Create What Matters Most

FIT FOR LIFE: Structure and Routine for Creating What Matters

2009-06-26T14:04:00.000-07:00

"Fit For Life" — Structure and Routine for Creating What Matters
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"We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence then is not an art, but a habit."
—Aristotle

I got a new bike a month or so back. A red and white Rocky Mountain "urban/trail hybrid." I love it. I'm easing my way into riding regularly, and slowly upping my mileage.

It's fun. It's healthy. It reduces stress, generates energy, and produces positive emotions. Cycling makes me mentally and physically stronger. I feel in touch with the spirit that dwells within me, as me.

Cycling is part of my personal program to get "fit for life." It's part of my "practice" for creating what truly matters to me in as many areas of my life as I can.

"Practice" can be used as a verb or as a noun. Both uses are important if you want to create what matters most to you.

First, if you want to make changes in your life, work, relationships or whatever, you have to practice. I'm sorry, but it's true! You have to do things, and do them over and over — learning from your experience — until you get them right; until you excel at them.

Excellence, as Aristotle said, is a habit. Or, as the Dalai Lama said more recently, "There
isn't anything that isn't made easier through constant familiarity and training. Through training we can change: we can transform ourselves."

So practice is habitual action — repeated exercise of an activity in the development of a skill. When I cycle, I practice "specific" skills such as stroke, cadence, steering, and smooth shifting on uphill bits. I also practice "generic" skills such as "persistence, perseverance, patience and commitment."

My cycling practice is also part of my integrated "creating" practice.

Here I'm using the term as you might if you talked about a meditation or yoga practice, i.e. about the work or business of something. I don't have a yoga practice, yet, but I do have a creating practice, and cycling is part of it. Yoga might soon become part, too.

Structure and Routine
All effective practices are powered by habitual structure and routine. To achieve progress, and, eventually, excellence in something, you need to do it regularly, even habitually. As Woody Allen said, "80% of success is just showing up each day."

But, it can be hard to show up each day. You have a lot to do, already. Some of you feel "overwhelmed."

That's where structure and routine come in. It's easier to get fit if you structure a trip to the gym into your daily schedule. And at the gym, you'll make progress faster if you follow set routines.

In exercise, or parenting, or writing, or running a business, or creating what matters most, you can "rewire" you brain through habit and routine. It's not enough to just "know" stuff. "Knowledge," an old African proverb cautions, "is just a rumour until it gets into your muscles."

Through structure and routine, through repetitive practice, you can get what you know into your muscles. And getting what you know into your muscles is what learning and growth are really all about. Then you can do what you know.

It's fine and dandy to have great ideas and lots of knowledge from books and tapes and seminars, but if you can't get it into your muscles, you can't do it. And doing it is the point! Do it over and over and over again, until it becomes easy, habitual, and second nature to you. Out of quantity, quality (excellence) emerges. Practice may not make perfect, but it does make progress, and continuous progress leads to excellence.

Structure and routine can help you practice when the dark clouds of changing moods obscure your bright sun of motivation. You will do better at anything if you rely on structure more than motivation. I hear the excuse, "But I'm not motivated," way too often. Or the whinier version, "I don't feel like it."

So what? Get off your butt and practice what you don't feel like doing for 15 minutes, and chances are you WILL feel like it. Your mood will shift. Energy will flow. Positive feelings will return. You will make progress toward your goal.

That's why structure and routine are so important. Once you have a structured practice routine, you just do it. You show up and do your practice. And if you do it well enough and long enough, you'll get very good at it. You'll change. You'll create results that matter to you. You'll feel great!

So, how about you? Do you want to get fit for life? Do you want to create what matters?
If so, look at your life and work. In what areas do you want to create what matters? In what areas do you want to excel? Fitness? Health? Nutrition? Finances? Work? Relationships? Parenting? Skiing? Needlepoint?

Think about the results you want to create, and visualize them as fully complete.

Then check out where you are now; assess what you have in relation to your result, and what you lack.

Embrace the gap between vision and reality, and use the creative tension that emerges from that gap to contain and energize your choices and decisions.

Take action. Learn from your experience. Follow through to completion.

Celebrate your success, and use the energy of completion to start your next creation.

Easy, eh? Yes -- if you do it every day (or 5/6 days out 7). If you show up, and do your practice, it is easier by far than if you don't show up, and don't practice. That's why you want to create a structure and routine — a practice — that enables you to do it regularly.

Then creating -- getting fit for life -- will become a habit, part of what you repeatedly do. That's where excellence in anything comes from. Repeatedly doing what you want to do. So, enough talking! Get doing; get creating. Start small and build. You'll be glad you did.

If you need help, get a coach. That's what the pros do. And it seems to help them. ☺
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Article: "Ten Thousand Hours To Mastery:
The Awesome Power of Passion, Persistence and Practice"
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• Want to learn more about how passion-fueled practice and persistence can lead to success in life, work, relationships and whatever you most want to create?
If so, check out this article @ http://tinyurl.com/ten-thousand

• If you set goals, and then let your practice peter out, or just plain quit, you might want to check out this article, too:
Top Seven Reasons Why Most Personal and Business Goal Setting Does NOT Work, And What To Do About It! @ http://tinyurl.com/Why-goals-fail
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Self-Talk, Perception and How You Feel Each Day
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Often, we talk ourselves out doing what we really want to do by reacting to daily occurrences with negative self-talk and skewed perceptions. This short video shows how easy it is to talk yourself into a bad mood and negative perceptions of reality.
Watch it and see if you can recognize yourself and your own negative self-talk. Awareness is the first step toward change!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfeXxkbgCVE
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> Want To Simplify Your Life and Develop Creating Skills?
Want To Feel Up, Focused, Energized, Resilient—
Free And Excited About Your Life, Work, And Future?
======================================================
> Coaching can help you clarify results—and create them, in a simple, step-by-step way. Consciously creating desired results generates feelings of freedom, confidence, competence, and the resilience to handle whatever life gives you!

> My 7-page Coaching Info Package has details, and can help you see if this is for you. Email me with "coaching info" in the subject line.

> I have a couple of spaces opening over the next two weeks. So, if interested, contact me soon.
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>This Weeks Quotes:
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"A day will never be anymore than what you make of it. Practice being a 'doer'!"
-- Josh S. Hinds

“One must be pitiless about this matter of ‘mood.’ In a sense the writing will create the mood. … (I)t should not matter very much what states of mind or emotion we are in. Generally I have found this to be true: I have forced myself to begin writing when I’ve been utterly exhausted, when I’ve felt my soul as thin as a playing card, when nothing has seemed worth enduring for another five minutes… and somehow the activity of writing changes everything.”
-- Joyce Carol Oates

"Love is not automatic. It takes conscious practice and awareness, just like playing the piano or golf. However, you have ample opportunities to practice. Everyone you meet can be your practice session.
-- Doc Childre and Sara Paddison

"One way to create momentum is by creating a series of small successes. So pick small goals, goals that are easy to create and then create them. Think of each success you create as a warm up exercise for bigger creations. Just like musicians practice and athletes practice, practice creating. All of the things you create will give you even more skill and more momentum."
-- Robert Fritz

"Aim at a high mark and you will hit it. No, not the first time, nor the second and maybe not the third. But keep on aiming and keep on shooting, for only practice will make you perfect. Finally you'll hit the Bull's Eye of Success."
-- Annie Oakley
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What truly matters to you? Are you practicing it? Do you have a practice -- a structure and routine -- that helps you do it regularly? Want some help?

I hope you have a great week!
Bruce

To Succeed, Make Reality Your Ally!

2009-06-09T15:56:00.000-07:00

Welcome to "SIMPLY SUSTAINABLE SUCCESS" - June 2, 2009:
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Helping You Create What Matters MOST in Life and Work --
With Whatever Life Throws At You!
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"Every conquering temptation represents a new fund of moral energy.
Every trial endured and weathered in the right spirit makes a soul nobler and stronger than it was before."
—W. B. Yeats

Hi All,
June continues to give us above normal sunshine and warmth. Flowers are everywhere. The parks department has already mowed the hay-like grass that grows in beside the path above the ocean. I'm quite enjoying it, although, knowing June on the west coast, it's best to "expect nothing, be ready for anything."

Statistically, summer doesn't arrive in this area until about July 12, so I chose to be grateful for the unusually warm, sunny weather, and to enjoy it while it lasts.

After struggling through an unusually long and cold winter, you'd think folks would embrace the sunny warm weather with open arms, and loving hearts. And many did. But some only for a few days, and then they began to complain about "the heat." It's so West Coast!

I don't understand folks who habitually complain about the weather. The weather is not our enemy; the weather just is. It's a given, a reality that we have to work with, not something to fight against, or complain about.

Living and working in the Rocky Mountains for many years, I realized that there is no such thing as "bad" weather, just improper clothing. Some of my finest days in the mountains were ones on which most would have considered the weather to be "awful." But, properly clothed, we were well prepared for whatever the weather threw at us -- physically and mentally.

I think there's a power life lesson in this. How we deal with weather give us clues to how we deal with life.

Do you accept and appreciate whatever weather you get? Do you make it your ally, and focus on creating what you love?

Or do you see it as your enemy, let it get in your way, and let if affect your moods unnecessarily.

You can judge the weather "bad" -- or your job, relationship, friends, neighbours … whatever—and suffer the emotional consequences. Or you can take it as it comes, describe it accurately, objectively, and emotionally neutrally, and do whatever you have to do to be comfortable with it as you create what matters to you.

You do not have to make something your enemy in order to create change. In all but a very few instances, you do not have to "fight for change." Using the creating process — which is driven by vision, grounded in reality, and focused on results that embrace reality and move you toward vision — you can ease into change. Doing so, you can greatly increase your chances of bringing into being the kind and quality of results you most want in your life, work, relationships, and world.

So rather than make weather (or anything else that bugs you) your enemy, make it your ally. See what you can learn about yourself by accepting and appreciating whatever comes your way.

Studies done by "happiness" researchers found that after one year there's no difference in happiness between a lottery winner and a paraplegic recovering from a spinal cord injury. But after three years, the paraplegic is much happier than the lottery winner because s/he has had to work, and learn, and grow to get where s/he is. S/he has higher levels of resilience, self-efficacy (a sense of control), and self-esteem (feeling good about doing well).

So, if you want to be happy and successful, learn to make reality your ally, not your enemy.

Combined with a clear, compelling vision of what you want to create, an objective, appreciative assessment of reality sets up that useful "creative tension" that both guides and energizes your actions, and makes it more likely you'll learn from experience and move toward the results you most want to create.

Finally, as Kim Hubbard suggests, "Don't knock the weather; nine-tenths of the people couldn't start a conversation if it didn't change once in a while."
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Article: "Gratitude, Positive Emotions and Creating Success"
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Want to learn more about how gratitude can generate positive emotions, "unlock the fullness of life" and lead to success in life, work, relationships and whatever you most want to create?

If so, check out this article @ http://tinyurl.com/gratitude-success
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Individual Resilience: Stress Management "Made Easy"
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Because of the positive comments about this video, and the fact that only about 20% of readers clicked through to it, I thought I'd repeat it. It's a very short (1:19 min) but catchy video on quick, easy things you can do to make yourself more resilient. Check it out. It'll make you feel good just watching it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbxYeYYxbgU
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>This Weeks Quotes:
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"Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather."
~John Ruskin 

"There is a muscular energy in sunlight corresponding to the spiritual energy of wind."
~Annie Dillard  

"Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby."
~Langston Hughes   

"Rainbows apologize for angry skies."
~Sylvia Voirol

"Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky."
~Rabindranath Tagore

"Take long walks in stormy weather or through deep snows in the fields and woods, if you would keep your spirits up. Deal with brute nature. Be cold and hungry and weary." 
~Henry David Thoreau~
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How's your appreciation of weather? How's your appreciation of your own life and work? Do you make reality your ally? Or do you fight it? Need help?

I hope you have a great week!
Bruce

SELF-TALK, ENERGY, AND RESULTS!

2009-06-02T14:21:00.000-07:00

"I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing." ~Agatha Christie

Lovely spell of sunny, almost summer weather here in Victoria, BC these days.

Welcomed by those who live by the coast, and who struggled through a long, wet, and chilly winter. Not so welcome by those fighting wild fires in the forested interior of the province.

One of those "generic skills" I was talking about last week is the capacity to notice -- and change — your own "self-talk." Self-talk is that almost continuous stream of chatter that goes on in the back of our mind all day. It can have a major effect on your mood, especially if it is full of negative judgments about you, your behavior, others and their behaviour, and the world around you.

I, for example, say to myself, "lovely weather." But, if I lived at the edge of a dried-out forest, and the sunny, hot weather was increasing the risk of wildfires, I might not think it so "lovely."

One of the main stumbling blocks I see in clients who are trying to create what matters to them is negative self-talk, combined with the habit of ruminating on those negatives — bringing them up over and over and chewing on them until they've thoroughly bummed themselves out, and drained themselves of energy for action.

Much of our day-to-day and hour-to-hour mood shifts are due to self-talk, to judgments we make without being aware of them. So, to manage your moods and better create what matters, a key step is becoming aware of what you're thinking and saying to yourself.

Learn to be aware of your negative thoughts and challenge them. Dispute sweeping generalizations such as, "I can't do this." Look for evidence to the contrary, examples of things you have done. Add "yet" to such statements. "I can't do this yet," is a very different than "I can't do it." Adding "yet" to the sentence turns it into a description of your reality, and leads to creative tension and action.

If you want to create something and say, "I can't do it," or "I can't afford it," or some other such absolute statement, it negates the energy of your desire. It stops you in your tracks, and can make you feel helpless, or even hopeless.

But if you want to create something, and say, "I can't do it, yet," or "I can't afford it yet," creative tension forms between the desire and the reality. You think, "How then should I proceed?" and suddenly, you're into action. You're doing. You're learning. The thing you want to create doesn't look so big, and your reality doesn't seem so overwhelming. This is a great way to get unstuck, on track and moving toward your goals.

So, watch your self-talk. Watch for judgments, absolute statements, and false negatives (such as "I have no money," when you actually have money, but have not allocated it to creating what you want.) By changing your self-talk, you can change your mood, generate energy, and get yourself into action. And, through action, you can often learn to create what you want without what you previously thought was absolutely necessary. That's the beauty of creating!

So, when you feel miserable or down or frightened or stalled, check your self-talk. Make a couple of adjustments, and perhaps you, too, will realize that "just to be alive is a grand thing."
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FEEDBACK FROM READERS
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Som pieces prompt more feedback from readers than others. Last week's piece on "Persistence: The Power of Pressing On" generated a good deal of feedback. Here are a couple of the more engaging pieces:

Hi Bruce,
Are you psychic or just writing about topics that touch many people lots of the time!? Either way it's a gift!

The day after your newsletter came out, I was dismissed from my job, ie two days ago. The old phrase "not a good fit" was trotted out and with very little evidence or examples. So not only am I now a job seeker but I have to be prepared to live with the mystery of not knowing where a complaint originated. I'm going to ask tomorrow if they're willing to give me some better information, but not holding my breath. If nothing comes of that, it will be time to embrace the idea that lots of things involve ambiguity and don't get completely resolved. And then move on.

So as an employment counsellor I have the advantage of at least being aware of the range of emotions that are bound to come and go (oh yeah, I've already experienced three or four doozies!) and of the things I can do to make the transition as successful as possible.

In good Creating What Matters manner I've set my goal, including the elements I want in my next job, taken stock of current reality (financial state, state my resume is in, who I know that could be either employers or have leads, who's in my general support system, state of my physical/emotional health), and have already started taking the baby steps: contacted three people who may know of opportunities, applied for EI, updated and customized my resume for two potential openings I've heard of from the three people, started a to-do list and a contact list, reminded myself what I need to continue to do healthwise, reminded myself that emotions start with thoughts, so to be aware of my thoughts. I want to look back in 6 months (or less) and say, "Wow, I'm so glad to have the job I now have."

Gad, I sound like I've got it together, eh. So thanks for your latest article! Yours in pressing on,
Rocky

Hi Bruce,
For some reason this evening I thought I would watch the entire YouTube video on Susan Boyle when she debuted on Britain's Got Talent well over a month ago.

I continued to watch and listen to all the other You Tube clips about her life and her success, and was surprised that she had an incredible recording, Cry Me a River, from 1999 for a charity event. She never lost faith in her dream to become a professional singer in spite of many setbacks. After an hour of being captivated by her talent and story I read your writing about persistence, and it made me think how her story illustrated how persistence, combined with passion, can help one achieve results beyond their wildest imagination. It truly is a heartwarming story how someone so unlikely to achieve stardom has moved so many people around the world.

Thanks for writing about "persistence." It is an important skill.

Cheers!
G. M.
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[Like others, I hope Susan Boyle recovers from the stress of "pressing on" in front of the media spotlight, and is resilient enough to bounce back from her latest setback.]
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Individual Resilience: Stress Management "Made Easy"
====================================
Here's a very short (1:19 min) but catchy video on quick, easy things you can do to make yourself more resilient. I'm gonna take more 20 minute breaks! Check it out. It'll make you feel good just watching it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbxYeYYxbgU
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>This Weeks Quotes:
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"If you break your neck, if you have nothing to eat, if your house is on fire, then you got a problem. Everything else is inconvenience."
~Robert Fulghum

"If you don't like something change it; if you can't change it, change the way you think about it."
~Mary Engelbreit 

"Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional."
~M. Kathleen Casey

"Some luck lies in not getting what you thought you wanted but getting what you have, which once you have got it you may be smart enough to see is what you would have wanted had you known."
~Garrison Keillor

"When the Japanese mend broken objects, they aggrandize the damage by filling the cracks with gold. They believe that when something's suffered damage and has a history it becomes more beautiful."
~Barbara Bloom
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How's your self-talk? Can you recognize it, challenge it, and adjust it to support your passions and purposes? If so, keep it up! If not, want some help? My Emotional Mastery ebook can help a lot!

Paul Hawken's Commencement Speech, University of Portland

2009-05-31T09:28:00.000-07:00

Paul Hawken is a friend of CharityFocus, renowned entrepreneur, visionary environmental activist, founder of Wiser Earth and author of many books -- most recently Blessed Unrest .

Last week, he was presented with an honorary doctorate of humane letters by University of Portland, when he delivered this superb commencement address.

Commencement Address to the Class of 2009
University of Portland, May 3rd, 2009

When I was invited to give this speech, I was asked if I could give a simple short talk that was "direct, naked, taut, honest, passionate, lean, shivering, startling, and graceful." No pressure there.

Let's begin with the startling part. Class of 2009: you are going to have to figure out what it means to be a human being on earth at a time when every living system is declining, and the rate of decline is accelerating. Kind of a mind-boggling situation... but not one peer-reviewed paper published in the last thirty years can refute that statement. Basically, civilization needs a new operating system, you are the programmers, and we need it within a few decades.

This planet came with a set of instructions, but we seem to have misplaced them. Important rules like don't poison the water, soil, or air, don't let the earth get overcrowded, and don't touch the thermostat have been broken. Buckminster Fuller said that spaceship earth was so ingeniously designed that no one has a clue that we are on one, flying through the universe at a million miles per hour, with no need for seatbelts, lots of room in coach, and really good food˜but all that is changing.

There is invisible writing on the back of the diploma you will receive, and in case you didn't bring lemon juice to decode it, I can tell you what it says: You are Brilliant, and the Earth is Hiring. The earth couldn't afford to send recruiters or limos to your school. It sent you rain, sunsets, ripe cherries, night blooming jasmine, and that unbelievably cute person you are dating. Take the hint. And here's the deal: Forget that this task of planet-saving is not possible in the time required. Don't be put off by people who know what is not possible. Do what needs to be done, and check to see if it was impossible only after you are done.

When asked if I am pessimistic or optimistic about the future, my answer is always the same: If you look at the science about what is happening on earth and aren't pessimistic, you don't understand the data. But if you meet the people who are working to restore this earth and the lives of the poor, and you aren't optimistic, you haven't got a pulse. What I see everywhere in the world are ordinary people willing to confront despair, power, and incalculable odds in order to restore some semblance of grace, justice, and beauty to this world. The poet Adrienne Rich wrote, "So much has been destroyed I have cast my lot with those who, age after age, perversely, with no extraordinary power, reconstitute the world." There could be no better description. Humanity is coalescing. It is reconstituting the world, and the action is taking place in schoolrooms, farms, jungles, villages, campuses, companies, refuge camps, deserts, fisheries, and slums.

You join a multitude of caring people. No one knows how many groups and organizations are working on the most salient issues of our day: climate change, poverty, deforestation, peace, water, hunger, conservation, human rights, and more. This is the largest movement the world has ever seen. Rather than control, it seeks connection. Rather than dominance, it strives to disperse concentrations of power. Like Mercy Corps, it works behind the scenes and gets the job done. Large as it is, no one knows the true size of this movement. It provides hope, support, and meaning to billions of people in the world. Its clout resides in idea, not in force. It is made up of teachers, children, peasants, businesspeople, rappers, organic farmers, nuns, artists, government workers, fisherfolk, engineers, students, incorrigible writers, weeping Muslims, concerned mothers, poets, doctors without borders, grieving Christians, street musicians, the President of the United States of America, and as the writer David James Duncan would say, the Creator, the One who loves us all in such a huge way.

There is a rabbinical teaching that says if the world is ending and the Messiah arrives, first plant a tree, and then see if the story is true. Inspiration is not garnered from the litanies of what may befall us; it resides in humanity's willingness to restore, redress, reform, rebuild, recover, reimagine, and reconsider. "One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began, though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice," is Mary Oliver's description of moving away from the profane toward a deep sense of connectedness to the living world.

Millions of people are working on behalf of strangers, even if the evening news is usually about the death of strangers. This kindness of strangers has religious, even mythic origins, and very specific eighteenth-century roots. Abolitionists were the first people to create a national and global movement to defend the rights of those they did not know. Until that time, no group had filed a grievance except on behalf of itself. The founders of this movement were largely unknown -- Granville Clark, Thomas Clarkson, Josiah Wedgwood ˜ and their goal was ridiculous on the face of it: at that time three out of four people in the world were enslaved. Enslaving each other was what human beings had done for ages. And the abolitionist movement was greeted with incredulity. Conservative spokesmen ridiculed the abolitionists as liberals, progressives, do-gooders, meddlers, and activists. They were told they would ruin the economy and drive England into poverty. But for the first time in history a group of people organized themselves to help people they would never know, from whom they would never receive direct or indirect benefit. And today tens of millions of people do this every day. It is called the world of non-profits, civil society, schools, social entrepreneurship, non-governmental organizations, and companies who place social and environmental justice at the top of their strategic goals. The scope and scale of this effort is unparalleled in history.

The living world is not "out there" somewhere, but in your heart. What do we know about life? In the words of biologist Janine Benyus, life creates the conditions that are conducive to life. I can think of no better motto for a future economy. We have tens of thousands of abandoned homes without people and tens of thousands of abandoned people without homes. We have failed bankers advising failed regulators on how to save failed assets. We are the only species on the planet without full employment. Brilliant. We have an economy that tells us that it is cheaper to destroy earth in real time rather than renew, restore, and sustain it. You can print money to bail out a bank but you can't print life to bail out a planet. At present we are stealing the future, selling it in the present, and calling it gross domestic product. We can just as easily have an economy that is based on healing the future instead of stealing it. We can either create assets for the future or take the assets of the future. One is called restoration and the other exploitation. And whenever we exploit the earth we exploit people and cause untold suffering. Working for the earth is not a way to get rich, it is a way to be rich.

The first living cell came into being nearly 40 million centuries ago, and its direct descendants are in all of our bloodstreams. Literally you are breathing molecules this very second that were inhaled by Moses, Mother Teresa, and Bono. We are vastly interconnected. Our fates are inseparable. We are here because the dream of every cell is to become two cells. And dreams come true. In each of you are one quadrillion cells, 90 percent of which are not human cells. Your body is a community, and without those other microorganisms you would perish in hours. Each human cell has 400 billion molecules conducting millions of processes between trillions of atoms. The total cellular activity in one human body is staggering: one septillion actions at any one moment, a one with twenty-four zeros after it. In a millisecond, our body has undergone ten times more processes than there are stars in the universe, which is exactly what Charles Darwin foretold when he said science would discover that each living creature was a "little universe, formed of a host of self-propagating organisms, inconceivably minute and as numerous as the stars of heaven."

So I have two questions for you all: First, can you feel your body? Stop for a moment. Feel your body. One septillion activities going on simultaneously, and your body does this so well you are free to ignore it, and wonder instead when this speech will end. You can feel it. It is called life. This is who you are. Second question: who is in charge of your body? Who is managing those molecules? Hopefully not a political party. Life is creating the conditions that are conducive to life inside you, just as in all of nature. Our innate nature is to create the conditions that are conducive to life. What I want you to imagine is that collectively humanity is evincing a deep innate wisdom in coming together to heal the wounds and insults of the past.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once asked what we would do if the stars only came out once every thousand years. No one would sleep that night, of course. The world would create new religions overnight. We would be ecstatic, delirious, made rapturous by the glory of God. Instead, the stars come out every night and we watch television.

This extraordinary time when we are globally aware of each other and the multiple dangers that threaten civilization has never happened, not in a thousand years, not in ten thousand years. Each of us is as complex and beautiful as all the stars in the universe. We have done great things and we have gone way off course in terms of honoring creation. You are graduating to the most amazing, stupefying challenge ever bequested to any generation. The generations before you failed. They didn't stay up all night. They got distracted and lost sight of the fact that life is a miracle every moment of your existence. Nature beckons you to be on her side. You couldn't ask for a better boss. The most unrealistic person in the world is the cynic, not the dreamer. Hope only makes sense when it doesn't make sense to be hopeful. This is your century. Take it and run as if your life depends on it.

Persistence: The Power of Pressing On

2009-05-28T16:06:00.000-07:00

Welcome to "SIMPLY SUSTAINABLE SUCCESS" - May 28, 2009:
====================================================
Helping You Create What Matters MOST in Life and Work --
                   With Whatever Life Throws At You!
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"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan, 'press on' has solved, and always will solve, the problems of the human race."
                                                                                  --Calvin Coolidge

Hi All,
Thanks to all who wrote in to say that tooting my own horn had helped them toot there. I'm grateful for your feedback, and glad to help you bump up your own positive creative core. Toot! Toot!

In all the years I've taught, consulted, coached, and written, I've drawn inspiration from Coolidge's advice about persistence, above. The times I've felt like quitting something are too numerous to remember, let alone share. And, earlier in my life, I did quit things -- usually when they got hard, or, as I'd say "too" hard.

But working with some excellent mentors, I learned the power of persistence and began to "press on" when things got hard. I did what my father had always urged me to do, "stick with it." And when I did, I started to produce the results I wanted to produce.

Of course, there's more to producing results than just persistence. As some wise person once said, "persistence beyond a certain point becomes stupidity." But, combined with passion and practice, persistence is a key to producing real and lasting results.

Generic Skills, Specific Skills
Persistence is a "generic skill", a skill that can be applied across a wide range of "specific skills" such as writing, golf, scrap booking, gardening, polo playing, mountain climbing, entrepreneurship, art, ... you name it.

Generic skills enable you to develop and deploy your specific skills. They increase your resilience and your capacity to create, both of which are, themselves, generic skills.

You've no doubt heard the old line about, "If you give a person a fish, they eat for today, but if you teach them to fish, they'll never go hungry."

Well, try telling that to a cod fisher in Newfoundland or Salmon fishers on the West Coast of North America (south of Alaska) or Norway. Many of them know how to fish, but are struggling mightily to get by, and to put food in the mouths of their children.

Yet some thrive. Some reinvent themselves as electricians, wilderness guides, tour operators, permaculture gardeners, etc.... These lucky few somehow developed transferable "generic" skills that they apply to creating new ways of life and livelihood. They developed resilience and the capacity to create desired results, in spite of difficult circumstances. They learned how to persist and to persevere in the face of adversity.

And, so they succeed. They make their mark on their world.

US President Obama recently remarked that, "Making your mark on the world is hard. If it were easy, everybody would do it. But it's not. It takes patience, it takes commitment, and it comes with plenty of failure along the way. The real test is not whether you avoid this failure, because you won't. It's whether you let it harden or shame you into inaction, or whether you learn from it; whether you choose to persevere."

Patience. Commitment. The ability to learn from failure. Perseverance. These are all generic skills. They enable those who have developed them to shift gears, make change, and create desired results -- in spite of problems, circumstances, and adversity.

One reason I embrace and share the "creating" approach is that it is based on a set of powerful generic skills, integrated within a tried and true system for creating desired results. If you practice this system, persist in the face of difficulty, learn from failure, and follow through, you will produce results.

Creating is not foreign to us; we all do it. However, many don't know how they do it, so they can't do it consciously or deliberately. That's what I help people do in my coaching work. I help them recognize and develop their natural creating skills, and apply them to creating what matters most to them in life, work, and their world.

A friend recently sent me this quote from meditation retreat materials he received. I think it nicely sums up the power and joy in developing generic skills such as creativity, and persistence and applying them to our lives, work, communities... whatever.

"Creativity is natural to all nature. Nature isn't into success and failure. Nature is about finding growth in any given situation. We are embedded in a world that is forever creating. How foolish not to join the party!"
------------------

Video: Persistence Secrets from A Bamboo Tree
==========================================
Another short video (less than 3 mins) that shows how persistence over time can lead to awesome results. Very inspiring!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJ3C9SP8xRE
--------------------

>This Weeks Quotes:
================================
"Vitality shows in not only the ability to persist but the ability to start over."
   -- F. Scott Fitzgerald

"Inspiration grows into full-scale creation through persistence and imagination."
    -- Carol Lloyd

"The ability to persist in the face of obstacles is at least as important a factor in success as talent."
   -- Leonard Mlodinow

"Persistence of action comes from persistence of vision."
   -- Steve Pavlina

"Getting ahead in a difficult profession requires avid faith in yourself. That is why some people with mediocre talent, but with great inner drive, go much further than people with vastly superior talent."
   -- Sophia Loren

"Persistence is what makes the impossible possible, the possible likely, and the likely definite."
   -- Robert Half

"You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don't try."
   --Beverly Sills
-------------

How's your persistence? Are you willing to practice and persevere in pursuit of your passions? If so, keep it up! If not, want some help?

I hope you have a great week!
Bruce

Latest Version of The Simple Living Net's Newsletter

2009-05-06T13:02:00.000-07:00

The Simple Living Net's newsletter is chock full of good stuff about downsizing, living simply and doing more with less. Plus their site is a great resource for books about simple living, frugality, and retiring early with sufficient funds to live on.
I recommend this site and the newsletter unconditionally. Great stuff!
Do check it out @ http://www.simpleliving.net/main/custom.asp?recid=1#intro

Freedom and Independence!

2009-05-05T12:44:00.000-07:00

Welcome to "SIMPLY SUSTAINABLE SUCCESS" - May 5, 2009:
====================================================
Helping You Create What Matters MOST in Life and Work --
With Whatever Life Throws At You!
-------------------------------------------------------------------

"Freedom is actually a bigger game than power.
Power is about what you can control,
freedom is about you can unleash. "
- Harriet Rubin

Hi All,
Today is Cinco de Mayo, a special day in Mexico, in which people celebrate The Battle of Puebla, and independence from Spain. Viva Mexico!

I think it's also a good time for each of us to think about our own independence, our own freedom, and what it means to us.

When they come to me, almost all of my clients are successful in some ways — some very successful. But they often don't feel free, and independent. Most share common feelings of being stuck, trapped, or overwhelmed in various areas of life and work.

They long to rise above current situations and create what really matters. But, often, they can't articulate what matters. And, even if they did, they tell me, they'd still feel stuck, because they don’t know — or think they don’t know — how to bring into being the results they long to see in their lives and work.

A thirty-something executive told me the fast-track career he'd stumbled into by accident, felt like an out-of-control freight train. "I'm hurtling toward I-don’t-know-where," he said. "And I'm scared that when I get there, I won't like it. Sure, I make big bucks, and that's okay. But I know there's more to success than promotions and salary increases in a job that sucks."

A Hollywood producer told me he worked with TV networks to earn money to fund his own independent films. But stressed to the breaking point by the insanities of network TV, and stuck on the work-and-spend treadmill seeking relief, he felt trapped in that world, unable to return to the filmmaking he loved.

Still another professional, with 20 years experience, told me she was “terminally bored.” She succinctly summed up the common dilemma many share. "I feel trapped,” she confessed, “in a job chosen for me by a naïve 18-year-old."

This trapped feeling — not able to imagine what matters, or create it — arises for two reasons. First, people over-rely on problem-solving as a way of producing results. When it doesn't produce the results they want, they feel frustrated, and trapped.

Second, many people think of freedom only as the absence of restraints, or as relief from negative feelings associated with problems. However, there are two kinds of freedom: “freedom from…” and freedom to….” Both are important.

Freedom From… and Freedom To…
When people think of freedom, they often think about what they want to be free from: mortgages, dead end jobs, bossy superiors, bad habits, 20 ugly pounds, failing relationships, and other obligations and restrictions that they think limit them.
Their choices and actions are designed to get rid of, or get relief from those things. Sometimes, this stance is appropriate. But focusing just on freedom from puts them in the middle of problem-solving, flailing away with inadequate hammers. Being free from restraints, restrictions, and difficulties is not as important as freedom to….

Freedom to is harder to define. It involves the complex interaction of skills, knowledge, abilities, and tools that a person needs to actually do something. Without the ability to act — to create what matters — freedom from restrictions means little. Freedom to… is the version of freedom that the Oxford defines as, “the power of self-determination; independence of fate or necessity."

To see the difference between freedom from… and freedom to… imagine that you stand at the top of a high cliff. No walls, fences, guards, or other constraints prevent you from jumping. Standing there, you are free from restrictions. But, unless you're equipped with parasailing skill, experience, and equipment — i.e. capacity — you're not really free to jump (without killing yourself).

Freedom to comes from having a well-developed capacity — the tools, skills, structure, and experience — to successfully create what matters in all aspects of life, work, and relationships, independent of current events, circumstances, and adversity.
Moving from freedom from… to freedom to… is a matter of setting out what matters most, and then setting yourself firmly on the path toward creating it.

Mastering the skills and structure of creating is an excellent way to increase both kinds of freedom. Doing so increases your capacity for self-determination. It increases you self-efficacy and sense of control. It helps you take ownership for the results you want to create. It increases your independence from fate and necessity. It also makes it much easier for you to get up, and stay up, in times such as we now face.

[Excerpted from the forthcoming ebook Staying Up In Down Times: Creating Resilience, Results, and Real Rewards —With Whatever Life Throws At You!]
---------------

>This Weeks Quotes:
================================
“There can be no real freedom without the freedom to fail.”
— Erich Fromm

"There is a wonderful almost mystical law of nature that says the three things we want most — happiness, freedom and peace of mind — are always attained when we give them to others."
-- Fran Power Judd

"If money is your hope for independence you will never have it. The only real security that a man will have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience, and ability."
-- Henry Ford

You are in control of your life. Don't ever forget that. You are what you are because of the conscious and subconscious choices you have made.
—Barbara Hall

Freedom is what you do with what's been done to you.
—John Paul Sartre

"Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space lies our freedom and power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and freedom."
-- Victor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning

As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
— Marianne Williamson

Earth Week, Resilience and Optimism!

2009-04-21T11:10:00.000-07:00

Welcome to "SIMPLY SUSTAINABLE SUCCESS" - April 21, 2009:
========================================
Helping You Create What Matters MOST in Life and Work --
With Whatever Life Throws At You!
------------------------------------------------------

"As long as the Earth can make a spring every year, I can.
As long as the Earth can flower and produce nurturing fruit, I can,
because I'm the Earth. I won't give up until the Earth gives up."
—Alice Walker

Hi All,
It's Earth Week. And Wednesday is Earth Day.

What will you do to celebrate the Earth — and the systems of life on which all of your health, wealth, and well being depend?

We all celebrate the Earth in our own ways. Some will walk in Earthwalks. Some will attend teach-ins. Some will host small groups of friends and neighbours to watch "The Inconvenient Truth" and chat about how to apply its lessons to their own lives and work.

Some will cross-country ski or hike or bike into the wilderness and resonate to its magnificent wildness. Others will plant or harvest their gardens, getting the very essence of the Earth under their fingernails.

One school I know of is taking all the grade 3 to 7 students to the "Earth" movie -- and walking there and back. Good for them!

All of these ideas are wonderful, and I urge you to consider them.

As well, I urge you to take some time and reflect on your own relationship to the Earth and the systems of life on which you depend -- globally, and locally.

So many talk about an environmental crisis, but it's really a human crisis. We caused it, and, if enough of us change our ways soon enough, we might be able to prevent the crisis from getting out of control.

It's not really the Earth we have to be concerned with, it is how WE relate to and use the Earth's bountiful (but not unlimited) services. The Earth will take care of itself. The Earth is resilient and will bounce back from whatever we throw at it.

But we — civilization, humanity, people — may not survive what we do to the Earth. Our children's children and their children may not survive what we do to the Earth. That's why it is so important and so powerful for each and every one of us to ponder our relationship to the Earth.

How?

Think about the basics of life on which you depend. Heat. Light. Water. Food. Waste disposal. Transportation. Where do those things come from? Where does the energy come from and how do we access it? How do living things help us make a life?

By the way, have you thanked a green plant today?

Without them, we wouldn't be. They capture energy from sunlight, which we can't use directly, and transform it into the energy that you're using to read this newsletter right now. In many ways, we're all glowing balls of sunlight energy, dependent on green plants.

We also dependent on the water cycle, healthy forests, the top 12 inches of soil that contains trillions of life forms, working to break down wastes and create the placenta of life, the source of healthy living things.

Oh, yes, don't worry about the Earth this Earth day. Think more about your own relationship to the Earth, and how you can live in greater harmony with the basic life eco-systems on which you, and all that you hold dear, depend.

Here's a little poem by one of my favourite poets that might help your Earth Week reflections take on an optimistic slant:

Optimism
by Jane Hirshfield

More and more I have come to admire resilience.
Not the simple resistance of a pillow, whose foam returns over and
over to the same shape, but the sinuous tenacity of a tree: finding the
light newly blocked on one side,
it turns in another.
A blind intelligence, true.
But out of such persistence arose turtles, rivers, mitochondria, figs--
all this resinous, unretractable earth.
--------------------------

"The trouble with simple living is that,
though it can be joyful, rich, and creative, it isn't simple."
— Doris Janzen Longacre

--------------

"To cherish what remains of the earth and to foster its renewal
is our only legitimate hope of survival."
—Wendell Berry

>ARTICLES TO HELP YOU PONDER YOUR RELATIONSHIPS TO LIFE AND THE EARTH
======================================================================
These two articles can help you ask yourself some hard questions about the kind and quality of life you truly want to create, and compare that life to the life you're now living. The gap between where you are and where you'd love to be is a very powerful source of "creative" tension that you can use to take actions to close that gap. Bringing reality into harmony with your deep and authentic desires is one of the most powerful sources of fulfillment and satisfaction we have.

• "What Is The Good Life?" http://hubpages.com/hub/What-Is-the-Good-Life

• Abundance? Or Sufficience? http://hubpages.com/hub/Abundance--Or-Sufficience

Perhaps, this Earth Week these articles could be shared amongst friends and be the basis of a profound discussion. Why not try it?
----------------------

>This Weeks Quotes:
================================
"Live simply, so others may simply live."
—Gandhi

"Frugality is one of the most beautiful and joyful words in the English language, and yet one that we are culturally cut off from understanding and enjoying. The consumption society has made us feel that happiness lies in having things, and has failed to teach us the happiness of not having things."
—Elise Boulding

"We evolved as creatures knitted into the fabric of nature, and without its intimate truths, we can find ourselves unraveling."
—Diane Ackerman

'While Peak Oil and Climate Change are understandably profoundly challenging, also inherent within them is the potential for an economic, cultural, and social renaissance the likes of which we have never seen. We will see a flourishing of local businesses, local skills and solutions, and a flowering of ingenuity and creativity. It is a Transition in which we will inevitably grow, and in which our evolution is a precondition for progress. Emerging at the other end, we will not be the same as we were: we will have become more humble, more connected to the natural world, fitter, leaner, more skilled, and ultimately, wiser.
-- Rob Hopkins, The Transition Town Handbook

"The world is not to be put in order, the world is order. It is for us to put ourselves in unison with this order."
—Henry Miller

"You can never get enough of what you don't need to make you happy."
—Eric Hoffer
-------------

How is your relationship with the Earth? Take a little time this week to reflect on this -- and then act on what you come up with. If not you, who? If not now, when?

Have a wonderful Earth Week! Let the Earth's creativity and resilience fill you!
Bruce

TENACITY!

2009-04-14T10:07:00.000-07:00

Welcome to "SIMPLY SUSTAINABLE SUCCESS" - April 14, 2009:
====================================================
Helping You Create What Matters MOST in Life and Work --
With Whatever Life Throws At You!
------------------------------------------------------------------------

"It's a real disconnect to assume that the way to a better life
is something that happens only in good times."
— Po Bronson

Hi All,
We've just experienced two gorgeous spring days in a row and are working on a third. As well as flowers bursting into bloom, and birds bursting into song, people have been streaming by my window on the way to the beach. Cyclist and runners abound. It's as if the whole town is bursting into action after the long, chilly, and grey winter.

Although we all complain about these winters, and will complain about the long spring, which is usual — both the long, damp spring and the complaining — we can better tolerate weather and other unpredictable, uncontrollable events and changes if we are resilient.

One of the key components of resilience is tenacity.
--------------------------

"Tenacity"
==========
"Tenacity" is the quality of being tenacious. It means the ability "to be persistent in maintaining, adhering to, or seeking something valued or desired." It is the tendency to stick firmly to your decisions and plans, without changing them.

When you do something tenaciously, circumstances and adversity do not loosen your grip on what matters. You are not easily shaken off your commitment. You don't give up your goal — in spite of what befalls you. Another word for tenacity is "stick-to-it-ness."

Tenacity is a great quality to embrace in difficult times. It helps you keep your eyes on the prize, and persist in acting in ways that move you toward your goal. And if you don't have a prize you're eyeing, now is as good as time as any to get thinking about it.

There are several things you can do to increase your tenacity:

1. Clarify and articulate your goals. Make them clear and specific. Vague, wishy-washy goals lack power. They lack energy. They are hard to focus on. But clear, compelling goals attract your attention — and your action.

2. Be mindful of where you are and what you have. Mindfulness opens you to your reality, to what you already have in place, and to the forces that working on your behalf. When you're mindful, you are less likely to become too tenacious.

When I was working on my book Simplicity and Success, and determined to get a contract with a New York publisher, an old girlfriend accused me of being too tenacious. She told me I was "like a dog with a bone. Once you get your teeth into it, you won't let go for any reason."

Although I believe she was talking more about my tenacious grip on a relationship that she had already let go of, I took her advice seriously. I let go of my goal of New York publication, and shifted to publishing the book on my own. Then, I tenaciously pursued that goal to success. [Thanks, S!]

3. Embrace your fear. Describe it; don't judge it. Fear of fear is one of the most distracting things. It stops more people from getting started and keeping going when the going gets tough than anything else.

But if you can objectify fear (make it into an object) by describing it accurately, and in emotionally neutral ways, it loosens it grip on you. One way to objectify fear is, instead of saying, "I am afraid to fail," say, "I have this fear of failing." Then you can examine the fear as you might examine a pen in your hand. You can turn it around, look at from various angles, and ask yourself, "Is this fear justified." Often the answer is "no."

4. "Give yourself short assignments, and do shitty first drafts." I borrowed this one from Ann Lamont. It's from her excellent book Bird By Bird: Some Advice On Writing And Life. Breaking large goals down into their sub-goals, and sub-sub goals, and accepting that the first couple of tries could be crappy will make it much easier to take action, and learn from your own experience.

5. Follow through to completion. Completing a result will build momentum, even if it is only a sub-sub-result, and a small part of a bigger result. Momentum is a powerful source of energy, one that can get you through times of low motivation better than motivation can get you through times of no momentum.

So, to be tenacious, clarify and commit to goals that matter to you. Pay attention to your current reality. Be honest about it; don't make it out to be better or worse than it is. See it just as it is. Make your fear into an object, and examine it. I promise it will let go of its grip on you. Take small steps, and learn as you go. Build momentum and follow through to completion. The energy of completion will help you start on your next creation. Good luck!

[Adapted from Bruce Elkin's forthcoming Ebook Staying Up In Down Times: Creating Resilience, Results, and Rewards — With Whatever Life Throws At You!
------------

>This Weeks Quotes: "Tenacity"
================================
"Tenacity is a pretty fair substitute for bravery, and the best form of tenacity I know is expressed in a Danish fur trapper’s principle: “The next mile is the only one a person really has to make.”"
~ Eric Sevareid

"The minute you settle for less than you deserve, you get even less than you settled for."
-- Maureen Dowd

"Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal: my strength lies solely in my tenacity.
~ Louis Pasteur

"Formulate and stamp indelibly on your mind a mental picture of yourself as succeeding. Hold this picture tenaciously. Never permit it to fade. Your mind will seek to develop the picture."
-- Norman Vincent Peale

"The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure, the process is its own reward."
~ Amelia Earhart

-------------

How tenacious are you? Are you steadfastly pursuing what matters to you? Sticking to it, through thick and thin? If so, great! If not, why not?

Have a wonderful week! Let that tenacity work for you!
Bruce

PS Just a reminder that there are 30+ articles at:
http://hubpages.com/profile/Bruce+Elkin
and more at http://www.bruceelkin.com/writer.html

=========================================
BOOK LAUNCH ANNOUNCEMENT:
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Get exclusive bonus gifts and recordings from authors and experts like Jack Canfield, Marci Shimoff, Michael Beckwith, Gay and Kathlyn Hendricks, Mark Victor Hansen, me, and many others when you order copies of Mike’s new book today — April 14!
More information and to order at http://www.BeYourselfBook.com www.beyourselfbook.com/>

Resilience and Creating

2009-04-02T09:57:00.000-07:00

Welcome to "SIMPLY SUSTAINABLE SUCCESS" - Feb 24, 2009:
====================================================
Helping You Create What Matters MOST in Life and Work --
With Whatever Life Throws At You!
--------------------------------------------------------------

"There is no human made material as resilient as the human spirit."
— Bernard Williams

Hi All,
Birds signing, chatting, outside my window, letting each other know that all is well in their area. Relax, they chirp, all is well — let's get together.

Ah, the simple life -- eat, sing, mate. Eat, sing, mate.

Alas, our lives are not quite as simple as the birds', especially these days. This is why "resilience is so important, and so valuable to cultivate, in ourselves, our families, and our communities.
--------------------------

"Resilience"
==============
Resilience is the ability to overcome adversity — to bounce back up quickly when you're knocked down—and to recover quickly from setbacks. It's a kind of elasticity of character and attitude that lets us stretch to accommodate changes in our lives and world. Being resilient in the face of adversity helps you create results—in life, work, and relationships—even when the going is tough.

“Suppose you have tried and failed again and again,” said actress Mary Pickford. “You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing that we call failure is not the falling down, but the staying down.”

This distinction between the act of failure and what you conclude about it is key. If you judge that you failed, you are likely to stay down. Further, you are likely to generalize, “I am a failure. I always fail. So what's the point of getting up?”

Seeing yourself this way — as a victim — makes it difficult, if not impossible to learn from your mistakes. It erodes your resilience.

There are numerous ways to develop resilience. Be careful not to judge yourself, or reality, but, instead, describe it accurately, objectively, and emotionally neutrally. Practice taking on small risks that you can manage, and gradually extend your risk taking ability. But one of the best ways to build resilience is by mastering the skills and structure of creating.

Because it enables us to create results in spite of circumstances, creating increases our resilience. In the creating, failure is merely feedback, so even mistakes help us learn from experience.

Mastering the skills and structure of creating increases our competence to produce results we most want, and gives us confidence that we can deal with whatever life throws at us.

[Excerpted from the forthcoming Ebook Staying Up In Down Times: Creating Resilience, Results, and Rewards — With Whatever Life Throws At You!
------------

>Book Suggestion:
Adversity Quotient: Turning Obstacles Into Opportunities
========================================================
What does it take to succeed in life? IQ? EQ? SQ? Yes, all of those, and more.
Perhaps the most important of al is AQ: Adversity Quotient, which measures your ability to persevere and prevail in the face of adversity.

In Adversity Quotient, Paul Stoltz describes four CORE skills for building resilience. By increasing your levels of Control, Ownership, Reach, and Endurance, you increase your capacity to deal with adversity. A very readable book, with a very timely message. Highly Recommended!
------------------------

> Articles About Building Resilience
========================================
If you're looking for resilience reading this week, please check out these articles of mine:

• Resilience: Success Means Taking Adversity In Stride

• Building Resilience to Stay Up In Down Times

Both can be accessed at http://hubpages.com/profile/Bruce+Elkin
------------------------

> Community Resilience: The Transition Town Movement
========================================================
This fascinating 8-minute video features Rob Hopkins, author of The Transition Towns Handbook talking about Local Resilience. Just as individuals can develop the ability to prevail in the face of adversity, so, too, can communities. Indeed, the combination of individual, family, and local resilience may well be what gets most of us through these difficult economic times.

Check it out at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyXZpUGnJ0E
-------------------

>This Weeks Quotes: "Resilience"
=====================================
"The event is not important, but the response to the event is everything."
— I Ching

"Life shrinks or expands  in proportion to one’s courage." 
— Anaïs Nin

"Deep within humans dwell those slumbering powers; powers that would astonish them, that they never dreamed of possessing; forces that would revolutionize their lives if aroused and put into action."
— Orison Marden

"People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within."
—  Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

"Those who do not create the future they want must endure the future they get." — Draper L. Kaufman, Jr.

"Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference."
— Reinhold Niebuhr
-------------

How resilient are you?

Have a wonderful week! Let that exuberance bubble out of you!
Bruce

PS Just a reminder that there are 30+ articles at: http://hubpages.com/profile/Bruce+Elkin
and more at http://www.bruceelkin.com/writer.html

Happiness AND Success!

2009-03-31T09:25:00.000-07:00

Welcome to "SIMPLE SUSTAINABLE SUCCESS" - March 25, 2009:
====================================================
Helping You Create What Matters MOST in Life and Work --
With Whatever Life Throws At You!
Bruce Elkin: Life/Work Design & Transitions Coach
-------------------------------------------------------------------

> This Week: "Happiness and Success"

"Success is not the key to happiness.
Happiness is the key to success.
If you love what you are doing, you will be successful."
-—Albert Schweitzer

Hi All,
Spring is slowly creeping across the West Coast landscape. It's about a month late, but, hey, better late than never. It's sunny but breezy out today; a good day to walk along the cliff tops and watch the kite surfers in their multi-colored splendor.

I go for a lot of walks, partly for exercise, and partly because walking in nature makes me happy. And, as Schweitzer points out about being happy is a key part of being successful.

A brisk walk (even as little as 10 minutes, if it's brisk enough that you just break a sweat) is enough to reduce stress and lift your spirits. It clears away the stress hormones from your cell surfaces and makes room in the receptor sites for feel good hormones such as endorphins, dopamine, and serotonin.

When your bloodstream and cell surfaces as filled with these feel good hormones, it's easier to do what matters to you—and do it well.

You work with greater efficiency and effectiveness. You have more stamina. You are more realistically optimistic. You feel more energized and engaged. In a word, you are happier.

Recently, Positive Psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky published The How of Happiness: A Scientific Approach to Getting the Life You Want. In it, she provides us with helpful ideas about how we can deal with the stress of down times, and stay up, energized, happy, and successful--in spite of our circumstances.

Tip 1. Practice realistic optimism. Don't judge reality; describe it -- as accurately and objectively as you can.

To avoid feeling pessimistic, and to increase your optimism she advises not to "ruminate". Don't overthink the negative things you experience. Do something about them. Ask yourself, What can I learn from this? What's the upside of this? How can I turn this into something positive?

Tip 2. Be Kind to others. In these times, it's important to reach out to friends and family. Scientists have found that doing nice things for them, and strangers, can make you happier.

Yesterday, for example I was walking to the post office when a man stopped me and another walker, and asked us to help him life his mother in her wheelchair up the stairs to her dentist's office.

As the three of us hauled the slightly nervous lady up two short flights of stairs, she told us, "I'm going to be 100 in May." I was thrilled. I'd never talked to anyone that old before, and her bright smile was a great reward.

Suddenly, my walk to the PO was wonder-filled. My day was brighter. There was a spring in my step and a sparkle in my eyes. All just for helping someone.

Tip 3: Focus more on your relationships. Don't worry if you can't afford to buy your kids the newest toys or fashions. Spend more time with them; be nicer to them, less grumpy and upset. That's what they really want. In down times, nurturing your loved ones and friends is not only good for them; it's good for you.

Tip 4. Focus on a goal that matters to you. "If you find a happy person, says Lyubomisrky, "you will find a project. Happy people all have goals they care about."

It doesn't have to be a big goal, just something you care enough about to create. Indeed, a key to success—and happiness—is breaking large goals or results down into sub-result and sub-results, and then creating the pieces that will, in time, add up to the desired result.

And don't get fixated on goals that you can't pursue during these down times. Adapt. Change. Do what you can. Psychologist have found that it is very difficult to be active and depressed at the same time.

Tip 5: Take good care of your body, and your health. In down times, it is easy to skip meals or miss exercise and languish in front of the TV, ruminating about all that's wrong with your life.

This brings us full circle to getting out for a walk. It's good for your body. It's good for your health. It makes you happier. And it shifts your perspective from pessimistic to more realistically optimistic.

Another useful suggestion from Lyubomisrky is to meditate. Increasingly, research is showing that regular meditation changes the way we relate to reality, making us more realistically optimistic — the optimum state for generating success.

So, exercise regularly, be kind to others, nurture your relationships, take action on your goals, and get out for short walks during your day to clear away stress and increase your optimism. You'll be better for it.
--------------------------

> VIDEO ON "POSITIVITY" AND HOPE WITH BARBARA FREDRICKSON
==========================================================
Another positive psychologist, Barbara Fredrickson has just published a book called "Positivity: (…) How To Embrace the Hidden Strength of Positive Emotions, Overcome Negativity, and Thrive." She shares her key insights in this uplifting 6-minute video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ds_9Df6dK7c

Check it out; it'll make you feel more positive and happy.
---------------------

> ARTICLE: POSITIVE EMOTIONS: PEAK PERFORMANCE IN BODY, MIND, AND SOUL
=====================================================================
Positive emotions are key to peak performance in body, mind, and soul. And you can consciously create positive emotions, using the positive psychology findings in this article. You can be a force for negative mental health, or a force for positive mental health - it's up to you!

Access the article at http://tinyurl.com/Pos-Emotions

Other articles of mine on this topic at:
http://tinyurl.com/Staying-up

http://tinyurl.com/gratitude-success
-----------

>QUOTABLE QUOTES:
==================
“Positive emotions are not trivial luxuries, but instead might be critical necessities for optimal functioning.”
— Barbara Fredrickson

"Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom."
— Marcel Proust

"Many people have the wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose."
-- Helen Keller

"As for the pursuit of happiness: The more we make it a target, the more widely we miss. Happiness is, and will always remain, the unintended effect of meaningful activity."
— Victor Frankl

"True happiness comes from the joy of deeds well done, the zest of creating things new."
— Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

"There can be no happiness if the things we believe in are different from the things we do."
— Freya Stark

> 3 FOR 2 DEA.L ON MY BOOKS!
===========================
Just a reminder that one of the ways I support myself, and this newsletter/blog, is by selling my books from my website. For more info, or to purchase:

• Simplicity and Success: Creating the Life You Long For (Trade paperback or ebook)

• Emotional Mastery: Manage Your Moods & Create What Matters--With Whatever Life Gives You! Ebook.

• Creating Sustainable Success: How We Can Transcend Problems, and Create Simple Yet Rich, Healthy, and Sustainable Lives! Ebook.

>PICK UP THE FIRST TWO ON THE SITE, AND I'LL THROW IN THE THIRD ONE, TOO!

Visit http://www.BruceElkin.com

Buying books is a win/win way for you to support the newsletter and me.
I do appreciate your support!

>NEW EBOOK JUST ABOUT TO LAUNCH
================================
>Also, I'm just about finished a new ebook titled Staying Up In Down Times: Creating Resilience, Results, and Rewards. I'm going to be making it available to anyone who wants it, as my gift. Stay tuned!

Here's what Vicki Robin, co-author of the million-selling book Your Money Or Your Life? said about Staying Up In Down Times —
"Bruce's approach goes beyond coping with hard times. He helps you embrace life's complexity, and use it as raw material to create results you want. If life gives you lemons, you don't just make lemonade - you make a delicious lemon soufflé. Your life isn't just less bad or a little better - it is energized in a whole new way. I use some of Bruce's tools and can testify to their awesome power."

>Want a preview: http://hubpages.com/hub/Staying-Up-In-Down-Times
-------------------

Have a wonderful week!
Bruce

Only One Prayer?

2009-03-21T12:02:00.000-07:00

I thought it might be interesting to spash a little colour and movement and music on this canvas. So here's the first video I thought you'd enjoy.

Ten Quotations for Writers, and other Creators

2009-03-17T15:38:00.000-07:00

"If there's a book you really want to read but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it."
~ Toni Morrison

"Vitality shows in not only the ability to persist but the ability to start over."
~ F. Scott Fitzgerald

"Writing is an act of generosity. Just turn the 'M' in 'Me' over and make it a 'We'."
-- Annie Dillard

"Great writing happens not through some dark art, but when method meets craft."
-- Jack Hart

"When we are writing, or painting, or composing, we are, during the time of creativity, freed from normal restrictions, and are opened to a wider world, where colors are brighter, sounds are clearer, and people more wondrously complex than we normally realize."
- Madeleine L'Engle

"Genius cannot be taught, but there is a magic to writing that is teachable."
-- Dorothea Brande

"Ernest Hemingway prided himself on revising his work over and over again until he finally fashioned it into what he labeled "a polished, tiny gem."
-- Charles Jacobs

"Discipline is what I do best... If you're a professional writer, you write...You write whether you feel like it, you write whether you've got an idea, you write whether it's Pulitzer Prize material. You just do it, that's it."
-- Erma Bombeck

"When you write about what interests you, you never feel like you're in a rut, because you're writing about what's interesting to you."
-- Ellen Goodman

"The dread of doing a task uses up more time and energy than doing the task itself.
~ Rita Emmett, author of The Procrastinator’s Handbook

Worried about writer's block (or creator's block, or runner's block…)? Try my 15 minute experiment in "Writer's Block: Manage Your Mood To Create Success" - http://hubpages.com/hub/This-Matter-of-Mood

"Exuberance!"

2009-03-11T16:39:00.000-07:00

Welcome to "SIMPLY SUSTAINABLE SUCCESS" - Feb 24, 2009:
=========================================================
Helping You Create What Matters MOST in Life and Work --
With Whatever Life Throws At You!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi All,
Lovely today, here in Victoria, BC. Sunny, warm, bright -- after a record cold night for this area. But, I love the sun, and although it's warming up, rain is predicted for the next five days. So, I'm enjoying the sunshine while I can.

Thanks to so many who wrote in with suggestions and feedback on the newsletter changes. Much appreciated! Many correctly pointed out that the "new" approach is actually the same as I describe on my website. One long post and 2 short posts in rotation. So it's not much of a change.

And the good news is my split run testing shows that nearly half of you dear readers are opening the newsletter or reading it in your browser. Thank you!
--------------------------

"Exuberance"
==========
Spring always seems to me a time of exuberance. "Exuberance" means "lively, high spirited," and "abounding, lavish, effusive." I think exuberance is the outward manifestation of an inner passion for life, and living.

On my daily walks, recently, I've been delighted by the exuberance of the returning birds, and the hardy crocuses that appear almost over night in large patches in the middle of fields—in more colours than I can count.

I'm amazed at the exuberance of the 1-year old living above me (temporarily, thank goodness), as she hurtles herself around in a galloping, galumphing motion that in no way can be called a crawl. Her eagerness to explore her environment is astounding.

Kay Redfield Jamison, author of EXUBERANCE: The Passion for Life, says, "I believe that exuberance is incomparably more important than we acknowledge. If, as it has been claimed, enthusiasm finds the opportunities and energy makes the most of them, a mood of mind that yokes the two is formidable indeed. Exuberant people act on the world differently … (they) hold their ideas with passion and delight, and act upon them with dispatch. Their love of life and adventure is palpable. Exuberance is a peculiarly pleasant state, and in that pleasure is power."

I confess that I'm not a habitually exuberant person, but during spring, when exuberance is bursting out all around me, I find it hard not go let a little of the same bubble up in me, and out into the world.

Wherever you are, whatever season it is, I hope you can let go and let a bit—or a bunch—of exuberance bubble up in you. Then set it free into the world!
------------

Taking A Stand for Your Own Greatness!
=============================
If you're looking for a bit more reading this week, please check out this short article of mine on "Taking A Stand for Your Own Greatness! To access it, click here.
--------

Exuberance! "Wild Women Don't Have the Blues"
=================================
Here's 1:32 minutes of hand-clapping exuberance that might just put a bit of sunshine into your day. Click here to get yourself rockin'n'rollin'. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yn5cKapgXc

This Weeks Quotes: "Exuberance"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Exuberance is beauty.
-- William Blake

“Spring passes and one remembers one's innocence. Summer passes and one remembers one's exuberance. Autumn passes and one remembers one's reverence. Winter passes and one remembers one's perseverance.”
-- Yoko Ono

I call for a collective adventure in generalized joy and freely interdependent exuberance.
-- Bob Black

Saints have no moderation, nor do poets, just exuberance.
-- Anne Sexton

You can have anything you want if you want it desperately enough. You must want it with an inner exuberance that erupts through the skin and joins the energy that created the world.
-- Sheila Graham
-------------

What are you exuberant about?
What are you passionate about creating in life and work?

Have a wonderful week! Let that exuberance bubble out of you!
Bruce

PS Just a reminder that there are 30+ articles at:
http://hubpages.com/profile/Bruce+Elkin
and more at http://www.bruceelkin.com/writer.html

Building Resilience: Staying Up In Down Times

2009-03-09T11:44:00.000-07:00

Welcome to "SIMPLY SUSTAINABLE SUCCESS" - March 5, 2009:
====================================================
Helping You Create What Matters MOST in Life and Work --
With Whatever Life Throws At You!
Bruce Elkin: Life/Work Design & Transitions Coach
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

> This Week: Building the Resilience To Stay Up In Down Times!

"The Beauty of Life surrounds me,
the Joy of Life uplifts me,
and the Resilience of Life protects me.
It is enough."
—Laura Teresa Marquez

Hi All,
Lovely spring day in Victoria. Clouds, sun, a spot of showers to brighten up the daffodils and crocuses--and that special renewal energy that only comes with the arrival of spring. Apologies to those of you still shoveling snow, or sweltering in record heat. I'm happy to live where I do!

I wasn't always this perky, spring or no spring. During a long and difficult period of my life I was down, depressed, feeling helpless and hopeless about my future. But, learning how to build resilience enabled me to overcome my learned pessimism and become realistically optimistic. Things have gone much better for me ever since.

Two things helped me to develop that realistic optimism: the capacity to create results that matter to me, and resilience, the ability to bounce back quickly from losses and setbacks.

"Emotional resilience says stress counselor Elizabeth Scott, "refers to one’s ability to adapt to stressful situations or crises. More resilient people are able to "roll with the punches" and adapt to adversity without lasting difficulties; less resilient people have a harder time with stress and life changes, both major and minor.

"It’s been found that those who deal with minor stresses more easily can also manage major crises with greater ease, so resilience has its benefits for daily life as well as for the rare major catastrophe." . . . [More here.]

--------------------------

> AUDIO INTERVIEW WITH ME ON RABBLE.CA
=======================================
Last week, Lynn Johnson of the "Living On Purpose" radio show in Nanaimo, BC did a lively 22-minute interview with me. We talked about Life Design, and shifting focus from problem solving to creating results that matters -- and how that applies to day-to-day life.

>To listen to the interview, go to:
http://www.rabble.ca/podcasts/shows/living-purpose/episode-155-bruce-elkin-life-design-coach
[You may have to cut & paste this link into your browser. If you do, check to make sure there are not breaks (spaces) in the link.]
---------------------

>QUOTABLE QUOTES:
==================
"I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship. "
—Louisa May Alcott

"Fall seven times, stand up eight."
-- Japanese Proverb

"Man never made any material as resilient as the human spirit."
-- Bernard Williams

"Be of good cheer. Do not think of today's failures, but of the success that may come tomorrow. You have set yourself a difficult task, but you will succeed if you persevere; and you will find a joy in overcoming obstacles."
-- Helen Keller

"Crisis is not always bad; it can become a turning point in your life for the better. Yes, it can bring danger and upset, but it also carries with it opportunity for growth and change. As you try to discover a way to cope with crisis, you could discover a new and better way of living."
—H. Norman Wright

"Life shrinks or expands  in proportion to one’s courage."
--Anaïs Nin
---------------------

>WANT TO BUY MY BOOKS?
========================
Just a reminder that I sell my books from my website. For more info, or to purchase:

• Simplicity and Success: Creating the Life You Long For,

• Emotional Mastery: Manage Your Moods & Create What Matters--With Whatever Life Gives You!

• Creating Sustainable Success: How We Can Transcend Problems, and Create Simple Yet Rich, Healthy, and Sustainable Lives! [Contact me directly for this one, or buy the other two on the site, and I'll give you this one, too!]

Visit http://www.BruceElkin.com

Buying these books is a win/win way for you to support the newsletter and me. I do appreciate your support!

>Also, I'm just about finished a new ebook titled Staying Up In Down Times: Creating Resilience, Results, and Rewards. I'm going to be making it available to anyone who wants it, as my gift. Stay tuned!

>Want a preview: http://hubpages.com/hub/Staying-Up-In-Down-Times
-------------------

>STAYING UP!
============
> If you are feeling down and dispirited, please consider coaching help. I have helped many regain their confidence, their vitality, and their hope for themselves and their future.
For info, email me with "Coaching Info" as subject!

Have a wonderful week!
Bruce

Committment

2009-02-24T15:57:00.000-08:00

Enthusiasm

2009-02-24T15:53:00.000-08:00

Welcome to "SIMPLY SUSTAINABLE SUCCESS" - Feb 17, 2009:
====================================================
Helping You Create What Matters MOST in Life and Work --
With Whatever Life Throws At You!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi All,
A couple of things prompted me to experiment with changes in the style and frequency of this newsletter.

First, people tell me that get too many emails. They don't have time to read them all, Second, a change in the software that sends these out shows me the only about 10% to 17% of my 1100+ subscribers click open the email. Actual readership is probably higher, as many browsers allow you read right in the browser.

Still, I've opted for quality over quantity, and will send a full newsletter every three weeks. In between, I'll send "weekly quotes", heads-ups about new articles, and the occasional cute, funny, or inspiring video.

Please feel free to comment on this strategy. I'd love to hear from you.
--------------------------

>This Weeks Quotes: "Enthusiasm"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Enthusiasm" comes from "entheos" -- the Greek word for "the God within." When we are exuberant or enthusiastic, you could say we are expressing the Spirit that dwells within as us.

"When we accept tough jobs as a challenge and wade into them with joy and enthusiasm, miracles can happen."
-- Arland Gilbert

"You can have anything you want if you want it desperately enough. You must want it with an inner exuberance that erupts through the skin and joins the energy that created the world."
-- Sheila Graham

"In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer."
-- Albert Camus

A happy life consists not in the absence, but in the mastery of hardships. 
-- Helen Keller

"Enthusiasm finds the opportunities, and energy makes the most of them."
-- Henry Hoskins
-------------

Have a wonderful week!
Bruce

Just a reminder that there are 30+ articles at: http://hubpages.com/profile/Bruce+Elkin
and more at http://www.bruceelkin.com/writer.html

**********************************************

What Is Web 2.0 - Social Networking - All About?

2009-02-09T16:52:00.000-08:00

> This Week:
What's this Web 2.0 - Social Networking - All About?

Welcome to "SIMPLY SUSTAINABLE SUCCESS" - Jan 22, 2009:
====================================================
Helping You Create What Matters MOST in Life and Work --
And Support The Systems of Life that Support Us All!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi All,
Short post this week. Don't want to overload you every week. ☺
Actually, on the blog, this is published out of order -- because I forgot to post it. Oops!

First, some good news - for me! I am HubPages "Featured Writer" this week. I've only been on the site for 5 months, so it's a bit of an honour for me.

HubPages is a popular site where just about anybody can write something and put it up on it's own webpage. There are 45,000 members. It's one of the most popular sites on Google, and it's a fun place to put up short articles and get feedback from peers.

OK, there's a few nutballs, and fundamentalists of different stripes, and techno-geeks, but, hey, that's diversity. And I find I learn a lot, about others, and about my own writing by participating. I've only been doing this for a little over 4 months, but some of the old timers make up to $1000 a month by using their Hub Pages as vehicles for Google Ads, Amazon offerings, and eBay sales.

So, far, I've made $8.96 from mine. So I'm obviously not in it for the money, but for the fun. You can read the interview with me @ http://hubpages.com/newsletter/Bruce+Elkin,
and view my profile and list of articles at
http://hubpages.com/Bruce+Elkin

Being on HubPages is part of an experiment I'm doing, trying to learn about Social Networking and on-line communities. I’m also playing with Twitter (and starting to "get it") and connecting with old friends and colleagues on Facebook and Linked in. The last two I’m quite restrictive about, but anyone interested can follow me on Twitter. Search for BelkinB, and tweet away.

Why, you ask, am I doing this? Partly just out of personal interest. But also, as a coach, I think it behooves me to know what is going on in the world, and when so many people are using the Social Networking sites, I didn't want to be left out in the cold. An old dawg, trying to practice what he preaches, and learn new tricks!

What have I learned? Well, it takes a lot of time, if you don't create a system to guide your actions. It also takes a while to learn your way around the various sites. Although there are help pages, like much of the online world, they're sometimes not that helpful. So I've begun following the lead of people much younger than me, and just poking around in the site, playing with it, until I figure it out. It's a different way to learn for me, and has been frustrating. But, it is getting easier, and as it does, it gets more fun, and I get to do more with less. So that's good.

Finally, the Social Networking sites are repositories of useful information, if you can sift through the not-so-useful. I'm starting to get more and more of my info from sites like Twitter, Digg, and Stumble Upon. It's like an ever-changing encyclopedia. Very exciting. C'mon over and follow me, at BelkinB@Twitter.com and try it yourself. You might like it.
--------------------------

>DON'T BUY STUFF YOU CAN'T AFFORD
==========================
Here's a link to an old Saturday Night Live skit that is quite funny, and has a good message, especially for folks trying to live simple, successful lives. Give yourself a laugh; check it out at: http://tinyurl.com/bdmsrv

>WANT TO WATCH TV ON YOUR COMPUTER?
===========================
Here's a real find, if you don't know about it.

Livestation TV, at http://www.livestation.com/ enables you to see many global TV stations live on your computer, including ABC, NBC, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and hundreds of others channels. And it's free!

Pretty nifty for people who want to get a variety of viewpoints.
-------------------

>THE MOST AMAZING CHALK ART I'VE EVER SEEN!
==================================
Julian Beever is an English artist who is famous for his art on the pavements of England, France, Germany, USA, Australia and Belgium. Its peculiarity? Beever gives his drawings an anamorphosis view; his images are drawn in such a way that gives them three dimensionality when viewed from the correct angle. It's amazing! Really! Check out these sites:

http://www.rense.com/general67/street.html

This art will astound you. It really will. Talk about creativity!
------------------

>QUOTABLE QUOTES:
==================

"The secret of life is to have a task...something you bring everything to...And the most important thing is - it must be something you cannot possibly do."
-- Henry Moore

"If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain."
-- Emily Dickinson

"To be in hell is to drift; to be in heaven is to steer."
-- George Bernard Shaw

"The road to happiness lies in two simple principles: find what it is that interests you and that you can do well, and when you find it, put your whole soul into it -- every bit of energy and ambition and natural ability you have."
-- John D. Rockefeller III

"Many people have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose."
-- Helen Keller

"Observe always that everything is the result of change, and get used to thinking that there is nothing Nature loves so well as to change existing forms and make new ones like them."
-- Marcus Aurelius
---------------------"

>MY BOOKS:
==========
Just a reminder that I sell my books from my website. For more info, or to purchase

• Simplicity and Success: Creating the Life You Long For,

• Emotional Mastery: Manage Your Moods & Create What Matters--With Whatever Life Gives You!

• Creating Sustainable Success: How We Can Transcend Problems, and Create Simple Yet Rich, Healthy, and Sustainable Lives! [Contact me directly for this one, or buy the other two on the site, and I'll give you this one, too!]

Visit http://www.BruceElkin.com

Buying these books is a win/win way for you to support the newsletter and me. I appreciate your support!

Also, I'm just about finished a new ebook titled Staying Up In Down Times: Creating Resilience, Results, and Rewards. I'm going to be making it available to anyone who wants it, as my gift. Stay tuned!
>Want a preview: http://hubpages.com/hub/Staying-Up-In-Down-Times
-------------------

>IT'S NEVER TOO LATE!
====================
> If you haven't made resolutions, or set goals, this year, why not start now? It's never too late, and people with written goals out-perform those without them. For info, email me with "Coaching Info" as subject!

Have a wonderful week!
Bruce

WHAT IS "THE GOOD LIFE?"

2009-02-09T16:42:00.000-08:00

> This Week: What Is "The Good Life?"

Welcome to "SIMPLY SUSTAINABLE SUCCESS" - Feb 10, 2009:
====================================================
Helping You Create What Matters MOST in Life and Work --
And Support The Systems of Life that Support Us All!

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi All,
Wild weather here in Victoria, BC. Sunny first thing this morning. Then snow mid-morning. Sunny, bright and warm around noon. Now it appears another front is moving through as dark clouds approach. Ah, well, it's just the weather; we'll take it in stride.

Taking things in stride is good advice when it comes to uncertain and challenging times such as we're now experiencing. But it can sometimes be difficult to do so.

One of the best ways to be able to do so was summed up by concentration camp survivor Viktor Frankl, who (quoting Nietzsche) said: "The person who has a why can survive and how."

One of the most powerful "why's you can craft is your own notion of "the good life." Knowing what your good life would comprise, how it would look and feel, and how you would recognize it if you created will provide you with a clear beacon to steer off of, in these difficult times.

"Find something you really care about," sang Kate Wolf, "and live a life that shows it."

Here are five questions to ponder to help you imagine and feel what your good life would be, if you created it?

You don't need definitive answers to these questions right away. In fact, it's good to ponder them over some period of time, noting your answers and the differences between them at different times, and in different moods.

Also, as you think about these questions and your answers, beware of the dreaded "yes, but…" response.

We often mix up vision and reality by thinking of something that we'd love to create, and then negating it by saying, "I'd love to… but I couldn't do that" or, "…I don't have enough money," or, "…I don't have the skills or experience."

If you notice yourself doing this, stop. Catch yourself. Just let the answer stand, without the "but." If you negate it with a "but", you don't give the answer time to form fully, and the excitement of it is lost.

Here are the questions. Take some time to ponder them. Jot down your answers, and compare them to answers that arise later.

1. What makes you come most fully alive? What most deeply excites you?

2. What were you doing when you were most happy and engaged in life? In work?

3. What are you passionate about doing? About creating, i.e., bringing into being? If you don't know, imagine that you do know and see what comes to mind?

4. What really matters to you now? What do you value most? If there's more than one thing, arrange them in a list with the most important at the top.

5. Imagine that money is no object, that you cannot fail, won't be embarrassed, and have whatever it takes to create whatever you want -- what do you want to create? Imagine it as fully completed, and part of your life. Take some time to notice the feelings that arise as you imagine what you'd love to create?

Taken together, these questions can go a long way to helping you imagine what, for you, is the good life you long for.

If you'd like to delve deeper into the question, "What Is the Good Life? I have posted a short article on that topic at http://hubpages.com/hub/What-Is-the-Good-Life

In it I outline three kinds of lives—based on material, mastery, and meaning— through which we seem to evolve toward a universal definition of the good life as a "flourishing, happy life."

I suggest that while each life level might be necessary to truly flourish, and to experience authentic happiness, we often get attached to one or another, and become stalled. For more on how to get beyond that attachment and create the kind and quality of good life you long for, read the article at: http://hubpages.com/hub/What-Is-the-Good-Life

Other HubPage articles you might enjoy:

"Staying Up In Down Times," -- http://tinyurl.com/Staying-up

"Abundance? Or Sufficience?" -- http://tinyurl.com/Sufficience

"The Promise of Simplicity: Doing More With Less" -- http://hubpages.com/hub/The-Promise-of-Simplicity

You can access all of my HubPages articles at: http://hubpages.com/profile/Bruce+Elkin
--------------------------

> MORE THAN MONEY: "WHAT IS THE GOOD LIFE?" VIDEO
=========================================
This 3-minute animated video depicts an old but lasting parable on the subject of the good life. You may know, but I'm sure you'll enjoy this short vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbD6j_1-kSk
--------------

>THE MOST AMAZING CHALK ART I'VE EVER SEEN!
==================================
I'm repeating this item because so many folks raved about it last time.
Julian Beever is an English artist who is famous for his art on the pavements of England, France, Germany, USA, AUSTRALIA, and Belgium. Its peculiarity? Beever gives his drawings an anamorphous view; his images are drawn in such a way that gives them three dimensionality when viewed from the correct angle. It's amazing! Really! Check out these sites:

http://users.skynet.be/J.Beever/

This art will astound you. It really will. Talk about creativity!
------------------

>QUOTABLE QUOTES:
==================
"There is no shortage of good days. It is good lives that are hard to come by."
-- Annie Dillard

"There are no days in life so memorable as those which vibrated to some stroke of the imagination."
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The good life is the healthful life, the merry life. Life is health, joy, laughter. "
-- Jean Bodin

"There are two great days in a person's life - the day we are born and the day we discover why."
-- William Barclay

"There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."
-- Albert Einstein

"You're alive. Do something. The directive in life, the moral imperative was so uncomplicated. It could be expressed in single words, not complete sentences. It sounded like this: Look. Listen. Choose. Act."
-- Barbara Hall
---------------------"

>MY BOOKS:
==========
Just a reminder that I sell my books from my website. For more info, or to purchase

• Simplicity and Success: Creating the Life You Long For,

• Emotional Mastery: Manage Your Moods & Create What Matters--With Whatever Life Gives You! (ebook)

• Creating Sustainable Success: How We Can Transcend Problems, and Create Simple Yet Rich, Healthy, and Sustainable Lives! [Contact me directly for this ebook, or buy the other two on the site, and I'll give you this one, gratis!]

Visit http://www.BruceElkin.com

Buying these books is a win/win way for you to support the newsletter and me. I appreciate your support!

Also, I'm just about finished a new ebook titled Staying Up In Down Times: Creating Resilience, Results, and Rewards. I'm going to be making it available to anyone who wants it, as my gift. Stay tuned!

>Want a preview? http://hubpages.com/hub/Staying-Up-In-Down-Times
-------------------

> IT'S NEVER TOO LATE!
=====================
> If you haven't made resolutions, or set goals, this year, why not start now? It's never too late, and people with written goals out-perform those without them. In this economic climate, any edge you can get will be helpful. For info, email me with "Coaching Info" as subject!

Have a wonderful week!
Bruce

Create the Change You Want To Be!

2009-01-22T14:45:00.000-08:00

> This Week:
Developing the capacity to create and give YOUR gifts to the world!

Welcome to "SIMPLY SUSTAINABLE SUCCESS" - Jan 22, 2009:
====================================================
Helping You Create What Matters MOST in Life and Work --
And Support The Systems of Life that Support Us All!

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi All,
First, thank you for the encouraging feedback on my goal setting Do's and Don'ts in the last newsletter. I appreciate your support and encouragement! If you missed it, I archived it http://tinyurl.com/c6urve

Next, congratulations to the people of the USA for electing President Obama. May he have at least 8 great years! May he bring that nation and its people together in service to their great ideals. And may his message of hope, and "Yes we can!" spread around the world.

One thing I was struck with in President Obama's Inauguration speech was his emphasis on service and civic duty. I was particularly struck by the notion that not only do we have a duty to our community, our nation, and the world--but, also, that duty starts with a duty to our selves.

As Ghandi said to his followers, "Be the change you want to see in your world," Obama is saying that real change starts in the hearts, heads, and hands of each of us. Then, it percolates out into the world. So, we really want to take seriously our own ideas, desires, and urges toward change. And act on them!

Years ago, President John F. Kennedy stressed service, when he stated in his Inauguration speech, "Ask not what your country can do for you; instead, ask what you can do for your country." Unfortunately, the Kennedy years came to an abrupt end with assassinations, and the US and Canada slid into the "give me" years--the Decades of Greed, and looking out for #1.

But, change is in the air, and I'm all for it. I think President Obama is right that the capacity to contribute—to give your best—in civic and national service begins with your capacity to create your best in your own life and work.

One of my mentors-at-a-distance was Peter Senge, author of The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization. He was a colleague and friend of my main mentor Robert Fritz. Peter used Fritz's ideas about "creating what matters" as the "cornerstone of his work with organizations." He often said, "Organizational mastery can only be achieved if each individual in an organization develops personal mastery--the capacity to create what matters to them."

I think the same link applies to duty and service. Unless we develop and practice "personal creating", we will not be as able to develop and practice creating and co-creating our gifts in local, regional, national and international service.

Most of the so-called problems we face are not problems -- and cannot be solved in conventional ways. They are what E. F. Schumacher called "divergent challenges," and they lend themselves to higher order forms of thinking and doing.

Creating what matters is such a higher order form. It can embrace and transcend problems. It is driven by desire (vision) and grounded in current reality. It is focused on action that acknowledges current reality (including problems) and consistently supports the creation of desired results—no matter what your reality is. In creating, reality is the raw material out of which you create the real and lasting result that matter!

So, if we want to give our gifts to our community and the world, my suggestion is that we should focus on developing our capacity to create what matters. Doing so will make us better able to contribute both enthusiasm and value to our efforts beyond our selves. Developing the capacity to create will take time, energy, and commitment, but the rewards are potentially huge.

Here's some encouragement from George Bernard Shaw:

"This then is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one . . . the being a force of nature instead of a feverish little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.

"I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I love.

"I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no brief candle for me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got to hold up for the moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations."

Oh, yeah! Be the change! Yes, we can!
--------------------------

> Would you like help developing your capacity to create, and give?
==================================================
> What would it be worth to you to have a clear sense of purpose and direction? To have clear, written goals—and a tried-and-true framework for achieving them?

> What does it cost you not to have clear, specific goals, and a structure for creating them?

Coaching can help you clarify and articulate your desires—and create them, in a step-by-step way—so you can give your gifts to the world.

Now is a great time to start "being the change." It's a perfect time to get help creating what matters—with whatever you have to work with!

> My free 8-page Coaching Info Package can help you see if coaching is for you. Just email me with "coaching info" in the subject line. Bruce@BruceElkin.com
------------------

Here's A Gift You Can Develop and Give!
============================
Positive emotions not only make you feel good, they make you healthier, more resilient, and more successful! And they affect the people around you, increasing their positive emotions, and their health and well being.

To help you develop and give away positive emotions, I've written and posted a new article on HubPages: "Positive Emotions: Peak Performance In Mind, Body and Soul." You can access it at http://tinyurl.com/Pos-Emotions If you like it, please click the "thumbs up" button, and "share it" with others via your Facebook page, Digg, Twitter, etc…

I've also posted another article on HubPages, titled "Less Parking—More Walkable, Livable, and Sustainable Communities" @ http://hubpages.com/hub/NoParking
I'd love it if you'd drop by, leave a comment, and share it with others. Thanks!
--------------------

QUOTABLE QUOTES:
==================
"Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself."
-- George Bernard Shaw

"The future belongs to those who believe in their dreams."
-- Eleanor Roosevelt

"Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek."
-- Barack Obama

"Young children enjoy sharing; the challenge is helping them maintain their enthusiasm for giving as they grow older. But if you model generosity at every opportunity when your children are young, they are likely to grow up to be generous, thoughtful people too."
-- Virginia Brucker

"The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others."
-- Mahatma Gandhi

"Love cannot remain by itself - it has no meaning. Love has to be put into action and that action is service."
-- Mother Teresa

"Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step."
-- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
---------------------"

MY BOOKS:
==========
Just a reminder that I sell my books from my website. For more info, or to purchase

• Simplicity and Success: Creating the Life You Long For,

• Emotional Mastery: Manage Your Moods & Create What Matters--With Whatever Life Gives You!

• Creating Sustainable Success: How We Can Transcend Problems, and Create Simple Yet Rich, Healthy, and Sustainable Lives!

Visit http://www.BruceElkin.com

Buying these books is a win/win way for you to support the newsletter and me. I appreciate your support!
-------------------

NEED A WARM FUZZY? CHECK THIS OUT!
===================================
The elephant and his friend —
http://www.cbsnews.com:80/video/watch/?id=4696315n

There's a 10 sec ad, but the rest is delightful!
---------------------

> If you haven't made resolutions, or set goals, this year, why not start now? It's never too late, and people with written goals out-perform those without them. For info, email me with "Coaching Info" as subject! Bruce@BruceElkin.com

Have a wonderful week!
Bruce

"Creating Sustainable Communities" Articles

2009-01-17T08:08:00.000-08:00

Hi All,
Just wanted you to know that I have a series of articles on Creating Sustainable Communities, and provide you access to them:

You can find most of my articles on my HubPage profile at http://hubpages.com/profile/Bruce+Elkin
Or you can go directly to the articles:

• Curitba Does the Impossible: Sustainable Community Planning - Simple, Fast, Cheap!
• Walking On Two Legs: Co-Creating Sustainable Communities
• Sustainable Communities: Creating Our Common Future

A fuller version of Sustainable Communities is available on my website. Just click on the title.

Look for more articles about creating and co-creating sustainable communities soon. I'll be doing a review of the Transition Towns handbook. Great stuff. "Those who do not create the future they want," said Draper L. Kaufman, Jr, "must endure the future they get."

Cheers!
Bruce

Amazing Video: Courageous Woman vs. Israeli Soldiers in Gaza!

2009-01-14T15:55:00.000-08:00

I don't often comment on politics, but this video, and the gut-wrenching courage of the woman in the face of IDF gunfire is too moving not to share:

Click on the link below and see real humanitarian courage.

http://www.creative-i.info/?p=3785

-Peter-

Amazing video of Huwaida Arraf facing off IDF soldiers

The following link is of Huwaida Arraf, a co-founder and central figure in the International Solidarity Movement and, recently, the Free Gaza Movement (the folks organizing the boat trips from Cyprus to Gaza) in action literally in the face of IDF soldiers trying to block them from shooting Palestinian children using only words. She is the delegation leader of the current FGM Ship of Humanity boat trip.

Korean camera crew in Gaza documented this heroic action. In the spirit of Rachel Corrie, who gave her life to defend a Palestinian home. Unlike the iconic image of the Chinese man standing in front of the tanks come to crush the Tiananmen protests in Beijing, 1989 and images splashed all over the world’s media, you are unlikely to see this video or its images in the U.S. media. It is also a video of some hope. Her courageous action seems, at least, momentarily successful.

Short Hits of Wisdom for You!

2009-01-10T09:00:00.000-08:00

Here's four great quotes that came across my screen in the last few days. Enjoy! Ponder! Learn? I hope they help you.

Not only is another world possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.
-- Arundhati Roy

How is one to live a moral and compassionate existence when one is fully aware of the blood, the horror inherent in life, when one finds darkness not only in one's culture but within oneself? If there is a stage at which an individual life becomes truly adult, it must be when one grasps the irony in its unfolding and accepts responsibility for a life lived in the midst of such paradox.
-- Barry Lopez:

Many people have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.
-- Helen Keller

"He insulted me, he struck me, he cheated me, he robbed me": those who are caught in resentful thoughts never find peace. "He insulted me, he struck me, he cheated me, he robbed me": those who give up resentful thoughts surely find peace. For hatred does not cease by hatred at any time: hatred ceases by love. This is an unalterable law. There are those who forget that death comes to all. For those who remember, quarrels come to an end.
-- The Buddha

I'm getting good traffic to my new articles about Creating Sustainable Communities -- Communities that exhibit resilience!

• "Walking On Two Legs: Creating Sustainable Communities."

• "Curitiba Does the Impossible: Sustainable Community Planning: Simple Cheap, Fast!"

• "Sustainable Communities: Co-Creating Our Common Future."

And for fun, check out "A One-Hundred Mile Vacation - At An Ecologic Place!"

All accessible at http://hubpages.com/profile/Bruce+Elkin

AND, if you're not subscribed to my eNewsletter "Simply Success," you can do so easily and quickly at http://www.bruceelkin.com/free.html

There's other free stuff at that page, too. So do check it out. Thanks!

HOW'RE THOSE RESOLUTIONS COMING?

2009-01-08T13:57:00.000-08:00

> This Week: How're your resolutions coming?

Hi All,
After nearly a month of snow, ice, wind, and heavy rain, today's starting to look sunny.

I hope 2009 is starting to look sunny for you. One of my goals for this year is to help you become resilient -- able to bounce back from difficulties and setbacks and create what truly matters to you.

But experts tell us that, by now, just one week after they made their NY's resolutions, up to 30% of people have packed them in. And by the end of this month, 65% will have quit or given up their intentions. Only about 5% to 10% will actually succeed. Not very good odds!

So, how can we increase your chances of following through on goals and resolutions -- and actually complete the results we truly want to create in '09. Here are 5 Do's and 5 Don'ts to help:

DO:
1. Make your resolution/goal in the form of a result. "A fit healthy body; able to ski all day and dance all night," is far more motivating and easier to sustain than "jog 5 miles every day." Yuk!
Focus on, and choose the result first; then choose the action that supports the result.

2. Think of your goal/result as a "creation" that you want to bring into being, not a problem you want to get rid of, or relief from. Imagine your creation fully created it. See it as part of your life.

3. Assess your strengths, assets, skills, and resources. See what you already have in place, and what forces are working on your behalf. Most people find that they have more in place than they aware of. That's because we tend to over-focus on our weaknesses and deficits. Acknowledge those, but put most of your focus on what's already there. It'll make you feel good, increase your motivation, and build instant momentum.

4. Break large goals into sub-results, and then break those into sub-sub-results. Don't just try to run a marathon. Break it down into smaller results—spread over a time. Walk/run 3 miles by March 1st. Run 3 miles by April 1. Run a 5-mile race in May. Run a 10-mile race in July. Do a 20-mile training run in Sept. Do a half marathon in Oct. Run the Honolulu Marathon, next Dec!

5. See both goal/results and the actions that support them as "choices" you want to make, not as chores, or burdens. Choosing has much more power than wishing, hoping, or even visualizing, by itself. Choose your result, and then choose actions that support it. Unleash your power! ;-)

DON'T—
— do too many things at one time. Focus. Limit yourself to one or two key goals. Focus increases your power just like changing a garden hose from fine spray to power wash. Narrowing your limits increase the power available to you for action.

— "should" on yourself! Don't try to force yourself to take action by using should, ought, must, have to, or need to. That takes you out of choice and into obligation. It also breeds resentment, sucks away your energy, and leaves you without motivation. Double yuk! [See #5 above!]

— distort current reality, or lie to yourself about where you're starting, or what you have. Telling the truth will give you a solid platform for action. If you want to run a marathon and "used to" be able to run 5 miles, don't assume you still can. Check it out; get accurate, objective info about your current capacity. Start there, and build. You'll be less likely to hurt yourself. And you'll increase your chances of success. Plus, you'll have a lot more fun!

— over-react if things don't work as you want, when you want. Focus on your result, assess your reality, and then ask, "What's my best next step." Keep plugging along -- poco a poco, little by little -- and, with time and continued effort, results will come. It's a law! Pareto's, actually.

— compare yourself to others. "Comparison is sin," said the Buddha. Focus on your goals and your actions, and set interim targets that help you stay focused and motivated. We're all different, and we all go best at our own pace.

Bonus DO:
Do celebrate small successes. Affirm the actions you take, and pat yourself on the back for the sub-results you complete. Just keep completing the sub-results and they will accumulate into the finished end result you chose. Pareto says so!

Good luck!
If you want more detailed instructions in goal setting or setting up a framework in which to make your resolutions a reality, I recommend these articles on my HubPage site:

• The Top Seven Reasons Most Goal Setting Does NOT Work, And What To Do About It.
http://tinyurl.com/goalsetting-flaws

• Jumpstart Personal and Professional Success—And Keep It Moving!
http://hubpages.com/hub/Jumpstart-Your-SuccessAnd-Keep-It-Moving

If you're feeling down, or fear that setting goals will just lead to disappointment, I recommend you take a look at:

• Sandra's Story: I Took Back The Energy It Takes To Pout—And Changed My Life!
http://tinyurl.com/Sandra-s-Story

• Authentic Success: Your Ordinary Self Is Good Enough!
http://hubpages.com/hub/Your-Ordinary-Self-Is-Good-Enough

> Don't forget to give me a "Thumbs Up!" and leave me a comment telling me why you liked it if you did. Share it with others via the "Share It!" button. You can leave a comment without giving personal info--just make up a name! If you preface it with SS, I know you're a reader. THANKS!
--------------------------

> ARE YOU GOING TO MAKE 2009 YOUR BEST YEAR EVER?
==================================================
> What do you think it would be worth to you to have a clear sense of purpose and direction?

To have clear, written goals—and a tried-and-true framework for achieving them?

> What does it cost you not to have clear direction, specific goals, and a structure for creating them?

Coaching can help you clarify and articulate your desires—and create them, in a step-by-step way.

Now is a great time to invest in YOU. It could be the perfect time to get help creating what matters—with whatever you have to work with!

> My free 8-page Coaching Info Package can help you see if coaching is for you. Just email me with "coaching info" in the subject line.
------------------

QUOTABLE QUOTES:
==================
"Dreams come a size too big so that we can grow into them. "
-- Josie Bisset

"Knowledge is only potential power. It becomes power only when, and if, it is organized into definite plans of action, and directed toward a definite end."
-- Napoleon Hill

"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful then the risk it took to blossom."
-- Anaïs Nin

"This is your life! You can't wait for "someday" to enjoy it! You can't wait for a big break, for a better economy, warmer weather or until you "feel like it." As someone wisely said, "don't wait for your ship come in, swim out to meet it!"
-- Phil Humbert

"Our background and circumstances may have influenced who we are, but we are responsible for who we become."
-- Barbara Geraci

"Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much."
-- Helen Keller
-----------------------

NEW ARTICLE ON HUBPAGES:
=========================
I just put up a new article about Creating Sustainable Communities.
Check out "Walking On Two Legs" @
http://hubpages.com/hub/Two-Legged-Sustainable-Communities

How about a "thumbs up!" and a "share it" post to Facebook, Digg, Delicious, etc… It's simple, and it support me a lot. Thanks!
---------------------

MY BOOKS:
==========
Just a reminder that I sell my books from my website. For more info, or to purchase

• Simplicity and Success: Creating the Life You Long For,

• Emotional Mastery: Manage Your Moods & Create What Matters--With Whatever Life Gives You!

Visit http://www.BruceElkin.com

Buying these books is a win/win way for you to support me and the newsletter. I appreciate your support!
-------------------

NEED A LAUGH? CHECK THIS OUT!
==============================
I saw this on TV, and it cracked me up. It's a site full of videos of cute things -- mainly little animals and babies -- falling asleep.

http://www.cutethingsfallingasleep.org/
---------------------

> If you haven't made resolutions, or set goals, this year, why not start now? It's never too late, and people with written goals out-perform those without them.

Have a wonderful week!
Bruce

Green Economy is the Way Out of Recession!

2009-01-06T17:56:00.000-08:00

Check this out:

It's the Stupid Economy
Frank de Jong, Schalkenbach Board

Recessions are not natural or necessary, and can be prevented. They occur because our tax structure punishes entrepreneurs and rewards monopolists and speculators, and since we are all directly or indirectly entrepreneurs and speculators, we all contribute to the problem. Since there is more profit in monopoly control of finite resources (like oil, trees, land, water...) than in the production of goods or services, money is "invested" in nature than in enterprises. When too much money chases too few assets, like land, oil and other resources, it inflates prices, tying up cash, causing unemployment, and creating speculative bubbles which ultimately must deflate causing recessions. A green economy is a smart economy that minimizes bubbles and recessions. A smart economy is a stabile economy that taxes bads not goods, that untaxes jobs and businesses and instead collects the wealth (economic rent) that accrues to monopoly ownership of nature, at once conserving nature and eliminating booms and busts.

Bail out the Planet, Not Dirty Industry
Have you noticed? Astonishingly, everyone agrees the recession cure is green think and green tech. Usually getting out of a recession means more nature destruction. Normally it's de rigueur to build more freeways, bridges, dams, nuke reactors, or even start a war, but this time it's different. This time everyone is talking about renewable electricity, electric cars, local food, transit, green infrastructure, buying locally, healthy living and poverty elimination as the preferred ways to revitalize the economy. As George Fredrick Handel would say "Hallelujah".