Archive for March, 2009
03.30.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 3:11 am by admin
More Than One-In-10 Americans Fell Victim to Fraud
The Federal Trade Commission today released a statistical survey of fraud in the United States that shows that nearly 25 million adults - 11.2 percent of the adult population - were victims of fraud during the year studied. Certain racial and ethnic minorities were much more likely to be victims of fraud then non-Hispanic whites. American Indians and Alaska Natives were the ethnic group most likely to be victims: nearly 34 percent had experienced one or more frauds in the preceding year. Seventeen percent of African Americans were victims; over 14 percent of Hispanics were victims; and over 6 percent of Non-Hispanic whites were victims.
“We found that American Indians and Alaska Natives, African Americans, and Hispanics are more likely to be victims of fraud than non-Hispanic whites,” said Howard Beales, Director of the FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection. “These findings will help us fine-tune our Hispanic Law Enforcement and Outreach Initiative, and explore additional opportunities to target frauds aimed at communities which are at risk.”
The survey of 2,500 randomly chosen consumers shows that consumers with high levels of debt were more likely to be victims of fraud. Three of the top four categories of fraud related to credit, including credit-repair scams often targeted at those carrying high debt loads or having bad credit.
The most frequently reported type of consumer fraud was advance-fee loan scams, in which consumers pay a fee for a “guaranteed” loan or credit card. Four and a half million consumers - 2.1 percent of the U.S. adult population - paid advance fees but did not receive the promised loan or card. In fact, some consumers reported that more than once during the last year they paid fees to get loans or credit cards they did not get.
Buyers’ club memberships or bills for unordered publications was the second most commonly reported fraud category in the survey. Some four million consumers - 1.9 percent of the U.S. adult population - were unwittingly billed for memberships they did not authorize or publications they did not order.
Credit card insurance scams and credit repair were the third and fourth most common frauds identified in the survey. While federal law limits consumers’ credit card fraud liability to $50, fraudsters sell credit card insurance by falsely claiming that card holders face significant financial risk if their credit cards are misused. An estimated 3.3 million consumers bought unnecessary insurance against the unauthorized use of their credit cards.
Some fraudsters convince consumers that they can help them remove truthful, negative information from their credit report, or establish a new credit record. They can’t, and credit repair schemes are illegal, but two million consumers paid for “credit repair” services the year prior to the survey.
“The results of our survey indicate that fraud in the U.S. is a serious problem,” said Beales. “We have brought many enforcement actions against these types of scams in the past, and we will bring more in the future.”
The survey reveals that 33 percent of fraud victims first learned about a fraudulent offer or product from print advertising in newspapers, magazines, direct mail, catalogs, or posters. Telemarketing was the first source of contact in 17 percent of the frauds. Only 14 percent of fraudulent offers were promoted using Internet and e-mail; television or radio advertising account for only 10.6 percent of fraudulent offers.
Women and younger consumers are more likely to complain if they have been victims of fraud, the survey found. An estimated 74.5 percent of female victims complained. For males, the complaint rate was 10 percentage points lower. Similarly, almost 75 percent of consumers under the age of 35 complained, compared to only 55.4 percent of consumers between 55 and 64.
According to the survey, consumers between the ages of 25 and 44 are most likely to be fraud victims. Eleven percent of them were victims, compared to 8.7 percent in the 45 to 54 year bracket, 6.1 percent of consumers aged 55 to 64, and only 4.7 of consumers 65 years and older.
The top 10 frauds listed in the report include:
* Advance-fee loan scams - 4.55 million victims;
* Buyers clubs - 4.05 million victims;
* Credit card insurance - 3.35 million victims;
* Credit repair - 2 million victims;
* Prize promotions - 1.8 million victims;
* Internet services - 1.75 million victims;
* Pyramid schemes - 1.55 million victims;
* Information services - .8 million victims;
* Government job offers - .65 million victims; and
* Business opportunities - .45 million victims.
In addition to the fraud categories, the survey found that an estimated 13.9 million consumers were victims of telephone “slamming” - unauthorized and illegal changes in long distance telephone service.
If you need help reviewing your credit report, contact Cindy Morus, Certified Credit Report Reviewer for a Credit Report Review. For more information, go to: Credit Report Review Information (http://www.phelps-creek.com/archives/CreditReportPress.asp) and Top 10 Reasons to Review your Credit Report Regularly (http://www.phelps-creek.com/archives/CheckCreditReport.asp)
Cindy S. Morus (www.phelps-creek.com) is a Certified Financial Recovery Counselor specializing in showing women and their families how to achieve financial well-being and peace of mind. She is also a Certified Credit Report Reviewer and Get Clients NOW! licensee. Contact her at 541-387-2995 or cmorus@phelps-creek.com She is also the publisher and editor of “Financial Fitness”, an internet gazette dedicated to helping people improve their financial fitness no matter what decisions were made in the past.
Attention Ezine editors/Site owners: Feel free to reprint this article in its entirety in your ezine or website as long as you leave all links in place, do not alter the content and include our resource box as listed above. If you do use the material please send us a note (cmorus@phelps-creek.com) so we can take a look. Thanks.
Permalink
03.29.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 10:18 pm by admin
Workers across America will tell you that stress
levels are increasing. The demand for anti-
depressants is up. Doctor’s visits are
increasing. Stress-related ailments are shooting
up like a rocket.
There are many stressors behind all these
problems, but the gurus generally classify the
stress itself into three categories.
Understanding the major types is the first step to
controlling stress and improving productivity.
1. Acute Stress. This kind of stress is caused
by recent events. It is significant but
temporary. Small doses can result in positive
reactions: the adrenalin rush and feelings of
elation can motivate achievement. Too much, too
often results in headaches, backaches, upset
stomach, and other tension-related responses.
2. Episodic Acute Stress. This type stress is
caused by frequent exposure to stressors. These
people are generally over committed, lack the time
and ability to accomplish everything, and they
often find themselves at odds with coworkers.
This is much more serious than the first kind.
Irritability turns to anger, occasional tension
headaches become frequent migraines, heart
palpitations lead to chest pain, and high anxiety
becomes a way of life.
3. The third category is chronic stress. This is
related to the others but carries none of the
thrill or adrenalin rush found with acute stress.
The long-term nature of chronic stress is such
that people actually become accustomed to the
stressors and accept them as a way of life; they
see no escape from poverty, job mismatches,
abusive situations, or physical hardships.
What kind of stress do you observe in your
workplace? Are some of your people plagued with
tension headaches and back aches? Are some of
them even more stressed, displaying anger and
migraines? Or, do you have some people who are so
far over the edge that they have basically given
up hope as characterized by chronic stress?
How much is all of this costing your company? Good
leaders recognize the effects of stress and
understand that it costs a lot in medical
benefits, insurance costs, absenteeism, workers
comp, accidents, quality, productivity, and
profits.
Find out more about the effects of workplace
stress and specific ways to overcome this drain on
American business. Send email to
3sessionstress@sendfree.com
You’ll receive a 3-session e-Workshop about some
of the top 10 causes of workplace stress. You can
control stress in your workplace and turn all that
energy into productive activity. Your workplace
can be both pleasant and profitable.
Dale Collie - professional speaker, former
US Army Ranger, CEO, and a Fast Company top
50 innovative leader. Author of “Winning
Under Fire.” (McGraw-Hill) collie@couragebuilders.com
Permalink
03.28.09
Posted in Consumer Kicks, Great Health Tips, Life Of Lifestyle at 3:29 pm by admin
Drug Alcohol Testing
Drug examination has grown into a familiar phenomenon across the world. Some parties execute drug tests on newly working people or active employees to ensure a drug-free environment at work.
Insurance bureaus and courts guide drug tests on a normal basis on suspected individuals. The key enquiry that comes to your brain, when you go for some trial is how to beat the drug exam?
Online web sites much like Pass My Drug Test proposes the latest cleansing products including eternal cleansers, fake piss products, and saliva purifying products, detox drinks and home drug examine kits.
Beat A Drug Test
Pass The Drug Test offers up master support for every item, with support supplied by drug test people all are extremely veteran with diverse types of drug testing ways and effects. Support is available by email and phone. Shipping is instantaneous, with complete privacy assured, using plain and discrete packaging materials to hold utter customer secrecy.
Pass Test
Included on the new website is a giant order of products for detox and testing aims. Permanent cleansing agents are proposed in 3, 5 and 7, 10, 14, 21 and 30 day products, with a assortment of herbs, roots, barks and minerals that are experienced lipoids destroyers which process to break down fat cells and get rid of toxins completely. Synthetic Substance piss is proposed, which carries all components ordinarily found in urine, particularly balanced for pH with specific gravity, creatine and other urine features. A saliva cleaning mouthwash is offered up will eliminate toxins from your mouth with just 3 minutes of use. We offer a range of cleansing drinks, each containing the most efficient herbs and fiber to help free the body of toxins that may have accumulated.
If you use Excite to look for the internet for us here are 10 Super phrases to utilize to detect our website.
Hair Testing
Drug Blood Test besides proposes drug test kits including saliva, hair and urine based tests to insure that detoxification programs are effective. For more information, visit Pass Test If you have any questions, please call us at: 866-649-7277
Permalink
Posted in Uncategorized at 8:52 am by admin
There is already a lot being said about malware (Trojans, viruses, worms, etc.) and attempts to obtain your cash, personal identity, usernames and passwords through various frauds and phishing schemes. While this is crucial information to have, practically nothing is being written about the tremendous amount of personal information pouring onto the Internet through the careless use of blogs and photo album services. In these popular new Internet outlets there exists a dangerous opportunity for predatory criminals; bloggers may in fact be fueling the fire and opportunity that these monsters need to commit their crimes!
To reinforce my statement I would love to point out one shining example I stumbled across a week ago and illustrate how one particular blogger has put her entire family in jeopardy. In the interest of their safety however, I am not going to identify the particular blog. I will however, relate to you what I saw so that you may learn from her mistakes then take an objective look at your own online presence and determine if changes need to be made.
The name of her site was something whimsical like “The Smith Family Blogosphere of Happiness” and the blog had its own URL- “TheSmithFamily.com.” This blogger was obviously dedicated! There were many pictures in the online photo album of blogger, her husband and beautiful children in various activities both at home and at school. She obviously put a lot of thought into the numerous blog entries about various subjects: family vacations; the usual ups and downs that she and her husband have at work and raising their children; how she felt about some issues in her community and anything else that seemed to cross her mind. It was a typical non-commercial blog.
No big deal right? Wrong… in terms of personal security this blog was a nightmare.
The first thing I noticed was that she identifies her last name in the title of her blog. A quick trip to the WHOIS database verified that her URL was registered publicly and identified the blogger by name, home address, private email address and home phone number.
She did a good job at referencing her children in her blog posts as “the oldest boy,” “our youngest son,” or “my daughter” but she mistakenly names most of the picture’s filenames after them (i.e. janes_xmas.jpg, johns_new_bike.jpg or john_and_jim.jpg); anyone can tell who’s who and put a face to a name.
Most horrifically, the kids are in athletic uniforms with the name of the school emblazoned across the front; knowing each child’s name, what they look like and the name of their school in conjunction with the address I obtained through the WHOIS record would allow me to find these particular children at school very easily.
While she only references her husband by his first name it isn’t much of a stretch to put it with her last name to reveal his identity. She describes both of their positions at work and names their employers. I even found a post referencing a vacation they were all taking in Acapulco, Mexico in December. The post was written in October.
I could have gained motor vehicle registration information (which includes full name, address, VIN, driver’s license number and date of birth) through the vehicle license plate information found in one particular picture. There are unscrupulous sellers on the Internet who will provide this information instantly to anyone with a credit card.
In completing my cursory internet profile, I “Googled” the blogger’s name, which returned nothing except for the blog, but when I searched on the email address I obtained via the URL’s WHOIS registration, I found her eBay identity, an entire UseNet newsgroup identity (which I am MOST sure that she wishes to keep VERY private since she did a good job maintaining her anonymity there) and a few other interesting morsels of information too bizarre even to mention.
It would not take the mental muscle of an evil genius to gather just a little bit of information to make this family’s location, identity, and habits, readily discernable. What horror would befall them then if someone were so inclined to cause them harm?
There are several things she should do differently. First, use good ol’ common sense, there is no greater substitute! Change the title and the URL address of her blog and remove her family’s last name. She can use a “proxy” or private registration service to maintain her URL with the registrar. She should use generic file names for her pictures that do not identify the people in them and obscure identifiers in the photos like the license plate and the school name on the uniforms too. She shouldn’t discuss the identity of her employer; if it is important, then refer to it in a generic manner such as “I work at an auto parts store.” She certainly should not be advertising when and where she will be vacationing in the future. Lastly, she should use a free (and anonymous) email address to post to newsgroups… especially when anyone may blush at the more than casual reference to her sexual inclinations.
I realize that you cannot avoid all risk in life, but the bottom line is if you participate in the online world, you will have to bear the risk of a certain amount of exposure and be prepared to address the issues that are part and parcel with sharing personal information on the Internet. Additionally, I concede that this blog was without a commercial purpose; out of necessity one often has to share personal identifying information when running an online business. It simply goes along with the territory.
I hope that you will take a critical look at your own online identity right now. Ask yourself, “Am I absolutely comfortable with what I have found?” If you are not, then resolve to do something about it today because someone else may stumble across your little corner of the Internet and decide to find you tomorrow. Unfortunately, this is reality.
Have a safe and prosperous new year in 2006!
L. Scott Harrell is a private investigator and principal of CompassPoint Investigations, an investigative agency with offices in the Southeast United States specializing in the prevention of fraud, theft and embezzlement within small to medium-sized businesses.
More information regarding CompassPoint Investigations and our work can be found on the internet: http://www.CompassPointPI.com
Permalink
03.27.09
Posted in Fishing Tips, Great Health Tips, To Be A Beaut at 9:26 pm by admin
This is the second part of the article entitled antiaging treatment quick tips and simple ideas.
This article is part of the series of articles brought to you by health dynamite.com. Health dynamite is a website specializing in products dealing with the health and fitness industry.
Before you resort to these anti-aging treatment procedures, do you know that there are simple things which you can do to delay the appearance of wrinkles? The very key is to begin taking care and applying maintenance routine to your skin the earliest possible chance that you could get. It involves your daily routine, and if you can check these quick and simple tips below, you can always hide your true age and never let them guess how old, or young, you are.
• Follow these three regular routine: cleanse, tone, and moisturize your face skin. On your body skin, follow the same and use a good moisturizing lotion. Applying sun screen or sun block will also help prevent those outside toxins from ruining your skin.
• The appearance of the skin on your neck shows your age. Therefore, be sure to not only pay attention to your face but on your neck when moisturizing.
• Avoid applying heavy make up on your face. It only shows how frustrated you are with the process of your skin aging, not to mention can be tough on your skin too. Also, choose cream based blush cheek color than the powdered one.
• Topping dusty or caramel pinks with gloss will make your lips appear much younger. Avoiding deep brown mauves and matte reds will also help the same. You will also get benefits of looking younger if you avoid black eyeliners. Use instead brown or grey eyeliners.
• You will appear younger if you use colored plastic eyeglasses than metal framed ones.
• Having well-shaped and arched eyebrows might not be significant but it is if you want to take years off your face. Medium thick eyebrows are always a good choice for this case.
• When getting a new haircut, always opt for one that will frame beautifully your face. Bangs and fringes are great addition to throw away a significant number of years in your age. They are cute and fun too.
• And most importantly, don’t forget about taking care of your health and fitness. Quit smoking right at this moment. It is one of the great contributors why people quickly age faster in appearance. Throw in a healthier diet and lifestyle and you will never worry over those wrinkles and lines attacking you soon.
You can great products to improve your health and fitness at Healthdynamite.com.
Permalink
03.26.09
Posted in Internet SEO Resources at 10:16 pm by admin
Getting your site listed in the top search engines, such as Google, Yahoo, or MSN is no small job. There is lots of work that needs to be done to guarantee the highest placement possible, and even more work is needed to keep your ranking for any period of time. Here are some simple tips and strategies to keep your site listed, and listed well, without spending any extra cash on pay per clicks.
Optimizing your site for the best search results
Linking and Links to Your Site
Getting links to your site is one of the most important jobs you have when trying to properly optimize your site for search engine listings, regardless of which search engine you are attempting to get listed in. Having links to your site assures that it will be found by the spiders of the major search engines, and the more links coming to your site, the more pages from your site are going to be listed in any given search engine. The more popular the site, the more exposure you get, both from the search engines and the general browser. Link trading, or exchanging links to other sites on your page for links to your own on their site, is an excellent way to get started in getting some links to your site. There are thousands of sites out there with automated link exchange pages, where you simply fill out a form and place their link on a page of your site, and you get a link from theirs. You can easily get 20 to 50 links a day from such pages, although they aren’t as high quality as the others you can find.
Any site on the internet with a “Links” or “Resources” page can be a potential link exchange partner. Simply find the sites that relate to yours, even in a general sense, and send them an email requesting a link exchange. Be sure to have a link to their site on your links page and give them a link to the specific page their link is on. It also helps to have your links dispersed into categories, rather than having one long page with 1,000 links on it. This will make people more eager to trade links with you due to it being much easier to find their site on your links page. Keep a list of the sites you have emailed, and mark off which ones have or have not replied and have or have not placed a link to your site. If after two weeks no link is present, or the owner of the other site has not replied, simply delete their listing from your links directory and move on. There are enough sites out there, no matter what topic you relate to, that link exchanges are not difficult to find. These types of sites generally have a higher popularity and higher quality traffic than the instant submissions, although it does take a bit longer to accumulate the amount of links you need.
Another way to get links quickly would be to sign up at one of the various link exchange websites like linkpartners.com. These will usually charge a small subscription fee, but you will get a large amount of links in a relatively short amount of time. Remember when dealing with these type of sites to deal with only links from your particular category, as it will help more in the long run. Also, be careful who you link to within your own category. Try to stick with high-popularity websites that show up high in the rankings on your favorite search engine. Having quality over quantity with links, as well as most other optimizations, is vital if you plan on being ranked highly for any period of time.
Also, try to keep your links coming in. With a massive burst in incoming links that completely dies the next month, the search engines grow suspicious. Either try to spread out that massive burst out over the next few months, or keep the incoming links at or above the number you got last month. With this approach, the major search engines “see” that you are not only gaining in popularity rapidly, but you are continuing to grow in popularity instead of dieing out.
Content
Content is another major factor in how you will be ranking in the major search engines. Having fresh, new content every month, or better, every day, will show that your site is not stagnant. It will also keep your visitors happy. Nobody will come back if your site never changes… they will move on to one that is updated more often. A great way to do this is through goarticles.com or other article sites like it. You can copy an article to your site (leaving the article fully intact, of course… you don’t want to break any copyright laws) and have free, original content, every day if you would like. Again, it is best to use content that is directly related to your site, not only for the sake of your rankings (although you will have original content, it will not be related, and so it will be thrown out as “fluff” by the major search engines), but for your visitors as well. Nobody wants information on the newest video game when they visit a flower shop online.
Ever-changing, original content is very important to the search engines, as it shows your website is growing and popular. Even with one new article a day, you will be surprised at the results. If you have the time, you can even write your own articles and content and place them on your site. This content will be completely original, and nobody else on the internet will have a copy (or if they did, you can track them down and exercise your right to copyright as an author). Not only can you get original content by writing your own articles, but you can post them on goarticles.com for free with your name and a link to your site at the bottom. You provide content to the online community and they provide you links back to your homepage. A win-win situation either way you look at it.
Keywords
Keywords are words within your meta tags that you would like the search engines to list you under and pay special attention to. Picking keywords can be tedious and difficult at times, but good keywords can make the difference between lots of traffic or no traffic at all. Search for sites on your favorite search engine that relate to your own and check what keywords they have chosen. You can do this by going to View -> View Source on the menu bar. The keywords will be marked by a “” tag. See which keywords they are using that you may want to use as well. Keep a list of up to 50 of the keywords you think will be the best match for your site and add them in to your meta tag. As always, be sure that these keywords directly relate to your site. This will help your listings in the search engines, as well as help browsers find the site they are actually looking for.
Descriptions
Provide descriptions in your meta tags for each one of your pages. Use descriptions to provide an outline of what each particular page on your site is built for. Keep them clear and concise, and don’t load them up with keywords. For example, for your main page, use a description that contains the slogan for your website and a brief outline of what your site is meant for. For SuperFaster.com you would say something along the lines of “Online Marketing Information, Tips, and Strategies - We provide free articles on all you need to know about website promotion.” With clear descriptions, the search engines will not consider a particular page a “duplicate listing” just because it has the same title as your other 30 pages, and it will make it easier for browsers to find what they need.
Alt Tags
Alt tags are descriptions of images on your website. These can be seen when you mouse over picture, and can be seen by the spiders of the major search engines. Having a description of a picture makes it easier for a spider to understand what is actually on the site. If, perhaps, you have a tutorial on your site describing how to set up a web hosting account, and this tutorial has screen shots for people to follow instructions easier, you would want to make an alt tag for each screen shot. This will allow the spider to see that not only do you have a tutorial teaching your users how to create an account, but it comes with screen shots instead of random images of your dog or family.
Pictures that are part of the template for your site don’t necessarily have to have alt tags, since they are purely for visual effect. For graphical buttons it would be beneficial to have alt tags, to explain to the spider that these are links to other portions of your site. Although these are not really necessary either, it never hurts to have tags explaining where a button will take you once it is pressed.
For further information on Search Engine Optimization, stay tuned for “Advanced Search Engine Optimization”
You can see other articles by Claude Beavers on this topic at:
Website Promotion Articles and Resources at Superfaster.com
Permalink
03.24.09
Posted in Better Betting, Better Recreation, Lucky Gambling at 7:18 am by admin
Supposing you haven’t a clue concerning casino wagering, then feel free to read on.
For clarification, a gaming hall is a construction that caters to games. Here, paying customers will hopefully take risks by challenging the coin operated machines or another pastimes. Gaming room games by and large have numerically determined odds constituting them that make sure the casino preserves dominion against the gamers.
A huge number of betting hall games can incite you into being hooked speedily. For instance the simple slot machine, a mechanical contraption with three or more cogs that pirouette when a lever hitched to it is yanked. This appliance more often than not rewards in alignment with a distribution of designs presented on the information screen of the appliance. Deplorably, gaming room pastimes suggest the illusion of jurisdiction, effectively hoodwinking the customer — the victim is handed alternatives, but in actual fact these can’t remove the customer’s long term disadvantage. This is induced by the gaming establishment never paying the full sum as expected. This systematic method is frequently found in well known casino games such as five card stud, dice, roulette or blackjack.
Seven-card stud poker is certainly a highly trendy casino pastime. The bettors, holding either fully or partially concealed hands, place the stakes in the pot that is finally given to the winning gamester retaining the best set of cards. (And yes, the best bluffer may win too!)
Grand Mondial Casinos
Like seven-card stud, blackjack too is an immensely fashionable casino pastime. A lavish amount of its appeal is by virtue of the mix of luck and knowledge and decision making, as well as a method dubbed Card Counting. This is a particularly sophisticated mode of playing playing tactics by which gaming devotees are in a position to skew the odds of the game to give them an advantage both by betting and tactical actions established on the cards deployed.
Craps is a famous gambling hall wagering game making use of the throw of a couple of dice. Customers will bet money on the outcome of of one spin, or on a succession of rolls of 2 dice. Quite unlike blackjack, there can’t be a proven bona fide winning system players could make capital of to improve the odds.
Roulette is a well-known casino gambling pastime — a croupier whirls a roulette wheel that encloses a set of 37 (French roulette) or, respectively 38 (American roulette) distinctively tagged receptacles in which the white pellet will settle, thereby announcing the winning number as well as the other chances that will always come with it. Now if a gamer bets on a single number which strikes it big i.e. they’ve got a lucky hand, the promised reward is going to be thirty-five to one, the bet itself is given back. Therefore in totality it’s multiplied by 36.
Permalink
03.19.09
Posted in Consumer Kicks, Life Of Technology, Telecommunication Hall at 8:26 am by admin
Talking about the interim report on the Digital Britain plan, and responding to queries from the MPs, the Communications Minister, Lord Carter said that the BBC could possibly help in the plan’s successful execution. He mentioned that approximately 20 percent of the media’s content is being consumed through the broadband internet in the country, and keeping this in mind, the state-funded media provider could have a role to play in realizing the government’s Digital Britian vision.
The report is aimed at planning Britain’s approach for the development of the next generation of digital communications in the country. Carter suggested that one of the ways of achieving the goals of this plan would be ensuring the availability of a 2MB connection to everyone across the country. He also offered a three-phase strategy to achieve this.
The first phase would involve raising the broadband speed benchmark from 56KB to 2MB, in the European law for broadband provision. The second phase would involve planning of technical infrastructure on which the faster connections will be established. The third phase would be to make available proper funds for the upgrade, which Carter mentioned could only be possible when both the private, as well as the public sector would agree to work jointly.
Permalink
03.18.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 8:11 pm by admin
Imagine that right now, right here, today… there is within your grasp not one but several opportunities to redesign specific aspects of your life so that the sum total is a life you absolutely love. Then imagine that the only thing standing between you and your opportunities is a closed mind, fear, habits, concern, worry, drama, or perhaps mental, physical, and emotional clutter. Do you know what a default is? It’s what you get when you don’t choose to get something else and for most of us a default life is average and mediocre with sprinkles of joy in between. A default life is living for the weekend. A default like is hanging on ’til retirement. A default life is waiting for the kids to grow up, move out, and finish college. A default life is waiting, and waiting, and waiting for things to get better someday…one day.
Most people don’t accidentally have a great life, a great job, a great marriage, a great body, or great children. I don’t know about you but I am not touched, moved, or inspired by mediocrity. I don’t aspire to live an average life, with an average job, and celebrate twenty-something anniversaries in an average marriage. My spirit longs for relationships and experiences that cause me to love deeply, grow profoundly, and see the magnificence in all of life. I can’t have that kind of life if I am settling for the default. My name is Robin Harris and I am a coach, an author, a certified Highlands Natural Abilities Counsultant, and I am the CEO of DesignerLife, a transformational business dedicated to helping individuals live by design; not by default. And today I just want to talk to you about designing a life you absolutely love. I call it the DesignerLife.
What’s a DesignerLife? Think of a piece of art that is not only beautiful but extremely functional. Just like a beautiful warm and cozy home provides sanctuary and focus for a family, a DesignerLife provides sanctuary and focus for the soul. Just like each room in that house has its own motif and purpose, each area of the DesignerLife has its own motif and purpose. Just like all of the rooms together, even the hallways and pantry make up the house, all of the areas of our lives make up the DesignerLife. A DesignerLife has been lovingly designed and architected to honor your best and your highest good and it includes spiritual hallways and pantries, too. Mmm, it sounds wonderful, doesn’t it?
I want you to consider a show home that has never been lived in. Everything is just so beautifully pristine and sterile. That’s because it’s for show but when the family moves in they bring their energy, their style, their nuances, their touch and the house becomes a home. It’s not perfect…but it is. It’s not immaculate buts it’s naturally inviting. The DesignerLife is a life you design that is natural, expanding, and very, very inviting not only to you but to other sojourners, also. We have so long been looking to the system, the companies we work for, the businesses we have built, the country we live in to sustain our way of life. Today is a new day, and the comfort of what we knew has passed away, it’s time to excavate, renovate, and develop our most precious resources: our soul’s dreams, our natural gifts, and our talents. It’s time for us to evolve to the next level and some sojourners are going to go kicking and screaming, and some won’t go at all. You probably thought the creation was completed millions of years ago, oh no. Human’s are still in process and every so often life says “hold on, wait a minute, it’s time to shift and leap baby”. You can plod along for only so long before life demands that you run fast or get eaten. The new paradigm is not for survivors, it’s for thrivers; people who are ready to unleash their potential into the world.
You see, the magnificent being that you are is not your doing. You didn’t design it, you didn’t create it, so there no reason to be arrogant about it. It’s a gift. Don’t just say thank you. Gratitude is only the beginning, there’s also a measure of responsibility and accountability that fall on the shoulders of the gifted. And we all are gifted. It is our responsibility to nurture our magnificence, to develop it, and express it profoundly in the world that we live in. Your magnificence is not only going to give you a life you love, it’s going to touch, move and inspire others. Divine intention will have your be great in ways you cannot even imagine. Divine intention will have your biggest mistakes sow seeds of wisdom and contribution to other. Divine intention will have you become the student and the teacher in life’s next evolution. The next evolution will have human beings manifest the Creator’s abundant, loving, creative nature.
What would it look like to have a life you absolutely love? When you really think about it, I mean see it with your minds eye, in living Technicolor, it should be so awesome it sends chills up your spine. I’m not talking about a superficial life where people are pretending to be happy, pretending that the marriage is working, pretending that the kids aren’t driving them crazy, pretending that life is in order when chaos is actually the king. I’m not talking about having more, more, more while feeling less, less, less. I’m talking about a life where your soul is satisfied. This is a life where you have peace of mind, finances in order, and a healthy mind, body, and spirit. This is a life with relationships that inspire and stimulate you, intimacy that heals and thrills you, and family and community for mutual love and support. This is a life complete with meaningful and fulfilling work that uses your gifts and talents and honors your uniqueness. This is a life where there is adequate time for self-nourishment, self-investment, fun and relaxation. And… this is a life where you receive an abundance of joy by contributing to the well being of others who are on the planet with you now, as well as those who will be coming in the future.
I can’t tell you the details of your DesignerLife. I can’t tell you how living a life you absolutely love will show up for you. I only know that the process of designing that kind of life will rock your world. I know somebody out there is saying, pfff you must be dreaming… and my response is “yes, and your point is…”
You see if it were left up to the practical people, the realists of the world, we’d still be huddled in a cold cave without a fire to warm us. I’m not just a dreamer, oh no: I’m a possibility chick with a plan. You see a designer life is not just about dreaming about it, thinking about it, longing for it, hoping for it, praying for it. A DesignerLife is about intention; the kind of intention that produces action, the kind of action that produces results.
The road less traveled is full of uncertainty, but the other road, the popular one can only take you where you’ve already been. Having an extraordinary life, a life you absolutely love is gonna seem like way too much work to the average person. It’s not going to appeal to the person courting mediocrity. It’s not going to excite the person who is content with waiting for some day, one day. It doesn’t call to the practical or the realist. So if you fall into one of these categories, cover your ears cause this message isn’t for you. I’m talking to the people who caught a glimpse of possibility for their own life, for the sojourners who are ready to unleash their potential out in the real world, and for the people who can’t stand the thought of settling for the default life.
The message I want to bring to you is simple. Your most challenging obstacle is not the present or past circumstances of your life, the things you did or didn’t do, it’s not your age, your gender, your race, it’s not the naysayers or critics or the practical realist who are convinced your dreams and aspirations are a waste of time, oh these are all challenges to be dealt with on their own terms but by far the biggest challenge you will face is your own self doubt, lack of commitment, and fear. Getting over yourself is the single most forwarding action you can take to move toward your own magnificence. I want to ask you for a huge favor and here it is…Get over yourself and just be magnificent.
Robin Harris is a DesignerLife Coach who work with client’s who are ready to live by design; not by default. Contact Robin via web site www.designerlifecoaching.com or by email at robin@designerlifecoaching.com.
Permalink
03.17.09
Posted in Books And More, Language Management, Multimedia Center at 2:46 am by admin
Make sure to review this reliable webpage for http://www.audiofrombooks.com ideas!
Closers by Michael Connelly is certainly tremendous reading, however today’s busy life-styles make finding time hard to achieve. Lengthy journey times to the office and day to day tasks could be eating sizable amounts of day everyday. A career, taking care of children or housework all cut back the time available to persue your interests. You can use the time you spend doing housework to get up to date on novels you can’t find the time to read. Using user friendly downloads, you can spoil yourself with Monkey’s Paw by W.W. Jacobs available from Download Audio Book Online, or audio-books brought to life by Jacqueline Wilson when you are busy doing other things.
Making the most of your time is fast becoming necessary these days. Audible books such as Pimsleur Spanish Plus by Dr. Paul Pimsleur by Download Audio Book Online fill the wasted hours in life, it could be minutes passed waiting at the dentist’s surgery or taking the children to soccer practise. Many audiobooks are immediately available for download as mp3 files these include Toby Tyler - Ten Weeks With A Circus. Episode 1: Toby Joins the Circus by James Otis, and if you’ve got an iPod or another mp3 player and earphones and get ready to listen to a best seller or a fantastic novel, for instance audio-books written by James Siegel without hauling a cumbersome book with you. The advantages of audio-books include the opportunity to rent or buy educational books and peruse them at your leisure. Need to learn a different language? Try an audiobook! Maybe innovative commercial practices are your thing, or you can enjoy contemplating current beliefs concerning religious belief or modern spirituality.
An extended selection of writing styles and titles are accessible. Whether you’re a travel fan, or you are nuts over science fiction and fantasy or interested in personal development, most can be downloaded immediately. Numerous programs are open; it’s simple to subscribe to a program and rent or buy what interests you. Reading will always have its place, even so audio books offer a convenient alternative for busy individuals. A narrator can deepen the experience of many books. Reading a novel is not the same experience as savoring audio books told by Alice Hoffman, including refinements of an actual performance. Listening to audio-books performed by Michael J. Gelb and Sarah Miller Caldicott can bring more depth to your reading experience and can convey more than words on a page.
Don’t forget audio-books when you next consider purchasing a novel, audio books can give you fantastic means to fit all the studying you need to achieve into a busy lifestyle.
Permalink
« Previous entries
