Putting in Eye-drops is easy. Welcome to Happy Guru Podcast 36. On today’s show, Duncan shares a ‘Quick-Trick-Tip’ for the application of eye-drops. This podcast is available from http://www.happyguru.com/blog/ .. under categories, Show 36. If you enjoy these shows, please write us a review in iTunes. In between shows, you can follow Happy Guru on Facebook. Love & Good Soul Vibrations to You. Duncan.

It’s Happy Guru’s biggest ever sale. Details are in the show. The coupon code for the sale is “guruwelove3″. With over 200 new products, you’re sure to find something new from your favourite guru. You can find this podcast at http://www.happyguru.com/blog/ or you can subscribe to Happy Guru in iTunes. Thanks for listening to the show and until next time - Keep In Happy Places, Duncan. (If you don’t see the media player on this feed, please go to http://www.happyguru.com/blog page where you can find the show in the category - podcast 35 - and you will be able to hear the show from there.)

We all love BBQ cooked meals. Sausages, Capsicum slices with brushes of olive oil, char-grilled potato slices with Garlic paste, summer salads with mango, fetta cheese and sprouts with a gorgeous french dressing & a side of freshly baked bread with lots of butter … Mmm, I’m getting hungry! And carried away with food. On today’s show, Duncan grills some BBQ sausages and shares a “quick-trick-tip” on getting a better tasting result by letting the sausages cook in their own fat for a short while - and then pricking them a couple of minutes into cooking, to release the fat. Most people prick their BBQ sausages before they start to grill them. Cooking your sausages with a bit of fat makes them taste so much better. The backing track in today’s show is the very fabulous Lena Horne & “I Want A Little Doggie (Remix)”. This track comes from the hot CD compilation titled ‘Electro Swing’ which is now available at www.happyguru.com. In between shows you can get your guru fix by checking out our blog page at http://www.happyguru.com/blog - or you can send us an e-mail to . Thanks for tuning in for another Global Good Soul Auditory Stimulation from the Global Good Soul Vibration podcast, Happy Guru. Proudly supported by the wonderful team at www.happyguru.com. I hope you enjoy the show. Duncan.

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Bouncing Good Soul Vibrations
Across The Global Village ~
Happy Guru To You.

Peeling a boiled egg has never been easier. On today’s show, Duncan shares a ‘quick trick tip’ on peeling a boiled egg in the world’s fastest and most efficient manner. Also, Duncan shares a basic recipe for making mashed egg sandwiches. Happy Mother’s Day to all the gorgeous Mum’s of the world. We hope you have a wonderful day and you are made feel very special. Mum’s work hard and deserve all our love and appreciation on every day of the year - not just Mother’s Day. Thanks for tuning in for another Global Good Soul Auditory Stimulation from the Global Good Soul Vibration podcast, Happy Guru - proudly supported by the wonderful team at www.happyguru.com. Get your Guru Fix in-between shows by following HappyGuru.com on Facebook or going to our Blog page (www.happyguru.com/blog), where you will find this podcast and the full back catalogue of all our podcast episodes. Keep In Happy Places, Duncan.

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Bouncing Good Soul Vibrations
Across The Global Village ~
Happy Guru To You.

My friend Dom drives a train on the Sydney Metro Rail Network. My house is on the same road that runs by the side of the tracks. Dom often sends me a Facebook message or text to say he’s coming through my area, so I go out and wave when he comes past. Today’s show is my simple fun with a friendly train driver and his Toot Toots from the train. I hope you enjoy this silly show. Brought to you by Duncan & www.happyguru.com - Thanks for downloading the show.

25 days from now is Earth Hour day. Earth Hour started with a question: How can we inspire people to take action on climate change? The answer: Ask the people of Sydney to turn off their lights for one hour. On 31 March 2007, 2.2 million people and 2100 Sydney businesses turned off their lights for one hour - Earth Hour. This massive collective effort reduced Sydney’s energy consumption by 10.2% for one hour, which is the equivalent effect of taking 48,000 cars off the road for a year. With Sydney icons like the Harbour Bridge and Opera House turning their lights off, and unique events such as weddings by candlelight, the world took notice. Inspired by the collective effort of millions of Sydneysiders, many major global cities are joining Earth Hour in 2008, turning a symbolic event into a global movement. To alter the course of climate change we must act now. Originating in Sydney in 2007, the Earth Hour campaign has now gained global attention. As a result, on 8pm March 29, 2008 millions of people in some of the world’s major capital cities will unite and switch off for Earth Hour. Cities registered to participate this year include: Adelaide, Atlanta, Bangkok, Brisbane, Canberra, Chicago, Christchurch, Copenhagen, Dublin, Manila, Melbourne, Montreal, Odense, Ottawa, Perth, Phoenix, San Francisco, Suva,
Sydney, Tel Aviv, Toronto & Vancouver. Chicago will serve as the U.S. flagship city for Earth Hour in 2008, with Atlanta, Phoenix and San Francisco joining as leading partner cities. But everyone throughout the US and around the world is invited and encouraged to turn off their lights for an hour on March 29 at 8 p.m.

What will you do when the lights are off? Why not change out those old energy-wasting light bulbs to new, inexpensive and efficient compact fluorescent. Earth Hour is also a great time to consider what you and your family can do in the days and months following, to reduce emissions and live more sustain-ably. Turning the lights off for Earth Hour is a great first step, but if you really want to see a difference, then make Earth Hour part of your everyday life. Simple things like turning off appliances while not in use and switching your light globes to energy efficient bulbs, will all help us reach our goal of reducing our annual emissions by 5%. Even something as simple as turning out lights when you’re not in a room and switching to cleaner sources of electricity like “green power”, make a big difference. For more tips on reducing energy consumption in your home - please refer to Happy Guru Podcast 17 - Standby.

Why not sign up to Earth Hour. Not only will you really feel part of it, but you’ll also receive lots of useful tips and tools. You can register as either an individual, organization, school or business. Once registered, you will receive information on what you can do to be more involved in Earth Hour. To sign-up - please visit - www.earthhour.org/sign-up
You can Tell a friend. Better still, tell all your friends, and your family, and your workmates. Just email them with a link to the Earth Hour web-site.
Create your own Earth Hour – learn how to organize Earth Hour in your town or local community. If you’ve registered as a business, don’t be afraid to advertise your support for Earth Hour.

To support - you can also buy a t-shirt from WWF (www.wwf.org.au/shop). If you’d like to take a more significant role in Earth Hour 2008, contact WWF to find out about support opportunities. Earth Hour have MySpace and FaceBook pages. So far there are 3909 businesses and 63 000 individuals registered on www.earthhour.org

To be in contact with Happy Guru and The Global Good Soul Vibration Podcast - or go to our contacts page www.happyguru.com/contact

The Global Good Soul Vibration Podcast has hit the Dirty Thirties mark - this is Podcast 30! Yay. What a busy weekend in Sydney and around Australia it was this weekend. It was The Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras 30th Birthday Celebration and Street Parade Festival on Saturday night and Clean Up Australia Day on Sunday. There’s a Quick Trick Tip in today’s show on cutting up a Tomato with a blunt (or not so sharp knife) and a general round-up of the weekend’s events in the city. Have a beaut start to the week and thank you so much for listening to the show. Love to you all, Duncan. Today’s podcast was proudly brought to you by www.happyguru.com

Baba Ghanoush or Baba-Ganouj is one of my all time favourite foods at BBQ time. There’s nothing better than a big spoonful of Baba ghanoush, some salad (usually fresh home-made Tabbouleh) and a fresh piece of Lebanese Bread. Yummo. On today’s show, Duncan calls up Mary on the telephone to get her gorgeous Baba Ghanoush recipe - an authentic and simple traditional Lebanese recipe that tastes absolutely divine. I hope you make some the next time you have a BBQ. And be sure to let me know how it goes. Today’s Global Good Soul Vibration Podcast was proudly brought to you by the wonderful folk at www.happyguru.com - Have a beaut day. Duncan.

When you dine with friends at a restaurant or when you go on a date, who pays the bill? What is the common courtesy? Sometimes the payment of a bill at the end of a meal can be slightly uncomfortable, so in today’s show - let’s discuss some quick ideas that might give you food for thought the next time you go out to eat or drink with friends. Today’s Global Good Soul Vibration Podcast was proudly brought to you by Duncan and www.happyguru.com. Thanks for listening and Have a beaut day.

G’day Gurus and Thanks for joining me today for a special Happy Guru auditory stimulation where I’ll be taking you through a visualisation exercise. This podcast episode is designed so that you can refer back to this audio when you need some time-out for a moment of meditational solitude. This audio is a peaceful visualisation exercise that will assist and guide you through a meditation. I’ll be taking you to a peaceful place in the tropical sun where you can take back control of your breathing and bring calm to your mood. This meditation is designed to be used wherever you need a mood balance rescue - be it at home on the floor or even waiting at the airport in the departure lounge. You can effectively participate in the visualisation by sitting in a relaxing chair or lying flat on the floor or on a bed.

Before we get started - it’s important that you find yourself somewhere comfortable and quiet, somewhere where you won’t be distracted for duration of the exercise. Whether you’re doing this exercise in a chair, lying on a bed or better still, lying flat on a floor - it’s essential that you loosen your clothing and remove any accessories such as watches, necklaces or belts - and it’s a good idea to remove your shoes. Remember that our body temperature starts to lower as we retire into a relaxed state of consciousness - it’s a good idea to have a blanket on standby in case you start to feel a too cool throughout the exercise. Lastly, I recommend you have yourself a big drink of a glass of water before the exercise - preferably water at room temperature.

Ok - Let’s start to move into our peaceful space through this relaxing visualisation. If you are sitting in a chair - make sure your feet are flat on the floor and your legs and knees are relaxed and supported. You can rest your arms on the arm rests or rest your hands in your lap. If you are laying down for the exercise, spread your legs apart at an even and comfortable distance, with your toes pointing up. Have you arms rest by your side with your hands sitting in the most natural position or pose. Make sure your head is supported with a pilliow.

Let’s now start with our meditation. Close your eyes. In your own time, take at least three or four deep breaths of air and as you exhale - allowing your body to feel the release of air. Big deep breaths in through the nose and out again through your mouth. Be aware of the breath and making the breathing cycle slightly slower. Your breath will fall into it’s own relaxed rate as your now start to wind down and relax. You might like to imitate a yawn or perhaps you will naturally yawn anyway, now that you are concentrating on slowing down your breathing and your bringing your conscious state into a relax moment.

We’re going to start out the exercise by imagining that we’re standing in a beautiful patch of rain-forest - this lush rain-forest runs along a beautiful stretch of tropical sandy beach. We’ve been walking through the rain-forest in the direction of the beach - the last bit of forest track that will eventually lead us out onto the sandy shores of the beach. But before we leave the rain-forest, we stop and stand to look above us and take in the lush greens and immense canopies of the tall and old rain-forest trees. We can see the strong sunlight beams streaming through breaks in the trees foliage - like rays of glistening energy and life-force. We can hear exotic birds and sounds that soothe our soul with a reassurance that nature is abounding. The smell of the air is crisp, clean, fresh and alive with wonderful exotic smells. The birds are singing so happily and chattering to the other birds in the forest. You take in a few deep breaths to smell the abundant rain-forest aromas. Satisfied that you have taken a moment to stop and sense the last bit of the rain-forest before you walk out onto the beach - you start to walk slowly again, coming towards the end of the track that leads you out of the rain-forest and onto the white sand of the beach. You can see the sand of the beach appearing in your view and you start to notice the pristine foreshore and the incredible whiteness of the sand. You’re quietly hoping that no-one will be on the beach today - so you can
be alone on this patch of paradise for this personal moment of reflection in your day. As you emerge from the last bit of rain-forest foliage where the track now meets the sand, you stop and stand still on the slightly higher patch of sand dune to marvel at the incredible view - the brilliant mixes of jade green and iridescent blue waters of the ocean foreshore - where the water level is met at various points by long, winding & odd shaped flat sand bars - a few of the sand bars have some sea gulls and pelicans on them, just enjoying the sun. You look up and down the beach and see that no-one is in sight - your so pleased because the beach is all yours to enjoy. There’s not a soul to be found. You feel blessed that this magnificent patch of paradise is all yours to enjoy for this very special day.

You now start to leave the forest edge & walk towards to the water’s edge - where you start to hear the soft rolling sounds of the ocean waves. The sand is hot here because you’re not at the water just yet. You walk as far as the small waves where you kick off your sandals and let your feet feel the cool washes of the water on your ankles. The waves are so small. They roll in like delicate brushes of energy. You can smell the ocean’s salty breezes and the smells of the sea life that carries with it. You can smell dried cuttlefish shells and sweet smelling ocean aromas that remind you of holidays with your family and friends - happy days are remembered, from your childhood. For a moment you even hear memories in your head - memories of laughter and children playing - but these are only memories - there’s no-one in sight. The memories give you a feeling of happiness and peace about how life is so wonderful by the sea. You leave your towel next to your sandals on the dry sand so you can walk freely - you start to walk along the beach with the rain-forest on your right hand side. The ocean is on your left. You walk on the water’s edge so as to catch the small waves of water on your feet. The sandy shore is flat and even and the sand is nice and firmly packed - allowing you to walk with ease and not sinking into the wet sand. You can even hear your footsteps making a sharp & wet squelching sound as you walk. You can see tiny beach crabs scatter from their sand holes - from one hole to another - and to the water. You now notice the sun is directly in front of you - high in the sky - you tilt your head slightly upwards to feel the warm energy and light all over your face. It feels like the sun is there for you - and for no one else. The feeling brings a small smile to your face and you suddenly feel so happy and content in your heart. Nothing in the world is bothering you now - you have the blessing of the most gorgeous day from mother nature on your side. For a moment as you walk, you start to swing your arms together, back and forth - as if to make a conscious decision to swing out any tense energies or heavy thoughts - swinging bad or heavy or negative energies out of you - and releasing them to the air to leave them behind. You shake your hands and your fingers. You notice how wonderful it feels to shake the tension and stress out of your body so you stop walking and decide to face the water and do some stretches. You bend at the hips to whoosh your arms from front to back and you stretch up as high as you can to stretch out your whole body. As you stretch out nice and tall - your make funny faces by making stretching expressions and crunches with the skin on your face. The skin tingles and feels good. You stretch your body more and feel the sun’s energy move into every pore of your body’s muscles and you let out a big stress releasing yawn. You swing at the hips and let you arms swing around your body freely - flapping against your body as you reach each swinging turn of the hips. You tilt your head from one side to another and back again - you even hear some small cracks in your neck and although the sound startles you slightly - you feel so much more relaxed in your head & neck area having done the neck tilts. Your neck feels looser and less tense. You are feeling so relaxed and more loose in your whole body. The sea breeze carries to the palm trees behind you where you hear the sounds of their big leaves swaying with the energy that blows onshore - the breeze keeps your face cool and the sun continues to energise your whole body.

You notice the sand bars again and one in particular comes right to the shore just before where you are standing. The water level is just shy of the sand and the sand bar meets the shore - as if it’s an invitation for you to walk out onto the sand bar. The water either side is shallow and green - glistening with sparkles of silver shimmers. You decide to walk out onto the sand bar and stop in the middle of your new found sandy island patch - where you’re now surrounded by water in nearly all directions. The sand is clean and firm so you decide to lie down and stretch out your arms and legs into a star shape. Your arms and legs are stretched out as much as possible in an effort to capture all the energy from the sun. You see some clouds and make some shapes out of their form. You see a dog or a cat shaped cloud and you see other objects that are strangely familiar to you. It reminds you of when you were young and you took the time to look at the clouds and how you would see so many things in the formation of the cloud. The small patch of clouds move so slowly across the sky above you - and their shapes alter into new objects as the glide across the bright blue sky. Some edges of the clouds cast a shadow over your face for just a couple of seconds at a time. You turn your attention to your sandy palms and the sand under your finger nails and you close your eyes as you flick the tips of your fingers as if to try and remove the sand from beneath the nails. Your close your eyes because the sun is bright - your body is calm - you feel safe, warm and so incredibly relaxed. You have thoughts about feeling blessed to be the person who you are and how wonderful life really is. You think that despite the troubles you had in your mind before you started your walk today - you now feel like you’re one of the luckiest people alive. You’re in a patch of paradise that for this moment in time - you own and can enjoy - all to yourself. You feel safe, warm, loved & happy - all is at peace in your world. As you lie there on the warm sand with the sea breezes brushing over your face - you notice your breathing has slowed down and that your breaths are now shallow and less frequent. Your whole body is safe, warm, loved & happy. Your mind is calm. You’re at peace.

My guided voice instructions to your visualisation will stop in a moment to allow you to enjoy your moment in the sun. But before so, please take a moment to give yourself permission to be free of any troubling thoughts that have been bothering you. If there is something in particular in your life that you need to find a solution for and up until now no solution has been found - rest for now in the belief that time takes care of everything and that you will soon know all the answers to these questions. If you have been feeling pain in relation to a troubling life circumstance - allow yourself to feel the pain and sorrow by giving permission to yourself to know that it’s ok to feel such a way and that you will soon be with a much better understanding of the matter. Allow yourself now to not have to worry about life and your problems - allow yourself to relax & think about nothing but the nature that surrounds you in your beautiful patch of tropical beach paradise.

You will be welcomed back to your normal day from this visualisation exercise when you will start to hear a ritual drumming beat from the distance from behind the trees. The drum beat will be your awakening. For now - enjoy the sea breezes and sun - you feel safe, warm, loved & happy. Your mind is calm - You feel safe, warm, loved & happy.

We now start to think about sitting up to see where the drum beats are coming from. So we lift our body with one elbow and support ourselves with our hands behind us holding us upright. We stretch and yawn into the sunlight and adjust our eyes and view of the horizon. We turn slightly to look back up the beach from where we came and we can see our partner or our best friend walking down the beach waving with your towels and they have a big smile. They’re so happy to see you - although they’re a fair way down the beach - they’re slowing walking towards you. You can now stand and walk to the water and lie in the cool shallows to cool down. By the time you have finished enjoying the shallow water next to your sand bar - your friend appears standing by your side. You’re so relaxed now and happy to see them - so you get to your feet and you embrace each other in a big warm and embracing hug. No words are spoken, you simply hug and enjoy the moment.

That brings us to the end of the visualisation exercise. Hopefully you are more relaxed and peaceful and with a renewed outlook in your day. Thanks for taking part in this visualisation with me and I hope you with refer back to this audio session when you are in need of a moment of meditation or solitude. Bye for now.

White Distilled Vinegar is a popular household cleanser, effective for killing most mould, bacteria and germs - this is due to the acidity level of vinegar. Cleaning with white distilled vinegar is a smart way to avoid using harsh chemicals. You’ll also be pleased to know that it’s environmentally friendly and very economical. So you can save some cash and prevent harming the environment when you next clean your house. Following here today are loads of cleaning tips that you can use in and around your home. Also in today’s show I mention http://reef.beachwalks.tv/ and their Vlogcast where Happy Guru gets a mention. Please check out the show - it’s episode 591. To reference more great “Quick Trick Tips” on cleaning with vinegar, please visit www.vinegartips.com - Today’s Global Good Soul Vibration Podcast was proudly brought to you by www.happyguru.com and your host is Duncan. Thanks for tuning in and tuning out to the show. Ok - here’s some tips to keep you busy cleaning with vinegar.

Shine chrome sink fixtures that have a lime buildup, use a paste made of 2 tablespoons salt and 1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar.
Make your own scouring cleanser by combining 1/4 cup baking soda with 1 tablespoon liquid detergent. Add just enough white distilled vinegar to give it a thick but creamy texture.

Clean counter tops and make them smell sweet again with a cloth soaked in undiluted white distilled vinegar.

Clean and deodorize a drain by pouring in 1 cup baking soda, then one cup hot white distilled vinegar. Let this sit for 5 minutes or so then run hot water down the drain.

Deodorize the garbage disposal by pouring in 1/2 cup baking soda and 1/2 cup hot white distilled vinegar. Let sit for 5 minutes then run hot water down the disposal.

Deodorize and clean the garbage disposal with white distilled vinegar ice cubes. Make them by freezing full-strength white distilled vinegar in an ice cube tray. Run several cubes down the disposal while flushing with cold water.

Clean the microwave by mixing 1/2 cup white distilled vinegar and 1/2 cup water in a microwave-safe bowl. Bring it to a rolling boil inside the microwave. Baked-on food will be loosened, and odors will disappear. Wipe clean.

Clean the shelves and walls of the refrigerator with a half-and-half solution of water and white distilled vinegar.

Cut the grime on the top of the refrigerator with a paper towel or cloth and full-strength white distilled vinegar.

Avoid the bad smell when you heat up a newly cleaned oven by using a sponge soaked in diluted white distilled vinegar for the final rinse.

To clean a grease splattered oven door window, saturate it with full-strength white distilled vinegar. Keep the door open for 10 to 15 minutes before wiping with a sponge.

Remove soap buildup and odors from the dishwasher by pouring a cup of white distilled vinegar inside the empty machine and running it through a whole cycle. Do monthly.

To prevent good glassware from getting etched by minerals, wash then spray with full-strength white distilled vinegar. Give the glasses a hot water rinse before letting them dry or drying them with a towel.

For cloudy glassware, soak paper towels or a cloth in full-strength white distilled vinegar and wrap around the inside and outside of the glass. Let sit awhile before rinsing clean.

Get rid of lime deposits in a tea kettle by adding 1/2 cup white distilled vinegar to the water and letting it sit overnight. If more drastic action is needed, boil full-strength white distilled vinegar in the kettle a few minutes, let cool and rinse with plain water.

Remove mineral deposits from coffee makers with white distilled vinegar. Fill the water reservoir with 1 cup or more of white distilled vinegar and run it through a whole cycle. Run it once or twice more with plain water to rinse clean. (Check the owners’ manual first.)

Remove stains from coffee and teacups by scrubbing them gently with equal parts of salt (or baking soda) and white distilled vinegar. Rinse clean.

For stained and smelly plastic food containers, wipe them with a cloth dampened with white distilled vinegar.

Remove odors from a lunch box by placing inside a slice of bread that has been soaked in white distilled vinegar. Leave overnight.

Remove ugly film in narrow-necked glass jars, flower vases, and bottles by letting undiluted white distilled vinegar sit in them for a few hours. Add a little rice or sand and shake vigorously to loosen stubborn stains. Repeat if necessary.

To clean tarnished brass, copper, and pewter, use a paste with equal amounts of white distilled vinegar and table salt.

Make a metal cleanser by adding enough white distilled vinegar to 2 tablespoons of cream of tartar to make a paste. Rub it on and let it dry on the surface. Wash it off and dry with a soft cloth.

Polish brass and copper with a mixture of 2 tablespoons of ketchup and 1 tablespoon white distilled vinegar. Rub it on with a clean cloth until dry and shiny.

Remove dark stains on an aluminum pot by boiling a mixture of 1 cup white distilled vinegar and 1 cup hot water.

Discourage ants by spraying undiluted white distilled vinegar outside doorways and windowsills, around appliances and wherever you find the pests coming in.

Get rid of fruit flies by setting out a small dish of undiluted white distilled vinegar.

Remove the smell of spoiled food from a refrigerator by first rinsing the area with soap and water. Spray surfaces with full-strength white distilled vinegar and wipe them down with a damp cloth or sponge. Fill some containers with baking soda and place inside. Close the door and leave for a few days.

Wipe grease off exhaust fan grids, the inside of your oven, or anywhere grease gathers with a sponge soaked in white distilled vinegar.

To remove a label, decal, or price tag, cover with a cloth soaked in white distilled vinegar. Leave the cloth on overnight and the label should slide off.

Renew sponges and dishrags by placing them in just enough water to cover them. Then add 1/4 cup white distilled vinegar. Let them soak overnight.

Get rid of calcium deposits on faucets by soaking a cloth or paper towel in white distilled vinegar and wrapping the area tightly. Let this sit for a couple of hours or overnight.

Remove soap buildup from faucets by scrubbing them with a solution of 1 part salt to 4 parts white distilled vinegar.

Shine colored porcelain sinks by scouring them with undiluted white distilled vinegar.
Rinse away soapy film on countertops with a solution of white distilled vinegar and water.

Clean grout by letting full-strength white distilled vinegar sit on it for a few minutes and scrubbing it with an old toothbrush.

Kill germs all around the bathroom with a spray of full-strength white distilled vinegar. Wipe clean with a damp cloth.

To remove grime, mildew, and scum from the tub, tile, shower curtain or door, wipe with undiluted white distilled vinegar. Rinse with water.

Spray shower doors with full-strength white distilled vinegar after you’ve squeegeed the glass, or before you step in and turn on the water. It will help release the hard water deposits so they don’t remain on the glass.

Mix up an inexpensive tile cleaner by adding 1/2 cup baking soda, 1 cup white distilled vinegar, and 1 cup ammonia to a gallon of warm water.

Get rid of stubborn bathtub film by wiping it with white distilled vinegar and then scouring with baking soda.

Soak a sponge or loofah overnight in a strong white distilled vinegar and water solution to remove dirt and slime. Rinse several times with cold water and let air dry (in the sun if possible).

Clean shower door tracks by filling them with white distilled vinegar and letting it sit for a few hours. Pour hot water into the tracks and wash and scrub away the scum with a toothbrush.

To clean a scummy shower head, pour 1/2 cup baking soda and 1 cup white distilled vinegar into a sandwich bag and tie it around the showerhead. Let this set for an hour after the bubbling has stopped. Remove the bag and then turn on the water.

Deodorize the toilet bowl by allowing 3 cups white distilled vinegar to sit in it for about a half hour before flushing.

To make the toilet bowl sparkle, pour in a cup or more of diluted white distilled vinegar and let it sit several hours or overnight. Scrub well with the toilet brush and flush.

Freshen air in the bathroom by spraying into the air a solution of 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 tablespoon white distilled vinegar, and 1 cup water.

Get a shining finish on a no-wax vinyl or linoleum floor by cleaning it with a solution of one cup white distilled vinegar for every gallon of water. Apply full-strength white distilled vinegar directly to tough linoleum stains. Leave it on for 10 to 15 minutes before wiping it up. If that doesn’t work, apply white distilled vinegar again and then sprinkle some baking soda over the white distilled vinegar. Scrub the area with a brush or sponge. Rinse clean with water.

For an economical and environmentally friendly floor cleaner, mix a solution of 3 drops dishwashing liquid to 1/3 part white distilled vinegar, 1/3 part alcohol, and 1/3 part water. Spray sparingly and mop for a fast clean-up.

Some carpet stains can be removed with a paste of 2 tablespoons white distilled vinegar and 1/4 cup salt or baking soda. Rub into the carpet stain and let dry. Vacuum up the residue the next day. (Always test on an out-of-sight part of the carpet first).

Bring out the color in carpet by brushing it with a solution of 1 cup white distilled vinegar for every gallon of water. (Always test on an out-of-sight part of the carpet beforehand).

To reduce soap bubbles in a steam cleaner add about 1/4 cup white distilled vinegar. Use the same amount in the rinse water to remove detergent residue and make carpets stay fresh longer.

Wash indoor/outdoor carpet with a solution of 1 cup white distilled vinegar in 1 bucket of warm water. Scrub using a brush or a broom and then hose off.

Clean up pet accidents by first blotting up the area and then adding a white distilled vinegar-and-water solution. Blot until it is almost dry. Then sprinkle baking soda over the area and let it dry. Vacuum up the residue the next day.

Create your own window cleaning solution by combining 1/2 cup non-sudsy ammonia, 1 cup white distilled vinegar, and 2 tablespoons cornstarch in a gallon of water.

Remove the wax residue left by commercial window cleaners with a solution of 2 cups water, 1 cup white distilled vinegar and 1 teaspoon of liquid soap or detergent.

To remove paint splatters from windows apply full-strength white distilled vinegar with a clean paintbrush.

Get rid of mildew, dust, and stale odors by wiping down walls with undiluted white distilled vinegar on a cloth or a sponge mop.

Clean wood paneling with a solution of 1/4 cup olive oil, 1/2 cup white distilled vinegar, and 2 cups warm water. Wipe on with a soft cloth.

Remove wallpaper easily by using a paint roller to wet the surface very thoroughly with a solution of equal parts white distilled vinegar and hot water. Or spray on until saturated.

Get decals off walls or doors by letting undiluted white distilled vinegar soak into them for several minutes before trying to peel them off. Repeat if necessary.

Remove fireplace soot and grime with undiluted white distilled vinegar. Use a brush to scrub and a towel to blot up the wetness and dirt.

Clean fireplace glass doors with a solution of 1 part white distilled vinegar to 2 parts water. Spray or wipe on, then wipe clean with a dry cloth.

To kill germs, spray full-strength white distilled vinegar on doorknobs and then wipe them dry.

Remove the smell of a dead mouse or other rodent (after removing all animal remnants) by wiping down the area with either white distilled vinegar. Then place a fabric softener sheet in the area to remove any lingering odors.

Never use white distilled vinegar on marble. The acid can damage the surface.

Before painting old concrete, clean with full-strength white distilled vinegar. Let it air dry.

Clean hardened paint brushes by simmering them in a pot with white distilled vinegar. Soak them first for an hour before bringing the white distilled vinegar to a simmer. Drain and rinse clean.

Remove mud and stains from plastic, fiberglass, or aluminum sports equipment by applying a paste of 1 part white distilled vinegar to 3 parts baking soda. Wipe off with soapy water and rinse with clear water.

Clean your grill by spritzing white distilled vinegar over wadded up aluminum foil and scrubbing the grill vigorously with it.

To remove film in glass baby bottles, fill with equal parts hot water and white distilled vinegar. Let sit for at least an hour. Scrub with a bottle brush.

To clean and disinfect baby toys add a good-sized splash of white distilled vinegar to soapy water.

Clean vinyl baby books or board books by wiping with white distilled vinegar. Wipe clean with a damp sponge or cloth.

Clean scissors that have become sticky (after cutting tape, for instance) with a cloth dipped in undiluted white distilled vinegar.

Clean and deodorize urine on a mattress with a white distilled vinegar and water solution. Then sprinkle the area with baking soda and let dry. Brush or vacuum the residue after it is dry to the touch.

Shine pennies by soaking them for a couple of hours or overnight in a glass or bowl of undiluted white distilled vinegar.

I love poached eggs. So let’s make some! Yum. There’s nothing better than fresh farm eggs and even better, when they’re cooked the perfect way. A glass of freshly squeezed orange juice, hash browns and a cup of tea on a Sunday morning. Wow. Now that’s what I call a good old fashion hearty breakfast. In today’s Global Good Soul Vibration Podcast - Duncan runs you through his favourite method to making the perfectly poached egg. Get it in your belly! Enjoy your weekend and Keep in happy places. Love to you all and Happy Valentine’s Day for yesterday. Today’s show was sponsored by www.happyguru.com

Today is a very special day in Australian history. On a day like today - I am very proud to be an Aussie. After many years of grose negligence and disregard for the Aboriginal Indigenous people of Australia - after years of public pressure from millions of everyday black and white Australians - The federal government of Australia, led by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, issued a formal apology to the people of the Stolen Generations.

For millions of Australians - this long overdue apology from our government was one of the biggest blessings in our humanitarian history as a nation.

Regardless of the political undertones of what this day might mean to some - for myself - it is for the sake of the peace offering and the process of our nations reconciliation between Aboriginal Indigenous and non-Aboriginal Indigenous people - that i am most proud. Happy Guru are not here to endorse or promote the political views of our current government - in fact - I am such a fence sitter when it comes to the game of politics. But I must say - when a government acts in a way that shows that are as human as the rest of us - I can’t help but feel mighty proud and pleased that we have a government that is concerned with not just the financial state of our nation - but also the regard for the human condition and it’s health.

There are sadly however, a small minority of people in Australia (most of which are non indigenous white Australians) who deny the importance of this federal governement apology to our Aboriginal Indigenous people - and these people still argue that this apology is a weak and submissive act for our government to offer to the Aboriginal Indigenous of Australia.

Allow me to explain a little more about what the term Stolen Generation refers to. The Stolen Generations (or Stolen Generation) is a term used to describe the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, usually of mixed descent, who were removed from their families by Australian government agencies and church missions, under various state acts of parliament, denying the rights of parents and making all Aboriginal children wards of the state, between approximately 1869 and 1969.

Up to 100,000 Aboriginal children were taken forcibly or under duress from their families by police or welfare officers. Most were under 5 years of age. There was rarely any judicial process. To be Aboriginal was enough. They are known as the ‘Stolen Generations’.

Most Aboriginal Indigenous children were raised in Church or State institutions. Some were fostered or adopted by white parents. Many suffered physical and sexual abuse. Food and living conditions were poor. They received little education, and were expected to go into low grade domestic and farming work.
The main motive was to ‘assimilate’ Aboriginal children into European society over one or two generations by denying and destroying their Aboriginality.
Speaking their languages and practising their ceremonies was forbidden. They were taken miles from their country homeland, some went overseas. Parents were not told where their children were and could not trace them. Family visits were discouraged or forbidden; letters were often destroyed. The physical and emotional damage to those taken away was profound and lasting. Most Aboriginal Indigenous children grew up in a hostile environment without family ties or cultural identity. As adults, and as you can imagine - many suffered insecurity, lack of self esteem, feelings of worthlessness, depression, suicide, violence, delinquency, abuse of alcohol and drugs and inability to trust. Lacking a parental model, many had difficulty bringing up their own children.

A National Inquiry was set up in 1995. Its 1997 Report ‘Bringing them Home’ contained harrowing evidence. It found that forcible removal of indigenous children was a gross violation of human rights which continued well after Australia had undertaken international human rights commitments. It was racially discriminatory, because it only applied to Aboriginal children on that scale, and it was an act of genocide contrary to the Convention on Genocide, (which forbids ‘forcibly transferring children of a group to another group’ with the intention of destroying the group).

The Stolen Generation has received significant public attention in Australia following the publication in 1997 of the report ‘Bringing Them Home’. The accuracy and fairness of the term “Stolen Generation” is still a controversial issue in Australia as the reasons for the removal of the majority of children are still a matter of debate and investigation. Questions regarding whether policies of removing children based solely on their Aboriginality were adopted or widely adopted, and on what scale it occurred, remain controversial topics within Australian political discourse. On February 13, 2008, which is today’s date - the federal government of Australia, led by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, issued a formal apology to the Stolen Generations.

Right across Australia from Uluru (Ayers Rock) in the red centre outback of Australia and remote Aboriginal Indigenous communities across Australia - to inner city Indigenous suburbs and into the city centres of our state capitals. Large outdoor television screens were placed in outdoor areas where millions of Australians stopped to hear our Prime Minister offer a formal apology to the people of the stolen generation. As you can well imagine - today was a very proud - happy and emotionally charged day in the history of Australia.

Audio from the Prime Ministers Speak is inserted to the podcast here.

So there you have it - a formal apology from Prime Minister, Mr Kevin Rudd - on behalf of the Federal Government of Australia. Now that the apology has been offered to the Aboriginal Indigenous people of Australia - there is so much work to be done to correct the wrong doings our past - and to now put into place measures that nurture, protect and better understand our Aboriginal Indigenous people. Aboriginal Indigenous people are national treasures of our land - today marks the beginning of a new chapter in Australian history - whereby we can now hopefully look forward to a more equal treatment towards all people of Australia - Aboriginal Indigenous and non-Aboriginal Indigenous people and also new Australians were brought closer together in Australia and now more than ever in our history as a nation we are a closer community that makes our nation a more coherent and equally respected community - full of very proud Australians. On a global level and for the sake of humanitarium kindness - today’s apology by our governement sends a clear message about the outlook for all Australians being closer to be a more equally accepted members of a national community - this apology is a peace offering - and for that reason alone I am most proud - world peace happens in small doses - through empathy and kindness and acceptance we all grow and learn more about one anothers culture - Aboriginal Indigenous people and their culture is incredibly spiritually focused on the mother energy of the Australian landscape - there are pages of Australian history that have been written in sad and unforgiving words of wrong doings - the Australian culture will benefit from today’s events and we will all learn so much more from one another and become an even richer nation both culturally and spiritually. When I close our show and ask that you keep yourself in happy places - i mean that in the places you visit and within your heart - Australia moved mountains today in making our nation a happier place. I didn’t think it was possible for me to be a more proud Aussie than I am already- but as of today’s momentus events - I certainly am a much prouder Australian.

That’s it for today’s show - I hope you feel warm in your heart and our podcast has restored some faith in your own beliefs and hopes for humanity.

On today’s show, Duncan discusses the woes of clutter in the home and how a cluttered home can make you feel anxious, overwhelmed and even depressed. Information and statistics for today’s show were sourced from a paper written by Josh Fear who represents that Australia Institute. The title of Josh’s paper is “Stuff Happen - Unused Things Cluttering Up Our Homes. The Australia Institute is an independent public policy research centre funded by grants from philanthropic trusts & memberships. You can read the paper by going to their web-site which is located at www.tai.org.au.

This study is about the extent to which Australian homes are cluttered with things that are rarely or never used. A nationally representative online survey of 1,002 respondents was carried out in December 2007, and was followed up with a series of telephone interviews with people who identified themselves as having problems with clutter.

The findings show that 88 per cent of homes have at least one cluttered room, and the average home has three or more cluttered rooms. The spare room is the most
cluttered area in the home, followed by cupboards, the garage and bedrooms. Not surprisingly, people living in detached houses had more clutter than people living in townhouses or apartments, and people with kids in the home tend to have more clutter than those without. Victorian homes are the most cluttered, while New South Wales homes are the least cluttered.

Four in ten Australians say they feel anxious, guilty or depressed about the clutter in their homes. Women are much more concerned about clutter than men: almost half of the women surveyed said they were anxious, depressed or worried about the clutter in their home, while a third said they were embarrassed by it. Indeed, fully 59 per cent of women said there was a room in the house that they don’t like visitors to see because of the clutter.

Naturally enough, clutter tends to accumulate over a lifetime, with older people having much more than younger people and people who own their own home having
more than mortgagees or renters. However, younger people are more worried about their clutter, and more anxious to do something about it. Older people, by contrast, seem to have accepted or resigned themselves to their clutter, despite having more of it.

The research shows that many people – 84 per cent of survey respondents – are in the strange situation of having bought things in order to deal with the excessive amount of things they have bought. Around a quarter had even bought vacuum storage bags –which suggests that the stored items will not be in use for some time. One in five respondents had built a shed or garage to keep or store things, while one in eight had even moved house to accommodate their superfluous ‘stuff’.

There is an interesting term that has entered the vocabulary of financial counsellors and real estate agents in recent years: ‘Castle Hill syndrome’. It describes how some new home owners in outer suburban suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne find themselves facing ‘mortgage stress’, despite having reasonable and secure incomes.
People suffering from Castle Hill syndrome spend nearly all their disposable income on loan repayments, and their houses, often new McMansions built to convey the
appearance of wealth, remain largely empty because their owners can’t afford to properly furnish them after meeting their mortgage obligations.

There are other ways of spending one’s money that can seem just as misguided. According to a 2004 study by the Australia Institute, the average Australian household wasted $1,226 in that year on items that were purchased but never used. This equates to $10.5 billion across the nation – or more than Australian governments spent on universities and roads over the same period. As the study’s authors observed, cutting this wasteful consumption would be enough for the average mortgagee to protect themselves against a 0.75 per cent rise in interest rates.

This paper by Josh Fear is about the very opposite of Castle Hill syndrome: the excessive amount of ‘stuff’ that clutters up many people’s homes in an age of affluence. Rather than throwing away, recycling, selling or giving away the unwanted or unused things in our homes, we often let them accumulate. This could be because we are too lazy or too busy to deal with them; or it could be because we feel guilty for buying things that we don’t use but are unwilling to admit that their purchase was a mistake. It could even be that some of us are congenital ‘hoarders’ – that we have a natural instinct to accumulate things in case we need them one day.

There is an important difference between having a cluttered home, or ‘hoarding’, and the behaviour associated with wasteful spending. In Australia, as elsewhere, non-grocery shopping is increasingly undertaken for its own sake, regardless of whether the goods purchased are needed or wanted; indeed, modern shopping centre designs encourage consumers to linger as long as possible.

Spending money is now, strangely, its own form of entertainment. This obviously has a significant impact on the environment and (in a different way) the economy, but it also affects our homes. Psychologists have distinguished between the act of shopping (going to the shop), purchasing goods (the transaction) and consuming the goods after purchase. They have also noted differences between hoarding and shopping at the pathological end of the spectrum. Compulsive hoarding has been defined as ‘the acquisition of and inability to discard large numbers of possessions that clutter the living areas of one’s home and interfere with the ability to use the living spaces.’

Hoarding is considered ‘clinically significant’ when it ‘interferes with the ability to function effectively or produces significant distress’. Compulsive
buying, on the other hand, ‘involves excessive, uncontrollable, time-consuming, and repetitive shopping or buying in response to negative events and/or feelings, resulting in negative consequences such as social and financial difficulties.

It appears to be characterized by an irresistible urge to buy, and some form of tension relief or gratification, usually temporary, follows the purchase.

The actual items that constitute clutter are extremely varied, and depend on the circumstances and personalities in each household. Items commonly mentioned by those participating in phone interviews included clothes (to be repaired, thrown out, given away, or simply never worn), paperwork (including old letters, junk mail and old newspapers), books, and things for children (such as old toys or craft items).

Interview discussions also revealed a number of different categories of clutter, depending on the nature of a person’s ‘attachment’ to things:

• Emotional clutter – things with sentimental meaning but little financial value – including children’s toys or drawings, (unused or unwanted) gifts, school or university notes, and personal possessions of absent loved ones.

• Just-in-case clutter – things with little or no sentimental value but that ‘might come in handy one day’ and that are therefore kept for some time, such as old bills or bank statements, tools and stationery.

• Bought clutter – impulse purchases, often acquired recently, that end up never being used, commonly including clothes, fashion accessories and books.

• Bargain clutter – free or very cheap things acquired at sales, from friends or family or ‘by the side of the road’ which are discarded only reluctantly
because they were so cheap.

Karen Kingston - spaceclearing.com
Karen is a best selling author with over 2 million books - 22 languages - Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui & Creating Sacred Space with Feng Shui.
Space clearing is the feng shui art of clearing and consecrating energies in buildings. It’s as essential to the energy maintenance of a place as physical cleaning is to the physical maintenance. Physical Grime, Predecessor Energy & Clutter.

Any kind of clutter creates an obstacle to the smooth flow of energy around a space. This in turn creates stuckness and/or confusion in the lives of the occupants. While the Space Clearing ceremony to clear predecessor energy can easily be accomplished in a few hours, the cleaning and clutter clearing aspects can take some folk a while longer. In fact, it is fairly common for me to hear from readers that they glided through the early chapters of my first book, came to the clutter chapter, and there the bookmark stayed for six months or more until they had done enough work to read on.

Someone once sent me a fascinating story that was published in a Finnish newspaper about an art student who decided to inventory every object in her 250 square meter home (that’s about 2,700 square feet) and present it as her final thesis. To do this she used traditional archaeological methods and discovered she owned a total of 6,126 objects. The most interesting part was her analysis of how often she used each object.
Never used objects - 1457
Objects used less frequently than once a year - 2209
Objects used once or twice a year - 1411
Objects used every month - 587
Objects used every week - 401
Objects used every day - 61
Put another way, 24% of the objects were never used at all and a further 59% were used only once or twice per year. That’s a ratio of 83% clutter. Of the remaining 17%, only 1% of the objects were used every day.

There is no reason to suppose that Finnish clutter hoarding habits are any different to the rest of the human race, but let’s suppose this art student was an extreme example. Even if she had twice as much clutter as a normal person, that would still mean that more than 40% of the average home consists of junk.
These statistics alone give pause for thought but now let’s add another dimension. Let’s look at the energetic effect of objects that are never or rarely used. Most people keep things because they believe they will come in useful one day, but in fact the stagnant energy that collects around unused things causes stagnation in the life of whoever owns them. So instead of being an asset, clutter is in fact a liability. That’s why people who have clutter are always stuck in their lives in some way. Perhaps you do not have the time or inclination to inventory the objects in your home but a quick stroll around will reveal whether there’s clutter or not. What’s your clutter ratio do you think?

Do you feel overwhelmed By Clutter? Where on earth do you start when attempting to clear clutter in your home? An old Chinese proverb says - A Journey of 1000 miles begins with just one step. Set time aside and start with 6 things or one problem article - old papers etc. Have a friend on standby to provide you with an objective outlook when you start to clear out your room of clutter. There are a lots of ways to get rid of clutter - perhaps you could sell old unwanted items on eBay, donate to a Charity, deposit old unwanted clothing into charity clothing bins or drop them off at a local Opportunity store. You can give unwanted items to friends. Clutter can be put into local recycling bins. Why not have a garage sale. Join forces with neighbours and have a combined sale. Leave it out on the nature strip for free collection by passing traffic. Have a burning ceremony to turn it into a novelty moment. What you don’t want to do is rearrange clutter to send it back into storage - just by repacking clutter - it’s still not fully dealt with. Bring closure and release yourself for good from clutter in your home.

Allow new energy to flow in your home - and remove clutter blocks in your life. I hope I’ve provided u with some constructive ideas to allow you to
put into place some changes to make in-roads to clearing clutter in your own home. Like I always say - Keep in happy places and Make your home nest a happy place that you’re proud of and enjoy being in.

Today auditory stimulation for The Global Good Soul Vibration Podcast was proudly brought to you by www.happyguru.com.

Duncan.

Celebrating Birthdays is a wonderful thing. For our friends and family - how do we go about sending through our love? Do we send a Text Message from our Mobile Phone or do we send an E-Mail? Perhaps we go to a bit more effort and bake a cake or pick some flowers. Perhaps we stick to more traditional methods and write out a birthday card. In today’s Global Good Soul Vibration Podcast - Duncan discusses the importance of a birthday and why sharing love on this special day is so important. We hope you enjoy the show. Happy Birthday to Everybody. This episode of The Global Good Soul Vibration Podcast was proudly brought to you by The Happy Guru Birthday Book and www.happyguru.com - The Happy Guru Birthday Book is available online now at www.happyguru.com

Australia Day is always lots of fun. All over Australia, people come together in their local towns - from the outback to the city - and enjoy a day of getting together to celebrate being Australians. Events are organised all over the country. It’s a day of celebration and a time to reflect on where we have come from and where we’re headed in the future. Australia is a wonderfully diverse community of many folks from all over the world - making Australia’s society one of the most diverse in the world. On today’s show - Duncan catches up with some locals at the Holroyd City Council Australia Day Festival in Merrylands Park Sydney and talks about the meaning of Australia Day and what is the essence of our rich and diverse community. The day of family activities was a great reel of events for a day out and great entertainment. In the evening, the fabulous Wendy Matthews took to the stage with her band and belted out some soulful tracks from her big repertoire of Australian hit classics - playing some of her most famous and loved tunes including: I Don’t Want To Be With Anyone But You, Woman’s Gotta Have It, The Day You Went Away, Beautiful View & Back To My Roots. The show was fantatastic. The day’s celebrations were finished off with a magnificent fireworks display. Happy Australia Day to all our listeners. I hope you enjoy today’s auditory stimulation from The Global Good Soul Vibration Podcast. www.happyguru.com

Australia Day, January 26, is the biggest day of celebration in the country and is observed as a public holiday in all states and territories. On Australia Day we come together as a nation to celebrate what’s great about Australia and being Australian. It’s the day to reflect on what we have achieved and what we can be proud of in our great nation. It’s the day for us to re-commit to making Australia an even better place for the future. The tradition of having Australia Day as a national holiday on 26 January is a recent one. Not until 1935 did all the Australian states and territories use that name to mark that date. Not until 1994 did they begin to celebrate Australia Day consistently as a public holiday on that date. What drew Australians together in this way? Did Australia Day become a day for all Australians to enjoy? On Australia Day we recognise the unique status of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The National Australia Day Council is committed to playing a part in the journey of reconciliation through helping all Australians move forward with a better understanding of the past and how it affects the lives of Indigenous people today. While acknowledging there is much more to do, NADC is proud of making a contribution to reconciliation. We have developed, and are committed to our Reconciliation Action Plan, an initiative of Reconciliation Australia which enables organisations to turn good intentions into actions. This initiative surrounds the 40th Anniversary of the 1967 Referendum when more than 90% of Australians voted to acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as citizens. This event is often referred to as the first stage of the reconciliation movement. NADC thanks the staff of Reconciliation Australia for helping us appreciate the importance of Reconciliation. With their support, we take pride in our leadership role and hope others will join us in making a contribution to the process. For loads more details on Australia Day - check out www.australiaday.gov.au. The Global Good Soul Vibration Podcast was proudly brought to you by www.happyguru.com. Happy Australia Day To All Australians.

Every year 20 million Australians use around 5 billion plastic check-out bags. That says so much about our wasteful habits.

A person’s use of a plastic check-out bag can be counted in minutes - however long it takes to get groceries from the shops to their homes. 

These bags, however, can last for hundreds of years. Combine the growing number of plastic bags used every year with the time it takes for them to break down and you have a major environmental problem.

Whether it’s inadvertent or deliberate, plastic bag litter creates many problems. Bags get caught in fences and median strips. They end up blocking drains and trapping birds. When eaten they kill livestock. At Bathurst’s Mt Panorama race track, they even disable racing cars. In the marine environment, plastic bag litter is lethal, killing thousands of whales, turtles and other sea life every year. 

Planet Ark aims to show councils, retailers, communities and individuals how to reduce their use of plastic check-out bags. 

Doing away with plastic bags is easier than you think. Planet Ark has worked with communities like Coles Bay, Kangaroo Valley, Huskisson, Oyster Bay and others to ban plastic check-out bags in all of their retail outlets. If these towns can live without plastic bags, then yours can too.

A person’s use of a plastic check-out bag can be counted in minutes – however long it takes to get from the shops to their homes.

Plastic bags however, can take between 15 and 1000 years to break down in the environment. In the marine environment plastic bag litter is lethal, killing many birds, whales, seals and turtles every year. After an animal is killed by plastic bags its body decomposes and the plastic is released back into the environment where it can kill again. 

A Bryde’s whale died on a Cairns beach after ingesting 6 square metres of plastic - including plastic bags. Such obstructions in animals can cause severe pain, distress and death. On land, plastic bag litter can block drains and trap birds. They also kill livestock. One farmer near Mudgee NSW, carried out an autopsy on a dead calf and found 8 plastic bags in its stomach. The loss of this calf cost the farmer around $500. 

Plastic bags are not free to consumers – they are actually adding an estimated $100 million a year to Australia’s grocery bills. At least 80 million plastic bags end up as litter on our beaches, streets and parks. 

Australian local and State Governments spend over $200 million a year picking up litter. Not all litter is deliberate. 47% of wind borne litter escaping from landfills is plastic – much of this is plastic bags. Over 200,000 plastic check-out bags are dumped in landfills every hour. Only 5% of Australia’s plastic bags are currently being recycled, despite recycling facilities being available at major supermarkets. In many council areas, plastic bags are the single main contaminant of kerbside recycling. 

Plastic bags are a by-product of the oil industry. Over 3 billion HDPE plastic bags are imported into Australia every year. Since March 2002, Ireland has reduced its plastic check-out bag usage by 90% and in April 2003 Coles Bay in Tasmania successfully banned plastic check-out bags in all their retail stores. In the first twelve months, Coles Bay stopped the use of 350,000 plastic check-out bags. Planet Ark has since worked with the communities of Huskisson, Kangaroo Valley, Mogo and Oyster Bay in NSW and Birregurra, Cannon’s Creek, Metung and Murtoa in Victoria to help them also become Plastic Bag Free Towns. Over 10 million reusable bags have now been sold by Coles, Woolworths and Safeway stores. At only $1 each, they’re a cheap way to save Australia’s wildlife!

Information for Today’s Global Good Soul Vibration Podcast was sourced from www.planetark.com and various other websites. You can learn more about 

Planet Ark and their campaign against Plastic Bags by visiting their web-site where you’ll find a plethora of information on what changes you can make in your home.

Tonight is a full moon. I encourage you to go back and listen to Podcast 4 and check out how the full moon can be a part of your life. Share special moments around the full moon, on the phone with a friend. Today’s Global Good Soul Vibration Podcast was brought to you with a full moon full of love from your favourite gurus in the whole wide world. www.happyguru.com

On today’s Global Good Soul Vibration Podcast let’s switch off appliances that don’t need to be left on. Standby power supplies are an incredible waste of energy resource. By turning off appliances at the power point before we go to bed - we save the earth.
Many appliances these days are actually using electricity when they are switched ‘off’. This is more commonly known as standby power, where the appliance consumes energy when it is in on standby or OFF mode. These “standby loads” occur in most appliances that use electricity, such as VCRs, televisions, stereos, computers, and kitchen appliances. These appliances continue to draw a small amount of power when they are switched “off”.

Although we know we can’t switch off fridges and freezers, unless we want to defrost them, it is important to switch off appliances once they have been finished with. To avoid the standby mode and help stop wasting money we need to change the way we behave. Hopefully today’s podcast will help demonstrate the problem and illustrate where changes could be made and how much money the homeowner could save.

The problem of standby power consumption is essentially a technological concern; more should be done by the appliance industry to help reduce the power consumption by equipment in standby mode. However, switching the appliance off at the correct place, or unplugging the appliance can help avoid paying for standby electricity. Alternatively using a multi-socket power bar can make it easier to turn off several appliances at once.

The idea of paying for something that we are not using is not very encouraging. Consider switching appliances of properly in a bid to save electricity, this is not only saving you money but also helping the environment. If you want to find out how much money you could save by reducing standby electricity consumption in your own house please go online to your local electricity suppliers web-site where you should be able to conduct a few easy calculations.

From our calculations the current average household standby power consumption is 60W, however this amount could increase further with the growing number of electronic appliances in the average house.

60W = 0.060 kW x 8760 hrs = 525.6 kWh / year

Taking the average household electricity consumption as 3,880 kWh per year this indicates that standby power is responsible for 13% of home power consumption. The associated costs for a three bedroom flat are estimated at AUS $78.70 per year.

Today’s show was proudly brought to you by www.happyguru.com. Your auditory stimulation is our pleasure. Thanks for listening to the show that has you and the health of the global village at heart.

On today’s Global Good Soul Vibration Podcast let’s make a facial mask with a banana. This facial recipe is refreshing and so wonderfully relaxing. You can make facials at home with ease with all sorts of ingredients that you have around the home. This fabulous recipe reflects a wealth of age-old wisdom, and will leave any type of skin feeling refreshed and pampered. There’s just nothing like giving yourself this easy-to-make facial using ingredients that are likely to be in your kitchen year-round. The ingredients will nourish, soothe, and gently exfoliate your skin. And they sound good enough to eat! A simple mix of ingredients go as follows:

1 banana, just ripe
1 tablespoon honey
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon wheat germ oil
1 tablespoon finely powdered oats
1 teaspoon lemon juice (optional, if mask will not be used immediately)
1 drop each rose and melissa essential oils (optional)
1. Peel and mash banana. Add honey, egg yolk, wheat germ oil, oats, and lemon juice, if used, and mash further to form a smooth, creamy paste.
2. If mask is too thick, add a bit of distilled water, and stir until smooth.
3. Add essential oils last, and stir to mix well.
4. To use, apply to clean face and neck, avoiding eye and mouth areas. Rest for 10 minutes, or longer if your skin is very dry. Rinse with warm water, and follow with toner and moisturizer, if desired. Use mask within a few hours of making.

Enjoy The Show! Today’s show is brought to you by happyguru.com - your online gift, home wares and lifestyle store for all things good soul & guru for you and your home. Log onto www.happyguru.com and check out the store. Bouncing Good Soul Vibrations Across The Global Village ~ Happy Guru To You.

Getting a bad dose of summer sun can be more than painful. It’s also deadly. Australia has the highest incidence of skin cancer in the world and, on a national scale, more melanomas are reported in Queensland than anywhere else. Such a high rate of skin cancer in Australia may be attributable to a number of things: attitude, geological circumstance and Australian’s love of the outdoors. There are three main types of the skin cancer. Basal Cell Carcinomas (BCC) are the most common type of skin cancer. They usually take months, even years to develop and, unlike melanomas, are less likely to affect other organs and, in turn, result in death. The Squamous Cell Carcinoma (SCC) is the second most predominant type of skin cancer. They are readily treatable. The last and most dangerous of skin cancers, also the least common, is the malignant melanoma. These occur as moles or sunspots and will grow in size. The melanoma is a mutation of healthy cells in the skin and the deeper they sit in the epidermis (upper layers of skin), the harder they are to treat. In today’s show we look at easing the pain of sunburn and remind you (as a bare minimum) to wear a hat and good sunscreen protection. This podcast was proudly brought to you by www.happyguru.com. Your auditory stimulation from The Global Good Soul Vibration Podcast is our stimulation. Bouncing Good Soul Vibrations Across The Global Village ~ Happy Guru To You.

Combating Fleas on your furry friend can be a nightmare. I have tried so many different flea treatments for my dog and they all seem to be as lame as the last attempt. On today’s show I’d like to share a remedy that seems to work a treat and the best part of all is that you can make it at home yourself from essential oils. So, not only does this treatment work an absolute treat, but it comes at a fraction of the cost of those commercial applications and it’s also an organic alternative to pharmaceutical products. This podcast was proudly brought to you by your favourite Happy Guru. Check out our range of gifts and home wares at our online store - www.happyguru.com - The Global Good Soul Vibration Podcast is another dimension to Bouncing Good Soul Vibrations Across The Global Village ~ Happy Guru To You.

Cruising in the Car and being a bit more Green & Global Conscious - now that sounds like something I could use. In today’s show, Duncan discusses a few “Quick Trick Trip Tips” on Fuel usage. Cruise Baby - Slow Down - You’re Moving Too Fast. Today’s Global Good Soul Vibration Podcast was proudly brought to you by your most favourite Happy Guru in the whole wide world - www.happyguru.com - Bouncing Good Soul Vibrations Across The Global Village ~ Happy Guru To You.

Happy New Year Guru Listeners - may 2008 be your year to shine like a big disco ball. For 2008, The Global Good Soul Vibration Podcast and Happy Guru wish for more World Peace and more love and happiness in your heart. Thanks so much for listening and staying subscribed to the show - your listening pleasure is my pleasure and I hope you have a fabulous year of great successes and lots of happiness. www.happyguru.com

Gday Gurus. I Love Pizza. In fact, who doesn’t? Let’s get some Pizza tonight and eat it for lunch tomorrow. In this show, I’ll show you how to reheat your Pizza from the night before - and you’ll never heat it in the microwave again. Listen to our show to get info on 20 percent off at www.happyguru.com plus offers to receive a Free Happy Guru Birthday Book, a Free Happy Guru T-shirt - or both - including your added 20 percent off. Get the coupon code from the show. Have a beaut day. For any information on Happy Guru or about the show - please email us on - Love to you from Guru Land. This Global Good Soul Vibration Podcast was very proudly and lovingly brought to you by Duncan Carey and www.happyguru.com. Bouncing Good Soul Vibrations Across The Global Village ~ Happy Guru To You.

Processed and ready-made cheese slices in plastic films - they’re just not right. The taste is plastic and the extra packaging is really unnecessary. Processed cheese slices have less flavour and nutritional content, but the convenience of ready-made slices is the reason this cheese sells. If you like cheese slices from real blocks of cheese but can’t get the even thickness of slices you would like - listen in and I’ll show you how to achieve thin and even slices each and every time. I’m about to take your photo - so please say cheese and enjoy the goodness of real cheese slices. You’ll be smiling because you listened. Today’s Happy Guru Good Soul Vibration Podcast was brought to you by www.happyguru.com

Our second podcast in our series of Guru Lifestyle Quick Tip Tricks. Avocados are just the most divine fruit, but preparing them can sometimes be a messy task. To achieve perfect cut shapes that remain looking sharp and fresh on the top of your garden salad - it all comes down to how well you remove the seed and cut the fruit. In today’s show - lets cut up an Avocado and remove the inner seed with ease. Today’s Global Good Soul Vibration Podcast was brought to you by your friends at HappyGuru.com - your gift, home wares and lifestyle store for all things good soul and guru or you and your home. Your host for the show today is Duncan Carey. www.happyguru.com

Today is Remembrance Day, or Armistice Day, in many parts of the globe. It is, of course, the anniversary of the end of World War I. In November 1997, then Australian Governor-General Sir William Deane formally proclaimed November 11 Remembrance Day and urged all Australians to observe one minute’s silence at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month each year to remember those who died or suffered for Australia’s cause in all wars and armed conflicts. While Remembrance Day is thus observed in Australia, the equivalent day in Australia (and New Zealand) is actually Anzac Day on April 25 each year. Today’s Podcast was recorded standing on top of a milk crate, looking over the back fence. You’ll find out why in the show. I hope you enjoy this podcast brought to you by Duncan and www.happyguru.com. Peace To The Global Village.

After hearing today’s show, you’ll probably never think about a banana in the same way again. Bananas contain three natural sugars - sucrose, fructose, and glucose combined with a great natural source of fibre, a banana gives an instant, sustained and substantial boost of energy. Bananas are the # 1 fruit with the world’s leading athletes. Energy isn’t the only way a banana can help us keep fit. It can also help overcome or prevent a substantial number of illnesses and conditions, making it a must to add to our daily diet. According to a recent survey undertaken by MIND (which is The National Association for Mental Health in the United Kingdom) among people suffering from depression, many people reported they felt much better after eating a banana. This is because bananas contain tryptophan, a type of protein that the body converts into serotonin, known to make you relax, improve your mood, and generally make you feel happier. For our ladies who suffer from gloomy mindsets related to PMS - forget the pills - try eating a banana instead. The vitamin B6 a banana contains regulates blood glucose levels, which can affect your mood. High in iron, bananas can stimulate the production of hemoglobin in the blood and therefor helps in cases of anemia. This unique tropical fruit is extremely high in potassium yet Low in salt, making it the perfect way to beat blood pressure. So much so, the US Food and Drug Administration has just allowed the banana industry to make official claims for the fruit’s ability to reduce the risk of blood pressure and stroke. 200 students at a Twickenham school in the UK were helped through their exams this year by eating bananas at breakfast, break and lunch in a bid to boost their brain power. Research has shown that the potassium-packed fruit can assist learning by making pupils more alert. Including bananas in your daily diet can help restore normal bowel action due to bananas being high in fibre, helping to overcome the problem without resorting to laxatives. One of the quickest ways of curing a hangover is to make a banana milkshake, sweetened with honey, malt or caramel sauce. The banana calms the stomach and, with the help of the honey, builds up depleted blood sugar levels, while the milk soothes and re-hydrates your system. Bananas have a natural antacid effect in the body, so if you suffer from heartburn, try eating a banana for soothing relief.
Snacking on bananas between meals helps to keep blood sugar levels up and avoid morning sickness.
Before reaching for the insect bite cream, try rubbing the affected area with the inside of a banana skin. Many people find it amazingly successful at reducing swelling and irritation. Bananas are high in B vitamins that help calm the nervous system. Studies at the Institute of Psychology in Austria found pressure at work leads to gorging on comfort food like chocolate and chips. Looking at 5,000 hospital patients, researchers found the most obese were more likely to be in high-pressure jobs. The report concluded that, to avoid panic-induced food cravings, we need to control our blood sugar levels by snacking on high carbohydrate foods every 2 hours to keep levels steady. The banana is used as the dietary food against intestinal disorders because of its soft texture and smoothness. It is the only raw fruit that can be eaten without distress in over-active cases of intestinal complications. It also neutralizes over-acidity and reduces irritation by coating the lining of the stomach.
Many other cultures see bananas as a “cooling” fruit that can lower both the physical and emotional temperature of expectant mothers. In Thailand, for example, pregnant women eat bananas to ensure their baby is born with a cool temperature. Bananas can help SAD sufferers. What is SAD? SAD stands for Seasonal affective disorder, also known as winter depression, essentially SAD is a mood disorder. Most SAD sufferers experience normal mental health throughout most of the year, but experience depressive symptoms in the winter or summer. The condition in the summer is often referred to as Reverse Seasonal Affective Disorder. Bananas can help SAD sufferers because they contain the natural mood enhancer tryptophan. Bananas can also help people trying to give up smoking. The B6, B12, potassium, and magnesium they contain help the body recover from the effects of nicotine withdrawal.
Potassium is a vital mineral, which helps normalize the heartbeat, sends oxygen to the brain, and regulates your body’s water balance. When we are stressed, our metabolic rate rises, thereby reducing our potassium levels. These can be re-balanced with the help of a high-potassium banana snack. According to research in The New England Journal of Medicine, eating bananas as part of a regular diet can cut the risk of death by strokes by as much as 40%. So, a banana really is a natural remedy for many ills. When you compare it to an apple, a banana has 4 times the protein, twice the carbohydrates, 3 times the phosphorus, 5 times the vitamin A and iron, and twice the amount of other vitamins and minerals. It is also rich in potassium, and is one of the best value foods around. So maybe its time to change that well-known phrase so that we say, “A banana a day keeps the doctor away!”

Today’s podcast show is a diversion from our usual format and consists of a single mp3 audio music track. I wanted to share this chilled-out global beat boogie mix with our listeners. The track is an electro guru boogie mindset mix of sounds that come together to make the track that you’re about to receive auditory stimulations from. I really hope you enjoy it. Happy Guru Is A Mindset was composed by Duncan Carey (a.k.a. Discobig). The full name of this electro guru boogie mindset mix is “Happy Guru Is A Mindset (The Sydney Sunny-Up Mix)”. There are two mixes of the track - the one you’re about to hear today is the vocal edit. This track is license-free and you’re more than welcome to make copies to CD or send the track to your friends to enjoy. Now take off your shoes, move the coffee table aside and get on your feet and wiggle your hips. Happy Guru Global Good Soul Vibration Podcasts are brought to you with stimulating pleasure from www.happyguru.com. Please remember - If you can’t help people, don’t hurt them. Happy Guru is a Mindset, a Creatively Coloured Design Space, a Pursuit of Personal Goodness and a Positive Vibration of Magic for Everyone to Enjoy.

The Full Moon Full Of Love. Today’s show comes at night - out in the back yard on the night of a full moon. I’ve got my blankey and cuppa tea, my Apple MacbookPro and Microphone and we’re set to enjoy the night’s presentation of the full moon. I was out in the city and came home to find myself recording a show. You’ll have to excuse the traffic, dog and train - but hey, it’s an outside broadcast and it’s Saturday night. In the show I give some Full Moon thoughts and the way I respond to this very romantic time of the month. And the full moon happens every month - so go out and enjoy it and call a friend or loved one who lives in other towns - someone who had to move or someone you love and can’t see you as often as you’d both like. I hope you enjoy the show and Happy Full Moon To You. This Happy Guru Global Good Soul Vibrations Podcast was brought to you by www.happyguru.com. Duncan Carey was the host of today’s show.

On Today’s show - lets discuss some quick water saving tips that you can start to put into place in your home, right away.

It’s easy to save water around the home - you just need to be mindful of how you use water.

Simple behavioural changes are just as important in the fight against water shortages as fixing leaking taps and buying water-smart appliances.

Our first point of call is to make sure you don’t have leaks in your homes plumbing.

Find a two-hour period when no-one in your house will be using water.

Checking for leaks in taps, pipes and dishwasher hoses is an easy way to reduce water wastage.

By using a dishwasher with at least a good water use rating, you can get this figure down to 18 litres per load and still get the sparkling clean dishes you’re used to. Try to wait until you have a full load in your dishwasher before using it. This saves water and energy, and reduces the amount of detergent entering the sewerage system. Using a dishwasher can be more economical than washing by hand - so long as you wait until you have a full load. Try to use phosphate-free, eco-friendly, bio-degradable detergents and cleaning products - there’s a great range to choose from these days and they’re much better for our environment.

That way, you don’t leave the tap running until the water gets cool…. If you have a two-basin sink, fill one with soapy water and the other with rinsing water.

Keep the water pressure low while you wait for it to get hot and try to capture the wasted cold water in a bucket to use in other jobs…. Wash fruit & vegetables all together at the same time in a basin or a partly filled sink - not under running water.

Most washing machines have a load adjustment button or dial, so try to set this to match the amount of washing you’re doing. If your machine doesn’t have a load adjustment function, try to wait until you have enough washing for a full load. Water from the washing machine rinse cycle can be reused in the garden.

Before 1993, the average toilet used 30 litres / flush. If you’re not sure how old your toilet is - take lid of the tank - manufacture date usually there.

Can’t replace toilet - you can still save water with a one litre bottle.

Fill bottle with a few pebbles or sand and water cap on and place it in your tanks so it reduces the amount of water required to refill the flush storage tank.

Since plumbing leaks account for about 14% of water used in the average home, so it’s a good idea to check your toilet for leaks…. Now put the lid back on and wait about 15 minutes, then check the toilet bowl.

A steaming hot shower is a wonderful way to relax, but a shower is the second biggest consumer of water in the average home. Shower heads manufactured before 1992 can use up to 22 litres of water / minute.

To run a simple test on how much water your shower head uses - turn the shower on full and catch all the water in bucket and wait 2 minutes. If the bucket is overflowing, you’ll then know that the shower head is not a low flow model.

New shower heads start at as little as $10 and can save you up to 50% with every shower.

Installing one of the latest shower head models can give you a great shower and save you around 5-10 litres of water a minute…. Don’t let cold water run down the drain while you’re waiting for your shower to heat up.

Save baths for special occasions and don’t use more water than you need. A bath can use 7 times more water than a shower…. On average, this adds nearly 5 minutes to the shower time and all that extra water can be saved by shaving from the basin with a plug in the sink to rinse your blade. When all else fails and you have a household of water mongers, try putting a timer in the shower to keep track of the length of shower time.

There’s no need to leave the tap running while you brush your teeth or wash your hands. When brushing, simply wet your toothbrush before you begin and use a glass of water to rinse your mouth. When washing your hands, wet your hands and apply the soap - then turn off the tap while you scrub your hands. Once you’re done scrubbing, you can turn the tap back on for a full rinse. Cotton applicators or any disposables should be put in your rubbish bin - never flush these items as they can block your toilet system and of course the disposing by flushing is a waste of water.

Our local water supplier - Sydney water - have a rainwater tank program which offers a rebate of up to $1,500 when you install a rainwater tank for household use. By storing rainwater run-off from your roof, rainwater tanks can provide a valuable water source for flushing toilets, washing machines, watering gardens and washing cars. Check our your local water authority’s web site for water saving tips - just about every water company has well documented details for applying water saving tips in your home.

With a few simple changes you can save buckets of water which over time translates to well …… As I said on opening the show - It’s easy to save water around the home - you just need to be mindful of how you use it.

Alrighty - well that’s it for another Global Good Soul Vibration Podcast from Happy Guru - we hope you enjoyed today’s show on water saving tips. Please stay subscribed to our show via iTunes and all good podcast directories across the web. This coming Saturday - the 27th of October you can find Happy Guru here in Sydney at the Fairfield Show-ground Markets from 8 until 4pm. For online shopping at Happy Guru - please enjoy our podcast listener discount of 20% by logging in to our store and using this coupon code to redeem your savings…. We have another T-shirt give-away this week - to win - all you need to do is send us an e-mail and in your own words, tell us why you need to be seen in a Happy Guru t-shirt…. Between podcast shows - get your guru fix by heading over to our blog page at www.happyguru.com/blog and getting your guru fix there…. For anything in the way of feedback or you want to say Hi - please go to our voicemail page and send us your recorded voice greeting from there.

Until our next auditory stimulation together - thanks so much for listening, keep in happy places and bye for now.

Eating fruit is one of the best ways to keep our system healthy. But did you know that eating fruit on an empty stomach can have profound effects on the positive benefits of fruit? In this podcast we look at how fruit is best prepared and eaten. Consider this show the instruction manual to eating fruit that the fruit man never gave you with your bunch of apples. The way we eat fruit and at what time can be the difference between an upset stomach and a nutrition extravaganza. To get the full show notes - please see our blog page at www.happyguru.com/blog. We hope you get lots of goodness from the show. Happy Guru To You.

Today’s Blog Roll was very proudly brought to you from from www.happyguru.com - Your online gifts and home wares gurus for all things good soul and guru for you & your home. Happy Guru have a wide selection of gifts and home wares including Men’s Bags, Ladies Handbags, Books, CD’s & DVD’s, Happy Guru T-Shirts, Incense Cones & Sticks, Chinese Massage and Healing Oils, Essential Oils, Tarot & Oracle - and a whole lot more home furnishing accessories and gift ware ideas. Happy Guru Home Wares & Gifts - always with a whole lot of Soul and your happiness at heart. Happy Guru to You.

Bouncing Good Soul Vibrations
Across The Global Village ~
Happy Guru To You.