  

Although AIDA was defined in 1925, it's premises hold as true today as they did back then.

We have but split seconds to capture someone's attention and establish a further connnection to them. This is what we should be aiming for in all of our marketing and in the way we carry ourselves in our day to day interactions with those around us.

Oftentimes that tiny different thing about us that stands out above the rest, is enough to set the ball in motion and can be the difference between success and failure.

We read and hear so much about branding these days, and yet, how many of us really even know what it is about us that is unique and different?

Have we asked our peers, our family and our friends?
Have we done a self-assessment to see just what it is about us that others notice and remember? We just may end up very surprised.

The past few years, numerous people, without my asking, have mentioned my gentle and unassuming ways as being something they most notice about me.

Pondering on this, I realized that a person does not have to be loud or extraverted or pushy to leave a lasting impression. Sometimes being gentle and softspoken or caring leaves just as strong of an impression on people.

Those qualities or attributes that we find others often mentioning about us, are the ones we need to capitalize on and market.

They point the way to our brand and our uniqueness. That which is noticed by others is our trademark and should be honed to a fine degree and capitalized on through our marketing.

When you are comfortable in your own skin, you carry yourself with a greater degree of confidence and inner strength which those around you will be drawn to.

Just like in the old story, don't strive to be a duck, if you've been born a swan, even if you are in the midst of thousands of ducks and no other swan in sight.

You will never be a duck, and once you accept that and focus on who you are and the benefits of being you, the way will be revealed to you and you will travel down the path with greater ease and success.

In  'The Little Prince' by Antoine de Saint Exupery, the little prince meets up with a fox who teaches him how 'establishing ties' with someone or something, can make that someone or something special so that it will stand out amongst thousands of others just like it, because of the special connection between the two of you.
The fox calls this 'taming' someone or something.

For instance, I have a beautiful sugar maple tree outside my window that to the casual observer looks just like hundreds of other sugar maples in my city, however to me it is special.

I would recognize this maple tree anywhere because I have observed the many changes it has gone through as it has grown and with the changing seasons.

I've taken note of the special place on it's trunk where it bears a small scar on it's bark from a vehicle that once hit it and I've observed it's rustling branches a thousand times or more.

To me, this maple tree is very special and I often call it 'my' maple tree, since it shades my west facing windows from the hot afternoon sun.

So it is with the people around us who we have special relationships or ties with.
We see their unique beauty and specialness, because they are 'tame' to us and we have established special ties to them.

If you wish to be remembered by people who meet you or come across your website or blog, you must stand out in some special way to get them to pause. Once you've captured their attention, hold onto it.

The tiniest fractions of what sets us apart from others are often the determiners of how well we will be remembered by those who come across us personally, or through a marketing venue.
Never doubt for a moment that you are unique in very special ways that no one else is and this tiny bit of uniqueness, will help you succeed in all you undertake.

This principle is beautifully illustrated, using water, in Sam Parker's highly inspirational film 212 The Extra Degree Movie.
For an uplifting start (or finish) to your day, be sure to watch this short film.

(Update: Sam emailed me today~Sept 22/08~ and in his email he mentioned that he now has a newer version of the video available.
It's faster moving and I really enjoyed watching it, even moreso than the first!! Sam also mentioned that this newer version is 212 seconds long, completely by accident!
I think the universe is trying to tell us something here.

BTW, Sam Parker is a very commendable guy and all business owners, leaders of any organizations and heads of households should be sure to check out his 212° The Extra Degree  program and book. Magnificent and amazing...with great results when applied to all things in life.
Thanks Sam!)

I think about a lot of things and this thinking goes on constantly, even when I'm sleeping.
Many people have told me that I think 'too much'.
Possibly, however the way my brain works, I really don't have a concept of 'thinking too much', because it is who I am.

One of the things I think about, quite a bit actually, is cormorants. This may be because I'm a zoologist, or it may be because I believe the greatest lessons in life are to be found by observing the natural world that surrounds us.

Cormorants, for those who aren't familiar with them, are a fairly large dark bird found in many areas of the world near water bodies. They are divers who live on fish.

In the Quinte region, cormorants are very common.
In fact, they are so common, that a few years ago at Presqui'le, there was a controlled kill (an oxymoron, if I've ever heard one) of cormorants as the commercial fishermen were complaining that the cormorants were too numerous and were taking too many of 'their' fish.
I still haven't quite figured out why it is that humans figure everything put here on earth has been put here exclusively for their use, but that's a post for another day.

Getting back to cormorants, they are odd looking birds. Their dark and craggy appearance gives them an ominous look and they certainly aren't one of the prettiest birds out there.

They are usually found in groups sitting on breakwalls and rocks surrounded by water.
One cormorant looks pretty much like the next; at least that's what I've always observed until I came across this guy a few weeks ago.

He stood out from all of the other birds who were lounging on the rocks that day and because of this, I snapped his picture.

He is now one of the better known cormorants in the entire Quinte region, perhaps in the entire world.

Were this cormorant to have a name and a business card, just imagine how successful he would be by recognition alone!

I watched him for a long time, and noticed he didn't bother to fold his wings back in like the others during the time period I was there.
For whatever reason he was holding his wings out this way, he managed to create a lasting impression on me and using the fox's analogy in The Little Prince, this cormorant is now 'tame' to me.

His 'extra degree' of uniqueness caused him to stand out amongst scores of other cormorants that day, and his image to be burned in the mind's eye of the hundreds of humans who read this blog.

Being noticed and remembered is the goal of all marketing, no matter the venue.

The basic principles of marketing and branding are older than mankind himself and those who pause to observe the elements of nature will find a rich source of ideas that, when applied to their own business branding and marketing, will help them to achieve their goals to a remarkable degree.

©2008JoSmith

Photos in this article are the Copyright of JoSmith and may be used with her permission.

A better life begins with one step; letting go of negative thinking patterns and stepping into a zone of abundance where everything you wish to be or have comes effortlessly to you.
This is how the universe wants you to live.

Life was never meant to be difficult or lacking joy. Life, your life, and the lives of those around you, is meant to be a thing of joy, beauty and abundance.
You are here to be happy.

Daily, there are things which weigh us down and bring us into an energy field where abundance fails to flow, if we let it.
Do you ever wonder why some days things seem to go wrong right from the moment you get out of bed?

Other days you feel great and wonderful things seem to happen to you all day long. Is this just co-incidence, or is something else happening here?

What do you believe about yourself as a 'being'?
Do you believe you're a physical being in a physical world, or do you believe that you're a metaphysical being in a metaphysical world?
Have you noticed that when you're feeling great and of a happy state of mind, great things seem to follow you around? Have you thought about how this works?

We live in a world that is projected from within our own selves. What you see on the outside, is how you feel on the inside.
You have the ability to place yourself, daily, in the field of energy of your choice.
Think of it as layers, only these layers are all similar at first glance. The people and places are the same in each field, however once you enter a specific field and begin to interact in it, you realize there are intrinsic differences within each field that you choose on a daily basis.

Choosing the positive field, which you choose by utilizing your emotional state for the day, you find people smile at you and things seem to flow effortlessly along.
Wonderful things happen to you and you feel as though you are floating on air.

Choosing the negative field has the opposite effect and you notice people are critical or grumpy. Things seem to go wrong all over the place in the negative field, and they drag you further down.

Did you realize you have the ability to paint the day or life you will have by choosing the emotions and thoughts you hold within your being? Are we living in parallel worlds that all appear the same on the surface? Or do we create our conscious world every morning when we wake up?

Learning to live a life of abundance is not an easy thing and I won't begin to pretend that it is.
It entails a lot of commitment and work on a daily basis with respect to our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual bodies.

Just this morning I was talking to two of my peers at our office meeting and in reply to one of my friends talking about the housework he had done over the weekend and how much he really dislikes doing it, I responded,
'Yep. It's a lot of work being a human. Not only do we have to take care of our own beings, we also have to take care of the environments that our beings spend regular time in.'

When we think about this, we begin to realize that we are not just creatures that exist within ourselves.
We are dependent on immediate and extended environments for our well-being to a very high degree.
In knowing this, there are a number of things we can do to ensure that we live the most abundant and happiest life possible.

• Limit our time around negative or critical people.
  If someone we love is often critical or negative, perhaps we could point this out to them and let them know the effect their negativity or critical behaviour has on us and others around them, as well as within their own bodies.
  
  
• Enjoy the natural world as much as possible.
  Get out in the sunshine (use at least a bit of sunscreen, but not too much. Sun is actually good for you.) around trees, water and wildlife.
  
  
• Spend part of every day moving your body on an extended basis.
  This could be walking, bicycling, swimming, dancing, housecleaning, gardening, shopping, or any number of other activities that require you to move more body parts than just your fingers and eyes.
  
  
• Limit the amount of animal products that you intake and increase the amount of fruits, vegetables, nuts and grains that you eat.
  Meat takes a total of three days to work itself through your system and in the process slows down all bodily functions. Plant products are more easily digested and less of their byproducts remain in your arteries and veins. In fact, plants can help with the daily housekeeping of your body and subsequently your mind.
  
  
• Take time each day for silence.
  A few moments every day spent in prayer or talking with the universe goes a long way towards keeping your spirit, soul and mind relaxed and at ease with the life you are living. It also brings you guidance and reduces your stress level.
  
  
• Make sure you're getting an adequate amount of water daily.
  A lack of sufficient clean, fresh water not only stops your body from performing it's functions properly, it can also cause depression.
  
  
• Have your blood checked regularly to make sure you are not deficient in any of the major vitamins and minerals that your body needs to function at it's optimum.
  In particular, make sure you have sufficient B12 and Iron, both of which a lack of can bring about depression, poor memory and a poor ability to deal with the daily stresses that life brings.
  
  
• Get adequate sleep in a dark and peaceful place.
  Sleep is extremely important for the rejuvenation of our bodies and brains. Without adequate deep sleep, our memory and problem solving skills are reduced drastically and small things will irritate us bringing about stress hormones that tax our system.
  
  
• Socialize with and love the people around you.
  We are social beings and even if we are introverts, we still require to have daily healthy exchanges with people around us. Similarly, love is very important. If you find you are alone most of the time, learn how to make changes in your life so that you may once again have a life filled with friends and perhaps a close partner. Human beings thrive on physical touch and having close physical and emotional relationships with people we love and trust, increases our longevity, health and happiness greatly.
  
  
• Each day remember the things you have in your life to be thankful for.
  Having a gratefulness list is an excellent way to remind yourself of just how good things really are, particularly during times when something has gone wrong or you're feeling down.
  
  
• Make an effort to forgive those from your past who have wronged you.
  Forgiveness frees you and allows you to move forward in a positive way.
  
  
• Surround yourself with people and things that make you feel comfortable and happy.
  These may be children, family, friends, pets, gardens, soft clothes, nice scents, beautiful views or music that touches our souls.
  
  
• Spend a part of each day doing that thing that the universe has called you to do.
  You will know what that thing is, for it is the thing that makes you feel the most right, the most balanced and where time seems to flow effortlessly along and the world feels totally right. For some it may be painting beautiful pictures, for others it may be singing or writing and for others it may be helping those less fortunate.
  
  The universe has given each of us a special song that our soul is here to sing, and bringing our part to the world, benefits the entire symphony.
  Once we find our song,it is important, not only for ourselves, but for all of those around us and the earth itself, that we do what we have been called here to do.
  
  
• Smile as often and at as many people as possible.
  A simple smile will bring a feeling of wellness and joy to those who you give it to and at the same time boost the good chemicals within your body and brain.

Living a life of abundance is possible for all of us; it's just a matter of remembering why we are here.
We are here to enjoy life and to help as many people around us enjoy life also.

As my Grandmother always said 'Give to the world the best you have, and the world, in turn, will give it's best back to you.'

©2008JoSmith

Photos in this article are the Copyright of JoSmith and may be used with her permission.