Why do I feel so good, calm and relax lately? Why am I being treated so kind by people who are essentially strangers to me? Why is it that I feel so much happier?

Here is my experience related to this topic. Some of you might have read my earlier post on Success And Happiness Is Both The Journey And The destination in which I said that I will make my dream a reality. Well, I did it! And it has been almost four months that I have been traveling throughout South America – Peru, Chile and Argentina. I’ve learned a thing or two about adapting to a foreign environment, mostly by trial and error, and sometimes with disastrous results.

When it comes to being an outsider, I think there are several different ways to experience a new culture and to avoid culture shock. First of all I have discovered 3 types of travelers and have divided them into these categories – the missionary, the tourist and the participant observer.

Missionaries go wherever they believe they’re needed. They often have some sort of religious belief. They may find a few others who agree with their belief but the majority, especially those who come with some kind of a personal mission, are likely to fail. This is because there is generally a one-way communication, with the outsider (missionary) doing all the talking.

Tourists are basically observers. They come, look around and say: “show me what you’ve got, thanks, and adios amigo.” That’s fine some because when you have little time and no personal contacts or genuine connections, it’s pretty hard to move beyond the tourist stage.

What astonishes me though is the number of people who come to live in a foreign country and never move beyond the tourist phase. They form fancy ghettos of like-minded, like-cultured, like-speaking folks, and even though they may have traveled from one end of the country to the other and are able to tell you where all the best stores & restaurants are, they never really experience the culture and engage the people. They have a one way communication with the tourist on the taking end.

Participant observers are those who interact with a new culture and who try to understand the differences they encounter and to fit in when possible. It does not mean abandoning one’s own culture, but rather adapting in a way that enriches the lives of all involved. Participant observers learn by showing one’s willingness and desire to learn from the locals. They become interested in sharing their traditions and exchanging ideas. Instead of being selfish and self-centered, they fully embrace a new culture with openness. They are the most likely to overcome and even avoid culture shock.

Here are a few tips I can offer anyone who truly wants to participate in a new foreign country and prevent culture shock.

The Zip Zap Circus creation is a great success story of how one man turned his passion for circus and aerial arts into a program to help thousands of street kids. Through his inspiration, idea and actions one man and his wife were able to ignite the passions of underprivileged children who like all children desire a way to create, express themselves and have fun.

In Capetown, South Africa, the free circus school for kids was opened in November 2008. Called the Circus for Social Change, this was the dream become reality of the co- founders, Brent van Rensberg and his wife Laurence Esteve, who wanted to create a safe and caring environment for these underprivileged South Africa kids where they could respect, love and trust each other.

Brent was an international circus performer for 16 years and on his return to South Africa in the early 1990s at a time when violence surrounded the first democratic elections, wanted to see how he could make a difference.

Brent recruited kids from his old high school, from a black township and from a shelter. A year later, the first batch of students – white, black and mixed – drove up on the back of Brent’s delivery truck with ropes and mats for their first performance at an art festival in Capetown, SA.

Sixteen years later, many kids from broken homes and slums, who are involved in drugs, gang warfare and alcohol, have a chance to build a new life in a beautifully constructed circus dome of their own.

The children learn discipline, social skills, how to work in a team, and most importantly to trust each other. When they are flying through the air, it does not matter if they are rich, poor, black or white, they have to fully trust that their friend on the trapeze bars will catch them.

Zip Zap supports itself through regular shows and international tours, more than 20 to date, and has won so many fans that several of its performers go on to sign contracts with other international circus troops. such as the internationally renowned Cirque due Solei.

Brent and Laurence are inspiring social entrepreneurs in their courage, their vision and their unstoppable commitment. Despite returning to a home in deep turmoil during the rebirth of a nation, they took a path down where few ventured – to heal deep scars of a racially divided nation and to help build a new generation of young leaders through play, dedication and teamwork.

If you know of anyone who is pursuing their passion, creating change and making a positive difference in others people’s lives, we would like to hear from you and feature them here on sharingsuccess.tv (please send me a tweet).

“It is not the magnitude of our actions but the amount of love that is put into them that matters. “- Mother Teresa

People often ask how do you develop and sustain a happy and successful relationship with your partner, spouse or family. I have found that the real secret to this is through the act of selflessness – giving selflessly.

Practicing selflessness means serving others with love – without a motive or self interest. When you serve others without expectations, conditions or needs you will find a great joy in this giving and you will create long lasting relationships.

Being selfless is an act of joy because you appreciate, love and respect the person you are giving to. Consider this next idea…

Think of someone you truly respect, admire and love – whether it’s your favourite singer, sports star, teacher or guru. Perhaps it is someone you worship such as Jesus, Buddha, Moses or Krishna. Now imagine what it would be like if this person asked you for something – let’s say…some water to drink. Would you not jump of your seat and serve them the purest, freshest, water you had in the nicest glass or container available? Would you not serve them selflessly with complete love respect and joy?

These people may not be available to you to serve but what about the people you are surrounded by. Do you not feel the same way about them? Is your wife or husband not as important as your favourite celebrity or the person you worship? People always put others they don’t even personally know on a pedestal. They fail to recognize the divinity or greatness in the people they are closest to.

You should start creating success in your relationships by giving selflessly to your family – your spouse, partner, children and pet. Think and acknowledge them as someone you respect, admire, love and worship. Sometime we take our close family members for granted – we get lazy, distracted or become unaware of their beauty and divinity.

Remember the old saying, “give and so you shall receive.” Nothing could be truer than this. Even if it seems that you have gained nothing, the act of giving itself, whether it is material goods, your loving words or energy is a joyful and blissful experience. Recognize this. Feel this.

On a personal level, you will gain more success by expanding yourself – your love and energy. Everything is a source of energy, and love through giving is the greatest kind. Learn to expand your love and energy by continual acts of selflessness starting from your partner and family, to your community, to your nation and eventually the entire world.

“I am grateful for my wife and son. I acknowledge and appreciate the truth, the beauty, the wisdom and the divinity within them. I enjoy loving them, understanding them, listening to them, participating with them, nurturing them and serving them selflessly. They are the reason for my personal and spiritual success.”
Photo by horizontal.intergration

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With all the excitement and hype about the 2010 Winter Olympics here in Vancouver, Canada, there has been much rival and competition between the friendly neighbours of Canada and USA. Being Canadian, I feel very close to our American friends and visit there often – mostly for vacations.

For years Canadian citizens have complained that the majority of American citizens don’t know nearly enough about Canada. While I suspect this may still be true after the 2010 Winter Olympic, this video above by Tom Brokaw on NBC puts our relationship into perspective. The images are beautiful, the writing is outstanding and the feeling you are left with is uplifting. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Note: Canada has enjoyed much success as a quiet and humble nation. This pre-recorded short film aired on American TV prior to the Opening Ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver. The presentation here is a Canada/USA perspective you won’t see every day. Enjoy!

If you go to Jonathan’s Blog www.illuminatedmind.net you will see the headline – Don’t read this website if you want ordinary. So today we have a great interview featuring the un-ordinary and unconventional Jonathan Mead , one of the top personal development blogger on the net today.

We will be featuring some key highlights of the interview conducted by myself. If you would like to listen to the whole audio interview please subscribe to our free Really Big Interviews Success Training Program by submitting your name and email in the box to the right and press the green Sign Up button (we respect your privacy and will not share your email address with anyone).

In the full interview Jonathan answers these questions…The theme – The Art of Pursing Passion.

1. How he created a unique brand for his blog and how he attracted thousands of people to his blog.

2. How to treat your blog as a business.

3. How he became a life coach and what steps you can take to become a coach.

4. How to step out of your comfort zone when pursing your passion.

5. How to spread your message of what your passion about to others.

6. How to stay focused on pursing your passion.

7. How to get paid to do what you love

8. How to make your dreams a reality (some actions and steps involved).

Here is a little piece of our conversation….

JK: before we get right into it I guess the first question I have to you today Jonathan is what would you consider to be your number one passion?

JM: Oh, yeah, so my number one passion or I guess how I express my passion is …is…exploring potential and helping other people explore their own potential and release their potential through the art of authentic action and really breaking down the structures that limits us. I believe that authenticity and tapping into your true self is…is you know the most powerful way to bring about that change. So basically that’s kind of the short version of how I express my passion; obviously there is a lot of different variations of how exactly that is expressed or kind of the medium sort of speak but that’s basically my main message.

JK: Excellent! And so you have an illuminated mind – you’ve been blogging for how long now?

JM: It’s been two years this month.

JK: Wow!

JM: Yeah, it’s been quite a fun process, you know I’m pretty sure I’ll be doing it for quite awhile; I don’t see it stopping anytime soon.

JK: OK – Excellent! Let’s, let’s stay on the topic of blogging to start with because I know that one big passion for you is to get your message out through your blog; So how did you get into blogging and how did you become a success because I know you have quite a few thousand people that read and follow your blog.

Today I have a very short and simple formula that you can apply immediately and it will have positive affects on your relationships, business, career, personal & spiritual growth and health. I wrote this article several weeks ago and was waiting for the right time to post it. I just recently read the article Stillness is a Powerful Action from my friend Leo over at Zen Habits and it affirmed to me that I should publish this as the first article of the week.

We also just did an amazing interview here on SharingSuccess.tv with Dr. Ganz - a success psychologist who uses this simple formula to transform and change people’s mindset to become more successful. We will be releasing the interview in a few days for our Mastermind Group and our Success Training Program – if you haven’t yet joined simply fill in the box to the right with your name and email address.

I have discovered that many great gurus, success coaches & trainers are using this formula to achieve positive results in their personal and professional lives. Even my spiritual teachers Eckhart Tolle and Swami Veda (Yoga & Meditation Guru) have recommended this formula for spiritual growth. I am sure many others are using this technique so without further delay, here it is…

The One Minute Formula for Success

Take one minute of pure awareness several times throughout the day by dropping whatever you are doing and come into stillness.

First you need to relax – so start off by taking a nice deep breath to release any physical tension. Now feel the space in which your body is occupying – I like to feel the sensation of my hands. Next begin to feel the natural flow of your breath. You should learn to breathe deeply and diaphragmatically – inhale feel you belly rising, exhale feel your belly falling.

Following this process for one minute this will allow you to become completely awake, aware and alert. If you do this properly you will feel a sense of silence among the noise and a sense of stillness among the commotion. You will feel completely at ease and tension free. You will become more peaceful and calm allowing you to really observe and enjoy your surroundings

This can literally be done anywhere, anytime, anyplace. The key and secret is to practice this one minute of stillness often throughout the day because what you continually practice becomes a habit. And that is exactly what we want to do, create a habit of awareness.

The best times to practice this one minute of stillness is:

Valentine’s Day is an important day for many people. On this day, love and symbols of love are celebrated. But why and how is Valentine’s Day celebrated? No one quite knows, why it is celebrated. The origin of Valentine’s Day can be traced back for centuries.  Some countries in South America call it the “Día del amor y la amistad”.

Symbols like Cupid have been a significant symbol of lovers and relationships for equally as long. Originally Valentine’s Day was created by the church as a day for celebration and to bring attention to the church and away from other religions. Today Valentine’s Day has strayed from the original origins and is celebrated by many people who certainly make a big difference in the life of  their lovers.

It is recorded that the business of jewelry takes a big jump during this period and so does the business of flowers, chocolate, candies and cards. many gifts representing love gift that can be bought in most of the countries around the world and is sent to the beloved.

Romance is at an all time high and though not a traditional holiday, it is one of the only in existence to celebrate the togetherness of a couple in love.  Having said that, there are people without lovers or relationships that might find it a hard day to get through. However, it was never intended to be a day that isolated someone. Valentine’s Day can be celebrated by friends and family as well as by lovers. You do not have to love someone romantically to make them feel special on Valentine’s Day.

Have you ever considered where you are investing your money or who you are supporting when it comes to purchasing products and services from large scale companies. To really have a diversified and successful economy I believe there needs to be a shift of awareness from the general public towards supporting smaller local companies and entreprenuers who engage in sustainable business practices.

You may have heard of the slow food movement. Now, there is slow money idea and movement, championed by financial high-flier and author Woody Tasch (see video clip above). Slow Money is a movement which believes in a new way of investing, to bring heart and mind together in investing money. Woody Tasch wants to radically change people’s perception of investing; to move away from just considering returns on an asset class and to view investing as a cultural transformation and consciousness shift. It is about investing where our values say we should put our money.

At a time when the traditional Wall Street structures have imploded from the desire to achieve speedy profits, investing slow may be an increasingly popular mantra to put the economy back on its feet.

Tasch is going about promoting the Slow Money movement through encouraging us to develop a more personal connection to our food and investing in: sustainable agriculture, local first economies, niche organic farms & brands and local restaurants who supply local food. After a generation of industrial farming, most of us have lost the connection with our food. Check out the clip to the documentary below.

Photo courtesy of K’s Glimpses

If there is any time for you to become a successful entrepreneur now would be the time. In this article I want to give you some invaluable strategies which you’ll need to become a successful entrepreneur in 2010.

As the world economy comes out of its recession and starts picking up more and more people will start spending again. People are going to needs your services – what you are passionate about. Now is the time to find new innovative ways to solve problems for people. Now is the time to take advantage of technological advances through the internet and provide a product or service that people will love.

Although politicians and financial experts are claiming the recession is now at an end and from a technical perspective, the recession is very likely over at this point, but it’s still going to feel like a very weak economy for some time. I want to correlate this statement and consider it in your business plan.

How much does the economy matter to your business plan? Is it possible to start a business at the end of a recession in a still, weak economy? If your industry is still in a slump can you succeed?

photo courtesy of Desiree Delgado

The following post is designed to give you a quick confidence boost – something we can all use now and then (709 words- approx. reading time  2.5 mins).

Having confidence is a necessity when it comes to pursuing your passion and fulfilling your desires. Confidence empowers you to take action with authority. Confidence inspires others. Confidence builds trust in your actions and decisions. Confidence gives you permission to succeed.

Here are 8 ways to gain more confidence – each of them taking 5 minutes or less.

1. Read an inspirational quote. This sets the tone for the day and will give you positive insight and meaning that you can reflect upon and act on. Success quotes, proverbs and words of wisdom can help you stay focused. They can give you motivation and confidence. For example if I read first thing in the morning “A journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step” I may come to realize not to be rushed to finish a job and to enjoy each necessary step as part of the process.

2. Listen to a song that pumps you up. We all know the powerful affect music has on us. Music releases endorphins in the brain and gives you that feel good sensation which can boost your energy and confidence. Try playing those songs right before a really big event when you can really use that extra confidence. When I have a teaching or public speaking engagement I know exactly which songs to play beforehand.

3. Do a 5 minute stretch routine. Stretching allows blood and oxygen to flow freely to different areas of your body including your brain. Try simple stretches such as reaching your arms up in the air and bending forward to touch your toes. This gets energy flowing and allows you to become more alert and awake. This alertness allows you to think on your feet and gives you a greater capacity to feel and be confident.

4. Show off your threads. Throw on some nice clothes that you feel good about. It’s amazing what a nice suit, blouse or dress shirt can do for you. When you look smart, handsome, beautiful or sexy, you feel and act that way too. Of course this will give you a tremendous amount of confidence.

5. Pick three positive and powerful words to use throughout the day. This is a fun exercise, because you learn to speak with intention and confidence. For example your words may be Fantastic, Excellent and Absolutely. When using these words, articulate them slowly and emphatically – really feel the power and meaning behind the words. Not only will you appear confident to others but you will also feel more confident.