Smart Business & Career Tips

You, the Movie

"Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world today."

Robert McAfee Brown

By John Carlton

Have you ever wondered where the knack for finding stories and hooks — the main ingredients of any great copywriter’s bag of tricks — comes from?

Here is my insight (after a couple of decades on the advertising front lines): It comes from observing life as an ongoing movie. With characters, story angles, plot twists, and endings that arrive like punch lines.

This is how the legendary copywriters I’ve known go through their day… seeing nearly everything in terms of a movie script. It’s an unconscious habit, and wickedly effective at keeping your writing chops chugging on all cylinders.

Even the most mundane errand can be retold as a raucous tale full of shocking revelation when you put this talent to work. Nothing interesting or weird or funny gets by a top scribe.

So, when faced with clients needing killer ads… it’s easy to find, and flesh out, the stories hidden in products, campaigns, and markets. Because it’s all a movie.

Think about your own life.

No, seriously. Think about it.

Most people have trouble "seeing" themselves in the world at all. Without a mirror, they’re not even sure they exist. Their daily experiences are like watching a "monkey cam" - the filmed result of attaching a camera to the back of a chimp and letting him wander off.

It’s not a smooth, thought-out, coherent narrative. Instead, it’s jerky, chaotic, and (unless there are "happy accidents") mostly boring.

There. I’ve said it.

Most people lead boring lives.

For any savvy copywriter, that’s a tremendous advantage. All you have to do… is be the one thing your bored-to-death prospect reads today that gets his blood moving. And you’re well on your way to closing the sale.

Again, think about your life.

Consider how it has progressed in actual chapters, or acts… just like a long-running serial flick.

Maybe your story is as straightforward as childhood, adulthood, starting a biz, getting married.

Or maybe it’s more nuanced, in peculiar ways that make sense to you… but may sound exotic to outsiders. I know one guy, for example, who catalogs his past using whichever car was in his life at the time: The ancient ‘55 Buick Special (junior year in high school), the only slightly abused ‘67 Mustang (freshman year of college), the brand-spanking-new Toyota (first full-time job), the Pontiac mini-van (first kid), etc.

This guy will fry your ear with great stories, too. All starring him and his wheels.

The more precise and anchored you can be, the better your stories will become.

And the better your OWN parcel of stories is, the easier you can spot - and use - stories from the world around you when you’re writing to influence and persuade.

I was lucky to grow up in a family of storytellers. And since I was the youngest by eight years, I learned quickly to be pithy and interesting… or risk losing the attention of my audience. (Few adults have much patience for meandering stories with no point, even from their own kids.)

The trick is to focus on short, crisp, rollicking tales that get to the payoff quickly. With a beginning, a middle, and an end. Or, like a good joke, with a premise, a set-up, and a punch line.

In fact, I suggest you start crafting your tales - both the personal and professional - in three brisk sentences.

They can be serious or funny or rueful or just hmmm -inducing snippets of action.

But they must be complete stories.

So start editing, with an audience in mind. For example: "Suzy and I, at 17, started out convinced no one had ever felt a love so wild and crazy before. However, that dizzy high of shared hormonal bliss… was cruelly followed by heartache and misery when her attention shifted away from me. And I ended up as a sad, sad boy, convinced no one had ever felt such pain before."

Set-up, plot synopsis, and tidy ending with a hook (the "completed circle" of the phrase convinced no one had ever felt...). You can go into more specifics (should your audience crave it), but you’ve laid out the story very efficiently here.

If the point you were trying to make… say, in a sales piece… was that you’ve been around the block emotionally, you scored. Any further detail would muddy up the yarn.

Here’s another one: "I interviewed for my first real job right out of college. Cinched up my tie, answered every jackass question seriously, shook hands like a candidate. Got the gig, hated every second of my life for six months, never quite caught my breath, got fired, and happily collected unemployment checks for the next three months."

Or, here’s a tidbit from my own biography: "We were vandals as kids, mostly ineffective and innocent, but occasionally stunning models of anarchy. Asked an engineer, once, how many railroad ties his cow-catcher could handle… and the next day, put all those plus one on the tracks. Derailed the train… and our genuine horror of success was deepened by the realization we’d better watch our butts if we were gonna engage with the adult world like that."

Three sentences. Yeah, long ones. But three coherent, grammatically correct sentences. A complete story, with entry point, action, and a quasi-moral ending.

Consider how looooooooooooong I could have dragged out that tale, and been absolutely justified in doing so. Because, hey, events took place over a couple of days, and there are details of our gang and the neighborhood and the derailment that are fascinating.

Just freaking fascinating.

But longer stories should be told only if you’re invited to tell them. As in, writing your thousand-page biography and selling it. Anyone buys, it’s a tacit agreement to put up with every long-winded saga you’ve got up your sleeve.

Okay… now it’s your turn.

Leave a three-sentence story from your life in the new "comments" section on ETR’s website here.

Don’t be shy. We’re all trying new stuff this year. (Or should be, because the business landscape is changing so dramatically and rapidly. The best marketers I know are trashing old limitations, stretching new boundaries, waking up and engaging the world on fresh terms.)

I promise to read every submission. I’ll even toss a few comments into the pile myself, when warranted.

And I can guarantee you this innocent little exercise will sharpen your chops as a storyteller. Some of you are already damn good, I’m sure… while others can use a lot of work. But we ALL need to remember how critical stories are for communication. (As in, communicating your sales message in a way that grabs attention, persuades, and closes.)

C’mon. Three lines. That forces you to be concise, to consider every single word carefully, and to crunch often-rambling experiences into tidy little narratives with a point.

Just like a top writer does it.

I’m not looking for funny. Not looking for tears. Not looking for anything profound.

Just a story.

For some writers, this will be a true test, because you aren’t used to pushing yourself. However, the best already do.

Good luck.

[Ed. Note: John Carlton is an expert copywriter, a pioneer in online marketing, and a teacher of killer sales copy. Get the details here on how to get your hands on the kick-ass secrets of the world’s smartest, happiest, and wealthiest marketers. And be sure to read his insights, tactics, and advice on copywriting and marketing at his blog.

]This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, the Internet’s most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.

Bring Your Story Home to Your Reader

By John Carlton

Let's go deeper into storytelling, what d'ya say? My last article in ETR ("You, The Movie") seems to have hit a nerve.

In that article, I discussed the importance of storytelling as a skill, especially for copywriters attempting to persuade prospects to become customers. The brief exercise I suggested was aimed at sharpening your ability to weave a pithy tale... and the response was overwhelming. At last count, more than 160 folks posted their efforts in the new "comments" section on ETR's website. (And I read every single one. Thanks, again, to everyone who participated. It was fun, wasn't it?)

Today, if you're up for it, I have another exercise that will help hone your writing chops to dangerous "street-wise salesmanship" levels.

But first... let's do some triage.

In case you missed it, I reviewed specific submissions in the comments section. But, in general, if there was one glaring fault in the three-sentence stories that were posted, it was the lack of a clear punch line. This is the most common error rookies make (and it's an easy fix, once you get hip to advanced storytelling tactics). Many of the narratives sort of "floated," without moorings. And while meaningful to the writer, the tales remained mysteries to the reader.

Great storytelling sucks people into your world. This is especially important when one of your ultimate goals is to use your writing to sell stuff. (Most legendary ads involve some type of storytelling.)

Even the most rollicking yarn can put people to sleep if it's too complex, goes off on too many tangents, or doesn't tickle the reader's short attention span.

And most people are not natural storytellers... so they sometimes ramble off on quirky paths, repeating themselves, unable to clearly explain plot points, and bombarding the listener with irrelevant details. "Did I tell you about the UFO that attacked us? No? It was Tuesday last week. No, wait, it was Wednesday. Yeah. It must have been Wednesday, because I was headed to IHOP to meet Suzy for waffles. You know they have specials every Wednesday, don't you?"

This is how people get strangled.

In my long experience trying to force folks to tell better stories, the first task is nearly always to trim the excess verbiage and fluff.

The outline to follow is: the set-up (the tease of the payoff to come)... plot elements (relevant details)... action (the fulfillment of the tease)... and punch line.

Focus on your reason for telling your story... which could vary from pure entertainment to providing insight to persuading someone to buy. When you're done, you want your listener or reader to FEEL something. Happiness ("Aww, the puppy got rescued")... alarm ("My God, I'm gonna keep a loaded gun by my bedside from here on out")... astonishment ("My neighbors are doing what at night?")... or, yes, even greed ("Hey! I want that kind of deal too!").

The process can also be described biologically. Like this: foreplay... climax... resolution.

Stories, like sex, benefit from a focus on the goal. The less extraneous interruption, the better.

In other words: It's not about you at all, even if you're the star of the story.

It's about your reader.

Ideally, he will "see" himself in your story. Or feel like he's temporarily privy to the world you create with your words - a world he would not otherwise have access to.

Have you ever read a story to a child? Once they get a taste for it, just saying, "Once upon a time..." will glaze their eyes over, as they eagerly prepare themselves to be transported to a world far different than their own.

The concept of "transporting" is critical. You're driving the story, and it's your responsibility to keep it on the road. Your reader will abandon you at the first hint that you don't know where you're going. And he'll despise you for getting his hopes up for a good tale if you then dash them with a feeble punch line.

That's why striving for pithy, concise stories is so important for writers. Set-up... plot elements... action... punch line.

And the three-liner is classic. One of the best: "I've been poor. And I've been rich. Rich is better."

No need for any details. In this example, the words "rich" and "poor" carry their own payload of emotional backstory with them, because, in this context, nearly everyone will have a feeling about being rich and a feeling about being poor. A long-winded rant about HOW poor you were, or HOW rich you became, is excessive.

Concise, memorable stories pack a punch.

Even better, there is a segue into the life of the reader in that three-line beauty. "Rich is better" may seem like an obvious statement, but coupled with the set-up lines, it delivers a strong message that smacks of truth. You want to hear what else this guy has to say.

The flow of a quick story, told with feeling, is always ripe with implications for the reader.

However, good ad copy doesn't rest on implications. It's got to move quickly to specifics.

So here's a simple tactic from my own bag of tricks that has helped bring many a story "home" to readers: First, you tell your tale, aiming for the kind of breathless prose that makes your prospect afraid to exhale for fear of missing a delicious detail.

Then, you deliver the punch line or the moral or just the ending. Don't try any clever transitions back into your sales pitch. Instead, you merely say: "And here's what that means for YOU..."

When reading fables to kids, any attempt to explain the moral would ruin the transcendent pleasure of listening to them. Ideally, you want the ending to rattle around in their heads, while they mull over the ethical implications and come up with their own conclusion. (Kids hate it when adults wag fingers and try to force lessons on them.)

But when you're writing to adults, you no longer have that luxury. Especially with ad copy. Adults are so numb to incoming data, they will hear even a great story, store it away somewhere in their cluttered brain, and move on to the next volley of arriving stimuli without coming to any conclusion whatsoever.

So, as the copywriter, it's your job to complete the thought.

You just continue the thread, going deeper into your sales message.

"I've been poor. And I've been rich. Rich is better. Here's what that means for you: You can continue on with your life believing that 'money can't buy happiness,' if that makes you feel better. But I'm here to tell you that having a pile of extra cash is actually a fabulous feeling... and your life will get better almost immediately. Plus, since I've already done the hard work of going from clean broke to filthy rich, I know all the shortcuts... and I'll share them with you..."

Et cetera.

So, if you're up for it... here's your next assignment: Tell a short, three-sentence story (using the set-up, plot, action, and punch line outline). And then write a one- or two-line segue that brings the story home to your reader. Leave it in the "comments" section on ETR's website here. 

You're allowed to be nonsensical for this exercise. In other words, you don't actually have to be selling anything. You can make it all up.

Just think - really, really hard - about how the punch line of your story MIGHT lead into a sales message.

Be concise, and bring it home to the reader. That's the key to world-class sales messages.

You cannot "fail" at this exercise, because you're just warming up your chops.

You don't learn to ride without hopping into the saddle. And it's okay to fall off, as long as you climb back on.

Again, I'll read every submitted story, and comment as needed.

[Ed. Note: Think storytelling doesn't matter? Think again. John Carlton is an expert copywriter, a pioneer in online marketing, and a teacher of killer sales copy - and he's honed the storytelling craft to a fine point. From John, you can also discover how to get your hands on the kick-ass secrets of the world's smartest, happiest, and wealthiest marketers.

And be sure to read his insights, tactics, and advice on copywriting and marketing at his blog.]

This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, the Internet’s most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.

The 25-50-25 Formula for Business Success

by Bob Bly (03/26/2008)

   

 

"I was quite eager to learn about marketing, and began reading everything associated with it," one of my subscribers, KM, told me in a recent e-mail. "However, with AWAI’s Golden Thread e-zine, ETR, and, of course your insightful newsletter, I find myself reading more than applying. How do I sift through the worthy (but time-consuming) information that would benefit my business? Sometimes I force myself to read, fearful I may overlook some exceptional nugget. Help! Where do I stop?"

I hear similar stories all the time…

You are interested in some aspect of marketing - whether it is copywriting, Internet marketing, whatever. But you are overwhelmed by all the information being offered on the subject. (After all, we live in the Information Age.)

So you go "information crazy"… buying every course, attending every conference, reading every e-book, listening to every recording, and dialing into every teleseminar you can find.

Before you know it, a month… six months… or a year has gone by - and you are no closer to your business or career goal. That’s because you’ve spent all your time reading, studying, and learning the thing you are interested in… rather than actually DOING it.

Sadly, you are suffering from a syndrome I call "analysis paralysis."

All the information you are taking in has overloaded your circuits. You can’t process it all, sort through it, and figure out what to do first. So, instead, you do nothing. You take no action - other than to order yet another course or report to read.

You have become a marketing-information junkie - avoiding the harsh realities of the business world by retreating to your favorite comfy chair with yet another neat marketing book.

You spend all your time reading about starting a business. So there is no time left to actually start or run a business. You are an "armchair entrepreneur" - more enamored with the idea of entrepreneurship than the actuality.

Fortunately there is an easy solution: the 25-50-25 rule. It provides a simple guideline to help you get unstuck.

The rule says there are only three ways to learn a process (e.g., how to start an Internet business) or a skill (e.g., copywriting): studying, observing, and doing. The 25-50-25 rule says that to master a skill or process, and put what you learn into practical action, you must divide your time as follows:

• No more than 25 percent of your time studying - i.e., reading books, going to bootcamps, attending workshops, listening to recordings in your car.
• No more than 25 percent of your time observing - watching what successful people in your field are already doing. If, for example, you want to become a direct-mail copywriter, this means reading and analyzing the direct mail you get in your mailbox.
• At least 50 percent of your time actually DOING the thing you are studying and observing. For example, if you want to sell information products on the Internet, you are spending 50 percent of your time creating your first product… designing your website… or building your list.

The idea is similar to Michael Masterson’s Ready, Fire, Aim approach. He says that you should take action right away, and then learn as you go.

Acquiring business knowledge is a worthwhile activity. But without action, that knowledge is worthless to you.

KM’s worry that, by not reading everything, he may miss a "nugget" of information is accurate: You will never know everything there is to know in your field, or even most of it.

But so what?

You don’t have to know everything - or even most of what there is to know - to succeed in most endeavors.

For example, there are hundreds of strategies for making money on the Internet. But you can make a six-figure annual income online using only a few of them, even if you never bother to learn the others.

In freelance copywriting, there are many top writers who write only one type of promotion. Or work in one narrow niche. And they make a fortune doing so.

When we were kids, our parents and teachers told us to study, study, study. But I see many people today much more enamored with studying and reading about marketing and entrepreneurship than actually doing.

Well, I understand that. Reading about marketing is fascinating - and fun. But the money is in the doing, not the reading.

Follow the 25-50-25 rule, and you’ll be doing - and making money - at least half the time.

[Ed Note: Freelance copywriter Bob Bly is the creator of The Direct Response Letter, the author of more than 70 books, and co-creator of ETR’s Direct Marketing Masters Edition program.

Learn specific strategies for how to take action on all your business and personal goals with ETR’s Total Success Achievement program. It’s not too late to sign up and learn how to make your longest-held dreams come true. Click here to learn more.]

Email Job Application - Some Tips

By Milton Drepaul

Today some employers ask you to email them. Since most of us use email in a rather casual fashion it is useful to take your time and write carefully. Do not sacrifice quality because of the ease of using email. Remember that applying for a job is a serious matter and business etiquette is important.Here are some tips to help you.

Chose an email address that reflects your name instead of something which might make you look ridiculous in a business setting.It is a good idea to set up a special account for your job hunting emails.

Print out the advertisement, highlight the key requirements for the job and respond directly to them in the main part of your email.Briefly and succinctly state the experience you have which is directly relevant.

Ensure that your subject line is informative and pertinent by including the title(or Job code) of the position   you are applying for.

Create an email signature with your contact information-- home address,email ,fax and phone number.

A tightly written version of your cover letter would be your first paragraph in the email.

Your first important task is to present yourself to your future employer in the best possible way.

Resist any temptation to be clever,frivolous or even to hint at any criticism of your former employer or fellow employees.

Show that you have read their instructions carefully by following them.

if they ask you not to phone, or do follow up emails then do not do so.

Arrange your  email into carefully structured single-sentence paragraphs.

Proof your email and attached  resume extremely carefully.Employers or Human Resource personnel will react nd negatively to grammatical and spelling errors. Do not rely on software spell checking only. Use at least one other careful reader to proof read your writing.

Your resume  should be tailored for the post you are applying for, only contain relevant details, and be one page long.It's best to submit it as a PDF file(Portable Document Format) . This format  which is easily readable maintains your fonts and layout faithfully.If you cannot convert to PDF  then use MS Word or a text only version.

Many employers may not accept attachments. If they do not, paste your resume into your email message. Use a simple font. Take out any fancy formatting. Test the appearance of your message by emailing it to yourself and printing it out to do a final proofing. If all is well then send your message.

Milton Drepaul  is co-author of  CXC English and CXC English B . He is an Educator,Writer,Business Consultant and Resume Expert.

Article Source:  EzineArticles Expert Author --Milton Drepaul

Be A Millionaire Day

Did you know that Saturday, May 20^th is Be A Millionaire Day?

I just found out that T. Harv Eker is giving away $1 million in scholarships to his highly popular 3-Day Millionaire Mind™ Intensive seminar. It is an amazing program full of life-altering ideas that positively changed my life forever. I know you'll get a lot out of this amazing course. By the end--you will have a completely different point of view towards money and success; a millionaire's view.

All you have to do to get your scholarship is go to: Millionaire Day  and sign up.

But, only the first 386 people who register ON MAY 20 ^th will be eligible. If you miss this opportunity, the tuition is $1295 (and worth every penny of it). So hurry!

On May 20^th, when you get to the site, all you have to do is put in your name and email address. You will then be notified if you are one of the lucky winners for this remarkable course. Let me know if you were able to get in so we can celebrate together!

Happy Be A Millionaire Day!

And, psst...pass this message on to 5 more people that you care about who could do a lot of with financial success in their lives!

P.S. If you want to receive a reminder email on May 20^th, get to the site, put in your name and email address and an email will be sent to you on May 20^th.

How to Write a Speech

   
As you hang up the telephone, the icy fingertips of panic grip your stomach; your heart races. Your most recent project was delivered on time, within budget, and is approaching payback one year ahead of schedule. As a result, your industry association wants you to address their annual convention. Relax! They believe you have something to offer. Here are ten steps to ease your palpitations.

Steps

   1. Remember that all great speeches, and even some good ones, require shape. The old saw is hard to beat: "Tell them what you will tell them; tell them; then tell them what you told them."
   
2. "Shake hands with the audience." You have something worthy of being said. Former Ambassador Robert Strauss used to begin his addresses like this: "Before I begin this speech, I have something to say." This passage was always composed in a style that enabled him to reclaim a powerful tone for the instructive portion of his remarks. Put on your smile; calm your nerves, then get to work.
 
3. Rise to the occasion. In other words, feel passionately about your topic. Recall old Uncle Ned's tear jerking toast at the wedding? Even ordinary folks can deliver great moments of oratory if they rise to the occasion.
   
4. Build clear and sensible transitions (segues) from one thought to the next. The biggest mistake speakers and writers make is to assume people will follow their leaps of logic. Spell out to the audience when you are taking a turn in your thoughts with phrases like: "As an example of this" or "This brings us to the larger problem of," and so forth.
 
5. Focus. A "great" speech does not need to start out great and stay great to the finish. It engages the listeners. It makes allowances for a dip in interest in the middle. Then, it gathers anticipation for its key moment. John Stuart Mill, the political economist, defined the orator's art this way: "Everything important to his purpose was said at the exact moment when he had brought the minds of his audience into the state most fitted to receive it."
   
6. Add purpose. A speech should be made for a good reason. To inspire, to instruct, to rally, and to lead are noble purposes. To sound off, to feed a speaker's ego, to flatter, or to intimidate are not.
 
7. Know your theme. If you cannot answer the question "what do you want to say?" in a single, declarative sentence, do yourself and the audience a favor: decline the invitation.
   
8. Write with one particular person in mind, someone you actually know. This helps you to keep the message real and personable. (I always imagine I'm talking to my neighbor lady, a no-nonsense person). This helps you anticipate reactions and keep your language down to earth.
   
9. Deliver the goods. Delivery is the essence of eloquence. It requires practice, discipline, drill, and timing. You can be your own trainer. As you develop self-confidence, you put the audience at ease, or make them sit up. Your eye is in contact with the people, not the page. Your professional passion is contagious.
 
10. Give your audience a sense of completion. Bring them back to the beginning, but with a louder spirit. This can be done by starting the last paragraph with a quiet, declarative sentence; it should build in a series of semicolons; it should employ the puissance of parallelism; it should reach to the farthest rafter and reverberate with the action and passion of our time, and forgetting all else, it should connect with, no, grab each listener by his or her lapels and shout to their hearts and souls to say, "This this is the end of the best speech you will ever have the good fortune to experience."


Tips

    * You may experience instant, sustained applause punctuated by the occasional "Bravo" and the ever-present pundit punk who wrinkles his brow and wonders aloud, "But what was really said?"
   
* Each person in the audience experiences your speech as an individual. Speak to them as individuals, by using words like "you" and "your" instead of "all of you" or "everybody here"; it is more direct and compelling, and will engage each member of your audience, whether it be five or five thousand.
   
* Focus your attention on one individual at a time, just as you would in normal, everyday conversation. This will help to relax you, and mitigate the fear of speaking to very large crowds. Shift your focus around the room, to different sections of your audience. By including every area, even when you might not be able see them individually, each person will feel as if you are speaking directly to them, not at them.
   
* Consider your audience's frame of reference. A simple way to do it is to think about: Who's in the audience? Why are they here? And after hearing your speech what's the first thing you would like them to do or say to someone else perhaps?
   
* Don't read your speech. Speak it from memory. You may miss a couple minor points (and even a major one), but if you can't remember it long enough to say it, why would anyone else remember long enough to act on it?

Things You'll Need

    * http://www.toastmasters.org - An organization where you can practice public speaking
Source:http://ehow.com

The Paradox of our Time

"The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints.
We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less.
We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time.
We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.
We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.
We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.
We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years.
We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor.
We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things.
We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice.
We write more, but learn less.
We plan more, but accomplish less.
We've learned to rush, but not to wait.
We build more computers to hold more information,to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.
These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships.
These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes.
These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill.
It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete.
Remember, spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.
Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe,because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.
Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a cent.
Remember, to say, "I love you" to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.
Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again. Give time to love, give time to speak, and give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. Can you think of any?"
George Carlin

Meditation is Good for Your Health

Workers practicing mindfulness meditation showed important biological changes with important implications for health, according to a study recently reported in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine.

In this controlled and randomized study, conducted by Dr. Richard Davidson, a psychologist at the University of Wisconsin, in Madison, Wisconsin, workers at a small biotech company had their blood tested and brains wired and measured before and after an eight-week period of meditation. Once a week for eight weeks those workers volunteering for the study, including scientists, marketing people, lab techs, and managers, would practice meditation for three hours.

Researchers found significant effects on activity in the front left portion of the brain, increases that lasted at least four months after the experiment. Those workers who showed the greatest brain effect also showed a greater ability to increase antibodies in response to getting a flu shot.

Courage

"It takes courage to follow your own drum.It takes courage to do what your heart says even though your criticized unjustly.We choose to be authentic at great cost,but we pay an even higher price not to be true to ourselves."from Wisdom from The Heart by Radha Singh.

Earl Nightingale said that the opposite of courage is not cowardice,but conformity.
"It takes courage to follow your own drum.It takes courage to do what your heart says even though your criticized unjustly.We choose to be authentic at great cost,but we pay an even higher price not to be true to ourselves."
From:
Wisdom from The Heart by Radha Singh.