Abundance Blog at Marelisa Online

Freedom, Nonconformity, and Unconventional Living

Marelisa — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 20:53:36 +0000

“Don’t think you’re on the right road just because it’s a well-beaten path.” ~Author Unknown

The garden outside of Jose Sancho’s home in Escazu, Costa Rica, is filled with sculptures he carefully chiseled, most of which depict women and nature. He claims that he’s never taken a sculpture class; he taught himself. Yet his sculptures grace the lawn of the Art Museum of the Americas (part of the OAS) in Washington, DC, they’ve been auctioned off at Christie’s–the famous auction house in New York–, and his work has been commissioned by people and organizations from all over the world.

Jose Sancho started out as an economist. Then, at the age of 40, he had an epiphany: he was born to be a sculptor. Once he realized this, much to the shock and astonishment of those who knew him, he dropped everything to pursue his passion. Today he’s in his seventies and he’s never looked back. (The image at the top of this post depicts Jose at work; I found the image here. As an aside, I grew up in Costa Rica and my mother is friends with Jose and she has a beautiful, black marble sculpture of a penguin and his chick, created by Jose, in her living room, which is titled “Paternity”).

In Jose’s own words:

“I was born to be a carpenter, but the tools of the trade did not fall readily from the sky; it emerged from the struggle between a vocation imposed by an alienating culture, and the demands of a latent inclination that constantly fought to express itself. From that struggle came the redeeming action which shook my world to its roots. I had already lived through four decades of frustrating obligations for which I was not destined . . . sculpture opened up new horizons . . . ” (From the book, “Jose Sancho, 1975 – 1997″).

People have been abandoning their conventional lives for centuries, in the hopes of pursuing their true life calling and living a life of freedom and nonconformity. In the past couple of years, unconventional living has practically become a movement.

Below you’ll find a list of sites and blogs that cater to those who long to become who they were meant to be, create their dream business, travel the world, and live the life they’ve always dreamed of. For those of you dreaming of escape, I hope these sites help you to begin drafting your escape plan.

Jonathan Fields – Career Renegade

Jonathan Fields is a popular blogger who blogs over at “Awake at the Wheel” and who constantly asks people the following question: “What if you could make a living doing what you love?”

He started out in life as a lawyer, first at the S.E.C. and then at a prestigious, mega-sized New York law firm. Then he realized that life as a lawyer was sucking out his soul, as well as destroying his health, and he made a radical change and became a $12-an-hour fitness trainer. He then went on to bigger things within the health industry, as well as embarking on other successful ventures, and he recently published a book aptly titled “Career Renegade: How to Make a Great Living Doing What You Love”.

When Jonathan left his law firm job he had three goals:

To make a great living.
To love what he did.
To be around the people he loved.

Visit Jonathan’s site if these words ring true for you:

Corporate treadmill.
Office politics and endless posturing.
Your mind, body and spirit are slowly being sucked dry.
Personal fulfillment has taken a backseat to making money.

Here’s a quote from the book “Career Renegade”:

“The simple truth is you can turn nearly any passion into a big, fat heap of money. However, it often requires mining aspects of those passions you never knew existed or bringing them to life in markets and ways that defy the mainstream.”

Jonathan doesn’t believe in the conventional wisdom that says that if you do what you love the money will follow. He explains that this applies only if your passion happens to lie in a field with a clear path to great income, such as the law, plastic surgery, and so on. But if you love teaching, playing video games, painting, knitting, playing music, and so on, it’s doubtful that you’ll be able to make a great living simply by doing what you love.

This doesn’t mean that you give up on the idea of making a living by pursuing what truly makes you come alive, it simply means that you have to find an unconventional, renegade path to both passion and prosperity. That is, you have to find a different way of doing what you love that will allow you to generate enough income to live comfortably.

“Career Renegade” is packed with hundreds of strategies, case studies, links and resources that will help you to do just that. Not only does the book help you to develop the proper mindset for becoming a career renegade, it gives you a step-by-step approach to actually make things happen. You can download the book’s introduction, for free, here.

(Image of Jonathan Fields taken from here.)

Escape From Cubicle Nation – From Corporate Prisoner to Thriving Entrepreneur

Pamela Slim, the voice behind the blog “Escape From Cubicle Nation”, has the following to say about entrepreneurship:

“Entrepreneurship at its heart is aligning your purpose for being on earth with a business idea so compelling that you simply must do it, despite the fears that hold you back.”

When she left the corporate world she started a company which she named “Ganas”–which in Spanish means having an intense desire to do something, inner motivation, exuberance, and drive–since that’s what she feels every day as she approaches her work and what she wants her clients to feel as well.

Think the “safe” thing to do is to stay at your corporate job, even if you hate it? Think again. Slim starts off her book, Escape from Cubicle Nation: From Corporate Prisoner to Thriving Entrepreneur (yes, her book and her blog have the same name), with an anecdote about the morning in which almost everyone in her father’s office was suddenly laid off. She goes on as follows: “One woman had worked her entire career at the company, as had her father and grandfather until retirement. She came into work at 8:00 a.m., was given a cardboard box to pack her belongings, and was escorted to the exit door by 8:20.”

Pamela explains that by being clear on what your ideal life looks like you can craft an entrepreneurial vision that will help you pursue your goals. She cites the “sweet spot” described by Jim Collins, which is the place in which the following three sets of skills overlap:

What people will pay you to do
That for which you have great passion
That which you are “genetically encoded” to do

In “Escape From Cubicle Nation” (the book), Pamela covers it all: coming up with a good business idea, recruiting help and support, defining your brand, getting your finances in order, creating a business plan, and actually starting a business. Click here to download the introduction to Pamela’s book for free.

(I found the image of Pamela Slim here.)

Four More Blogs for Nonconformists

Here are four more blogs that will help you down the path toward unconventional living:

After the overwhelming success of his book The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich, Tim Ferriss started a blog in which he shares more tips for living a life filled with Tango dancing, travel, snorkeling in Panama, eating sushi in San Francisco, and so on.

In his blog, “The Art of Nonconformity”, Chris Guillebeau writes about personal development and life design, entrepreneurship and unconventional work, and international travel (by the end of 2012 he plans to have visited every country in the world). His life philosophy is basically that you should live life according to your own terms, and that you can help yourself and help others at the same time.

The blog “Location Independent” was created by Lea and Jonathan Woodward. They explain that being location independent–working and living from any part of the world they choose–is a concept, a lifestyle and a mindset.

Jonathan Mead from “Illuminated Mind” is intent on finding a way to be paid to exist. So far he seems to be doing pretty well.He encourages everyone to join “The Liberation Revolution”.

What If Your Dream Is Simply to Travel?

The travel blog “Brave New Traveler” has a great list of “12 Personal Travel Websites That Will Make You Quit Your Day Job”. One example is “Down the Road”:

“We are Tim and Cindie Travis, an ordinary American couple who decided to live out our dreams. We saved our money, quit our jobs, sold our possessions, and set off to travel around the world by bicycle. We left our home in Arizona, USA on March 31, 2002 and have been on the road ever since. Our plan is to continue to bicycle tour and travel for the next several years.”

Conclusion

This post started with the tale of Jose Sancho, who at the age of 40 realized that he was not meant to be an economist, but was instead born to be a sculptor. I’m going to wrap things up with Gauguin.

Eugene-Henri-Paul Gauguin, renown today for his colorful paintings depicting an idyllic island paradise, was a middle-aged Paris stockbroker who suddenly realized his life’s passion was painting. He turned his back on his old life and fled to Tahiti. Gauguin is now considered the most important post-Impressionist painter who ever lived. (Of course, I’m not advocating that you abandon your family as Gauguin did, all of the examples in this post are family-inclusive.)

So, where are you fleeing to?

Editor’s Note: This post contains affiliate links.

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Learn to meditate, increase your focus and concentration, boost your creativity, and augment your brain power with the Silva Life System, the world’s most popular meditation program.

Visit the Silva Life System web site and get a free course on the basics of the Silva Life System, which includes their famous 30 minute guided meditation.

My ebook “How to Be More Creative – A Handbook for Alchemists” explains that creativity is not the sole domain of the arts but is important in any field, from medicine to business, and from engineering to developing a creative solution to a negotiation impasse. Whatever you do, creativity helps you do it better. Discover practical advice on how to be more creative in every life endeavor by reading my ebook.

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The Silva Life System – Make Your Life Better, Better, and Better

Marelisa — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 15:21:01 +0000

We all want to be more creative, achieve more while doing less, release stress, adopt positive habits and drop negative ones, and enhance our learning ability and memory. These are just some of the things the Silva Life System will help you with.

The Silva Life System is the new and improved version of the Silva Method, a method which has been used with great success over the past forty years by over 6 million people around the world to help them meditate and better use their minds. It’s a home-study course which will teach you how to reach the Alpha brain wave level, the level of the mind associated with meditation, in 60 seconds flat.

Benefits of Meditating With the Silva Life System

Here are some of the benefits offered by the Silva Life System:

It will easily and effortlessly take you to deep levels of meditation.
It will help you to bridge the gap between the logical left-brain and the creative and intuitive right-brain to create increased productivity.
This system will improve your learning ability and memory.
It will boost your intuition, creativity, and your ability to focus, concentrate, think more clearly, and solve problems.
The Silva Life System helps to melt away stress, reducing its harmful effects on your health.
It will improve your mental and emotional health.
Creative visualization and positive affirmations are more effective while at the meditative state.
Meditators are better at accomplishing their goals; to put it simply, they’re more succesful.
People who meditate are better spouses and parents.
Those who meditate are happier, more self-confident, and more at ease with themselves and with others.
The Silva Life System helps people to get rid of bad habits, such as smoking, drinking, and over-eating.
Another benefit of the Silva System is improved sleep.
The Silva System teaches a method to help students improve their ability to learn and recall information, so they can do better when taking tests.
This method will teach you how to use your intuition to make better decisions.

Alpha Thinking and the Silva Life System

The brain operates on a small amount of electrical energy; this electric current vibrates at different speeds. Just as your heart beats so many times per minute, your brain vibrates so many times per second. Your brain’s rhythm or your level of brain activity plays a decisive role in the quality of life that you’re experiencing.

The Silva Life System teaches how to control and slow down your brain’s rhythm, and how to function at the Alpha brain wave level, the brain frequency at which high achievers think.

The Brain Frequency Spectrum

The brain frequency spectrum has been divided into four different segments, based on the number of cycles per second. The four spectrums are Beta, Alpha, Theta, and Delta.

At Beta, the conscious or waking state, the brain vibrates at a rate of between 20 and 40 cycles per second (cps). At Alpha, usually associated with REM sleep, the brain vibrates at a rate of between 7 and 14 cps. At Theta, the speed of the brain’s vibration is between 4 and 7 cps; this level of the mind is associated with deep, comfortable sleep. And lastly, at Delta–associated with very deep sleep or the state at which you’re completely unconscious–the brain’s vibrations are below 4 cps.

Beta Thinking v. Alpha Thinking

The Beta frequency is associated with the left hemisphere of the brain and is the brain frequency at which we apply logical formulas and use deduction to reach conclusions. It allows for analytical, linear, progressive, rational thinking.

When thinking at the Alpha level you can see the whole; that is, you can see the big picture. Some say that the Beta frequency is for looking at the trees while the Alpha frequency is for looking at the forest. This brain frequency will allow you to access your intuition, look at the issue from a different perspective, be more creative, and find nonlinear, unexpected solutions to problems.

Scientific research has shown that most people do their thinking at the Beta level, while only 10% of the population are natural Alpha thinkers. That is, most people enter the subconscious state and then fall asleep when their brain frequency slows down to Alpha. High achievers are able to stay awake at the Alpha level and do their thinking at this deeper level of mind.

The Silva Life System teaches how to consciously lower your brain wave activity and enter the Alpha state at will, while remaining awake, so that anyone can take advantage of the myriad of benefits of thinking at the Alpha level.

Doing Less While Achieving More

In the wonderful book “Do Less, Achieve More”, Chin-Ning Chu tells the story of a village that had been experiencing drought for five long years. They called every rainmaker they could find in the nearby villages and asked for help, but they all failed to make rain. Finally, in one last attempt, they called a very famous rainmaker from afar. When he arrived, the rainmaker did not begin to sing, chant, and dance about. Instead, he went into his tent and stayed there for four consecutive days. On the fifth day, the rain started to fall.

The villagers went to the rainmaker in amazement and asked him how he had done it. The rainmaker simply replied:

“When I arrived, the first thing I noticed was that everything in your village was out of harmony with heaven. So I spent four days putting myself into harmony with the Divine. Then the rains came.”

A lot of people think that in order to be successful they need to run around frantically doing ten things at the same time. At any given moment they’ll be picking up the dry cleaning, while on their cell phone on a business call, while spending “quality time” with their child, and so on. If you slow down, are mindful about what you’re doing, and take time to meditate you will put yourself in harmony and be able to accomplish a lot more than by rushing about.

The Silva Life System can help you put yourself in harmony by teaching you how to slow down your brain waves and quiet down your mind chatter.

The Three Finger Technique

Let’s use the the three finger technique as an example of what you’ll be learning when you order the Silva Life System. The “three finger technique” is a trigger mechanism that will allow you to reap the benefits of thinking at the alpha level when it’s not feasible to go to level using the standard method. This technique is especially useful in improving communication with others, recalling information, increasing focus and concentration, and increasing creativity.

Basically, you’re conditioned, while at level, so that any time you bring together the thumb and the first two fingers of either hand, or both, you will function at the alpha state. One of the best uses of the “three finger technique” is for students who are preparing to take a test.

For example, if you’re going to attend a lecture and you would like to be at the alpha level during the lecture for better retention, program yourself while at alpha before the lecture and tell yourself that when you put your thumb and the first two fingers of either hand together during the lecture, you will enter the alpha level and be better able to focus and listen attentively to the lecturer. You can do the same thing before reading a book that contains information that is important to you and that you would like to be able to easily recall at a later time.

If you’re going to study for an exam, enter the alpha level using the standard method and tell yourself that you’re going to count from one to three, at which point you will open your eyes and read the textbook in front of you with superior concentration and understanding. Mention the name of the textbook that you’re about to read, the subject matter, and the author.

When you’re done reading the text, enter level once again and tell yourself that whenever you put together your thumb and the first two fingers of either hand, you will have perfect recall of the text that you just read. During the test you just put your thumb and the first two fingers of either hand together and proceed to answer your test questions.

Scientific Research and the Silva Life System

Several research projects have been conducted on the Silva Life System and its effectiveness in many different life areas. These include:

Student test scores
Improvements in health
Effect on intuition and creativity
Social interaction
Self-image
Ability to relax and quality of sleep
Habit control
Performance enhancement through visualization

If you would like to see the results of the scientific research that has been conducted, simply click here: Scientific Research on the Silva Life System.

Order Your Free Demo

If you visit the Silva Life System web site and order their free demo you’ll receive nine lessons via email. Here are some of the things you’ll learn in the free lessons:

How to reach the Alpha Level.
How to gain inspiration while at the Alpha Level.
How to use creative visualization to shape your world.
How to trigger healing while at the alpha level.
How to develop your intuition.
How to set goals and create a life plan.
Living your life purpose.

You’ll even receive an audio which is the centerpiece of the Silva System: a carefully crafted combination of guided imagery and sound that is designed to move people into the Alpha Level.

Editor’s Note: This post contains affiliate links.

photo credit: j / f / photos

Recommended Products:

Learn to meditate, increase your focus and concentration, boost your creativity, and augment your brain power with the Silva Life System, the world’s most popular meditation program.

Visit the Silva Life System web site and get a free course on the basics of the Silva Life System, which includes their famous 30 minute guided meditation.

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Happiness Tip: Practice Random Acts of Kindness

Marelisa — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 10:49:36 +0000

“I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good thing, therefore, that I can do or any kindness I can show to any fellow human being let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.” – Stephen Grellet

In “The Healing Power of Doing Good”, Allan Luks reports that there’s a phenomenon called the helper’s high, which is described as a feeling of warmth and increased energy, as well as a feeling of euphoria, that people feel when they’re being kind to others. In addition, a 2005 study from Hebrew University in Israel found a link between kindness and the release of dopamine, a feel-good neurotransmitter in the brain. (Source).

I’ve started putting together my own happiness project –which I’ll tell you more about in a future post–based on Gretchen’s suggestion from “The Happiness Project”. Research shows that people can increase their level of happiness by helping and being kind to others, and it’s definitely one of the elements that’s going into my happiness project.

Below you’ll find more information, based on scientific research, on how being kind to others has a strong positive impact on your happiness, as well as some ideas to get you started down the path toward altruism.

Why Good Things Happen to Good People

Stephen G. Post, Ph.D., a professor of bioethics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, has the following to say about helping others:

“All the great spiritual traditions and the field of positive psychology are emphatic on this point — that the best way to get rid of bitterness, anger, rage, jealousy [and so on] is to do unto others in a positive way.”

He adds that there are studies that show that when people act with generosity and compassion, there’s a positive effect on their health and well-being. (Source).

Post, who co-authored the book “Why Good Things Happen to Good People: How to Live a Longer, Healthier, Happier Life by the Simple Act of Giving” with Jill Neimark, adds that evolution may have primed us to feel good from giving, because groups that had a large number of people who were altruistic toward others were more likely to survive than groups that did not. Also, depression, anxiety, and stress involve a high degree of focus on the self; when we focus on the needs of others our thinking literally shifts.(Source).

Our Brains Are Hard-Wired for Altruism

A study was conducted a couple of years ago in which students from the University of British Columbia were given an amount of money ranging between $5.00 and $20.00 and were told how to spend it. Those who spent it on others, whether giving the money to a charity or buying a gift for someone else, were subjetively happier at the end of the day than students who spent the money on themselves.

In another study, researchers scanned the brains of volunteers as they were asked to think about a scenario involving either donating a sum of money to charity or keeping it for themselves. The results showed that when the volunteers placed the interests of others before their own, the generosity activated a primitive part of the brain that usually lights up in response to food or sex.

Altruism, these two experiments suggest, is not a superior moral faculty that suppresses basic selfish urges, but rather is basic to the brain, hard-wired and pleasurable.(Source).

Take the Challenge – Perform Five Acts of Kindness One Day a Week

Ben Dean, Ph.D., writes in an article entitled “Kindness and the Case for Altruism”, that he took a challenge posed by Sonja Lyubomirsky, one of the leaders in the field of positive psychology and the author of The How of Happiness: A Scientific Approach to Getting the Life You Want, to perform five acts of kindness one day a week.

Dean reports that the practice not only increases his level of happiness, but it also changes the way he spends the entire day because he’s constantly on the lookout for ways to be kind.

Consider taking Sonja’s challenge: start performing five acts of kindness one day a week.

30 Random Acts of Kindness

Here are 30 ideas to help get you started:

1. Plant flowers in a public, neglected corner.

2. Pick up a piece of trash you notice as you walk along the street.

3. The next time an employee at a store does his or her job enthusiastically and with care, make sure that you let their supervisor know; we’re often quick to complain if someone doesn’t do their job well but fail to offer recognition when someone goes out of their way to do a good job.

4. Leave the exact change for a chocolate bar, or other treat, in the change slot of a vending machine.

5. Pay the toll for the car behind you.

6. Put money in someone else’s parking meter if their time is about to expire.

7. Forgive someone a debt that they owe you if it becomes obvious that they can’t pay it. Ask only that they do the same for someone else in the future when their circumstances change.

8. Let someone who appears to be in a hurry cut ahead of you in line at the grocery store.

9. Give someone an honest compliment.

10. Leave a great book at a café for someone else to find once you’re finished reading it.

11. Offer a couple of hours of babysitting to busy parents.

12. Give another driver your parking spot (yes, I know, this one’s really hard, save it for a day when you want to be extra kind ).

13. Leave an extra big tip for your waiter. Write a note on the back of the bill thanking them for their service.

14. Drop off a big box of doughnuts at the fire or police station.

15. Get all of Dr. Seuss’s books and leave them in the children’s section at the hospital.

16. When drivers try to merge into your lane, let them in, wave, and smile.

17. Send a letter to your favorite teacher-whether from grade school, high school, or college-thanking them for helping you become the person you are now.

18. Leave a bouquet of flowers on your neighbor’s front steps anonymously.

19. If someone new moves to your neighborhood, stop by and welcome them.

20. Leave a dollar bill on the ground for someone else to find.

21. Keep an extra umbrella in your car and give it to the next person you see stuck in a downpour.

22. Donate your frequent flier miles to someone who has family far away that they can’t afford to visit (I don’t actually know if this is allowed, but if it isn’t, it should be).

23. Hold the door open for someone carrying packages.

24. Give up your seat on the subway or train to someone who looks tired.

25. Buy a homeless person lunch.

26. The next time a friend looks frazzled and overwhelmed ask them: “What can I do to help?”

27. The next time someone admires something of yours, if you can afford it, give it away.

28. If a friend is going on vacation offer to feed their pets and water their plants.

29. Sometimes people just need a sympathetic ear: listen to someone who feels like they’re not being heard.

30. Look for specific ways in which others need help and do what you can to help them.

Please add your own suggestions for random acts of kindness in the comments section. In addition, you can find more ideas for random acts of kindness in the following three books:

Editor’s Note: This post contains affiliate links.

photo credit: brightroyalty

Related Posts:

Recommended Products:

Learn to meditate, increase your focus and concentration, boost your creativity, and augment your brain power with the Silva Life System, the world’s most popular meditation program.

Visit the Silva Life System web site and get a free course on the basics of the Silva Life System, which includes their famous 30 minute guided meditation.

Did you enjoy this article? Subscribe for free by RSS or e-mail and you’ll always know when I publish something new. (What’s RSS?).

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Six Things to Do When Life Throws You a Curveball

Marelisa — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 08:07:06 +0000

“While I was in Double-A with the Cubs, my roommate got called into the office and was demoted to a Single-A club. He was leading our team in home runs and runs batted in and was the best offensive player we had, but he had to go down a level. The powers that be had ordained someone else ‘the best offensive player we have’, so our actual batting leader’s success was somehow unacceptable . . .

The curveball becomes that rude awakening that often derails us from our tried and true plan to go from A to B . . . [T]he curveball is often just a test — most times thrown to see if you will chase something out of your zone.”

– Doug Glanville, Major League Baseball Player (Source)

We’ve all had the experience of life having the audacity to throw us a curveball. It may be completely unexpected, it may be horribly unfair, and it may even be hard to believe that such a thing could happen to such an outstanding member of the community. Nonetheless, there it is. The question now becomes how you’re going to deal it with it. Here are six things to do when life throws you a curve ball:

Don’t Over-Generalize

Just because something unexpected has temporarily knocked the wind out of you it doesn’t mean that your life is over, that you’ll never achieve the things that you want, or that you’re doomed to fail and struggle for the rest of your days.

Kimberley Cohen, Founder, Facilitator and Personal Insight Coach of The Insight Technique, explains that the fact that you’ve struck out doesn’t mean that you’re out of the game. You’re simply out until the next time you’re up to bat. She adds the following:

“There will be another inning, another game, another chance, and ‘how’ you handle the curve balls is really up to you. You can lose your confidence, your spirit, your love of the game or, you can take your stance at home plate, swing like you have never swung before and know you have a chance at hitting that ball far out into the outfield or the stands.”

Release Negative Emotions

One of the first things you need to do is to find a way to release the negative emotions that you’re feeling as a result of having been thrown a curveball. Whatever emotions you may be experiencing—including anger, fear, stress, sadness, and so on—you can let those emotions go.

Once you’ve released any negative emotions you’ll be in a much better position to make clear-headed choices about how to proceed, instead of rashly reacting to the moment and thereby probably making things worse than they already are.

The three best methods I’ve found for releasing negative emotions are EFT, The Sedona Method, and just plain old laughter.

Emotional Freedom Technique

Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) is a self-help tool which consists of tapping on energy points located throughout the body with your fingertips in order to release negative emotions, memories, and beliefs. I wrote a comprehensive tutorial on how to do EFT here.

The Sedona Method

The Sedona Method consists of a series of questions you ask yourself that lead your awareness to focus on what you’re feeling in the moment and gently guide you toward letting it go. Although the course goes into much more detail, to summarize and simplify, whenever you feel a negative emotion you simply ask yourself the following three questions:

Could I let this feeling go?
Would I let this feeling go?
If so, when?

You can read more about the Sedona Method here: The Sedona Method: Your Key to Lasting Happiness, Success, Peace and Emotional Well-Being (do yourself a favor and head on over to Amazon and read the fabulous reviews people have submitted about this book). If you’d like to take a look at the course itself, go here.

Laughter

Laughter prompts your body to release endorphins, also known as feel-good hormones. Endorphins are your body’s natural painkillers and they contribute to a sense of well-being. In addition, laughter has been found to reduce three detrimental stress hormones: cortisol, adrenaline, and dopac. Laughter will help you to relax and to look at your situation from a different, more positive perspective.

If you need a good laugh go read my post, 31 Funny Videos, Books, Stories & Quotes.

Meditate

Meditating will allow you to slow down your brain’s rhythm, which is conducive to relaxation, stress-relief, creative thinking, and better problem solving, as well as for finding new ideas. To quote Albert Einstein: “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

When a person becomes stressed, fearful, angry, nervous, or feels any stirring emotion—which are feelings that often accompany an event that has a negative impact on your life–, the brain’s rhythm increases and brain activity rises. The more stressed we become, the more rapidly our brain waves vibrate. All negative thoughts, as well as anger, fear, and compulsive cravings, tend to be fast.

On the other hand, slower brain waves are associated with people who are calm, confident, and at ease. Positive thoughts, like love, patience, and understanding, are slow.

Basically, meditating is bringing your brain waves down to the alpha brain wave level, and there are many ways to do this. The best way I’ve found to enter Alpha is by using the Silva Life System. You can download a free demo of the Silva Life System and see if it also helps you to slow down your brain waves. In addition, I wrote a simple meditation routine which you can read here: Meditation in Ten Easy Steps.

Follow the Law of Least Effort

In his book The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success: A Pocketbook Guide to Fulfilling Your Dreams, Deepak Chopra explains “The Law of Least Effort”, which is basically the principle of no resistance. Chopra indicates that if you observe nature at work you’ll notice that it functions with effortless ease:

Grass doesn’t try to grow, it just grows.
Birds don’t try to fly, they just fly.
Flowers don’t try to bloom, they just bloom.

When you’re in harmony with nature you can make use of the Law of Least Effort, and you achieve this harmony by removing your attention from your ego and placing it within. Even if you feel you’ve been treated unfairly and that a great wrong has been done unto you, you need to stop thinking along the following lines:

How dare they do this to me?

Don’t they know who I am?

They’ll be sorry they did this.

This kind of thinking pulls you out of harmony with nature and consumes an enormous amount of energy. In “The Art of Dreaming” Don Juan tells Carlos Castaneda:

“[M]ost of our energy goes into upholding our importance . . . If we were capable of losing some of that importance, two extraordinary things would happen to us. One, we would free our energy from trying to maintain the illusory idea of our grandeur; and two, we would provide ourselves with enough energy to . . . catch a glimpse of the actual grandeur of the universe.”

That is, by releasing your need for ego-aggrandizement you’re freeing up energy you can better use to create the circumstances you envision for yourself.

Another component of the Law of Least Effort is acceptance. Chopra explains that when you struggle against the moment you’re struggling against the entire universe. You can wish for things to be different in the future, but at this moment in time you have to accept things as they are. He advises that you say the following to yourself: “this moment is as it should be, because the whole universe is as it should be.”

In the book Zen And the Art of Happiness , Chris Prentiss asks you to imagine that God appeared before you and said: “I promise you that everything that happens to you from this moment forward will be of the greatest benefit to you and will bring you the utmost fortune. Even though what happens will sometimes appear unfortunate or hurtful, in the end your life will be wonderfully blessed and hugely benefited by whatever happens.”

The author adds that if you‘re willing to give this concept a chance—that is, if you’re willing to accept that at this moment everything that’s happening is for your ultimate greater good–, you will be rewarded with a lifetime of happiness.

Instead of standing rigidly like an oak tree that cracks and collapses in a storm, be flexible like the bamboo tree that moves and bends with the storm and, as a result, survives. Another way of saying this is: roll with the punches.

Ask Yourself the Right Questions

In Living Your Best Life, Laura Berman Fortgang explains that we need to stop asking ourselves questions hoping to come up with information in order to understand a situation or circumstance. Information questions, such as “Why did this happen to me?”, “Why would they do that?”, “Why didn’t I get it?”, and so on, keep you stuck in the past. They make you rehash the negative scene over and over again in your mind as you struggle to make sense of what happened.

What you need to do instead is ask yourself questions that will help you to move forward. This includes questions such as the following:

What do I need to get through this?
What will get me what I want?
What is the solution?
What can I learn from this?

The basic premise is that you need to move away from trying to understand a problem and instead look for ways of solving it. Laura adds that the most powerful question you can ask yourself is: “What do I want?”.

Focus on What You Can Control

Stephen Covey explains in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People that our “Circle of Concern” is where we focus our time and energy. That is, it comprises the things in which we have mental or emotional involvement and can include things such as our health, our children, the national debt, problems at work, and so on.

Within our Circle of Concern there are some things over which we have no control, and other things we can do something about. If we draw a smaller circle within our Circle of Concern we have our Circle of Influence, which includes all those things over which we can exercise some control.

You need to focus your efforts in your Circle of Influence instead of your Circle of Concern. When something negative happens to you, instead of thinking endlessly about things over which you have no control, focus on what you can do within your Circle of Influence. This approach is closely related to the Serenity Prayer:

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

-Reinhold Niebuhr

Conclusion

In case you’re wondering, life did indeed throw me a curveball. It happened Wednesday of last week. It wasn’t one of those huge, life-altering curveballs, thank goodness, but it did leave me feeling like someone had just punched me really hard in the stomach. By following the steps outlined above I’m feeling much better now. In fact, I think I may even have found a way to turn lemons into lemonade.

Editor’s Note: This post contains affiliate links.

photo credit: Waldo Jaquith

Recommended Products:

Learn to meditate, increase your focus and concentration, boost your creativity, and augment your brain power with the Silva Life System, the world’s most popular meditation program.

Visit the Silva Life System web site and get a free course on the basics of the Silva Life System, which includes their famous 30 minute guided meditation.

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“How to Be More Creative – A Handbook for Alchemists”: Your Guide to Leading a More Creative, Inspired Life

Marelisa — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:53:37 +0000

I’m relaunching my ebook “How to Be More Creative – A Handbook for Alchemists”, which now has a beautiful new cover designed by the talented David Billings.

The ebook has 130 pages and 20 chapters and is chock full of value, as detailed further down this blog post.

The purpose of this ebook is not just to give you information, but to transform you into a more creative and innovative person.

Print it out and place it in a ring-binder; you’ll be creating a work file and adding lots of things to your binder, including creativity techniques, journal pages, quotes, photographs, ideas, and so on. At the end of almost every chapter in this ebook you’ll find instructions on what to do with your work file.

Here’s What People Are Saying About “How to Be More Creative – A Handbook For Alchemists”

“How to be More Creative – A Handbook for Alchemists” is not just a book that will help you enhance your artistic talents; it’s also about bringing more creativity into your everyday life, for problem solving and for bringing more joy and satisfaction into your life. It’s certainly a book after my own heart!

Marelisa provides an excellent roadmap for moving beyond lineal thinking. Several techniques are discussed that will get your creative juices running like a tap. In her book, she also draws on several examples of famous personalities, like Edward De Bono and Randy Ingermanson, who offer valuable lessons on how to be more creative. Her book is well researched, with extensive links and rich resources.

For anyone who wants more creativity in their life, this is the book for you!

— Evelyn Lim, life coach and writer to Attraction Mind Map, Singapore.

The word ‘alchemist’ – what does that mean? “A person who turns something common into something special.” In this ebook, you’ll find a myriad of ways in which to creatively apply this in your life – and really become an alchemist! Marelisa has created a fantastic ebook which is a resource on many, many ways to get the creative thought process really revved up in your life! And what truly makes this great is both the number of different methods on being creative, and the easy to follow understanding of each of these. If you’re looking to really increase your creativity factor, then this is just what you can use! Marelisa has created an amazing resource on creativity techniques that everyone can apply to all areas of their life right away!

Lance from “The Jungle of Life”, Wisconsin, USA

Here Are Some of the Methods, Tips, and Resources You’ll Find Inside

Three proven frameworks recommended by top creativity experts that will help you to generate ideas and find solutions to problems.

Learn how to move sideways to solve problems by taking different perspectives, questioning your assumptions, and trying different points of entry. Stop trying to solve problems by digging deeper in the same hole.

Create a “toolbox” of creativity techniques you can use to solve just about any problem.

Discover the secret formula behind the amazing creativity of the world’s most famous product design firm.

Get lots of ideas on how to break out of your routine to look at problems and challenges with fresh eyes.

Find out how to play your way to new ideas and laugh your way to solving problems.

Learn how to approach almost anything creatively and how to see life as a series of opportunities for everyday creative acts: whether you’re deciding what to wear, fixing dinner, or entertaining your child. The world-renowned psychologist Abraham H. Maslow called this kind of creativity “self-actualizing creativity”.

This ebook will teach you the secrets to get your ideas to reproduce like rabbits.

Discover how to use visual thinking to get unexpected results (it’s how Einstein developed the theory of relativity).

Learn the traits that highly creative people share (it doesn’t matter if you don’t have these characteristics now, just fake it ’till you make it).

Join the debate: is creativity work or inspiration? Learn how to skyrocket your creativity by answering that it’s both.

Learn tips on how to turn your ideas into reality.

Get step-by-step instructions on how to enter the most effective creative state there is: the flow state.

Discover even more ways to get your creative synapses firing.

Take a Look Inside

Here’s a .PDF file that contains the ebook’s table of contents and the introduction:

“Table of Contents and Introduction”

In addition, you can read an excerpt here (the excerpt did not make it into the ebook due to length considerations, but it’s a good reflection of the ebook’s content): An Excerpt From “How to Be More Creative – A Handbook for Alchemists”.

Buy “How to Be More Creative” Now

You can get your very own copy of the ebook “How to Be More Creative – A Handbook for Alchemists”–and start living a more creative and satisfying life–by clicking on the cart below:

100% Money Back Guarantee

If within the 30 days after your purchase you’re unsatisfied with the “How to Be More Creative” ebook for any reason, just send me an email and you’ll get your money back, no questions asked. Here’s my email:

marelisafabrega at gmail dot com

Become an Affiliate

If you’re a blogger you can sell “How to Be More Creative – A Handbook for Alchemists” on your blog and earn a 50% commission. That is, you sell copies of the ebook and get 50% of each sale you make.

Find out more about the affiliate program by clicking here.

More Praise for “How to Be More Creative – A Handbook for Alchemists”

Marelisa’s handbook on how to be more creative is exactly that: a handy book full of creativity. If you want to know how to increase your creativity, learn how the biggest creators in our world do it, and get tips and tricks on creative exercises you can do, then this book is for you. It is full of examples, references, exercises, descriptions and hands on experiences. It is a book you go back to often when you feel you need a little creative push. I can highly recommend it.

– Mindful Mimi, Luxemburg

Book Excerpt: “Creativity is Using Old Things in New Places”

During a lecture titled “What Does a Creative Organization Do?”, Stanford Professor Bob Sutton explains that ideas don’t come out of thin air. Creativity is using old things in new places, ways, and combinations. It’s about finding old ideas and old concepts and doing new things with them, blending them together in new ways. This includes everything from Play-Doh to Fermat’s last theorem.

Play-doh was made by a man named Joe McVicker who had a plant in Central Ohio that made a white dough-like substance for removing soot from wallpaper. There was a point in the United States where heat moved from being coal-based—which was dirty and created smudges—to gas and electric. Therefore, as people switched to the new energy sources McVicker’s market started shrinking. So McVicker asked himself what he could do with his wallpaper cleaner.

He spoke to his sister-in-law—Kay–who was a nursery school teacher. She gave the wallpaper cleaner to her students to play with and reported back to McVicker that it was much easier for little kids to play with the dough-like substance than it was for them to play with hard modeling clay. She suggested coloring it and calling it Play-Doh. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Sutton goes on to explain that Professor Andrew Wiles solved Fermat’s Theorem in 1995–which had remained unsolved since the 1600’s–by locking himself in a room for eight years using the various works of the mathematicians who came before him as puzzle pieces to solve the problem. So the solution did not come to him out of nowhere, it came as a result of picking through everything that came before him. That is, by combining old ideas.

Free Ebook – “Step-by-Step Tutorial: Write, Publish and Market Your Ebook”

Marelisa — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 11:55:30 +0000

As promised, here’s the step-by-step tutorial that will show you how to write, publish and market your ebook, in ebook form (it’s a free ebook, so go ahead and download it right away):

“Step-by-Step Tutorial: Write, Publish and Market Your Ebook”.

It’s a .PDF file which you can easily open by downloading Adobe Reader (free download).

Here’s some of the information you’ll find inside:

Five Effective Techniques to Brainstorm a List of Topics You’ll be Passionate to Write About
Tips to Apply When Assessing Your Competition
How to Create a Fabulous Table of Contents
Advice on How to Write and Edit Your Ebook
Tips on Choosing Your Ebook’s Title and Subtitle
Information on Creating Your Ebook’s Cover Page, Getting a Shopping Cart, Pricing Your Ebook, and More

Create a Schedule for Writing, Publishing, and Marketing Your Ebook

Instead of simply leaving “write ebook” as an open-ended project on your to-do list, create a detailed timeline. For example, you can set a thirty-day deadline by which you want your ebook to be up on your site. You need to set a deadline for each of the steps outlined in “Step-by-Step Tutorial: Write, Publish and Market Your Ebook”, including the date by which each chapter will be completed when you’re in the writing stage. Then make sure that you set a specific time slot in your daily calendar to devote to your ebook.

By setting up specific work times on your calendar you’ll help ensure that you meet your deadline and are able to complete your ebook in thirty days (or in the timeframe you’ve established). I hope this free ebook will help you to create a schedule for yourself so that you can get your ebook out there!

Read and Share

This ebook is free, and it’s licensed under Creative Commons, which means that you have permission to post this, email this, print this and pass it along for free to anyone you’d like, as long as you do not make any changes or edits, whatsoever, to its contents or digital format. In fact, I would appreciate it if you could pass it along to others.

Here’s the link once again to download the ebook:

“Step-by-Step Tutorial: Write, Publish and Market Your Ebook”

Related Posts:

Recommended Products:

Learn to meditate, increase your focus and concentration, boost your creativity, and augment your brain power with the Silva Life System, the world’s most popular meditation program.

Visit the Silva Life System web site and get a free course on the basics of the Silva Life System, which includes their famous 30 minute guided meditation.

Did you enjoy this article? Subscribe for free by RSS or e-mail and you’ll always know when I publish something new. (What’s RSS?).

Also, please share it on the social media site of your choice, thank you.

Write, Publish and Market Your Ebook: Step-by-Step Tutorial

Marelisa — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 08:11:18 +0000

There are many reasons to write an ebook, including selling it for a profit, as a creativity project, to share your knowledge with others, to increase traffic to your blog or web site, or to establish your expertise in a given area.

Today, one of the best businesses in the world is information publishing, and you can take advantage of this trend by publishing an ebook.

Ebooks are the perfect information product because there’s no inventory, near-zero overhead, high profit margins, no printing costs, no shipping costs– ebooks are delivered as an electronic .PDF or .EXE file over the internet–, and they’re quick and inexpensive to produce.

In addition, if you have your own information product you’re immediately recognized as more of an expert in your field. Writing an ebook can also help you to build your brand and make your ideas spread.

You can even create an ebook simply to express yourself; for example, you can publish your poetry or a short story you’ve been working on as an ebook.

Although this article is mostly directed toward bloggers who want to sell an ebook, whatever your purpose for writing an ebook may be, below you’ll find lots of information, tools, and resources you can use to get started creating your ebook right away. Join the ranks of self-published authors such as Henry Thoreau, Upton Sinclair, Anaïs Nin, and George Bernard Shaw.

You can download this article as a free ebook here: “Step-by-Step Tutorial: Write, Publish and Market Your Ebook”.

photo credit: smith

The Basic Formula

Here’s the basic formula for creating your ebook:

1. Brainstorm different topics you could write about based on your experience, interests, and knowledge. Keep in mind that you’re looking to solve a problem for others.

2. Conduct market research to make sure that there’s a market for your topic, and that the market is not overly saturated.

3. Once you’ve chosen a topic, write your ebook.

4. Publish your ebook.

5. Promote your ebook with enthusiasm.

Some Things to Consider

Some of the things you’ll need to consider during the process of creating your ebook are the following:

1. What should you write about?

2. Who will be your target audience? Is there a market for your ebook? Is that market overly saturated?

3. What will your ebook’s title be? How about the subtitle?

4. How long will it be?

5. Will it contain graphics, pictures, and charts?

6. What about ebook design? Will you do it yourself or hire someone?

7. What will the cover look like?

8. How will you turn it into a .PDF, .EXE, or other type of file which you can easily distribute to others; that is, how will you compile your ebook?

9. Will you offer it for free?

10. If you’re going to sell it, how much will it cost?

11. Will you offer a money-back guarantee?

12. How will you deliver your ebook to buyers and get paid?

13. How will you launch it?

14. How will you promote/market it?

15. Will you also publish a hard copy version?

photo credit: Svadilfari

Step 1: Have a Brainstorming Session to Create a List of Potential Topics to Write About

When deciding on a subject matter for your ebook, you should choose a topic you have a great deal of interest in and which you will genuinely enjoy writing about. You’ll be spending a lot of time researching and writing about your topic; you’ll also have to spend a lot of time promoting your ebook. The entire process takes a lot of work, and if you’re not passionate about your topic, you’re much more likely to give up.

Charlie Byrne from Early To Rise explains that it’s not really about selling information–these days people are bombarded with information all day long–, it’s about selling advice, ideas, original concepts, analysis, expert guidance, how-to pieces to help people solve their problems, and opinions people can trust.

In general, people buy ebooks to:

Make money.
Save money.
Save time.
Learn how to do something with the least amount of effort.
Attain fuller health (diet, exercise, and so on).
To learn more about their hobbies.
To have better relationships.

You’re going to start out by generating a long list of possible topics to write about, as described below.

Brainstorming Session

While brainstorming keep in mind that your objective is to come up with as many ideas as you can (think quantity, not quality at this stage of the process), that you shouldn’t judge, evaluate, or criticize the ideas that you come up with at this point, and that you can come up with a lot of ideas that are closely related, as well as ideas that initially may seem farfetched.

Here are some ways to start brainstorming about topics you could write about:

What are your innate talents (your information product can be based on explaining a process you normally perform very well)?
What skills do you use in your job?
What did you study in college? What additional courses/seminars have you taken?
What do you enjoy reading or learning about? What types of magazines do you like to read?
What do you enjoy doing in your spare time? What are your hobbies?
What types of major purchases have you made?
Do you have pets? How do you care for them?
Are you a parent? Can you provide valuable insight into some aspect of parenting?
Do your friends and family generally ask you for help in any one particular area?
If you have a blog, which are your most popular blog posts? Can you elaborate on them?
Again, if you have a blog, what questions are your readers frequently asking you in the comments section or through emails? Consider polling your readers and asking them what they would be interested in learning more about.
Visit web sites people go to in order to learn how to do things, such as ehow and Quamut. Which are popular topics in which you either have expertise, or you’re willing to do the necessary research to be able to write well about the subject and provide value? (Some more “how-to” web sites include: HowStuffWorks, SoYouWanna, WonderHowTo, and How To Do Things.) Here are some examples of problems people might be trying to solve:

Discover How to Avoid Credit Card Scams

How to Incorporate Your Small Business

A Beginner’s Guide to Growing Your Own Herbs

The Comprehensive Guide to Managing Your Time in College

Little Known Ways to Reduce Your Debt

The Bachelor’s Guide to Cooking Quick, Healthy Meals

Find topics for ebooks–or even printed books–that people are buying right now, and enter the market yourself. To find popular ebooks visit the Clickbank Marketplace (they let you sort by popularity). And, of course, to see which topics are selling well in printed books, visit Amazon.com.

photo credit: KaiChanVong

Step 2. Conduct Market Research

Once you’ve created a list of potential topics, use your critical thinking skills to narrow it down to a few topics you think have the most potential. Then it’s time to conduct market research.

If you’re going to write an ebook and your objective is to make a profit, then you need to find a market of people willing to pay for your knowledge in the topic you’ve chosen to write about. Before you get started on your ebook, you should conduct market research in order to determine the following two things:

1. Is there adequate demand for the subject you want to write about?2. Is there too much competition?

You want to find a subject matter that is in high demand, but that doesn’t have too much competition. The last thing you want to do is spend time and resources writing, publishing and marketing an ebook, only to discover that there’s very little demand for the topic or that the market is already overly saturated.

Naomi Dunford from the blog “Itty Biz” offers some excellent advice on how to conduct market research in this blog post: Finding and Wooing the Market for your Ebook.

photo credit: jurvetson

Step 3. Write Your Ebook

By now you’ve chosen a topic you’re passionate about, you’ve verified that there are people out there looking for information on your topic and willing to pay for it, and you’ve concluded that although there’s some competition out there, there’s enough room for your product.

Structure Your Ebook – Create a Table of Contents

“How to Write and Publish Your Own Ebook in 7 Days” is co-authored by Jim Edwards and Joe Vitale. The reviews the book received on Amazon are less than stellar, but one reviewer mentioned that an idea offered in the book is to write the sales page for your ebook first. This will help you focus on what your ebook needs to include to appeal to its target readership. That is, begin by keeping in mind the benefits your ebook will provide to your readers.

To structure your ebook, create an outline–which is basically your table of contents–with chapter headings and the points you want to make under each chapter heading. Some people prefer to create a mindmap instead of an outline.

A mind map is a graphic technique for representing ideas, using words, images, symbols and color. Basically, you write down your ebook’s topic at the center of a piece of paper. You draw branches leading out from the central issue, and smaller branches leading out from these. The branches are organic and free flowing, instead of being structured and rigid. The first level of branches represent the main benefits your ebook will provide to your readers and each will correspond with an individual chapter. Add only a few words per branch.

Then, from each main benefit you’re going to branch out into supporting facts, anecdotes, resources, and so on. It’s important to use color and images when creating mind maps to further stimulate both memory and imagination.

One way to brainstorm a table of contents is to once again visit Amazon and use their “Search Inside This Book” feature to get an idea of the content provided in books in your niche. You can also visit “Google Books” and take a look at the table of contents for the books in your niche for which a preview is provided. Of course, you’re just getting ideas here, you’re not copying somebody else’s table of contents.

Conduct Your Research

Here are five tips for doing your research:

1. The amount of research you’ll have to do depends on your level of expertise in your subject matter.

2. If you already have a lot of knowledge in your subject area, write down everything you know–under each chapter heading–and then do supplemental research to fill-in the blanks and to make sure that your information is up-to-date.

3. If you don’t know much about your subject matter, then you’ll have lots of research to do in order to provide value for future buyers of your ebook. Use a three-ring binder and begin collecting and organizing your information.

4. Make sure you carefully record where you found the information. You may want to go back to certain resources and you’re going to give credit to others for their ideas.

5. Your research can include online research, books, magazines, interviewing experts, conducting your own experiments and reporting on the results, and so on.

Writing Your Ebook

Here are some tips for writing your ebook:

Break up the length and structure of your sentences and paragraphs to make sure that your writing does not become monotonous.

Give your readers’ eyes a break by leaving sufficient white space.

Will images and/or diagrams help you get your point across?

Make use of lists, both bulleted and numbered.

Find a font that’s easy to read and stick to that font family.

As William Zinsser advices: “[T]he secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components. Every word that serves no function, every long word that could be a short word, every adverb that carries the same meaning that’s already in the verb, every passive construction that leaves the reader unsure of who is doing what – these are the thousand and one adulterants that weaken the strength of a sentence.” Of course, another way to say this is: “Omit needless words” (Strunk and White).

Don’t make your subject-matter too broad or general: give your readers specifics they can apply right away. Here’s a quote from Jack Hart, author of “A Writer’s Coach”: “Shrink your subject. Most of us are way too ambitious when we set out to write. So we end up with a Missouri Basin phenomenon—a flood that’s a mile wide and an inch deep. Give your readers some depth so that they can enjoy the water. Pick the most interesting, unusual, or surprising aspect of your subject and dive in.”

Make sure you edit your work. Check for grammatical, spelling, or stylistic errors. Here are three books you’ll probably want to own: The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition, The Chicago Manual of Style: The Essential Guide for Writers, Editors, and Publishers (14th Edition), and On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction. Also, get a good dictionary and Roget’s Thesaurus.

Look for more writing tips in my blog post: “54 Tips for Writers, From Writers”.

Create a Schedule

Instead of simply leaving “write ebook” as an open-ended project on your to-do list, create a deadline for each step of the project. Then make sure that you set a specific time slot in your daily calendar to devote to your ebook.

Darren from “Problogger” interviewed Leo Babauta about Leo’s ebook “Zen To Done”. Leo explains that when he was writing his ebook he had a full time job and he had to keep up with his posts at “Zen Habits”; in addition, he has a wife and six kids. Basically, he set aside two hours each morning during which all he allowed himself to do was work on his ebook. (You can read the interview here.)

Step 4. Choose Your Ebook’s Title

Your title has to be catchy in order to capture your readers’ attention, and it should contain the keywords that people use to search for information on your topic. Use the Google Ad Words Key Word Tool to find the best key words to use for your title. This will help Google searchers find your ebook. It will also bring more traffic to your site.

In addition, make sure you test both your title and subtitle. A great example is Tim Ferris’s book, “The 4 Hour Work Week.” He intended to call it “The Vagabond Millionaire.” However, after testing the market online, he found that “The 4 Hour Work Week” is what his target market wanted. Here’s an interview Leo from “Zen Habits” did with Tim Ferris in which Tim talks about selecting his title: Publishing 2.0: Tim Ferriss on Using a Viral Idea to Create a Best-seller.

The YouTube video below shows an interview with Ian Ayres, author of the bestselling book “Super Crunchers”, in which he explains that he wanted to name the book “The Death of Intuition”. However, he ran a randomized test using Google ad words and discovered that the title “Super Crunchers” produced 68% more click-throughs than “The Death of Intuition”. That is, the majority of consumers responded better to the “Super Crunchers” title.

Step 5. Compile Your Ebook

Once your ebook is written (this can be in HTML or Word), you need to “compile” it. Basically, you can choose between two formats: .EXE and .PDF (there are others, but these are the main ones). The advantage of .PDF books is that they can be read on any computer, including Macintosh computers. All you need to read a .PDF file is the free Acrobat Reader software.

Ebooks in .EXE format can only be used by Windows users–so anyone with a Macintosh computer will not be able to open the file–but the software that creates these kinds of Ebooks can be handy if you want to personalize or customize your ebook.

PDF Files

PDF stands for Portable Document Format. It’s a distribution format developed by Adobe Corporation to allow electronic information to be transferred between various types of computers. Adobe Acrobat is a full-feature PDF maker, although it may be out of some people’s price range.

If you’re not ready to purchase Adobe Acrobat, don’t despair. There are several free PDF makers out there. Keep in mind that some free PDF makers don’t hyperlink text. In addition, they may have some other shortcomings, such as limiting the size of the document that can be converted into a PDF.

You can play around with the ones listed below and choose the one that works best for you: copy some of your eBook into a sample document–about ten pages long–and use your sample document to test how different PDF converters will present your ebook.

Pdf995: You can download this pdf maker for free. I was told on twitter by @nitropdf that PDF995 is filled with lots of annoying ads, although the end result is generally good.

Google Docs: If you create a document on Google Docs it gives you the option of downloading the document as a PDF; the problem is that there’s a limit to how large the file can be.

PrimoPDF: I’ve read several positive comments about this PDF maker.

2007 Microsoft Office Add-in: Microsoft Save as PDF or XPS. This download allows you to export and save to the PDF and XPS formats if you have Microsoft Office Word 2007. (I found this tip on Dave Navarro’s blog; I’m using it for a free ebook I’m working on and so far I think it’s great).

Cute PDF: This one was recommended by @CaroHealthEd on twitter.

Open Office is free software that basically does everything that Microsoft Office does. You can create your document using Open Office and then convert it into a PDF. (This one is recommended by Seth Godin).

Ebook Compilers

Instead of a PDF Maker you can use an ebook compiler. Most ebook compilers will create an ebook by compiling an HTML page as an .EXE file. The one you select will depend on how many features you want and how professional you want the product to look.

Ebooks can be created as web pages using HTML. You can set up an ebook as a collection of web pages which a customer can view after receiving a password and login code. In effect, this method turns your ebook into a password protected web site. If you’re looking for an ebook compiler here’s an article that rates several of them: “Rating Ebook Compilers”.

Step 6. Choose Your Ebook Cover

“Your cover matters. Way more than you think.” — Seth Godin

The best thing I can do for you in this step is provide the following three links:

Tutorial: How To Create An Ebook Cover With Photoshop: This is a simple tutorial on how to create a fantastic looking ebook cover for your latest project using Photoshop.

Ecover Generator Software: This software creates high quality ebook covers (you have to purchase it). I asked Dave Navarro for his opinion on the Ecover Generator Software and he answered that he uses it, but that he recommends that you get your first cover made by a professional. Then you can tweak the source Photoshop file for future ecovers using the Ecover Generator Software.

Consider hiring a graphic designer. Here’s “The Men With Pens” and their article “Does Your eBook Design Stand Up or Fall Flat?“.

Step 7. Copyright or Creative Commons?

If you’re offering your ebook for free consider getting a Creative Commons license. With a Creative Commons license, you keep your copyright but allow people to copy and distribute your work provided they give you credit – and only under the conditions you specify. I’ll let Seth Godin try and persuade you to go down the free ebook route: “You Should Write an Ebook”.

For information on how to copyright your work, if you’re in the United States, you can visit the U.S. Copyright Office’s web site.

Step 8. Set up a Paypal Account

Even before you start writing your ebook you should create a Paypal account. Paypal is an e-commerce business which allows money to be transferred between e-mail addresses. You don’t have to pay anything upfront, although you will be charged a small fee for every book you sell (for example, my ebook “How to Be More Creative – A Handbook for Alchemists” costs $25.00 and Paypal keeps $1.03 each time I make a sale).

Don’t wait until you’re ready to sell your ebook to open your Paypal account because they verify your bank account information, which takes a few days.

Step 9. Get Your Shopping Cart at Ejunkie

You can get a shopping cart and “buy now” button at E-junkie for $5.00. They’ll charge you $5.00 every month thereafter.

E-junkie even provides you with a URL where your affiliates can sign-up; you get absolute control over affiliate percentages.

Step 10. Market/Promote Your Ebook

Here are fourteen ways to market your ebook:

1. Create a compelling landing page for your ebook. Your landing page should clearly communicate the problem your ebook will solve, or the need it will fill. Make sure that you take the time to write a benefit-rich headline that speaks directly to the reader’s self-interest.

In addition, your landing page should direct your prospects to take action. That is, to purchase your ebook, opt-in to your newsletter, subscribe to your blog, and so on.

For a great series of tutorials on how to create killer landing pages, click here.

2. Get testimonials. This tells visitors that someone other than you found the content of your ebook to be useful.

3. Give away free copies to bloggers in exchange for reviews of your ebook, or interviews with you about your ebook. This will give your ebook more credibility, expose your ebook to other bloggers’ audiences, and provide backlinks to your ebook landing page. Jonathan Mead from “Illuminated Mind” did that here.

4. Create a squidoo lens about your ebook. My squidoo lens, “How to Be More Creative”, was created to market my ebook, “How to Be More Creative – A Handbook for Alchemists”.

5. Write guest posts on the topic of your ebook. This exposes you to a wider audience and also builds backlinks to your ebook landing page. Here’s an article I wrote for “The Jungle of Life” to promote my ebook: Flip It.

6. Include your ebook in your email signature box. My email signature now reads as follows: Marelisa Fábrega, Abundance Blog at Marelisa Online, author of “How to Be More Creative – A Handbook for Alchemists”.

7. Use Twitter. Tweet about your topic frequently so that people identify you as an expert in that subject-matter. Remember that social networking is about helping others first, and then they’ll want to help you.

8. Create an affiliate program so that others market the ebook for you. Make sure that you offer affiliates a nice percentage of the commission and that you give them marketing tools to help them promote your product. You should have at least a 125 x 125 banner to offer affiliates, and preferably give them a selection of banners to choose from. Alex Fayle from “Someday Syndrome” has a well-put-together page explaining his affiliate program, which you can visit here.

9. Build a mailing list. On average, people need to see a marketing message seven times before they’ll take action and buy your product. A newsletter is a great way to keep your message in front of your audience. At the same time, by giving them quality information on a continous basis you build your credibility and create trust.

10. Write articles about your topic and send them to article directories. Three of the best article directories are Ezine Articles, Go Articles, and Article Dashboard. In addition, here’s a list of the top 21 article directories.

11. Publish excerpts from your ebook. Giving people excerpts of your ebook is the equivalent of Amazon’s “Look Inside This Book” feature. Excerpts let people get a feel for your ebook, the quality of your writing, and the type of information they can expect to find inside. You can also create a “teaser” ebook and give it away for free. In your “teaser” ebook you should provide lots of value and leave people wanting more.

I published the introduction to my ebook in the landing page, and I also published an excerpt that didn’t make it into the ebook because of length considerations. You can also also offer tips related to your ebook’s topic, offer a free ecourse, or create a video.

12. Find a Joint Venture Partner. Joint venture partners are basically the big players in your niche who you can really leverage to boost your ebook sales. Your joint venture partners should get perks such as higher commissions than your affiliates, exclusive marketing tools, and so on.

13. Create scarcity or a limited-time offer. For example, you can offer your ebook for 20% off during the first 60 days after it’s first launched in order give your offer some urgency and encourage people to act now rather than later.

14. Offer freebies. People like to feel that they’re getting a lot of bang for their buck, so see if you can offer a bonus or something extra to anyone who buys your ebook. This can be a free report, a free consultation, and so on. Again, you can offer a free report to “the first 50 people who purchase” in order to encourage quick action.

photo credit: quartermane

photo credit: Arturo de Albornoz

Some Additional Considerations

Once you have your ebook in the form of a PDF, you can use a “Print-On-Demand” service to turn it into a print book. Lulu.com is one option, but there are many more, such as Booksurge, Createspace, Wordclay and Blurb. Print on demand means that books are printed as they are ordered, rather than in advance. For example, you can use Lulu.com print-on-demand and sell your books on Amazon.com. When someone orders the book from Amazon, the order goes to Lulu, they print the book and ship it to the customer.

If you don’t have a blog or web site you can create an ebook and sell it online for free using Smashwords or Scribd.

In addition, you can think of back-end products you can sell which are related to your ebook, such as teleseminars, one-on-one coaching, a higher-end product which includes audio, workbook-pages, videos, and so on.

Conclusion

I hope you found this tutorial helpful. Any tips from people with knowledge on how to create ebooks are welcome in the comments section.

So, what’s your ebook going to be about?

Editor’s Note: You can download this article as a free ebook here: “Step-by-Step Tutorial: Write, Publish and Market Your Ebook”.

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Visit the Silva Life System web site and get a free course on the basics of the Silva Life System, which includes their famous 30 minute guided meditation.

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12 Ways to Boost Your Brain Power

Marelisa — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 07:43:40 +0000

All those who have been following this blog for some time know that I’m a big proponent of boosting your brain power in order to become more productive.

If you want your car to run faster, you tune up the engine. Likewise, if you want to get more done in less time you look for ways to enhance your brain’s performance. Below you’ll find 12 ways to boost your brain power.

photo credit: LoreleiRanveig

Believe It’s Possible to Be Smarter

In Brain Builders!: A Lifelong Guide to Sharper Thinking, Better Memory, and an Age-Proof Mind, Richard Leviton argues that in order to improve your brain you have to start by believing that it’s possible to gain more brain power. He adds that the first brain building secret he shares with his readers in his book is both the simplest and the most important:

“Believe it’s possible to be smarter, wield more brain power, and have a wider, sharper range of mental abilities. Resolve to transform your attitude.”

Keep Your Brain Alive With Neurobotic Exercises

In the book, Keep Your Brain Alive: 83 Neurobic Exercises, authors Lawrence Katz and Manning Rubin explain that an activity becomes neurobic when it meets the following conditions:

It involves one or more of your senses in a novel way.
It engages your attention.
It breaks a routine activity in an unexpected, nontrivial way.

Examples of neurobic exercises include brushing your teeth, eating, drinking, opening doors, using the control remote, and so on, but done with your opposite hand instead of the hand you normally use.

Also, taking a shower, eating, tying your shoes and so on, done with your eyes closed, are neurobic activities.

What happens in your brain when you do these activities in such a novel way is that dormant or new associations (brain cell connections) in your brain get activated. When you close your eyes when doing a task, for instance, your brain must rely more heavily on other senses not normally used for that given task. By activating and using those brain connections you strengthen them.

Eat Smaller, More Frequent Meals

Forgo the usual three square meals a day and eat more frequently – four or five small meals a day. Small meals are easier to digest and keep your brain and body constantly energized and nourished. Large meals divert nutrient and oxygen-carrying blood to your digestive tract and away from your brain. (From 20/20 Thinking).

Play Fillomino and Futoshiki

Neuroscientist Dr. Elkhonon Goldberg explains that scientific research shows that you can improve the functioning of your brain by engaging in brain fitness training.

Your brain is constantly creating new neurons and new connections, which is called neurogenesis. This means that you have the power to strengthen your mental muscles in the same way in which you strengthen your body’s mucles when you lift weights at the gym. In order to do this you need to exercise your brain in a way that’s novel, has variety, and presents constant challenge.

One way to exercise your brain is to play games such as sudoku, filling out crossword puzzles, and so on. Make sure that you play different types of games for variety, and that you keep increasing the level of difficulty.

A fun game you can try is Fillominio, which is a logic puzzle with very simple rules. You have a grid of squares, some of which contain numbers and some of which are left blank. The numbers indicate how many squares are in each group. So, for example, if you see the number “7″ that means that there are seven squares in that group. Groups with the correct number of squares in them are shaded.

The completed grid is a collection of groups, each of which is the same size as the numbers in its squares. There’s only one right solution for each grid. Play for free here.

Another fun brain teaser is Futoshiki, which you can play here.

Choose the Indian Restaurant Instead of the Steak House

Scientists from the University of California discovered that curcumin, a yellow-colored compound found in the curry spice turmeric, can slow the onset of memory loss. Small doses of curry could also help protect the brain against Alzheimer’s disease. Curries with a yellow tinge have the highest curcumin count. (Source).

Follow the Ancient Aztec’s Advice

The cacao bean, minimally processed, has in recent years been shown to be a veritable powerhouse of cognitive enhancement. For a tasty brain and body-fueling drink, do the following:

Mix a large spoonful of 100% organic cocoa powder with a bit of espresso and organic unsweetened soy milk; add some cinnamon and sprinkle with a bit of cayenne red pepper. You’ll be making a drink not unlike what the ancient Aztecs used to make.

You get protein from the soy milk, brain-enhancing cinnamon, a little brain-enhancing caffeine from the espresso, and theobromine from the chocolate. As an added benefit, the cayenne pepper helps with digestion and is also brain-enhancing. (Source).

photo credit: xicana_momma

Smell the Sandalwood

Michelle Schoffro Cook, doctor of natural medicine and author of The Brain Wash, has the following to say about the benefits of sandalwood:

“Natural scents have a direct pathway to the brain and research shows that some chemical constituents of aromatherapy oils, particularly . . . sesquiterpenes [a chemical compund found naturally in plants] can cross the blood-brain barrier and increase oxygen flow to the brain.”

Extra oxygen increases energy, immune function, positive moods, and learning. Frankincense and sandalwood are particularly effective at increasing oxygen levels in the brain. An easy way to improve your brain health is with aromatherapy.

Go Dancing

The New England Journal of Medicine published the results of a study on the effects of different recreational activities on mental acuity in aging. The study wanted to see if any physical or cognitive recreational activities influenced mental acuity. They discovered that frequent dancing offers protection against dementia.

Quoting Dr. Joseph Coyle, a Harvard Medical School psychiatrist who wrote an accompanying commentary: “The cerebral cortex and hippocampus, which are critical to these activities, are remarkably plastic, and they rewire themselves based upon their use.” That is, dancing improves cognitive reserve and increases the complexity of neuronal synapses, which makes a person more resistant to the effects of dementia.

By involving yourself in activities which require split-second rapid-fire decision making, and dancing is an excellent example of this type of activity, you will stimulate the connectivity of your brain by generating the need for new pathways.

Another suggestion that the study makes is that you do it often. (Source).

photo credit: lepiaf.geo

Add Walnuts to Your Salad

Walnuts contain alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), an essential omega-3 fatty acid, and other polyphenols that have been found to improve mood and calm inflammation that may lead to brain-cell death. They also replace lost melatonin, which is necessary for healthy brain functioning. (Source).

Keep Your Brain On Its Toes: Stimulate Creative Thinking

Michael Michalko explains in Cracking Creativity: The Secrets of Creative Genius that–when confronted with a problem–people typically look for a solution by thinking about past problems they’ve encountered. Because a certain solution worked in the past, they’re confident that it’s the best solution for the problem at hand. That is, they look for the expected, conventional response to the problem.

For example, when asked “What’s one-half of thirteen?” most people will say “six and a half”. This is thinking reproductively based on similar problems they’ve had in the past.

However, creative people think productively, not reproductively. When confronted with a problem they look for all the different ways they could possibly solve it, instead of just asking how they’ve been taught to solve it. Then they come up with many different responses, some of which are unconventional. This is how a creative thinker might answer the question “What’s one-half of thirteen?”:

Thir-teen (four letters on each side) = 4
XIII = XI and II = 11 and 2
1 and 3

Productive thinking is about generating as many choices as one possibly can. A creative thinker thinks about the problem from many different angles. This gives them a number of possible solutions to choose from.

The next time you’re confronted with a problem, instead of jumping to the first obvious solution, take a step back and see if you can find several alternatives. By stimulating your creativity in this way you’ll be keeping your brain on its toes.

photo credit: ivoryelephantphotography

Improve Your Critical Thinking

Just as you should improve your creative thinking, you should make an effort to improve your critical thinking. In Webster’s Dictionary of Synonyms, the word “critical,” implies “an effort to see a thing clearly and truly so that not only the good in it may be distinguished from the bad and the perfect from the imperfect, but also that it as a whole may be fairly judged and valued.”

Alvaro Fernandez, co-founder of sharperbrains.com, explains that instead of just believing what you’re told or what you read you should always ask yourself, “Where is the evidence?”. He adds that even if an article has been endorsed by 20 Harvard Medical School researchers and doctors, nothing should substitute your own brain in action.

Other aspects of critical thinking are to think of counterarguments–to make sure that you’ve examined both sides of the issue–, to look for an author’s motivations, and to check if what you’re reading or what you’re being told is in alignment with your own personal experience.

Improve Your Attention and Short-Term Memory

The YouTube video below shows a chimp taking an attention and short-term memory test in which numbers are flashed briefly and have to be recalled in numerical order. In each successive trial, the numbers are flashed for a briefer time. By the way, the chimp out-performed college students in this test.

Ready to test your attention and short-term memory? See if you can beat the chimp at this game. (I had to do it four times before out-performing the chimp.)

Related Posts:

Recommended Products:

Learn to meditate, increase your focus and concentration, boost your creativity, and augment your brain power with the Silva Life System, the world’s most popular meditation program.

Visit the Silva Life System web site and get a free course on the basics of the Silva Life System, which includes their famous 30 minute guided meditation.

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Quirky, Inc. – Turn Your Ideas Into Reality

Marelisa — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 21:10:46 +0000

Suppose you have what you consider to be a great idea for a product, but you don’t have the time, the money, or the know-how to turn your idea into reality. There may now be a solution for your problem.

Serial entrepreneur Ben Kaufman–who created mophie and kluster–has just launched a new enterprise called Quirky, Inc. Leena Rao from “TechCrunch” called it “social networking for product development.”

So, how does it work? Basically, you submit your idea–along with $99–and you get feedback from the Quirky community, a chance to be chosen from among the other ideas submitted that week for prototyping, and the possibility that your idea will make it to the marketplace.

Quirky’s business model is very interesting, and if you have an idea bouncing around in your head which you would like to see developed, or if you’re just interested in discovering how a product goes from being an idea in someone’s head to sitting on a shelf at Walmart, read the explanation below.

The Quirky Process

Here, in a nutshell, is the process they use at Quirky to develop a new product every few days, based on ideas submitted by the community.

One. You visit the Quirky, Inc. web site and submit your idea, along with $99.00. Kaufman explains that there’s a submission fee to make sure that people only submit those ideas which they think have a real possibility of being viable. Submissions must be non-electronic consumer products that can be retailed under $150.00.

Two. The Quirky community–that is, anyone who creates an account for free at Quirky–offers feedback on your idea in the form of comments. They offer their opinion in terms of the viability of your idea, whether it’s something they would be interesting in buying, if they’ve already seen a product similar to what you’re proposing being sold somewhere else, and so on. They also propose ways in which you could improve upon your idea.

Three. Members of the Quirky community decide which ideas to vote for among all of the ideas submitted in any one particular week. The idea that gets the most votes is the winner for the week.

Four. Quirky, Inc. has a team of professionals that will get to work on creating a prototype of the product that won for the week. During the development of the prototype, the Quirky community gets to weigh in on every step of the process: your product’s design, name, packaging, color scheme, and so on. Keep in mind that if your product is chosen you lose all rights to the product. However, you don’t have to pay anything to have the product developed, and you do get compensated, as is explained further down below.

Five. Based on your product’s price point, Quirky will determine how many units need to be pre-sold through Quirky’s online store before they can really go the distance and actually manufacture the product. In theory, the Quirky community will help pre-sell the product by telling their friends what a cool product it is and basically conducting word-of-mouth marketing. In other words, they will evangelize your product.

Six. If enough products are pre-sold–that is, if the threshold amount predetermined by Quirky is met–your product will be manufactured and will be made available for sale.

Seven.What do you get from all of this? If your product is manufactured you get 12 cents out of every dollar your product earns. (And remember, the only money that you pay throughout this entire process are the $99.00 that you paid in the beginning when you submitted your idea.)

Eight. The members of the Quirky community that participated throughout the whole development process get 18 cents out of every dollar your product earns distributed among them. In other words, even if you don’t have a product idea you can contribute with comments and suggestions to the development of all the products that are currently in the pipeline at Quirky and maybe even make some money from your contribution.

Here’s An Example: Sukido

Avi Goldfinger submitted the following idea to Quirky, Inc.: A game called “Sukido” which is basically based on the popular sudoku game, except it’s for kids. It uses large, colorful game pieces instead of numbers to make it more appealing to children. (Avi’s product was already pretty developed when he submitted it to Quirky, Inc.; some people simply submit doodles of their product, or even just a written description, which is fine.)

In the comments section over at “Quirky” you’ll notice people expanding on the idea and making it better with suggestions such as the following:

On the back of the blocks have the numbers written on them. This way kids could choose to play with the “numbers” side up when they’re ready.
Change the name to “Kidoku”.
Add magnets to the pieces so kids can play with the game in the car or on plane trips.
Sell replacement pieces to cover missing pieces.
Have a web site so that parents can download tiles with new, more difficult puzzles on them.

As you can see from the comments, the Quirky community provides useful feedback.

What If Your Idea Is Not Selected?

If your idea doesn’t get chosen–that is, it isn’t validated–then you retain the rights to your idea. Did you just lose $99.00? The Quirky team argues that you don’t lose your money because you get the following:

In-depth, real-time idea evaluation from the Quirky community, and a demographic profile of those who supported your idea and of those who did not. In other words, you now have more information with which to make the decision whether or not to proceed with your idea on your own.

Conclusion

This article is not meant to be an endorsement of Quirky, Inc. It’s meant to showcase an interesting, new business model–Quirky, Inc. was just launched last month–, to give you something to consider if you have an idea you would like to see developed and are unsure of how to proceed, and to direct you toward a site where you can see first-hand what the product development process looks like.

In addition, Quirky, Inc. is an interesting application of social networking: it’s product development through social networking.

The blog “TechCrunch” published an article about Quirky, Inc. on June 1st titled “Quirky Is A Social Network For Product Development”, and a heated discussion took place in the comments sections (with Ben Kaufman making an appearance). Some people say in the comments that it’s a great idea, and others say it’s just stupid to pay $99.00 to give your ideas away.

Some things to consider:

Are you paying $99.00 to give your ideas away?
A brilliant idea that is not executed is worthless.
Product developers could be watching the Quirky, Inc. web site waiting to snag good ideas.
If your product does not get chosen, is it worth it to pay $99.00 for getting community feedback in real time about your product and market data on who liked your idea and who didn’t?
Is a 12% return on investment for your idea good (in fact, it’s more than a 12% ROI because the only money you put down is the submission fee)?
Would you be better off developing your idea on your own?

So, what do you think? Is Quirky, Inc. a good idea? Watch the YouTube Video below (50 seconds) and let me know what you think in the comments section.

photo credit: striatic

Recommended Products:

Learn to meditate, increase your focus and concentration, boost your creativity, and augment your brain power with the Silva Life System, the world’s most popular meditation program.

Visit the Silva Life System web site and get a free course on the basics of the Silva Life System, which includes their famous 30 minute guided meditation.

Did you enjoy this article? Subscribe for free by RSS or e-mail and you’ll always know when I publish something new. (What’s RSS?).

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29 Ways to Suck Out the Marrow of Life

Marelisa — Sat, 30 May 2009 04:26:27 +0000

“I went into the woods because I wanted to live deliberately. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life . . . to put to rout all that was not life; and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” ~ Henry David Thoreau

In 1854 Henry David Thoreau’s “Walden – Or, Life In the Woods” was published. It details Thoreau’s experiences while living in a cabin he built for himself on the shores of Walden Pond, located near Concord, Massachusetts.

Through solitude, simple living, self-sufficiency, contemplation, and closeness to nature, Thoreau hoped to transcend the “desperate” existence in which he argued most people found themselves. However, there’s no need for you to move to a cabin in the woods in order to live more deliberately. Below you’ll find 29 ways to suck out the marrow of life:

photo credit: Nicholas_T

Seize the Day – “O Captain! My Captain!”

“Gather ye rosebuds while ye may. The Latin term for that sentiment is carpe diem. Seize the day. Gather ye rosebuds while ye may.” — Mr. Keating, “Dead Poets Society”

In the film “Dead Poets Society”, which is set in 1959, an English teacher–John Keating (played by Robin Williams)–teaches his students at a conservative prep school to seize the day and to live life fully through his teaching of literature and poetry. Here are some words of advice from Mr. Keating on how to seize the day:

Think for yourself.
Constantly look at things in a different way.
Strive to find your own voice.
Savor words and language.
Gather at an old Indian cave and take turns reading from Thoreau, Whitman and Shelley.
Don’t just read poetry, let it drip from your tongue like honey.

(Image taken from here.)

Make More Mistakes . . . You Learn Quicker

When she was 10 years old, SARK–Susan Kennedy–announced to her mother that she was supposed to be “a beacon of hope to the world and write books.” At the age of 55, SARK has written 16 books, in which she combines bright, scribbled pictures and handwritten pages.

Here are some of her suggestions on how to read her books:

“In a shaft of sunlight, beside a bowl of oranges, barefoot.
In the bathtub with many candles and slices of mango.
In white cotton pyjamas, under a comforter with a cat sleeping in a circle.”

And here’s some more of her advice:

Wear bright togas and meet in a drumming circle.
Make more mistakes… you learn quicker.
Swing as high as you can on a swingset, by moonlight.
Practice radical self-acceptance.
Keep toys in the bathtub.
Extend an invitation to a friend to watch movies and eat poptarts.

photo credit: Piez

Read Jim Henson’s “It’s Not Easy Being Green – And Other Things To Consider” and Watch Videos of the Muppets

During his lifetime, Jim Henson encouraged all adults to remain childlike. He credited his childlike-quality for much of his amazing creativity. Here’s how his friends remember him:

“[Jim Henson] changed our lives. He changed the world. And we’ll continue his work, because that’s how inspiration operates. People die, but inspiration lives and grows. Inspired by his gentleness, we’ll fill the world with gentleness. Inspired by his vision, we’ll fill the world with vision. Inspired by his chicken imitation, we’ll fill the world with laughter.”

Before you watch Miss Piggy getting fired in the YouTube video below, take some advice from Kermit the Frog (after all, he has his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame): “Here’s some simple advice: Always be yourself. Never take yourself too seriously. And beware of advice from experts, pigs and members of Parliament.”

Take More Risks – If You Fail, Your Psychological Immune System Will Lessen the Negative Impact

Daniel Gilbert is a Harvard College Professor of Psychology and the author of the international bestseller “Stumbling on Happiness”. He explains that people have a remarkable talent for finding ways to soften the impact of negative events.

That is, our psychological immune system moderates bad experiences–such as trying something and failing–, so these experiences don’t end up affecting us as negatively as we expect them to.

When negative things happen, like being left by a spouse or being passed over for a promotion, soon afterwards people start telling themselves things such as:

- “She never was right for me”; or

- “I actually need more free time for my family.”

Therefore, blows such as these don’t turn out to be as devastating as people would have expected them to be.

In addition, our inability to appreciate our resiliency leads us to avoid risks. This is unfortunate since–although most people think they will regret foolish actions more than foolish inactions–as Gilbert indicates: “[S]tudies show that nine out of ten people are wrong. Indeed, in the long run, people of every walk of life seem to regret not having done things much more than they regret things they did.”

So go ahead, take more risks. And if you fail, you’ll get over it.

photo credit: TheAlieness GiselaGiardino²³

Imagine You’re 100 Years Old – Ask Yourself What You Would Do Differently

Erma Bombeck–author of “If Life Is a Bowl of Cherries, What Am I Doing in the Pits?” and “A Marriage Made in Heaven: Or Too Tired for an Affair”, among many other hilarious, bestselling books–wrote about the things she would have done differently if she had her life to live over again, after she found out she was dying of cancer. Some of the things she included were the following:

I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained, or the sofa faded.
I would have eaten the popcorn in the “good” living room.
I would have worried much less about the dirt when someone wanted to light a fire in the fireplace.
I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair had just been teased and sprayed.
I would have sat on the lawn with my children and not worried about grass stains.

At the age of 85 Nadine Stair was asked what she would do differently if she had her life to live over again. Here’s part of her answer:

I would climb more mountains and swim more rivers.
I would eat more ice cream.
I would start barefoot earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall.
I would ride more merry-go-rounds.
I would pick more daisies

And of course, there’s Jenny Joseph’s “Warning, When I Am An Old Woman, I Shall Wear Purple” written in 1961:

WARNING
When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn’t go and doesn’t suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we’ve no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I’m tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick the flowers in other people’s gardens . . .
But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

photo credit: Gaetan Lee

Conclusion

A post on living more deliberately would not be complete without mentioning these three YouTube videos:

So, how do you plan to suck out the marrow of life?

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