The art of manifesting is taking your dreams, desires and wishes and making them into tangible things that you want. A lot of people want a larger house, more money, love or a new car. The secret to getting them is visualization and a positive attitude.

The first step for manifesting is to know what you want and write it down. It is a proven fact that people who write down their goals have achieved more than those who do not have a clear idea of what they want to accomplish. Create a journal and log all of the things you would like to have. Once you have written down all of your heart's desires, picture it in your mind. Spend at least three minutes visualizing it. If you want a new car, picture the car in your mind, feel how you will feel once you receive your new car and envision yourself with your new car.

Once you have visualized it in your mind, create a desire board. Cut photos out of magazines or print them off of the internet and paste them to a poster board. Hang the board somewhere you will see it frequently and spend at least three minutes every day imagining yourself receiving your desires.

Clearly knowing and visualizing what you want are the easy steps. The next step is to be positive you will receive them, and for most people's, that is more difficult. You will need to send positive thoughts out into the universe to manifest all you deserve. Do not question the universe or how it will provide you with what you want. Have faith that it will all be provided to you quickly and easily. The biggest hindrance to people who want to manifest is to have a negative attitude or feeling that they do not deserve what they want to receive. Let those thoughts go.

Manifesting allows us to take complete control over our own lives as opposed to leaving it up to fate. People must know what they want and remain positive they will receive it and they will. This seems very easy and because of that most will never receive what they want. The reasoning is simple; they have a lack of faith. If you are unsure that this is something that is possible, start with someone small. Instead of requesting a new car as your first desire to manifest, visualize a new pair of shoes; start small.

Once people manifest their desires of smaller things, they have much more faith that the universe will provide them with their greater dreams. This causes people to remain more positive which in turn, allows the universe to grant them more than they ever thought they could have.

Make sure that your current lifestyle and habits allow for you to receive the gifts from universe. If it doesn't, take the appropriate steps needed to change what is prohibiting you from receiving all that you want.

It's not all downhill after all: Research finds oldest Americans are the happiest

By LINDSEY TANNER AP Medical Writer
CHICAGO

It turns out the golden years really are golden. Eye-opening new research finds the happiest Americans are the oldest, and older adults are more socially active than the stereotype of the lonely senior suggests. The two go hand-in-hand: Being social can help keep away the blues.

"The good news is that with age comes happiness," said study author Yang Yang, a University of Chicago sociologist. "Life gets better in one's perception as one ages."

A certain amount of distress in old age is inevitable, including aches and pains and the deaths of loved ones and friends. But older people generally have learned to be more content with what they have than younger adults, Yang said.

This is partly because older people have learned to lower their expectations and accept their achievements, said Duke University aging expert Linda George. An older person may realize "it's fine that I was a schoolteacher and not a Nobel prize winner."

George, who was not involved in the new study, believes the research is important because people tend to think that "late life is far from the best stage of life, and they don't look forward to it."

Yang's findings are based on periodic face-to-face interviews with a nationally representative sample of Americans from 1972 to 2004. About 28,000 people ages 18 to 88 took part.

There were ups and downs in overall happiness levels during the study, generally corresponding with good and bad economic times. But at every stage, older Americans were the happiest.

While younger blacks and poor people tended to be less happy than whites and wealthier people, those differences faded as people aged.

In general, the odds of being happy increased 5 percent with every 10 years of age.

Overall, about 33 percent of Americans reported being very happy at age 88, versus about 24 percent of those age 18 to their early 20s. And throughout the study years, most Americans reported being very happy or pretty happy. Less than 20 percent said they were not too happy.

A separate University of Chicago study found that about 75 percent of people aged 57 to 85 engage in one or more social activities at least every week. Those include socializing with neighbors, attending religious services, volunteering or going to group meetings.

Those in their 80s were twice as likely as those in their 50s to do at least one of these activities.

Both studies appear in April's American Sociological Review.

"People's social circles do tend to shrink a little as they age — that is mainly where that stereotype comes from, but that image of the isolated elderly really falls apart when we broaden our definition of what social connection is," said study co-author Benjamin Cornwell, also a University of Chicago researcher.

The research rings true for 81-year-old George O'Hare, a retired Sears manager in Willowbrook, Ill. He's active with church and AARP and does motivational speaking, too. His wife is still living, and he's close to his three sons and four grandchildren.

"I'm very happy because I've made friends that are still living," O'Hare said. "I like to go out and speak in schools about motivation."

"Happiness is getting out and being with people, and that's why I recommend it," he said.

"Happiness is getting out and being with people, and that's why I recommend it," he said.

Ilse Siegler, an 84-year-old retired nurse manager in Chicago, has a slightly different perspective. Her husband died 35 years ago, and she says she still misses him every day.

She has vision problems and has slowed down with age. Yet she still swims, runs a social group in her condo building, volunteers in a retirement home and is active with her temple. These all help "make life more enjoyable," she said.

While Siegler said these aren't the happiest years of her life, she's content.

"Contentment as far as I'm concerned comes with old age ... because you accept things the way they are," she said. "You know that nothing is perfect."

Cornwell's nationally representative study was based on in-home interviews with 3,005 people in 2005 and 2006. While it didn't include nursing home residents, only about 4 percent of Americans aged 75 to 84 are in nursing homes, Cornwell said.

It's all good news for the aging population. However, Yang's study also found that baby boomers were the least happy. They could end up living the unfortunate old-age stereotype if they can't let go of their achievement-driven mind-set, said George, the Duke aging expert.

So far, baby boomers aren't lowering their aspirations at the same rate earlier generations did. "They still seem to believe that they should have it all," George said. "They're still thinking about having a retirement that's going to let them do everything they haven't done yet."

Previous research also has shown that mid-life tends to be the most stressful time, said Cornell University sociologist Elaine Wethington. "Everyone's asking you to do things and you have a lot to do. You're less happy because you feel hassled."

The new studies show "if you can make it through that," there's light at the end of the tunnel, Wethington said.

[Read the full article here]

———

On the Net:

American Sociological Review: http://www2.asanet.org/journals/asr/

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Below are some beautifully crafted and well-thought out questions from Ode Magazine. According to theirs About Us page, Ode is

"A print and online publication about positive news, about the people and ideas that are changing our world for the better."

Hats off to them for their vision and hope.

The article below is by Michael Sean Symonds, a self published author and facilitator of personal growth and spirituality

10 questions for an emerging new world

1) What aspirations do you have for your life that if pursued, could provide the preamble for more passion, inspiration and transformation in your life and the world you live in?

1. 2) Do those dreams, desires, gifts, skills, and talents enhance and elevate the resilience you have too your own inner wisdom and the service you could provide to the one greater Earth community?
2.  
3. 3) How can the visions and aspirations you have for your life be synchronized in solidarity and kinship with others?
4.  
5. 4) What changes do you need to make in the way you live your life that if made, could improve the quality of your own well being and the larger living world?
6.  
7. 5) How can you live your life with greater admiration towards yourself and others?
8.  
9. 6) What unspoken words and conversations do you need to hear or have to foster a culture of peace in your experience and surroundings?
10.  
11. 7) What values do you need to enhance or adopt to form a solid foundation and personal sacred trust towards sustaining a new life and new world?
12.  
13. Recognizing that you are both interdependent and interconnected with all people and things, what three principles are you willing to commit too, affirm and cultivate in your life that will elevate a sustainable, ethical way of being for yourself and the planet you live on?
14.  
15. 9) How can you live your life with a greater reverence and humility, for the mystery of Being; for gratitude in the gift of life and for humility regarding your place in nature?
16.  
1. 10) What can you do to elevate the shared responsibility you have in the stewardship of the Earth and humanity towards a just, sustainable and peaceful global society?
2.  

3. The legacy of your life will not be what you have done or gained, but in who you have been while journeying on this little blue planet called Earth. The courage and risk needed for the success of this rare journey and adventure can only be enhanced once you acknowledge and recognize the only change you ever needed was not outside yourself, but in fact within.

   In the finding, cultivation and practice of innocence, you rediscover the divinity and peace that lies within you and the emergence of a new life and humanity dawns. The unfolding experience of awareness and inner wisdom is the only true door to the freedom and peace you seek.

Michael Sean Symonds is a self published author and facilitator of personal growth and spirituality. http://zenshredding.wordpress.com/

Wow!

Amsterdam, 9 June 2008

A 115-year-old woman who remained mentally alert throughout her life had an essentially normal brain, with little or no evidence of Alzheimer's disease...

...according to a study in the August issue of Neurobiology of Aging.

The findings question the assumption that Alzheimer's disease or other forms of dementia will inevitably develop, if people live long enough.

"Our observations suggest that, in contrast to general belief, the limits of human cognitive function may extend far beyond the range that is currently enjoyed by most individuals, and that improvements in preventing brain disorders of aging may yield substantial long-term benefits," according to a study led by Prof. dr. Gert Holstege of University Medical Centre Groningen, The Netherlands.

Dr. Holstege and colleagues had a unique chance to test the mental functioning of one of the world's oldest humans, and then to compare their findings with the condition of the subject's brain after death. The patient was a Dutch woman who, at age 82, made arrangements to donate her body to science after death. At age 111, she contacted the researchers to ask whether her body would still be useful for research or teaching purposes. They assured her that, contrary to what she thought, they were especially interested because of her age: "She was very enthusiastic about her being important for science," Dr. Gert Holstege and colleagues write.

The researchers found the patient to be "an alert and assertive lady, full of interest in the world around her, including national and international politics and sports." She had lived independently until moving to a residential care home at age 105, mainly because of poor eyesight. Ironically, she had been very small at birth and was not expected to survive.

A series of neurological and psychological examinations were performed when the patient was 112 and 113 years old. The results were essentially normal, with no signs of dementia or problems with memory or attention. In general, her mental performance was above average for adults aged 60 to 75.

As planned, her body was donated to science when she died at age 115. At the time, she was the world's oldest woman. Examination after death found almost no evidence of atherosclerosis (narrowing of the arteries) anywhere in her body. The brain also showed very few abnormalities—the number of brain cells was similar to that expected in healthy people between 60 and 80 years old.

A key finding was the absence of brain abnormalities typical of Alzheimer's disease. There were almost no deposits of a substance called beta-amyloid, which are characteristic of Alzheimer's patients. The other abnormalities present, including "neurofibrillary tangles," were very mild—too early to cause significant mental impairment.

The unique case lends new insights into the potential for preserving brain function in very elderly patients. Previous studies have found at least mild abnormalities in the brains of nearly all "cognitively normal" elderly people. As the number of people living to age 100 and beyond continues to increase, the findings suggest that deterioration of the brain is not inevitable.

In addition to the article, commentaries by Dr. Joseph L. Price of Washington University, St. Louis, Panteleimon Giannakopoulos of University Hospitals of Geneva, Switzerland and colleagues, and Drs. Kelly Del Tredici and Heiko Braak of the Institute for Clinical Neuroanatomy in Frankfurt/Main, Germany are available.

The full text of the article is available upon request by contacting the Elsevier press office, newsroom@elsevier.com.

About Neurobiology of Aging
Neurobiology of Aging publishes the results of studies in behavior, biochemistry, cell biology, endocrinology, molecular biology, morphology, neurology, neuropathology, pharmacology, physiology and protein chemistry in which the primary emphasis involves mechanisms of nervous system changes with age or diseases associated with age.

A Shocking Harvard Study Proved That Almost All Children Are Born With Extraordinary Levels of Multiple Intelligences, But Only 2% Retain Their Talents Into Adulthood

How Convinced Are You That Your Child Is Not One of The 98% of Children Missing Out On His Extraordinary Potential?

I want to tell you a story, a true story of two children who grew up to be happy and successful in life. One is a photographer, the other a musician.

They are very much alike, these men. They are both living their dreams. Both are enjoying life to the fullest. And they are both receiving recognition for their wonderful creative expressions.

But there was a difference. One man took 80 years to achieve his dream. The other took just 20 years.

What Made The Difference?

Have you ever wondered, as have I, what makes some people able to achieve the success of their dreams and find their life purpose at such a young age? Have you always wanted to know how they did it, not so much for yourself, but even more for your children to have the life of opportunities you never had?

Well, let me tell you that it isn't always talent, opportunity or hard work that makes the difference. Nor is it that one person harbors dreams and the other doesn't.

The difference lies in the personl growing years and the freedom he was given to retain and maximize his natural talents, intelligence and intuition. Without this nurtured freedom, a child would otherwise be confined, only to spend a lifetime searching and struggling to regain that magic.

Trust me, I know

I am that 80+ year old man, and the 20-year-old musician is my grandson. Only at the age of of 78 did I start photography, and at the age of 80 my work was recognized by the International Photography Hall of Fame.

It was a great achievement at my age yet at the same time, I saw my grandson, Shawn, living his musician dreams at an age when I was still naive in my direction. In just his early twenties, Shawn was already composing, singing and performing songs with his band, earning an Inland Empire Music Awards nomination for Best Indie Rock Group and Best Live Act, all while completing his college degree.

What was Shawn secret to utilizing his full potential, living his dreams and finding his life purpose at such an early age? How did he accomplish this feat four times faster than I did?

My 50 Year Journey To Reawaken My Inner Magic

Many people are surprised to know I only started photography at the age of 78. Many are even more surprised that I also started writing and painting at this age.

It was something I never had the talent for (or at least that's what I thought)... but with my mastery of mind power techniques, I found a way to tap into and reawaken an inner magic that unleashed a creative expression I never thought I had it in me.

It was a long journey, but my experience enabled me to develop specific techniques and mental conditioning exercises. Once I saw for myself this true power of the mind, it became my mission to help others tap into the latent power of their mind and unleash their true inner magic.

The Right Intervention at the Right Time

Today at over 80 years old, I prefer to stay home, but I've been able to unleash my teachings to the entire world through the Internet. I now have a membership list of over 70,000 from my site called The American Monk, and through this I've reached out and transformed the lives of more people than I ever imagined possible with my teachings.

Today, looking back upon my experience, I noticed one prominent pattern. All the adults whom I've helped throughout my travels over the past 50 years were all natural geniuses that lost it somewhere, and they turned to me to help them regain the inner magic of their mind.

They too knew that they were more capable than what life currently holds for them. They too held the belief that the mind is the most powerful tool one can master. And just like me, they too were looking for the key to unlock their talents and excel in life.

But one day it dawned upon me what I should have realized a long time ago.

If the adults I was helping hadn't lost their genius in the first place, would they be needing my help as adults to reawaken that inner magic?

Click Here To Get Your Free Copy of The Genius Dip Report >>

Wouldn't it then make more sense for an earlier interventional to reach out to people when they are younger to reach out to children?

It's all about the RIGHT intervention at the RIGHT time, isn't it?

Upon realizing this, I shifted my efforts to focus on children. I started to do some research. And I came across a shocking study.

Shocking Harvard Study Shows That Between Age 4 and Age 20, 98% Will Lose Their Capabilities for Genius That They Were Naturally Born With

I came across a Harvard study led by Howard Gardner, the professor that revolutionized our understanding of intelligence by being the first to define intelligence into seven different dimensions.

Leading a research group at Harvard called Project Zero, Howard Gardner made another discovery that shook the ground of psychology.

They proved that almost every child is born with genius! But after the age of 20, only a mere 2% retain their talents. 98% LOSE THEIR POTENTIAL.

I call this sad phenomena the Genius Dip.

Click Here To Get Your Free Copy of The Genius Dip Report >>

What is going on? Why does this Genius Dip happen?

SOMETHING happens during upbringing that causes 98% of children to have these abilities ERASED from their mind.

It can't be genetic. Not when almost every child is born a genius. So if nature is not the answer, the only logical conclusion left is nurture.

But what? I asked myself the same question and after some investigation and research, the results both shocked and disappointed me.

Now please don't get me wrong. I don't want to sound like I'm against education, because I'm not. In fact, two of my daughters are school teachers and I'm proud of the work they do. Education is essential and important.

But there are shortcomings of the mass education system that you have to know otherwise you too will be lulled into thinking that mass cookie-cutter school systems are enough to develop your child into a successful well-balanced adult.

Click Here To Get Your Free Copy of The Genius Dip Report >>

The Shortcomings of the Education System

Yes, while it is essential for your child to be in school, your children are going to need more than that in the world to come. They are going to need more than historical facts, geographic locations, mathematical ability, musical skills and the likes.

Those things are important BUT they will also need to know how to understand the world how to communicate and interconnect with others how to visualize goals and attract success. And in the bigger picture, how to tap into intuition, fulfill their life purpose and leave behind a mark in their world.

But all of that… they don't learn in school.

You can't blame the system though. It's unfortunately an inevitable shortcoming of any mass system. The old-fashioned cookie cutter method of mass education destroys any chance of meeting each individual child's needs of creative nurturing.

The Genius Dip: Why Children Are Losing their Genius Potential and What You Can Do to Help Your Child

Are you one of those people that see genius as an equal? Do you still believe that a person is either born with intelligence, or they're not? Do you still believe in the old-fashioned myth that intelligence is inherited?

Could you be one of the parents unknowingly holding back your own child's genius because you are stuck with this old-programming belief that genius is only exclusive to the a few?

Because you truly care about the most important asset of out future of our CHILDREN I'm going to share with you the most crucial discoveries that I've made in my 50 years of collected knowledge of the minds power and potential.

Here's what I'm going to share with you in my report:

• How to unleash the hidden abilities of the mind at ANY age
• The Harvard study discovery that will forever change how you see the minds potential
• The ugly truth about Americans No Child Left Behind campaign and how it is the worst disaster any government ever inflicted upon children
• The crucial elements you must understand to IMMEDIATELY save your child's genius capability from the shocking factors the education system refuses to acknowledge
• Learn the One-Two-Three punch combo that is the sure-fire way to reawakening genius
• How to give your child boosted self esteem and confidence to achieve success in all walks of their present and future life

Click Here To Get Your Free Copy of The Genius Dip Report >>

Watch this video on the Law of Attraction...

Find more videos like this on Powerful Intentions: Law of Attraction Community

Do You Want Success In Your Life?

Are you prepared to dedicate yourself to a journey of life long learning? Are you really committed to accelerate your success and achieve your dream life?

Manny Goldman is the founder of PersonalGrowth.com and author of the new book, The Power of Personal Growth.

After hitting rock bottom in 2004, Manny discovered Personal Growth and became an avid student. In the last 3 years, he has attended and volunteered at more than 50 seminars, read countless books and listened to dozens of audio programs.

Manny's own personal growth has been described as phenomenal. In 11 months, Manny changed his life and went from:

• $100,000 in Debt to financial security
• Overweight at 245lbs to a lean 190lbs
• Clinically depressed to extremely happy and engaged to the woman of his dreams
• Lost with what to do with his life, to being clear on his purpose

Manny's transformation has inspired him to become The Personal Growth Advocate™ and declare a mission to raise the global awareness of the power of Personal Growth for billions of people.  

In this FREE, exclusive 50 minute interview, Manny Goldman gives his invaluable insight on:

• The power of proactive vs reactive growth
• How harnessing the power of responsibility can determine your destiny
• Ensuring you know the 5W's of your life so you can achieve your life dreams
• The 5 roadblocks that's holding you back from your full potential
• The 4 elements of long lasting change
• The missing link in the education system that causes 95% people unable to apply what they learn
• The triad technique that you can easily apply TODAY to start a positive change in your life
• And much, much more...

If you've read countless amount of books and listened to bundles of audio on personal growth BUT still don't know how to apply it, Manny's step-by-step approach in The Power of Personal Growth and his community of support will get you there. Hear first for yourself what Manny Goldman has to say:

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CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD! (Right-click, Save-as)

FIND OUT ABOUT MANNY GOLDMAN HERE!

Celebrating Earth Day, all of the students in kindergarten through sixth grade joined hands in one large circle surrounding the outside of the school building and passed the messae "Happy Birthday, Earth Day" from one to another.

Later students put their hands in the earth to plant seeds, pull weeds and clean up the school grounds.

They and other students at many of the schools in the county were learning the lessons of how to take care of the plant, celebrate nature and appreciate the resources the earth provides...

On Earth Day, people around the world came together, united in a celebration of friendliness to the earth and caring for our children's future... That's what it's really about. 

'Green' teams stay true to Earth Day's roots

By Oren Dorell, USA TODAY

Earth Day celebrants fixed trails, picked up trash and talked recycling at parks, workplaces and schools across the nation Tuesday, the 38th anniversary of the environmental holiday.

Earth Day was founded by Gaylord Nelson, a U.S. senator from Wisconsin, in 1970. He wrote he wanted to "infuse the student anti-war energy into the environmental cause." Now, corporations, governments and individuals pitch in.

•In Washington state, 18 volunteers repaired winter snow damage on the north side of Mount Rainier National Park, said Lauren Braden of the non-profit Washington Trails Association. "We've had record snowfall, so most of our work parties are working on lower elevation trails," Braden said.

•In Weyers Cave, Va., Blue Ridge Community College students made a statement with a huge display of trash, with recyclables sorted.

•In Albany, N.Y., the Office of General Services announced it is replacing foam polystyrene plates and cups with biodegradable products made from bamboo and grass at cafeterias that serve 9,500 state workers and visitors daily.

•In the nation's capital, Metro riders received free chocolate bars for saving 20 pounds of carbon emissions by riding the subway on Earth Day.

•In downtown Indianapolis, companies jumped at the chance to get rid of old computers, monitors and mice at the nation's first Million Square Foot eCycling Event, which collected more than 25,000 pounds of electronics.

•In Sioux Falls, Kali Drewes, 18, bagged trash with employees of the wireless company Unicel at Sertoma Park. "It's sad it takes Earth Day to get out and clean up," Drewes said.

Contributing: Erika Smith in Indianapolis; Christina Mitchell in Weyers Cave; Jon Walker in Sioux Falls; wire reports (source)

 And here is another beautiful story to round off Earth Day for 2008...

Students' Earth Day message: "Using tools to make it look cool"

By Mitch Fryer, LEADER TIMES

KITTANNING TWP. - Plant Earth received a helping hand from Kittanning Township Elementary yesterday.

Celebrating Earth Day, all of the students in kindergarten through sixth grade joined hands in one large circle surrounding the outside of the school building and passed the messae "Happy Birthday, Earth Day" from one to another.

Later students put their hands in the earth to plant seeds, pull weeds and clean up the school grounds.

They and other students at many of the schools in the county were learning the lessons of how to take care of the plant, celebrate nature and appreciate the resources the earth provides.

"It's a way to teach kids to take care of the air, water, land and animals," said teacher Sue Girardi of the all-day, all-out, schoolwide Earth Day program.

"It's teaching a responsibility to the environment."

Students worked on activities and projects in their classrooms and music and art rooms all week to prepare for Earth Day.

Everyone planted something. Everyone made something.

Grocery bags were decorated with Earth Day sayings, poems and designs and sent to a grocery store to be used at the checkouts.

The school held a rally about the hirstory of Earth Day. Students even made up their own Earth Day song for the occasion.

"We've been working on the courtyard, all the live long day... using all our tools, making it look cool."

The song is a good one for Earth Day, according to fourth grade student Austin Roncher.

"It's about the earth, us fixing it, cleaning it and helping it," he said.

Mitch Fryer can be reached at mfryer@tribweb.com 

(source)

Let us remember this,

Every day is Earth Day.  ~Author Unknown

 There is hope if people will begin to awaken that spiritual part of themselves, that heartfelt knowledge that we are caretakers of this planet.

~Brooke Medicine Eagle

 

"There is enough for all.
The earth is a generous mother; she will provide in plentiful abundance food for all her children if they will but cultivate her soil in justice and in peace."
Bourke Coekran

Earth Day 2008 falls on Tuesday, April 22nd.

• Earth Day is a name used by two different observances held annually in the (northern) spring, both intended to inspire awareness of and appreciation for the Earth's environment.
• Earth Day is held each year to promote awareness of environmental issues.
• It’s a special day to learn about our planet and how to take care of it.
• Kids can visit various Earth Day crafts, coloring pages, and activities.

The first Earth Day was in 1970...

On April 22, 1970, 20 million people across America celebrated the first Earth Day. It was a time when cities were buried under their own smog and polluted rivers caught fire.

Now Earth Day is celebrated annually around the globe.

Through the combined efforts of the U.S. government, grassroots organizations, and citizens like you, what started as a day of national environmental recognition has evolved into a world-wide campaign to protect our global environment.

Earth Day has no central organizing force behind it, though several nongovernmental organizations work to keep track of the thousands of local events in schools and parks that mark the day.

Earth Day Quotes

• The earth is what we all have in common.
  ~Wendell Berry, Author, farmer, cultural critic, 1934 -
• Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed.
  ~Mahatma Gandhi, Spiritual leader, political, 1869-1948
• As we grow older we should become not less radical but more so.
  ~Margaret Laurence, Author, environmentalist, 1926-1987
• You can't be suspicious of a tree, or accuse a bird or a squirrel of subversion or challenge the ideology of a violet.
  ~Hal Borland, Author, 1900-1978
• I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.
  ~John Muir, Preservationist, 1838-1914
• For 200 years we've been conquering Nature.  Now we're beating it to death. ~Tom McMillan, quoted in Francesca Lyman, The Greenhouse Trap, 1990
• I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority.  ~Elwyn Brooks White, Essays of E.B. White, 1977
• Take nothing but pictures.
  Leave nothing but footprints.
  Kill nothing but time.
  ~Motto of the Baltimore Grotto, a caving society
• And this, our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything.    ~William Shakespeare
• Only when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realise we cannot eat money.    ~Cree Indian Proverb
 
• Man must feel the earth to know himself and recognize his values.... God made life simple.  It is man who complicates it.  ~Charles A. Lindbergh, Reader's Digest, July 1972
• Never does nature say one thing and wisdom another.  ~Juvenal, Satires
• "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtfully committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."
  Margaret Mead 

Like me, you probably have a few self help books lying around. You have probably even read most of them. But even if you don't, and even if you haven't, you may well recognize a famous title such as Steven Covey's 'Seven Habits of Highly Influential People'. Beth Lisick started out slightly skeptical about the idea of self help, until she tried it and discovered the benefits for herself.

It is a fun, light-hearted and inspiring story of how, despite herself, self help changed her life for the better...

Emily Wilson asked the question: "Self-help is everywhere, but does it work?"

Self Help: $10 Billion for What?

Emily Wilson, Alternet.

When performer, rock musician and writer Beth Lisick woke up Jan. 1, 2006, and the only New Year's resolution she could think of was learning to do the splits, she decided to aim a little higher.

Instead, she spent the year availing herself of all the advice out there to better her character, physical fitness, parenting and sex life, along with her financial, organizational and time management skills. Lisick read Chicken Soup for the Soul, by Jack Canfield, and The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen Covey; she went to seminars with John Gray of Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus fame and financial superstar Suze Orman; she consulted with Oprah Winfrey's organizational advisor; learned about giving her child time-outs from a book called 1-2-3 Magic; gave Deepak Chopra (who she had previously considered 'spirituality lite") a chance, and went on a "Cruise to Lose" with fitness guru Richard Simmons.

During the year, Lisick tried to put aside her cynicism and refused to dismiss Covey for his Mormonism or Canfield for his love of golf and fast cars. Now she can always find her keys and ask for things in a direct way, and has embraced the concept of abundance instead of scarcity and negotiated a lower interest rate on her credit card.

Lisick chronicles her yearlong journey through the self-help world in her new book Helping Me Help Myself: One Skeptic, Ten Self-Help Gurus, and a Year on the Brink of the Comfort Zone. She recently shared that experience with AlterNet.

Emily Wilson: Do you think your life is better now after a year of helping yourself?

Beth Lisick: I actually do. Like I said in the book, I thought it would be funny, in a way, if nothing changed. I don't feel like I am a totally different person than I was before I started the book, but I think that if you immerse yourself in anything for a year, it's going to change you, and it definitely did change me for the better. I feel like I am more organized, and I do have a better grasp of time management and organization that I really didn't before. I started thinking about goals, and I had never had done that before in my life. And it was weird because it wasn't like I was a person who could never get anything done. I do a lot of stuff, but I just think I did so much stuff it was almost like I was spreading myself too thin. That was probably the big one. I feel like I'm more organized and more focused.

You talk about reviewing the day before you go to sleep at night, which is something Jack Canfield and Deepak Chopra do. What are some other concrete things you do now?

I'm a lot better at looking around my house and if I see something and I'm cleaning up, just saying, 'Where does that thing go?' Before, a lot of things in our house, we just didn't have a place for them, and we were always losing certain things like the digital camera, or my keys. Now when I'm cleaning up, I can say, 'Where does that thing go?' or if that thing doesn't have a home, then I have to sit there and think, 'OK, where can be a place for this thing that we just move from desk to table to couch?' So that's something I do differently. Those were my favorite things. Like the 1-2-3 Magic thing with Gus -- the things where I could see immediate benefits. I could see immediate results with that.

You say early on in Helping Me Help Myself that you are a Godophobe. A lot of these books are very focused on God or a higher power. How did you deal with that?

I think the first thing I did was I realized the Godophobe part of me was really a holdover from adolescence. It was just when people would talk about their higher power and I would be like, "Can't you figure out another way to talk about it without saying that," and then as I was reading these books, and it was just everywhere; it was impossible to escape. Then when I started thinking of those synchronicities and things I thought were cool, I was like, "Well, I've known for a very long time people substitute the word God for something bigger than me, something I can't control, something that is mysterious and out there." And then I mention in the book a big thing for me is my friends who were recovering drug addicts or alcoholics, who, for so long, were unable to do the 12 steps because they could not accept the higher power part, and it just held them back for so long, and once they decided just to surrender that and say, "OK, I don't even know what that means, I don't understand, but I can think of it as this or that," then they were able to get sober and healthy, so I think about it in that way too.

You say you were surprised by how much you liked The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and that you have no interest in slamming Stephen Covey because he's Mormon.

Yeah, I'm over that. I mean, I don't think of myself as a journalist. I think my approach was to be like anybody else who reads the books and goes to the seminars and tries to figure out what it all means and how it all can work for them.

What am I going to do, go into some in-depth analysis of Mormonism? I felt like I don't want to be another person who has those two paragraphs that talk about all the ridiculous things about Mormonism. I feel like I've read those two paragraphs everywhere, you know, about the special underwear. It just seemed boring to me. I mean, when I read longer articles about Mormonism, I find it totally fascinating, but I didn't think anybody needed me to sum up the weird things about Mormonism. That's kind of how I decided to start at the place where we all know these self-help people are cheesy. I mean, sometimes I couldn't help myself and had to point out things that were so weird or funny, but I think the idea of writing some sort of expose of how it's all a scam is just like, "Really? In 2008? I don't think so." There are people out there who do that and are researchers or want to expose everybody for how much they make per talk and what their credentials are, but I don't think that belongs in this book.

You had a hard time with John Gray and his whole Mars/Venus thing. Why was that?

I put my prejudices right out there because I was kind of a tomboy growing up, and maybe it was just the time and place, but there was never any moment in my entire life that I felt like there was anything I couldn't do because I was a girl. So, to me, that whole idea of gender stuff is so fluid, and the blatant stereotyping drives me nuts. I just can't get behind it -- that men's chemistry is one way and women's chemistry is another. I think all of our chemistry is all over the map and, yeah, there are two sides of it that he exploits for his purposes, but I think people really like to buy into it, and they think, "Oh, I do love my chocolate. and I do love to go shopping, and I do hate it when my man goes into his man cave." It's like we want to feel like individuals, but then there's the sense of belonging to something. It just made no sense with my relationship with my husband, and it was just confusing to me. ... It was almost not fair to choose him because I had such a huge prejudice, but I felt like I was cutting him slack the whole time.

Did you feel like a lot of these self-help movements are based on the personality of the leaders?

Yeah, the personality aspect is huge with the gurus because the ideas are very old and have been around forever, and so what it is is the personality of the guru and how they are putting their message across. You can say something like, 'Do unto others,' and we've all heard it a million times, but if somebody comes along and can say it in this way that is a little bit different and has a little bit of a different twist on it, all of a sudden it seems new and exciting again. Like, I was at a bookstore recently for one of my readings, and there's a new Montel Williams self-help book, and I picked it up and I swear to God, the first thing I read is, "Drink six six- to eight-ounce glasses of water every day." So here's this piece of advice that's in every issue of every women's magazine that ever comes out every single month. So it's all about the personality. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, because some people will listen to what Montel has to say because they're a fan of his show. But that's why it's perpetuated in so many different ways with so many faces and hairdos and teeth; selling this thing is all about personality in the commercial sense. It's not about the advice, because the advice has been around forever.

You're fairly indifferent to money. You do talk about wanting a dishwasher, and visualizing getting one, but how was it for you to read about people who talk about having hundreds of thousands of dollars or aspiring to have a mansion?

Jack Canfield had a lot in his book about visualizing yourself behind the wheel of a red convertible. Even go to a dealer and sit in it, visualize yourself on those golf courses around the world or having vacation homes. That was stuff like with the Mormonism or whatever that I had to let it go. Because I think once you're at the level those people are at -- you know, in Jack Canfield's defense, he's got those things, and I'm sure he can't imagine his life without them, so he's saying to these people, 'All right, you can come along.' But, for me, it's always been such an unattractive quality in a person when they wanted a lot of material things or a lot of money. So that was a hard one for me, and I think a lot has to do with my background of being raised without any want for money. Growing up, we had everything we needed. There were things we didn't get, but we lived a very solidly middle-class life. I think part of it too is being a writer; I just thought, I'm never going to have money. So yeah, money is a huge issue for me, and I have to really edit myself to not obsess over it.

It seemed like a hard year because you and your husband were really struggling with money and then there was this relentless self-examination. What was the hardest thing about the year?

I think the hardest thing when I first started reading these books was facing up to these faults and shortcomings that I had previously overlooked. Now that I'm aware of what they are, it's hard to imagine I wasn't paying attention. And I was perfectly happy not paying attention. I'm an optimistic person -- I'm a happy person -- and so there wasn't a huge struggle I was trying to get over. The hardest part reading some of these books was realizing some things. It wasn't like, "Oh I don't have the convertible and the mansion," it was, "Oh, I don't manage my money well and, wow, I don't always do what I say I'm going to do." So it was pointing out all these things in my personality that were kind of depressing.

What was the funniest thing about it?

I think the fun part for me was knowing your life can be an experiment and that you can just decide to do something and do it. I think, generally, in our lives, you want to walk around with that feeling that it's your life and you can do whatever you want, but it was cool to put it to the test. So even in the darkest hours I was like, all right, I'm doing this thing.

I also really enjoyed the people that I met. Because, in the Bay Area, when do you ever meet a person who's never had a cappuccino in their life? And you're sitting next to them the moment they decide to have their first cappuccino. That's so great. I mean, when I was at the FranklinCovey seminar and I was talking to the woman who is an event planner for industrial laundries, I was like, "God, what kind of events do you plan?" You're given the opportunity to talk to people from all over the place, and I really liked that. I think I just have fully admitted I love people so much, and I love being around them.

(this story was sourced here)

Emily Wilson is a freelance writer and teaches basic skills at City College of San Francisco.